The origins of word learning: Brain responses of 3‐month‐olds indicate their rapid association of objects and words

The present study explored the origins of word learning in early infancy. Using event‐related potentials (ERP) we monitored the brain activity of 3‐month‐old infants when they were repeatedly exposed to several initially novel words paired consistently with each the same initially novel objects or inconsistently with different objects. Our results provide strong evidence that these young infants extract statistic regularities in the distribution of the co‐occurrences of objects and words extremely quickly. The data suggest that this ability is based on the rapid formation of associations between the neural representations of objects and words, but that the new associations are not retained in long‐term memory until the next day. The type of brain response moreover indicates that, unlike in older infants, in 3‐month‐olds a semantic processing stage is not involved. Their ability to combine words with meaningful information is caused by a primary learning mechanism that enables the formation of proto‐words and acts as a precursor for the acquisition of genuine words.     

The relationship between acculturation preferences and prejudice: Longitudinal evidence from majority and minority groups in three European countries

A longitudinal field survey tested the reciprocal effects of acculturation preferences and prejudice among ethnic minorities and majorities. Data were collected at two points in time from 512 members of ethnic minorities and 1143 majority members in Germany, Belgium and England. Path analyses yielded not only the lagged effects of prejudice on acculturation preferences but also the reverse for both majority and minority members. The mutual longitudinal effects between prejudice and desire for culture maintenance were negative, and the mutual effects between prejudice and desire for culture adoption were positive for majority members. The reverse was the case for minority participants. Moreover, the two acculturation dimensions interacted in their effect on prejudice for majority participants but not for minority participants. The effect of desire for culture adoption on prejudice was moderated by perceived intergroup similarity. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Psychoanalytic Grave Walk—Scenic Memory of the Shoah. On the Transgenerational Transmission of Extreme Trauma in Germany

In this article we describe a phase of a long-term psychoanalysis of a daughter of Shoah Survivors. The article is part of a research project conducted at the Sigmund Freud-Institute in Frankfurt/Main. The focus of the study is on the transmission of extreme trauma from the First to the Second Generation, with special reference to Germany. "Scenic memory of the Shoah" is presented as a concept that stresses the non-verbal, unconscious communication between the generations. The so-called "concretistic" behavior of the Second Generation, which has been described in the literature, is conceptualized here as scenic memory of the traumatic experiences during Nazi persecution, that is, a highly symbolic and metaphorical expression of the extreme trauma handed down to the patient by the parents.     

The role of appearance and motion in action prediction

We used a novel stimulus set of human and robot actions to explore the role of humanlike appearance and motion in action prediction. Participants viewed videos of familiar actions performed by three agents: human, android and robot, the former two sharing human appearance, the latter two nonhuman motion. In each trial, the video was occluded for 400?ms. Participants were asked to determine whether the action continued coherently (in-time) after occlusion. The timing at which the action continued was early, late, or in-time (100, 700 or 400?ms after the start of occlusion). Task performance interacted with the observed agent. For early continuations, accuracy was highest for human, lowest for robot actions. For late continuations, the pattern was reversed. Both android and human conditions differed significantly from the robot condition. Given the robot and android conditions had the same kinematics, the visual form of the actor appears to affect action prediction. We suggest that the selection of the internal sensorimotor model used for action prediction is influenced by the observed agent's appearance.     

The relative importance of proactive behaviors and outcomes for predicting newcomer learning,well-being,and work engagement

New employees can accelerate and optimize their socialization by behaving proactively, although the key behaviors vary across studies. Recent research suggests that newcomer proactive behaviors influence socialization through the mediating effect of corresponding proactive outcomes. This may partly explain differences across studies, along with possible variations in the relative importance of specific proactive behaviors. This study investigates further the mediating role of proactive outcomes, and the relative importance of different proactive behaviors and proactive outcomes in predicting newcomer learning, well-being, and work engagement. Based on a sample of 176 temporary agency workers, support for the mediating role of proactive outcomes was found, although some proactive behaviors were effective in their own right. Relative importance analyses revealed that different proactive behaviors were important for different socialization criteria. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Entrepreneurial orientation: A psychological model of success among southern African small business owners

This study examines the relationship of the psychological construct Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) with business success in a sample of N?=?248 southern African business owners. We reintroduce the individual in EO research and show the importance of the person of the entrepreneur for business performance: Hierarchical regression analyses revealed significant relationships between EO components (personal initiative, achievement-, and risk-taking orientation) as well as overall EO and business performance. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis supported a single factor construct of EO that consists of learning, achievement, and autonomy orientation, competitive aggressiveness, innovative and risk-taking orientation, and of personal initiative.

In this study, we develop an individual-based psychological concept of Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and investigate the relationship between business owners' EO and business performance in southern Africa. EO has primarily been discussed from a firm-level perspective (e.g., ; ). It characterized businesses in their early years and was found to be important for firm success. In contrast, we apply a psychological approach with EO as an interindividual difference variable. Thus, our focus is the business owner and the general relationship between individual EO and performance of southern African small business owners.     

Rheological material functions for associating comb-shaped or H-shaped polymers A fractional calculus approach

Abstract

A rheological constitutive equation for associating comb-shaped or H-shaped polymer solutions is derived, which shows a unique power-law zone characterized by two time parameters and one power-law exponent in the terminal relaxation region. The constitutive equation is of fractional integral or fractional differential type and contains two additional parameters. A comparison with experimental data demonstrates very good agreement with the theoretical predictions. The material functions in the frequency domain represent a generalization of the well known Cole-Cole behaviour.     

On extremal axioms

In the paper translated here, Carnap and Bachmann shows that the apparently metalinguistic ‘extremal' axioms that are added to some axiom systems to the effect that the foregoing axioms are to apply as broadly, or as narrowly, as possible may be formulated directly as proper axioms. They analyze such axioms into four fundamental types, with the help of a concept of ‘complete’ isomorphism.