Inter- and intra-cultural variation in learning-through-participation among Hadza and BaYaka forager children and adolescents from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo

We examined cross-cultural variation in children’s learning-through-participation in economic work in two forager societies; the Hadza of Tanzania and the BaYaka of the Republic of Congo. We used observational data from 46 Hadza (41% female) and 65 BaYaka (48% female) children and adolescents between the ages of 3 and 18; interview data from 73 Hadza (49% female) and 52 BaYaka (56% female) adults; and ethnographic observations from both populations. Results showed that by providing tools, assigning chores, and foraging with children, Hadza and BaYaka adults provided opportunities for autonomous learning through facilitating participation. Furthermore, although both Hadza and BaYaka children foraged alongside adults when they could be of help, Hadza children were more likely than BaYaka children to forage independently, and BaYaka children were more likely than Hadza children to participate in domestic tasks. We argue that these strategies provided children with opportunities to learn while contributing economically.

Nous avons examiné les variations interculturelles dans l’apprentissage des enfants dans le contexte de leur participation à des travaux économiques dans deux sociétés de chasseurs-cueilleurs; les Hadza de Tanzanie et les BaYaka du Congo. Nous avons utilisé les données d’observation de 46 enfants et adolescents Hadza (41% femmes) et 65 BaYaka (48% femmes) âgés de 3 à 18 ans, celles d’interviews de 73 adultes Hadza (49% femmes) et de 52 adultes BaYaka (56% femmes), ainsi que des observations ethnographiques sur ces deux groupes. Les résultats montrent qu’en leur fournissant des outils, en leur assignant des tâches et en chassant et en cueillant avec les enfants, les adultes Hadza et BaYaka leur offrent des possibilités d’apprentissage autonome tout en facilitant leur participation. En outre, alors que les enfants Hadza et BaYaka chassent et cueillent aux côtés des adultes quand ils peuvent, les enfants Hadza sont plus susceptibles que les enfants BaYaka de recourir à la chasse et à la cueillette. Ces derniers sont aussi plus susceptibles que les enfants Hadza de participer aux tâches domestiques. Nous en concluons que ces stratégies fournissent aux enfants des opportunités d’apprentissage tout en contribuant, parallèlement, aux ressources économiques de leur groupe.     

Human trace fear conditioning: right-lateralized cortical activity supports trace-interval processes

Pavlovian conditioning requires the convergence and simultaneous activation of neural circuitry that supports conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) processes. However, in trace conditioning, the CS and US are separated by a period of time called the trace interval, and thus do not overlap. Therefore, determining brain regions that support associative learning by maintaining a CS representation during the trace interval is an important issue for conditioning research. Prior functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research has identified brain regions that support trace-conditioning processes. However, relatively little is known about whether this activity is specific to the trace CS, the trace interval, or both periods of time. The present study was designed to disentangle the hemodynamic response produced by the trace CS from that associated with the trace interval, in order to identify learning-related activation during these distinct components of a trace-conditioning trial. Trace-conditioned activity was observed within dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (PFC), dorsolateral PFC, insula, inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and posterior cingulate (PCC). Each of these regions showed learning-related activity during the trace CS, while trace-interval activity was only observed within a subset of these areas (i.e., dorsomedial PFC, PCC, right dorsolateral PFC, right IPL, right superior/middle temporal gyrus, and bilateral insula). Trace-interval activity was greater in right than in left dorsolateral PFC, IPL, and superior/middle temporal gyrus. These findings indicate that components of the prefrontal, cingulate, insular, and parietal cortices support trace-interval processes, as well as suggesting that a right-lateralized fronto-parietal circuit may play a unique role in trace conditioning.     

Prostitution of sexuality: A cause for new international human rights

Abstract

The social normalization of prostitution, even where it is still illegal, in post-industrial states has led to a legitimization of many dimensions of sexual exploitation. This paper examines the social construction of exploitative sex in the prostitution exchange. The harm of being sexually objectified, a precondition for the prostitution exchange, that is repeated in mostly anonymous sexual contacts over weeks, months, and years, is evident in the split in the self that is constructed to sustain one in prostitution. This research finds that the buying of sex is a specifically gendered human rights violation. Identifying the harm in the social construction of prostituted sex and its normalization explains a significant aspect of the context of sexual exploitation in Western, postindustrial states. This paper further explores how prostitution, as an institution and an industry, is shaped by the socioeconomic development of the state and world region. Trafficking in women, military prostitution, and sex industrialization, are differentiated from normalization of prostitution. New international human rights have been developed by the author working with UNESCO and U.N. nongovernmental organizations to address sexual exploitation individually and globally. The proposed Convention Against Sexual Exploitation is summarized in relation to the macro- and micro-research presented.     

Repetition priming of access to biographical information from faces

Two experiments examined repetition priming on tasks that require access to semantic (or biographical) information from faces. In the second stage of each experiment, participants made either a nationality or an occupation decision to faces of celebrities, and, in the first stage, they made either the same or a different decision to faces (in Experiment 1) or the same or a different decision to printed names (in Experiment 2). All combinations of priming and test tasks produced clear repetition effects, which occurred irrespective of whether the decisions made were positive or negative. Same-domain (face-to-face) repetition priming was larger than cross-domain (name-to-face) priming, and priming was larger when the two tasks were the same. It is discussed how these findings are more readily accommodated by the Burton, Bruce, and Johnston () model of face recognition than by episode-based accounts of repetition priming.     

