Genetic influences on language impairment and phonological short-term memory

It has been known for some years that specific language impairment (SLI), an unexpected failure to acquire age-appropriate language skills, is highly heritable. However, molecular genetic studies have been hampered by the heterogeneity of the disorder and the predominant lack of clear genotype-phenotype relationships. We review recent studies suggesting that a better understanding of the genetics of SLI might emerge if we move away from clinical criteria for diagnosis to look instead at a theoretically based quantitative and cognitive measure of the phenotype: a test of phonological short-term memory (STM). Deficient phonological STM has been linked to specific genetic loci, and might play a role in determining some types of reading impairment as well as SLI. Identifying those cognitive deficits that work best as indices of heritable phenotypes will help us to uncover the aetiology of developmental disorders.     

Social anxiety in body dysmorphic disorder

Although clinical impressions suggest that patients with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) experience distress in social situations, social anxiety in BDD has received little investigation. This study examined social anxiety in 81 patients with BDD and change in social anxiety with pharmacotherapy. Subjects completed the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS) and were assessed with measures of BDD symptomatology. Participants in a placebo-controlled fluoxetine trial completed measures at baseline and endpoint. The mean SADS score was 1.3 SD units higher than nonclinical sample means but consistent with other clinical sample means. Social anxiety was significantly correlated with BDD severity. Greater depressive symptoms as well as comorbid avoidant personality disorder, but not comorbid social phobia, were also associated with higher SADS scores. Social anxiety did not improve more with fluoxetine than placebo, yet it improved significantly more in fluoxetine responders than in nonresponders. Understanding social anxiety in BDD has implications for reducing rates of misdiagnosis and treatment dropout.     

Videtur Quod: On Method in Theology

Abstract: Theological language has always faced a fundamental dilemma: it seeks to put the divine reality into limited human language. While this dilemma can obfuscate our theological pathways, it can also generate a new awareness of the task and possibilities of the discipline. New testimonials, or uniquely accented human experiential utterances, have emerged in theological discourse in the past decades, greatly increasing our vision of the expansiveness of theology. The tools for integration into systematic or discursive development are still, however, lacking. This article suggests that an extension of the innovative methodology of Thomas Aquinas, beginning and ending with ‘what seems’ to be the case, putting testimony into discursive forms, and testing for a fittingness with the mysterious and excessive mystery of the divine reality, offers a promising path for discerning common and trustworthy theological language.     

Projection in the Face of Centrism: Voter Inferences About Candidates' Party Affiliation in Low-Information Contexts

When are voters more likely to project their own political position onto a candidate for office? We investigate this question by examining the assumed partisanship of a (self-declared) centrist politician, using data from a survey experiment fielded in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In doing so, we build on the social categorization model as well as recent U.S.-focused political science research on projection and ingroup/outgroup racial divides—extending our analysis to incorporate racial and class similarities/differences across three countries where these divides likely vary in salience. We thus seek: (1) to contribute to research on the inferences citizens draw in nonpartisan elections and low-information contexts generally and (2) to highlight some potential methodological complications of using partisanship-less candidates in vignette experiments. Results suggest that even in the face of a self-declared centrist, voters from across the political spectrum tended to assume shared partisanship in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Examining projection by ingroup/outgroup divisions indicated that class appears to shape projection across all three countries, but that the racial divide only mattered in the United States. Finally, we also find evidence of counterprojection toward outgroup members—but once again only in the American context.     

The influence of types of character on processing background information in narrative discourse

The background sentenceThe air was cold and clammy depicts setting information which may or may not be of significance to a given character in a narrative. We tested the hypothesis that such information is processed with respect to the main character in a narrative rather than with respect to a secondary character. In Experiment 1, subjects making attributions of awareness of such background states were more likely to attribute such awareness to main than to secondary characters. In Experiment 2, using self-paced reading, we showed that such information is more important for main than for secondary characters during reading. Thus, unattached background information is processed with respect to main characters. This bias provides a source of control over the processing necessary to establish a coherent representation during the reading of narratives. Experiment 3 eliminated the possibility that the effects were due to generally shallower processing of sentences centered on secondary characters.     

Limited translation invariance of human visual pattern recognition

Visual object recognition is considered to be largely translation invariant. An earlier study (Foster & Kahn, 1985), however, has indicated that recognition of complex novel stimuli is partially specific to location in the visual field: It is significantly easier to determine the identity of two briefly displayed random patterns if both stimuli are presented at the same, rather than at different, locations. In a series ofsame/different discrimination tasks, we characterize the processes underlying this “displacement effect”: Horizontal and vertical translations are equally effective in reducing performance. Making the task more difficult by increasing pattern similarity leads to even higher positional specificity. The displacement effect disappears after rotation or contrast reversal of the patterns, indicating that positional specificity depends on relatively low levels of processing. Control experiments rule out explanations that are independent of visual pattern memory, such as spatial attention, eye movements, or retinal afterimages. Positional specificity of recognition is found only forsame trials. Our results demonstrate that position invariance, a widely acknowledged property of the human visual system, is limited to specific experimental conditions. Normalization models involving mental shifts of an early visual representation or of a window of attention cannot easily account for these findings.     

Experimental evaluation of a modular approach to mobilizing antitobacco influences of peers and parents

The experimental evaluation of two components of a community intervention to prevent adolescent tobacco use are described. Youth antitobacco activities (e.g., peer quizzes, sidewalk art, poster and T-shirt giveaways, etc.) and family communications activities (pamphlets to parents and student quizzes of parents) were evaluated in two time-series experiments, each of which was conducted in two experimental and one control community. Students in Grades 6 and 8 and their parents were assessed in a series of four phone surveys in the first experiment and six phone surveys in the second. Implementation of the youth antitobacco and family communications activities led to significantly greater exposure of young people to antitobacco information. They led to increases in parent and youth knowledge about tobacco use and more negative attitudes toward tobacco. In Experiment 2, youths in intervention communities had significantly lower rated intentions to smoke. The findings suggest the value of a modular approach to community interventions for influencing the social context relevant to the onset of adolescent tobacco use.     

TRANSLATING WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE CONTEXT OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR INTO A LOWER PREVALENCE OF SUCH BEHAVIOR

Although we have identified many variables that affect antisocial behavior, there is no evidence that we have learned how to reduce the incidence of such behavior or the proportion of young people who repeatedly engage in antisocial behavior. It is appropriate, therefore, for behavioral scientists to turn some of their energies to research on reducing the incidence and prevalence of antisocial behavior. Small communities may be a particularly useful social unit in which to conduct experimental research. The interventions to be tested include advocacy and community organizing to influence communities to make validated school and clinical interventions widely available and to assist them in increasing other forms of supervision of young people and social and material support of families. Key components of advocacy and community organizing are suggested, and possibilities for research are described.