Why do older adults have difficulty with semantic fluency?

Aging involves many cognitive declines, particularly in fluid intelligence, with relative maintenance of crystallized intelligence. This paradox is evident in the language domain: lexical retrieval becomes slower and less accurate, despite well preserved vocabularies. Verbal fluency assesses both crystallized and fluid aspects of language. Semantic fluency hypothetically reflects semantic knowledge, while letter fluency putatively reflects executive functioning, which would predict a greater impact of aging on the latter. However, the opposite is typically observed.

To investigate factors contributing to such asymmetries, we examined verbal fluency in 86 adults (30-89 years). Multiple regression analyses indicated that semantic fluency depends largely on lexical retrieval speed, as well as visualization strategies to support controlled retrieval, skills which may disproportionately decline with age. By contrast, letter fluency relies heavily on vocabulary knowledge, providing some protection against age-related declines. These findings contribute to our understanding of the mechanisms of typical age-related declines in word retrieval.     

The Relationship Between Personality and Subjective Well-Being: Different Association Patterns When Measuring the Affective Component in Frequency and Intensity

The aim was to determine whether the relationship between personality traits and Subjective Well-Being (SWB) differs when the affective component of SWB is measured in terms of frequency or intensity. Extraversion and Neuroticism were expected to show significant but different associations to SWB depending on the dimension of the affective component. Swedish undergraduate students (N = 153) self-reported personality, life satisfaction (LS), and affect measured in both frequency (i.e., how often they feel certain affects) and intensity (i.e., how strongly they feel certain affects). Two types of SWB-scores were constructed by merging LS with affect measured in either frequency or intensity. While Extraversion had a similar effect on both types of SWB, Neuroticism had a significantly stronger effect on SWB when the affective component was measured in frequency. More importantly, the effect of Neuroticism, compared to Extraversion, was stronger on SWB regardless of the dimension of the affective component. These findings suggest that future research should clearly distinguish between intensity and frequency when measuring the affective component of SWB. The distinction is important, not only due to the distinctiveness of the affective dimensions per se, but also due to different association patterns between personality traits and both dimensions.     

La valorisation professionnelle des caractéristiques de personnalité masculines,féminines et androgynes

This article examines the professional valorisation of gender-typed traits. In the study, participants should assess masculine, feminine and androgynous profiles in a set of professional contexts obtained by the crossing of social status (high versus low), gender (masculine versus feminine) and sector (production versus maintenance) of occupations. Consistent with a gender- typed trait matching model, the results showed that masculine profiles were the most valued ones in the most masculine occupations, feminine profiles were mostly valued in the most feminine occupations while androgynous profiles were the most valued in gender ambiguous occupations. Of particular interest was the fact that the perception of occupations’ gender was a function of the interaction between the gender and the sector of occupations (i.e.: the most masculine occupations were those that were stereotypically masculine and belonging to the production sector; the most feminine were those that were stereotypically feminine and belonging to the maintenance sector; the stereotypically masculine and maintenance occupations as the stereotypically feminine and production occupations were perceived as less gender typed).     

‘PRINCESSES’ AMONG THE ‘LIONS’: THE MILITANT CAREERS OF SIKH FEMALE FIGHTERS

For the first time in Sikh historiography, this article deals with the definition, institutionalization, canonization and commodification of modern Sikh music (kirtan) since the so-called Singh Sabha reformation. On the whole, it takes Sikh music as a suitable lens through which to examine societal and intellectual change, assuming that it is closely embedded in society and formative to its construction, negotiation and transformation in terms of (moral) consensus and conflict. Specifically, it discusses the influence of Western Orientalism (Max Arthur Macauliffe) and musicology, staff notation, Princely patronage (Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala), Christian missionaries and the introduction of new instruments (the harmonium, brass bands) to the making of modern Sikh music. Moreover, it investigates its relationship with what I have elsewhere labelled the Singh Sabha ‘moral language’ in terms of identity politics, for example in connection to popular culture (Punjabi bhangra), the notion of ‘authenticity’ and the British civilizing mission.     

