Individual differences in adult foreign language learning: The mediating effect of metalinguistic awareness

In this study, we sought to identify cognitive predictors of individual differences in adult foreign-language learning and to test whether metalinguistic awareness mediated the observed relationships. Using a miniature language-learning paradigm, adults (N = 77) learned Russian vocabulary and grammar (gender agreement and case marking) over six 1-h sessions, completing tasks that encouraged attention to phrases without explicitly teaching grammatical rules. The participants’ ability to describe the Russian gender and case-marking patterns mediated the effects of nonverbal intelligence and auditory sequence learning on grammar learning and generalization. Hence, even under implicit-learning conditions, individual differences stemmed from explicit metalinguistic awareness of the underlying grammar, which, in turn, was linked to nonverbal intelligence and auditory sequence learning. Prior knowledge of languages with grammatical gender (predominantly Spanish) predicted learning of gender agreement. Transfer of knowledge of gender from other languages to Russian was not mediated by awareness, which suggests that transfer operates through an implicit process akin to structural priming.     

United Kingdom Mission Training Through Distributed Simulation

This paper presents the findings of a United Kingdom (UK) research program carried out over the last decade. This research has explored the benefits of using networks of simulators for collective training known in the UK as mission training through distributed simulation (MTDS). The paper provides an overview of trials carried out to date, identifies the research issues addressed, and discusses the key findings. The conclusion is that MTDS provides an immersive training environment that has the potential to support not only single service collective training, but also joint and coalition training requirements.     

Trauma-Related Negative Cognitions Mediate the Relationship Between Avoidant Personality Beliefs and Impeded Response to Psychotherapy for PTSD

There is strong research evidence for the association of personality pathology and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as trauma-related negative cognitions (TRNC) and PTSD symptoms. However, the relationship between personality pathology and TRNC in the context of PTSD is mostly unknown. In the present study, we aimed to examine whether avoidant and borderline personality beliefs (PB, indicator of personality pathology) could predict therapy outcome in PTSD, and whether the relationship between PB and therapy outcome could be mediated by TRNC. Sixty patients with PTSD were assessed for PB, TRNC and PTSD symptoms at baseline, and for PTSD symptoms at the termination of Prolonged Exposure Therapy. Baseline avoidant PB predicted significant variance in PTSD symptoms at termination over and above baseline PTSD symptoms (16% reduction in treatment effect per SD on avoidant PB). Moreover, TRNC at baseline fully mediated the relationships between baseline avoidant PB and PTSD symptoms at termination. This is the first study to show that avoidant PB predicts treatment response in PTSD, and that patients with avoidant beliefs are more vulnerable to have TRNC, which are associated with impeded therapy response. Our results highlight the importance of targeting both dysfunctional PB and TRNC in PTSD interventions.     

An application of caricature: How to improve the recognition of facial composites

Facial caricatures exaggerate the distinctive features of a face and may elevate the recognition of a familiar face. We investigate whether the recognition of facial composites, or pictures of criminal faces, could be similarly enhanced. In this study, participants first estimated the degree of caricature necessary to make composites most identifiable. Contrary to expectation, an anticaricature was found to be best, presumably as this tended to reduce the appearance of errors. In support of this explanation, more positive caricature estimates were assigned to morphed composites: representations that tend to contain less overall error. In addition, anticaricaturing reduced identification for morphed composites but enhanced identification for individual composites. Although such improvements were too small to be of value to law enforcement, a sizeable naming benefit was observed when presenting a range of caricature states, which appeared to capitalize on individual differences in the internal representation of familiar faces.     

The Mmogo-Method™: Discovering Symbolic Community Interactions

In this article the development and implementation of the Mmogo-Method? is discussed as a culture-sensitive data collection method. The Mmogo-Method? provides opportunities for social researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural symbolism in which social life is embedded and that informs experiences, perceptions and behaviour. In this method, people create their own data by making visual presentations that reflect contextually grounded symbolic meanings. Theoretical underpinnings of social constructionism, symbolic interactionism and community psychology are discussed and applied as the rationale for the development and implementation of the Mmogo-Method?. Examples of research using the Mmogo-Method? are provided to illustrate its value and various different application possibilities. The Mmogo-Method? attempts to produce community-based knowledge that is gathered and disseminated in a coherent way; thereby contributing to the possibility that indigenous knowledge may form part of national and international discussions.     

