The signing brain: the neurobiology of sign language

Most of our knowledge about the neurobiological bases of language comes from studies of spoken languages. By studying signed languages, we can determine whether what we have learnt so far is characteristic of language per se or whether it is specific to languages that are spoken and heard. Overwhelmingly, lesion and neuroimaging studies indicate that the neural systems supporting signed and spoken language are very similar: both involve a predominantly left-lateralised perisylvian network. Recent studies have also highlighted processing differences between languages in these different modalities. These studies provide rich insights into language and communication processes in deaf and hearing people.     

Lonelier, lazier, and teased: the stigmatizing effect of body size

The authors conducted 2 studies to examine the stigmatization of the female and male body using photographic stimuli of real people. In the first study, 75 female and 55 male undergraduates rated a series of 50 photographs of women ranging in body mass index (BMI) on 3 items: gets teased, lonely, and lazy. Both male and female observers rated bodies on either side of BMI 19-20 kg/m2 higher for the gets teased and lonely items. For the lazy item, there was a clear pattern of greater stigmatization with increasing BMI. In the second study, 40 male and 40 female observers rated a series of photographs of the male body that varied in BMI and waist-to-chest ratio on the same items. Results showed that men and women judged overweight and more tubular men to be lazier, lonelier, and teased. These findings suggest that body size is an important characteristic to consider when examining body stigmatization among men and women. These results also show support for the beautiful-is-good bias.     

Modality-specific and amodal sources of interference in the attentional blink

When two masked targets (T1 and T2) are visually or auditorily presented in rapid succession, processing of T1 produces an attentional blink (AB)--that is, a transient impairment of T2 identification. The present study was conducted to compare the relative impact of masking T1 and T2 between vision and audition. Within a rapidly presented sequence, each of the two verbal targets, discriminated by their offset (Experiment 1) or their onset (Experiment 2), could be followed by either a single item, acting as a mask, or a blank gap. Masking of T2 appeared to be necessary for the occurrence of the AB for both the visual and the auditory modality. However, whereas masking of T1 affected the expression of the visual AB in both experiments, the same effect was observed in the auditory modality only when the targets varied at the onset. These results provide further evidence that processing auditory and visual information is restricted by similar attentional limitations but also suggest that these limits are constrained by properties specific to each sensory system.     

Women's eye contact and men's later interest: two field experiments

Previous studies indicated various nonverbal behaviors including eye contact of women are associated with men's approach; however, duration of the eye contact was not tested. In Exp. 1, a female confederate established eye-contact of 3 sec. or 1 sec. with a man when entering a bar. Duration of returned glance was the dependent variable. Analysis showed mean duration of the return glance was statistically shorter in the 1-sec. condition. In Exp. 2, the confederate made eye contact with a man and looked at him less than 1 sec., 2 sec., or 4 sec. The presence versus absence of smile was the dependent variable. Longer duration of eye contact was associated with an increase of smiling.     

Risk factors for addictive disorders: a discriminant analysis on 374 addicted and 513 nonpsychiatric participants

Many common risk factors have been described in addictive disorders. Little is known about factors' respective contributions to discrimination of addicted and nonaddicted participants. Two large samples were compared including 513 nonpsychiatric participants and 374 addicted participants meeting the DSM-IV criteria for eating disorders, alcohol, or substance dependence. Twenty-six risk factors were assessed by interview or self-rating scales. A discriminant analysis determined the respective weight of each risk factor. One discriminant function emerged and characterized a depressive dimension. The results suggest that the different risk factors described in addiction could be related to a depressive dimension.     

Knowing which day of the week it is: temporal structure and dynamics of memory

The complementary role of static and dynamic information used when one needs to be located in time was studied. Static information refers to temporal knowledge about days of the week, and dynamic information reflects a sense of time, taking into account the present, the near past, and the future. Each day of an actual 7-day wk., 699 women and 620 men were asked to provide a "right" or "wrong" response to a statement such as "Today is X," where X was the name of one of the seven days of the week. Analysis suggested use of a structured temporal representation of the week: the weekend, a landmark, had an anchoring role. Also the dynamics of the content of working memory were indicated. The active "temporal window" participants hold in mind seems directed more towards the future than the past. Results are discussed within the more general context of time management.     

Rethinking Social Participation: The Case of Immigrants in Canada

The social engagement of Canada’s immigrants continues to be the subject of debates. Most studies indicate a lower level of involvement, particularly for recent immigrants. This article investigates the possible causes of this lower participation by analyzing data from the 1998 General Social Survey (GSS), which provides precise measures of two different types of social engagement: volunteering and social participation. Three results stand out. First, formal volunteering and broader social participation do not display the same level of variability across groups. Second, the positive family effect usually observed does not apply to immigrants: the presence of children does not significantly increase their social engagement. Third, there is a strong gender component: whereas Canadian women are more likely to participate, immigrant women are not. Other factors (age, income, education), on the other hand, do seem to apply to both groups. We suggest that these results contribute to a new explanation of immigrant social engagement: Rather than being marked by a general immigration differential, newcomers to Canada seem to be left out of very specific, gender-influenced modes of participation, specifically, those related to the family, children, and schooling.     

False recognition of facial expressions of emotion: causes and implications

This article examines the importance of semantic processes in the recognition of emotional expressions, through a series of three studies on false recognition. The first study found a high frequency of false recognition of prototypical expressions of emotion when participants viewed slides and video clips of nonprototypical fearful and happy expressions. The second study tested whether semantic processes caused false recognition. The authors found that participants made significantly higher error rates when asked to detect expressions that corresponded to semantic labels than when asked to detect visual stimuli. Finally, given that previous research reported that false memories are less prevalent in younger children, the third study tested whether false recognition of prototypical expressions increased with age. The authors found that 67% of eight- to nine-year-old children reported nonpresent prototypical expressions of fear in a fearful context, but only 40% of 6- to 7-year-old children did so. Taken together, these three studies demonstrate the importance of semantic processes in the detection and categorization of prototypical emotional expressions.     

The Quality of Home Environment in Brazil: An Ecological Model

Based on Bronfenbrenner's (1999) ecological perspective, a longitudinal, prospective model of individual differences in the quality of home environment (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment—HOME) was tested in a sample of 179 Brazilian children and their families. Perinatal measures of family socioeconomic status (SES) and child birth weight had direct effects on HOME at preschool age. As either family SES or child birth weight increased, HOME also increased through diminished emotional distress in the mother a month following childbirth. SES had a negative effect on number of children in the household, which in turn had a long-term negative impact on HOME. Compared to mothers who had reported not to plan their pregnancy, those who did were more likely to have fewer children, to report more spouse support during childbearing, and to show less emotional distress a month after childbirth, all of which also influenced HOME at preschool age. These findings are discussed in light of the broader socio-ecological Brazilian context, with direct implications to clinical practice aimed at improving the quality of home environment.