FERTILITY DIFFERENTIALS AMONG SERBIAN JEWS

Recent studies tend to validate the important role played by culture and especially religion in fertility behaviours. This paper investigates a link between religiosity and fertility among Serbian Jewish populations, namely the Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews. It is found that among Serbian Jews, in spite of general low levels of fertility, religiousness (measured by time devoted to religious activities) and ethnic origin contribute to the fertility differentials. This paper sets out to explore the relationship between religiosity and fertility among Jews in Serbia and whether religiosity has contributed to the fertility differential between the main branches of the Serbian Jewry, namely the Sephardim and Ashkenazim.     

Fine motor skill predicts expressive language in infant siblings of children with autism

We investigated whether fine motor and expressive language skills are related in the later‐born siblings of children with autism (heightened‐risk, HR infants) who are at increased risk for language delays. We observed 34 HR infants longitudinally from 12 to 36 months. We used parent report and standardized observation measures to assess fine motor skill from 12 to 24 months in HR infants (Study 1) and its relation to later expressive vocabulary at 36 months in HR infants (Study 2). In Study 1, we also included 25 infants without a family history of autism to serve as a normative comparison group for a parent‐report fine motor measure. We found that HR infants exhibited fine motor delays between 12 and 24 months and expressive vocabulary delays at 36 months. Further, fine motor skill significantly predicted expressive language at 36 months. Fine motor and expressive language skills are related early in development in HR infants, who, as a group, exhibit risk for delays in both. Our findings highlight the importance of considering fine motor skill in children at risk for language impairments and may have implications for early identification of expressive language difficulties.     

Task switches under Go/NoGo conditions and the decomposition of switch costs

Alternating switches between two simple S-R tasks are combined with Go/NoGo tasks. Non-switches after Go trials are assumed to selectively profit from stimulus driven repetition benefits, whereas switches after NoGo trials are assumed to be selectively delayed by stimulus driven negative priming. Intentionally driven reconfiguration costs are assessed by RT differences between switches after Go trials (no negative priming) and non-switches after NoGo trials (no repetition benefits). Experiment 1 indicates that with short preparation time repetition benefits, negative priming costs, and intentional components contribute approximately additively to switch costs. Experiment 2 confirms that the delay of switches after NoGo trials is indeed due to negative priming. Experiments 3 and 4 show that repetition benefits and intentional components of switch costs are properly assessed only if the settings assure that participants reconfigure the required task set in NoGo as well as Go trials.     

Computer-based Testing and Training with Scenarios from Complex Problem-solving Research: Advantages and Disadvantages

The use of PC-based simulations for selection and training for jobs which require complex problem solving skills is ever-increasing. This paper gives a short review of such simulations along with a list of advantages and disadvantages of their use. Possible future developments are sketched.     

A methodological study in a space flight simulation context]

To study the effects of isolation and confinement on small groups during long space flights, it is habitual to use closed hyperbaric ground chambers. For the first time, the European Space Agency made use of a nautral environment taking advantage of an Antarctic winter-over at the French Dumont d'Urville Station. The main objective of that study ("International Antarctic Psychological Programme"), was to compare different Russian tests used for training cosmonauts to a W. European approach validated during previous winter studies and European ground chamber simulations. Russian techniques appeared to be oriented to a narrow range of phenomena and unsuited to discern the adjustment to stress conditions.