An evaluation of intraverbal training and listener training for teaching categorization skills

The effects of vocal intraverbal training and listener training on the emergence of untrained categorization skills were evaluated. Five typically developing preschool children initially learned to name a number of previously unfamiliar visual stimuli. Each child then received one of two types of training. Intraverbal training involved reinforcing vocally emitted category names by the child in the presence of a spoken exemplar name. Listener training involved reinforcing the selection of visual stimuli by the child in the presence of a spoken category name. A multiple baseline design was used to evaluate the effects of training on each child's intraverbal category naming and stimulus selection. Pre- and posttests were used to assess additional emergent relations. Four of 5 participants did not demonstrate the emergence of any untrained relations. The current findings suggest that additional research is needed to determine the optimal sequencing of conditions in programs designed to teach categorization skills.     

Studying overt word reading and speech production with event-related fMRI: a method for detecting, assessing, and correcting articulation-induced signal changes and for measuring onset time and duration of articulation

A quantitative method is introduced for detecting and correcting artifactual signal changes in BOLD time series data arising from the magnetic field warping caused by motion of the articulatory apparatus when speaking aloud, with extensions to detection of subvocal articulatory activity during silent reading. Whole-head images allow the large, spike-like signal changes from the moving tongue and other components of the articulatory apparatus to be detected and localized in time, providing a measure of the time of vocalization onset, the vocalization duration, and also an estimate of the magnitude and shape of the signal change resulting from motion. Data from brain voxels are then examined during the vocalization period, and statistical outliers corresponding to contamination from articulatory motion are removed and replaced by linear interpolation from adjacent, uncontaminated data points. This quantitative approach to cleansing brain time series data of articulatory-motion-induced artifact is combined with a pre-scanning training regimen that reduces gross head movement during reading aloud to the levels observed during reading silently, which can be corrected with available image registration techniques. The combination of quantitative analysis of articulatory motion artifacts and pre-scanning training makes possible a much wider range of tasks involving overt speech than are currently being used in fMRI studies of language and cognition, as well as characterization of subvocal movements of the articulatory apparatus that are relevant to theories of reading skill, verbal rehearsal in working memory, and problem solving.     

Naughty or nice?: equity, gender and behavior

We review the debate over behavior, gender and classroom placement in ability groups for kindergartners. Using vignettes we vary children’s gender in three ways; male, female, or unspecified gender and also describe them as behaving well, average, or misbehaving. Our aim is to probe how much gender and behavior matter with respect to mock reading group placement. The design allows us to see if depicted behavior affects placement when every vignette child is described as possessing the same, average ability. After reading vignettes that vary gender and behavior, but not ability, respondents are directed to assign the portrayed child to a high, medium or low reading group. While depicted behavior strongly affects reading group placement, gender is not a significant predictor.

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DOES GOD PLAY DICE? INSIGHTS FROM THE FRACTAL GEOMETRY OF NATURE

Abstract Albert Einstein and Huston Smith reflect the old metaphor that chaos and randomness are bad. Scientists recently have discovered that many phenomena, from the fluctuations of the stock market to variations in our weather, have the same underlying order. Natural beauty from plants to snowflakes is described by fractal geometry; tree branching from trunks to twigs has the same fractal scaling as our lungs, from trachea to bronchi. Algorithms for drawing fractals have both randomness and global determinism. Fractal statistics is like picking a card from a stacked deck rather than from one that is shuffled to be truly random. The polarity of randomness (or freedom) and law characterizes the self‐creating natural world. Polarity is in consonance with Taoism and contemporary theologians such as Paul Tillich, Alfred North Whitehead, Gordon Kaufman, Philip Hefner, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Joseph Ford's new metaphor is replacing the old: “God plays dice with the universe, but they're loaded dice.”     

Evaluation of a Brief Group Based Psychological/Educational Treatment Programme for Women with an Iatrogenic Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Thirty-two women with an iatrogenic chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were assigned to a treatment or waiting list control group and completed the SF-36, GHQ30, Battles SE, and two in-house questionnaires. A series of mixed model ANOVAs indicated a significant Group × Time effect for SF-36 physical functioning (F = 9.01, p < .01) and a series of repeated measures ANOVAs (treatment group only) indicated a significant time effect for a sustained improvement in psychological well-being (F = 8.01, p < .01) at 3 months posttreatment. Furthermore, most women posttreatment felt more positive and informed about their illness, had more confidence, and reported a greater ability to control and cope with their lives. Psychological/educational treatment programmes show promise for increasing adjustment and coping in women with an iatrogenic HCV infection and may be modified for use in other HCV cohorts.     

