Continuous Response Monitoring of Relative Time-to-Contact Judgments: Does Effective Information Change During an Approach Event?

In many previous studies of time-to-contact (TTC) judgments of approaching objects, a response was measured after observers viewed the entire event and was used to infer the informational basis for the judgment. Such measures primarily reflect the information used at the end of the approach event and may not reveal whether observers used different information at different times during the event. Evidence indicates that observers use multiple information sources and that the effectiveness of information varies with distance. We introduce a method in which observers continuously report which of 2 approaching objects would reach them first, throughout the approach. We identified the occurrence and time of response reversals. Most observers changed their relative TTC judgments during the event. The pattern of responses indicated that observers did not use tau early during the approach when objects were far and did not use optical size later when the objects were closer. Most observers relied on either optical size or optical expansion rate early during the approach and expansion rate later during the event, although there were individual differences. A single relative TTC judgment measured after observers view an approach event may not reflect judgments or their informational basis throughout the entire event.     

Cross‐linguistic interactions influence reading development in bilinguals: a comparison between early balanced French‐Basque and Spanish‐Basque bilingual children

This study investigates whether orthographic consistency and transparency of languages have an impact on the development of reading strategies and reading sub‐skills (i.e. phonemic awareness and visual attention span) in bilingual children. We evaluated 21 French (opaque)‐Basque (transparent) bilingual children and 21 Spanish (transparent)‐Basque (transparent) bilingual children at Grade 2, and 16 additional children of each group at Grade 5. All of them were assessed in their common language (i.e. Basque) on tasks measuring word and pseudoword reading, phonemic awareness and visual attention span skills. The Spanish speaking groups showed better Basque pseudoword reading and better phonemic awareness abilities than their French speaking peers, but only in the most difficult conditions of the tasks. However, on the visual attention span task, the French‐Basque bilinguals showed the most efficient visual processing strategies to perform the task. Therefore, learning to read in an additional language affected differently Basque literacy skills, depending on whether this additional orthography was opaque (e.g. French) or transparent (e.g. Spanish). Moreover, we showed that the most noteworthy effects of Spanish and French orthographic transparency on Basque performance were related to the size of the phonological and visual grain used to perform the tasks.     

Predictive model for early math skills based on structural equations

Early math skills are determined by higher cognitive processes that are particularly important for acquiring and developing skills during a child's early education. Such processes could be a critical target for identifying students at risk for math learning difficulties. Few studies have considered the use of a structural equation method to rationalize these relations. Participating in this study were 207 preschool students ages 59 to 72 months, 108 boys and 99 girls. Performance with respect to early math skills, early literacy, general intelligence, working memory, and short‐term memory was assessed. A structural equation model explaining 64.3% of the variance in early math skills was applied. Early literacy exhibited the highest statistical significance (β = 0.443, p < 0.05), followed by intelligence (β = 0.286, p < 0.05), working memory (β = 0.220, p < 0.05), and short‐term memory (β = 0.213, p < 0.05). Correlations between the independent variables were also significant (p < 0.05). According to the results, cognitive variables should be included in remedial intervention programs.     

Accommodating Presuppositions

In this paper I elaborate on previous criticisms of the influential Stalnakerian account of presuppositions, pointing out that the well-known practice of informative presupposition puts heavy strain on Stalnaker’s pragmatic characterization of the phenomenon of presupposition, in particular of the triggering of presuppositions. Stalnaker has replied to previous criticisms by relying on the well-taken point that we should take into account the time at which presupposition-requirements are to be computed. In defense of a different, ‘semantic’ (in a sense) account of the phenomenon of presupposition, I argue that that point does not suffice to rescue the Stalnakerian proposal, and I portray Lewisian ‘accommodation’ as one way in which speakers adjust themselves to one another in the course of conversation.     

