Academic achievement of low birthweight children at age 11: the role of cognitive abilities at school entry

We examine the extent to which deficits in academic achievement in low birthweight (LBW) children at age 11 are explained by deficits in cognitive abilities at school entry. Data come from a longitudinal study of a stratified sample of LBW and normal birthweight (NBW) children from an innercity and middle class suburbs in the Detroit area. Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery-Revised was used to measure reading and math at age 11. WISC-R and specific neuropsychologic tests were administered at age 6. On reading, the LBW-NBW difference was -3.6 points (SE = 1.2). The difference was explained almost entirely by IQ at age 6. On math, the LBW-NBW difference was -6.1 points (SE = 1.1). The difference on math was trivial and not significant, when IQ and neuropsychological tests at age 6 were controlled. Level of LBW was unrelated to reading, but it had a gradient relationship with math, with birthweight < or = 1,500 g associated with a greater deficit than heavier LBW. The results imply that most of the LBW-NBW gap in academic achievement at age 11 could be eliminated by eliminating differences in cognitive abilities at age 6. Interventions to improve academic performance of LBW children should focus on the preschool years.     

Tailoring visual images to fit: Value creation in persuasive messages

The present studies aimed to extend Regulatory Fit Theory in the domain of persuasive communication by (a) using printed advertisement images without any verbal claim, instead of purely or mostly verbal messages; (b) selecting the images to fit the distinct orientations of regulatory mode rather than regulatory focus; and (c) priming regulatory mode orientation instead of relying on chronic prevalence of either locomotion or assessment orientation. We found that recipients primed with a locomotion orientation experienced fit, and were more persuaded, when exposed to “dynamic” versus “static” visual images; conversely, recipients primed with an assessment orientation experienced fit and were more persuaded when exposed to “static” versus “dynamic” images. Our findings show that the experience of fit can be induced by visual messages, resulting in positive effects in terms of attitude toward product advertisement and estimated price of advertised products. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of children’s lexical and morphosyntactic knowledge on narrative competence development: A prospective cohort study

The authors investigate the contribution of children's early comprehension of relational terms and morphosyntactic knowledge to the development of narrative competence in kindergarten and Grade 1. Narrative competence was assessed through the cohesion, coherence, and structure of children’s productions. The participants in this study were 714 Italian children. The authors measured their oral narrative competence through a storytelling task at the beginning and end of the kindergarten year. A total of 115 children were randomly selected and followed through Grade 1, and their narrative competence was measured again. According to the path analysis model, early morphosyntactic knowledge contributes to explain narrative competence in Grade 1. Early comprehension of relational terms contributes to narrative competence at the end of the school year. These findings confirm the importance of exploring the influence of early language skills on narrative competence development and suggests early intervention at the level of language antecedents of narrative competence.     

A mental number line in human newborns

Humans represent numbers on a mental number line with smaller numbers on the left and larger numbers on the right side. A left‐to‐right oriented spatial–numerical association, (SNA), has been demonstrated in animals and infants. However, the possibility that SNA is learnt by early exposure to caregivers’ directional biases is still open. We conducted two experiments: in Experiment 1, we tested whether SNA is present at birth and in Experiment 2, we studied whether it depends on the relative rather than the absolute magnitude of numerousness. Fifty‐five‐hour‐old newborns, once habituated to a number (12), spontaneously associated a smaller number (4) with the left and a larger number (36) with the right side (Experiment 1). SNA in neonates is not absolute but relative. The same number (12) was associated with the left side rather than the right side whenever the previously experienced number was larger (36) rather than smaller (4) (Experiment 2). Control on continuous physical variables showed that the effect is specific of discrete magnitudes. These results constitute strong evidence that in our species SNA originates from pre‐linguistic and biological precursors in the brain.     

Motor intentionality and the intentionality of improvisation: a contribution to a phenomenology of musical improvisation

Continental Philosophy Review - The intentionality of improvisation represents surely one of the most pressing and controversial issues in contemporary action theory: how do we find the way to...     

