The Factor Structure and Reliability of a Six-Item Sense of Coherence Measure

The study investigated the factor structure and reliability of a six-item sense of coherence (SOC) measure. Participants were a South African white collar employee sample (n=7185) purposively selected from over 300 different companies across various business sectors. The sample constituted 34% male and 66% female and 34% Black, 18% Coloured, 11% Indian and 37% White employees. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used for the structural analysis. The reliability of the scores was also estimated. A unidimensional structure seemed to best represent the six-item SOC measure. The internal reliability of the scores from the measure was high.     

Changes in peripheral social partners and loneliness over time: the moderating role of interdependence

We examined the relationships between age, changes in the number of peripheral partners, and changes in loneliness over 2 years among 365 Hong Kong Chinese aged 18-91 years. We also tested the moderating role of interdependent self-construal in the relationships. Results showed that the well-documented negative association between age and number of peripheral partners over time was only significant for individuals with low and medium interdependence but not for those with high interdependence. Moreover, only older and middle-aged adults high in interdependence benefitted from having more peripheral social partners by showing decreased loneliness in the 2-year interval.     

Whether a religious group membership is shared and salient influences perceived similarity,political support,and helping intention toward refugees,but not charitable donation

This research investigates the ways in which (un)shared religious group memberships contribute to individual helping responses through perceived similarity in the context of a refugee emergency. Across three studies (N = 762), we examined religious sub-groups of British people's helping responses to religious subgroups of Syrian refugees, in quasi-experimental and experimental designs. Overall findings suggest that sharing a religious group membership with refugee targets increases perceived similarity, political support, and helping intention, but not charitable donation—regardless of shared group membership being subtle or salient. However, when refugee targets' religious identity is that of a salient unshared group membership, not sharing a religious group membership reduces perceived similarity, political support, and helping intention, among those who are religious—with again charitable donation remaining unchanged. These results provide critical insights into developing more effective and unique strategies to promote and mobilize support for refugees among different groups of potential helpers.     

Stimulus expectancy modulates inferior frontal gyrus and premotor cortex activity in auditory perception

In studies on auditory speech perception, participants are often asked to perform active tasks, e.g. decide whether the perceived sound is a speech sound or not. However, information about the stimulus, inherent in such tasks, may induce expectations that cause altered activations not only in the auditory cortex, but also in frontal areas such as inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and motor cortices, even in the absence of an explicit task. To investigate this, we applied spectral mixes of a flute sound and either vowels or specific music instrument sounds (e.g. trumpet) in an fMRI study, in combination with three different instructions. The instructions either revealed no information about stimulus features, or explicit information about either the music instrument or the vowel features. The results demonstrated that, besides an involvement of posterior temporal areas, stimulus expectancy modulated in particular a network comprising IFG and premotor cortices during this passive listening task.     

Microstructural organization of corpus callosum projections to prefrontal cortex predicts bimanual motor learning

The corpus callosum (CC) is the largest white matter tract in the brain. It enables interhemispheric communication, particularly with respect to bimanual coordination. Here, we use diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in healthy humans to determine the extent to which structural organization of subregions within the CC would predict how well subjects learn a novel bimanual task. A single DTI scan was taken prior to training. Participants then practiced a bimanual visuomotor task over the course of 2 wk, consisting of multiple coordination patterns. Findings revealed that the predictive power of fractional anisotropy (FA) was a function of CC subregion and practice. That is, FA of the anterior CC, which projects to the prefrontal cortex, predicted bimanual learning rather than the middle CC regions, which connect primary motor cortex. This correlation was specific in that FA correlated significantly with performance of the most difficult frequency ratios tested and not the innately preferred, isochronous frequency ratio. Moreover, the effect was only evident after training and not at initiation of practice. This is the first DTI study in healthy adults which demonstrates that white matter organization of the interhemispheric connections between the prefrontal structures is strongly correlated with motor learning capability.     

A glass full of optimism: Enrichment effects on cognitive bias in a rat model of depression

Investigations of cognitive biases in animals are conceptually and translationally valuable because they contribute to animal welfare research and help to extend and refine our understanding of human emotional disorders, where biased information processing is a critical causal and maintenance factor. We employed the "learned helplessness" genetic rat model of depression in studying cognitive bias and its modification by environmental manipulations. Using a spatial judgment task, responses to ambiguous spatial cues were assessed before and after environmental enrichment to test whether this manipulation would cause an optimistic shift in emotional state. Twenty-four congenitally helpless and nonhelpless male rats were trained to discriminate two different locations, "rewarded" versus "aversive." After successful acquisition of this spatial discrimination, cognitive bias was probed by measuring responses to three ambiguous locations. Latencies to "reach" and to actively "choose" a goal pot were recorded alongside exploratory behaviors. An overall strain difference was observed, with helpless rats displaying longer "reach" latencies than nonhelpless rats. This implies a "pessimistic" response bias in helpless rats, underscoring their depressive-like phenotype. No strain differences were observed regarding other behavioral measures. Half of the animals were then transferred to enriched cages and retested. Environmental enrichment resulted in reduced "choose" latencies in both rat strains, associating enrichment with more optimistic interpretations of ambiguous cues. Our results emphasize the suitability of cognitive bias measurement for animal emotion assessment. They extend the methodological repertoire for characterizing complex phenotypes and bear implications for animal welfare research and for the use of animal models in preclinical research.     

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Ethics Board: Studying the Meaning of Farm Life for Farm Children

What can one expect to unfold when they choose to do a face-to-face study of children on the farm and their use of space in rural southwestern Ontario? The process of getting the research off the ground from an ethics point of view was one where it was anything but normative, and to a large extent, a grueling process. This article situates the researcher’s dilemma and lays out the unfolding of the research process with reference to the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans and the major components found to trouble a research ethics board on a university campus. Last, academic freedom and the rights of researchers are considered in the context of undertaking the proposed research agenda.     

Developmental changes in the linguistic performance correlates of reading achievement

The present study evaluated the hypothesis that measures of linguistic skills differentially contribute to the variability in reading achievement at different ages. Linguistic skills that develop earlier and are more important for earlier phases of reading were predicted to contribute more to the variability of reading achievement at earlier ages (5–7) than at older ages (10–12). Conversely, linguistic skills that develop later and are more important for later phases of reading were predicted to contribute more to the variability in reading achievement at older ages (10–12) than at younger ages (5–7). To test these developmental hypotheses, measures of language skills with different developmental rates were administered to cross-sectional samples of disabled and nondisabled readers at three mean ages: 5.5, 8.5, and 11 years. Reading group differences were apparent at each age on measures assumed to develop earlier, thus failing to confirm the first prediction. However, these measures may not have been sensitive to linguistic skills important for beginning reading. Reading group differences on measures of later developing language skills were apparent only for older readers, thus confirming the second prediction. The latter age-dependent relationships provided additional evidence for developmental changes in the linguistic correlates of reading achievement.