Using a modified constant prompt-delay procedure to teach spelling to students with physical disabilities

Current research suggests that constant delay is an effective means of teaching students through near-errorless learning. The current study examined how procedures used in previous research may be modified so that constant delay can be implemented with students who have physical disabilities that prevent them from engaging in fluent academic responding. A multiple baseline design with probes was used to assess the effectiveness of a modified constant-delay procedure in teaching spelling to students with physical disabilities. This procedure was found to be effective for all 3 students.     

Ferenczi and Jung: some parallel lines?1

In the complexity of the entangled interactions within the group of psychoanalytical pionneers, their divergent interests and views, the Ferenczi-Jung relationship is of particular interest given the importance that both had in the field of the history of ideas. It is striking to discover some parallel lines, but interpersonal, institutional and socio-cultural factors contributed to the fact that this peaceful and complementary collaboration was not possible in the long run. Perhaps for the present generation, in retrospective, it is easier to notice seminal strokes and also some deficiencies in all these thinkers.     

Spatial learning in the 5-HT1B receptor knockout mouse: selective facilitation/impairment depending on the cognitive demand

Age-related memory decline is associated with a combined dysfunction of the cholinergic and serotonergic systems in the hippocampus and frontal cortex, in particular. The 5-HT1B receptor occupies strategic cellular and subcellular locations in these structures, where it plays a role in the modulation of ACh release. In an attempt to characterize the contribution of this receptor to memory functions, 5-HT1B receptor knockout (KO) mice were submitted to various behavioral paradigms carried out in the same experimental context (water maze), which were aimed at exposing mice to various levels of memory demand. 5-HT1BKO mice exhibited a facilitation in the acquisition of a hippocampal-dependent spatial reference memory task in the Morris water maze. This facilitation was selective of task difficulty, showing thus that the genetic inactivation of the 5-HT1B receptor is associated with facilitation when the complexity of the task is increased, and reveals a protective effect on age-related hippocampal-dependent memory decline. Young-adult and aged KO and wild-type (WT) mice were equally able to learn a delayed spatial matching-to-sample working memory task in a radial-arm water maze with short (0 or 5 min) delays. However, 5-HT1BKO mice, only, exhibited a selective memory impairment at intermediate and long (15, 30, and 60 min) delays. Treatment by scopolamine induced the same pattern of performance in wild type as did the mutation for short (5 min, no impairment) and long (60 min, impairment) delays. Taken together, these studies revealed a beneficial effect of the mutation on the acquisition of a spatial reference memory task, but a deleterious effect on a working memory task for long delays. This 5-HT1BKO mouse story highlights the problem of the potential existence of "global memory enhancers."     

"Economic man" in cross-cultural perspective: behavioral experiments in 15 small-scale societies

Researchers from across the social sciences have found consistent deviations from the predictions of the canonical model of self-interest in hundreds of experiments from around the world. This research, however, cannot determine whether the uniformity results from universal patterns of human behavior or from the limited cultural variation available among the university students used in virtually all prior experimental work. To address this, we undertook a cross-cultural study of behavior in ultimatum, public goods, and dictator games in a range of small-scale societies exhibiting a wide variety of economic and cultural conditions. We found, first, that the canonical model - based on self-interest - fails in all of the societies studied. Second, our data reveal substantially more behavioral variability across social groups than has been found in previous research. Third, group-level differences in economic organization and the structure of social interactions explain a substantial portion of the behavioral variation across societies: the higher the degree of market integration and the higher the payoffs to cooperation in everyday life, the greater the level of prosociality expressed in experimental games. Fourth, the available individual-level economic and demographic variables do not consistently explain game behavior, either within or across groups. Fifth, in many cases experimental play appears to reflect the common interactional patterns of everyday life.     

Postural control in otolith disorders

It was the aim of the present paper to investigate the influence of otolith disorders on human postural control by different methods. The 33 patients of our study had undergone a minor head injury and suffered subsequently from an utricular or sacculo-utricular disorder as evidenced by vestibular evoked myogenic potential recordings and eccentric rotation recordings of the otolith-ocular responses. Postural control was assessed by performing stance/gait tests (standard balance deficit test, SBDT) and by evaluating trunk sway (using angular velocity sensors). Moreover, classical tests of the posterior column of the spinal tract (Romberg/Unterberger) and the dynamic posturography (sensory organization test, SOT) were included. It could be shown that SBDT tasks with reduced proprioceptive and visual cues (e.g. standing on foam, eyes closed) are most sensitive for an otolith disorder. The patients showed an increased trunk sway in the pitch plane (i.e. linear motion as adequate utricular stimulus) and an increase in sway velocities (i.e. tilting movements as adequate saccular stimulus) compared to controls. The SOT was most sensitive for combined (sacculo-utricular) otolith disorders (78%) while vestibulospinal tests are not enough sensitive. In essence, otolith disorders evidently impair human postural control and have been possibly underestimated as a source of posttraumatic postural imbalance as yet.     

