The Nature of Preschool Phonological Processing Abilities and Their Relations to Vocabulary, General Cognitive Abilities, and Print Knowledge

The development of reading-related phonological processing abilities (PPA) represents an important developmental milestone in the process of learning to read. In this cross-sectional study, confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the structure of PPA in 129 younger preschoolers (M = 40.88 months, SD = 4.65) and 304 older preschoolers (M = 56.49 months, SD = 5.31). A 2-factor model in which phonological awareness and phonological memory was represented by one factor and lexical access was represented by a second factor provided the best fit for both samples and was largely invariant across samples. Measures of vocabulary, cognitive abilities, and print knowledge were significantly correlated with both factors, but phonological awareness/memory had unique relations with word reading. Despite significant development of PPA across the preschool years and into kindergarten, these results show that the structure of these skills remains invariant.     

Implicit Attitudes Towards Feminism

This study employed the Implicit Association Test to assess implicit attitudes towards feminism among 68 U.S. undergraduates. On some trials, participants matched either good or bad words with a feminist or a traditionalist target person. On other trials, they matched feminine or masculine traits with these targets. We predicted (1) faster reaction times to feminist–bad pairings than to feminist–good pairings, (2) faster reactions to traditionalist–good pairings than to traditionalist–bad pairings, (3) faster reactions to traditionalist–feminine pairings than to traditionalist–masculine pairings, and (4) faster reactions to feminist–masculine pairings than to feminist–feminine pairings. The results supported the first three predictions. These results suggest an implicit negativity bias and masculinity bias towards feminists and an implicit positivity bias and femininity bias towards traditionalists.     

Visual expertise does not predict the composite effect across species: A comparison between spider (Ateles geoffroyi) and rhesus (Macaca mulatta) monkeys

Humans are subject to the composite illusion: two identical top halves of a face are perceived as “different” when they are presented with different bottom halves. This observation suggests that when building a mental representation of a face, the underlying system perceives the whole face, and has difficulty decomposing facial features. We adapted a behavioural task that measures the composite illusion to examine the perception of faces in two nonhuman species. Specifically we had spider (Ateles geoffroyi) and rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) perform a two-forced choice, match-to-sample task where only the top half of sample was relevant to the task. The results of Experiment 1 show that spider monkeys (N = 2) process the faces of familiar species (conspecifics and humans, but not chimpanzees, sheep, or sticks), holistically. The second experiment tested rhesus monkeys (N = 7) with the faces of humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, sheep, and sticks. Contrary to prediction, there was no evidence of a composite effect in the human (or familiar primate) condition. Instead, we present evidence of a composite illusion in the chimpanzee condition (an unfamiliar primate). Together, these experiments show that visual expertise does not predict the composite effect across the primate order.     

Therapist response modes in the exploration stage: timing and effectiveness

In an investigation of the exploration stage of single counselling sessions with 26 anxious female volunteer clients and 13 female doctoral student therapists, no overall association was found between client narrative processing modes and subsequent therapist verbal response modes. There was evidence in a third of the sample for an association between therapist response modes and subsequent client narrative modes, such that clients used more internal than external or reflexive narrative processing modes when therapists used open questions about feelings and reflections of feelings. Client and therapist helpfulness ratings did not differ for different therapist response modes or client narrative process modes. Hence, overall results suggested that all four therapist response modes (open questions about thoughts, open questions about feelings, restatements, reflections of feelings) are effective during the exploration stage.     

Letters of Recommendation: Controversy and consensus from expert perspectives

Letters of recommendation (LORs) are a widely used selection tool with many issues associated with their use. To address some of these issues, 575 professionals in personnel‐related professions reported their experiences with LORs. We separated items into consensus, polarized, or neither categories. Experts reached consensus that letter inflation is a problem that may never be alleviated and that more weight is placed on letters written by someone the reader knows or from a prestigious institution or organization. Most items were polarized, suggesting substantial controversy in the field regarding LORs. Some items originally polarized reached consensus within profession (academic vs applied). Academic professionals reported using LORs more and placing more weight on their contents than applied professionals. Implications discussed include recommendations for future research and practice, such as the appropriate use of LORs, LOR formats, and training.     

When is an error not a prediction error? An electrophysiological investigation

A recent theory holds that the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) uses reinforcement learning signals conveyed by the midbrain dopamine system to facilitate flexible action selection. According to this position, the impact of reward prediction error signals on ACC modulates the amplitude of a component of the event-related brain potential called the error-related negativity (ERN). The theory predicts that ERN amplitude is monotonically related to the expectedness of the event: It is larger for unexpected outcomes than for expected outcomes. However, a recent failure to confirm this prediction has called the theory into question. In the present article, we investigated this discrepancy in three trial-and-error learning experiments. All three experiments provided support for the theory, but the effect sizes were largest when an optimal response strategy could actually be learned. This observation suggests that ACC utilizes dopamine reward prediction error signals for adaptive decision making when the optimal behavior is, in fact, learnable.     

THREE VERSUS SIX REREADINGS OF PRACTICE PASSAGES

Although the literature clearly demonstrates that repeated readings result in immediate effects on students' performance on the intervention materials as well as long‐term benefits, data are less promising regarding its immediate generalization effects to similar materials. Using an alternating treatments design, the current study evaluated the effects of a multicomponent repeated reading intervention on generalization passages after students had read a passage three versus six times. Results indicated improvements in fluency as a result of both interventions, with slightly greater maintenance effects when students were given six opportunities to read passages.     

Temperament and its Relationship to Autistic Symptoms in a High-Risk Infant Sib Cohort

The present study prospectively investigated early temperamental profiles and their associations with autistic symptoms in high-risk infants (N = 138) with an older sibling with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and low-risk infants (N = 73) with no family history of ASD. Children who were diagnosed with ASD at 36 months were distinguished from non-ASD sibs and controls by a temperament profile marked by lower positive affect, higher negative affect and difficulty controlling attention and behavior, which we labeled Effortful Emotion Regulation. This profile also distinguished the non-ASD sib group from the control group. Children with ASD were distinguished from both of the other two groups by a temperament profile of low Behavioral Approach (lower sensitivity to “social” reward cues). Low levels of Behavioral Approach were associated with a higher number of ASD symptoms, even after taking into account IQ, sex and group membership. Finally, a cluster analysis revealed two ASD subgroups distinguished by number of ASD symptoms, IQ, age of diagnosis and scores on the Behavioral Approach profile. These findings suggest that temperament may be a useful framework for understanding the emergence of ASD early in life.