Nonverbal representation of time and number in adults

A wealth of human and animal research supports common neural processing of numerical and temporal information. Here we test whether adult humans spontaneously encode number and time in a paradigm similar to those previously used to test the mode-control model in animals. Subjects were trained to classify visual stimuli that varied in both number and duration as few/short or many/long. Subsequently subjects were tested with novel stimuli that varied time and held number constant (eight flashes in 0.8-3.2s) or varied number and held time constant (4-16 flashes in 1.6s). Adult humans classified novel stimuli as many/long as monotonic functions of both number and duration, consistent with simultaneous, nonverbal, analog encoding. Numerical sensitivity, however, was finer than temporal sensitivity, suggesting differential salience of time and number. These results support the notion that adults simultaneously represent the number and duration of stimuli but suggest a possible asymmetry in their representations.     

Aging and the perception of local surface orientation from optical patterns of shading and specular highlights

Younger and older observers' ability to perceive local surface orientation from optical patterns of shading and specular highlights was investigated in two experiments. On each trial, the observers viewed a randomly generated, smoothly curved 3-D object and manipulated an adjustable gauge figure until its orientation matched that of a specific local region on the object's surface (cf. Koenderink, van Doom, & Kappers, 1992). The performance of both age groups was facilitated by the presence of binocular disparity (Experiment 1) and object rotation in depth (Experiment 2). Observers in both age groups were able to judge the surface tilt component of orientation more precisely than the slant component. Significant, but modest, effects of age were found in Experiment 1, but not in Experiment 2. The ability to perceive local surface orientation appears to be relatively well preserved with increasing age, at least through the age of 80.     

Preschoolers’ understanding of multiple orientations to reality: The adjectives task

Preschoolers’ understanding that an object can be accurately described using two different non-synonymous words was investigated using a task in which children (N = 36) had to judge which of two animals had provided correct adjectival labels for a series of pictures. For some pictures, only one animal provided a correct adjective, for some both animals were correct, and for some neither was correct. For all types of judgement, 4-year-olds outperformed 3-year-olds. Children in both age groups performed worst on trials where both animals were correct. Children's performance on the adjectives task related to concurrent understanding of the appearance–reality distinction, but not to false-belief task performance. Implications for children's mentalizing development are discussed.     

Calibration trumps confidence as a basis for witness credibility

Confident witnesses are deemed more credible than unconfident ones, and accurate witnesses are deemed more credible than inaccurate ones. But are those effects independent? Two experiments show that errors in testimony damage the overall credibility of witnesses who were confident about the erroneous testimony more than that of witnesses who were not confident about it. Furthermore, after making an error, less confident witnesses may appear more credible than more confident ones. Our interpretation of these results is that people make inferences about source calibration when evaluating testimony and other social communication.     

The effects of prohibiting gestures on children's lexical retrieval ability

Two alternative accounts have been proposed to explain the role of gestures in thinking and speaking. The Information Packaging Hypothesis (Kita, 2000) claims that gestures are important for the conceptual packaging of information before it is coded into a linguistic form for speech. The Lexical Retrieval Hypothesis (Rauscher, Krauss & Chen, 1996) sees gestures as functioning more at the level of speech production in helping the speaker to find the right words. The latter hypothesis has not been fully explored with children. In this study children were given a naming task under conditions that allowed and restricted gestures. Children named more words correctly and resolved more 'tip-of-the-tongue' states when allowed to gesture than when not, suggesting that gestures facilitate access to the lexicon in children and are important for speech production as well as conceptualization.     

Career barriers and reading ability as correlates of career aspirations and expectations of parents and their children

Data were obtained from 176 Year 7 children (mean age = 12.2 years) on career status aspirations and expectations, career barriers, academic engagement, academic control beliefs, general ability and literacy; and from parents, mainly mothers, on aspirations, expectations and career barriers. Discrepancy scores between aspirations and expectations were calculated for both children and parents. Children differed from parents on career status aspirations and expectations; boys did not differ from girls, and parents did not differentiate between boys and girls. Parents’ and children’s aspirations were both associated with reading ability, although the association was weak for the children. Children’s expectations were associated with perceptions of career barriers, and a trend towards reading abilities, while parents’ expectations were associated with general ability and reading.     

Treatment acceptability among mexican american parents

There is a void in the literature with regard to Hispanic parents' views about common interventions for children with behavior problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the treatment acceptability of child management techniques in a Mexican American sample. Parents' acculturation was also examined to determine if it would account for differences in treatment acceptability. Mexican American parents found response cost, a punishment-based technique, more acceptable than positive reinforcement-based techniques (e.g., differential attention). Results suggest that Mexican American parents' acculturation has little impact on acceptability of child management interventions. No association was found between mothers' acculturation and treatment acceptability. However, more acculturated Mexican American fathers viewed token economy as more acceptable than less acculturated fathers. Results are discussed in the context of clinical work and research with Mexican Americans.