Social information processing mediates the intergenerational transmission of aggressiveness in romantic relationships.

This study explored the K. A. Dodge (1986) model of social information processing as a mediator of the association between interparental relationship conflict and subsequent offspring romantic relationship conflict in young adulthood. The authors tested 4 social information processing stages (encoding, hostile attributions, generation of aggressive responses, and positive evaluation of aggressive responses) in separate models to explore their independent effects as potential mediators. There was no evidence of mediation for encoding and attributions. However, there was evidence of significant mediation for both the response generation and response evaluation stages of the model. Results suggest that the ability of offspring to generate varied social responses and effectively evaluate the potential outcome of their responses at least partially mediates the intergenerational transmission of relationship conflict.     

Martha Nussbaum: Anger and forgiveness: resentment,generosity, justice

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Verbal, visual, and spatial working memory in written language production

College students wrote definitions of either abstract or concrete nouns in longhand while performing a concurrent working memory (WM) task. They detected either a verbal (syllable), visual (shape), or spatial (location) stimulus and decided whether it matched the last one presented 15-45s earlier. Writing definitions of both noun types elevated the response time to verbal targets above baseline. Such interference was observed for visual targets only when defining concrete nouns and was eliminated entirely with spatial targets. The interference effect for verbal targets was the same whether they were read or heard, implicating phonological storage. The findings suggest that language production requires phonological or verbal WM. Visual WM is selectively engaged when imaging the referents of concrete nouns.     

Contribution of the visual perception and graphic production systems to the copying of complex geometrical drawings: A developmental study

The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of the visual perception and graphic production systems [Van Sommers, P. (1989). A system for drawing and drawing-related neuropsychology. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 6, 117–164] to the manifestation of the “Centripetal Execution Principle” (CEP), a graphic rule for the copying of drawings consisting of embedded simple geometric shapes from the outside shape to the inside shape. Children aged 4–8 years copied two types of model that differed in the visual salience of one of the simple geometric shapes (drawn in bold or normal weight lines), producing the drawings either by graphic execution (freehand) or by superimposing the simple geometric shapes. The results indicated that the frequency of CEP depended both on the type of model and on the drawing context in the youngest children. They suggest that the CEP is determined by the structure of the representation of the models and the planning of the execution of the drawings. The developmental differences in the effects of visual salience and execution context are discussed in the light of the development of representational flexibility and planning abilities. These data are consistent with a dissociation between the visual perception and graphic production systems and account for their interaction.     

Randomized prevention trial for early conduct problems: effects on proactive parenting and links to toddler disruptive behavior.

Despite knowledge of early pathways to conduct problems, few preventive interventions are specifically designed to modify disruptive behavior in toddlerhood. One potential prevention target is proactive and positive parenting, which is associated with reduced risk of conduct problems in preschoolers. This randomized trial with 120 low-income 2-year-old boys examined whether a brief family-centered intervention that reduces disruptive behavior (D. Shaw, T. Dishion, L. Supplee, F. Gardner, & K. Arnds, 2006) also leads to increases in proactive and positive parenting. It also explored whether change in parenting predicts change in disruptive behavior. In the intervention group, proactive and positive parenting skills increased among parents of 3-year-olds. Change in proactive and positive parenting of 2- to 3-year-old toddlers correlated with change in child disruptive behavior, although the mediation effect of positive parenting was of only borderline significance. Findings suggest that even within a brief and multifaceted preventive intervention, change in proactive parenting skills contributes modestly but significantly to change in child problem behavior.     

Placement shift, sibling relationship quality, and child outcomes in foster care: a controlled study.

Sibling unity during family transitions is considered a protective factor for child behavior problems, but there is little empirical support for the widespread child protection policy of placing siblings together in foster care. In a prospective study of 156 maltreated children, siblings were classified in 1 of 3 placement groups: continuously together (n = 110), continuously apart (n = 22), and disrupted placement (siblings placed together were separated; n = 24). Changes in child adjustment as a function of sibling relationship and placement group were examined. Sibling positivity predicted lower child problems at follow-up (about 14 months later), while sibling negativity predicted higher child problems. Placement group did not affect child behavior problems at follow-up; however, compared to siblings in continuous placement (either together or apart), siblings in disrupted placement with high initial behavior problems were rated as having fewer problems at follow-up, while siblings in disrupted placement with low initial behavior problems were rated as having more problems at follow-up. These findings highlight the importance of considering relationships between siblings and the risk that one poses to another before early placement decisions are made.     

