Age related effects in children taking the computerized assessment of response bias and word memory test.

The assessment of effort is a fundamental component of test performance analysis, since effort determines whether a psychological evaluation is valid. The assessment of effort in children has proven problematic. This may be related to the variable and inconsistent nature of children's developing self-regulatory systems, and the fact that measures commonly used to assess effort were standardized on adults. If one uses effort measures designed for adults to assess children, then one must presume that the maintenance of effort in children is comparable to the same behavior in adults. However, because children's executive functioning, including their abilities to self-regulate, attend, concentrate, and to engage in various cognitive activities improve with time (Barkley, 1997, pp. 209-234), our hypothesis is that young children's effort regulation is dissimilar to that of adults, and the presumption of similarity is implausible. The purpose of this study was to determine whether age is a significant influence upon young children's performances on the Computerized Assessment of Response Bias (CARB) and Word Memory Test (WMT). Statistical analysis suggests that younger children (those under 10 years of age) tended to produce poorer performance on these instruments. Younger children's scores differed significantly from children ages 10 and older. Children 11 years and older produced CARB and WMT results similar to adult participants, suggesting a viability for adult normative comparisons with children in this age range. The current investigation concluded that children's maintenance of effort appears to be significantly related to age and reading ability level. Consequently, the use of current adult-based norms with the CARB and WMT, without regard for a child's developmental status and other contextual factors such as the child's ability to read, appears ill-advised especially with children under 11 years of age.     

Effects of Product–Program Congruity and Viewer Involvement on Memory for Televised Advertisements1

This study examined the effects of program context on the memory of congruent or incongruent television (TV) advertisements on a youth sample (N= 123) aged 16 to 19 years. An experimental design was developed to test memory for a set of 6 car advertisements and 6 food advertisements within 2 program contexts: a car program and a food program. Memory for car advertisements was significantly better than memory for food advertisements in the free‐recall condition, but the opposite was true in the cued‐recall condition. Free recall of car advertisements in the food program was significantly better than of food advertisements in the food program. Levels of involvement were found to be unrelated to recall and recognition of advertisements.     

Attention and executive function deficits in adolescent sex offenders.

Thirty male adolescent sex offenders and 20 age-matched male adolescents completed an extensive battery of attention and executive function tests. Controls were obtained from adolescents from a socially and economically deprived background, typical of the offending group. The attention battery was based on Mirksy, Anthony, Duncan, Ahearn, and Kellam (1991) and the executive function battery on Kelly (2000a). Successful matching for IQ was not achieved and therefore ANCOVA comparisons were made between the groups, with IQ as the covariate. In attention a highly significant difference was found on the focus-execute factor and a significant difference on the shift factor. In executive function there was a highly significant difference only on the response speed factor. In all cases better abilities were demonstrated by the control group. The importance of thorough neuropsychological investigation in the clinical assessment of this forensic group is supported. The clinical implications of neuropsychological deficits in terms of risk assessment and clinical management are discussed.     

Conceptions of learning,approaches to studying and personal development in UK higher education

Background Students in higher education are known to vary in their conceptions of learning, their approaches to studying, and the personal development and personal change that result. Aims This study aimed to explore the relationships among these four aspects of students' experience; to examine whether there were variations across academic subjects and across departments in each subject; and to explore whether there were changes from first year to after graduation. Sample Students in the first year and the final year of the undergraduate programmes at 15 departments, five offering each of three subjects: bioscience, business studies, and sociology. Method Participants completed a questionnaire containing four instruments and were given a similar questionnaire roughly two years later (when the entering students were in their third year, and when the exiting students were in their second year after graduation). Results The students' conceptions of learning showed a clear relationship with their approaches to studying, but the relationships with their personal development and personal change were much weaker. The students' scores were significantly related to age and gender and showed some significant differences across academic subjects and departments. However, there was little change in their scores over time. Conclusion Students' approaches to studying are influenced by their conceptions of learning and are relatively consistent across different contexts. In contrast, their reports of personal change and development seem to be determined by their implicit theories on entering higher education.     

Is a Manipulator's Externality Paradoxical? The Relationship Between Machiavellianism,Economic Opportunism,and Economic Locus of Control

Machiavellianism and economic opportunism are defecting strategies founded on manipulating information in order to maximize gain or power. This study investigated their relationship with economic internality. We hypothesized that individuals inclined to adopt defecting strategies would tend to have external economic locus of control (ELOC). A Greek sample of 175 participants completed the ELOC and Mach IV questionnaires and a scale of economic opportunism. Machiavellianism and opportunism were both positively correlated with the ELOC Chance factor. Opportunism was negatively correlated with the ELOC Internal factor. The findings confirmed the hypothesis and showed that this kind of defector overestimates the role of chance, uncertainty, and hazard as sources of economic reinforcements.     

Stigma, Culture, and HIV and AIDS in the Western Cape, South Africa: An Application of the PEN-3 Cultural Model for Community-Based Research

HIV- and AIDS-related stigma has been reported to be a major factor contributing to the spread of HIV. In this study, the authors explore the meaning of stigma and its impact on HIV and AIDS in South African families and health care centers. They conducted focus group and key informant interviews among African and Colored populations in Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, and Mitchell's Plain in the Western Cape province. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and coded using NVivo. Using the PEN-3 cultural model, the authors analyzed results showing that participants' shared experiences ranged from positive/nonstigmatizing, to existential/unique to the contexts, to negative/stigmatizing. Families and health care centers were found to have both positive nonstigmatizing values and negative stigmatizing characteristics in addressing HIV/AIDS-related stigma. The authors conclude that a culture-centered analysis, relative to identity, is central to understanding the nature and contexts of HIV/AIDS-related stigma in South Africa.     

Contributions of volumetrics of the hippocampus and thalamus to verbal memory in temporal lobe epilepsy patients

Recent theories have posited that the hippocampus and thalamus serve distinct, yet related, roles in episodic memory. Whereas the hippocampus has been implicated in long-term memory encoding and storage, the thalamus, as a whole, has been implicated in the selection of items for subsequent encoding and the use of retrieval strategies. However, dissociating the memory impairment that occurs following thalamic injury as distinguished from that following hippocampal injury has proven difficult. This study examined relationships between MRI volumetric measures of the hippocampus and thalamus and their contributions to prose and rote verbal memory functioning in 18 patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Results revealed that bilateral hippocampal and thalamic volume independently predicted delayed prose verbal memory functioning. However, bilateral hippocampal, but not thalamic, volume predicted delayed rote verbal memory functioning. Follow-up analyses indicated that bilateral thalamic volume independently predicted immediate prose, but not immediate rote, verbal recall, whereas bilateral hippocampal volume was not associated with any of these immediate memory measures. These findings underscore the cognitive significance of thalamic atrophy in chronic TLE, demonstrating that hippocampal and thalamic volume make quantitatively, and perhaps qualitatively, distinct contributions to episodic memory functioning in TLE patients. They are also consistent with theories proposing that the hippocampus supports long-term memory encoding and storage, whereas the thalamus is implicated in the executive aspects of episodic memory.     

Convergent and discriminant validity of the Taylor and Buss measures of physical aggression

Although the Taylor and Buss paradigms have been the most widely used measures of human physical aggression, few attempts have been made to establish validity of the measures. The present investigation attempted to demonstrate convergent and discriminant validity of the paradigms. Fifty-five males engaged in five tasks designed to measure helping, competition, and aggression. Correlations computed among these measures lend support for convergent and discriminant validity of the Taylor and Buss paradigms.