Temporal characteristics of overt attentional behavior during category learning

Many theories of category learning incorporate mechanisms for selective attention, typically implemented as attention weights that change on a trial-by-trial basis. This is because there is relatively little data on within-trial changes in attention. We used eye tracking and mouse tracking as fine-grained measures of attention in three complex visual categorization tasks to investigate temporal patterns in overt attentional behavior within individual categorization decisions. In Experiments 1 and 2, we recorded participants’ eye movements while they performed three different categorization tasks. We extended previous research by demonstrating that not only are participants less likely to fixate irrelevant features, but also, when they do, these fixations are shorter than fixations to relevant features. We also found that participants’ fixation patterns show increasingly consistent temporal patterns. Participants were faster, although no more accurate, when their fixation sequences followed a consistent temporal structure. In Experiment 3, we replicated these findings in a task where participants used mouse movements to uncover features. Overall, we showed that there are important temporal regularities in information sampling during category learning that cannot be accounted for by existing models. These can be used to supplement extant models for richer predictions of how information is attended to during the buildup to a categorization decision.     

Emerging as a Personality Disorder Service

Personality Disorder Services working along psychotherapeutic lines are gaining appeal with Health Care Commissioners following the publication of the NICE guidelines for Borderline & Antisocial Personality Disorders and the emerging successful application of psychoanalytically-derived approaches.

Establishing a new Personality Disorder Service is akin to constructing a ‘home’ within which the therapeutic work with patients can develop. As clinicians, we are required to question what facets are important to the development of this new home, and to further to endure the unfamiliar state of being ‘not at home’ while the identity of the service is established.

We address how this process parallels the task facing the patient as they struggle to establish their own identity. We also highlight some important tenets in the work of securing a robust identity for both the service and the patient suffering from a personality disorder.     

Do sex differences in emotionality mediate sex differences in traits of psychosis-proneness?

The aim of the study was to determine if sex differences in emotionality might account for sex differences in distinct traits of proneness to psychosis (or "schizotypy"). Females report higher levels of "positive" schizotypy (e.g., magical thinking) than males, along with a tendency toward greater schizotypal disorganisation, whereas males report higher levels of "negative" schizotypal traits, such as social anxiety (Jackson & Claridge, 1991; Raine, 1992). Given the affect-oriented nature of "negative" schizotypal traits, we tested the hypothesis that higher levels of "negative" schizotypy among males would be accounted for by more general sex differences in emotionality; that is, by less frequent and less intense emotional experiences. A total of 81 student participants were administered the Cognitive-Perceptual Deficits, the Disorganisation, and the Interpersonal Deficits components of Raine's (1991) Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), indexing respectively, "positive" schizotypy, schizotypal disorganisation, and "negative" schizotypy. Frequency of emotional experience was assessed using the Emotionality subscale (Buss & Plomin, 1984) and intensity, the Affect Intensity Measure (Larsen & Diener, 1987). As predicted, males scored significantly higher than females on the SPQ Interpersonal Deficits component but no sex differences emerged for the other two components. Males reported significantly less intense, although not less frequent, experiences than females. A reduced intensity of positive emotions in particular was found to mediate the sex difference in "negative" schizotypy. Our results suggest that a less intense experience of positive affect might contribute to males' propensity to develop negative symptoms should a schizophrenic breakdown occur.     

Teaching and Learning in High School Reading Classes: Perspectives of Teachers and Students

This qualitative study investigated high school reading programs and participants focusing on the insider perspectives of teachers and their students. The study occurred in two sites, one in a Southern state and the other in an Eastern state. The participants, five high school reading teachers and two to three students in each of their reading classes, were interviewed individually by the researchers. Interview questions focused on reader identity, reading habits, reader strategies, content area reading, and the reading program. Findings indicate a disparity between teachers' and students' understanding about reading, variability in instruction, and need for engaged learning.     

Indeterminacy and consciousness in the creative process: What quantum physics has to offer

The quantum view of creativity, based on Goswami's idealistic interpretation of quantum physics, is presented. It provides a resolution for two controversial areas of creativity theory and research: the “aha”; experience and the role of consciousness. According to the quantum model, the mind‐brain consists of classical and quantum functions and structures. The source for creative ideation lies in the quantum realm in the form of unlearned coherent superpositions or states of simultaneous multiple possibilities. While access of coherent superpositions (CohS) are susceptible to interference from classical domain functions, such as attention, the CohS itself is experienced as an altered state, facilitating creative ideation. The relationships among attention, self‐awareness, context, ambiguity, uncertainty, and conscious and unconscious perception in creative ideation are proposed to be experienced discontinuously due to an indeterminate element inherent in nature. Theoretical and empirical investigation of the above propositions is possible through quantum physics.     

Scent-evoked nostalgia

Declarative and non-declarative memories are thought be supported by two distinct memory systems that are often posited not to interact. However, Wagner, Maril, and Schacter (2000a) reported that at the time priming was assessed, greater behavioural and neural priming was associated with lower levels of subsequent recognition memory, demonstrating an interaction between declarative and non-declarative memory. We examined this finding using a similar paradigm, in which participants made the same or different semantic word judgements following a short or long lag and subsequent memory test. We found a similar overall pattern of results, with greater behavioural priming associated with a decrease in recognition and recall performance. However, neither various within-participant nor various between-participant analyses revealed significant correlations between priming and subsequent memory performance. These data suggest that both lag and task have effects on priming and declarative memory performance, but that they are largely independent and occur in parallel.