Psychometric properties of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire: factor structure, reliability, construct, and incremental validity in a French-speaking population

In this research, we investigated the psychometrical properties of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue, Petrides & Furnham, 2003) in a French-speaking population. In summary, we found that (a) TEIQue scores were globally normally distributed and reliable; (b) the United Kingdom four-factor structure (well-being, self-control, emotionality, sociability) replicated in our data; (c) TEIQue scores were dependent on gender but relatively independent of age; (d) there was preliminary evidence of convergent/discriminant validity, with TEIQue scores being independent of nonverbal reasoning (Raven's [1976] matrices) but positively related to some personality dimensions (optimism, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness) as well as inversely related to others (alexithymia, neuroticism); (e) there was also preliminary evidence of criterion validity, with TEIQue scores predicting depression, anxiety, and social support as well as future state affectivity and emotional reactivity in neutral and stressful situations; (f) TEIQue scores were susceptible to socially desirable responding; however, (g) TEIQue scores had incremental validity to predict emotional reactivity over and above social desirability, alexithymia, and the Five-factor model of personality. Such results constitute encouraging preliminary findings in favor of the use of the TEIQue.     

Investigation of boron-enriched Cottrell atmospheres in FeAl on an atomic scale by three-dimensional atom-probe field-ion microscopy

In 1949, on the basis of theoretical considerations, Cottrell proposed the concept of 'atmospheres' (called later by his name) to explain some specific behaviour of materials during plastic deformation, such as sharp yield-point formation or the Portevin-LeChatelier effect. In this letter, atomic-scale observations and three-dimensional analyses of a Cottrell atmosphere are reported. They have been performed by three-dimensional atom-probe field-ion microscopy techniques. The ability of this new experimental method to provide atomic-resolution images, both structural and chemical, was confirmed; the basic stacking structure of (001) planes in FeAl could be visualized with success. Moreover the presence of a <001> edge dislocation was also detected in the analysed zone. Further, B enrichment was measured in the vicinity of this defect; the B-rich region appeared as a pipe 5 nm in diameter, parallel to the dislocation line. The concentration of B in the core reached 3 at.%; this local enrichment in boron was accompanied by an Al depletion of more than 10 at.%. Boron in FeAl has a well known tendency to segregate to internal interfaces. In this letter, we show experimental evidence of the solute segregation to dislocation lines. The observed effects of this segregation on mechanical properties of FeAl, both at room temperature and high temperatures, are also discussed.     

Learning Phonemes With a Proto‐Lexicon

Before the end of the first year of life, infants begin to lose the ability to perceive distinctions between sounds that are not phonemic in their native language. It is typically assumed that this developmental change reflects the construction of language‐specific phoneme categories, but how these categories are learned largely remains a mystery. Peperkamp, Le Calvez, Nadal, and Dupoux (2006) present an algorithm that can discover phonemes using the distributions of allophones as well as the phonetic properties of the allophones and their contexts. We show that a third type of information source, the occurrence of pairs of minimally differing word forms in speech heard by the infant, is also useful for learning phonemic categories and is in fact more reliable than purely distributional information in data containing a large number of allophones. In our model, learners build an approximation of the lexicon consisting of the high‐frequency n‐grams present in their speech input, allowing them to take advantage of top‐down lexical information without needing to learn words. This may explain how infants have already begun to exhibit sensitivity to phonemic categories before they have a large receptive lexicon.     

Suppressed semantic information accelerates analytic problem solving

The present study investigated the limits of semantic processing without awareness, during continuous flash suppression (CFS). We used compound remote associate word problems, in which three seemingly unrelated words (e.g., pine, crab, sauce) form a common compound with a single solution word (e.g., apple). During the first 3 s of each trial, the three problem words or three irrelevant words (control condition) were suppressed from awareness, using CFS. The words then became visible, and participants attempted to solve the word problem. Once the participants solved the problem, they indicated whether they had solved it by insight or analytically. Overall, the compound remote associate word problems were solved significantly faster after the problem words, as compared with irrelevant words, were presented during the suppression period. However this facilitation occurred only when people solved with analysis, not with insight. These results demonstrate that semantic processing, but not necessarily semantic integration, may occur without awareness.