A shared-memory approach to microprocessor program development

We have developed hardware and software interfaces with which part of a minicomputer’s memory can be shared among its own programs and an Intel 8080 system. Although access to this shared memory is too slow for most real-time operations, the shared area is an excellent buffer for program code to be copied to faster memory for eventual real-time execution. The shared memory can also be used to pass test data between the processors to automate the testing of 8080 program modules.     

Delay discounting: Interactions between personality and cognitive ability

Delay discounting describes the extent to which the value of a reward decreases as the delay to obtaining that reward increases. Lower discounting rates predict better outcomes in social, academic, and health domains. The current study investigates how personality and cognitive ability interact to predict individual differences in delay discounting. Extraversion was found to predict higher discounting rates at the low end of the cognitive distribution, while emotional stability was found to predict lower discounting rates at the high end of the cognitive distribution. These findings support recent models of discounting behavior and suggest that personality and cognitive ability interact in shaping decision making.     

Increasing convergence between imagined and executed movement across development: evidence for the emergence of movement representations

Motor imagery (MI) has become a principal focus of interest in studies on brain and behavior. However, changes in MI across development have received virtually no attention so far. In the present study, children (N = 112, 6 to 16 years old) performed a new, computerized Virtual Radial Fitts Task (VRFT) to determine their MI ability as well as the age‐related confluence between performance in executed and imagined movement conditions. Participants aimed at five targets, which were positioned along radial axes from a central target circle. The targets differed in width (2.5, 5, 10, 20 or 40 mm), resulting in an index of difficulty (ID) that varied from 6.9 to 2.9 bits. Performance was indexed by the linear relationship between ID and Movement Time (MT). The findings showed that executed task performance was slower than imagined performance. Moreover, conformance to Fitts’ Law during executed movement performance was obtained from a very young age. Most importantly, correlations between imagined and executed movements were low in the young participants but gradually increased across age. These age‐related changes in MI are hypothesized to reflect the children's emerging ability to represent internal models for prospective actions, consistent with the gradual unfolding of feedforward control processes.     

Modeling continuity and discontinuity in utterance length: a quantitative approach to changes, transitions and intra-individual variability in early grammatical development

The confluence of an anomaly such as a growth spurt or a temporary regression on the one hand and a temporary increase in intra-individual variability on the other hand, forms a strong indicator of a major transition in early language development. Data concern one-word (W1), two- and three-word (W2-3), and four-and-more-word (W4+) utterances from two French children during their second and third years. A dynamic growth model was fitted, based on a structure of supportive, conditional and competitive relationships. Using a statistical simulation method, we showed two striking peaks of variability in addition to a temporary regression or rapid growth in the proportions of W1, W2-3 and W4+ utterances. We argue that these phenomena show transitions corresponding to critical points in grammatical development, which could be indicative of the emergence of simple combinatorial and syntactic stages of language successively. Our results emphasize the relevance of time-serial data and of intra-individual variability in the study of developmental transitions in general.     

Toward the use of approach/avoidance tendencies as attitude measures: Individual- and group-level variability of the ingroup bias

Approach/avoidance paradigms could constitute an interesting alternative in measuring intergroup attitudes, notably if they overcome one criticism often addressed toward classic indirect tasks: Measuring attitudes beyond the influence of cultural knowledge. Using intergroup stimuli and a population likely to be exposed to a similar cultural knowledge, we observed two informative results regarding this issue: Approach/avoidance effects measured by the Visual Approach/Avoidance by the Self Task (VAAST) varied across participants (i.e., consistent with the variability of intergroup attitudes; Experiment 1) and both participants of dominant and non-dominant groups produced an ingroup bias (Experiment 2). A last experiment (Experiment 3) showed that compatibility scores in the VAAST predict trustworthiness ratings of the ingroup/outgroup. This experiment also investigated potential differences between the VAAST and the IAT. These results suggest that approach/avoidance tasks (notably the VAAST) could be relevant to assess personal attitudes when it comes to normatively sensitive topics.     

A national survey of U.S. statutes on juvenile transfer: implications for policy and practice

A survey of the statutes on juvenile transfer and cecertification in the U.S. federal and 50 state jurisdictions, and the District of Columbia, was performed. Relevant information was obtained on the procedures in each jurisdiction by which a juvenile can be tried in criminal court, whether there are applicable decertification (“transfer back”) procedures in jurisdictions permitting criminal court processing through automatic file or prosecutorial discretion, and the burden and allocation of proof in relevant proceedings. We also identified four criteria relevant to the mental, emotional, and developmental functioning of juveniles that are used in various jurisdictions in making transfer and decertification decisions: treatment needs and amenability, risk assessment of future criminality, the presence of mental retardation or mental illness, and certain kinds of offense characteristics. The majority of jurisdictions now allow 14-year-old juveniles to be tried in criminal court. Treatment needs/amenability and risk assessment are set forth as criteria relevant to transfer in the majority of jurisdictions as well, with the presence of mental retardation or mental illness explicitly relevant in a small number of jurisdictions. The patterns of these findings are discussed in their implications for social policy and for the forensic mental health assessment of juvenile transfer and decertification, with needed areas of research identified within each. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.