Comorbidity and WISC-III profiles of Greek children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, and language disorders

The aim of the present study was to (a) examine the prevalence of ADHD and the comorbid difficulties in a sample of 114 children, 3.6 to 17.6 yr. of age (89 boys, 25 girls) referred to our Unit and (b) evaluate the discriminative ability of the WISC-III scores for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (n = 22), Learning Disability (n = 50), and Language Disorder (n = 42). Analysis showed only 18% of 114 children had an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder diagnosis. Multivariate analysis of variance and stepwise discriminant function analysis were applied. Vocabulary and similarities were the best predictors for distinguishing between language disorders and the other two groups. Moreover, the Language Disorder group scored significantly lower on all the subtests while the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Learning Disability groups scored lower on coding and information, respectively. Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Learning Disability could not be accurately identified from the WISC-III test or their ACID profile.     

Middle-School Students’ Reasoning About Alternative Hypotheses in a Scaffolded,Software-Based Inquiry Investigation

The examination of alternative hypotheses can initiate students into scientific practices and equip them with scientific literacy skills that will help them participate in ongoing debates involving complex socio-scientific problems. Hypothesis testing, in which the examination of alternative hypotheses is situated, has received much attention in the literature. However, the topic of alternative hypotheses has not been examined as extensively in scaffolded data-rich instructional interventions. This article contributes to that body of knowledge by reporting on middle-school students’ inquiry practices as they relate to considering alternative hypotheses of their data. Specifically, the article reports a multiple-case study examining six pairs’ reasoning as they try to solve a data-rich, scientific problem, scaffolded by the software investigation, the task setup, and the teacher. The students’ generation and testing of alternative hypotheses was examined through students’ discourse, actions, inquiry products, and interactions with their teacher and peers. Pre–post assessment analyses showed statistically significant learning gains while the analyses of the students’ inquiry discourse and actions indicated that the scaffolding contributed to students’ inquiry. However, several epistemological problems surfaced relating to students’ perception of the usefulness of examining and communicating alternative explanations. These findings indicate the importance of epistemologically targeted discourse alongside guided inquiry experiences, and underline the need for further examination of appropriate scaffolding to support students’ scientific reasoning processes.     

Associations between authoritative parenting and the sun exposure and sun protective behaviours of adolescents and their friends

Associations between the sun exposure and sun protective behaviours of adolescents and their friends were examined along with the role played by authoritative parenting and other family and peer socialisation factors. Four hundred and two adolescents (198 males, 204 females) participated in the research. It was found that these adolescents and their friends shared similar sun exposure and sun protective behaviours and had similar parenting backgrounds. Parental authoritativeness was positively associated with the use of sun protection, even after the effects of other familial and peer variables were controlled, but not with the time spent sunbathing which was associated with friends’ behaviours. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Word reading practice reduces Stroop interference in children

Stroop interference is thought to index reading automaticity and is expected to increase with reading practice and to decrease with improved color naming. We investigated the effects of practice in word reading and color naming on interference in 92 adults and 109 children in Grades 4–5. For children, interference was reduced after reading practice with color words. In neither group was interference affected by practice in color naming of neutral stimuli. These findings are consistent with a direct negative relationship between reading ability and interference and challenge the automaticity account in favor of a blocking mechanism whereby interference is determined by the delay to inhibit the reading response rather than by the efficiency of color naming.     

Enhancing technologies: transformatio ad quod optimum?

The aim of the present paper is to bring out that the way in which we understand the enhancing and genetic interventions is closely related to the notion of health we adopt and this, in turn, to the worldview which underlies it. I explore the two notions of health which have prevailed since antiquity and which continue to co-exist in our era, and I point out that, if either of these makes sense, this is because each presupposes a different worldview with its own normative framework and moral values. As a consequence, when we argue about the enhancing interventions, we are not so much disagreeing about the application of this or that genetic technology as about the different ways in which we conceive our life and place in the world.     

Associations between authoritative parenting and the sun exposure and sun protective behaviours of adolescents and their friends

Associations between the sun exposure and sun protective behaviours of adolescents and their friends were examined along with the role played by authoritative parenting and other family and peer socialisation factors. Four hundred and two adolescents (198 males, 204 females) participated in the research. It was found that these adolescents and their friends shared similar sun exposure and sun protective behaviours and had similar parenting backgrounds. Parental authoritativeness was positively associated with the use of sun protection, even after the effects of other familial and peer variables were controlled, but not with the time spent sunbathing which was associated with friends' behaviours. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

First language acquisition differs from second language acquisition in prelingually deaf signers: evidence from sensitivity to grammaticality judgement in British Sign Language

Age of acquisition (AoA) effects have been used to support the notion of a critical period for first language acquisition. In this study, we examine AoA effects in deaf British Sign Language (BSL) users via a grammaticality judgment task. When English reading performance and nonverbal IQ are factored out, results show that accuracy of grammaticality judgement decreases as AoA increases, until around age 8, thus showing the unique effect of AoA on grammatical judgement in early learners. No such effects were found in those who acquired BSL after age 8. These late learners appear to have first language proficiency in English instead, which may have been used to scaffold learning of BSL as a second language later in life.     

Approach/avoidance in dreams

The influential threat simulation theory (TST) asserts that dreaming yields adaptive advantage by providing a virtual environment in which threat-avoidance may be safely rehearsed. We have previously found the incidence of biologically threatening dreams to be around 20%, with successful threat avoidance occurring in approximately one-fifth of such dreams. TST asserts that threat avoidance is over-represented relative to other possible dream contents. To begin assessing this issue, we contrasted the incidence of 'avoidance' dreams with that of their opposite: 'approach' dreams. Because TST states that the threat-avoidance function is only fully activated in ecologically valid (biologically threatening) contexts, we also performed this contrast for populations living in both high- and low-threat environments. We find that 'approach' dreams are significantly more prevalent across both contexts. We suggest these results are more consistent with the view that dreaming is generated by reward-seeking systems than by fear-conditioning systems, although reward-seeking is clearly not the only factor determining the content of dreams.     

The time course of implicit and explicit concept learning

The present experiment investigated the development of implicit and explicit knowledge during concept learning. According to Cleeremans and Jiménez (2002), the content of a representation can be conscious only when the representation is of a sufficiently good quality; on this theory, increasing explicit and decreasing implicit knowledge might be expected with training. The view that implicit knowledge arises from compilation of explicit knowledge makes the opposite prediction. The present research tested these possibilities using subjective measures based on confidence ratings. One group of participants was presented with blocks of category exemplars that activated prior knowledge, whereas another group was presented with blocks of categories that did not elicit any useful prior knowledge. The results showed that, irrespective of the knowledge group participants were allocated to, explicit knowledge increased over the course of learning, whereas implicit knowledge either stayed the same or decreased, consistent with Cleeremans and Jiménez's prediction.     

Bayesian modeling of the microscopic traffic characteristics of overtaking in two-lane highways

Bayesian networks are employed to model the uncertainty hindering in the overtaking behavior of young drivers in two-lane highways and reveal the traffic related microscopic characteristics that may influence the decision to overtake. Results using data from an experiment conducted on driving simulator show that male drivers, on average, accept smaller gaps for overtaking than female drivers. For both male and female drivers, the spacing with the lead and the opposing vehicle is more influential to the probability to overtake compared to vehicle speed. Moreover, a thorough look at the relationships between the microscopic traffic characteristics and the probability to overtake reveals differences between male and female drivers regarding the road traffic scene appraisal mechanism on the emergence of an opportunity to overtake.