Infant sex differences: Ecological effects

Mothers and their firstborn. year-old infants (30 girls, 30 boys) were observed during two counterbalanced situations. In the nonavailability situation, mothers were not to initiate interaction; during free play, mothers were free to interact. As in previous studies, sex differences in infant touching and proximity seeking appeared, dependent here upon the level of interaction, with girls higher on both measures. Boys and girls did not differ during free play. Sex differences in maternal behavior were rare in either situation. Moreover, the pattern of associations between maternal and infant behavior changed as the level of interaction changed. Maternal availability, manipulated by experimental instructions, should be considered as a factor in interpreting investigations of early sex differences.     

Measuring Mental Wellbeing Among Adolescents: A Systematic Review of Instruments

Globally, promoting mental wellbeing among adolescents is of great public health and social significance. However, less is known about advances in measures of mental wellbeing, relevant for use in mental health interventions, which are age-appropriate and acceptable for use among adolescents. Comprehensive assessment includes multiple aspects of mental wellbeing, as well as positive indicators of feeling and functioning. This review used systematic review methods, guided by PRISMA, to identify and assess comprehensive instruments in terms of their content, conceptual relevance for youth, and responsiveness to change. Ryan and Deci’s framework for mental wellbeing, grounded in hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives, was applied to assess the preponderance of feeling and functioning items for each instrument. The review identified 11 instruments that fit specified inclusion criteria. Only four of the scales were developed for adolescents. Though the scales varied in their preponderance of items, all scales encompassed at least one indicator of both feeling and functioning. Findings emphasize the importance of validating adult-developed instruments for youth and ensuring the instrument’s cultural and conceptual relevance within groups of adolescents. As promoting mental wellbeing becomes critical to the field of practice, practitioners need access to relevant and acceptable measures.     

Evaluating the unequal-variance and dual-process explanations of zROC slopes with response time data and the diffusion model

We tested two explanations for why the slope of the z-transformed receiver operating characteristic (zROC) is less than 1 in recognition memory: the unequal-variance account (target evidence is more variable than lure evidence) and the dual-process account (responding reflects both a continuous familiarity process and a threshold recollection process). These accounts are typically implemented in signal detection models that do not make predictions for response time (RT) data. We tested them using RT data and the diffusion model. Participants completed multiple study/test blocks of an "old"/"new" recognition task with the proportion of targets and the test varying from block to block (.21, .32, .50, .68, or .79 targets). The same participants completed sessions with both speed-emphasis and accuracy-emphasis instructions. zROC slopes were below one for both speed and accuracy sessions, and they were slightly lower for speed. The extremely fast pace of the speed sessions (mean RT=526) should have severely limited the role of the slower recollection process relative to the fast familiarity process. Thus, the slope results are not consistent with the idea that recollection is responsible for slopes below 1. The diffusion model was able to match the empirical zROC slopes and RT distributions when between-trial variability in memory evidence was greater for targets than for lures, but missed the zROC slopes when target and lure variability were constrained to be equal. Therefore, unequal variability in continuous evidence is supported by RT modeling in addition to signal detection modeling. Finally, we found that a two-choice version of the RTCON model could not accommodate the RT distributions as successfully as the diffusion model.     

Tracking cognitive phases in analogical reasoning with event-related potentials

Analogical reasoning consists of multiple phases. Four-term analogies (A:B::C:D) have an encoding period in which the A:B pair is evaluated prior to a mapping phase. The electrophysiological timing associated with analogical reasoning has remained unclear. We used event-related potentials to identify neural timing related to analogical reasoning relative to perceptual and semantic control conditions. Spatiotemporal principal-components analyses revealed differences primarily in left frontal electrodes during encoding and mapping phases of analogies relative to the other conditions. The timing of the activity differed depending upon the phase of the problem. During the encoding of A:B terms, analogies elicited a positive deflection compared to the control conditions between 400 and 1,200 ms, but for the mapping phase analogical processing elicited a negative deflection that occurred earlier and for a shorter time period, between 350 and 625 ms. These results provide neural and behavioral evidence that 4-term analogy problems involve a highly active evaluation phase of the A:B pair.     

Racial Microaggressions and the Filipino American Experience: Recommendations for Counseling and Development

Racial microaggressions are subtle forms of verbal and behavioral discrimination toward people of color. The current qualitative study explores the experiences of Filipino American participants (N= 12), who described 13 categories of microaggressions, including being treated as an alien in one's own land or as a 2nd‐class citizen, being presumed to have inferior status or intellect, being assumed to uphold Filipino stereotypes, or being mistaken for another identity. Recommendations for counseling and development are discussed. Las microagresiones raciales son formas sutiles de discriminación verbal y conductiva hacia las personas de color. El estudio actual cualitativo explora las experiencias de participantes Filipinoamericanos (N= 12), quienes describieron 13 categorías de microagresiones, incluido el ser tratados como extranjeros o como ciudadanos de segunda clase en su propio país, pertenecer presuntamente a una clase social inferior o tener un nivel intelectual inferior, ser presuntamente representantes de estereotipos Filipinos, o ser confundidos con individuos de otra identidad. Se discuten recomendaciones para la consejería y el desarrollo.     

Memory for child sexual abuse information: Simulated memory error and individual differences

Building on the simulated-amnesia work of Christianson and Bylin (Applied Cognitive Psychology, 13, 495–511, 1999), the present research introduces a new paradigm for the scientific study of memory of childhood sexual abuse information. In Session 1, participants mentally took the part of an abuse victim as they read an account of the sexual assault of a 7-year-old. After reading the narrative, participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: They (1) rehearsed the story truthfully (truth group), (2) left out the abuse details of the story (omission group), (3) lied about the abuse details to indicate that no abuse had occurred (commission group), or (4) did not recall the story during Session 1 (no-rehearsal group). One week later, participants returned for Session 2 and were asked to truthfully recall the narrative. The results indicated that, relative to truthful recall, untruthful recall or no rehearsal at Session 1 adversely affected memory performance at Session 2. However, untruthful recall resulted in better memory than did no rehearsal. Moreover, gender, PTSD symptoms, depression, adult attachment, and sexual abuse history significantly predicted memory for the childhood sexual abuse scenario. Implications for theory and application are discussed.