Studying the grammatical aspects of word recognition: lexical priming,parsing, and syntactic ambiguity resolution

Two experiments are reported examining the relationship between lexical and syntactic processing during language comprehension, combining techniques common to the on-line study of syntactic ambiguity resolution with priming techniques common to the study of lexical processing. By manipulating grammatical properties of lexical primes, we explore how lexically based knowledge is activated and guides combinatory sentence processing. Particularly, we find that nouns (like verbs, see Trueswell & Kim, 1998) can activate detailed lexically specific syntactic information and that these representations guide the resolution of relevant syntactic ambiguities pertaining to verb argument structure. These findings suggest that certain principles of knowledge representation common to theories of lexical knowledge—such as overlapping and distributed representations—also characterize grammatical knowledge. Additionally, observations from an auditory comprehension study suggest similar conclusions about the lexical nature of parsing in spoken language comprehension. They also suggest that thematic role and syntactic preferences are activated during word recognition and that both influence combinatory processing.     

Effects of Time Pressure on Mechanisms of Speech Production and Self-Monitoring

The purpose of the present study was to examine effects of time pressure on mechanisms of speech production and self-monitoring. The most widely accepted monitoring theory (Levelt, 1989) suggests that monitoring proceeds through language perception, that is, speech error detection is primarily based on the parsing of one's own inner and overt speech. Twenty-four subjects described visual networks at two different rates (normal and fast). The time pressure manipulation affected a number of temporal characteristics: the error to cutoff and cutoff to repair times were shorter in the fast than in the normal condition. The results indicate that the monitor adjusts its speed of error detection and repair planning to the faster speech output rate. The time pressure manipulation did not affect the accuracy of error detection. The implications for the perception theory of monitoring are discussed.     

The scholar’s best friend: research trends in dog cognitive and behavioral studies

Animal Cognition - In recent decades, cognitive and behavioral knowledge in dogs seems to have developed considerably, as deduced from the published peer-reviewed articles. However, to date, the...     

Moral reasoning,moral decision-making,and empathy in Korsakoff’s syndrome

Korsakoff’s syndrome (KS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder, caused by a vitamin B1 deficiency. Although it is known that patients with KS display diminished theory of mind functioning and frequently exhibit marked antisocial interactions little attention has so far focused on the integrity of moral decision-making abilities, moral reasoning, and empathy. In an experimental cross-sectional design, 20 patients diagnosed with KS, and twenty age-, education-, and gender-equivalent healthy participants performed tests assessing moral decision-making, moral reasoning maturity, empathy, and executive functioning. Participants were administered the Moral Behaviour Inventory (MBI) for everyday moral dilemmas, and ten cartoons of abstract moral dilemmas. Responses were scored according to the Kohlberg stages of moral reasoning. Empathy and executive functioning were assessed with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB). In contrast to frontal traumatic brain injury patients, KS patients did not display a utilitarian bias, suggesting preserved moral decision-making abilities. Of interest, KS patients had significantly lower levels of moral reasoning maturity on everyday moral dilemmas, and abstract moral dilemmas. In patients, empathy was moderately related to the level of moral maturity on both tasks, while executive functioning was not. In conclusion, KS patients have preserved moral decision-making abilities, but their moral reasoning abilities are poorer in everyday and abstract situations. Lower moral reasoning abilities and lower levels of empathy together may be responsible for adverse social functioning in KS.     

Early evidence of the Italian validation of the Trait Anxiety Scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children

Anxiety is one of the most widespread disorders in childhood. Researchers claim the need for a tool useful to assess the core constructs common to multiple anxiety disorders, to catch the generalized propensity to be anxious and to assess anxiety stability across the lifespan. The Trait Anxiety Scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC-T) seems to fill these gaps. The present study examined STAIC-T validity in a sample of 1324 Italian children aged 8–13 years old. Scalar invariance across gender was established. Internal consistency was good. Results reported higher levels of anxiety in girls, whereas no gender differences were found. The measure demonstrated good convergent validity with the Spence Children Anxiety Scale. Findings support the validity of the STAIC-T as a brief and concise diagnostic tool to assess the anxiety proneness in Italian children.     

The perceptions of the causes of cardiac diseases: a taxonomy

Objective: This study verifies whether the open-ended question of the B-IPQ can collect causal attributions of patients with cardiac diseases, define the more frequent causal attributions reported, classify them and describe the relation between the classification of the causes and patients’ characteristics.

Design: A group of 2011 patients with cardiac diseases was recruited during the first week of cardiac rehabilitation.

Primary outcome measures: Every participant filled in the B-IPQ and the HADS. The qualitative and quantitative analyses of the text using T-LAB identified the most frequent causal attributions and their co-occurrences.

Results: Among the patients, 26% did not recognise any causal attribution. The likelihood that the patients did not provide an answer was increased in older patients, females, patients with lower levels of education and higher levels of depression. Smoking and stress emerged as the most important attributions, followed by genetics, metabolic syndrome, work and nutrition. Four thematic clusters were identified: ‘work and stress’, ‘metabolic syndrome and hypertension’, ‘displeasures and body care’ and ‘heredity and other related diseases’.

