Maternal sensory sensitivity, mother-infant 9-month interaction, infant attachment status: predictors of mother-toddler interaction at 24 months

At 24-months of age, toddlers (N=62) and their mothers were observed in a free-play session to determine the contribution of (a) maternal sensory sensitivity to positive and negative infant facial expressions as measured in a signal detection task at 6 months, (b) maternal behavior and affect, infant behavior and affect, and dyadic interaction at 9 months, and (c) infant attachment status at 12 months in predicting maternal, toddler, and dyadic measures at 24 months. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that over and above early maternal behavior, which was predictive of later maternal behavior at 24 months, sensory sensitivity to the positive infant expression at 6 months predicted maternal behavior at 24 months and sensory sensitivity to both the positive and negative expression was associated with later maternal affect. Infant attachment status emerged as the variable which predicted toddler behavior and dyadic interaction at 24 months.     

Persistent structural priming from language comprehension to language production

To examine the relationship between syntactic processes in language comprehension and language production, we compared structural persistence from sentence primes that speakers heard to persistence from primes that speakers produced. [Bock, J. K., & Griffin, Z. M. (2000). The persistence of structural priming: transient activation or implicit learning? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 129, 177-192.] showed that the production of target priming structures increased the probability of spontaneously using the same structures to describe events in subsequent pictures that were semantically unrelated to the primes. These priming effects persisted across as many as ten intervening filler trials. The present studies replicated these results using auditorily presented primes to which participants only listened. The results indicated persistence of priming across all lags, with relative magnitudes of priming as large as those observed by Bock and Griffin. The implication is that structural priming is persistent regardless of the modality in which language structures are experienced, underscoring the power of priming as an implicit learning mechanism.     

Memory search following valid and invalid abrupt-onset cues

The impact of abrupt-onset cues on memory search was investigated, where the abrupt-onset cue was a valid (Experiment 1), random (Experiment 2), or irrelevant (Experiment 3) predictor of the location containing the test probe. In Experiment 4, the abrupt-onset cue either preceded or followed the test probe. Sternberg-like functions were obtained in Experiments 1 and 2, with the effects of the abrupt-onset cue localized primarily in the intercept rather than the slope. Experiment 3 demonstrated that a spatially separated and irrelevant abrupt-onset cue increased latency even when all memory probes occurred at the fixation point. In Experiment 4, the robust impact of an abrupt-onset cue vanished, regardless of stimulus onset asynchrony, when it followed the target. We concluded that abrupt-onset cues captured attention regardless of their predictability, manifested as a delaying of search. However, once attention was captured by the target, a subsequent abrupt-onset stimulus had no effect. These results were discussed in terms of diffuse attention and contingent capture models of attention.     

I See Your Point: Infants Under 12 Months Understand That Pointing Is Communicative

Do young infants understand that pointing gestures allow the pointer to change the information state of a recipient? We used a third-party experimental scenario to examine whether 9- and 11-month-olds understand that a pointer's pointing gesture can inform a recipient about a target object. When the pointer pointed to a target, infants subsequently looked longer when the recipient selected the nontarget rather than the target object. In contrast, infants looked equally long whether the recipient selected the target or nontarget object when the pointer used a noncommunicative gesture, a fist. Finally, when the recipient had no perceptual access to the pointing gesture, infants looked longer when the recipient selected the target rather than the nontarget object. Young infants understand a fundamental aspect of the communicative function of pointing: Pointing, but not all gestures, can transfer information. Gestures may thus be one of the tools infants use for an early understanding of communication.     

Multiracial and Biracial Individuals: A Content Analysis of Counseling Journals, 1991–2013

This content analysis examines the counseling literature on multiracial individuals using the top journals. The authors conducted an exhaustive search for research articles and identified 10 published articles that addressed biracial and multiracial individuals from the years 1991 to 2013 in top‐tier counseling journals. Of the 10 counseling journals, 4 journals addressed multiracial individuals (Journal of Counseling & Development, Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, Journal of Humanistic Counseling, and Journal of College Counseling). Recommendations for counselors and researchers are provided. Este análisis de contenido examina las investigaciones en el campo de la consejería sobre individuos multirraciales publicadas en las revistas académicas más importantes. Los autores llevaron a cabo una búsqueda exhaustiva de artículos de investigación e identificaron 10 artículos publicados en revistas académicas de consejería de alto nivel que trataban sobre individuos birraciales y multirraciales entre los años 1991 y 2013. Cuatro de las 10 revistas académicas de consejería trataban sobre individuos multirraciales (Journal of Counseling & Development, Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, Journal of Humanistic Counseling y Journal of College Counseling). Se ofrecen recomendaciones para consejeros e investigadores.     

Olfactory Reference Syndrome: A Case Report and Screening Tool

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings - Olfactory reference syndrome (ORS) is a lesser known disorder that is related to obsessive–compulsive disorder. ORS is the obsessional and...     

Christian Churches and the Prevention of Preadolescent Aggression and Violence in Puerto Rico: Regional Leaders’ Perspective

Journal of Religion and Health - Preadolescents’ involvement in religious congregations may serve as a distal protective factor against aggression. Interviews were conducted to...     

A Comparison of Children with Epilepsy to an Age- and IQ-Matched Control Group on the Children's Memory Scale

Past research has found that children with epilepsy exhibit decreased memory skills. In addition, some studies have found that children with epilepsy obtain significantly lower IQ scores than controls. In an effort to examine whether children with epilepsy have specific memory weaknesses versus global cognitive difficulties, the present study compared the performance of 62 children (age range = 6–16 years). Thirty-one children with epilepsy were compared to 31 age- and IQ-matched controls on the Children's Memory Scale (CMS) to determine whether differences in memory skills persist when IQ is matched. An independent t-test comparing index and scaled scores was performed. The results indicated that with the exception of the Word Pairs subtest (p < .01), children with epilepsy did not differ significantly on the CMS subtests when IQ was matched. This suggests that list-learning paradigms may be particularly sensitive to memory impairments in children with epilepsy and/or that children with epilepsy have more global cognitive impairments.