Working memory capacity and its relation to general intelligence

Early investigations of working memory capacity (WMC) and reasoning ability suggested that WMC might be the basis of Spearman's g. However, recent work has uncovered details about the basic processes involved in working memory tasks, which has resulted in a more principled approach to task development. As a result, claims now being made about the relation between WMC and g are more cautious. A review of the recent research reveals that WMC and g are indeed highly related, but not identical. Furthermore, WM span tasks involve an executive-control mechanism that is recruited to combat interference and this ability is mediated by portions of the prefrontal cortex. More combined experimental-differential research is needed to understand better the basis of the WMC-g relation.     

The Mediating Role of Social Skills in the Relationship between Motor Ability and Internalizing Symptoms in Pre‐primary Children

Impaired motor development can deprive a child of constructive engagement in early motor activities and thus diminish opportunities for the acquisition of key cognitive, social and emotional abilities. The aim of the current study was to test a model where social skills mediate the relationship between motor ability and internalizing symptoms in pre‐primary children. A cross‐sectional research design was employed to assess the mediation model using data from 234 boys and 241 girls aged 4 to 6 years. Structural equation modelling provided support for the mediating role of social skills as assessed by the child's teacher. Replication of these findings in longitudinal studies, elucidating how social skills relate to motor impairment, could have implications for the prevention of psychopathology in young children with motor impairment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The development of a scale for tuned‐in parenting

This article provides preliminary evaluation for a new and easy to use parental sensitivity scale, which is rated from a short videotaped play session with the parental figure. The five Tuned‐In Parent Rating Scales (TIP‐RS) have been developed for use with identified dyadic problems in infant–parent relationships and provide a window on the micro‐behaviours that may contribute to the dyadic disjunctions. A sample of 88 mothers who contacted a community early parenting unit was filmed in interaction with their infants and completed surveys including the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). Six trained coders rated the videos. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the unidimensionality of the TIP‐RS. The TIP‐RS total score was negatively correlated with both the EPDS (r[N = 42] = ?.34, p = .024) and the DASS (r[N = 42] = ?.43, p = .029), providing evidence for its concurrent validity. Inter‐rater reliability across the six raters for each of the TIP‐RS sub‐scales and total score ranged from .68 to .83. The present results warrant continued investigation of the psychometric properties of the TIP‐RS as a tool for intervention with targeted parent–child relationships.     

Does the Animal Fun program improve motor performance in children aged 4–6 years?

The Animal Fun program was designed to enhance the motor ability of young children by imitating the movements of animals in a fun, inclusive setting. The efficacy of this program was investigated through a randomized controlled trial using a multivariate nested cohort design. Pre-intervention scores were recorded for 511 children aged 4.83 years to 6.17 years (M = 5.42 years, SD = 3.58 months). Six control and six intervention schools were compared 6 months later following the intervention, and then again at 18 months after the initial testing when the children were in their first school year. Changes in motor performance were examined using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency short form. Data were analyzed using multi-level-mixed effects linear regression. A significant Condition × Time interaction was found, F(2, 1219) = 3.35, p = .035, demonstrating that only the intervention group showed an improvement in motor ability. A significant Sex × Time interaction was also found, F(2, 1219) = 3.84, p = .022, with boys improving over time, but not girls. These findings have important implications for the efficacy of early intervention of motor skills and understanding the differences in motor performance between boys and girls.     

Posttraumatic distress and the presence of posttraumatic growth and meaning in life: Experiential avoidance as a moderator

Existing models of trauma suggest that for recovery to occur, trauma related cues and emotions require awareness and openness while survivors continue committing action toward valued life aims (other than regulating emotions). Based on this theoretical framework, an unwillingness to be in contact with distressing thoughts and feelings (experiential avoidance) might operate together with posttraumatic distress to predict when people find benefits and meaning in the aftermath of trauma. We hypothesized that people reporting posttraumatic distress and less reliance on experiential avoidance would report greater posttraumatic growth and meaning in life compared with other trauma survivors. We administered questionnaires to 176 college students reporting at least one traumatic event. Results supported these moderation models. This is the fourth study (with different samples, measures, and methodologies) to provide evidence that a combination of excessive anxiety and a heavy reliance on experiential avoidance leads to attenuated well-being. We discuss the implications for understanding heterogeneous trauma reactions.     

Variations in recollection: the effects of complexity on source recognition

Whether recollection is a threshold or signal detection process is highly controversial, and the controversy has centered in part on the shape of receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) and z-transformed ROCs (zROCs). U-shaped zROCs observed in tests thought to rely heavily on recollection, such as source memory tests, have provided evidence in favor of the threshold assumption, but zROCs are not always as U-shaped as threshold theory predicts. Source zROCs have been shown to become more linear when the contribution of familiarity to source discriminations is increased, and this may account for the existing results. However, another way in which source zROCs may become more linear is if the recollection threshold begins to break down and recollection becomes more graded and Gaussian. We tested the "graded recollection" account in the current study. We found that increasing stimulus complexity (i.e., changing from single words to sentences) or increasing source complexity (i.e., changing the sources from audio to videos of speakers) resulted in flatter source zROCs. In addition, conditions expected to reduce recollection (i.e., divided attention and amnesia) had comparable effects on source memory in simple and complex conditions, suggesting that differences between simple and complex conditions were due to differences in the nature of recollection, rather than differences in the utility of familiarity. The results suggest that under conditions of high complexity, recollection can appear more graded, and it can produce curved ROCs. The results have implications for measurement models and for current theories of recognition memory.     

The medial prefrontal cortex and memory of cue location in the rat

We developed a single-trial cue-location memory task in which rats experienced an auditory cue while exploring an environment. They then recalled and avoided the sound origination point after the cue was paired with shock in a separate context. Subjects with medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) lesions made no such avoidance response, but both lesioned and control subjects avoided the cue itself when presented at test. A follow up assessment revealed no spatial learning impairment in either group. These findings suggest that the rodent mPFC is required for incidental learning or recollection of the location at which a discrete cue occurred, but is not required for cue recognition or for allocentric spatial memory.     

Self-motion perception during locomotor recalibration: more than meets the eye

Do locomotor aftereffects depend specifically on visual feedback? In 7 experiments, 116 college students were tested, with closed eyes, at stationary running or at walking to a previewed target after adaptation, with closed eyes, to treadmill locomotion. Subjects showed faster inadvertent drift during stationary running and increased distance (overshoot) when walking to a target. Overshoot seemed to saturate (i.e., reach a ceiling) at 17% after as little as 1 min of adaptation. Sidestepping at test reduced overshoot, suggesting motor specificity. But inadvertent drift effects were decreased if the eyes were open and the treadmill was drawn through the environment during adaptation, indicating that these effects involve self-motion perception. Differences in expression of inadvertent drift and of overshoot after adaptation to treadmill locomotion may have been due to different sets of ancillary cues available for the 2 tasks. Self-motion perception is multimodal.