Infant behavioural effects of smartphone interrupted parent-infant interaction

Infants are vulnerable to changes in the dyadic synchrony with their caregivers, as demonstrated in numerous experiments employing the still-face paradigm. The sudden lack of attunement causes infant stress reactions and the still-face literature have suggested potential long-term costs of this in terms of development of social, emotional and cognitive skills. Acknowledging the rapid technological development accompanied by altered practices in the parent-infant interaction, the current study investigates infant behavioural reactions in a similar experimental paradigm, manipulating parental responsiveness and sensitivity in a slightly different manner. In the current study, the parent interrupts the ongoing interaction, simulating occupation with a smartphone, rather than making a ‘still-face’. In a cross-sectional design, infants of six, nine and twelve months display increased levels of protest behaviour in response to the interrupted interaction with their parent, together with lowered levels of positive engagement and social monitoring, suggesting similar behavioural responses as the still-face effect. Implications for infant social and emotional development, as well as for mindful tech habits are discussed.     

Pygmalion in instruction? Tracking,teacher reward structures,and educational inequality

I combine sociological and economic research to test a new theoretical model of the causes and consequences of teacher responses to students’ track location. I examine the impact of teacher reward structures on educational inequality by analyzing how grading practices affect students’ effort and achievement across tracks. Differences in grading practices determine incentive structures for student behavior and educational investments and thus may be an important mechanism in explaining track effects on academic achievement. I apply student fixed effects models across tracks to the NELS:88 and find that, first, track placement affects achievement, second, although grading practices affect achievement, they only explain a minor part of the track effect, and, third, teacher expectations and perceived class ability level explain the positive track effect for high-track students. These findings suggest that high-track students have higher achievement because their teachers perceive them as better students.     

Quantitative relation between server motion and receiver anticipation in tennis: implications of responses to computer-simulated motions

The purpose of this study was to determine the quantitative relationships between the server's motion and the receiver's anticipation using a computer graphic animation of tennis serves. The test motions were determined by capturing the motion of a model player and estimating the computational perturbations caused by modulating the rotation of the player's elbow and forearm joints. Eight experienced and eight novice players rated their anticipation of the speed, direction, and spin of the ball on a visual analogue scale. The experienced players significantly altered some of their anticipatory judgment depending on the percentage of both the forearm and elbow modulations, while the novice players indicated no significant changes. Multiple regression analyses, including that of the racket's kinematic parameters immediately before racket-ball impact as independent variables, showed that the experienced players demonstrated a higher coefficient of determination than the novice players in their anticipatory judgment of the ball direction. The results have implications on the understanding of the functional relation between a player's motion and the opponent's anticipatory judgment during real play.     

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia Co-Morbid with Hearing Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT-I) for insomnia on patients with insomnia co-morbid with hearing impairment. A randomized controlled design was used with a 3-month follow-up. Thirty-two patients with insomnia co-morbid with hearing impairment were randomized to either CBT-I or a waitlist condition (WLC). The primary outcome was insomnia severity. Secondary outcomes were sleep diary parameters, dysfunction, anxiety, and depression. Compared to WLC, CBT-I resulted in lower insomnia severity at post-treatment and at follow-up (d = 1.18–1.56). Relative to WLC, CBT-I also led, at both assessment points, to reduced total wake time (d = 1.39) and increased sleep restoration (d = 1.03–1.07) and sleep quality (d = 0.91–1.16). Both groups increased their total sleep time, but no significant group difference emerged. Compared to WLC, CBT-I resulted in higher function (d = 0.81–0.96) and lower anxiety (d = 1.29–1.30) at both assessment points. Neither CBT-I nor WLC led to improvement on depression. Based on the Insomnia Severity Index, more CBT-I (53–77%) than WLC participants (0–7%) were treatment responders. Also, more CBT-I (24%) than WLC participants (0%) remitted. In patients with insomnia co-morbid with hearing impairment, CBT-I was effective in decreasing insomnia severity, subjective sleep parameters, dysfunction, and anxiety. These findings are in line with previous results on the effects of CBT-I in other medical conditions.     

Patterns of Ethnic Intolerance in Europe

This paper examines the patterns of ethnic intolerance in European societies based on data from the 1999/2000 wave of the European Values Survey. We analyze the differences in intolerance targeted toward Muslims, Jews, immigrants, Gypsies, and persons of different race, using modernisation theory and ??competition for scarce resource?? theories as our point of departure. Furthermore, we focus on the differences in the levels of intolerance in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Turkey. The present paper builds on previous empirical research, especially findings of recent multilevel analyses. Our larger and more extensive data material enables us to introduce two important improvements in this line of research. Theoretically, we are able to test if there are differences in the patterns of intolerance targeted toward specific minority groups. Methodologically, the number of countries in our data material is much larger, allowing us to apply multilevel models in a more statistically appropriate setting. Our results show that Gypsies stand out as an ethnic group particularly exposed to intolerance. The level of intolerance is lowest in Western Europe and highest in Turkey. In addition, the level of intolerance against Jews is particularly high in Turkey.     

