An eye for relations: eye-tracking indicates long-term negative effects of operational thinking on understanding of math equivalence

Prior knowledge in the domain of mathematics can sometimes interfere with learning and performance in that domain. One of the best examples of this phenomenon is in students’ difficulties solving equations with operations on both sides of the equal sign. Elementary school children in the U.S. typically acquire incorrect, operational schemata rather than correct, relational schemata for interpreting equations. Researchers have argued that these operational schemata are never unlearned and can continue to affect performance for years to come, even after relational schemata are learned. In the present study, we investigated whether and how operational schemata negatively affect undergraduates’ performance on equations. We monitored the eye movements of 64 undergraduate students while they solved a set of equations that are typically used to assess children’s adherence to operational schemata (e.g., 3 + 4 + 5 = 3 + __). Participants did not perform at ceiling on these equations, particularly when under time pressure. Converging evidence from performance and eye movements showed that operational schemata are sometimes activated instead of relational schemata. Eye movement patterns reflective of the activation of relational schemata were specifically lacking when participants solved equations by adding up all the numbers or adding the numbers before the equal sign, but not when they used other types of incorrect strategies. These findings demonstrate that the negative effects of acquiring operational schemata extend far beyond elementary school.     

Increased Error-Related Brain Activity in Six-Year-Old Children with Clinical Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are the most frequently diagnosed form of psychopathology in children and often result in chronic impairment that persists into adulthood. Identifying neurobehavioral correlates of anxiety that appear relatively early in life would inform etiological models of development and allow intervention and prevention strategies to be implemented more effectively. The error-related negativity (ERN), a negative deflection in the event-related potential at fronto-central sites approximately 50 ms following the commission of errors, has been consistently found to be larger among anxious adults. The current study sought to extend these findings to even younger individuals: the ERN was elicited by a Go/NoGo task in 48 six year-old children with a clinical anxiety disorder assessed by diagnostic interview and 48 age-matched controls. In addition to child anxiety disorder, the ERN was examined in relation to maternal history of anxiety disorder, which was previously related to a smaller ERN. Anxious children were characterized by a larger (i.e., more negative) ERN and maternal history of anxiety disorder was associated with a smaller ERN. Thus, the relationship between an increased ERN and clinical anxiety is evident by age 6, and this effect appears independent from an opposing influence of maternal anxiety history on the ERN. These findings support the ERN as a promising neurobehavioral marker of anxiety, and implications are discussed.     

Neighborhood Crime and School Climate as Predictors of Elementary School Academic Quality: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis

Past research has found negative relationships between neighborhood structural disadvantage and students’ academic outcomes. Comparatively little work has evaluated the associations between characteristics of neighborhoods and schools themselves. This study explored the longitudinal, reciprocal relationships between neighborhood crime and school-level academic achievement within 500 urban schools. Results revealed that higher neighborhood crime (and particularly violent crime) predicted decreases in school academic achievement across time. School climate emerged as one possible mechanism within this relationship, with higher neighborhood crime predicting decreases in socioemotional learning and safety, but not academic rigor. All three dimensions of school climate were predictive of changes in academic achievement. Although this research supports a primarily unidirectional hypothesis of neighborhoods’ impacts on embedded settings, additional work is needed to understand these relationships using additional conceptualizations of neighborhood climate.     

Conceptions of criminal and delinquent acts

We estimate a series of multivariate logistic regression models specifying the effects of gender and other variables on the initiation and escalation of alcohol and other substance use/abuse in a sample of young adults from a general population. After controlling for race, ethnicity, father's education, and a tendency to over‐ or underendorse statements, effects of gender on circumstances surrounding initiation/escalation of binge drinking, marijuana use, and use of other illicit drugs were observed to be congruent with the literature on gender‐related sociodevelopmental processes and empirical studies of the circumstances surrounding substance use. Among substance users/abusers, gender was implicated in self‐reports of the relevance of peer influence, needs to enhance self‐importance and a sense of power, conflictive consequences, sensation‐seeking, and reduction of distress in the processes surrounding initiation and escalation of use.     

