El lenguaje autista desde una perspectiva correlacional

Resumen

A pesar del interés reciente por las alteraciones del lenguaje en autismo infantil, es notable la carencia de investigaciones en que se analicen las correlaciones de las variables de lenguaje entre sí y con otra variables comportamentales. En este artículo se realiza tal análisis, correlacionando variables lingüísticas entre sí (L.M.E., complejidad estructural, comprensión, porcentaje de ecos y habla socializada, etc.) y con variables no lingüísticas (cociente global de desarrollo, niveles de imitación, percepción, motricidad, integración óculo-manual y cognitivo y cognitivo-verbal, P.P.O.D.). El análisis de los datos intragrupales permite identificar índices lingüísticos, de interés para guiar la evaluación clínica, porporciona una base para la valoración pronostica y permite situar las alteraciones de lenguaje en un contexto global de anomalías que afectan a la construcción de la conducta intencional, el desarrollo de los códigos simbólicos y las conductas de relación e interacción presimbólica.     

Procesos de aprendizaje y terapia de conducta en la adicción a la heroína

Resumen

Múltiples principios de condicionamiento clásico y operante interaccionan en la adición a la heroína. Destacan la presencia de RC Compensatorias en forma de Síndrome de Abstinencia Condicionado (SAC) y distintos programas de reforzamiento en el estilo de vida, argot y efectos de la heroína. En evaluación conductual se estudian los correlatos subjetivos y psicofisiológicos del SAC; la validez externa de los autorregistros se logra mediante análisis de orina. En terapia de conducta los programas de amplio espectro se combinan con la intervención comunitaria y apoyo médico. A nivel metodológico se resalta la necesidad de usar múltiples criterios de medición, introducción del análisis multivariado y uso de diseños estadísticos, realización de seguimientos a largo plazo.     

Children's Graffiti: Visual Communication from a Developmental Perspective

The graffiti of children, an unobtrusive measure collected in Puerto Rican natural settings, revealed the children's views about the world. Results show that these graffiti reflect a wide variety of content related to the child's immediate life experiences such as concerns with their self-identity, interpersonal relations, cultural understandings, sexuality, and religious and political beliefs.     

Aging and self-reported internal and external memory strategy uses: The role of executive functioning

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of advanced age on self-reported internal and external memory strategy uses, and whether this effect can be predicted by executive functioning. A sample of 194 participants aged 21 to 80 divided into three age groups (21-40, 41-60, 61-80) completed the two strategy scales of the Metamemory in Adulthood (MIA) questionnaire, differentiating between internal and external everyday memory strategy uses, and three tests of executive functioning. The results showed that: (1) the use of external memory strategies increased with age, whereas use of internal memory strategy decreased; (2) executive functioning appeared to be related only to internal strategies, the participants who reported the greatest use of internal strategies having the highest executive level; and (3) executive functioning accounted for a sizeable proportion of the age-related variance in internal strategy use. These findings suggest that older adults preferentially use external memory strategies to cope with everyday memory impairment due to aging. They also support the view that the age-related decrease in the implementation of internal memory strategies can be explained by the executive hypothesis of cognitive aging. This result parallels those observed using objective laboratory memory strategy measures and then supports the validity of self-reported memory strategy questionnaire.     

Age differences in the rejection of false memories: The effects of giving warning instructions and slowing the presentation rate

Two experiments were conducted to examine whether children of different ages differ in their ability to reject associative false memories with the Deese–Roediger–McDermott (DRM) paradigm. Two different types of manipulations that are thought to facilitate false memory rejection in adults—slowing the presentation rate and issuing explicit warnings—were analyzed in younger and older children. The results showed that older children were more able than younger children to reject associative false memories through warnings and by slowing the presentation rate. We conclude that although older children are, in general, more prone to produce false memories with the DRM paradigm, they are also more able to reject them when certain conditions facilitate the editing process.     

Leadership in entrepreneurial organizations: context and motives

Although organizational contexts have an influence on leadership, and some of their characteristics may facilitate (through weak structures) or inhibit (through strong structures) the leaders' behaviors, the extent of their influence has rarely been studied. Indeed, research of the influence of some types of contexts (entrepreneurial vs. non-entrepreneurial) on the emergence of certain variables (leaders' motives) is even scarcer. This paper analyses this influence in 40 companies, interviewing their leaders to obtain a qualitative register of their motives, and administering questionnaires to members of their respective management teams. The hypothesis considered was that, in 'weak' contexts (entrepreneurial), the leaders' motives would be more salient than in 'strong' contexts (non-entrepreneurial). The results largely confirm this hypothesis with respect to behaviors that are directly related to three main motives (power, affiliation and achievement). These results are discussed, and practical suggestions are provided for future research.     

Group and individual change in the treatment of drug addictions: a follow-up study in therapeutic communities

The pre-post treatment change of 112 patients in two therapeutics Spanish communities is described. The Addiction Severity Index (ASI) was used at intake and at the end of the treatment program. Results of the treatment program were evaluated by applying composite scores (CS) of the ASI, and the evolution of each patient was evaluated using the Reliable Change Index (RCI). 69.7% of the sample completed treatment, and 30.3% dropped out prematurely. At intake, the percentage of people who could improve in the different areas of the ASI ranged between 35.1% for alcohol consumption and 95.3% for family relationships. At the follow-up, the percentage of subjects who showed significant statistical improvements in the different areas varied between 7.9% in family relations and 66.7% in alcohol consumption. The percentage of patients who deteriorated was less than 10% for all variables. Implications for further research and clinical practice are commented upon.     

Effects of perceptual grouping on positive and negative priming

The effects of perceptual grouping/segregation of targets and distractors by means of colour on positive and negative priming were examined in two experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2 we examined whether grouping of target and distractors by means of common colour in the prime display affected positive and negative priming, or whether these effects depend on prime–probe contextual similarity in colour. In addition, we examined the effects of the predictability of target colour in the prime and the probe displays across the experiments using mixed (Experiment 1) or blocked procedures (Experiment 2). The pattern of results was similar in both experiments, indicating that the positive priming effect was determined by target repetition and enhanced by perceptual segregation of target from distractors in the prime display. The negative priming effect was determined by grouping the target and distractors by common colour in the prime display. The results of the present experiments are consistent with inhibition-based models of negative priming.     

Pointing following in dogs: are simple or complex cognitive mechanisms involved?

Animal Cognition - Domestic dogs have proved to be extremely successful in finding hidden food following a series of human social cues such as pointing (an extended hand and index finger indicating...