Reading aloud: New evidence for contextual control over the breadth of lexical activation

Computational accounts of reading aloud largely ignore context when stipulating how processing unfolds. One exception to this state of affairs proposes adjusting the breadth of lexical knowledge in such models in response to differing contexts. Three experiments and corresponding simulations, using Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, and Ziegler’s (2001) dual-route cascaded model, are reported. This work investigates a determinant of when a pseudohomophone such as brane is affected by the frequency of the word from which it is derived (e.g., the base word frequency of brain) by examining performance under conditions where it is read aloud faster than a nonword control such as frane. Reynolds and Besner’s (2005a) lexical breadth account makes the novel prediction that when a pseudohomophone advantage is seen, there will also be a base word frequency effect, provided exception words are also present. This prediction was confirmed. Five other accounts of this pattern of results are considered and found wanting. It is concluded that the lexical breadth account provides the most parsimonious account to date of these and related findings.     

Economic Hardship, Neighborhood Context, and Parenting: Prospective Effects on Mexican�CAmerican Adolescent��s Mental Health

This study examined family and neighborhood influences relevant to low-income status to determine how they combine to predict the parenting behaviors of Mexican-American mothers and fathers. The study also examined the role of parenting as a mediator of these contextual influences on adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Study hypotheses were examined in a diverse sample of Mexican-American families in which 750 mothers and 467 fathers reported on their own levels of parental warmth and harsh parenting. Family economic hardship, neighborhood familism values, and neighborhood risk indicators were all uniquely associated with maternal and paternal warmth, and maternal warmth mediated the effects of these contextual influences on adolescent externalizing symptoms in prospective analyses. Parents' subjective perceptions of neighborhood danger interacted with objective indicators of neighborhood disadvantage to influence maternal and paternal warmth. Neighborhood familism values had unique direct effects on adolescent externalizing symptoms in prospective analyses, after accounting for all other context and parenting effects.     

The Impact of Neighborhood Factors on the Well-Being of Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence Over Time

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a pervasive social problem impacting the psychological well-being of millions of US women annually. The extant literature draws our attention to the devastating mental health effects of IPV, but largely overlooks how ecological factors may further explain survivors' well-being. This study examined how neighborhood disadvantage may contribute to survivors' compromised well-being, in addition to the abuse women experienced. Neighborhood disorder and fear of victimization significantly impacted survivors' well-being, over and above abuse. Although between-women effects of neighborhood disorder and fear were unrelated to change in women's depression or quality of life (QOL), significant within-woman effects were detected. Change in neighborhood disorder was negatively associated with change in QOL, and this relationship was fully mediated by fear. While no direct relationship between change in neighborhood disorder and depression was detected, an indirect effect through survivors' fear was revealed. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Effects of a Parenting Intervention on Features of Psychopathy in Children

This study examined whether Project Support, a parenting intervention shown to reduce child conduct problems, also exerts positive effects on features of psychopathy in children. Participants were 66 families (mothers and children) recruited from domestic violence shelters who participated in a randomized controlled trial evaluating Project Support. Each family included at least one child between the ages of 4 and 9 who was exhibiting clinical levels of conduct problems. Families were randomly assigned to the Project Support intervention condition or to an existing services comparison condition, and they were assessed on 6 occasions over 20 months, following their departure from the shelter. Children in families in the Project Support condition, compared with those in the comparison condition, exhibited greater reductions in features of psychopathy. Moreover, the changes in features of psychopathy remained after accounting for changes in conduct problems. Project Support’s effects on features of psychopathy were mediated by improvements in mothers’ harsh and inconsistent parenting. These findings on the effects of an intervention on features of psychopathy are the first from a randomized controlled trial. They inform the debate about whether features of psychopathy in children are responsive to intervention, and hold important implications for clinical practice.     

Dimensions and Latent Classes of Episodic Mania-Like Symptoms in Youth: An Empirical Enquiry

The dramatic increase in diagnostic rates of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents in the USA has led to an intense interest in the phenomenology of the disorder. Here we present data from a newly-developed instrument to assess episodic mania-like symptoms in youth in a large population-based sample (N = 5326) using parent- and self-report. We found that a substantial proportion of children screened positive for having episodes of “going high” and were at an increased risk for morbidity and impairment. Using factor analysis, we identified that episodic mania-like symptoms comprised two dimensions: An under-controlled dimension that was associated with significant impairment, and a low-risk exuberant dimension. Using latent class analysis, we identified a small group of children scoring high on a range of manic symptoms and suffering from severe psychosocial impairment and morbidity. Our results carry implications for the nosology and psychosocial impairment associated with episodic mood changes in young people.     

