Using a modified constant prompt-delay procedure to teach spelling to students with physical disabilities

Current research suggests that constant delay is an effective means of teaching students through near-errorless learning. The current study examined how procedures used in previous research may be modified so that constant delay can be implemented with students who have physical disabilities that prevent them from engaging in fluent academic responding. A multiple baseline design with probes was used to assess the effectiveness of a modified constant-delay procedure in teaching spelling to students with physical disabilities. This procedure was found to be effective for all 3 students.     

Cognitive and cognate-based treatments for bilingual aphasia: a case study

Two consecutive treatments were conducted to investigate skill learning and generalization within and across cognitive-linguistic domains in a 62-year-old Spanish-English bilingual man with severe non-fluent aphasia. Treatment 1 was a cognitive-based treatment that emphasized non-linguistic skills, such as visual scanning, categorization, and simple arithmetic. Treatment 2 was a lexically based treatment that trained cognates (cross-linguistic word pairs that are similar in meaning and form, such as rosa/rose) and non-cognates (cross-linguistic word pairs with shared meaning but different forms, such as mesa/table). Treatment 1 resulted in modest gains in both Spanish and English. Treatment 2 resulted in improved naming for non-cognates as well as cognates within each language. However, the generalization of gains from Spanish to English was apparent only for cognate stimuli.     

Parallel processing across neural systems: implications for a multiple memory system hypothesis

A common conceptualization of the organization of memory systems in brain is that different types of memory are mediated by distinct neural systems. Strong support for this view comes from studies that show double (or triple) dissociations between spatial, response, and emotional memories following selective lesions of hippocampus, striatum, and the amygdala. Here, we examine the extent to which hippocampal and striatal neural activity patterns support the multiple memory systems view. A comparison is made between hippocampal and striatal neural correlates with behavior during asymptotic performance of spatial and response maze tasks. Location- (or place), movement, and reward-specific firing patterns were found in both structures regardless of the task demands. Many, but not all, place fields of hippocampal and striatal neurons were similarly affected by changes in the visual and reward context regardless of the cognitive demands. Also, many, but not all, hippocampal and striatal movement-sensitive neurons showed significant changes in their behavioral correlates after a change in visual context, irrespective of cognitive strategy. Similar partial reorganization was observed following manipulations of the reward condition for cells recorded from both structures, again regardless of task. Assuming that representations that persist across context changes reflect learned information, we make the following conclusions. First, the consistent pattern of partial reorganization supports a view that the analysis of spatial, response, and reinforcement information is accomplished via an error-driven, or match-mismatch, algorithm across neural systems. Second, task-relevant processing occurs continuously within hippocampus and striatum regardless of the cognitive demands of the task. Third, given the high degree of parallel processing across allegedly different memory systems, we propose that different neural systems may effectively compete for control of a behavioral expression system. The strength of the influence of any one neural system on behavioral output is likely modulated by factors such as motivation, experience, or hormone status.     

Research participants telling the truth about their lives: the ethics of asking and not asking about abuse

Most discussions of the ethics of self-report research on abuse and interpersonal violence focus on the risks of asking participants about their experiences. An important element of the cost-benefit analysis--the costs of not asking about child abuse--has largely been ignored. Furthermore, little research has been conducted on the costs and benefits of child abuse research, leaving researchers to make decisions based on individual beliefs about such issues as the prevalence of abuse, the likelihood of disclosure, the effects of child abuse, and the ability of abuse survivors to give informed consent. The authors suggest that these beliefs tend to overemphasize survivors' vulnerability and ignore the costs of avoiding asking about abuse. In fact, these beliefs may reinforce societal avoidance of abuse and ultimately harm abuse survivors.     

Friend influence on prosocial behavior: The role of motivational factors and friendship characteristics

This study examined motivation (prosocial goals), individual characteristics (sex, ethnicity, and grade), and friendship characteristics (affective quality, interaction frequency, and friendship stability) in relation to middle adolescents' prosocial behavior over time. Ninth- and 10th-grade students (N = 208) attending a suburban, mid-Atlantic public high school and having at least 1 reciprocated friendship were followed for 1 year. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that a friend's behavior is related to an individual's prosocial goal pursuit, which in turn, is related to an individual's prosocial behavior. Further, the affective quality of a friendship and the frequency with which friends interact moderate relations of a friend's prosocial behavior to an individual's prosocial goal pursuit.     

Becoming syntactic

Psycholinguistic research has shown that the influence of abstract syntactic knowledge on performance is shaped by particular sentences that have been experienced. To explore this idea, the authors applied a connectionist model of sentence production to the development and use of abstract syntax. The model makes use of (a) error-based learning to acquire and adapt sequencing mechanisms and (b) meaning-form mappings to derive syntactic representations. The model is able to account for most of what is known about structural priming in adult speakers, as well as key findings in preferential looking and elicited production studies of language acquisition. The model suggests how abstract knowledge and concrete experience are balanced in the development and use of syntax.     

What Do We Tell the Children? Contrasting the Disclosure Choices of Two HD Families Regarding Risk Statusand Predictive Genetic Testing

Above all else, predictive genetic testing provides information. Gaining insight into the psychosocial effects of this information is a primary goal of genetic counseling. For individuals utilizing predictive genetic testing, the acquisition of genetic information requires choices regarding disclosure within the family. This study uses a phenomenological methodology to explore the contrasting choices of two sets of HD parents regarding the disclosure of genetic risk status to their children. Additionally, the children (now adults) discuss their lived experience growing up with contrasting disclosure dynamics, and their current views regarding the use of predictive genetic testing for themselves. The primary finding of this study is that all of the adult children now express preference for early disclosure of genetic risk and an open/supportive communication style regarding HD. This finding has value for clinicians working with HD families who must make decisions regarding disclosure issues related to predictive genetic testing.     

Evaluating three criteria for establishing cue-search hierarchies in inferential judgment

The authors identify and provide an integration of 3 criteria for establishing cue-search hierarchies in inferential judgment. Cues can be ranked by information value according to expected information gain (Bayesian criterion), cue-outcome correlation (correlational criterion), or ecological validity (accuracy criterion). All criteria significantly predicted information acquisition behavior; however, in 3 experiments, the most successful predictor was the correlational criterion (followed by the Bayesian). Although participants showed sensitivity to task constraints, searching for less information when it was more expensive (Experiment 1) and when under time constraints (Experiment 2), concomitant changes in the relative frequency of acquisition of cues with different information values were not observed. A rational analysis illustrates why such changes in the frequency of acquisition would be beneficial, and reasons for the failure to observe such behavior are discussed.