Demonstrator skill modulates observational aversive learning

Learning to avoid danger by observing others can be relatively safe, because it does not incur the potential costs of individual trial and error. However, information gained through social observation might be less reliable than information gained through individual experiences, underscoring the need to apply observational learning critically. In order for observational learning to be adaptive it should be modulated by the skill of the observed person, the demonstrator. To address this issue, we used a probabilistic two-choice task where participants learned to minimize the number of electric shocks through individual learning and by observing a demonstrator performing the same task. By manipulating the demonstrator’s skill we varied how useful the observable information was; the demonstrator either learned the task quickly or did not learn it at all (random choices). To investigate the modulatory effect in detail, the task was performed under three conditions of available observable information; no observable information, observation of choices only, and observation of both the choices and their consequences. As predicted, our results showed that observable information can improve performance compared to individual learning, both when the demonstrator is skilled and unskilled; observation of consequences improved performance for both groups while observation of choices only improved performance for the group observing the skilled demonstrator. Reinforcement learning modeling showed that demonstrator skill modulated observational learning from the demonstrator’s choices, but not their consequences, by increasing the degree of imitation over time for the group that observed a fast learner. Our results show that humans can adaptively modulate observational learning in response to the usefulness of observable information.     

Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System

The purpose of the current study was to examine the performance of children with and without ADHD in time reproduction tasks involving varying durations and modalities. Twenty children with ADHD and 20 healthy controls completed time reproduction tasks in three modalities (auditory, visual, and a unique combined auditory/visual condition) and six durations (1 second, 4 seconds, 12 seconds, 24 seconds, 48 seconds, and 60 seconds). Consistent with our predictions, we found main effects of group (participants with ADHD were significantly less accurate than those without ADHD), duration (accuracy decreased as temporal duration increased), and modality (responses in the combined condition were more accurate than those in the auditory condition, which in turn were more accurate than those in the visual condition). Furthermore, predicted interactions between group and duration (the discrepancy in performance between the two groups grew as temporal duration increased), and group and modality (the modality effect was of greater for participants with ADHD) were supported. A marginal, nonsignificant interaction between group, modality, and duration was also found. These findings are discussed in relation to current theory on the nature of cognitive deficits evident in individuals with ADHD, and methodological limitations are noted.     

Test Review: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV)

Objective: Evaluate neuropsychological functioning in children with non-syndromic cleft of the lip and/or palate (NSCL/P) through profile variance within type of cleft and comparisons to controls.

Methods: Children ages 7 to 17 years participated; 66 had a diagnosis of NSCL/P and 87 were healthy controls. Neuropsychological tests of language, visual-perceptual, executive functioning, and memory skills were administered. Between- and within-group differences were assessed.

Results: Within cleft types, children with NSCLP had an even profile with equal Verbal and Performance IQ (VIQ and PIQ, respectively). Children with non-syndromic cleft palate only (NSCP) had significantly lower VIQ than PIQ, while children with non-syndromic cleft lip only (NSCL) showed a nonsignificant trend for higher VIQ than PIQ. Overall, subjects with NSCL/P performed lower on measures of expressive language and verbal memory than controls.

Conclusions: While deficits in verbal and memory skills for children with NSCL/P remain apparent, there is still uncertainty around the possible influence of cleft type on the pattern of deficits.     

Developmental normative data for the Baron-Hopkins Board test of spatial location memory

Developmentally appropriate domain-specific tests with strong psychometric properties for preschoolers are lacking and infrequently developed. Baron’s modification of the Hopkins Board test (B-HB) to assess spatial location learning and recall in 3- and 6-year-old children has shown promise in the study of young children born prematurely. Current study data were analyzed on 172 typically developing children at age 3 years and 193 at age 6 years, born at term (≥ 37 weeks; ≥ 2500 grams). Statistically significant gender differences were found and data stratification of T-scores and percentile ranks are provided for each of the eight B-HB measures. The B-HB’s strong interrater reliability (99.5%), low-to-moderate test-retest reliability across the 3-year age span, Pearson correlations showing criterion validity, and differential functioning from other selective attention and visuospatial/visuoperceptual tests provide initial normative data for this novel measure of spatial location memory in young children.