Neuropsychological evidence for "word-meaning deafness" in a Spanish-speaking patient

In this paper we present a case of "word-meaning deafness," characterised by serious problems in the comprehension of spoken language, whilst repetition and writing words and non-words from dictation are preserved. This performance indicates the impossibility of correctly accessing phonological representation from the semantic representation of words. Neuropsychological evidence on specific alterations in word-meaning disorders is scarce, and this study contributes new findings with a Spanish-speaking patient. The nature of the processes involved in understanding language and the cerebral mechanisms that might be affected in each case were discussed, in accordance with current neuropsychological theories.     

Age-related changes and gender differences in time estimation

A study was carried out in which age and gender differences were studied in the performance of an empty interval production task. The duration of these intervals was 10 s, 1 and 5 min. The sample was made up of 140 subjects, half male and half female, in seven different age groups from 8 to 70 years old. The age range permitted us to identify when differences begin to be significant. The results show an age-related increase in the underproduction of the intervals. The differences between age groups attained significance from 51 to 60 years onward. With regard to gender, the main result was a greater underproduction of longer intervals (1 and 5 min) for women. These findings were interpreted in terms of different models of time estimation.     

'People-work': emotion management, stress and coping

Workers involved in 'people-work' are expected to engage in a great deal of emotion management as they attempt to convey the appropriate emotions (which they may not genuinely feel) to their clients or customers whilst perhaps suppressing inappropriate ones. Should this emotion management be unsuccessful within some industries, a customer may be lost as they choose to take their business to a competitor; however, within the 'caring' business, such as the counselling and guidance professions, a failure to display the appropriate emotion (e.g. sympathy) or a leakage of an inappropriate one (e.g. boredom) can have much more serious implications for the well-being of the client and their continued relationship with the professional. This paper will thus argue that emotion management or 'emotional labour' is a vital skill within the counselling and guidance professions, but one that can also be a significant source of work stress. Strategies for coping with the stress of performing emotional labour are suggested.     

Factor structure analysis of the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale scores in Spanish population

Social competence and antisocial behavior in children are interesting variables for researchers and educators. Nonetheless, there are few assessment instruments capable of measuring the two constructs in small children. The aim of this study is to verify the structural validity of the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scale for Teachers and Caregivers (PKBS-2), in order to determine the theoretical model that best fits the data from a Spanish sample. 1509 children from preschool education (741 males and 768 females) from 3 to 6 years old (M= 3.78; SD= 0.815) participated in the study. Data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-15.0) and the Structural Equations Program (EQS 6.1). The resulting models of social skills and behavioral problems show adequate fit indexes, statistically significant loadings, and a high internal consistency index (Cronbach's alpha). Lastly, the structural model confirms a two-factor structure: a first factor of Social Skills, comprising three variables (social cooperation, social interaction, and social independence), and a second factor of Behavior Problems, comprising two variables (externalization and internalization of problems).     

On the role of the upper part of words in lexical access: evidence with masked priming

More than 100 years ago, Huey (1908/1968) indicated that the upper part of words was more relevant for perception than the lower part. Here we examined whether mutilated words, in their upper/lower portions (e.g., ), can automatically access their word units in the mental lexicon. To that end, we conducted four masked repetition priming experiments with the lexical decision task. Results showed that mutilated primes produced a sizeable masked repetition priming effect. Furthermore, the magnitude of the masked repetition priming effect was greater when the upper part of the primes was preserved than when the lower portion was preserved-this was the case not only when the mutilated words were presented in lower case but also when the mutilated words were presented in upper case. Taken together, these findings suggest that the front-end of computational models of visual-word recognition should be modified to provide a more realistic account at the level of letter features.     

Interparental violence and children's long-term psychosocial adjustment: the mediating role of parenting practices

The objectives of this study were: (a) to examine the direct and indirect relationships among witnessing interparental violence, parenting practices, and children's long-term psychosocial adjustment; (b) to analyze the possible gender differences in the relationships specified. The sample consisted of 1295 Spanish university students (M age = 21.21, SD = 4.04). We performed statistical analyses using structural equation modeling. The results showed that witnessing parental violence as a child is related to poor long-term psychosocial adjustment during the child's adult years. Furthermore, we found that parenting practices fully mediated the relation between witnessing interparental violence and the child's long-term adjustment. The multigroup analyses showed that most of the relations among the variables did not differ significantly by gender. However, the relation between harsh discipline and antisocial behavior was stronger for males, whereas the relation between harsh discipline and depressive symptoms was stronger for females. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for the clinicians and specialists who plan and develop intervention programs for populations at risk.     

Evaluation of the effectiveness of minimum intervention measures on young offenders

The goal of this study was to analyze the recidivism rate in minor offenders to whom a minimum intervention measure was applied after their first felony or misdemeanor, and to determine the variables associated with recidivism. The sample was made up of 154 minors from the province of Santa Cruz of Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). The information was collected from the database of the Minors' Court. The recidivism rate depends on the measure imposed, ranging between 14 and 40.6%. The degree of agreement between the Technical Team's proposal and the court decision was 70%. With regard to the variables associated with recidivism, a model was obtained through logistic regression that correctly classified 83.7% of the cases, and was made up of the variables perception of parenting problems, intervention of social services, and social isolation.     

Your work is interfering with our life! The influence of a significant other on employee job search activity

This research draws on family systems theory to examine the influence of the significant other on employees’ job search behaviours. Data from 102 matched pairs of employees and their significant others showed that significant others’ perception of the employee's work‐to‐family conflict was positively related to the employee's job search activity after controlling for employee self‐reported work‐to‐family conflict. Contributions and implications are discussed.