Decomposition of repetition priming processes in word translation

Translation in fluent bilinguals requires comprehension of a stimulus word and subsequent production, or retrieval and articulation, of the response word. Four repetition-priming experiments with Spanish–English bilinguals (N = 274) decomposed these processes using selective facilitation to evaluate their unique priming contributions and factorial combination to evaluate the degree of process overlap or dependence. In Experiment 1, symmetric priming between semantic classification and translation tasks indicated that bilinguals do not covertly translate words during semantic classification. In Experiments 2 and 3, semantic classification of words and word-cued picture drawing facilitated word-comprehension processes of translation, and picture naming facilitated word-production processes. These effects were independent, consistent with a sequential model and with the conclusion that neither semantic classification nor word-cued picture drawing elicits covert translation. Experiment 4 showed that 2 tasks involving word-retrieval processes--written word translation and picture naming--had subadditive effects on later translation. Incomplete transfer from written translation to spoken translation indicated that preparation for articulation also benefited from repetition in the less-fluent language.     

Clinical features of tic-related obsessive-compulsive disorder: results from a large multicenter study

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical features of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients with comorbid tic disorders (TD) in a large, multicenter, clinical sample.MethodA cross-sectional study was conducted that included 813 consecutive OCD outpatients from the Brazilian OCD Research Consortium and used several instruments of assessment, including the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS), the USP Sensory Phenomena Scale, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders. RESULTS: The sample mean current age was 34.9 years old (SE 0.54), and the mean age at obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) onset was 12.8 years old (SE 0.27). Sensory phenomena were reported by 585 individuals (72% of the sample). The general lifetime prevalence of TD was 29.0% (n = 236), with 8.9% (n = 72) presenting Tourette syndrome, 17.3% (n = 141) chronic motor tic disorder, and 2.8% (n = 23) chronic vocal tic disorder. The mean tic severity score, according to the YGTSS, was 27.2 (SE 1.4) in the OCD + TD group. Compared to OCD patients without comorbid TD, those with TD (OCD + TD group, n = 236) were more likely to be males (49.2% vs. 38.5%, p < .005) and to present sensory phenomena and comorbidity with anxiety disorders in general: separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, impulse control disorders in general, and skin picking. Also, the "aggressive," "sexual/religious," and "hoarding" symptom dimensions were more severe in the OCD + TD group.ConclusionTic-related OCD may constitute a particular subgroup of the disorder with specific phenotypical characteristics, but its neurobiological underpinnings remain to be fully disentangled.     

Parental Practices and Theory of Mind Development

In the past three decades, psychologists have become increasingly interested in the study of theory of mind. This ability involves an understanding of different components of the mind (e.g., emotions, thoughts, beliefs) and of how they are related to human behavior. Several parents’ characteristics (e.g., attachment, mental-state talk) have been associated to children’s theory-of-mind development, but the variables and methods adopted are diverse and at times lead to inconsistent findings. The goal of the present paper, therefore, is to provide a literature review that can point both to possible ways in which discrepancies might be overcome and to promising research directions. Our review covers 78 research reports published in English between 1980 and 2011. Only empirical studies, using children as participants, were included in the review. Three main suggestions are offered for researchers, parents and practitioners on how to nurture young children’s understanding of mind: (a) to treat children as intentional agents, acting in a sensitive and responsive fashion to their mental states; (b) to speak to children about mental states in an elaborate and connected way, pointing out their causes and consequences, and explaining that these may be different for different people; and (c) to expose children to a wide range of emotions while being careful to not express over-frequent and inconsistent negative affect. One limitation of the present review, however, is that we do not look into how parental practices interact with certain individual characteristics of the child (e.g., personality, IQ and language skills). Future research should explore the multifaceted nature of these relationships and interactions.     

