Comparing and combining retrieval practice and the keyword mnemonic for foreign vocabulary learning

Experiment 1 compared the effectiveness of retrieval practice, the keyword mnemonic and rote rehearsal for learning foreign language vocabulary. Both mnemonic methods produced similar recall and were superior to rote rehearsal. In Experiment 2, participants learned German vocabulary using keywords, retrieval practice or their own method. Retrieval practice and keyword‐based recall were similar and superior to self‐directed study. In Experiment 3, participants studied using keywords, retrieval practice, a combination or an elaboration strategy. Criterion testing occurred immediately and after a week. For receptive learning, retrieval practice and keywords were equally beneficial but for productive learning, retrieval practice was more effective. Combining strategies produced mixed results with significant benefits only for receptive learning in the delayed test. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A meta-analytic review of the influence of pediatric cancer on parent and family functioning.

This study used meta-analytic methods to compare the functioning of parents of children with cancer to parents of physically healthy children or normative samples. A meta-analysis using fixed effects, weighted least squares methods was conducted on 29 studies examining psychological distress and marital and family functioning among parents of children with cancer. Mothers and fathers of children newly diagnosed with cancer reported significantly greater distress than comparison samples. Mothers reported greater distress than fathers up to 12 months postdiagnosis. Mothers of children with cancer reported higher levels of family conflict than mothers of healthy children. Findings suggest that pediatric cancer impacts parents' perceptions of self- and family functioning, especially within the 1st year following diagnosis.     

Socio-communicative deficits in young children with Williams syndrome: performance on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule.

In this investigation, the socio-communicative skills of 29 children with Williams syndrome aged 2 (1/2) to 5 (1/2) years were examined using the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) Module 1. Most of the participants showed socio-communicative difficulties. Approximately half of the participants were classified by the ADOS algorithm as "autism spectrum." Three participants were classified "autism." Difficulties with pointing, gestures, giving, showing, and eye contact were present for more than half of the participants, with many also showing difficulties with initiation and response to joint attention and with integration of gaze with other behaviors. Expressive and receptive language abilities of the children with Williams syndrome classified "autism spectrum" were weaker than for children classified nonspectrum, but expressive and receptive language level did not account for the socio-communicative difficulties. Implications for our understanding of the socio-communicative abilities of young children with Williams syndrome and diagnostic practices regarding dual diagnosis are discussed.     

Cross-cultural differences in children's choices, categorizations, and evaluations of truths and lies

This study examined cross-cultural differences and similarities in children's moral understanding of individual- or collective-oriented lies and truths. Seven-, 9-, and 11-year-old Canadian and Chinese children were read stories about story characters facing moral dilemmas about whether to lie or tell the truth to help a group but harm an individual or vice versa. Participants chose to lie or to tell the truth as if they were the character (Experiments 1 and 2) and categorized and evaluated the story characters' truthful and untruthful statements (Experiments 3 and 4). Most children in both cultures labeled lies as lies and truths as truths. The major cultural differences lay in choices and moral evaluations. Chinese children chose lying to help a collective but harm an individual, and they rated it less negatively than lying with opposite consequences. Chinese children rated truth telling to help an individual but harm a group less positively than the alternative. Canadian children did the opposite. These findings suggest that cross-cultural differences in emphasis on groups versus individuals affect children's choices and moral judgments about truth and deception.     

(Why) do I think what you think? Epistemic social tuning and implicit prejudice

This research examines whether people who experience epistemic motivation (i.e., a desire to acquire knowledge) came to have implicit attitudes consistent with the apparent beliefs of another person. People had lower implicit prejudice when they experienced epistemic motivation and interacted with a person who ostensibly held egalitarian beliefs (Experiments 1 and 2). Implicit prejudice was not affected when people did not experience epistemic motivation. Further evidence shows that this tuning of implicit attitudes occurs when beliefs are endorsed by another person, but not when they are brought to mind via means that do not imply that person's endorsement (Experiment 3). Results suggest that implicit attitudes of epistemically motivated people tune to the apparent beliefs of others to achieve shared reality.     

Preschoolers' aggression, affiliation, and social dominance relationships: An observational, longitudinal study

This study of 61 preschool children used an observational, longitudinal design to examine the degree to which social dominance relationships account for time-related change in rates of aggression and affiliation across a school year. Specific hypotheses reflected the view that, over time, behavioral function should change in accord with the stability of social dominance relationships, social norms, and on-going developmental processes. Results showed that change in rates of aggression was non-linear (i.e., increasing then decreasing over the year), that physical and verbal forms of aggression were associated with distinct longitudinal trajectories, and that these trajectories were related to rates of affiliation and visual regard. As predicted, social dominance accounted for significant variation in these patterns. Implications for theory, future research, and school practitioners are discussed.     

Autobiographical memory specificity and emotional disorder

The authors review research showing that when recalling autobiographical events, many emotionally disturbed patients summarize categories of events rather than retrieving a single episode. The mechanisms underlying such overgeneral memory are examined, with a focus on M. A. Conway and C. W. Pleydell-Pearce's (2000) hierarchical search model of personal event retrieval. An elaboration of this model is proposed to account for overgeneral memory, focusing on how memory search can be affected by (a) capture and rumination processes, when mnemonic information used in retrieval activates ruminative thinking; (b) functional avoidance, when episodic material threatens to cause affective disturbance; and (c) impairment in executive capacity and control that limits an individual's ability to remain focused on retrieval in the face of distraction.     

Awareness and Attitudes Regarding Prenatal Testing among Texas Women of Childbearing Age

Despite increased visibility and availability of prenatal testing procedures, very little is known about the attitudes among the populace toward these procedures. Using a computer assisted telephone interview of pregnant and non-pregnant women of childbearing age we analyze awareness and attitudes regarding prenatal tests among a diverse group of women of childbearing age in Texas. We also examine maternal characteristics associated with awareness and the willingness to undergo these procedures. While 89% were aware that such tests are available, younger, black and less educated women were less likely to know about prenatal tests for birth defects. Seventy-two percent of respondents said they would want their baby tested while Hispanic and black women were significantly more likely to express an interest than non-Hispanic whites. This study demonstrates the variability of knowledge and beliefs and confirms the importance of taking time to understand an individual’s personal beliefs, knowledge and attitudes about prenatal diagnosis.     

Hippocampal differentiation without recognition: an fMRI analysis of the contextual cueing task

A central role of the hippocampus is to consolidate conscious forms of learning and memory, while performance on implicit tasks appears to depend upon other structures. Recently, considerable debate has emerged about whether hippocampal-dependent tasks necessarily entail task awareness. In the contextual cueing task, repetition facilitation is implicit, but impaired in patients with amnesia. Whether the hippocampus alone or other MTL structures are required is unclear. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed hippocampal activity that differentiates novel from repeated arrays. This pattern of results was observed without recognition of the repeating arrays. This finding provides support for the claim that the hippocampus is involved in processes outside the domain of conscious learning and memory.     

Dehumanization: A New Perspective

Dehumanization has traditionally been understood as an extreme form of prejudice that enables violence and cruelty. Recent work indicates that it can also take subtle and everyday forms. We give an overview of early contributions to the psychological study of dehumanization before reviewing recent research on the attribution and denial of humanness. We emphasize our own research program, which proceeds from a theoretical analysis of two distinct senses of humanness, which when denied to others yield two forms of dehumanization. In one form, people are denied uniquely human attributes and likened to animals, and in the other, they are denied essentially human attributes and likened to machines. We discuss the ways in which these two forms of dehumanization are manifest in perceptions of individuals and groups, and speculate on the cognitive and motivational processes involved.