Modulation of inhibition of return by type and number of dynamic changes of the cue

Inhibition of return (IOR) is a response delay when the target is preceded by an irrelevant stimulus (cue) at the same location. In a previous study, we investigated the separate and joint effects on IOR of cue onset and offset. IOR was much greater when cue onset was followed by cue offset (on-off cue) than when the cue was a single event (on or off cues). The aim of the present study was to test whether the greater IOR with an on-off cue is due to the presence of two cue events. Three experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1 we replicated, with a different delay between cue onset and offset, the finding that IOR is greater with an on-off cue than with a single cue event. In Experiments 2 and 3, we used cues formed by two events. In Experiment 2, an on-off cue was compared with an off-on cue, whereas in Experiment 3 an on-on cue was compared with an off-off cue. Results showed that the magnitude of IOR did not simply depend on the number of cue events occurring before the target. IOR was greater with two different events than with two identical events and greater when was preceded by an off-event than an on-event. Therefore, IOR was greatest with an on-off cue, which likely also benefited from a gap effect. Possible mechanisms underlying IOR were discussed. Received: 31 March 1999 / Accepted: 23 July 1999     

At the root of the left–right asymmetries in spatial–numerical processing: From domestic chicks to human subjects

In this review, we discuss evidence showing that birds (Gallus gallus and Nucifraga columbiana) represent numerical magnitudes as being oriented from left to right. Subjects, trained to identify a target element (i.e. the 4th) in a series of sagittally oriented identical elements, when required to generalise on an identical series oriented spatially from left to right, correctly identified the target element “counting” from the left of the array. Moreover, chicks, when presented with sets of 5 vs. 10 or 6 vs. 9 imprinting objects, which were made to disappear one at a time behind one of two identical screens, spontaneously inspected the screen which occluded the larger set. Interestingly, chicks scored a higher percentage of correct choices when the larger of the two sets was on their right side. Similarities with the phenomenon of the spatially oriented (left to right) number line in humans are discussed. Animal models promise a fresh approach to the understanding of developmental mechanisms underlying the expression of knowledge, offering attractive arguments for doubting the uniqueness of human numerical cognition.     

A Code of Ethics for Health Care Ethics Consultants: Journey to the Present and Implications for the Field

For decades a debate has played out in the literature about who bioethicists are, what they do, whether they can be considered professionals qua bioethicists, and, if so, what professional responsibilities they are called to uphold. Health care ethics consultants are bioethicists who work in health care settings. They have been seeking guidance documents that speak to their special relationships/duties toward those they serve. By approving a Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibilities for Health Care Ethics Consultants, the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) has moved the professionalization debate forward in a significant way. This first code of ethics focuses on individuals who provide health care ethics consultation (HCEC) in clinical settings. The evolution of the code's development, implications for the field of HCEC and bioethics, and considerations for future directions are presented here.     

Generalization of visual regularities in newly hatched chicks (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gallus gallus</Emphasis>)

Evidence of learning and generalization of visual regularities in a newborn organism is provided in the present research. Domestic chicks have been trained to discriminate visual triplets of simultaneously presented shapes, implementing AAB versus ABA (Experiment 1), AAB versus ABB and AAB versus BAA (Experiment 2). Chicks distinguished pattern-following and pattern-violating novel test triplets in all comparisons, showing no preference for repetition-based patterns. The animals generalized to novel instances even when the patterns compared were not discriminable by the presence or absence of reduplicated elements or by symmetry (e.g., AAB vs. ABB). These findings represent the first evidence of learning and generalization of regularities at the onset of life in an animal model, revealing intriguing differences with respect to human newborns and infants. Extensive prior experience seems to be unnecessary to drive the process, suggesting that chicks are predisposed to detect patterns characterizing the visual world.     

Variants of biculturalism in migrant and host adolescents living in Italy and Spain: Testing the importance of life domains through the Relative Acculturation Extended Model

Several variants of biculturalism have recently been proposed (Schwartz, Birman, Benet‐Martínez, & Unger, 2016). Nevertheless, few studies have identified different types of bicultural individuals, and no one has addressed the possibility that these types could depend on acculturation domains. By using the Relative Acculturation Extended Model (RAEM), this study aimed to explore if different variants of biculturalism could be individuated, and if some of these variants were sensitive to life domains. Four samples of migrant and host adolescents living in Italy (n = 173 and n = 186) and Spain (n = 139 and n = 156) answered a questionnaire about acculturation perceptions and preferences in central and peripheral life domains. Together with acculturation options consistent with Berry's (1997) model (full‐assimilation, full‐separation and full‐marginalisation), some variants of biculturalism emerged from the latent class analysis: full‐high and full‐low integration, which were not sensitive to life domains; and “alternate” acculturation options that were sensitive to life domains, with participants switching from their original culture to the host culture according to the peripheral and central domains. Acculturation options varied across the four samples, with Italians switching more from one culture to another, and Spanish adolescents being more full‐high or full‐low integrated.