Infant Contingency Learning in Different Cultural Contexts

Three‐month‐old Cameroonian Nso farmer and German middle‐class infants were compared regarding learning and retention in a computerized mobile task. Infants achieving a preset learning criterion during reinforcement were tested for immediate and long‐term retention measured in terms of an increased response rate after reinforcement and after a 24‐h delay compared with baseline. It was hypothesized that infants from both cultural communities would acquire the contingency between own motion and mobile movement, as they similarly experience contingent responses in social interactions. Nso infants were assumed to show a higher learning rate related to their advanced gross motor development, whereas German infants were expected to show a higher baseline because of culture‐typical motor handling promoting a high level of activity (i.e. lying supine). Results showed immediate and long‐term retention in infants from both cultural contexts, as well as a higher baseline for German infants. Although the learning rate was higher for Cameroonian infants, logistic regression revealed that learning was not related to gross motor development but depended on the level of baseline response. Thus, contingency learning was shown in different cultural environments, and the level of baseline activity coined by culture‐specific motor handling turned out to influence learning within the mobile task. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Body image trends among Icelandic adolescents: a cross-sectional national study from 1997 to 2010

The aim of this study was to evaluate trends in body image among Icelandic adolescents from 1997 to 2010. Data from five cross-sectional surveys conducted among national samples of 9th and 10th graders in Iceland using five time points (1997, 2000, 2006, 2009, and 2010) were compared to examine changes in body image. In total, 32,397 adolescents participated in the study. Body image among 14-15-year-old adolescents in Iceland improved significantly over the 13-year period. Girls reported more negative body image than boys at all time points. However, the positive change in body image from 1997 to 2010 was more pronounced for girls than boys, resulting in a narrower gap between the genders. The current results are encouraging and indicate that in an age of increased overweight and obesity, the body image of Icelandic adolescents is becoming more positive.     

Inhibiting the mentalizing capacities

This paper describes a phobic patient who inhibited her capacity to mentalize defensively in situations when emotionally overwhelmed. When provoked by anxiety, she used the ‘silencing-method’, not reflecting on her internal world or her relationships. In order to avoid painful thinking, she stopped mentalizing and used practical or physical activities as a psychic retreat from an unpleasant reality. In psychoanalysis, she developed a growing tolerance to conceiving her own mental states However, even after several years of analysis, inhibiting her mentalizing capacities remained her defensive strategy. This paper suggests that phobia could be understood as an intolerance of conceiving mental states, preventing integration of psychic trauma. Improvement of the mentalizing capacities through psychoanalysis makes phobic symptoms fade.     

Gaze behavior in analytical and holistic face processing

We conducted two experiments examining children's and adults' gaze behavior when processing faces analytically (focusing on a single feature) or holistically (comparing the overall similarity of the faces). Children 6-8 and 9-10 years of age and adults were instructed to assign schematically drawn faces in Experiment 1 and photos of real faces in Experiment 2 to two categories. The categories were constructed so as to allow either an analytical or holistic categorization of the faces. During all trials, gaze behavior was recorded from stimulus onset until reaction. The location and duration of the fixations used were analyzed. Whereas the holistic processors fixated the whole area of the eyes and nose most and longest independently of age, analytical processors showed a more feature-specific gaze behavior, focusing their fixations upon the particular feature used for subsequent processing. Thus, differences in analytical and holistic face processing can be detected early in gaze behavior-that is, at the visual encoding stage.     

The fearless avoiders: Comparison of various strains of rats in an active avoidance task

The effect of exploratory activity and emotional reactivity on the acquisition of active avoidance learning was assessed in rats. Four strains of rats selectively bred for a high or low degree of either of the two traits (Maudsley emotionally reactive animals, Maudsley emotionally non-reactive animals, high rearers, and low rearers) and a control strain (randombred animals) took part in the experiment. Significant differences were found between strains in the number of animals showing active avoidance behaviour. Emotional reactivity was shown to facilitate active avoidance behaviour and so did, unexpectedly, a low degree of exploratory activity. An attempt was made to explain the latter result in terms of differences in channel capacity between high and low exploring animals and the ensuing differences in attention focus on the relevant stimulus for the test situation.     

Constant versus variable response signal delays in speed—accuracy trade-offs: Effects of advance preparation for processing time

In two experiments, we used response signals (RSs) to control processing time and trace out speed—accuracy trade-off (SAT) functions in a difficult perceptual discrimination task. Each experiment compared performance in blocks of trials with constant and, hence, temporally predictable RS lags against performance in blocks with variable, unpredictable RS lags. In both experiments, essentially equivalent SAT functions were observed with constant and variable RS lags. We conclude that there is little effect of advance preparation for a given processing time, suggesting that the discrimination mechanisms underlying SAT functions are driven solely by bottom-up information processing in perceptual discrimination tasks.     

The relationships between processing facial identity,emotional expression,facial speech,and gaze direction during development

Four experiments were conducted with 5- to 11-year-olds and adults to investigate whether facial identity, facial speech, emotional expression, and gaze direction are processed independently of or in interaction with one another. In a computer-based, speeded sorting task, participants sorted faces according to facial identity while disregarding facial speech, emotional expression, and gaze direction or, alternatively, according to facial speech, emotional expression, and gaze direction while disregarding facial identity. Reaction times showed that children and adults were able to direct their attention selectively to facial identity despite variations of other kinds of face information, but when sorting according to facial speech and emotional expression, they were unable to ignore facial identity. In contrast, gaze direction could be processed independently of facial identity in all age groups. Apart from shorter reaction times and fewer classification errors, no substantial change in processing facial information was found to be correlated with age. We conclude that adult-like face processing routes are employed from 5 years of age onward.     

Constant versus variable response signal delays in speed--accuracy trade-offs: effects of advance preparation for processing time

In two experiments, we used response signals (RSs) to control processing time and trace out speed--accuracy trade-off(SAT) functions in a difficult perceptual discrimination task. Each experiment compared performance in blocks of trials with constant and, hence, temporally predictable RS lags against performance in blocks with variable, unpredictable RS lags. In both experiments, essentially equivalent SAT functions were observed with constant and variable RS lags. We conclude that there is little effect of advance preparation for a given processing time, suggesting that the discrimination mechanisms underlying SAT functions are driven solely by bottom-up information processing in perceptual discrimination tasks.