Perception of temporally competing speech stimuli in preschool children

The aim of this study was to investigate the perception of competing speech stimuli in 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old normally developing children. A dichotic listening paradigm was used in which the temporal alignment between the two stimuli was varied to represent three levels of competition. Minimal, moderate, and maximal levels of temporal competition were represented by a Separation, Lag, and Simultaneous test condition, respectively. The subjects were behaviorally set to listen for and to report the two stimuli on each trial. The incidence of double correct responses in the test conditions was the measure of interest. The results show a sharp and linear drop in double correct scores from the Separation, to the Lag, and to the Simultaneous condition. There were no age-related differences in the Separation and the Simultaneous conditions. In the Lag condition, the performance of the 3-year-olds was significantly lower than the 4- and 5-year-olds. The findings were interpreted to be indicative of limited auditory processing ability in preschoolers for moderately and maximally competing speech stimuli.     

Fathers' participation in the care of their preschool children

Correlates of fathers' participation in the care of their preschool children were investigated, using two indices of participation: (a) child-care tasks performed by the father independently; and (b) child-care tasks performed jointly with the mother. Subjects were 79 fathers and mothers of Caucasian middle-class 4-year-old girls and the girls themselves, and 36 fathers and mothers of a matched sample of preschool boys. Major factors examined as possible influences on participation included (a) maternal work-role pattern; (b) fathers' and mothers' sex-role ideology; and (c) family work load, i.e., family size and number of children under 6. Indices of variables conceptualized as possible consequences of participation included (a) girls' sex-role stereotyping; (b) fathers' self-perceptions of masculinity and femininity; and (c) wives' role-pattern satisfaction. Results indicated that fathers' independent (but not joint) performance of child-care tasks was significantly and positively related to maternal work-role variables and to nontraditional sex-role ideology of fathers and wives, but not to family work load. Independent (but not joint) participation was significantly and negatively related to daughters' stereotyping and to fathers' perceptions of themselves as stereotypically masculine. Wives' role-pattern satisfaction was unexpectedly found to be negatively related to both joint and independent participation.Data reported here were gathered as part of a research project supported by NIMH Grant #25215. The authors wish to acknowledge the collaboration of Susan Dibner.     

Event-related potential sensitivity to acoustic and semantic properties of terminal words in sentences.

This experiment was concerned with the effects of phonologically correct masking on the electrophysiological responses to terminal words of spoken sentences differing in contextual constraint. Two event-related potential (ERP) components, the N400 and N200, were recorded to the terminal words of high and low constraint sentences in four conditions. In the Control condition, subjects (Ss) simply attended to the sentences with no explicit task instructions. In the Semantic condition, Ss were required to listen to the stimuli in order to make semantic judgements about the terminal word of each sentence. The Control+Masking condition was identical to the Control condition except for the simultaneous presentation of a masking stimulus. The Semantic+Masking condition had Ss listening to sentences in the presence of masking with the task of making semantic judgements about the terminal word of each sentence. ERPs were recorded from Fz, Cz, Pz, T3, and T4 in 10 subjects. Amplitudes of both the N200 and the N400 were sensitive to contextual constraint with larger responses elicited by the terminal words of low constraint sentences. In addition to demonstrating the co-occurrence of the N200 and N400, this experiment highlighted a functional separation between the two components. Masking had no statistically significant effect on N200 latency but N400 latency was delayed in the masked conditions relative to those in the unmasked conditions. It is proposed that the N200 and N400 are manifestations of two different processes; the N200 reflects the acoustic/phonological processing of the terminal word while the N400 reflects the cognitive/linguistic processing. The relationship between the N200 recorded in this experiment and the discrimination N200 is discussed.     

The effects of psychological androgyny on attributions of causality for success and failure

Sixty female subjects and sixty male subjects, either sex-typed or androgynous, based on scores on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), made causal attributions for their own success or failure. Subjects also predicted future performance on a similar task. Sex differences were revealed which are only partially consistent with a cognitive-based expectancy model. It is suggested that outcome and ego involvement in the task are crucial factors in whether cognitive-based or more self-serving attributions are used in accounting for performance. Androgynous subjects predicted higher future performance. However, contrary to prediction, attributional behavior of androgynous and sex-typed subjects did not differ. Results are discussed in terms of rapidly changing views, in both the conceptualization and the measurement of psychological androgyny, since Bem's original report of behavioral correlates to scores on the BSRI.     

Independence of reinforcement delay and magnitude in concurrent chains

A three-component concurrent-chains procedure was used to investigate preference between terminal-link schedules that differed in delay and magnitude of reinforcement. Response and time allocation data were well described by a generalized matching model. Sensitivity to delay appeared to be lower when reinforcement magnitudes were unequal than when they were equal, but when obtained rather than programmed time spent responding in the initial links was used in the model, the difference vanished. The results support independence of delay and magnitude as separate dimensions of reinforcement value, as required by the matching law, and the assumption of the contextual choice model (Grace, 1994) that sensitivities to delay and magnitude are affected similarly by temporal context. Although there was statistical evidence for interaction between successive components, the effects were small and transient. The multiple-component concurrent-chains procedure should prove useful in future research on multidimensional preference, although it may be necessary to control obtained initial-link time more precisely.     

中西文的事件相关电位N400研究现状

本文从Ｎ４００的研究方法、基本理论、影响因素、研究与争论的问题等方面,介绍了采用语言文字作为刺激材料的事件相关电位研究现状,并比较了中、西文的研究差距,供同行参考。     

Multi-family Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (MF-PEP) for Children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

This article describes the development and methodology of a novel psychosocial intervention for children with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD). Originally developed as an adjunctive treatment for children with mood disorders, Multi-Family Psychoeducational Psychotherapy (MF-PEP) has been adapted for children with ASD (MF-PEP-ASD). Consisting of eight sessions, children with ASD and their parents receive psychoeducation and social support, and learn coping, problem-solving, communication, and symptom-management skills in separate and joint sessions. Core treatment components of MF-PEP-ASD include psychoeducation, social skills treatment, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and parent training and involvement. Preliminary qualitative data from parent and child participants have indicated positive and promising findings. Continued evaluation of this treatment using comprehensive outcome and treatment fidelity measures is warranted.