Laterality effects in the recognition of depth-rotated novel objects

The dissociable neural subsystems theory proposes that left-hemisphere (LH) performance is dominated by a viewpoint-invariant (VI) recognition subsystem, whereas right-hemisphere (RH) performance is dominated by a viewpoint-dependent (VD) subsystem (Marsolek, 1999). Studies supporting this theory have used familiar objects and, therefore, may have been confounded by characteristics beyond perceptual features. Experiment 1, a lateralized sequential-matching task with novel objects, showed VD recognition in both hemispheres. In Experiment 2, some participants learned semantic associations for four novel objects, whereas others were exposed to the novel objects without the semantic associations. Both groups later performed a depth-rotated lateralized sequential-matching task. The participants who had learned semantic associations showed greater VD performance in the RH than in the LH; however, the participants in the control group showed equivalent VD performance in both hemispheres. The results suggest that hemispheric differences in VD performance may be partially attributable to an LH advantage for semantic processing.     

Moral reasoning, interpersonal skills, and cognition of rapists, child molesters, and incest offenders

54 inmates were subdivided into four groups and classified according to their index offense. The groups included Rapists (n = 14), Incest Offenders (n = 9), Child Molesters (n = 11), General Offenders (n = 20). Nonoffenders (n = 20) were included as a control group. Psychometric tests including the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence, the Defining Issues Test, Survey of Interpersonal Values, Porteus Maze, and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory were administered to all inmate and control groups. Analysis showed the rapists and child molesters scored higher on moral reasoning on the Defining Issues Test; also rapists' scores were more elevated on the Psychopathic Deviate and Paranoia scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory than those of other offender and control groups. These results imply that rapists and child molesters have the ability to understand moral issues; however, given their personality orientation, they ignore these interpersonal social values.     

Attachment,self-esteem,and psychomotor development in extremely premature children at preschool age

The aim of the study was to evaluate concomitantly self-esteem and model of attachment to the mother in extremely premature (24–28 weeks of gestation) and full-term children, in relation to the child's variables (neonatal condition, gender, cognitive development) and family variables (family adversity, socioeconomic status). Forty-two extremely premature and 27 fullterm children were assessed at 5 years 9 months. For the premature children, neonatal status and developmental quotient (DQ) at 18 months were also obtained. Premature and fullterm children did not differ in attachment and self-esteem categories. For all subjects, IQ at 5 years 9 months differed significantly across self-esteem categories. Seventy percent of premature children who showed a decrease in IQ from 18 months to 5 years 9 months had a negative self-esteem. In the premature group, DQ at 18 months was lower for the children that were categorized at 5 years 9 months with nonsecure attachment to the mother. Attachment appeared sensitive to early neuromotor impairments, and self-esteem to the developmental level at the time of the evaluation.     

Learning phonetic categories by tracking movements

We explore in this study how infants may derive phonetic categories from adult input that are highly variable. Neural networks in the form of self-organizing maps (SOMs; ) were used to simulate unsupervised learning of Mandarin tones. In Simulation 1, we trained the SOMs with syllable-sized continuous F(0) contours, produced by multiple speakers in connected speech, and with the corresponding velocity profiles (D1). No attempt was made to reduce the large amount of variability in the input or to add to the input any abstract features such as height and slope of the F(0) contours. In the testing phase, reasonably high categorization rate was achieved with F(0) profiles, but D1 profiles yielded almost perfect categorization of the four tones. Close inspection of the learned prototypical D1 profile clusters revealed that they had effectively eliminated surface variability and directly reflected articulatory movements toward the underlying targets of the four tones as proposed by . Additional simulations indicated that a further learning step was possible through which D1 prototypes with one-to-one correspondence to the tones were derived from the prototype clusters learned in Simulation 1. Implications of these findings for theories of language acquisition, speech perception and speech production are discussed.     

Influence of feedback modality on sensorimotor adaptation: contribution of visual, kinesthetic, and verbal cues

In 4 studies, the authors tested the contributions of visual, kinesthetic, and verbal knowledge of results to the adaptive control of reaching movements toward visual targets. The same apparatus was used in all experiments, but the procedures differed in the sensory modality of the feedback that participants (N s = 5, 5, 6, and 6, respectively, in Experiments 1, 2, 3, and 4) received about their performances. Using biased visual, proprioceptive, or verbal feedback, the authors introduced a 5 degrees shift in the visuomanual relationship. Results showed no significant difference in the final amount of adaptation to the mismatch: On average, participants adapted to 79% of the perturbation. That finding is consistent with the view that adaptation is a multisensory, highly flexible process whose efficiency does not depend on the sensory channel conveying the error signal.     

