Many-to-One Matching with Temporal and Hedonic Samples in Pigeons

Pigeons were initially trained with either temporal samples (2- and 8-s keylights) or hedonic samples (food and no food) mapped to line-orientation (horizontal and vertical) comparisons. Delay testing revealed marked retention asymmetries in both groups (i.e., a choose-short effect with temporal samples and a choose-no-food effect with hedonic samples). Next, while both groups continued training on the original task, a second set of samples was added, hedonic for birds originally trained with temporal samples and temporal for birds originally training with hedonic samples. For all birds, food and short samples were associated with one comparison, and no-food and long samples were associated with the alternative comparison (many-to-one, MTO, mapping). This time, delay testing revealed symmetrical retention functions in both groups with both sets of samples, and mediated-transfer testing revealed positive transfer. It was concluded that (1) a common code was used to represent samples associated with the same comparison in the MTO mapping and (2) the content of the codes was unrelated to the identity of the samples.     

Cognitive Developmental Theory and Spiritual Development

Traditional conceptions of cognitive development have failed to account for changes in adult cognition as well as more subjective and intuitive features of human experience. This paper reviews recent theories and research in cognitive development and spirituality with the aim of providing connections between the two domains. Neo-Piagetian and postformal theories of cognitive development suggest that advances in cognition are domain-specific, dependent on individual experience, and can occur at any point in the lifespan. However, theories of spiritual development have not adequately addressed these points. Thus, a novel account of spiritual development is presented that addresses these features with respect to individuals' changing conceptions of their relation to an External Power.     

Explaining Math: Gesturing Lightens the Load

Why is it that people cannot keep their hands still when they talk? One reason may be that gesturing actually lightens cognitive load while a person is thinking of what to say. We asked adults and children to remember a list of letters or words while explaining how they solved a math problem. Both groups remembered significantly more items when they gestured during their math explanations than when they did not gesture. Gesturing appeared to save the speakers' cognitive resources on the explanation task, permitting the speakers to allocate more resources to the memory task. It is widely accepted that gesturing reflects a speaker's cognitive state, but our observations suggest that, by reducing cognitive load, gesturing may also play a role in shaping that state.     

The influence of early mother—child interaction on preschool cognitive/linguistic outcomes in a high-social-risk group

In this paper, elements of early mother—child interaction are related to later cognitive and linguistic outcomes in a sample of 53 high social risk mothers and their preschoolers. Mother—child interaction was observed longitudinally when the children were 13 and 20 months old. Multiple regression analyses were used to predict cognitive and linguistic outcomes at 3 and 5 years from measures of early mother—child interaction. The results indicated that the quality of early mother—child interaction was a significant predictor of preschool cognitive and linguistic outcomes. This was shown to be true regardless of the contribution of the mother's IQ.     

MEASURING AND INCREASING THE HAPPINESS OF PEOPLE WITH PROFOUND MENTAL RETARDATION AND PHYSICAL HANDICAPS

Applied research in mental retardation has focused on skill training and education to the relative neglect of measuring and increasing happiness in the lives of people with mental retardation. Here we report the results of four preliminary studies that were conducted to develop and demonstrate methodologies for measuring happiness in people with profound mental retardation and other severe handicaps. These results suggest that: (1) facial expressions can provide a valid measure of happiness, and can be measured reliably by relatively untrained observers; (2) the rate of spontaneous smiling is highly variable across individuals; (3) some individuals’ happiness can be increased dramatically by very simple social interactions; and (4) clients’ differential emotional reactions to various caregivers may be useful in tracking the development of social relationships. Suggestions for future research include systematic replication of these preliminary findings with a larger number and variety of subjects, and demonstration of how these measures can be applied to quality assurance systems.     