Power in relationships of women with depression

To identify marital power difficulties specifically associated with depression, twenty couples in which the female partner was depressed were compared on a range of interpersonal power variables with twenty healthy control couples and also with twenty couples in which the female partner had a disorder other than depression (specifically panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA)). Couples in the depressed group had two features that distinguished them from couples in both the PDA and control groups and which were independent of relationship dissatisfaction. In the depressed group, both partners reported more physical assault in the year prior to the study and depressed women were more dissatisfied with their control of surplus spending money. Couples in the depressed group had a series of features that distinguished them from couples in both the PDA and control groups but which were due in part to relationship dissatisfaction. Depressed women were less committed to their relationships. Both partners in depressed couples reported more demand–withdraw transactions and less mutual constructive communication within their relationships. Depressed women reported more dissatisfaction with decision-making and greater dissatisfaction in childcare task distribution.     

Psychosocial Variables as Predictors of Psychological Stress–Induced Ischemia in the Laboratory

This study examined ischemic reactivity to a psychological stress protocol and whether psychological variables could reliably classify individuals as ischemic reactors. Participants were 54 male Veterans Administration patients who had or were suspected of having CAD. Psychological inventories were administered prior to a psychological stress protocol consisting of a surgical video, the Stroop Color–Word task, an arithmetic task, and discussion of a stressful event. Cardiac functioning was evaluated using an ECG Holter monitor and 23.53% of participants were classified as reactors. Mean differences between reactors and nonreactors were found for State Anger, Health Locus of Control—Powerful Others (MHLC-PO), and Depression. State Anger and MHLC-PO emerged as significant predictors of reactor status in logistic regression analyses. Models based on individual scale items suggested three items could be used to achieve higher classification rates. Implications for revising screening procedures for determining risk and possible mechanisms underlying psychological stress–induced ischemia are discussed.     

Is the past prologue for some more than others? The hobo syndrome and job complexity

The current study examines the relationship between an individual's history of changing jobs and future turnover (the so-called “hobo syndrome”). Relying on self-consistency theory, it was hypothesized that the relationship between job mobility history and turnover is moderated by job complexity. Using a sample of 393 employees from two healthcare organizations, multiple methods were used to assess the variables of interest. Job mobility history was assessed with a biodata questionnaire collected before employees were hired. Job complexity was measured objectively by a job complexity index calculated from O*NET data. Turnover was assessed with actual turnover data collected over an 18-month post-hire period. Consistent with our hypothesis, results using event history analyses revealed that previous job changes were positively related to turnover likelihood. Additionally, job complexity moderated the relationship between previous job changes and turnover likelihood, such that previous job changes were more positively related to turnover in complex jobs. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Parents Plus Systemic,Solution‐Focused Parent Training Programs: Description,Review of the Evidence Base,and Meta‐Analysis

Parents Plus (PP) programs are systemic, solution‐focused, group‐based interventions. They are designed for delivery in clinical and community settings as treatment programs for families with child‐focused problems, such as behavioral difficulties, disruptive behavior disorders, and emotional disorders in young people with and without developmental disabilities. PP programs have been developed for families of preschoolers, preadolescent children, and teenagers, as well as for separated or divorced families. Seventeen evaluation studies involving over 1,000 families have shown that PP programs have a significant impact on child behavior problems, goal attainment, and parental satisfaction and stress. The effect size of 0.57 (p < .001) from a meta‐analysis of 10 controlled studies for child behavior problems compares favorably with those of meta‐analyses of other well‐established parent training programs with large evidence bases. In controlled studies, PP programs yielded significant (p < .001) effect sizes for goal attainment (d = 1.51), parental satisfaction (d = 0.78), and parental stress reduction (d = 0.54). PP programs may be facilitated by trained front‐line mental health and educational professionals.     

Infant Behavior Questionnaire–Revised Very Short Form: A New Factor Structure's Associations With Parenting Perceptions and Child Language Outcomes

The Infant Behavior Questionnaire Revised–Very Short Form (IBQ–R VSF; Putnam, Helbig, Gartstein, Rothbart, &; Leerkes, 2014 Putnam, S. P., Helbig, A. L., Gartstein, M. A., Rothbart, M. K., &; Leerkes, E. (2014). Development and assessment of short and very short forms of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire–Revised. Journal of Personality Assessment, 96, 445–458. doi:10.1080/00223891.2013.841171[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) is a new publicly available measure of infant temperament measuring positive affectivity/surgency (PAS), negative emotionality (NEG), and orienting and regulatory capacity (ORC). Although the initial psychometric properties of the 3-factor model appear promising, it has not been administered to a large and diverse sample and its predictive validity has not been established. This study administered the IBQ–R VSF to a diverse sample of 5,639 mothers of infants aged between 23 and 52 weeks. Confirmatory factor analysis found that the 3-factor solution did not meet the requirement for satisfactory model fit. Exploratory factor analysis found that a 5-factor solution (PAS, NEG, Orienting Capacity, Affiliation/Regulation, and Fear) was statistically and conceptually the most parsimonious. All 5 temperament dimensions were found to relate to both mother- and partner-reported infant closeness, parenting confidence, and parenting satisfaction, and four of the dimensions (PAS, Orienting Capacity, NEG, and Fear) related to the infants' communication development. Some parental differences were also found. Together these findings suggest that the 5-factor IBQ–R VSF is a promising measure of infant temperament and is related to parenting perceptions and child language development.