Disaster recovery experiences of a South African rural farming community

This study explored the bush fire disaster experiences and coping of South African farmers. Participants consisted of seven male farmers (6?=?White Afrikaans-speaking; 1?=?Black Tswana-speaking). Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, nine months after the disaster, and analysed thematically. The findings showed that the farmers’ recovery was characterised by three distinct, transitioning phases. The first period involved resource-maintenance coping and emotion-focused coping. The second time period was characterised by meaning making related strategies. Finally, the third time period was charactirised by anxiety over reoccurrence and resource-maintenance coping. The results also suggest that successful coping is reliant on the individual's ability to adapt coping strategies continually, in a context-appropriate manner.     

War exposure and post-traumatic stress as predictors of Portuguese colonial war veterans' physical health

The relationship between war exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been largely investigated but the impact of the combat experience on physical health has only recently merited attention. The authors investigated the relationship between war exposure and psychological and physical health among 350 Portuguese colonial war veterans. The role of current PTSD symptoms as a mediator of these relationships was also investigated. The results showed that 39% of the veterans met criteria for current PTSD diagnosis and psychological distress was present in half of the sample. Pain, fatigue, and sleep problems were the most reported physical symptoms and mental health and gastro-intestinal problems, the most reported illnesses. Combat exposure variables were significant predictors of current health. The results indicated that veterans with higher exposure to war trauma maintained higher current levels of psychological distress and presented more physical health problems and physical symptoms than those less exposed. Mediation analyses showed that current PTSD was a full mediator of the relationship between war exposure and physical health outcomes.     

Post-training disruption of Arc protein expression in the anterior cingulate cortex impairs long-term memory for inhibitory avoidance training

The activity-regulated-cytoskeletal-associated protein (Arc) has a well established role in memory consolidation and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus and amygdala. However the role of Arc within the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), an area of the brain involved in processing memory for pain, has yet to be examined. Here we sought to determine if Arc protein within neurons of the rat ACC is necessary for the consolidation of a single-trial, contextual inhibitory avoidance (IA) task. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting revealed an increase in Arc protein within the ACC following IA training in a shock-specific manner, suggesting that ACC Arc expression may play a critical role in the consolidation of the aversive task. To directly test this hypothesis, male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained on the IA task and given post-training intra-ACC infusions of Arc antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs), designed to suppress Arc translation, or control scrambled ODNs that do not suppress Arc translation. Memory retention was tested 48h after training. Arc antisense-induced disruption of Arc protein expression in the ACC impaired long-term memory for the IA task as compared to rats given intra-ACC infusions of the scrambled control ODNS, suggesting that Arc expression in the ACC is important for the consolidation of emotional memory. Results further indicate that knock down of Arc 6h after training impairs IA memory. This is consistent with time course findings indicating elevated Arc expression at 3 and 6h after IA training but not 12 or 48h. Taken together, these findings support the hypothesis that Arc expression in the ACC participates in synaptic plasticity that underlies long-term memory.     

Effects of role model deservingness on overcoming performance deficits induced by stereotype threat

Previous research has shown that exposure to successful role models can restore performance that had been impaired by stereotype threat, and that some role models are more effective than others. The present research examined the effects of role model deservingness on women's mathematics test performance after being placed under stereotype threat. In Experiment 1, a woman who attained success by herself (deserved) proved a more effective role model than an equally likable and successful woman whose success was handed to her (not deserved). In Experiment 2, women role models proved more effective at combating stereotype threat when their successes were attributable to internal‐stable (deserved) than external‐unstable (not deserved) causes, an effect that was partially mediated by reduction in extra‐task thinking. The results are seen as having implications for theories of stereotype threat and causal attribution. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.