语境丰富性和生词重复暴露对儿童附带性词汇学习的影响

考察了重复阅读下语境丰富性和生词重复暴露对儿童附带性新词学习的影响。实验设为三种学习条件:多语境重复、单语境重复、基线。结果显示,在反映词汇加工早期阶段的凝视时间和晚期阶段的总注视时间上,均表现为多语境重复学习后的词汇加工时间显著短于单语境重复条件和基线条件,且后两者间无差异。结果证明,儿童在重复阅读过程中对丰富语境线索的使用是附带性词汇学习发展的主要原因,而生词单纯的重复暴露并未产生明显效果,进一步表明只有在丰富的语境环境下单词的重复才会提高儿童新词学习的质量。关于语境丰富性和重复在附带性词汇学习理论和语文实践教学价值上的启示将被讨论。     

Gender differences in the motivational processing of facial beauty

Gender may be involved in the motivational processing of facial beauty. This study applied a behavioral probe, known to activate brain motivational regions, to healthy heterosexual subjects. Matched samples of men and women were administered two tasks: (a) key pressing to change the viewing time of average or beautiful female or male facial images, and (b) rating the attractiveness of these images. Men expended more effort (via the key-press task) to extend the viewing time of the beautiful female faces. Women displayed similarly increased effort for beautiful male and female images, but the magnitude of this effort was substantially lower than that of men for beautiful females. Heterosexual facial attractiveness ratings were comparable in both groups. These findings demonstrate heterosexual specificity of facial motivational targets for men, but not for women. Moreover, heightened drive for the pursuit of heterosexual beauty in the face of regular valuational assessments, displayed by men, suggests a gender-specific incentive sensitization phenomenon.     

Living with Long QT Syndrome: A Qualitative Study of Coping with Increased Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death

Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a congenital disorder associated with increased risk of sudden cardiac death; LQTS patients and their families are offered diagnostic or predictive genetic testing. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the psychosocial aspects of living with LQTS, to identify LQTS patients’ daily life challenges and coping strategies, and to describe their experiences with healthcare services. In-depth interviews were conducted with seven individuals who had been tested for long QT genetic mutation. Four of these participants had an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD). The participants reported that early and gradually acquired knowledge of the syndrome was an advantage. They also reported experiencing worries and limitations in daily life, but their main concern was for their children or grandchildren. Healthcare providers’ minimal knowledge of LQTS resulted in uncertainty, misinformation, and even wrong advice regarding treatment. The results suggest that regional centers, with the appropriate expertise, should investigate and counsel LQTS patients and their families.     

A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis of Triple P-Positive Parenting Program Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling: Effectiveness and Moderating Variables

A meta-analysis encompassing all studies evaluating the impact of the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program on parent and child outcome measures was conducted in an effort to identify variables that moderate the program's effectiveness. Hierarchical linear models (HLM) with three levels of data were employed to analyze effect sizes. The results (N = 55 studies) indicate that Triple P causes positive changes in parenting skills, child problem behavior and parental well-being in the small to moderate range, varying as a function of the intensity of the intervention. The most salient findings of variables moderating the interventions' impact were larger effects found on parent report as compared to observational measures and more improvement associated with more intensive formats and initially more distressed families. Sample characteristics (e.g., child's age, being a boy) and methodological features (e.g., study quality) exhibited different degrees of predictive power. The analysis clearly identified several strengths of the Triple P system, most importantly its ability to effect meaningful improvement in parents and children. Some limitations pertain to the small evidence-base of certain formats of Triple P and the lack of follow-up data beyond 3 years after the intervention. Many of the present findings may be relevant to other evidence-based parenting programs.     

Generating Relations Elicits a Relational Mindset in Children

Relational reasoning is a hallmark of human higher cognition and creativity, yet it is notoriously difficult to encourage in abstract tasks, even in adults. Generally, young children initially focus more on objects, but with age become more focused on relations. While prerequisite knowledge and cognitive resource maturation partially explains this pattern, here we propose a new facet important for children's relational reasoning development: a general orientation to relational information, or a relational mindset. We demonstrate that a relational mindset can be elicited, even in 4‐year‐old children, yielding greater than expected spontaneous attention to relations. Children either generated or listened to an experimenter state the relationships between objects in a set of formal analogy problems, and then in a second task, selected object or relational matches according to their preference. Children tended to make object mappings, but those who generated relations on the first task selected relational matches more often on the second task, signaling that relational attention is malleable even in young children.     

Value Structure Among Students and Steelworkers1

The two‐dimensional value structure postulated in Schwartz's (1992) theory has previously found support in samples of teachers and university students, but groups with other professions or low educational level have been understudied. The current study employed the 40‐item Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ; Schwartz et al., 2001 ), multidimensional scaling, and transformation analysis to test the universality of the value structures among manual workers (n=815) and white‐collar workers (n=459) in a Finnish steel company. Also, the validity of the instrument was confirmed by comparing the current PVQ sample of Finnish university students (n=309) and a previous sample of Finnish university students (n=615) studied with the original Schwartz Value Survey. The value structures of the steel workers followed Schwartz's theoretical model, regardless of the educational level, except for the security value.