Phonological sensitivity and the acquisition of new words in children

Two studies are reported which aimed to examine the relationship between phonological sensitivity and the acquisition of new words that systematically differed in the familiarity of their sound structures. In the first study measures of phonological sensitivity, phonological short-term memory, vocabulary, and nonverbal ability were administered to forty-one 5-year-old children. Phonological sensitivity was related to the paired-associate learning of phonologically unfamiliar words, but not to the learning of familiar words. In the second study a group of 14 nonreading 5-year-old children received phonological sensitivity training. A control group was trained in semantic categorization. After the training, the phonological sensitivity group did perform better on measures of letter knowledge and phonological sensitivity (rhyme and first-sound categorization) and appeared to learn phonologically unfamiliar words more easily. The findings of both studies suggest that phonological sensitivity can support the acquisition of novel words.     

Understanding the latent structure of job performance ratings

This study quantified the effects of 5 factors postulated to influence performance ratings: the ratee's general level of performance, the ratee's performance on a specific dimension, the rater's idiosyncratic rating tendencies, the rater's organizational perspective, and random measurement error. Two large data sets, consisting of managers (n = 2,350 and n = 2,142) who received developmental ratings on 3 performance dimensions from 7 raters (2 bosses, 2 peers, 2 subordinates, and self) were used. Results indicated that idiosyncratic rater effects (62% and 53%) accounted for over half of the rating variance in both data sets. The combined effects of general and dimensional ratee performance (21% and 25%) were less than half the size of the idiosyncratic rater effects. Small perspective-related effects were found in boss and subordinate ratings but not in peer ratings. Average random error effects in the 2 data sets were 11% and 18%.     

The future of the group

Group oppositional and destructive processes have been insufficiently understood and integrated into the fabric of group psychotherapy. To strengthen our field for the future, this area requires further elucidation. The author's concept of the Anti-Group is used as a basis for exploring antagonistic group processes in the clinical setting in parallel to group disruption and threat in the social domain. Further, it is suggested that the legacy of our training organizations is tied to problematic and institutional group processes that tend to be repeated rather than acknowledged and resolved. These gaps in our understanding limit the power of the group because creativity and growth come from the recognition and transformation of destructive impulses.     

Use of subjective estimation in motor skill tests of young children: judgment based on observation of behavior in daily life

This study assessed what motor skill tests were appropriate by observing 636 young children's behavior in daily life (low-aged classes, M = 3.7 yr.; middle-aged classes, M = 4.7 yr.; high-aged classes, M = 5.7 yr.). A homeroom teacher and an assistant teacher estimated motor achievement as pass-or-fail, and then judged pass-or-fail based on practical testing. Estimate-re-estimate agreement, interrater agreement, and agreement between estimated values and measured values were examined for 27 items, e.g., skipping, bouncing a ball, and turning on one leg. Estimate-re-estimate agreement was high on the whole. Interrater agreement ranged from 34% to 100% for 3-yr.-olds, 21% to 100% for 4-yr.-olds, and 89% to 100% for 5-yr.-olds. Agreement between estimated values and measured values greater than 80% was found in most items for 5-yr.olds (14 items). After examining the above-mentioned agreements, 26 items were selected as possible tests to judge motor development, using a pass-or-fail, from the observation of young children's behavior in daily life.     

Use of photic feedback as an adjunct treatment in a case of Miller Fisher syndrome

Photic Feedback treatment of a patient diagnosed with Miller Fisher syndrome has resulted in the rapid and permanent remission of symptoms. During Photic Feedback treatment, the CD20 appeared to be slightly increased. This may have been associated with changes in humoral immunity. The present clinical observation of a single patient suggests that Photic Feedback treatment should be investigated as a possible adjunct therapy for patients who suffer from polyneuropathies, such as Miller Fisher syndrome, within a carefully controlled clinical trial.     

Temporal characteristics of line orientation identification

The hypothesis that identification of line orientation is based on different mechanisms--a detector mechanism at large orientation differences and a computational one at small orientation differences--was tested in three experiments. The first two experiments compared reaction time and time of complete temporal summation (tc) in two tasks, line detection and line orientation identification. Identification at orientation differences 15 degrees or more was similar to detection in several respects, suggesting that it was accomplished according to the principle of "labeled lines." In agreement with the initial hypothesis, identification at differences smaller than 15 degrees had a slower time course and could not be explained by the "labeled lines" principle. Experiment 3 explored the orientation acuity as a function of exposure duration and stimulus energy. Energy could not completely substitute for time in providing high orientation acuity, a result suggesting the involvement of neurophysiological mechanisms of large time constants.     

Object-based selection operates on a grouped array of locations

In two experiments, space- and object-based selection effects were investigated, using variants of the ring-cuing paradigm of Egly and Homa (1984). The results revealed significant cuing modulation for nonring configurations of target locations spanning a range of retinal eccentricities, with the cuing effects independent of eccentricity and confined to the configuration of locations (rather than extending to locations within the space enclosed by the cued configuration). These results are consistent with object-based selection operating on a grouped spatial array (Vecera & Farah, 1994). Object selection may be based on a supradimensional saliency map representation of the field, modulated by feature-specific segmentation mechanisms (e.g., an object may be made salient on the basis of its color). Complex objects may be represented by grouped saliency signals. In this way, a two-dimensional spatial (saliency) representation may provide the common format for object-based selection, prior to full object definition.     

A structural modeling approach to the understanding of parenting stress

Tested and cross-validated a multidimensional model of predictors of parenting stress on data from a population-based sample of Swedish mothers (N = 1,081) with children ages 6 months to 3 years. The study was a cross-sectional questionnaire study, focusing on the explanation of variance in parenting stress. Structural equation modeling procedures permitted disentanglement of total, direct, and indirect effects. A Swedish instrument based on parts of the Parent Domain in the Parenting Stress Index was used as a measure of stress. The results provided general support for the proposed model. High workload, low social support, perception of the child as fussy-difficult, negative life events, child caretaking hassles, more children in the family, and high maternal age related directly to more stress. Child irregularity contributed indirectly to mother's experienced stress. No buffering effects of social support were found. Forty-eight percent of the variance in the parenting stress measure was explained by the model. Implications for interventions were discussed.