Twelve-month-olds point to share attention and interest

Infants point for various motives. Classically, one such motive is declarative, to share attention and interest with adults to events. Recently, some researchers have questioned whether infants have this motivation. In the current study, an adult reacted to 12-month-olds' pointing in different ways, and infants' responses were observed. Results showed that when the adult shared attention and interest (i.e alternated gaze and emoted), infants pointed more frequently across trials and tended to prolong each point--presumably to prolong the satisfying interaction. However, when the adult emoted to the infant alone or looked only to the event, infants pointed less across trials and repeated points more within trials--presumably in an attempt to establish joint attention. Results suggest that 12-month-olds point declaratively and understand that others have psychological states that can be directed and shared.     

Impoverished cue support enhances subsequent retention: Support for the elaborative retrieval explanation of the testing effect

In three experiments, we investigated the role of transfer-appropriate processing and elaborative processing in the testing effect In Experiment 1, we examined whether the magnitude of the testing effect reflects the match between intervening and final tests by factorially manipulating the type of intervening and final tests. Retention was not enhanced for matching, relative to mismatching, intervening and final tests, contrary to the transfer-appropriate-processing view. In Experiment 2, we examined final retention as a function of the number of cues needed to retrieve items on intervening cued recall tests. In this case, fewer retrieval cues were associated with better memory on the final test. Experiment 3 replicated the findings of Experiment 2 while controlling for individual item difficulty and directly manipulating the number of cues present. These findings suggest that an intervening test may be most beneficial to final retention when it provides more potential for elaborative processing     

What types of learning are enhanced by a cued recall test?

In two experiments, we investigated what types of learning benefit from a cued recall test. After initial exposure to a word pair (A+B), subjects experienced either an intervening cued recall test (A→?) with feedback, or a restudy presentation (A→B). The final test could be cued recall in the same (A→?) or opposite (?→B) direction, or free recall of just the cues (Recall As) or just the targets (Recall Bs). All final tests revealed a benefit for testing as opposed to restudying. Tests produced a direct benefit for information that was retrieved on the intervening test (B). This benefit also “spilled over” to facilitate recall of information that was present on the test but not retrieved (A). Both theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Copying results and copying actions in the process of social learning: chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human children (Homo sapiens)

There is currently much debate about the nature of social learning in chimpanzees. The main question is whether they can copy others' actions, as opposed to reproducing the environmental effects of these actions using their own preexisting behavioral strategies. In the current study, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and human children (Homo sapiens) were shown different demonstrations of how to open a tube-in both cases by a conspecific. In different experimental conditions, demonstrations consisted of (1) action only (the actions necessary to open the tube without actually opening it); (2) end state only (the open tube, without showing any actions); (3) both of these components (in a full demonstration); or (4) neither of these components (in a baseline condition). In the first three conditions subjects saw one of two different ways that the tube could open (break in middle; caps off ends). Subjects' behavior in each condition was assessed for how often they opened the tube, how often they opened it in the same location as the demonstrator, and how often they copied the demonstrator's actions or style of opening the tube. Whereas chimpanzees reproduced mainly the environmental results of the demonstrations (emulation), human children often reproduced the demonstrator's actions (imitation). Because the procedure used was similar in many ways to the procedure that Meltzoff (Dev Psych 31:1, 1995) used to study the understanding of others' unfulfilled intentions, the implications of these findings with regard to chimpanzees' understanding of others' intentions are also discussed.     

Interactions between the dorsal and the ventral pathways in mental rotation: An fMRI study

In this fMRI study, we examined the relationship between activations in the inferotemporal region (ventral pathway) and the parietal region (dorsal pathway), as well as in the prefrontal cortex (associated with working memory), in a modified mental rotation task. We manipulated figural complexity (simple vs. complex) to affect the figure recognition process (associated with the ventral pathway) and the amount of rotation (0° vs. 90°), typically associated with the dorsal pathway. The pattern of activation not only showed that both streams are affected by both manipulations, but also showed an overadditive interaction. The effect of figural complexity was greater for 90° rotation than for 0° in multiple regions, including the ventral, dorsal, and prefrontal regions. In addition, functional connectivity analyses on the correlations across the time courses of activation between regions of interest showed increased synchronization among multiple brain areas as task demand increased. The results indicate that both the dorsal and the ventral pathways show interactive effects of object and spatial processing, and they suggest that multiple regions interact to perform mental rotation.     

Understanding and sharing intentions: the origins of cultural cognition

We propose that the crucial difference between human cognition and that of other species is the ability to participate with others in collaborative activities with shared goals and intentions: shared intentionality. Participation in such activities requires not only especially powerful forms of intention reading and cultural learning, but also a unique motivation to share psychological states with others and unique forms of cognitive representation for doing so. The result of participating in these activities is species-unique forms of cultural cognition and evolution, enabling everything from the creation and use of linguistic symbols to the construction of social norms and individual beliefs to the establishment of social institutions. In support of this proposal we argue and present evidence that great apes (and some children with autism) understand the basics of intentional action, but they still do not participate in activities involving joint intentions and attention (shared intentionality). Human children's skills of shared intentionality develop gradually during the first 14 months of life as two ontogenetic pathways intertwine: (1) the general ape line of understanding others as animate, goal-directed, and intentional agents; and (2) a species-unique motivation to share emotions, experience, and activities with other persons. The developmental outcome is children's ability to construct dialogic cognitive representations, which enable them to participate in earnest in the collectivity that is human cognition.     

A survey of microcomputer use in small psychology departments

A survey of microcomputer use in psychology showed equal frequency of use for teaching, research, and administration. Respondents with computer experience evaluated microcomputer contributions more highly than did those respondents without experience but with an interest in using computer systems. Apple IIes were the most popular machines, word processing the most popular use, and experimental and statistical psychology the most popular courses for using computers. Sixty percent of the users wrote their own software.     

Empowering Parents: The Use of the Parent as Researcher Paradigm in Early Intervention

Whilst family-focussed models of service delivery are proving more effective in early intervention, it is the parents who ultimately carry the burden of responsibility. They often evolve their own strategies for coping with difficulties and solving problems within a family context. Through case study analysis, I report on some of the key outcomes of early intervention for families of very young children with disabilities. The analysis challenges traditional definitions of the family and suggests a recontextualisation of this concept. Similarly parental perceptions of the style of early intervention services are contrasted with those models reported to be effective by professionals. In striving for optimal effectiveness in early intervention, the unique knowledge and understanding of parents is pivotal, and ways are suggested of objectively collecting and collating that knowledge to inform practice and identify important research questions. This case study analysis has led to the evolution of the parent as researcher paradigm, and the implications for the practical implementation of this model will be considered.     

The relationship between adrenal steroids and enrichment-induced brain growth.

The question of whether brain growth brought about by environmental enrichment is mediated by the adrenal cortex has not been answered. Accordingly, young male rats were either adrenalectomized (ADX) and infused with a constant maintenance dose of corticosterone (2 mg.kg-1.day-1) or sham-operated and implanted with a blank infusion device. Half of each surgical group was maintained in either impoverished (IC) or enriched conditions (EC). After 30 days, changes in forebrain growth and thickness of various cortical and subcortical regions were determined for each group. Enrichment and ADX independently increased forebrain weight and thickened cortical tissue at about the same anatomical sites. However, combined treatments were additive, not interactive. EC-induced brain growth is mimicked but not mediated by adrenalectomy.