Survey return rates as a function of priority versus first-class mailing

Prior research indicates survey procedures that signal significance and individualized mailings have higher response rates. Thus, it was hypothesized that surveys delivered via Priority mail would result in higher return rates than surveys delivered via First-Class. 260 surveys were sent to individuals randomly selected from lists of licensed physical and behavioral healthcare providers in Alaska and New Mexico. Half of the selected individuals were assigned randomly to receive mailings using Priority mail, the other half received First-Class mailings. Return rate was 39% for First-Class and 35% for Priority. Z tests of proportion indicated no statistically significant differences between methods. Given increased costs with no resultant increase in response rate, sending surveys to potential participants via Priority mail does not appear warranted.     

Semantic weight and verb retrieval in aphasia

Individuals with agrammatic aphasia may have difficulty with verb production in comparison to nouns. Additionally, they may have greater difficulty producing verbs that have fewer semantic components (i.e., are semantically "light") compared to verbs that have greater semantic weight. A connectionist verb-production model proposed by Gordon and Dell (2003) learns through error correction to "divide the labor" between syntax and semantics. Verbs that are semantically heavier come to depend less on syntax and more on semantics. For lighter verbs, the reverse is true. We performed this study to clarify the role of semantic weight in aphasic verb production and to test the prediction from Gordon and Dell that a brain lesion that impairs the syntactic input to verb retrieval will impair lighter verbs more than heavier ones. Consistent with this prediction, we found that the decrement for lighter verbs was present in a group with agrammatic aphasia but not in a matched group without agrammatism.     

Effects of grammatical categories on children's visual language processing: Evidence from event-related brain potentials

This study examined how school-aged children process different grammatical categories. Event-related brain potentials elicited by words in visually presented sentences were analyzed according to seven grammatical categories with naturally varying characteristics of linguistic functions, semantic features, and quantitative attributes of length and frequency. The categories included nouns, adjectives, verbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, and articles. The findings indicate that by the age of 9-10 years, children exhibit robust neural indicators differentiating grammatical categories; however, it is also evident that development of language processing is not yet adult-like at this age. The current findings are consistent with the hypothesis that for beginning readers a variety of cues and characteristics interact to affect processing of different grammatical categories and indicate the need to take into account linguistic functions, prosodic salience, and grammatical complexity as they relate to the development of language abilities.     

Simulating the pattern of right-hemisphere-damaged patients for the processing of the alternative metaphorical meanings of words: evidence in favor of a cognitive resources hypothesis

Lately, many studies have suggested that communication impairments in brain-damaged individuals might be explained--at least in part--in terms of cognitive resource allocation. Reproducing a clinical pattern in normal subjects by using a dual-task treatment might be a way of evaluating the role of cognitive resources in the right hemisphere's contribution to verbal communication. This study suggests that the RH's presumed specific contribution to the processing of the alternative metaphorical meanings of words is, at least to some extent, the expression of the RH's complementary, and necessary, contribution to the pool of attentional resources needed for the most effortful processing.     

The father-daughter relationship rating scale

A 9-item scale designed to measure perceived relationships of girls and their fathers is internally consistent (alpha=.89) and showed clear factor structure.     

Sources of support and psychological distress among academically successful inner-city youth

Study 1 examined the relationships between parental attachment, academic achievement, and psychological distress among a multiethnic sample of academically successful inner-city high school students (19 White, 54 Black, 9 Asian, 18 Hispanic). These students participated in an enrichment program designed to prepare high school students for college success. The results suggest that the affective quality of maternal attachment is positively associated with grade point average, and the affective quality of paternal attachment is negatively associated with depressive symptoms. In Study 2, case examples provide an examination of sources of support, life stress, and patterns of resilience. Implications for prevention and intervention are also discussed.     

Aging and attentional guidance during visual search: functional neuroanatomy by positron emission tomography

Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to examine adult age differences in neural activation during visual search. Target detection was less accurate for older adults than for younger adults, but both age groups were successful in using color to guide attention to a subset of display items. Increasing perceptual difficulty led to greater activation of occipitotemporal cortex for younger adults than for older adults, apparently as the result of older adults maintaining higher levels of activation within the easier task conditions. The results suggest that compensation for age-related decline in the efficiency of occipitotemporal cortical functioning was implemented by changes in the relative level of activation within this visual processing pathway, rather than by the recruitment of other cortical regions.     

Children's time of day preference: age, gender and ethnic differences

Comprehensive data for children's time of day preference were collected with school children from 8 through 16 years of age (n = 989) using the Children's Morningness-Eveningness Preferences (CMEP) scale. Strong evidence was found that children's optimal time of day preference shifts toward evening at about 13 years of age. Additionally, gender and ethnic differences in time of day preference were also examined. There was no gender difference, but there was a tendency for ethnic differences among older children. An implication of these findings is that a mismatch between older children's time of day preferences and school start time may have a negative effect on their school performance and this effect could be greater for some ethnic groups than for others.     

When leaders harass: the impact of target perceptions of organizational leadership and climate on harassment reporting and outcomes

Using cases of harassment by leaders, the authors examined the effects of target perceptions of leader responses to sexual harassment and whether leader implementation of harassment policies made a difference beyond the impact of the policies themselves. Results showed that women who perceived that leaders made honest efforts to stop harassment felt significantly freer to report harassment, were more satisfied with the complaint process, and reported greater commitment than did those viewing leaders as more harassment tolerant. Different leadership levels had different effects, with hierarchically proximal leaders generally having the greatest impact. Leadership mediated the relationship between organizational policy and outcomes, supporting the view that a key role for leaders is establishing an ethical organizational climate that reinforces formal harassment policies through actions.