Sources of Cognitive Exploration: Genetic Variation in the Prefrontal Dopamine System Predicts Openness/Intellect

The personality trait Openness/Intellect reflects the tendency to be imaginative, curious, perceptive, artistic, and intellectual - all characteristics that involve cognitive exploration. Little is known about the biological basis of Openness/Intellect, but the trait has been linked to cognitive functions of prefrontal cortex, and the neurotransmitter dopamine plays a key role in motivation to explore. The hypothesis that dopamine is involved in Openness/Intellect was supported by examining its association with two genes that are central components of the prefrontal dopaminergic system. In two demographically different samples (children: N = 608; adults: N = 214), variation in the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) and the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene (COMT) predicted Openness/Intellect, as main effects in the child sample and as a gene-gene interaction in adults.     

Getting precise and pragmatic about the assessment of bullying: the development of the California Bullying Victimization Scale

Accurate assessment of bullying is essential to intervention planning and evaluation. Limitations to many currently available self-report measures of bullying victimization include a lack of psychometric information, use of the emotionally laden term "bullying" in definition-first approaches to self-report surveys, and not assessing all components of the definition of bullying (chronicity, intentionality, and imbalance of power) in behavioral-based self-report methods. To address these limitations, we developed the California Bullying Victimization Scale (CBVS), which is a self-report scale that measures the three-part definition of bullying without the use of the term bully. We examined test-retest reliability and the concurrent and predictive validity of the CBVS across students in Grades 5-12 in four central California schools. Concurrent validity was assessed by comparing the CBVS with a common, definition-based bullying victimization measure. Predictive validity was examined through the co-administration of measures of psychological well-being. Analysis by grade and gender are included. Results support the test-retest reliability of the CBVS over a 2-week period. The CBVS was significantly, positively correlated with another bullying assessment and was related in expected directions to measures of well-being. Implications for differentiating peer victimization and bullying victimization via self-report measures are discussed.     

Overshadowing between landmarks on the touchscreen and in arena with pigeons

The role of generalization decrement in spatial overshadowing was evaluated using a landmark-based spatial search task in both a touchscreen preparation (Experiment 1a) and in an Automated Remote Environmental Navigation Apparatus (ARENA, Experiment 1b). A landmark appeared as a colored circle among a row of eight (touchscreen) or six (ARENA) potential locations. On overshadowing trials, Landmark X was located two positions away from a hidden goal, while another landmark, A, was in the position between X and the goal. On control trials, Landmark Y was positioned two locations away from the goal but without a closer landmark. All subjects were then tested with separate trials of A, X, Y, and BY. Testing revealed poor spatial control by X relative to A and Y, thereby replicating the spatial overshadowing effect. Spatial control by Y was similar when tested in compound with novel landmark (BY) and on trials of Y alone. Thus, overshadowing in a small-scale environment does not appear to be due to a process of generalization decrement between training and testing.     

By the numbers: Structure-seeking individuals prefer quantitative over qualitative representations of personal value to compensate for the threat of unclear performance contingencies

What combination of dispositional and situational factors leads people to represent their personal value in quantitative terms (e.g., salary) rather than qualitative terms (e.g., virtue)? Integrating research on quantitative information seeking, dispositional epistemic motivation, and learned helplessness, the current article hypothesized that individuals high, but not low, in uncertainty avoidance (measured with the Personal Need for Structure Scale [PNS]) would prefer quantitative (over qualitative) value representations to compensate for the diminished self-esteem certainty caused by exposure to unclear performance contingencies. Accordingly, in Study 1 high-PNS participants exposed to unclear (vs. clear) performance contingencies in one domain (visual intelligence) preferred a quantitative value representation in another domain (verbal intelligence). Study 2 showed that this effect is mediated by self-esteem certainty, not self-esteem level. Study 3 included a failure feedback condition to further isolate the role of epistemic motivation, as distinct from self-enhancement motivation, in driving the tendency to quantify personal value.