The dynamics of development on the Dimensional Change Card Sorting task

A widely used paradigm to study cognitive flexibility in preschoolers is the Dimensional Change Card Sorting (DCCS) task. The developmental dynamics of DCCS performance was studied in a cross-sectional design (N = 93, 3 to 5 years of age) using a computerized version of the standard DCCS task. A model-based analysis of the data showed that development on the DCCS task is best described as a discontinuous change in performance on the post-switch phase of the task. In addition to a perseveration group and a switch group, a transitional group that showed shifts between perseverating and switching during the post-switch trials could be distinguished. Computational models of performance and development on the DCCS task cannot, in their current forms, explain these results. We discuss how a catastrophe model of the developmental changes in task performance could be used to generate specific hypotheses about the variables that control development of DCCS performance.     

Développer l’apprentissage,la coopération et l’identité organisationnelle en milieu hospitalier Evaluation de l’impact d’un Dispositif d’Immersion Structuré

In this article we analyse the effects of an innovative approach adopted in a hospital institution. Using a specific framework, this approach consists of placing staff into a department other than their own. The objectives of this approach relate to cognition, identity and organisational behaviour. Based on thematic and structural analysis of 25 interviews, this evaluation shows that the effects of the intervention are consistent with the anticipated objectives on several levels: (1) learning about ways of functioning and working in the host department, (2) growth of co-operation between departments, (3) the development of a feeling of organisational belonging.     

Early effects of emotion on word immediate repetition priming: Electrophysiological and source localization evidence

The processing of a stimulus benefits from the previous exposure of an identical stimulus, which is known as immediate repetition priming (IRP). Although several experimental manipulations modulate the size of this effect, the influence of affective information is still unclear. In order to explore the temporo–spatial characteristics of the interaction between emotion and IRP, event-related potentials (ERPs) to negative and neutral target words were measured during a lexical decision task in an IRP paradigm. Temporal and spatial versions of principal components analyses were used to detect and quantify those ERP components associated with IRP. A source localization procedure provided information on the neural origin of these components. Behavioural analyses showed that reaction times to repeated negative and neutral words differed from those to unrepeated negative and neutral words, respectively. However, the interaction between repetition and emotion was only marginally significant. In contrast, ERP analyses revealed specific IRP effects for negative words: Repeated negative words elicited reduced P120/enhanced N170 effects and weaker activation suppression in the left inferior frontal gyrus than did unrepeated negative words. These results suggest that a word’s negative content captures attention interfering with IRP mechanisms, possibly at an early semantic stage of processing.     

Negotiating Dominant Masculinity Ideology: Strategies Used by Gay, Bisexual and Questioning Male Adolescents

In the context of a U.S. dominant masculinity ideology, which devalues men who are not heterosexually identified, many gay, bisexual and questioning (GBQ) adolescent males must develop their own affirming and health-promoting sense of masculinity. In order to promote the well-being of GBQ young men, exploration of their reactions and responses to dominant images of masculinity is needed. We qualitatively analyzed interviews with 39 GBQ African American, Latino, and European American male adolescents (15–23 years old). Participants reported a range of responses to traditional masculinity ideologies, most of which centered on balancing presentations of masculine and feminine characteristics. Negotiation strategies served a variety of functions, including avoiding anti-gay violence, living up to expected images of masculinity, and creating unique images of personhood free of gender role expectations. These data suggest a complex picture of GBQ male adolescents’ management of masculinity expectations and serve as a basis for culturally and developmentally specific HIV prevention programs.     

CAMP: A community‐based approach to promoting safe sex behaviour in adolescence

The primary goal of this study was to describe the development and assessment of the Community Awareness Motivation Partnership (CAMP) Teen Theatre intervention. Based on the behavioural ecological model, CAMP addressed the role of contraceptive use in safe sex behaviour through a brief informative, entertaining, and culturally responsive dramatization programme. Adolescents (N = 1613) between the ages of 11 and 18 (M = 13.31, SD = 0.76) received the intervention, and 961 participants completed both pre‐ and post‐tests. The majority of participants were Latino (78.5%, n = 1039), many of whom were first generation immigrants. Results indicated that the intervention increased participants' reported intentions to delay sex and use contraceptives. The intervention produced short‐term changes in safe‐sex behavioural intentions and knowledge. Suggestions for producing long‐term changes were discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Religion and the Paradox of Racial Inequality Attitudes

