The development of executive functioning and theory of mind. A comparison of Chinese and U.S. preschoolers

Preschoolers' theory-of-mind development follows a similar age trajectory across many cultures. To determine whether these similarities are related to similar underlying ontogenetic processes, we examined whether the relation between theory of mind and executive function commonly found among U.S. preschoolers is also present among Chinese preschoolers. Preschoolers from Beijing, China (N= 109), were administered theory-of-mind and executive-functioning tasks, and their performance was compared with that of a previously studied sample of U.S. preschoolers (N= 107). The Chinese preschoolers outperformed their U.S. counterparts on all measures of executive functioning, but were not similarly advanced in theory-of-mind reasoning. Nonetheless, individual differences in executive functioning predicted theory of mind for children in both cultures. Thus, the relation between executive functioning and theory of mind is robust across two disparate cultures. These findings shed light on why executive functioning is important for theory-of-mind development.     

The effect of word frequency, word predictability, and font difficulty on the eye movements of young and older readers

Young adult and older readers' eye movements were recorded as they read sentences containing target words that varied in frequency or predictability. In addition, half of the sentences were printed in a font that was easy to read (Times New Roman) and the other half were printed in a font that was more difficult to read (Old English). Word frequency, word predictability, and font difficulty effects were apparent in the eye movement data of both groups of readers. In the fixation time data, the pattern of results was the same, but the older readers had larger frequency and predictability effects than the younger readers. The older readers skipped words more often than the younger readers (as indicated by their skipping rate on selected target words), but they made more regressions back to the target words and more regressions overall. The E-Z Reader model was used as a platform to evaluate the results, and simulations using the model suggest that lexical processing is slowed in older readers and that, possibly as a result of this, they adopt a more risky reading strategy.     

Recurrent dreams: Recurring threat simulations?

Zadra, Desjardins, and Marcotte (2006) have made a valuable contribution to the empirical testing of the Threat Simulation Theory (TST) (Revonsuo, 2000a) in recurrent dreams. For the most part, their results are in accordance with the theory, while some findings seem to conflict with the predictions of TST. In our commentary, we consider some alternative ways to interpret the results, and we conclude that many prominent features of most recurrent dreams seem to be manifestations of a threat simulation function, leading to repeated rehearsal of threat perception and avoidance, but a minority of recurrent dreams seem to have origins unrelated to threat simulation.     

Is overgeneral autobiographical memory an isolated memory phenomenon in major depression?

The present study explored the relation between overgeneral autobiographical memory (AM) and other aspects of memory functioning in depression. A total of 26 patients with major depressive disorder completed a set of memory tasks measuring AM specificity (AMT; Williams & Broadbent, 1986), working memory, semantic memory, verbal learning, delayed verbal recall, recognition memory, and source memory. Reduced specificity of AM was related to poor working memory (central executive functioning) and poor source memory. The former finding conforms to the idea that the voluntary retrieval of specific autobiographical memories (AMs) involves central executive processes (e.g., Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000). The latter finding replicates and extends recent findings suggesting that overgeneral AM is part of a broader memory deficit in retrieving the specific details of the context in which information was acquired (Ramponi, Barnard, & Nimmo-Smith, 2004). Furthermore, in line with Ramponi et al. (2004), rumination was found to be related to both overgeneral AM and poor source memory.     

Individual differences in children's memory and reading comprehension: an investigation of semantic and inhibitory deficits

Three experiments compared the verbal memory skills of children with poor reading comprehension with that of same-age good comprehenders. The aims were to determine if semantic and/or inhibitory deficits explained comprehenders' problems on measures of verbal short-term memory and verbal working memory. In Experiment 1 there were no group differences on word- and number-based measures of short-term storage and no evidence that semantic knowledge mediated word recall. In Experiment 2 poor comprehenders were impaired on word- and number-based assessments of working memory, the greatest deficit found on the word-based task. Error analysis of both word-based tasks revealed that poor comprehenders were more likely to recall items that should have been inhibited than were good comprehenders. Experiment 3 extended this finding: Poor comprehenders were less able to inhibit information that was no longer relevant. Together, these findings suggest that individual differences in inhibitory processing influence the ability to regulate the contents of working memory, which may contribute to the differential memory performance of good and poor comprehenders.     

A randomized controlled effectiveness trial of parent management training with varying degrees of therapist support

This study examined the effectiveness of a Swedish parent management training (PMT) intervention for parents of children aged 3 to 10 within the context of regular social service. Self-referred parents of 159 children (aged 3 to 10) with conduct problems were randomly assigned to either 11 practitioner-assisted group sessions (PMT-P), or a single instructional workshop followed by self-administration of the training material (PMT-S), or a waitlist control group. Intent-to-treat analyses showed that both PMT-P and PMT-S improved parent competence and reduced child conduct problems compared to the waitlist at posttest. Both training conditions showed further significant improvements at the 6-month follow-up. In direct comparison, PMT-P was superior to PMT-S on measures of child conduct problems at both posttest and follow-up. Improvement in child conduct was mediated by improvement in parent competencies and homework fidelity. The findings in this study have implications for large-scale dissemination of parent management training through different means of delivery.