Counterintuitive Religious Ideas and Metaphoric Thinking: An Event‐Related Brain Potential Study

It has been shown that counterintuitive ideas from mythological and religious texts are more acceptable than other (non‐religious) world knowledge violations. In the present experiment we explored whether this relates to the way they are interpreted (literal vs. metaphorical). Participants were presented with verification questions that referred to either the literal or a metaphorical meaning of the sentence previously read (counterintuitive religious, counterintuitive non‐religious and intuitive), in a block‐wise design. Both behavioral and electrophysiological results converged. At variance to the literal interpretation of the sentences, the induced metaphorical interpretation specifically facilitated the integration (N400 amplitude decrease) of religious counterintuitions, whereas the semantic processing of non‐religious counterintuitions was not affected by the interpretation mode. We suggest that religious ideas tend to operate like other instances of figurative language, such as metaphors, facilitating their acceptability despite their counterintuitive nature.     

The stress of food allergy issues in daily life

Objective: Food allergies are a growing health concern, but their implications for daily psychological functioning are unknown. This micro-longitudinal study investigated the daily frequency of food allergy issues and how this related to experiences of stress, mood and physical energy.

Design: One hundred and eight adults with physician-diagnosed food allergies completed an initial Internet survey followed by a 2-week Internet daily diary survey.

Main outcome measures: The initial survey collected socio-demographic and food allergy information. The daily survey collected information about the participants’ experiences of stress, mood, physical energy and food allergy issues during that day.

Results: Commonly experienced allergy issues included negative physical symptoms, higher food prices, anxiety about safety of food, trouble maintaining a healthy diet and anxiety/stress at social occasions. Furthermore, multilevel modelling analyses showed that stress and negative mood were significantly higher on days with more allergy issues. Older adults experienced lower positive mood and physical energy on days with more issues.

Conclusion: This is the first study to incorporate near to real-time tracking to examine the frequency of food allergy issues and the implications for daily psychological functioning. Targeting the issues we identified could reduce stress in patients with food allergies and improve their overall quality of life.     

REBT in a Therapeutic Community: REBTC

Long-term residential treatment--therapeutic communities--have some empirical support for efficacy but historically have been viewed as insulated and alien to the world of research. A therapeutic community with Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy as the core of its philosophy and practice is described, and follow-up results are presented. The argument is made that therapeutic communities may be particularly well suited to treatment of people with dual diagnoses.     

Parietal ERP Activity and Appetite

Recent research on brain activity suggests that visual attention increases in response to emotional images. This increase is reflected in signs of greater activity, in response to different emotional visual stimuli, in parietal and parietooccipital areas in several studies employing neuroimaging techniques and event-related potentials (ERPs). In the latter case, greater parietal and parietooccipital negativities have been observed. The objective of the present study was to examine the role of a person's level of motivation towards the emotional stimulus with respect to this ERP pattern. Two groups of stimuli were presented to 60 participants: neutral or N (photographs of taps) and appetitive or A (photographs of cakes). The level of hunger was measured via a questionnaire. Recordings were taken at PO3, PO4, P7, and P8. The largest differences, as a function of appetite, were produced between 575 and 625 ms. Multiple regression analyses were carried out to study the relationship between subjects' appetite and their ERP recordings in response to A and N stimuli. There was a significant negative association between appetite and 575–625 mean amplitude in response to stimulus A at PO3 and PO4.     

Testing the age related differentiation hypothesis through the Wechsler’s scales

According to the age differentiation hypothesis (ADH), g becomes increasingly invested in specific abilities with age: with increasing age, g should account for a decreasing proportion of the variance in any particular cognitive test. However, there is no conclusive evidence concerning this important topic. Data from the Italian, Spanish, and American standardisation samples of the WPPSI and the WISC-R were analysed in the present study for testing the ADH. No changes in the proportion of variance associated with g in the 4–16 age range were found. This pattern does not change depending on the country. Therefore, the ADH is rejected: g seems to be very stable across age, and, thus, it seems to be an equally important component of intelligence test performance from early childhood to late adolescence.