Toward a Commonsense Answer to the Special Composition Question

The special composition question is the question, ‘When do some things compose something?’ The answers to this question in the literature have largely been at odds with common sense, either by allowing that any two things (no matter how apparently unrelated) compose something, or by denying the existence of most ordinary composite objects. I propose a new ‘series-style’ answer to the special composition question that accords much more closely with common sense, and I defend this answer from van Inwagen's objections. Specifically, I will argue (among other things) that the proposed answer entails the transitivity of parthood, that it is non-circular, and that it casts some light on the ancient puzzle about the Ship of Theseus.     

The impact of cognitive control on children’s goal monitoring in a time-based prospective memory task

The present study investigated whether developmental changes in cognitive control may underlie improvements of time-based prospective memory. Five-, 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds (N = 166) completed a driving simulation task (ongoing task) in which they had to refuel their vehicle at specific points in time (PM task). The availability of cognitive control resources was experimentally manipulated by imposing a secondary task that required divided attention. Children completed the driving simulation task both in a full-attention condition and a divided-attention condition where they had to carry out a secondary task. Results revealed that older children performed better than younger children on the ongoing task and PM task. Children performed worse on the ongoing and PM tasks in the divided-attention condition compared to the full-attention condition. With respect to time monitoring in the final interval prior to the PM target, divided attention interacted with age such that older children’s time monitoring was more negatively affected by the secondary task compared to younger children. Results are discussed in terms of developmental shifts from reactive to proactive monitoring strategies.     

Longitudinal Analysis of Associations between 3-D Mental Rotation and Mathematics Reasoning Skills during Middle School: Across and within Genders

ABSTRACT

The development of math reasoning and 3-d mental rotation skills are intertwined. However, it is currently not understood how these cognitive processes develop and interact longitudinally at the within-person level – either within or across genders. In this study, 553 students (52% girls) were assessed from fifth to seventh grades on 3-d mental rotation spatial skills (assessed each fall) and numerical and algebraic math reasoning skills (assessed each spring). Boys outperformed girls on mental rotation tests across all three grades, and on fifth and seventh grade math reasoning tests. Consistent with the literature on between-person comparisons, there was a positive correlation between mental rotation and math reasoning skills in the full sample and for both genders. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model was used to control for these confounding group-level differences in order to isolate within-person associations between earlier and later performance. Initially in fifth grade, math reasoning predicted subsequent sixth grade mental rotation skills. By seventh grade, more advanced mental rotation skills were associated with subsequent math reasoning skills while math reasoning skills were no longer predictive of mental rotation skills. An examination of gender differences revealed that this pattern was driven by boys while girls experienced less within-person change. These findings suggest that boys may initially rely in part on their math reasoning skills to solve 3-d mental rotation tasks. However, as their 3-d mental rotation skills mature, they begin to primarily depend upon these developing spatial skills to solve math reasoning problems rather than the reverse.     

Contributions of Head-Mounted Cameras to Studying the Visual Environments of Infants and Young Children

Head-mounted video cameras (with and without an eye camera to track gaze direction) are being increasingly used to study infants’ and young children's visual environments and provide new and often unexpected insights about the visual world from a child's point of view. The challenge in using head cameras is principally conceptual and concerns the match between what these cameras measure and the research question. Head cameras record the scene in front of faces and thus answer questions about those head-centered scenes. In this “Tools of the Trade” article, we consider the unique contributions provided by head-centered video, the limitations and open questions that remain for head-camera methods, and the practical issues of placing head cameras on infants and analyzing the generated video.     

The Role of Parenting in Relational Aggression and Prosocial Behavior among Emerging Adults

This study investigated the role of remembered parenting styles and parental psychological control in the prediction of relational aggression and prosocial behavior in a college student sample (N = 323). Participants’ retrospective ratings of how they were parented were related to relational aggression and prosocial behavior; however, somewhat different relationships emerged for African American and White participants. Permissive parenting, authoritative parenting, and parental psychological control predicted relational aggression. Participant race and all 3 parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive) predicted prosocial behavior. Participant race moderated the relationship between psychological control and prosocial behavior. Specifically, parental psychological control was inversely related to prosocial behavior for African American, but not White, participants.     

Increasing Single‐Word Requests to Multiword Requests in Children with Autism and Related Disabilities

Initial language training with children with autism often focuses on the production of single‐word requests (i.e., mands). As a child progresses in treatment, it is desirable to increase the mean length of utterance (MLU) of requests. The present study examined treatment outcomes of behavioral intervention designed to increase the MLU of requests in a larger sample of children with language delays (n = 30). Intervention consisted of prompts and differential reinforcement for lengthier requests, and trials were conducted flexibly throughout the treatment session. A non‐concurrent multiple baseline across participants design was utilized to establish experimental control, and MLU intervention consisted of a baseline and treatment phase for each participant. Nonoverlap of all pairs (NAP) was employed to estimate an effect size. Overall treatment effects were medium to large (average NAP = 0.89; average d = 2.36), and the majority of the sample (70%) demonstrated strong treatment effects. Results suggest that targeted behavioral intervention to increase the length of requests can be effective for children with autism and associated language delays. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparison of functional analysis methods of inappropriate mealtime behavior

Investigators have evaluated two procedural variations for conducting a functional analysis of inappropriate mealtime behavior exhibited by children with feeding problems. One method involves prompting bites only in the escape condition (e.g., Najdowski et al., 2008). Another method involves prompting bites across all conditions (e.g., Piazza et al., 2003). We assessed the food refusal of 3 children diagnosed with a feeding disorder by comparing the two variations. The two methods resulted in different outcomes for 2 of 3 children. Prompting bites only in the escape condition identified a single function (i.e., escape). Prompting bites across all conditions identified multiple functions (i.e., escape and attention). We then examined the relative effects of extinction procedures (individually and in combination) to determine the validity of each method. Results of the treatment evaluation suggested that the procedural variation that failed to identify an attention function for 2 of 3 children produced false negative findings.     

Noncontingent and differential reinforcement in the treatment of pediatric feeding problems

We conducted functional analyses of the inappropriate mealtime behavior of 5 children diagnosed with feeding problems. Then, we compared the effects of differential and noncontingent reinforcement, and the relative effects of escape extinction with and without differential or noncontingent reinforcement, when escape extinction appeared necessary. Both reinforcement procedures were effective without escape extinction to treat food refusal for 1 child, but only differential reinforcement was effective without escape extinction to treat the child's liquid refusal. Escape extinction was necessary for 4 of 5 children. The addition of positive reinforcement resulted in beneficial effects (i.e., more stable acceptance, decreased inappropriate mealtime behavior or negative vocalizations) with 3 of 4 children. With escape extinction, differential reinforcement was more effective to treat food refusal for 2 children and noncontingent reinforcement was more effective for 1 child.