Longitudinal Intellectual Assessment of Children With HIV Infection

The objective of this paper was to describe the intellectual development of 39 children with HIV infection. The children received serial evaluations over a 10-year period. Thirty-nine children were assessed with age-appropriate intellectual measures at regular intervals as part of their treatment in the HIV Program of a children's hospital. Children showed an 24-point drop in mean Bayley Mental scores over the first 2 years of life. McCarthy scores remained in the low average range from ages 3–5 years. IQ scores were stable by age 6 in the low average range, and unchanged through age 12. Significant changes in memory, vocabulary, and performance subtests were noted. Children with HIV infection demonstrated a significant decline in mental functioning over the first 2 years of life, fell into the low average range by age 3, and remained in the low average range, with subtle changes in some areas.     

Genetic factors in neuromuscular pain

Recent evidence suggests that fibromyalgia, a chronic widespread pain condition and related syndromes (chronic fatigue syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, etc.) may share heritable pathophysiologic features. We review the recent literature on genetic and familial factors found to participate in the pathogenesis of these syndromes, specifically fibromyalgia, including evidence suggesting that serotonin- and dopamine-related genes may play a role in the pathogenesis of these illnesses. The importance of environmental factors triggering these conditions in predisposed individuals is also discussed.     

Two studies examining the negative effect of self-efficacy on performance

Although hundreds of studies have found a positive relationship between self-efficacy and performance, several studies have found a negative relationship when the analysis is done across time (repeated measures) rather than across individuals. W. T. Powers (1991) predicted this negative relationship based on perceptual control theory. Here, 2 studies are presented to (a) confirm the causal role of self-efficacy and (b) substantiate the explanation. In Study 1, self-efficacy was manipulated for 43 of 87 undergraduates on an analytic game. The manipulation was negatively related to performance on the next trial. In Study 2, 104 undergraduates played the analytic game and reported self-efficacy between each game and confidence in the degree to which they had assessed previous feedback. As expected, self-efficacy led to overconfidence and hence increased the likelihood of committing logic errors during the game.     

Adaptationism--how to carry out an exaptationist program

Adaptationism is a research strategy that seeks to identify adaptations and the specific selective forces that drove their evolution in past environments. Since the mid-1970s, paleontologist Stephen J. Gould and geneticist Richard Lewontin have been critical of adaptationism, especially as applied toward understanding human behavior and cognition. Perhaps the most prominent criticism they made was that adaptationist explanations were analogous to Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories (outlandish explanations for questions such as how the elephant got its trunk). Since storytelling (through the generation of hypotheses and the making of inferences) is an inherent part of science, the criticism refers to the acceptance of stories without sufficient empirical evidence. In particular, Gould, Lewontin, and their colleagues argue that adaptationists often use inappropriate evidentiary standards for identifying adaptations and their functions, and that they often fail to consider alternative hypotheses to adaptation. Playing prominently in both of these criticisms are the concepts of constraint, spandrel, and exaptation. In this article we discuss the standards of evidence that could be used to identify adaptations and when and how they may be appropriately used. Moreover, building an empirical case that certain features of a trait are best explained by exaptation, spandrel, or constraint requires demonstrating that the trait's features cannot be better accounted for by adaptationist hypotheses. Thus, we argue that the testing of alternatives requires the consideration, testing, and systematic rejection of adaptationist hypotheses. Where possible, we illustrate our points with examples taken from human behavior and cognition.     

4～6岁儿童三种时间副词理解能力及策略的实验研究

采用定量与定性相结合的研究方法,对4～6岁儿童理解时间副词的能力进行了初步的探查,结果表明:(1)学前儿童对不同时间副词的理解能力是不同的。对现在时间副词的理解优于对过去时间副词的理解,对将来时间副词的理解能力最低,基本处于萌芽阶段。但这种理解能力的年龄发展效应不明显。(2)在表示将来的时间副词中,儿童对不同的具体时间副词表现出认知差异。(3)学前儿童在理解时间副词时多种策略并存。随着年龄的增长,有效策略的生成能力有了明显的提高。     

The crucial roles of stimulus matching and stimulus identity in negative priming

Negative priming refers to the situation in which an ignored item on an initial prime trial suffers slowed responding when it becomes the target item on a subsequent probe trial. In this experiment (and a replication), we demonstrate two ways in which stimulus consistency (matching) governs negative priming. First, negative priming for identical words occurred only when the prime distractor changed color when it became the probe target (i.e., constant cue to read the red word); negative priming disappeared when the prime distractor retained its color as the probe target (i.e., cue switches from read the red prime word to read the white probe word). Second, negative priming occurred for identical words, but not for semantically related words, whether related categorically or associatively. This pattern of results is consistent with a memory retrieval account, but not with an inhibition account of negative priming, and casts doubt on whether there is semantic negative priming for words.     

What does "being American" mean? A comparison of Asian American and European American young adults

Two studies found that the meaning of "being American" differs for Asian Americans and European Americans. In Study 1, Hmong and European American undergraduates described what "being American" meant to them. In Study 2, Chinese American and European American undergraduates described what "American culture" meant to them. Responses were coded for references to cultural exposure, customs/traditional behavior, ethnic diversity, political ideology, and patriotism. Across both studies, Asian Americans referred to American customs and traditional behavior more than European Americans. European Americans referred to patriotism more than Hmong (in Study 1) and to ethnic diversity more than Chinese Americans (in Study 2). The authors suggest that these differences reflect the distinct statuses, concerns, and experiences of Asian Americans and European Americans.     

The cognitive foundations of cultural stability and diversity

The existence and diversity of human cultures are made possible by our species-specific cognitive capacities. But how? Do cultures emerge and diverge as a result of the deployment, over generations and in different populations, of general abilities to learn, imitate and communicate? What role if any do domain-specific evolved cognitive abilities play in the emergence and evolution of cultures? These questions have been approached from different vantage points in different disciplines. Here we present a view that is currently developing out of the converging work of developmental psychologists, evolutionary psychologists and cognitive anthropologists.     

Themes of Self‐Regulation and Self‐Exploration in the Life Stories of Religious American Conservatives and Liberals

A sample of 128 highly religious (Christian) midlife American adults completed a series of attitudinal and personality trait measures and narrated 12 important autobiographical scenes in their life stories. Individuals high on self‐reported political conservatism tended to accentuate the theme of self‐regulation in their life stories, repeatedly describing important autobiographical scenes wherein they struggled to control, discipline, manage, restrain, protect, or preserve the self. By contrast, individuals high on political liberalism tended to emphasize the theme of self‐exploration, telling stories about expanding, discovering, articulating, or fulfilling the self. Demographics and dispositional traits (especially openness to experience) showed significant associations with conservatism‐liberalism, as well, but these variables did not mitigate the robust relationship between life‐narrative themes and political orientation. The results are discussed in terms of a broadened understanding of personality that conceives of dispositional traits and narrative identity as comprising distinct layers and complementary features of psychological individuality, both implicated in political lives.