Tangible words are recognized faster: the grounding of meaning in sensory and perceptual systems

Sensory experience rating (SER), a new variable motivated by the grounded cognition framework of conceptual processing (e.g., Barsalou, 2008 ), indexes the degree to which a word evokes sensory/perceptual experiences. In the present study, SERs were collected for over 2,850 words. While SER is correlated with imageability, age of acquisition, and word frequency, the latter variables (along with seven others) account for less than 30% of the variance in SER. Reanalyses of two large-scale studies demonstrate that SER significantly predicts lexical decision times when other established predictor variables are statistically controlled. These results suggest that conceptual processing is grounded in sensory systems. Additionally, a major benefit of this variable is that it allows psycholinguistic researchers to examine semantic-perceptual links for all word classes with a single rating.     

The Academic Experience of Male High School Students with ADHD

This study compared the high school academic experience of adolescents with and without childhood ADHD using data from the Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study (PALS). Participants were 326 males with childhood ADHD and 213 demographically similar males without ADHD who were recruited at the start of the follow-up study. Data were collected yearly from parents, teachers and schools. The current study used assessment points at which the participants were currently in or had recently completed grades 9, 10, 11, and 12. Results indicated that adolescents with ADHD experienced significant academic impairment in high school relative to comparison adolescents, including lower overall and main academic subject grade point averages (GPA), lower levels of class placement (e.g. remedial vs. honors), and higher rates of course failure. In addition, teacher reports indicated that adolescents with ADHD completed and turned in a significantly lower percentage of assignments and were significantly less likely to be working up to their potential. Adolescents with ADHD were also significantly more likely to be absent or tardy during the academic year, and they were over eight times more likely than adolescents without ADHD to drop out of high school. These findings demonstrate that children with ADHD continue to experience severe academic impairment into high school.     

Implicit memory for novel associations between pictures: effects of stimulus unitization and aging

Studies of implicit memory for novel associations have focused primarily on verbal materials and have highlighted the contribution of conceptually unitized representations to such priming. Using pictorial stimuli in a perceptual identification task, we examined whether new association priming can occur at a purely perceptual level. By manipulating the spatial contiguity of stimuli, we also evaluated whether such priming requires the creation of perceptually unitized representations. Finally, we examined the status of such priming in aging. In Experiment 1, we found that spatial contiguity of stimuli is not necessary for novel pictorial association priming to emerge, although such contiguity does enhance the magnitude of associative priming. In Experiment 2, we found that new association priming is age invariant, regardless of spatial contiguity. In Experiment 3, we provide additional evidence that pictorial association priming is perceptually based. These findings expand the scope and delineate the conditions of novel association priming and inform theories about the nature of implicit memory for new associations.     

A Meta-Analysis of the Convergent Validity of Self-Control Measures

There is extraordinary diversity in how the construct of self-control is operationalized in research studies. We meta-analytically examined evidence of convergent validity among executive function, delay of gratification, and self- and informant-report questionnaire measures of self-control. Overall, measures demonstrated moderate convergence (r_random = .27 [95% CI = .24, .30]; r_fixed = .34 [.33, .35], k = 282 samples, N = 33,564 participants), although there was substantial heterogeneity in the observed correlations. Correlations within and across types of self-control measures were strongest for informant-report questionnaires and weakest for executive function tasks. Questionnaires assessing sensation seeking impulses could be distinguished from questionnaires assessing processes of impulse regulation. We conclude that self-control is a coherent but multidimensional construct best assessed using multiple methods.     

TMS suppression of right pars triangularis, but not pars opercularis, improves naming in aphasia

This study sought to discover if an optimum 1 cm² area in the non-damaged right hemisphere (RH) was present, which could temporarily improve naming in chronic, nonfluent aphasia patients when suppressed with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Ten minutes of slow, 1 Hz rTMS was applied to suppress different RH ROIs in eight aphasia cases. Picture naming and response time (RT) were examined before, and immediately after rTMS. In aphasia patients, suppression of right pars triangularis (PTr) led to significant increase in pictures named, and significant decrease in RT. Suppression of right pars opercularis (POp), however, led to significant increase in RT, but no change in number of pictures named. Eight normals named all pictures correctly; similar to aphasia patients, RT significantly decreased following rTMS to suppress right PTr, versus right POp. Differential effects following suppression of right PTr versus right POp suggest different functional roles for these regions.     

