A last defence: the negotiation of blame within suicide notes

This paper presents a discursive analysis of 172 suicide notes left by 120 suicide victims. Instead of searching for the underlying psychological reasons for suicide in the content of notes, we argue that such notes should be viewed as acts of communication which serve to manage the blame accorded to both author and recipients of the suicide note. Consequently notes may provide evidence of socially shared beliefs as to when suicide is more or less acceptable. The analysis largely confirms this approach. It is found that matters relating to blame are referred to more frequently than any other issue (87% of notes). The precise arguments which are used to justify the actions of both self and others are then described in detail and some evidence is provided that the nature of these arguments may vary as a function of the social position of the author and also the identity of the recipient. The implications of these findings, and for a general use of a discursive approach to suicide, are then discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Links between behavioral regulation and preschoolers' literacy, vocabulary, and math skills

This study investigated predictive relations between preschoolers' (N=310) behavioral regulation and emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills. Behavioral regulation was assessed using a direct measure called the Head-to-Toes Task, which taps inhibitory control, attention, and working memory, and requires children to perform the opposite of what is instructed verbally. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was utilized because children were nested in 54 classrooms at 2 geographical sites. Results revealed that behavioral regulation significantly and positively predicted fall and spring emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills on the Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement (all ps<.05). Moreover, growth in behavioral regulation predicted growth in emergent literacy, vocabulary, and math skills over the prekindergarten year (all ps<.05), after controlling for site, child gender, and other background variables. Discussion focuses on the role of behavioral regulation in early academic achievement and preparedness for kindergarten.     

Numerosity discrimination in deep neural networks: Initial competence,developmental refinement and experience statistics

Both humans and non‐human animals exhibit sensitivity to the approximate number of items in a visual array, as indexed by their performance in numerosity discrimination tasks, and even neonates can detect changes in numerosity. These findings are often interpreted as evidence for an innate ‘number sense’. However, recent simulation work has challenged this view by showing that human‐like sensitivity to numerosity can emerge in deep neural networks that build an internal model of the sensory data. This emergentist perspective posits a central role for experience in shaping our number sense and might explain why numerical acuity progressively increases over the course of development. Here we substantiate this hypothesis by introducing a progressive unsupervised deep learning algorithm, which allows us to model the development of numerical acuity through experience. We also investigate how the statistical distribution of numerical and non‐numerical features in natural environments affects the emergence of numerosity representations in the computational model. Our simulations show that deep networks can exhibit numerosity sensitivity prior to any training, as well as a progressive developmental refinement that is modulated by the statistical structure of the learning environment. To validate our simulations, we offer a refinement to the quantitative characterization of the developmental patterns observed in human children. Overall, our findings suggest that it may not be necessary to assume that animals are endowed with a dedicated system for processing numerosity, since domain‐general learning mechanisms can capture key characteristics others have attributed to an evolutionarily specialized number system.     

A neurocomputational approach to obsessive-compulsive disorder

A recent article shows that a change in a single parameter in a neural-network model of brain dynamics leads to repetitive behaviors that resist termination and towards which the network tends. These findings may have implications for obsessive-compulsive disorder and are consistent with evidence of glutamatergic hyperactivity in this disorder.     

The Influence of Person Traits on Lawyer Selection Among British Adults

The present study examined selection criteria for lawyers among British adults, which begins to overturn a dearth of studies examining this issue among legal professions. A total of 122 participants were asked to rate eight lawyers dichotomized along lawyer origin (Britain versus South Asia), gender (women versus men), and age (younger versus older). A mixed-design analysis of variance showed that there was a main effect of lawyer origin, with British lawyers preferred over the South Asian counterparts. There were also a number of significant interactions between lawyer variables, as well as participant gender and age. The effect sizes of these interactions were generally smaller (η_p ² = .07?.24) than the main effect lawyer origin (η_p ² = .54). Limitations and practical implications are discussed in conclusion.     

Measuring behavioral regulation in four societies

The present study examined the psychometric properties of scores from a direct measure of behavioral regulation, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task (HTKS) with 3- to 6-year-old children in the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, and China. Specifically, we investigated (a) the nature and variability of HTKS scores, including relations to teacher-rated classroom behavioral regulation; and (b) relations between the HTKS and early mathematics, vocabulary, and literacy skills. Higher HTKS scores were significantly related to higher teacher ratings of classroom behavioral regulation in the United States and South Korea but not in Taiwan and China. Also, higher HTKS scores were significantly related to higher early mathematics, vocabulary, and literacy skills beyond the influence of demographic variables and teacher-rated classroom behavioral regulation. These initial findings suggest that HTKS scores may be interpreted as reflecting early behavioral regulation in these 4 societies and that behavioral regulation is important for early academic success in the United States and in Asian countries.     

Advertisement–programme congruence in memory of sexual fragrance advertisements

The current study explored the effect of sexual content in advertisements and the programme–advertisement congruence on the memory of sexual and nonsexual advertisements. Seventy participants (41 females and 29 males) were randomly allocated to one of four conditions. They viewed either The Bachelorette (sexual programme) or I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (nonsexual programme) with sexual or nonsexual fragrance advertisements placed within the programme. The order of the advertisements was counterbalanced across participants to control for order effects. Free and cued recall of the advertisements were assessed. As predicted, there was a main effect of advertisement type, with the sexual advertisements better recalled than the nonsexual advertisements. Contrary to our prediction, the sexual content of the programme did not have an effect on advertisement recall. There was an interaction between the advertisement type and programme type; sexual advertisements were remembered better when embedded within a sexual programme. Limitations of this study are considered.