Songs as an aid for language acquisition

In previous research, Saffran and colleagues [Saffran, J. R., Aslin, R. N., & Newport, E. L. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274, 1926-1928; Saffran, J. R., Newport, E. L., & Aslin, R. N. (1996). Word segmentation: The role of distributional cues. Journal of Memory and Language, 35, 606-621.] have shown that adults and infants can use the statistical properties of syllable sequences to extract words from continuous speech. They also showed that a similar learning mechanism operates with musical stimuli [Saffran, J. R., Johnson, R. E. K., Aslin, N., & Newport, E. L. (1999). Abstract Statistical learning of tone sequences by human infants and adults. Cognition, 70, 27-52.]. In this work we combined linguistic and musical information and we compared language learning based on speech sequences to language learning based on sung sequences. We hypothesized that, compared to speech sequences, a consistent mapping of linguistic and musical information would enhance learning. Results confirmed the hypothesis showing a strong learning facilitation of song compared to speech. Most importantly, the present results show that learning a new language, especially in the first learning phase wherein one needs to segment new words, may largely benefit of the motivational and structuring properties of music in song.     

Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: evidence from the ANT task

The need of bilinguals to continuously control two languages during speech production may exert general effects on their attentional networks. To explore this issue we compared the performance of bilinguals and monolinguals in the attentional network task (ANT) developed by Fan et al. [Fan, J., McCandliss, B.D. Sommer, T., Raz, A., Posner, M.I. (2002). Testing the efficiency and independence of attentional networks. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 340-347]. This task is supposed to tap into three different attentional networks: alerting, orienting and executive control. The results revealed that bilingual participants were not only faster in performing the task, but also more efficient in the alerting and executive control networks. In particular, bilinguals were aided more by the presentation of an alerting cue, and were also better at resolving conflicting information. Furthermore, bilinguals experienced a reduced switching cost between the different type of trials compared to monolinguals. These results show that bilingualism exerts an influence in the attainment of efficient attentional mechanisms by young adults that are supposed to be at the peak of their attentional capabilities.     

Psychological differences of patients and relatives according to post-transplantation anxiety

The aim of this investigation is to analyze the psychological differences of patients and their relatives according to the formers' post-transplantation anxiety. We used two groups of participants: transplant patients (n = 166) and close relatives (n = 166). Four questionnaires were applied: a Psychological Survey (to both groups), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Quality of Life Questionnaire (to the transplant patients), and the Leeds Scales for the Self-Assessment of Anxiety and Depression (to the relatives). Participants were assessed twice: post-Intensive Care Unit (ICU; when patients were moved from the ICU to the Transplantation Unit) and post-hospital (one year after transplant). Results showed that high anxiety in patients just after organ transplant was related to an increase of anxiety and depression symptoms both in patients and relatives one year after transplant; it was also related to a decrease in the quality of life of these patients.     

Variations on an old theme: maternity for women with a very successful professional career

In this study, relationships of middle-class women from Rio de Janeiro with their family and work are presented. A series of events during the 20th century have changed woman's identity, previously centered on the roles of mother and wife, so that, there are now other options for women. Carioca girls are currently educated to compete, seek greater professional growth, and value their independence. However, some social discourses still reinforce women's former role the in the family. The notion that the mother-child unit is basic, universal, and, psychologically, the most appropriate, both for the child's healthy development and the mother's wholeness, is still firmly rooted. Motherhood is therefore one of the most complex and problematic matters for modern Carioca woman. Fifteen women with successful professional careers, residents of the city of Rio de Janeiro, varying in age from 30 to 40, and with children from 6 months to 3 years of age, were interviewed. The interviews had an invisible structure, were recorded and transcribed. The discourse of the resultant texts was analyzed, using the categories I established. In this project, I focus on the results of the analysis of the category "View of Maternity" of the interviewed women.     

Behavioral problems in adolescents raised by their grandparents

This research analyzes, for the first time using a Spanish sample, the behavioral problems of adolescents in the custody of their grandparents. The sample consisted of 68 adolescents (31 boys and 37 girls, with a mean age of 13.7 years) in the custody of 54 grandparents with an average age of 65.9 years for the grandfathers, and 63.6 years for the grandmothers. The instrument employed was the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 2001). The results indicate that the majority of both boys and girls can be classified within the normal range on scales of internal behavior, external behavior and total behavioral problems. When gender and age differences were analyzed, it was found that boys had more behavioral problems than girls on scales of incompliance with rules and external behavior. Meanwhile, it was shown that older adolescents had more somatic problems, as well as more behavioral problems, as measured by both the internal scale and total scale of the CBCL, than the younger participants.     

