A method for calibrating an eye-monitoring system for use with infants

An algorithm for calibrating data from an infrared corneal reflection eye movement monitor is described. The algorithm is designed for use with infants and other noninstructable subjects.     

Stepmothers and natural mothers: A study of maternal attitudes

The maternal attitudes of 15 natural mothers (M_d age 46) and 15 stepmothers (M_d age 47) were compared. The HerefordParent Attitude Survey was the instrument used to assess differences between the two populations on five scales measuring confidence, causation, acceptance, understanding, and trust. No significant differences were found between the two populations with the exception of the causation dimension (t=2.4840 p<.05), which indicated that stepmothers attribute the problem behavior of the child to genetic and environmental factors while natural mothers accept the influence of the maternal role in the child's problem behavior. It is the authors' opinion that the statistical similarities and differences found between the two samples is a reflection of the common problem they share, that of a child in treatment.     

Errorless establishment of visual discrimination using fading procedures

A visual discrimination task involved presenting a triangle briefly as a sample. When it was withdrawn, this triangle and two others differing slightly in degree of rotation were presented in different positions, with S required to locate the sample that had been presented. Discrimination proved difficult for preschool children. When only the correct triangle was illuminated, discrimination was readily established. The brightness difference between correct and incorrect matches was gradually faded out by increasing the intensity of the incorrect matches, until they were equal in brightness to the correct match. The discrimination established by brightness difference was maintained in its absence, thereby transferring stimulus control from brightness to form, in an almost errorless sequence.     

Machine definition of ongoing silent and oral reading rate

A procedure is described by which a machine defines the ongoing silent and oral reading rates, and thus subjects them to environmental control and experimental analysis. Reading is considered as a form of monitoring in which response sequences are linear and successive. Applications for other types of monitoring are considered.

A page is projected on a screen, and the subject is required to read, aloud or silently. Through the same optical system, an opaque loop is presented that masks the projection, and a transparent slit on the opaque loop exposes part of a line of type. With each frame, the slit moves linearly and sequentially, exposing successive reading material. Recycling the loop triggers the presentation of another page. The subject controls the loop by pressing a micro-switch to advance the frame, thereby explicitly defining a monitoring response. The procedure is sensitive to variables such as signal-noise ratio, item difficulty, transient and long-term effects, reinforcement schedules (pay-offs), and age. Monitoring rates are extremely steady, suggesting their use as a base line.

Procedures are suggested for training subjects to be differentially attentive to different parts of a complex display.

     

The effect of pre-cueing on spatial attention across perception and action

It is well established that processes of perception and action interact. A key question concerns the role of attention in the interaction between perception-action processes. We tested the hypothesis that spatial attention is shared by perception and action. We created a dual-task paradigm: In one task, spatial information is relevant for perception (spatial-input task) but not for action, and in a second task, spatial information is relevant for action (spatial-output task) but not for perception. We used endogenous pre-cueing, with two between-subjects conditions: In one condition the cue was predictive only for the target location in the spatial-input task; in a second condition the cue was predictive only for the location of the response in the spatial-output task. In both conditions, the cueing equally affected both tasks, regardless of the information conveyed by the cue. This finding directly supports the shared input-output attention hypothesis.     

Tap,swipe, and build: Parental spatial input during iPad® and toy play

Despite the increase in the use of interactive technological devices, little is known about the impact that play context has on the production of spatial language by parents. To investigate whether there is differential parental spatial input afforded by play contexts with their preschoolers, 34 children (20 girls, 14 boys) and their primary caregivers engaged in 30‐min 3‐dimensional (3D) spatial play using blocks and puzzles and virtual 2‐dimensional (2D) spatial play using an iPad^® in 2 separate home visits. There were no significant differences in the average amount of spatial talk and the number of spatial categories used by parents in both 3D and 2D play contexts. However, the amount of parental spatial talk decreased significantly with older preschoolers using the iPad^®. In the 3D play contexts, parents produced more words related to spatial dimensions, location and directions, and continuous amount than in the 2D play contexts. However, in the 2D play contexts, they produced more words associated with orientations and transformations as well as deictics than in the 3D play contexts. Our findings suggest that technology can be effectively introduced into play contexts to elicit enriched parental spatial input by supporting parents and caregivers with best practices.

Highlights

• The present study examines the differences in parental spatial talk when using traditional versus technology‐based learning tools with their preschoolers.
• Two 30‐min home observations of parent–child dyads playing blocks and puzzles versus spatial apps on an iPad^®. No significant differences in the amount of parental spatial talk and the number of spatial categories in both play contexts were found.
• Our findings suggest that technology can be effectively introduced into play contexts to elicit enriched parental spatial input.

     

Stress modulation of cognitive and affective processes

This review summarizes the major discussion points of a symposium on stress modulation of cognitive and affective processes, which was held during the 2010 workshop on the neurobiology of stress (Boulder, CO, USA). The four discussants addressed a number of specific cognitive and affective factors that are modulated by exposure to acute or repeated stress. Dr David Morilak discussed the effects of various repeated stress situations on cognitive flexibility, as assessed with a rodent model of attentional set-shifting task, and how performance on slightly different aspects of this test is modulated by different prefrontal regions through monoaminergic neurotransmission. Dr Serge Campeau summarized the findings of several studies exploring a number of factors and brain regions that regulate habituation of various autonomic and neuroendocrine responses to repeated audiogenic stress exposures. Dr Kerry Ressler discussed a body of work exploring the modulation and extinction of fear memories in rodents and humans, especially focusing on the role of key neurotransmitter systems including excitatory amino acids and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Dr Israel Liberzon presented recent results on human decision-making processes in response to exogenous glucocorticoid hormone administration. Overall, these discussions are casting a wider framework on the cognitive/affective processes that are distinctly regulated by the experience of stress and some of the brain regions and neurotransmitter systems associated with these effects.