Smiling in newborns during communicative wake and active sleep

Many studies have investigated infant smiling behaviour during wake and active sleep. In the majority of studies authors agreed that two month-old infants exhibit social smiles. However it is not clear if newborns exhibit different kinds of smiles during wake and active sleep to two month-old infants and if the communicative context can affect the quantity and quality of these smiles.The aim of this study was to test if different kinds of communication affects the amount and the quality of smiles during different behavioural states.Smiling behaviour was analyzed during interactive wake (IW) and active sleep (AS), in 40 newborns randomly assigned to 4 groups of 10 newborns each: continuous tactile communication group, discontinuous non periodic tactile communication group, discontinuous periodic tactile communication group, absent communication group. In the total sample the open/closed mouth (social/non social) smiles ratio was 38/5 during IW and 1/28 during AS (p < .001). Moreover these ratios were different between the four groups.Different kinds of tactile communication affect amount and quality of the smiles of newborns during IW and AS. Moreover the morphological difference of the smiles during IW and AS suggested that for newborns the smiling behaviour during IW could have a social meaning, as it does for two month-old infants.     

On the role of intervening distractors in the attentional blink

The attentional blink (AB) refers to the decline in accurate report for a second target (T2) when presented within about 500 ms of a first target (T1) embedded in a rapid serial visual presentation stream of distractors. It is debated whether the distractors presented shortly after T1 cause the AB directly, as is proposed by distractor-based models, or can modulate its amplitude only indirectly by increasing T1 difficulty, as is proposed by capacity-based models. To investigate this issue, an intervening distractor was presented at lag 1 (T1 + 1), at lag 2 (T1 + 2), or at neither of these two lags (no distractor). T2 was presented at either lag 3 or 9. An AB was observed even in the absence of intervening distractors, indicating that distractors are not necessary to produce an AB. Nonetheless, the T1 + 2 distractor did modulate the AB directly, without influencing T1 performance. Neither theory can fully account for the results but can do so given some modifications.     

Organizational Justice: Personality Traits or Emotional Intelligence? An Empirical Study in an Italian Hospital Context

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of personality traits and emotional intelligence in relation to organizational justice. The Organizational Justice Scale, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire–Revised Short Form, and the Bar‐On Emotional Quotient Inventory were administered to 384 Italian nurses. The emotional intelligence dimensions explained a greater percentage of the incremental variance in relation to the four organizational justice dimensions (distributive: ΔR²= .11; procedural: ΔR²= .12; interpersonal: ΔR²= .19; informational: ΔR²= .16) with respect to personality traits (distributive: R²= .06; procedural: R²= .08; interpersonal: R²= .12; informational: R²= .09). The results highlight the role of emotional intelligence in explaining organizational justice, thereby offering new research and intervention perspectives.     

Separating global and specific factors in developmental dyslexia

The general goal of the study was to identify global and specific components in developmental dyslexia using various manipulations based on the rapid automatization paradigm (RAN). In two experiments, we used both factor analysis and the Rate-and-Amount Model to verify if one (or more) global factor(s) and a variety of specific effects contribute to the naming (and visual search) deficits in children with dyslexia. Results of Experiment 1 indicated the presence of three global components: pictorial naming, detailed orthographic analysis, and visual search. Pictorial naming is predicated by typical RAN tasks (such as naming colors or objects), independent of set size, but also from a variety of other tasks including Stroop interference conditions. The detailed orthographic analysis factor accounts for naming of orthographic stimuli at high set size. Visual search marked tasks requiring the scanning of visual targets. Results of Experiment 2 confirmed the separation between the pictorial naming and detailed orthographic analysis factors both in the original sample and in a new group of children. Furthermore, specific effects of frequency, lexicality, and length were shown to contribute to the reading deficit. Overall, it is proposed that focusing on the profile of both global and specific effects provides a more effective and, at the same time, simpler account of the dyslexics' impairment.     