Writing self-efficacy changes after cognitive strategy intervention in students with learning disabilities: the mediational role of gender in calibration

This study examines the mediational role of gender in the effects of two patterns of cognitive and self-regulatory strategy interventions in the writing self-efficacy calibration of students with learning disabilities (LD). 121 5th and 6th Primary grade students with LD (43 girls and 78 boys), ranging in age from 10 to 12 years old were randomly allocated either to one of the experimental intervention groups, (n=48, 19 girls and 29 boys), and followed a intervention program based on the Self-Regulated Strategy Development Model, or they received training based on the Social Cognitive Model of Sequential Skill Acquisition (n=31, 15 girls and 26 boys), or alternatively they were allocated to the ordinary instruction group (n=32, 9 girls and 23 boys). Writing performance was assessed using two types of writing evaluation: a reader-based score concerned with structure, coherence and quality, and a text based score regarding productivity, coherence and structure. Writing self-efficacy beliefs were also assessed using a self-report scale including eight items about the students' confidence in completing a writing task and to gain specific writing skills. The results suggest that the miscalibration of writing self-efficacy in girls with LD was significantly modified to a more realistic calibration of their writing competence after experimental intervention. However, the findings do not confirm the same clear statement for boys.     

Evidence for linguistic deficit in nonlexical processing in reading. A study of a Spanish-speaking patient

Previous studies have shown that in the so-called opaque languages (those in which spelling does not correspond to pronunciation), there are relatively independent routes for lexical and nonlexical processing, that is, for words and nonwords, both in spoken and in written language. On the other hand, in the so-called transparent languages (those in which pronunciation corresponds to written forms), empirical evidence is scarcer. In this study of a neurological patient (parieto-temporal lesion), speaker of a transparent language (Spanish) showing a specific deficit in nonlexical reading processing, linguistic analysis for words was relatively preserved. This finding suggests the use of various routes in the processing of transparent languages.     

Psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) in general population

This is the first study that provides normative, reliability, factor validity and discriminant validity data of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988) in the Spanish general population, Sanz and Navarro's (2003) Spanish version of the BAI was administered to 249 adults. Factor analyses suggested that the BAI taps a general anxiety dimension comprising two related factors (somatic and affective-cognitive symptoms), but these factors hardly explained any additional variance and, therefore, little information is lost in considering only full-scale scores. Internal consistency estimate for the BAI was high (alpha = .93). The BAI was correlated .63 with the BDI-II and .32 with the Trait-Anger scale of the STAXI 2, but a factor analysis of their items revealed three factors, suggesting that the correlations between the instruments may be better accounted for by relationships between anxiety, depression, and anger, than by problems of discriminant validity. The mean BAI total score and the distribution of BAI scores were similar to those found in other countries. BAI norm scores for the community sample were provided from the total sample and from the male and female subsamples, as females scored higher than males. The utility of these scores for assessing clinical significance of treatment outcomes for anxiety is discussed.     

A measure of racial identity in African American adolescents: the development of the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity--Teen

The Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity--Teen (MIBI--T) is designed to assess the 3 cross-situationally stable dimensions (centrality, regard, and ideology) of the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI; R. M. Sellers, M. A. Smith, J. N. Shelton, S. A. J. Rowley, & T. M. Chavous, 1998) within teenagers. Adolescent responses (n= 489) to the MIBI--T were subjected to several analyses to evaluate the psychometric character of the measure. Findings indicated that the MIBI--T represents a valid framework for African American adolescents. Its internal structure is consistent with the conceptual framework of the MMRI, and findings support its construct validity. Results also indicate model invariance across grade level and gender, as well as suggest evidence of predictive validity. Further information about the MIBI--T and the full set of items are presented.     

Elucidating the component processes involved in dyslexic and non-dyslexic reading fluency: An eye-tracking study

The relationship between rapid automatized naming (RAN) and reading fluency is well documented (see Wolf, M. & Bowers, P.G. (1999). The double-deficit hypothesis for the developmental dyslexias. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(3), 415–438, for a review), but little is known about which component processes are important in RAN, and why developmental dyslexics show longer latencies on these tasks. Researchers disagree as to whether these delays are caused by impaired phonological processing or whether extra-phonological processes also play a role (e.g., Clarke, P., Hulme, C., & Snowling, M. (2005). Individual differences in RAN and reading: A response timing analysis. Journal of Research in Reading, 28(2), 73–86; Wolf, M., Bowers, P.G., & Biddle, K. (2000). Naming-speed processes, timing, and reading: A conceptual review. Journal of learning disabilities, 33(4), 387–407). We conducted an eye-tracking study that manipulated phonological and visual information (as representative of extra-phonological processes) in RAN. Results from linear mixed (LME) effects analyses showed that both phonological and visual processes influence naming-speed for both dyslexic and non-dyslexic groups, but the influence on dyslexic readers is greater. Moreover, dyslexic readers’ difficulties in these domains primarily emerge in a measure that explicitly includes the production phase of naming. This study elucidates processes underpinning RAN performance in non-dyslexic readers and pinpoints areas of difficulty for dyslexic readers. We discuss these findings with reference to phonological and extra-phonological hypotheses of naming-speed deficits.