Efectos diferenciales de la frecuencia silábica: dependencia del tipo de prueba y características de los estímulos

Resumen

La frecuencia silábica posicional es una variable de reciente utilización en nuestro idioma. Por su carácter fonológico ha sido utilizada en este trabajo tanto para estudiar su papel en la lectura como para obtener algunas pistas sobre diferencias interlingüísticas entre nuestro idioma y otros que como el inglÉs son más opacos a la hora de traducir a sonidos su ortografía. Se utilizaron dos tipos de pruebas: decisión lÉxica y lectura que presumiblemente implican diferentes demandas cognitivas. Los resultados de la tarea de decisión lÉxica (Experimentos 1 y 3) muestran, en general, que la frecuencia silábica enlentece la respuesta del sujeto tanto en las palabras como en las pseudopalabras, confirmando algunos estudios previos (De Vega et al., 1990). Por el contrario, en la tarea de lectura (Experimentos 2 y 4) la frecuencia silábica tiende a acelerar la respuesta en la mayoría de los estímulos. Este comportamiento diferencial de los sujetos en función de la tÉcnica utilizada sugiere que mientras la decisión lÉxica exige el ascenso hasta el nivel de palabra, la lectura puede realizarse con Éxito desde un nivel prelÉxico silábico.     

Emotional distraction in boys with ADHD: Neural and behavioral correlates

Although, in everyday life, patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are frequently distracted by goal-irrelevant affective stimuli, little is known about the neural and behavioral substrates underlying this emotional distractibility. Because some of the most important brain responses associated with the sudden onset of an emotional distracter are characterized by their early latency onset and short duration, we addressed this issue by using a temporally agile neural signal capable of detecting and distinguishing them. Specifically, scalp event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while 20 boys with ADHD combined type and 20 healthy comparison subjects performed a digit categorization task during the presentation of three types of irrelevant, distracting stimuli: arousing negative (A−), neutral (N) and arousing positive (A+). Behavioral data showed that emotional distracters (both A− and A+) were associated with longer reaction times than neutral ones in the ADHD group, whereas no differences were found in the control group. ERP data revealed that, compared with control subjects, boys with ADHD showed larger anterior N2 amplitudes for emotional than for neutral distracters. Furthermore, regression analyses between ERP data and subjects’ emotional ratings of distracting stimuli showed that only in the ADHD group, emotional arousal (ranging from calming to arousing) was associated with anterior N2: its amplitude increased as the arousal content of the visual distracter increased. These results suggest that boys with ADHD are more vulnerable to the distracting effects of irrelevant emotional stimuli than control subjects. The present study provides first data on the neural substrates underlying emotional distractibility in ADHD.     

Identification and Small Sample Estimation of Thurstone's Unrestricted Model for Paired Comparisons Data

The interpretation of a Thurstonian model for paired comparisons where the utilities' covariance matrix is unrestricted proved to be difficult due to the comparative nature of the data. We show that under a suitable constraint the utilities' correlation matrix can be estimated, yielding a readily interpretable solution. This set of identification constraints can recover any true utilities' covariance matrix, but it is not unique. Indeed, we show how to transform the estimated correlation matrix into alternative correlation matrices that are equally consistent with the data but may be more consistent with substantive theory. Also, we show how researchers can investigate the sample size needed to estimate a particular model by exploiting the simulation capabilities of a popular structural equation modeling statistical package.     

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,Sensory Integration,and Aquatic Therapy: A Scoping Review

The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) continues to increase. Symptomology of PTSD include sensory deficits much like those displayed in children with sensory integration (SI) disorder. The aim of this scoping review is to review symptoms of PTSD and SI, and make a case of how aquatic therapy may be an effective modality in treating clients with PTSD. Eighteen articles were selected for review. From this review, it is suggested that aquatic therapy can be an effective modality in reducing symptoms of PTSD; however, future research is essential in determining its effectiveness.     

Social information processing in preschool children: Relations to sociodemographic risk and problem behavior

Using a multicomponent, process-oriented approach, the links between social information processing during the preschool years and (a) sociodemographic risk and (b) behavior problems in preschool were examined in a community sample of 196 children. Findings provided support for our initial hypotheses that aspects of social information processing in preschool are related to both sociodemographic risk and behavior problems in preschool. Response evaluation and in particular the positive evaluation of an aggressive response were related to both sociodemographic risk and children’s aggressive behavior and partially mediated the links between sociodemographic risk and aggressive behavior in preschool.     

