Physical activity,motor ability,and school readiness of 6-yr.-old children

The aim of this investigation was to study the relationships between physical activity, motor ability, and school readiness in 6-yr.-old children. In total, 294 healthy children from Tartu were studied (161 boys and 133 girls). The physical activity of children was reported by parents and teachers using the questionnaire of Harro. The motor ability of children was evaluated using various tests from the Eurofit test battery as well as the 3-min. endurance shuttle run test. The Controlled Drawing Observation rest was used as a predictor of school readiness and development of mental abilities. Indoor physical activities predicted 19-25% of total variance in motor scores for these preschool children. Motor ability tests, which demand children's total attention and concentration, appear related to the chosen measures of school readiness.     

Authority conflicts and personality disorders

We investigated personality disorders (PDs) of young men with chronic authority conflicts using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-I (MCMI-I; Millon, 1983). PDs occurred considerably more often in the young men with chronic authority conflicts (62%) compared with a clinical control group of young men with acute authority conflicts (39%). The prevalence of PDs in a normal control group was considerably lower (11%). The passive-aggressive PD is over-represented among young men with chronic authority conflicts; there is hardly any antisocial PD. Millon's conceptualization of these disorders could have influenced these results. The high prevalence of passive-aggressive PDs complicates a good psychotherapeutic outcome in young men with chronic authority conflicts. Our results underscore the clinical utility of the controversial PAPD diagnosis.     

Plasticity of the human auditory cortex induced by discrimination learning of non-native,mora-timed contrasts of the Japanese language

In this magnetoencephalographic (MEG) study, we examined with high temporal resolution the traces of learning in the speech-dominant left-hemispheric auditory cortex as a function of newly trained mora-timing. In Japanese, the “mora” is a temporal unit that divides words into almost isochronous segments (e.g., na-ka-mu-ra and to-o-kyo-o each comprises four mora). Changes in the brain responses of a group of German and Japanese subjects to differences in the mora structure of Japanese words were compared. German subjects performed a discrimination training in 10 sessions of 1.5 h each day. They learned to discriminate Japanese pairs of words (in a consonant, anni–ani; and a vowel, kiyo–kyo, condition), where the second word was shortened by one mora in eight steps of 15 msec each. A significant increase in learning performance, as reflected by behavioral measures, was observed, accompanied by a significant increase of the amplitude of the Mismatch Negativity Field (MMF). The German subjects' hit rate for detecting durational deviants increased by up to 35%. Reaction times and MMF latencies decreased significantly across training sessions. Japanese subjects showed a more sensitive MMF to smaller differences. Thus, even in young adults, perceptual learning of non-native mora-timing occurs rapidly and deeply. The enhanced behavioral and neurophysiological sensitivity found after training indicates a strong relationship between learning and (plastic) changes in the cortical substrate.     

Object-based selection operates on a grouped array of locations

In two experiments, space- and object-based selection effects were investigated, using variants of the ring-cuing paradigm of Egly and Homa (1984). The results revealed significant cuing modulation for nonring configurations of target locations spanning a range of retinal eccentricities, with the cuing effects independent of eccentricity and confined to the configuration of locations (rather than extending to locations within the space enclosed by the cued configuration). These results are consistent with object-based selection operating on a grouped spatial array (Vecera & Farah, 1994). Object selection may be based on a supradimensional saliency map representation of the field, modulated by feature-specific segmentation mechanisms (e.g., an object may be made salient on the basis of its color). Complex objects may be represented by grouped saliency signals. In this way, a two-dimensional spatial (saliency) representation may provide the common format for object-based selection, prior to full object definition.     

n-Variable Bisection

This paper deals with the measurement problem of deriving an overall evaluation of stimuli by n-component bisection. Reflexivity and a generalised form of bisymmetry for two variables will be shown to characterise n-component bisection in terms of quasilinear means, unique up to linear transformations of their generating functions. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

Brain Potentials in the Processing of Complex Sentences: An ERP Study of Control and Raising Constructions

In the present study we made use of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to examine raising and subject control constructions in German. Our most salient result is that the ERPs elicited at the empty subject position of a raising construction are clearly different from those elicited at the corresponding position of an otherwise identical subject control construction, the former producing a stronger P600. We argue that this result provides an electrophysiological correlate of the theoretical distinction between NP trace and PRO.     

Implicit and explicit learning of event sequences: evidence for distinct coding of perceptual and motor representations

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) of 21 subjects were recorded in a choice reaction time task with a repeating eight-element long stimulus sequence. The regular event sequence was sometimes interrupted by 'perceptual' or by 'motor deviants' which both replaced an expected stimulus but either preserved or violated the sequence of motor responses. Response times confirmed that all subjects had acquired some knowledge of the sequential dependencies. By means of a post-experimental free recall and recognition test, subjects were classified as having either explicit or implicit knowledge of the event sequence. The ERPs showed different effects for different types of stimuli and the two groups. In the group of explicit learners, a larger N200 component was evoked by both types of deviants and a larger P300 by motor deviants only. In the group of implicit learners these 'perceptual components' remained unaffected. In contrast, in both groups of subjects the lateralized readiness potential (LRP) which accompanied motor deviants revealed a partial activation of the to be expected but incorrect response, i.e. motor learning. These results suggest that explicit learners acquire knowledge about both, stimulus and response dependencies while implicit learners acquire knowledge about response dependencies only.     

Family perception of interpersonal behavior as a predictor in eating disorders: a prospective, six-year followup study

This study assessed family perception patterns of interpersonal behavior in families with a daughter diagnosed with an eating disorder 6 years after treatment that used a prospective design. Family perception patterns of patients found to have a poor outcome at followup (n = 15) were compared with patients with a good outcome (n = 23), as well as a control group (n = 36). Using the system of multiple level observation of groups (SYMLOG), all 238 family members evaluated themselves and each other. The index patients with a poor outcome perceived themselves as friendlier and more positive than they were perceived by their families. In comparison to parents of daughters with a good outcome and the control group, parents of daughters in the poor outcome group perceived themselves to be less friendly than their partners perceived them to be. A rigid polarization of the perception of the index patient by family members and a discrepancy in this perception between the index patient and the rest of the family were found to be indicative of a poor prognosis. Implications for treatment based on family perception patterns of interpersonal behavior are discussed.