A Preliminary Investigation of Supplemental Computer-Assisted Reading Instruction on the Oral Reading Fluency and Comprehension of First-Grade African American Urban Students

This preliminary investigation examined the effects of a computerized supplemental reading program on the oral reading fluency, reading growth rates, and comprehension of 8 African American first graders. Participants were selected for this study according to scores within risk categories on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) oral reading fluency (ORF) winter benchmark, indicating the potential for reading failure. Participants engaged in a supplemental, computer-based reading program designed to improve reading fluency and comprehension. Treatment sessions were conducted 3–4 times per week, for 14–16 weeks. Following the treatment, each participant received the DIBELS ORF spring benchmark as a post-test measure. A pre-intervention/post-intervention analysis showed that all of the participants increased their reading fluency, 5 of the 8 participants reduced their risk status, and 7 of the 8 students increased their reading rate. All of the students improved their comprehension scores. The results support supplementary interventions and computer-based reading programs. The findings are discussed in the context of reading needs and instruction for African American primary-aged students.     

The role of faith in intuition, need for cognition and method of attitude formation in implicit–explicit brand attitude relationship strength

We tested the hypothesis that Faith in Intuition (FI) would moderate implicit–explicit attitude relationship strength for attitudes formed via associative processes, but not propositional processes. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that FI moderated I–E relationship strength for attitudes formed via evaluative conditioning. High FI people had stronger I–E correlations. Experiment 2 showed that FI did not moderate I–E relationship strength for attitudes formed via propositional reasoning. Those low in Need for Cognition (NC), however, showed stronger I–E correlations than those high in NC. The importance of considering trait variables in combination with the method of attitude formation is discussed.     

Implicit attentional orienting in a target detection task with central cues

Studies using Posner’s spatial cueing paradigm have demonstrated that participants can allocate their attention to specific target locations based on the predictiveness of preceding cues. Four experiments were conducted to investigate attentional orienting processes operating in a high probability condition (cues 75% predictive) as compared to a low probability condition (cues 50% predictive) using various types of centrally-presented cues. Spatially-informative cues (arrows and circles with gaps) resulted in cueing effects (CEs) for both probability conditions, with significantly larger CEs in the high probability conditions than the low probability conditions. Participants in the high probability conditions reported little or no awareness of cue–target probabilities after task completion. Our results provide support for an implicit learning account of the proportion valid effect under experimental conditions involving spatially-informative central cues and relatively short stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs).     

Maternal Control of Girls Versus Boys: Relations to Empathy and Persuasive Style with Peers

We investigated relations between maternal control and girls’and boys’ concern for others. Fifty-six pairs of children were separately interviewed, using a newly developed measure of empathy. While mothers completed a parenting inventory, we videotaped children as one child attempted to convince a friend to make greeting cards for hospitalized children. High maternal control was associated with lower empathy and less interpersonally sensitive verbal persuasion, but only in girls.     

The effect of fixation transitions on quiet eye duration and performance in the soccer penalty kick: instep versus inside kicks

Male goalkeepers of intermediate skill level attempted to stop penalty kicks executed with the instep and inside foot, in situ. A mobile eye tracker and an external camera were used to collect the gaze and motor behaviors of the goalkeepers, as well as the penalty takers’ motor behaviors and flight of the ball. Percent saves was greater during instep (28%) than inside foot kicks (12%), but we detected few differences in fixation frequency, location, duration, or transitions that could be attributed to the type of kick used. Fixation transitions (or the frequency of gaze shifts between locations) were significantly higher on goals than on saves. During the final phase of the kicking action, the quiet eye was located on the visual pivot and was longer during saves than goals. Furthermore, when the final fixation on the ball exceeded approximately 1,100 ms, then the likelihood of goals increased. The results are discussed in light of past studies in goaltending and the dual demands of motor tasks that require information be fixated both early and late at spatial locations that exceed the limits of focal vision.     

Preschool Depression: The Importance of Identification of Depression Early in Development

The empirical finding that school-aged children could suffer clinical depression refuted the widely held assumption that this age group would be too developmentally immature to experience depressive symptoms. Currently childhood depression is a well-recognized and widely treated clinical disorder. Following more recent developmental findings emphasizing the emotional sophistication of very young children, scientific studies have demonstrated that depression can arise early in life, during the preschool period of development. Preschool depression is characterized by typical symptoms of depression such as anhedonia; changes in sleep, appetite, and activity level; and excessive guilt. Further, longitudinal continuity of preschool depression into school age has been established, suggesting that preschool depression is an early manifestation of the later childhood disorder. Based on the known efficacy of early developmental intervention in a number of domains and disorders related to the greater neuroplasticity of the brain earlier rather than later in childhood, it is important to identify depression at the earliest possible point. Early intervention strategies for preschool depression that focus on enhancing emotional development are currently being tested.     

Competition between color salience and perceptual load during visual selection can be biased by top-down set

Visual salience and perceptual load may both influence the efficiency of visual selection. Recently, Gibson and Bryant (2008) showed that perceptual load can dominate color salience in a distractor interference paradigm. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the possibility that knowledge (of color or load) may modulate the relative operation of these two mechanisms. Consistent with previous findings, perceptual load dominated color salience, but only in certain contexts in which display load was mixed and high-load displays preceded other high-load displays. More important, color salience dominated perceptual load in other contexts in which display load was mixed and low-load displays preceded high-load displays. In addition, color salience also dominated perceptual load in contexts in which display load was fixed and advance knowledge of load was available. Altogether, the present findings suggest that the competition between color salience and perceptual load can vary as a function of task context, thereby supporting top-down accounts, although the precise aspect of task context remains to be identified.     

Psychometric properties of the Psychosocial Risk Evaluation Battery for medium and small companies

The assessment of the presence and intensity of psychosocial risks is constant in research into Work Psychopathology. Many questionnaires and diagnosis systems are partial or else there is no standardization process or reliability and validity study. The main purpose of this work is to present the psychometric data of a multidimensional system to assess psychosocial risks, elaborated conjointly by the Universitat of Barcelona and the MC Mutual. This battery assesses companies, using information from the prevention technicians, the directive staff and the workers. With the diverse types of information, a triangulation proposal is established to offer a psychosocial risk profile linked to the evaluation needs.