Rohling's Interpretive Method and Inherent Limitations on the Flexibility of “Flexible Batteries”

Miller and Rohling (2001) proposed a 24-step algorithm, the Rohling Interpretive Method (RIM), for quantitative interpretation of results from flexible neuropsychological test batteries. We believe that the RIM as presented in that paper has several conceptual problems, including (a) a failure to distinguish "statistically significant" from pathological differences, (b) an assumption that declines in specific abilities can be inferred when a particular test score deviates from an estimate of general premorbid ability, and (c) confusion between the standard deviation associated with individual test scores versus that of a composite of those scores. As an alternative, we suggest the value of developing and using co-normed comprehensive neuropsychological test batteries from which test users might select subsets of tests.     

Comparison of group cohesion,class participation,and exam performance in live and online classes

Though class participation and group cohesion have shown some potential to promote student performance in conventional classrooms, their efficacy has not yet been demonstrated in an online-class setting. Group cohesion, defined as member attraction to and self-identification with a group, is thought to promote positive interdependence and the success of the group’s members. The current study sought to determine if group cohesion is significantly affected by the change of course setting from a live classroom to an asynchronous online-hybrid class in which students met in person only for course exams and otherwise interacted with each other through an online discussion board. Because peer interaction appears vital for the development of cohesion, we examined the relationship between participation in class discussion and students’ self-reported group cohesion and exam performance. With one exception, course requirements and materials were identical between the two class sections: students in the online-hybrid course completed homework assignments, whereas students in the live section were simply encouraged to do the same. Despite the advantage conferred by mandatory homework assignments, the findings heavily favored the conventional live classroom with respect to exam performance and self-reported group cohesion. Participation in class discussion was high in both class sections. The results indicated that both student performance and group cohesion were significantly lower in the hybrid classes.     

Enabled or disabled? Working parents of disabled children and the provision of child‐care

This research explores the reported experiences of working parents of disabled children with respect to formal and informal sources of child‐care, the need for which extends beyond the childhood years. Forty families with at least one disabled child, representing a variety of family structures and work situations, participated in semi‐structured interviews. The resultant data revealed an analytical axis of disabling and enabling features of child‐care. These are illustrated here with reference to the parents' accounts. Disabling barriers were physical, attitudinal or material. However, some features of either formal or informal care served to dismantle these barriers. Where formal child‐care was available, appropriate, flexible and accommodating to the needs of both the parents and the disabled child, the parents reported being able to combine working and caring roles successfully. However, where formal supports were inadequate or non‐existent, parents who could rely on the support of family and friends to supply emotional and instrumental assistance reported balance between work and caring roles. Whilst all parents need satisfactory child‐care in the early years, these parents' needs extend beyond the childhood years: the parents' accounts highlighted their complex and long‐term child‐care needs. Options for further research were proposed which would emphasize negotiation within families over time, or would focus on intersections of other parts of the work‐family‐community system. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems,by J. J. Gibson

This paper examines the relationship of Jean-François Lyotard’s aesthetics to phenomenology, especially the works of Mikel Dufrenne and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. It argues that this comparison allows a greater understanding of Lyotard’s late aesthetic writings, which can appear gnomic and which have received relatively little critical attention. Lyotard credits Merleau-Ponty with opening the theme of difference in the aesthetic field, yet believes that the phenomenological approach can never adequately account for it. After outlining Lyotard’s early critiques of Dufrenne and Merleau-Ponty, the paper will demonstrate how his late aesthetics can be understood as returning to phenomenological themes but in the form of a reversal. Lyotard’s “lesson of darkness” is that the secret power of art can never be brought into the light of phenomenal appearance, and that artworks do not testify to the birth of perception, but to its death and resurrection.     

Books Received from August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010

This study aimed to explore the recognition of emotional and non-emotional biological movements in children with severe and profound deafness. Twenty-four deaf children, together with 24 control children matched on mental age and 24 control children matched on chronological age, were asked to identify a person's actions, subjective states, emotions, and objects conveyed by moving point-light displays. Results showed that when observing point-light displays, deaf children showed impairments across all conditions (emotions, actions, and moving objects) compared with their chronological age-matched controls but showed no differences across subjective states. The results are supportive that deaf children present developmental delays in their biological motion apart from the ones relative to their own mental state, and this may be interpreted in relation to the expertise they have acquired in decoding action toward themselves. The findings are discussed in relation to deaf children viewing motion stimuli very differently to hearing children.     

Mormon Fertility in Latin America

While previous research has identified religion as an influence of fertility, how context changes the nature of that relationship remains little understood. Using census data from Brazil, Chile and Mexico, this study examines whether the high fertility pattern of one pronatalist, American-born religion (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LDSs]) translates to the Latin American context. Results indicate that it does, but only among a subgroup as the pronatalist pattern is masked by member’s educational attainment and mixed religion marriages. When these attributes are accounted for LDS fertility is high in Latin America, especially among the more educated. This study highlights both the importance of member characteristics in influencing fertility and the role of selective recruiting in determining how and whether these characteristics vary by context.