Negative self-evaluations and the relation to performance level in socially anxious children and adolescents

The current study investigated whether negatively biased self-evaluations of nervousness and social skills are related to how well an individual actually performs, that is performance level. Sixty-eight high socially anxious and 68 control participants (age range 9–17 years) gave a 5 min speech in front of a pre-recorded audience of same age peers and a teacher. Participants' evaluations immediately after the task were measured on a number of performance dimensions. Three independent observers also evaluated recordings of the speech performances. Participants were further divided into good and bad performers based on their actual performance level as judged by the observers. Self-evaluations of the high socially anxious participants were negatively biased for nervous appearance regardless of how well they actually performed. In contrast, a negative bias for social skills only occurred in the high anxious participants with a good performance. The social skill evaluations of the poor performers appear warranted. Taking actual performance level into account may help to clarify the exact nature of a negative bias in socially anxious youth and has clear implications for the choice of treatment approach.     

Bias for consonantal information over vocalic information in 30-month-olds: cross-linguistic evidence from French and English

Using a name-based categorization task, Nazzi found in 2005 that French-learning 20-month-olds can make use of one-feature consonantal contrasts between new labels but fail to do so with one-feature vocalic contrasts. This asymmetry was interpreted as developmental evidence for the proposal that consonants play a more important role than vowels at the lexical level. In the current study using the same task, we first show that by 30 months French-learning infants can make use of one-feature vocalic contrasts (e.g., /pize/–/pyze/). Second, we show that in a situation where infants must neglect either a consonantal one-feature change or a vocalic one-feature change (e.g., match a /pide/ with either a /tide/ or a /pyde/), both French- and English-learning 30-month-olds choose to neglect the vocalic change rather than the consonantal change. We argue that these results suggest that by 30 months of age, infants still give less weight to vocalic information than to consonantal information in a lexically related task even though they are able to process fine vocalic information.     

Heuristic and analytic processes in mental models for conditionals: An integrative developmental theory

This article presents a developmental dual-process theory of the understanding of conditionals that integrates Evans’ heuristic–analytic theory within the revised mental model theory of conditional proposed by Barrouillet, Gauffroy, and Lecas (2008). According to this theory, the interpretation of a conditional sentence is driven by unconscious and implicit heuristic processes that provide individuals with an initial representation that captures its meaning by representing the cases that make it true. This initial model can be enriched with additional models (a process named fleshing out within the mental model theory) through the intervention of conscious and demanding analytic processes. Being optional, these processes construct representations of cases that are only compatible with the conditional, leaving its truth-value indeterminate when they occur. Because heuristic processes are relatively immune to developmental changes, while analytic processes strongly develop with age, the initial model remains stable through development whereas the number of additional models that can be constructed increases steadily. Thus, the dual-process mental model theory predicts in which cases conditionals will be deemed true, indeterminate, or false and how these cases evolve with age. These predictions were verified in children, adolescents and adults who were asked to evaluate the truth value and the probability of several types of conditionals. The results reveal a variety of developmental trajectories in the way different conditionals are interpreted, which can all be accounted for by our revised mental model theory.     

A semantics-based approach to the "no negative evidence" problem

Previous studies have shown that children retreat from argument-structure overgeneralization errors (e.g., * Don't giggle me ) by inferring that frequently encountered verbs are unlikely to be grammatical in unattested constructions, and by making use of syntax-semantics correspondences (e.g., verbs denoting internally caused actions such as giggling cannot normally be used causatively). The present study tested a new account based on a unitary learning mechanism that combines both of these processes. Seventy-two participants (ages 5–6, 9–10, and adults) rated overgeneralization errors with higher (* The funny man's joke giggled Bart ) and lower (* The funny man giggled Bart ) degrees of direct external causation. The errors with more-direct causation were rated as less unacceptable than those with less-direct causation. This finding is consistent with the new account, under which children acquire—in an incremental and probabilistic fashion—the meaning of particular constructions (e.g., transitive causative = direct external causation) and particular verbs, rejecting generalizations where the incompatibility between the two is too great.     

Realizing complex delayed intentions in young and old adults: The role of planning aids

Although it has been suggested that the delayed realization of intended actions should benefit from appropriate intention planning, empirical evidence on this issue is scarce. In three experiments, we examined whether and which planning aids provided in the intention formation phase affect delayed intention realization in young and old adults. One finding was that intention planning directly affected delayed intention realization: instructing participants to include the cue for appropriate intention initiation in their plans benefited delayed performance. Another finding was that older adults' performance was improved when they were guided in structuring their plan in combination with guidance in implementing this plan after a delay. In sum, the results point to the importance of plan-related factors for understanding the delayed realization of intended actions.     

Suppression effects on musical and verbal memory

Three experiments contrasted the effects of articulatory suppression on recognition memory for musical and verbal sequences. In Experiment 1, a standard/comparison task was employed, with digit or note sequences presented visually or auditorily while participants remained silent or produced intermittent verbal suppression (saying "the") or musical suppression (singing "la"). Both suppression types decreased performance by equivalent amounts, as compared with no suppression. Recognition accuracy was lower during suppression for visually presented digits than during that for auditorily presented digits (consistent with phonological loop predictions), whereas accuracy was equivalent for visually presented notes and auditory tones. When visual interference filled the retention interval in Experiment 2, performance with visually presented notes but not digits was impaired. Experiment 3 forced participants to translate visually presented music sequences by presenting comparison sequences auditorily. Suppression effects for visually presented music resembled those for digits only when the recognition task required sensory translation of cues.     

Forced Migration among Latinx Children and their Families: Introducing Trilateral Migration Trauma as a Concept to Reflect a Forced Migratory Experience

ABSTRACT

Forced migration is a process where people must leave their countries of origin due to situations of war, human rights violations, torture, and political reasons, among other factors. This article presents a working definition of forced migration with a focus on the experience of Latinx children and their families. Venezuela and the Northern Triangle of Central America are presented as regional examples and highlight the state of crisis regarding migration in Latin America. The author introduces the concept of trilateral migration trauma as a new model to understand forced migration experiences. Mental health considerations faced by children who forcibly migrate from their homelands are considered. The “push-pull” theory of migration is critiqued in the context of a forced migratory experience.     

Are there preexisting behavioral characteristics that predict the dominant status of male NIH Swiss mice (Mus musculus)?

The behavior of isolated Cr:NIH(S) mice (Mus musculus) was studied in a holeboard test of exploration, in a plus-maze test of anxiety, in the resident-intruder paradigm of aggression, and in the swim test. Thereafter, mice that were matched for body weight were housed together in groups of 4-5. Within a week, 1 mouse per cage (the alpha) had attacked all its subordinate cagemates but lacked any signs of attack itself. Subordinate mice had bite marks on their tails and backs. When mice were isolated, no differences were found between the behavior of those that later became alphas and those that became subordinates. In contrast, after the establishment of the social hierarchy, alpha mice spent less time immobile in the swim test and had higher locomotor activities than did the subordinate mice. The results suggest that the differences in behavior between the alpha and subordinate mice result from aggressive social interactions in the home cage.