Eating Disorders Inventory: Assessment of its Construct Validity in a Nonclinical French Sample of Adolescents

Recent studies have questioned the appropriateness of the original Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI) in nonclinical samples of adolescents. The main objective of the present series of studies is to systematically test the construct validity of the EDI (i.e. content, factorial, convergent, discriminant and discriminative) in a nonclinical sample of French adolescents. A total sample of 1,323 adolescents was involved in these five studies. The factorial validity and the measurement invariance of the EDI were verified through confirmatory factorial analyses. Correlation and student t-tests were also used to test the convergent and discriminative validity of the EDI. Results from the first study confirmed the unsuitability of the French original EDI for young adolescents. Items were re-worded and an adaptation for adolescents was developed (EDI-A). The following four studies provided support for the factorial validity, measurement invariance, reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity for a short form (i.e. 24 items) of the EDI-A. The present results thus provide preliminary evidence regarding the construct validity of the 24-item EDI-A for French nonclinical adolescents. Recommendations for future uses and research activities with this instrument in French speaking adolescents are outlined.     

Automatic analysis of altered gait in arylsulphatase A-deficient mice in the open field

In current research with laboratory animals, observing their dynamic behavior or locomotion is a laborintensive task. Automatic continuous monitoring can provide quantitative data on each animal’s condition and coordination ability. The objective of the present work is to develop an automated mouse observation system integrated with a conventional open-field test for motor function evaluation. Data were acquired from 86 mice having a targeted disruption of the arylsulphatase A (ASA) gene and having lowered coordinated locomotion abilities as a symptom. The mice used were 36 heterozygotes (12 females) and 50 knockout mice (30 females) at the age of 6 months. The mice were placed one at a time into the test setup, which consisted of a Plexiglas cage (53× 34.5 × 26 cm) and two fluorescent bulbs for proper illumination. The transparent cage allowed images to be captured from underneath the cage, so image information could be obtained about the dynamic variation of the positions of the limbs of the mice for gait reconstruction. Every mouse was recorded for 10 min. Background subtraction and color filtering were used to measure and calculate image features, which are variables that contain crucial information, such as the mouse’s position, orientation, body outline, and poßible locations for the mouse’s paws. A set of heuristic rules was used to prune implausible paw features and label the remaining ones as front/hind and left/right. After we had pruned the implausible paw features, the paw features that were consistent over subsequent images were matched to footprints. Finally, from the measured footprint sequence, eight parameters were calculated in order to quantify the gait of the mouse. This automatic observation technique can be integrated with a regular open-field test, where the trajectory and motor function of a free-moving mouse are measured simultaneously.     

Does response interference contribute to face composite effects?

Holistic processing of faces can be measured as a failure of selective attention to one face-half under instructions to ignore the other face-half in a naming or same/different matching task. But is interference from the irrelevant half due to response interference rather than to holistic processing? Here, participants learned to name two faces “Fred” and two “Bob.” At test, composites were created from top and bottom halves of different learned faces or of a novel face, and composites were either aligned or misaligned. Naming was slower when the irrelevant half was from a different face as opposed to the same face, regardless of whether it was associated with the same name, a different name, or no name, suggesting holistic processing. Interference was eliminated when composite halves were misaligned. These results suggest that, unlike Stroop effects, composite effects are not due to response interference.     

Is the Cogmed program effective for youths with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder under pharmacological treatment?

The primary objective of this study was to examine the effects of the Cogmed training program on working memory among youths 7 to 13 years old, with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) type and comorbidity controlled for. A secondary objective was to examine the generalization of effects to ADHD symptoms, nonverbal reasoning, attentional and executive functions, inhibition, reading comprehension, and mathematical reasoning. Participants were under pharmacological treatment for ADHD combined type and a comorbidity. They were randomized into an experimental group that received the Cogmed program and an active control group that received a low-intensity comparison version of the training. They were evaluated at three time points: 6 weeks prior to intervention onset (T1), immediately prior to onset (T2), and 1 week following intervention completion (T3). Results indicate no significant effect attributable to the Cogmed program. The fact that participants were on medication at the time of training and evaluation normalized their performances and limited the detection of effects. Moreover, cognitive training did not lead to a reduction in ADHD symptoms or to an improvement in the other cognitive functions measured or in academic performance. The results of this study do not demonstrate the effectiveness of the Cogmed program for youths with ADHD combined type and a comorbidity when they receive the training while under pharmacological treatment.