Infant and parent factors associated with early maternal sensitivity: a caregiver-attachment systems approach

We examined variations in maternal sensitivity at 6 months of child age as a function of child negativity and maternal physiology. We expected maternal vagal withdrawal in response to infant negative affect to facilitate the maintenance of sensitivity, but only for mothers of securely attached children. One hundred and forty-eight infant-mother dyads were observed in multiple contexts at 6 months of child age, and associations among maternal and child variables were examined with respect to 12-month attachment quality. Mothers of later securely attached children were more sensitive than mothers of avoidant children. However, sensitivity decreased for all mothers at high levels of infant negative affect. Furthermore, for mothers of avoidant children, vagal withdrawal was associated with sensitivity to child distress. No association was found between vagal withdrawal and sensitivity for mothers of securely attached children. This suggests that mothers of avoidant children may be uniquely challenged by the affective demands of their infants.     

An intentional stance modulates the integration of gesture and speech during comprehension

The present study investigates whether knowledge about the intentional relationship between gesture and speech influences controlled processes when integrating the two modalities at comprehension. Thirty-five adults watched short videos of gesture and speech that conveyed semantically congruous and incongruous information. In half of the videos, participants were told that the two modalities were intentionally coupled (i.e., produced by the same communicator), and in the other half, they were told that the two modalities were not intentionally coupled (i.e., produced by different communicators). When participants knew that the same communicator produced the speech and gesture, there was a larger bi-lateral frontal and central N400 effect to words that were semantically incongruous versus congruous with gesture. However, when participants knew that different communicators produced the speech and gesture--that is, when gesture and speech were not intentionally meant to go together--the N400 effect was present only in right-hemisphere frontal regions. The results demonstrate that pragmatic knowledge about the intentional relationship between gesture and speech modulates controlled neural processes during the integration of the two modalities.     

Pigeons may not use dual coding in the radial maze analog task

Using a radial maze analog task, T. R. Zentall, J. N. Steirn, and P. Jackson-Smith (1990) found evidence that when a delay was interpolated early in a trial, pigeons coded locations retrospectively, but when the delay was interpolated late in the trial, they coded locations prospectively (support for a dual coding hypothesis). In Experiment 1 of the present study, the authors replicated the original finding of dual coding. In Experiments 2 and 3, they used a 2-alternative test procedure that does not require the assumption that pigeons' choice criterion, which changes over the course of the trial, is the same on delay and control trials. Under these conditions, the pigeons no longer showed evidence for dual coding. Instead, there was some evidence that they showed prospective coding, but a more parsimonious account of the results may be that the delay produced a relatively constant decrement in performance at all points of delay interpolation. The original finding of dual coding by Zentall et al. might have been biased by more impulsive choices early in control trials but not in delay trials and by a more stringent choice criterion late in delay trials.     

Generational Differences in Gender Attitudes Between Parents and Grown Offspring

This study examined generational differences in gender attitudes between parents and grown offspring, including the extent to which these differences vary in families with daughters vs families with sons and in African American vs European American families. Participants included 158 African American and European American men and women (aged 22 to 49 years), their mothers, and their fathers (N?=?474) recruited predominantly through purchased telephone lists. Participants completed a self-report measure of gender attitudes toward marital and childrearing roles. Mixed method ANOVAs revealed offspring were less traditional than parents, although there were greater generational differences in attitudes between mothers and daughters and in European American families. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for family roles and relationships.     

High self-reported rates of neglect and emotional abuse, by persons with binge eating disorder and night eating syndrome

This study compared rates of self-reported childhood maltreatment in three groups diagnosed using semi-structured interviews: binge eating disorder (BED; n=176), night eating syndrome (NES, n=57), and overweight/obese comparison (OC, n=38). We used the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) to assess childhood maltreatment and the Beck Depression Inventory-II to assess depression levels. Reports of maltreatment were common in patients with BED (82%), NES (79%), and OC (71%). The BED group reported significantly more forms of maltreatment above clinical cut-points (2.4) than the OC (1.4) group but not the NES (1.8) group. The BED and NES groups reported more emotional abuse than the OC group. A higher proportion of the BED group reported emotional neglect and a higher proportion of the NES group reported physical neglect. Depression levels, which were higher in BED and NES than OC, were associated with higher levels of physical and emotional abuse and neglect. In conclusion, reported rates of physical and sexual abuse differed little across groups, whereas reports of neglect and emotional abuse were higher in the BED and NES groups than in the OC group and were associated with elevated depression levels.