There appears to be an interesting paradox in American attitudes toward racial inequality: while Americans almost universally see inequality as a social evil, they also consistently oppose government programs to remedy it. This discrepancy appears to result from accounts for the causes of inequality: if inequality is caused by individual failures, rather than structural conditions, then government solutions to racial inequality are unlikely. We examine the role of religion in the formation of attitudes concerning racial inequality for both blacks and whites. Using logistic regression on data from the 1996 General Social Survey, we find that the inclusion of African Americans and multiple religious traditions further complicates the story behind contemporary debates over attitudes pertaining to racial inequality.     

Conflict's consequences: effects of social motives on postnegotiation creative and convergent group functioning and performance

Two studies tested the effects of social motives during negotiation on postnegotiation group performance. In both experiments, a prosocial or a proself motivation was induced, and participants negotiated in 3-person groups about a joint market. In Experiment 1, groups subsequently performed an advertisement task. Consistent with the authors' predictions, results showed that proself groups performed worse on the convergent aspects of this task but better on the divergent aspects than prosocial groups. In Experiment 2, the authors manipulated social motive and negotiation (negotiation vs. no negotiation), and groups performed a creativity task (requiring divergent performance) or a planning task (requiring convergent performance). Proself groups showed greater dedication, functioned more effectively, and performed better than prosocial groups on the creativity task, whereas prosocial groups showed greater dedication, functioned more effectively, and performed better than proself groups on the planning task, and these effects only occurred when the task was preceded by group negotiation.     

Higher-order activity beyond the word level: cortical dynamics of simple transitive sentence comprehension

Slow electrophysiological effects, which fluctuate throughout the course of a sentence, independent of transient responses to individual words, have been reported. However, this type of activity has scarcely been studied, and with only limited use of electrophysiological information, so that the brain areas in which these variations originate have not been clearly identified. To improve this state of affairs, a principal component analysis and a modern source analysis algorithm (LORETA) were applied to the slow activity underlying transitive sentence reading. Four components explained 97.3% of the variance. Of key interest was a slow variation that occurred throughout the entire sentence but peaked with the appearance of the verb. The main solution for this component was localized in prefrontal and temporal regions presumably involved in semantic sentence processing. This constitutes empirical evidence for cortical activity--related to semantic processes thought to be involved in thematic role assignment--developing throughout the sentence but presenting a conspicuous maximum with the appearance of the verb. This finding also highlights the central role of verb information in the understanding of transitive sentences.     

Self-defeating personality and memories of parents' child-rearing behavior: a replication

A recent study of correlations of self-defeating personality and memories of parents' child-rearing behaviour has been replicated on a larger sample. Non-clinical volunteers (145 women and 114 men) were administered Schill's Self-defeating Personality Scale and a short version of the EMBU-Egna Minnen Betr?ffande Uppfostran (own memories of parental education) scale. Replicating previous findings, memories of rejecting or nonsupportive parents were significantly correlated with scores for the Self-defeating Personality Scale for both women (rejecting mother, r = 24; supportive mother, r = -.29; rejecting father, r = .23; supportive father, r = -.36) and men (rejecting mother, r = 40; rejecting father, r = .41; supportive father, r = -.28). Memories of an overinvolved parent were significantly correlated with self-defeating personality scores only among men (mother: r = .41; father: r = .36) as in the original study.     

Electrophysiological evidence of automatic early semantic processing

This study investigates the automatic-controlled nature of early semantic processing by means of the Recognition Potential (RP), an event-related potential response that reflects lexical selection processes. For this purpose tasks differing in their processing requirements were used. Half of the participants performed a physical task involving a lower-upper case discrimination judgement (shallow processing requirements), whereas the other half carried out a semantic task, consisting in detecting animal names (deep processing requirements). Stimuli were identical in the two tasks. Reaction time measures revealed that the physical task was easier to perform than the semantic task. However, RP effects elicited by the physical and semantic tasks did not differ in either latency, amplitude, or topographic distribution. Thus, the results from the present study suggest that early semantic processing is automatically triggered whenever a linguistic stimulus enters the language processor.