Processing ordinality and quantity: ERP evidence of separate mechanisms

We report an event-related potential (ERP) experiment of ordinal processing exploring the relationship between ordinal and numerical information.     

The Broaching Attitudes and Behavior Survey (BABS): An Exploratory Assessment of Its Dimensionality

The continuum of broaching behavior is a conceptual framework explicating how counselors broach or have explicit discussions about racial, ethnic, and cultural factors with their clients during treatment ( Day‐Vines et al., 2007 ). Counselors can assume 5 particular broaching orientations: avoidant, isolating, continuing/incongruent, integrated/congruent, and infusing. The authors operationalized the continuum of broaching behavior using the Broaching Attitudes and Behavior Scale and found support for a 4‐factor model of broaching behavior. El espectro de comportamiento de abordamiento es un marco conceptual que explica cómo los consejeros abordan o tienen discusiones específicas sobre factores raciales, étnicos y culturales con sus clientes durante el tratamiento ( Day‐Vines et al., 2007 ). Los consejeros pueden asumir 5 orientaciones de abordamiento particulares: evasiva, aislante, continua/incongruente, integrada/congruente e infundida. Los autores operativizaron el espectro de comportamiento de abordamiento usando la Escala de Actitudes de Abordamiento y Comportamiento y hallaron respaldo para un modelo del comportamiento de abordamiento de 4 factores.     

The effect of chronic caffeine consumption on urinary incontinence in psychogeriatric inpatients

Abstract

Urinary incontinence is a common problem in psychiatric settings, particularly among psychogeriatric patients. In view of the known diuretic action of caffeine, the present study assessed the effect of tea and coffee consumption on level of incontinence in selected psychogeriatric inpatients. A total of 14 patients participated in the study which employed a combined “withdrawal” and “multiple-baseline across subjects” design to examine the effect of alternating phases of caffeine exposure and abstinence on frequency of daytime and nighttime incontinence. Incontinence levels were significantly reduced during periods of caffeine abstinence relative to periods of chronic caffeine exposure. The hypothesis that observed reductions in incontinence may have been due to accompanying reductions in fluid intake was examined but not supported.     

Interrelationships between Reading Disability and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Evidence from a number of investigations suggests a considerable overlap between reading disability (RD) and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We investigate the relationship between RD and ADHD in a cohort of 186 children 7.5–9.5 years of age, recruited explicitly to address classification and definitional issues in these disorders. Using multivariate methods, we examine the hypothesis that RD and ADHD represent separate diagnostic entities that frequently co-occur in the same individual. The results suggest that RD is characterized by deficits within the language system, in particular a subcomponent within that system, phonological processing; in contrast, such linguistic deficits are not characteristic of ADHD unless ADHD is associated with RD. When children with both RD and ADHD are examined, both the linguistic deficits associated with RD and the behavioral characteristics associated with ADHD are apparent, but these deficits are not synergistic. We conclude that RD and ADHD represent separate disorders that frequently co-occur.     

Validating Measures of Psychological Well-being by Contrasting Samples Employed in Hazardous and Less Hazardous Work

The study investigated whether differences between contrasting groups reflect significant differences in psychological well-being scores. Membership of hazardous vs. less hazardous occupations in the same profession served as proxy measures of well-being. Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence (SOC), Block & Kremen's Ego-resiliency, and Goldberg's Emotional Stability scales were validated. Study 1 compared mine rescue team members and ordinary miners (n = 34, 41) and Study 2 police special task force members and regular officers (n = 43, 41). In Study 1, SOC and job satisfaction predicted group membership. In Study 2, satisfaction with life and extraversion scales predicted group membership, as did SOC in a secondary analysis. The SOC scale could predict psychological well-being in hazardous work settings.