The role of robotic modelling in cognitive science

From the perspective of cognitive robotics, this paper presents a modern interpretation of Newell’s (1973) reasoning and suggestions for why and how cognitive psychologists should develop models of cognitive phenomena. We argue that the shortcomings of current cognitive modelling approaches are due in significant part to a lack of exactly the kind of integration required for the development of embodied autonomous robotics. Moreover we suggest that considerations of embodiment, situatedness, and autonomy, intrinsic to cognitive robotics, provide an appropriate basis for the integration and theoretic cumulation that Newell argued was necessary for psychology to mature. From this perspective we analyse the role of embodiment and modes of situatedness in terms of integration, cognition, emotion, and autonomy. Four complementary perspectives on embodied and situated cognitive science are considered in terms of their potential to contribute to cognitive robotics, cognitive science, and psychological theorizing: minimal cognition and organization, enactive perception and sensorimotor contingency, homeostasis and emotion, and social embedding. In combination these perspectives provide a framework for cognitive robotics, not only wholly compatible with the original aims of cognitive modelling, but as a more appropriate methodology than those currently in common use within psychology.     

Direct,extended, and mass‐mediated contact with immigrants in Italy: their associations with emotions,prejudice, and humanity perceptions

Two correlational studies investigated the associations between different forms of intergroup contact, on the one hand, and Italians' prejudice and humanity attributions toward immigrants in Italy, on the other. Study 1 examined the effects of direct contact, extended contact, and parasocial contact through mass‐media, assessing separately contact through TV news and newspapers and contact through entertainment programs. Study 2 analyzed the distinct effects of positive and negative episodes of the contact forms considered in Study 1. Across the studies, we tested the mediational role of intergroup anxiety, empathy, and trust. Overall, results showed the importance of taking into account different forms of contact and considering the emotional processes during contact experiences to understand intergroup attitudes.     

Relevance of social categories,depersonalization and group processes: two field tests of self‐categorization theory

Two field studies investigated whether, as predicted by self‐categorization theory (Turner, 1987 ), the relationship between comparative fit of an ingroup‐outgroup categorization and group phenomena is mediated by depersonalization of self‐perception, and moderated by category accessibility. In the first study participants were football fans, and in the second they were employees in an organization. In each study, two experimental conditions were created, whereby the accessibility and salience of the ingroup‐outgroup categorization were varied. New measures of comparative fit and depersonalization were developed, based on meta‐contrast ratios. Outcome variables were ingroup bias (Studies 1 and 2), ingroup entitativity, organizational citizenship behaviours, job satisfaction and turnover intentions (Study 2). Consistent with self‐categorization theory, results showed (a) that comparative fit determined ingroup bias and other criterion variables through the mediating process of depersonalization, and (b) that this process was active only when the category was highly accessible. The moderational role of accessibility concerned the relationship between depersonalization and outcome variables, not the link between fit and depersonalization. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Consequences of brain tumour resection on emotion recognition

Emotion processing impairments are common in patients undergoing brain surgery for fronto-temporal tumour resection, with potential consequences on social interactions. However, evidence is controversial concerning side and site of lesions causing such deficits. This study investigates visual and auditory emotion recognition in brain tumour patients with the aim of clarifying which lesion sites are related to impairments in emotion processing from different modalities. Thirty-four patients were evaluated, before and after surgery, on facial expression and emotional prosody recognition; voxel-based lesion–symptom mapping (VLSM) analyses were performed on patients’ post-surgery MRI images. Results showed that patients’ performance decreased after surgery in both visual and auditory modalities, but, in general, recovered 3 months after surgery. In facial expression recognition, left brain-damaged patients showed greater post-surgery deterioration than right brain-damaged ones, whose performance specifically decreased for sadness and fear. VLSM analysis revealed two segregated areas in the left hemisphere accounting for post-surgery scores for happy (fronto-temporo-insular region) and surprised (middle frontal gyrus and inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus) facial expressions. Our findings demonstrate that surgical removal of tumours in the fronto-temporal region produces impairment in facial emotion recognition with an overall recovery at 3 months, suggesting a partially different representation of positive and negative emotions in the left and right hemispheres for visually – but not auditory – presented emotions; moreover, we show that deficits in specific expression recognition are associated with discrete lesion locations.     

Evaluating Factorial Invariance: An Interval Estimation Approach Using Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling

In this study, we introduce an interval estimation approach based on Bayesian structural equation modeling to evaluate factorial invariance. For each tested parameter, the size of noninvariance with an uncertainty interval (i.e. highest density interval [HDI]) is assessed via Bayesian parameter estimation. By comparing the most credible values (i.e. 95% HDI) with a region of practical equivalence (ROPE), the Bayesian approach allows researchers to (1) support the null hypothesis of practical invariance, and (2) examine the practical importance of the noninvariant parameter. Compared to the traditional likelihood ratio test, simulation results suggested that the proposed Bayesian approach could offer additional insight into evaluating factorial invariance, thus, leading to more informative conclusions. We provide an empirical example to demonstrate the procedures necessary to implement the proposed method in applied research. The importance of and influences on the choice of an appropriate ROPE are discussed.