Conclusions: This study suggests a classification of the causal attributions in patients with cardiac diseases and identifies thematic patterns and unknown attributions. The themes identified can serve as categories for future closed-ended questions.     

Positive emotional attention bias in young children with symptoms of ADHD

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often experience emotional dysregulation. Dysregulation can arise from heightened attention to emotional stimuli. Emotional attention biases are associated with a number of adverse socioemotional outcomes including reward sensitivity and externalizing behaviors. As reward sensitivity and externalizing behaviors are common in children with ADHD, the aim of the current study was to determine whether emotional attention biases are evident in young children with clinically significant ADHD symptoms. To test this, children with (n = 18) and without (n = 15) symptoms of ADHD were tested on a Dot Probe task. Provided recent evidence that emotional attention biases are attenuated by sleep, the task was performed before and after overnight sleep. Children with ADHD symptoms displayed positive, but not negative, attention biases at both time points, whereas typically developing children did not preferentially attend toward or away from positive or negative stimuli. Sleep did not alter attention biases in either group. Collectively, these results indicate that children with ADHD symptoms have stable, positive attention biases.     

The Changing Age of Individuals Seeking Presymptomatic Genetic Testing for Huntington Disease

Huntington disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. Presymptomatic genetic testing allows at-risk individuals to clarify their risk status. Understanding the characteristics and motivations of individuals seeking HD presymptomatic genetic testing better equips genetic counselors and other healthcare professionals to provide comprehensive and personalized care. The aims of this study were to (1) determine whether the average age when individuals seek presymptomatic HD genetic testing has decreased over time, (2) assess motivations for seeking testing, (3) explore whether there is a relationship between age and motivations, and (4) explore genetic counselors’ perceptions of the shift in age. Data from the US HD testing centers (N?=?4) were analyzed. A small but statistically significant decrease in age of individuals seeking presymptomatic testing was observed (p?=?0.045). HD community members (N?=?77) were surveyed regarding presymptomatic testing motivations. Younger individuals were more likely than older individuals to cite “To learn whether or not you would develop HD” and “To make choices about further education or a career” compared to older individuals (p?<?0.05). Conversely, older individuals more frequently cited “To give children a better idea of their risk” (p?<?0.002). Sixteen percent of genetic counselors surveyed (6/37) perceived a change in age of testing. All of these respondents had provided HD testing for ten or more years and anecdotally believed the age at testing has decreased over time. Study results help providers personalize counseling based on patient’s age and serve as a starting point for more research into the relationship between age at testing and motivations for testing.     

Exploring the Link Between Mind Wandering,Mindfulness, and Creativity: A Multidimensional Approach

Even if mind wandering (MW) and mindfulness have traditionally been intended as separate and antithetical constructs, the roles of these 2 mental states on creative behavior were jointly explored in this article. In particular, MW was analyzed in light of a recent approach suggesting a differentiation between deliberate and spontaneous MW, whereas mindfulness was analyzed by distinguishing its 5 different constitutional dimensions: observing, acting with awareness, describing, nonreactivity, and nonjudging. The influence on creativity of these 2 mental states was analyzed using a sample of 77 undergraduate students both on a performance index (i.e., originality) and on a self-report index (i.e., creative achievement). Results showed that MW and mindfulness dimensions predicted creative behavior both alone and in combination, suggesting a complex interdependence between these 2 mental states within the creative thinking process. In particular, the critical importance of distinguishing between deliberate and spontaneous MW was revealed by a final path analysis, which revealed the opposite effects of these 2 dimensions on originality and creative achievement. That is, deliberate MW positively predicted creative performance, whereas spontaneous MW was negatively associated with such performance. Moreover, the nonreactivity and awareness dimensions of mindfulness, the latter in interaction with deliberate MW, emerged as main predictors of response originality. Finally, the describing facet of mindfulness predicted creative achievement both directly and indirectly through an interaction with deliberate MW. The implications emerging from the adoption of a multi-dimensional approach to the analysis of MW and mindfulness in the study of creativity are discussed herein.     

The Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire in Mothers and Fathers of School-Aged Children

Research on parental reflective functioning (PRF)—defined as parents’ capacity to comprehend the developing mind of their child, reflect upon it, and hold in mind the inner life of the child—has mostly involved mothers of infants and young children, and rarely fathers and parents of school-aged children. The present study sought to extend research on PRF by examining aspects of the construct that are still scarcely explored, such as the role of gender and attachment; to investigate whether there were differences between mothers’ and fathers’ PRF and whether there were differences in PRF related to the gender and age of the child; and, finally, to assess the association between PRF and each parent’s attachment style. The Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ) and the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ) were administered to a community sample of mothers and fathers of 385 children aged 3–10 years. A multi-group factor analysis supported the hypothesized three-factor model among both fathers and mothers. Univariate and multivariate analyses of variance showed that mothers had higher levels of interest and curiosity in their children’s mental states than fathers. Parents of daughters showed higher pre-mentalizing modes than parents of sons. Parents of preschool children showed less nonmentalizing modes than parents of children aged 8–10. Correlations between PRFQ and ASQ showed that both mothers’ and fathers’ interest in thinking about their child’s internal experience and in taking the child’s perspective were correlated with higher levels of secure attachment style. Research implications are discussed.