Responding to partners' expression of anger: the role of communal motivation

The effects of communal motivation on reactions to relationship partners' expressed anger were examined. In Study 1, married couples reported on the communal strength of their marriage, their expressions of anger to their spouse, and relationship satisfaction. In Study 2, college students reported on the communal strength of their best friendships, those friends' expressions of anger, and their evaluations of and provision of support to those friends. In Study 3, communal motivation toward a stranger who expressed mild anger was manipulated and evaluation of that stranger was measured. In all three studies, low communal motivation was associated with more negative evaluations of angry partners, lower relationship satisfaction, and, in Study 2, lower support provision. In contrast, when communal motivation was high, these decreases either did not occur (Studies 1 and 3) or were diminished (Study 2), and in Study 2, partners' anger was associated with increased provision of social support.     

Group therapy for school-aged children who stutter: a survey of current practices

Although group therapy is recommended for school-aged children who stutter (CWS), it is not widely researched. This study aimed to explore this provision, using a postal survey which investigated the current practices of Speech & Language Therapists (SLTs) in the UK. Seventy percent of SLT services provided some group therapy, but the level of provision was variable. There was a lack of consensus on what the main aims of group therapy should be. Important barriers to group therapy provision were identified, including a perceived lack of clients' interest in group therapy, and insufficient numbers of clients able to travel to group venues. This study enhances the profession's understanding of the provision of group therapy for CWS by identifying patterns of service delivery and highlighting areas of need. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: Readers should be able to: (1) Provide a rationale for the provision of group therapy for school-aged CWS; (2) Summarize the factors affecting group therapy provision for school-aged CWS; (3) Summarize the aims of therapy identified by the respondents to this survey.     

An exploratory investigation of coffee and lemon scents and odor identification

Fragrance sellers often provide coffee beans to their customers as a "nasal palate cleanser," to reduce the effects of olfactory adaptation and habituation. To test this idea, college students smelled three fragrances multiple times, rating odors each time. After completing nine trials, participants sniffed coffee beans, lemon slices, or plain air. Participants then indicated which of four presented fragrances had not been previously smelled; Coffee beans did not yield better performance than lemon slices or air.     

A male advantage for spatial and object but not verbal working memory using the n-back task

Sex-related differences have been reported for performance and neural substrates on some working memory measures that carry a high cognitive load, including the popular n-back neuroimaging paradigm. Despite some evidence of a sex effect on the task, the influence of sex on performance represents a potential confound in neuroimaging research. The present study investigated sex-related differences in verbal, spatial, and common object versions of the high cognitive load "n-back" working memory task. Eighteen male and 18 female undergraduates completed all 3 versions of the task. A mixed ANOVA, with Sex (male and female) as the between-subjects factor and Condition (verbal, spatial, and object) as the within-subjects repeated measure revealed that males were significantly more accurate than females on the spatial and object versions of the n-back task and performed equivalently to females on the verbal version of the task. Although the expected female advantage for verbal working memory was not found using this effortful n-back task, these results support a male advantage for high cognitive load spatial and object working memory. Future research should take into account the influence of sex on performance of the n-back task, and examine sex-related differences in working memory using other paradigms.     

Why Do Men Benefit More from Marriage Than Do Women? Thinking More Broadly About Interpersonal Processes That Occur Within and Outside of Marriage

In this commentary we return to the original question of Wanic and Kulik??s paper, ??Why do men benefit more from marriage than do women??? We suggest that trying to understand why women suffer more than men in marriage (from conflict or for any other reason) will not, by itself, answer the question. The answers are certainly multifaceted and complex, and there is little reason to pit one possible answer against another. We highlight that when examining gender differences in health in marriage it is important to (a) consider the helpful processes in combination with hurtful ones, b) take a broad view on this question including many types of social processes, and c) consider processes that occur outside of marriage as well as those that occur inside of marriage.