A COMPARISON BETWEEN CHILDREN AND ADULTS IN A PRISONERS' DILEMMA GAME

S jöberg , L., B okander , I., D encik , L. & L indbom , K. A comparison between children and adults in a prisoner's dilemma game. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1969, 10 , 158–166.— A comparative study using three different stooge strategies. The game was played for a total of 67 trials. Children (4–6 years old) exhibited more cooperation than adults, and a stronger tendency to make a cooperative move after own defection, regardless of outcome. Both the frequency of cooperative moves and the state-conditioned propensities showed some stability over time and similar intercorrelations for adults and children.     

The item-order hypothesis reconsidered: The role of order information in free recall

According to the item-order approach of free recall, in pure short lists the free recall of unrelated items is organized according to their order of presentation in the study list. The approach was applied in the present study to experimenter-performed tasks (EPTs) and subject-performed tasks (SPTs). It claims that EPTs provide better serial order information than SPTs. Consequently, free recall of EPTs should be more organized along the presentation order of the items than the free recall of SPTs. In three experiments, some specific aspects of this approach were studied. Firstly, it was demonstrated that serial retrieval is not strongly used spontaneously and that its use is overestimated in the literature because it is usually evoked by an order reconstruction test which follows free recall testing. Secondly, a serial retrieval strategy in free recall can be encouraged by explicit instructions. Finally, the present experiments showed that a serial output strategy alone does not allow one to predict performance in free recall. The implications of these findings for the item-order approach will be discussed.     

Comparison of ability tests administered online and in the laboratory

As the Internet, the global medium of the future, expands exponentially, it has become increasingly relevant to scientific research. So far, there is but little evidence that online testing is suitable for collecting ability-test data. The present article aims to shed light on some aspects of the issue by comparing the performance in a computer-administered ability test of one lab sample and two online samples using a quasi-experimental design. Mean score differences appeared, but can be explained by differences in age and education, and were not due to the test setting (online vs. laboratory). Also, there were no structural differences between the achievement scores of both samples. Some limitations on generalizability are discussed.     

Associations between Marijuana Use During Emerging Adulthood and Aspects of the Significant Other Relationship in Young Adulthood

We used a prospective design to examine the association of marijuana use during the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood with reported relationship quality with significant other in the mid- to late twenties. The community-based sample consisted of 534 young adults (mean age=27) from upstate New York. The participants were interviewed at four points in time at mean ages 14, 16, 22, and 27 years. Marijuana use during the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood was associated with less relationship cohesion and harmony, and with more relationship conflict with control on variables reflecting the participants’ early interpersonal adjustment and the quality of the relationships with their parents. Our findings suggest that marijuana use during emerging adulthood predicts diminished relationship quality with a partner in the mid- to late twenties.     

Localisation of auditory targets during optokinetic nystagmus

Previous studies have shown that the perceived location of visual stimuli briefly flashed during smooth pursuit, saccades, or optokinetic nystagmus (OKN) is not veridical. We investigated whether these mislocalisations can also be observed for brief auditory stimuli presented during OKN. Experiments were carried out in a lightproof sound-attenuated chamber. Participants performed eye movements elicited by visual stimuli. An auditory target (white noise) was presented for 5 ms. Our data clearly indicate that auditory targets are mislocalised during reflexive eye movements. OKN induces a shift of perceived location in the direction of the slow eye movement and is modulated in the temporal vicinity of the fast phase. The mislocalisation is stronger for look- as compared to stare-nystagmus. The size and temporal pattern of the observed mislocalisation are different from that found for visual targets. This suggests that different neural mechanisms are at play to integrate oculomotor signals and information on the spatial location of visual as well as auditory stimuli.     

Lack of Inhibition: A Motivational Deficit in Children With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Children With Traumatic Brain Injury*

Recent research has demonstrated that both brain-injured children and children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suffer from response inhibition deficits. To investigate whether these deficits can be influenced by motivational factors, the stop-signal task was performed with and without reward contingencies for successful inhibition. Three groups of children between 8 and 12 years of age, participated in the study: 31 children with ADHD, 37 with traumatic brain injuries (TBI), and 26 normal controls. Results indicated that, although all groups showed comparable learning effects, reward contingencies had different effects on the groups. Whereas the performance of children with ADHD under reward contingencies were brought up to the performance level of normal controls, rewards were found less effective at improving response inhibition in children with TBI. The results further support a motivational/energetic explanation of the inhibitory deficit in children with ADHD, and of a primary response inhibition deficit due to structural brain damage in children with TBI.     

The impact of maternal control on children’s anxious cognitions, behaviours and affect: An experimental study

Controlling parenting is associated with child anxiety however the direction of effects remains unclear. The present study implemented a Latin-square experimental design to assess the impact of parental control on children’s anxious affect, cognitions and behaviour. A non-clinical sample of 24 mothers of children aged 4-5 years were trained to engage in (a) controlling and (b) autonomy-granting behaviours in interaction with their child during the preparation of a speech. When mothers engaged in controlling parenting behaviours, children made more negative predictions about their performance prior to delivering their speech and reported feeling less happy about the task, and this was moderated by child trait anxiety. In addition, children with higher trait anxiety displayed a significant increase in observed child anxiety in the controlling condition. The pattern of results was maintained when differences in mothers’ levels of negativity and habitual levels of control were accounted for. These findings are consistent with theories that suggest that controlling parenting is a risk factor in the development of childhood anxiety.