The development of context sensitivity in children's graphic copying strategies

The authors report on a series of 5 experiments in which 462 5- to 10-year-old children and 109 adults were required to copy geometric figures either with no constraints or following prior exposure to primes consisting of different parsings of the figures. The analysis focused on the graphic strategies adopted by the participants to copy the models. Three developmental steps were revealed in the baseline copying condition. Priming experiments demonstrated that the age-developmental step correspondence varied as a function of the type of prime used. However, the impact of priming differed according to age. It was limited at 6 years, whereas its size was noticeable at the other ages. These results are discussed in the light of developmental models that hypothesize a major role either for endogeneous factors in cognitive development or for exogeneous and contextual factors.     

Language development in Down syndrome: from the prelinguistic period to the acquisition of literacy

Down syndrome (DS) is associated with abnormalities in multiple organ systems and a characteristic phenotype that includes numerous behavioral features. Language, however, is among the most impaired domains of functioning in DS and, perhaps, also the greatest barrier to independent meaningful inclusion in the community. In this article, we review what is known about the extent, nature, and correlates of the language and related problems of individuals with Down syndrome. In doing so, we focus largely on the syndrome-specific features of the language phenotype, although we also consider within-syndrome variation. The review focuses on the prelinguistic foundations of language and the major components of language (i.e., vocabulary, syntax, and pragmatics). We also consider two topics in the treatment and education of individuals with DS: prelinguistic communication intervention and the acquisition of literacy skills.     

Eye movements and serial memory for visual-spatial information: does time spent fixating contribute to recall?

This research investigated the nature of encoding and its contribution to serial recall for visual-spatial information. In order to do so, we examined the relationship between fixation duration and recall performance. Using the dot task--a series of seven dots spatially distributed on a monitor screen is presented sequentially for immediate recall--performance and eye-tracking data were recorded during the presentation of the to-be-remembered items. When participants were free to move their eyes at their will, both fixation durations and probability of correct recall decreased as a function of serial position. Furthermore, imposing constant durations of fixation across all serial positions had a beneficial impact (though relatively small) on item but not order recall. Great care was taken to isolate the effect of fixation duration from that of presentation duration. Although eye movement at encoding contributes to immediate memory, it is not decisive in shaping serial recall performance. Our results also provide further evidence that the distinction between item and order information, well-established in the verbal domain, extends to visual-spatial information.     

Swimming constraints and arm coordination

Following Newell's concept of constraint (1986), we sought to identify the constraints (organismic, environmental and task) on front crawl performance, focusing on arm coordination adaptations over increasing race paces. Forty-two swimmers (15 elite men, 15 mid-level men and 12 elite women) performed seven self-paced swim trials (race paces: as if competitively swimming 1500m, 800m, 400m, 200m, 100m, 50m, and maximal velocity, respectively) using the front crawl stroke. The paces were race simulations over 25m to avoid fatigue effects. Swim velocity, stroke rate, stroke length, and various arm stroke phases were calculated from video analysis. Arm coordination was quantified in terms of an index of coordination (IdC) based on the lag time between the propulsive phases of each arm. This measure quantified three possible coordination modes in the front crawl: opposition (continuity between the two arm propulsions), catch-up (a time gap between the two arm propulsions) and superposition (an overlap of the two arm propulsions). With increasing race paces, swim velocity, stroke rate, and stroke length, the three groups showed a similar transition in arm coordination mode at the critical 200m pace, which separated the long- and mid-pace pattern from the sprint pace pattern. The 200m pace was also characterized by a stroke rate close to 40strokemin(-1). The finding that all three groups showed a similar adaptation of arm coordination suggested that race paces, swim velocity, stroke rate and stroke length reflect task constraints that can be manipulated as control parameters, with race paces (R(2)=.28) and stroke rate (R(2)=.36) being the best predictors of IdC changes. On the other hand, only the elite men reached a velocity greater than 1.8ms(-1) and a stroke rate of 50strokemin(-1). They did so using superposition of the propulsion phases of the two arms, which occurred because of the great forward resistance created when these swimmers achieved high velocity, i.e., an environmental constraint. Conversely, the elite women and mid-level men had shorter stroke lengths and maintained a time gap between the propulsions of the two arms throughout the increase in paces, with gender and expertise explaining 9% and 8.3% of the IdC changes, respectively. These results indicate that arm coordination cannot be interpreted solely from the IdC value but should be considered from the perspective of task, environmental, and organismic constraints. These constraints can serve as control parameters in experiments aimed at gaining insight into changes in arm coordination during the front crawl. In this context, catch-up coordination, which is often considered as a mistake, was seen to be an adaptation to a relative constraint.