Sexual Double Standard: A Review of the Literature Between 2001 and 2010

The present article is a review of 26 studies on the sexual double standard. This phenomenon consists of different rules and standards of sexual behavior for men and women. Only scientific articles reporting empirical research published between 2001 and 2010 and available online in full were included. Our review was focused on the evidence of the existence of the sexual double standard and on the methods that have been used in the studies in this field. Most studies used quantitative methods based on scales or vignette tasks with a target to be evaluated by respondents. There was greater variability of results among the 6 studies using qualitative methods. These studies employed different interview techniques, focus groups and participant observation. There were also 2 studies reporting the use of mixed methods. The results of the studies showed that the sexual double standard still can be identified nowadays, although it seems that sexual behaviors and situations influenced by this phenomenon are changing. Today, premarital sex and sexual intercourse outside of committed relationships are more accepted for both genders. However, evaluations of other facets of sexuality continue to be based on different criteria for men and women.     

Construct Validity of the Relationship Profile Test: Correlates of Overdependence,Detachment, and Healthy Dependency in Low Income Urban Women Seeking Medical Services

Four categories of paintings (N = 200), done by schizophrenic patients, art students, and education students were rated by judges (N = 13) as to whether the painter was schizophrenic or normal. There was significant agreement in correctly identifying paintings, but the percent correct, greater than chance, was only 9.99%. Judges did best on paintings with “human content.” Intelligence scores were related to correct identification of two paintings, while art experience related to proportion was judged schizophrenic for all four paintings. Stepwise regression analysis suggested that intelligence scores were artifactually related to painting scores but art experience was not.     

Recursive Partitioning with Nonlinear Models of Change

In this article, we introduce nonlinear longitudinal recursive partitioning (nLRP) and the R package longRpart2 to carry out the analysis. This method implements recursive partitioning (also known as decision trees) in order to split data based on individual- (i.e., cluster) level covariates with the goal of predicting differences in nonlinear longitudinal trajectories. At each node, a user-specified linear or nonlinear mixed-effects model is estimated. This method is an extension of Abdolell et al.'s (2002) longitudinal recursive partitioning while permitting a nonlinear mixed-effects model in addition to a linear mixed-effects model in each node. We give an overview of recursive partitioning, nonlinear mixed-effects models for longitudinal data, describe nLRP, and illustrate its use with empirical data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort.     

Bridging Uncharted Waters in Georgia: Down Syndrome Association of Atlanta Outreach to Latino/a Families

Receiving the news that your newborn child has Down syndrome is difficult for most parents; difficulties which are compounded by language and cultural barriers for immigrant Latino/a families. The metro Atlanta area has shown a large increase in this population in the last 10 years, and increasing numbers of Latino/a parents with children with Down syndrome are coming in contact with the health care system. Experiences and observations regarding the formation of a Latino/a support group for parents of children with Down syndrome in Atlanta are described. In addition, efforts to integrate these Latino/a parents into a parent education conference sponsored by the Down Syndrome Association of Atlanta are also recounted. Finally, reflections upon the lessons learned and individual and organizational changes that occurred as a result of the process are discussed.     

Multinational data show that conspiracy beliefs are associated with the perception (and reality) of poor national economic performance

While a great deal is known about the individual difference factors associated with conspiracy beliefs, much less is known about the country-level factors that shape people's willingness to believe conspiracy theories. In the current article we discuss the possibility that willingness to believe conspiracy theories might be shaped by the perception (and reality) of poor economic performance at the national level. To test this notion, we surveyed 6723 participants from 36 countries. In line with predictions, propensity to believe conspiracy theories was negatively associated with perceptions of current and future national economic vitality. Furthermore, countries with higher GDP per capita tended to have lower belief in conspiracy theories. The data suggest that conspiracy beliefs are not just caused by intrapsychic factors but are also shaped by difficult economic circumstances for which distrust might have a rational basis.     

Book reviews

Techniques of Photostimulation in Biology. Edited by B. H. Crawford. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. 1968. Pp. 317. £5 17s.

The Figure-ground Phenomenon in Experimental and Phenomenological Psychology. By Jan C. Bauman. Stockholm: Published by the author. 1968. Pp. 269.

Methods for the the Measurement of Psychological Performance. (IBP Handbook No. 10). By S. Bieshevel. Oxford and Edinburgh: Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1969. Pp. iv + 98. 20s.

Experimental Neuropsychology—A Laboratory Manual. By Benjamin L. Hart. San Francisco. W. H. Freeman and Company. 1969. Pp. 102. £2.

Studies in Cognitive Development. Edited by D. Elkind and J. H. Flavell. London: Oxford University Press. 1969. Pp. xix + 502. 84s.