Rehabilitation of reading in older individuals with macular degeneration: a review of effective training programs

Macular degeneration (MD) is the most common cause of visual impairment among older adults. It severely affects reading performance. People with MD have to rely on peripheral vision for reading. In this review, we considered several training programs that aim to improve peripheral reading, with a focus on eccentric viewing, oculomotor control, or perceptual learning. There was no strong support in favor of one particular training method for rehabilitation of reading in MD, but there is evidence that older individuals with MD can be trained to improve reading performance, even within limited time.     

Spontaneous goal inferences are often inferred faster than spontaneous trait inferences

We present four experiments in which participants were exposed to texts depicting behaviors that afforded inferences about actors' traits and goals. Results from a false recognition task with varying response deadlines revealed heightened activation of goal inferences already within a 350 ms response deadline. In contrast, trait inferences were made only when there was no response deadline, and when the behavior also implied a goal. These results indicate that spontaneous inferences on goals are often encoded more strongly in memory and are reactivated much more quickly in comparison with spontaneous trait inferences. Moreover, spontaneous trait inferences are often facilitated when an inference is first made on the goal of the behavior. These findings are discussed in light of recent developmental and neuroscientific evidence on social inferences, and current theories on impression formation.     

Approximate number sense,symbolic number processing,or number–space mappings: What underlies mathematics achievement?

In this study, the performance of typically developing 6- to 8-year-old children on an approximate number discrimination task, a symbolic comparison task, and a symbolic and nonsymbolic number line estimation task was examined. For the first time, children’s performances on these basic cognitive number processing tasks were explicitly contrasted to investigate which of them is the best predictor of their future mathematical abilities. Math achievement was measured with a timed arithmetic test and with a general curriculum-based math test to address the additional question of whether the predictive association between the basic numerical abilities and mathematics achievement is dependent on which math test is used. Results revealed that performance on both mathematics achievement tests was best predicted by how well children compared digits. In addition, an association between performance on the symbolic number line estimation task and math achievement scores for the general curriculum-based math test measuring a broader spectrum of skills was found. Together, these results emphasize the importance of learning experiences with symbols for later math abilities.     

How is phonological processing related to individual differences in children’s arithmetic skills?

While there is evidence for an association between the development of reading and arithmetic, the precise locus of this relationship remains to be determined. Findings from cognitive neuroscience research that point to shared neural correlates for phonological processing and arithmetic as well as recent behavioral evidence led to the present hypothesis that there exists a highly specific association between phonological awareness and single‐digit arithmetic with relatively small problem sizes. The present study examined this association in 37 typically developing fourth and fifth grade children. Regression analyses revealed that phonological awareness was specifically and uniquely related to arithmetic problems with a small but not large problem size. Further analysis indicated that problems with a high probability of being solved by retrieval, but not those typically associated with procedural problem‐solving strategies, are correlated with phonological awareness. The specific association between phonological awareness and arithmetic problems with a small problem size and those for which a retrieval strategy is most common was maintained even after controlling for general reading ability and phonological short‐term memory. The present findings indicate that the quality of children’s long‐term phonological representations mediates individual differences in single‐digit arithmetic, suggesting that more distinct long‐term phonological representations are related to more efficient arithmetic fact retrieval.     

The relation between consciousness and attention: An empirical study using the priming paradigm

Dehaene et al., 2006, Koch and Tsuchiya, 2007 recently proposed taxonomies that distinguish between four processing states, based on bottom-up stimulus strength and top-down attentional amplification. The aim of the present study was to empirically test these processing states using the priming paradigm. Our results showed that attention (prime attended or not) and stimulus strength (prime presented subliminally or not) significantly modulated priming effects: either receiving top-down attention or possessing sufficient bottom-up strength was a prerequisite for a stimulus to elicit priming. When both top-down attention and sufficient bottom-up strength were present, the priming effect was boosted. The origins of the observed priming effects also varied between different processing states. We can conclude that our empirical study using the priming paradigm confirmed the presence of four processing states, which displayed a differential pattern of response priming effects and differential origins of the response priming effects.     

The validity of the Crites model of career maturity

To test the validity of the Crites model of career maturity, career maturity and noncareer maturity measures were administered to 312 ninth graders and to 200 technical college students. Scores on all measures were intercorrelated and factor analyzed. The results show that, as predicted, most of the Career Choice Competencies have more in common with each other than they have with Career Choice Attitudes; Career Choice Competencies are fairly highly positively related to each other; Career Choice Attitudes and Career Choice Competencies have more in common with each other in grade 9 than they do in the post-secondary grades; and there is a relationship between career maturity and sex and race of ninth graders and technical college students. The results do not support the hypothesized multidimensional structure of the Crites model or the hypothesis that variables in the Crites model have more in common with each other than they have with noncareer maturity variables. Discussion includes several possible explanations for failure to support the Crites model, and suggestions for further research.     

Social Support. Physiological Processes, and Health

Social relationships serve important functions in people's everyday lives. Epidemiological research indicates that supportive relationships may also significantly protect individuals from various causes of mortality, including cardiovascular disease. An important issue is how social support influences such long-term health outcomes. In this article, we review evidence indicating that social support may influence mortality via changes in the cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems. These data suggest that it may be worthwhile to incorporate social-support interventions in the prevention and treatment of physical health problems.     

Automatic stimulus-response associations may be semantically mediated

Three experiments on numerical odd/even judgment are presented. In the first experiment, we show that tachistoscopically presented Arabic primes influence the reaction latencies (RTs) to Arabic targets in two ways: First, RTs to targets are longer when the prime and the target have a different parity status than when they share the same parity status, and second, on compatible trials, RTs are longer when the absolute distance between the prime and the target is larger. Experiments 2 and 3 extend the first finding by showing that the response compatibility effect is also obtained (1) when the primes are not part of the target set and the participants never reacted to them and (2) when the primes are presented in a different modality (verbal numerals) than are the targets (Arabic numerals). On the basis of these results, we conclude that, in masked priming, response codes are automatically activated by stimulus characteristics of the prime and that the activation of response codes is semantically mediated when the primes are meaningful.     

A comparison of two sex-role androgyny measures in a study of sex-role identity for incarcerated delinquent and nondelinquent females

A sample of 100 incarcerated delinquent females and 100 nondelinquent female matched for age and socioeconomic status were compared on three aspects of sex-role identity. The Bem Sex-Role Inventory and the PRF ANDRO scale were used to assess sex-role androgyny; the Traditional Family Ideology scale was used to assess sex-role attitudes; and several questions concerning heterosexual relationships were asked. Correspondence between the two androgyny measures was moderate at the interval level of measurement and poor at the nominal level. Repeat offenders were significantly higher than first-time offenders and nondelinquents on the BSRI masculine scale; a significantly higher percentage of repeat offenders were classified as androgynous by the BSRI. No differences were observed using the PRF ANDRO scales. Heterosexual relationships were more important in the lives of delinquent females on both friendship and helping dimensions.     

The role of hyperventilation in panic disorder: a response to Ley (1991)

Ley (Behaviour Research and Therapy, 29, 301–304, 1991) provided a reinterpretation of experimental findings on the efficacy of breathing retraining plus cognitive restructuring in reducing the symptomatology of patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia which were presented in a 1989 article in this journal. On the basis of his reinterpretation, they concluded that our findings supported the central role of hyperventilation in panic attacks. Ley's arguments are discussed and we conclude that his reinterpretation provides new arguments against a hyperventilation theory of panic. Furthermore, recent evidence from empirical studies does not support a central role for hyperventilation in panic attacks.