Time-related processes in time-based prospective memory and in time-interval production

Time-based prospective memory tasks require the retrieval of previously formed plans (e.g., call me on my mobile phone) either at a specified time (e.g., at 3 p.m.) or after a specified period of time has elapsed (e.g., in 3 min). In the present study, we investigated whether the same time-related processes are recruited for a short-duration time-based prospective memory task and for a time-interval production task. In a dual-task paradigm, we required young adult participants to make category-membership decisions, while they were simultaneously engaged either in a time-based prospective memory tasks or in a time-interval production task. Under one set of conditions, participants were instructed to allocate attention equally to the two tasks, whereas in another set of conditions, they allocated attention primarily to the time-relevant task. The findings revealed that time estimates were not affected by the attention allocation manipulation, although it influenced performance on the concurrent category membership decision making task, and as expected time estimates were more accurate on the prospective memory task than on the time-production task. Based on the preponderance of the findings, we suggest that timing is managed by different mechanisms and/or strategies on time-interval production tasks and on short-duration time-based prospective memory tasks.     

Assessing bilingual and monolingual Latino students with translations of the MMPI-2: initial data

This article presents the results of 2 studies conducted with Spanish versions of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) with Latino students. Study 1 compared the results of 2 administrations of the MMPI-2, one in English and the other in Spanish. Study 2 compared the results of administrations of 2 Spanish versions of the MMPI-2, the official Mexican adaptation and the Version Hispana. In both cases, scale score differences were not found. Comparability, as operationally defined by test-retest reliability, was found to be higher for the group that was administered the English and Spanish versions than the group administered the 2 Spanish versions. Overall, the results were found to suggest correspondence. Yet, the authors warn against concluding "perfect" correspondence because other key groups need to be studied, including psychiatric patients and persons from the Latino community. Also, the determination of linguistic equivalence needs further refinement.     

Attentional load associated with performing and stabilizing a between-persons coordination of rhythmic limb movements

This study addressed the issue of intentional stabilization of between-persons coordination patterns (in-phase/isodirectional and anti-phase/non-isodirectional) and the attentional cost incurred by the nervous system in maintaining and further stabilizing these coordination patterns. Five pairs of participants performed in-phase and anti-phase interpersonal coordination patterns in dual-task conditions (coordination+RT task). Results showed that: (1) isodirectional pattern (in-phase) was more stable than non-isodirectional pattern (anti-phase), (2) both iso- and non-isodirectional pattern were stabilized intentionally, (3) RT was lower for the isodirectional pattern (i.e., the most stable), and (4) attentional manipulation led to a trade-off between pattern stability and RT performance. These results suggest that performing between-persons coordination patterns incurs a central cost that depends on the coupling strength between the limbs. These findings are consistent with the previous studies in intrapersonal coordination.     

"I am us": negative stereotypes as collective threats

Collective threat is the fear that an in-group member's behavior might reinforce a negative stereotype of one's group. In a field study, self-reported collective threat was higher in stereotyped minorities than in Whites and was linked to lower self-esteem in both groups. In 3 experimental studies, a potentially poor performance by an in-group member on a stereotype-relevant task proved threatening, as evidenced by lower self-esteem among minority students in 2 experiments and women in a 3rd experiment. The latter study demonstrated the generality of collective threat. Collective threat also undermined academic performance and affected self-stereotyping, stereotype activation, and physical distancing from the in-group member. Results further suggest that group identification plays a role in whether people use an avoidance or challenge strategy in coping with collective threat. Implications for theories of social identity and stigmatization are discussed.     

An evaluation scale of family environment for identification of children at risk of school failure

This study describes the development of the Home Environment Resources Scale, a Brazilian measure for families with children ages 6 to 12 years. The scale measures aspects of support for school achievement, made available to the child at home. A first version of the measure with 11 subscales was administered to 100 mothers or guardians of children with poor school achievement in a clinical setting. Analysis of the items in the first version resulted in a final version comprising 8 subscales with acceptable indices of internal consistency. Two validity studies were conducted. One aimed at verifying to what extent the Home Environment Resources Scale could discriminate the home environment of students referred to a mental health clinic on account of poor school performance. The sample included mothers of 53 referred and 23 nonreferred children. The two groups differed significantly in home resources and on four subscales. The other study assessed the validity, i.e., prediction of the academic outcome of children entering Grade 1. 70 children and their mothers participated. Results indicate that school achievement and social competence at school are mediated by family support.