Assessing the interpersonal circumplex model in late childhood: the interpersonal behavior questionnaire for children

The authors developed the Interpersonal Behavior Questionnaire for Children with the aim of assessing the constructs of the interpersonal circumplex model, that is, Dominance and Love and their possible combinations, via third- to fifth-grade children's self- and peer reports. In the three studies presented herein, the authors examined several psychometric properties of the questionnaire. Results demonstrated that children's ratings along the questionnaire yielded the hypothesized circumplex structure of the interpersonal variables; that they reached significant association levels with external criteria; and that they were reliable. Specifically, interrater correlations were shown to reach substantive levels when inspected in older children, when scores were aggregated over raters, and when dominant behaviors were evaluated. Overall, the findings demonstrated the tenability of the circumplex model in young ages via children's ratings. The authors suggest that both personality assessment and personality development research may take advantage from using children's evaluations, in addition to adults' ratings of their children's personality.     

Multimodal signaling in the visuo-acoustic mismatch paradigm: similarities between dogs and children in the communicative approach

Animal Cognition - In this review, we have analyzed the studies on the “mismatch paradigm” or “contrasting paradigm”, in which the word indicates an intent that is opposite...     

改革开放30年中国农村土地承包经营权制度流变——一个法经济学的视角

农村土地承包经营权是改革开放以来我国农地制度在法律上的具体体现.随着我国改革开放的不断深入,土地承包经营权的边际效用逐渐降低,需要合理的制度供给和相应的制度变迁.从制度供给的角度来看,改革开放以来我国农村土地承包经营权的制度变迁主要经历了政策推动阶段、政策法律化开启阶段、政策法律化深入阶段和政策法律化完善阶段.通过对各阶段土地承包经营权的产权结构和实施绩效的分析,可以发现在土地承包经营权自下而上的需求诱致性制度变迁过程中,今后制度变迁的发展路径应更注重法律合理化、类型化变迁和政府守法等方面的改良.     

Inverse duration effects in partial report.

In partial-report experiments, an array of stimuli is displayed briefly, followed by a probe indicating the items to be reported. When exposure duration of the array is increased, 2 contrasting outcomes have been found: Some experiments find that performance improves (direct-duration effect); others find that it deteriorates (inverse-duration effect). The objective here was to identify the reasons for the discrepant results. This was done by investigating the roles played by 5 factors that differed between the 2 sets of contrasting studies. An inverse-duration effect was obtained in each of 6 experiments; its magnitude was affected by retinal eccentricity and by the number of items denoted by the probe. The effect was independent of array configuration and of number of items in the array. The direct-duration effect was shown to arise from a confounding of exposure duration and brightness.     

The Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy: A Comparison Between Paper-and-Pencil Versus Online Formats in Italian Samples

The most recent conceptualizations of empathy recognize affective empathy as distinct from cognitive empathy. Consequently, instruments that assess these 2 types of empathy have been developed. Among them, the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) is a particularly promising, relatively new, self-report measure consisting of 31 items. To examine the cross-cultural adaptability of the QCAE, we investigated the psychometric properties of an Italian version in 2 samples and with 2 different formats of administration. Study 1 (n = 407) used archival data collected via paper and pencil; Study 2 (n = 285) used newly collected data, obtained with an online format. In these studies, in addition to the QCAE, 6 other instruments measuring empathy-related constructs (i.e., interpersonal competence, well-being, personality traits, emotion regulation, alexithymia, and emotion recognition) were administered, too. Data analysis focused on factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent validity. The findings of both studies provide support for the cross-cultural applicability of the QCAE, and reveal interesting associations between empathy and the other constructs under examination.     

Primary care decision making in response to psychological complaints: the influence of patient race

Eighteen general practitioners indicated diagnostic and treatment decisions in response to patient vignettes. Results indicated that White patients were more likely to be correctly diagnosed as having anxiety than any other complaint. Asians were just as likely to receive a physical diagnosis as they were to receive one of anxiety. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.