Aggregation in memory of episodic influences on rule-guided decisions

The authors confirmed E. Z. Rothkopf and M. L. Dashen's (1995) finding that specific problem context, such as thematic surface features, forms associative connections with deep problem features and thus speeds particular decisions (particularization). In 5 experiments, using a 3-bit decision task and pre-memorized decision rules, the authors found that the ability of a situational context to reinstate was decreased by its replacement by another modal surface context. Context reinstatement, as measured by decision speed, depended on both global and recent local densities of specific problem features linked to a particular decision. The authors' results are consistent with J. R. Anderson and L. J. Schooler's (1991) needs/odds analysis and suggest a push-down file model for diverse context influences as a mechanism for responding to changing situational demands.     

Do lonely days invade the nights? Potential social modulation of sleep efficiency

Loneliness predicts morbidity and mortality from broad-based causes, but the reasons for this effect remain unclear. Few differences in traditional health behaviors (e.g., smoking, exercise, nutrition) have been found to differentiate lonely and nonlonely individuals. We present evidence that a prototypic restorative behavior—sleep—does make such a differentiation, not through differences in time in bed or in sleep duration, but through differences in efficacy: In the study we report here, lonely individuals evinced poorer sleep efficiency and more time awake after sleep onset than nonlonely individuals. These results, which were observed in controlled laboratory conditions and were found to generalize to the home, suggest that lonely individuals may be less resilient than nonlonely individuals in part because they sleep more poorly. These results also raise the possibility that social factors such as loneliness not only may influence the selection of health behaviors but also may modulate the salubrity of restorative behaviors.     

The influence of working memory on the anger superiority effect

The anger superiority effect shows that an angry face is detected more efficiently than a happy face. However, it is still controversial whether attentional allocation to angry faces is a bottom-up process or not. We investigated whether the anger superiority effect is influenced by top-down control, especially working memory (WM). Participants remembered a colour and then searched for differently coloured facial expressions. Just holding the colour information in WM did not modulate the anger superiority effect. However, when increasing the probabilities of trials in which the colour of a target face matched the colour held in WM, participants were inclined to direct attention to the target face regardless of the facial expression. Moreover, the knowledge of high probability of valid trials eliminated the anger superiority effect. These results suggest that the anger superiority effect is modulated by top-down effects of WM, the probability of events and expectancy about these probabilities.     

Treatment of Comorbid Conduct Problems and Depression in Youth: A Pilot Study

The purpose of this study was to pilot a cognitive behavioral treatment protocol for adolescents with co-occurring conduct problems and depression. A non-concurrent multiple baseline design was used to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. A sample of five adolescents, aged 11 to 14 years, participated; all five families completed the protocol. Results indicated that symptoms of oppositionality were significantly reduced. Moreover, maternal ratings suggested significant improvements in emotion regulation in their children and cohesion in the family. However, symptoms of depression showed little improvement. Results of this study have implications for improving treatment outcomes for youth with these comorbid conditions and may lead to increased conceptual understanding of these comorbid problems.     

Zoos’ and Aquariums’ Impact and Influence on Connecting Families to Nature: An Evaluation of the Nature Play Begins at Your Zoo & Aquarium Program

Abstract

Zoos and aquariums can be an instrumental avenue for connecting children to nature, thereby contributing to the development of conservation values and environmental stewardship. Survey data from 210 participants from nature play programs at 21 zoo and aquarium sites suggest visitors were more likely to spend time in nature in the future and felt better able to overcome barriers to spending time in nature as a result of their participation. Results suggest perceptions of effectiveness, strength of barriers, and effective strategies varied based on prior participation in nature, with participants not yet engaged in nature-based recreation perceiving the barriers as stronger and participants already nature-engaged perceiving the programs as more effective. For families who are not yet spending time in nature, results suggest the importance of helping families overcome barriers, as well as the importance of programs taking place in natural, less-maintained outdoor settings. Strengthening beliefs regarding the importance of time in nature seems to be an important strategy when working with families who already are spending some time in nature.