Toward a Stress Process Model of Children’s Exposure to Physical Family and Community Violence

Theoretically informed models are required to further the comprehensive understanding of children’s ETV. We draw on the stress process paradigm to forward an overall conceptual model of ETV (ETV) in childhood and adolescence. Around this conceptual model, we synthesize research in four dominant areas of the literature which are detailed but often disconnected including: (1) exposure to three forms of physical violence (e.g., child physical maltreatment, interparental violence, and community ETV); (2) the multilevel correlates and causes of ETV (e.g., neighborhood characteristics including concentrated disadvantage; family characteristics including socio-economic status and family stressors); (3) a range of consequences of ETV (e.g., internalizing and externalizing mental health problems, role transitions, and academic outcomes); and (4) multilevel and cross domain mediators and moderators of ETV influences (e.g., school and community factors, family social support, and individual coping resources). We highlight the range of interconnected processes through which violence exposures may influence children and suggest opportunities for prevention and intervention. We further identify needed future research on children’s ETV including coping resources as well as research on cumulative contributions of violence exposure, violence exposure modifications, curvilinearity, and timing of exposure.

When goals constrain: Eye movements and memory for goal‐Oriented map study

Perspective goals, such as studying a map to learn a route through an environment or the overall layout of an environment, produce memory congruent with the goal‐directed rather than the studied perspective. One explanation for this finding is that perspective goals guide attention towards actively gathering relevant information during learning. A second explanation is that information is automatically organized into a goal‐congruent spatial model that guides retrieval. Both explanations predict goal‐congruent memory, but only the former one predicts eye movement differences during study. The present experiment investigated the effect of perspective goals on eye movement during map study and the flexibility of resulting spatial memories. Results demonstrate eye movements towards goal‐congruent map elements during learning, and lasting memory effects at test. These findings carry implications for the design of adaptive hand‐held and in‐vehicle navigation interfaces that accommodate for varied user goals. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Student Guided Functional Assessment Interview: An Analysis of Student and Teacher Agreement

Functional assessment strategies are used to guide the treatment of problem behavior with individuals who have severe disabilities. Also, researchers have extended functional assessment applications to individuals with emotional and behavioral disabilities. One such extension is the use of students as informants in the functional assessment process. The present study assessed an interview tool designed to elicit information directly from students regarding their problem behaviors. We examined agreement between students and their teachers. Results showed high agreement on the causes and functions of problem behavior with mixed agreement on support plan recommendations.     

Place Learning in Virtual Space I: Acquisition, Overshadowing, and Transfer

Three experiments showed that, in virtual space, humans learn to find an invisible target that remains in a fixed location relative to distal cues. Experiment 1 showed that people rapidly learned to locate an invisible target in a computer-generated virtual arena. Participants searched the appropriate place intensely when, on a probe trial, the target was removed. Experiment 2 showed that two groups of participants, one with a visible and one with an invisible target, learned to locate the target in the virtual arena. A probe trial, during which the target was removed, showed that participants from both groups searched the former location of the target in the virtual arena, suggesting the presence of proximal cues did not interfere with place learning. Experiment 3 showed that, following place learning, people directly approach the location of the invisible target from novel start positions. The data were discussed in terms of spatial learning and memory.     

Preventing Reading Difficulties: Reading Between the Lines

Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, the report of the Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children sponsored by the National Research Council, provides a comprehensive examination of the reading process and of reading instruction in the early grades. Although lacking in several areas, such as the development of fluency, appropriate practices for students with learning disabilities, and recommendations for teacher education, the report is based on sound research and is likely to have a substantial impact on the field of reading.     

Facilitation of both “same” and “different” judgments of letter strings by familiarity of letter sequence

Three experiments employing simultaneous matching were performed to extend recent findings that three kinds of familiarity—familiarity of letter sequences, familiarity of display configuration, and familiarity of letter orientation—facilitate the matching of letter strings for “same” responses and sometimes for “different” responses. It was found that letter sequence familiarity facilitated “same” responses even when the letter strings were in an unfamiliar orientation or configuration and also facilitated “different” responses whenever the task required that a substantial portion of the display be processed before a response could be initiated. A three-stage model of the simultaneous letter-string matching task was developed. This model, which assumes that the same processes account for both “same” and “different” responses, was consistent with findings obtained when there were small differences between string pairs. Discrepant findings obtained when there were large differences between string pairs may have been produced by the premature initiation of responses.     

Imagery,rehearsal, and the compatibility of input-output tasks

Two experiments tested the proposition that recall in an imagery task would be facilitated when the processes instigated during original input and during a rehearsal interval were similar to (compatible with) processes assumed to be initiated by two retrieval formats. In both experiments the subjects listened to tape-recorded messages which described the placements of numbers in an imaginary mental matrix. Experiment 1 used four modes of presenting the original information about the placement of the numbers. Two of the input modes were expected to foster the use of imagery: listening to the tape-recorded messages (L), and listening while shadowing (vocalizing) the messages (LV). The other modes of presentation were expected to encourage verbalized rather than imaginal encoding: listening plus silent reading (LR), and listening plus reading aloud (LRV). Two types of recall tasks were used, one which emphasized imaginal coding (matrix recall) and one which emphasized verbal coding (direction recall). Recall was highest when the input and output tasks were assumed to involve similar types of processing. Thus, Groups L and LV showed higher recall than Groups LR and LRV on the matrix task, but the converse was true for the direction task. In addition, rotation of the information yielded different characteristics for the input-output conditions. Experiment 2 introduced rehearsal instructions. Visualizing rehearsal was more beneficial to matrix recall than verbalizing rehearsal or no explicit rehearsal instructions, and verbalizing rehearsal aided direction recall more than visualizing rehearsal. Various models were discussed.     

Multivariate discriminant analysis of EEG power spectra in acute schizophrenic patients and healthy probands

The electroencephalogram (EEG) during information processing is influenced by specific changes in brain electrical activity. Based on the theory of a disturbed information processing in schizophrenics we analysed auditory stimulus induced EEG changes by Fast Fourier Transformation. The most important of the significant stimulation dependent EEG power changes were measured in the 0.5-3.5 Hz and 10-13.5 Hz frequency bands in the left parietal lead. In a multivariate analysis the separation of the subjects examined into acute schizophrenics and normals was incorrect in only 21% of the cases (resubstitution rate): using the pi-method an error of 31% was estimated.     

Discovering the Family History of Huntington Disease (HD)

A considerable body of research has explored both predictive genetic test decisions for Huntington disease (HD) and the impact of receiving a test result. Extant research reveals little, however, about how and when at risk persons first discover their family history of HD. Drawing upon 24 semi-structured interviews with at risk persons and their family members, this study explored initial discovery of HD in the family. Qualitative data analysis revealed four different, though sometimes related, trajectories of discovery: (1) something is wrong, (2) out of the blue, (3) knowing, but dismissing, and 4) growing up with HD. These pathways highlighted the importance of the temporal and historical contexts in which genetic risk for HD was discovered. Notably, ignorance about HD was the most salient feature shaping participants' narratives of discovery. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.