Effect of socioeconomic status (SES) disparity on neural development in female African‐American infants at age 1 month

There is increasing interest in both the cumulative and long‐term impact of early life adversity on brain structure and function, especially as the brain is both highly vulnerable and highly adaptive during childhood. Relationships between SES and neural development have been shown in children older than age 2 years. Less is known regarding the impact of SES on neural development in children before age 2. This paper examines the effect of SES, indexed by income‐to‐needs (ITN) and maternal education, on cortical gray, deep gray, and white matter volumes in term, healthy, appropriate for gestational age, African‐American, female infants. At 5 weeks postnatal age, unsedated infants underwent MRI (3.0T Siemens Verio scanner, 32‐channel head coil). Images were segmented based on a locally constructed template. Utilizing hierarchical linear regression, SES effects on MRI volumes were examined. In this cohort of healthy African‐American female infants of varying SES, lower SES was associated with smaller cortical gray and deep gray matter volumes. These SES effects on neural outcome at such a young age build on similar studies of older children, suggesting that the biological embedding of adversity may occur very early in development.     

No evidence for contagious yawning in lemurs

Among some haplorhine primates, including humans, relaxed yawns spread contagiously. Such contagious yawning has been linked to social bonds and empathy in some species. However, no studies have investigated contagious yawning in strepsirhines. We conducted an experimental study of contagious yawning in strepsirhines, testing ring-tailed and ruffed lemurs (n = 24) in a paradigm similar to one that has induced contagious yawning in haplorhines. First, in a control experiment, we investigated whether lemurs responded to projected video content in general (experiment 1). We showed them two videos to which we expected differential responses: one featured a terrestrial predator and the other a caretaker holding food. Next, to test for yawn contagion, we showed individual lemurs life-size video projections of groupmates and conspecific strangers yawning, and control footage of the same individuals at rest (experiment 2). Then, to examine whether a group context might enhance or allow for contagion, we exposed subjects to the same videos in a group setting (experiment 3). Lemurs produced alarm vocalizations and moved upward while viewing the predator, but not the caretaker, demonstrating that they do perceive video content meaningfully. However, lemurs did not yawn in response to yawning stimuli when tested alone, or with their groupmates. This study provides preliminary evidence that lemurs do not respond to yawning stimuli similarly to haplorhines, and suggests that this behavior may have evolved or become more exaggerated in haplorhines after the two major primate lineages split.     

On Becoming Creatures: Being Called to Presence in a Distracted World

In the biblical creation story human beings are depicted as beings ejected from the true home given to them in creation and entrapped in the dynamics of their flight from God. Franz Rosenzweig suggested that modern life is best understood as a type of chronic living death characterized by an animate but nevertheless sterile experience of loss. Following Eric Santner's presentation of this theme in Rosenzweig, this article will explore what it might mean to recover a sense of the goodness of place and particularity. I will examine Santner's suggestion that to become present to ‘place’ is to have undergone the ‘undeadening’ intervention of another person, who offers us an exit route in the midst of the tangle of our lived lives. I will then show how the main lines of his analysis both parallel and offer ways to sharpen important aspects of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's account in Creation and Fall of the dynamics of the Fall and the healing of creatures. Human beings are depicted by Bonhoeffer as in need of being transformed into creatures, a theological insight resting on a complex account of creation, and which I will suggest, in conclusion, is a particularly important theme of a Christian gospel that can speak to a world saturated by the desire to be elsewhere.     

Boundary research: Tools and rules to impact emerging fields

Boundary research can be risky, but it can also move academic disciplines into wider areas of influence. To help reduce the risk and increase the reward, this article describes new tools that boundary researchers can use to get started, published, and promoted. These include writing for surprising impact, positioning their research against a larger theme, developing a research impact matrix for promotion, and estimating a 10‐year citation record. These tools can help move a boundary research area from fringe to focus. © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Consumer Behaviour published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unexpected Social Benefits of Alcoholics Anonymous for Older Women

The authors interviewed older women in Alcoholics Anonymous to explore the participants' most beneficial and meaningful experiences in the program. Findings suggested that these women obtained unexpected social benefits from their participation. These benefits are examined through the framework of Carstensen's ( 1993 ) socioemotional selectivity theory.     

Effects of a Private Room Versus Group Setting on Math Test Performance of College Students with ADHD

The effects of (a) private room, (b) typical classroom, and (c) high-distraction room test settings were examined on the math test performance of six college students (four females) with ADHD. Participants (aged 18–30 years) completed multiple, equivalent algebra calculation tests (100 items each) under the three test-setting conditions. A multi-element design was used to compare the number of items attempted (test access) and percentage correct (accuracy). Students also rated their level of distraction after each testing session on a Likert-type scale. Results showed that students found the high-distraction setting more distracting than other settings and that five of six students accessed more test items in the private room versus the high-distraction setting, with three of the six demonstrating nonoverlapping data across settings. A regular classroom setting did not produce a high level of distraction, nor did it restrict student access to the math tests relative to a private room setting. These findings suggest that some students with ADHD are affected negatively by highly distracting environments and may benefit from a quiet, private test setting. Single-case experimental designs may be useful for examining individual differences among students with disabilities receiving specific test accommodations.

     

Pedagogical Practices for Teaching Addiction Counseling Courses in CACREP‐Accredited Programs

We used a grounded theory approach to investigate educational strategies for teaching master's‐level addiction counseling courses. An emergent model of pedagogical practices, factors that influence development and implementation, and suggestions for counselor education programs are presented.     

Interactive Effects of Parental Separation and Socioeconomic Status on Child Sleep Quality and Child Development

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Prior research demonstrates an association between parental divorce and separation and a range of negative child outcomes, including sleep difficulties. We...     

What is an extinction burst?: A case study in the analysis of transitional behavior

Among the tactics of experimental science discussed by Sidman (1960) were those used to study transitional behavior. Drawing from his insights, this review considers an often cited but infrequently analyzed aspect of the transition from reinforcement to extinction: the extinction burst. In particular, the review seeks to answer the question posed in its title. The generic definition of an extinction burst as an increase in response rate following the onset of extinction is found to be wanting, raising more questions than it answers. Because questions of definition in science usually come down to those of measurement, the answer to the title's question is suggested to be found in how behavior prior to extinction is maintained and measured, when and how extinction is introduced, and where in time and how behavior early in extinction is measured. This analysis suggests that a single, uniform, and precise definition of the extinction burst is misguided. Examining how each of these facets contributes to what has been described generically as the extinction burst is a small, but important, part of Sidman's methodological legacy to the experimental analysis of behavior.