Can small lesions induce language reorganization as large lesions do?

Shift of the cortical mechanisms of language from the usually dominant left to the non-dominant right hemisphere has been demonstrated in the presence of large brain lesions. Here, we report a similar phenomenon in a patient with a cavernoma over the anterolateral superior temporal gyrus associated with epilepsy. Language mapping was performed by two complementary procedures, magnetoencephalography, and electrocorticography. The maps, indicated right temporal lobe dominance for receptive language and left frontal lobe dominance for expressive language. These results indicate that a small lesion, associated with epilepsy, may produce selective shifting of receptive language mechanisms as large lesions have been known to produce.     

Time-Course of Semantic Composition: The Case of Aspectual Coercion

We examine the time-course of semantic structure formation during real-time sentence comprehension. We do this through the lens of aspectual coercion, a semantic combinatorial operation that lacks morpho-syntactic reflections, yet is indispensable for sentence interpretation. We describe two experiments. Experiment 1 replicates the results of a previously published study (Piñango, Zurif, & Jackendoff, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 28(4), 395–414 1999) showing that the cost of implementing aspectual coercion is detectable as late as 250 ms after the operation is licensed. Experiment 2 expands the window of observation by revealing that the implementation of aspectual coercion is not detectable immediately upon its being licensed, that is, at the point at which the syntactic representation is assumed to be fully formed. These findings suggest a dissociation in the integration of information, in which semantic composition—even mandatory and automatic semantic composition—takes time to develop after it is syntactically licensed to do so.The research reported here was supported by NIH Grant DC 03660.     

Exploring well-being among US Hispanics/Latinos in a church-based institution: a qualitative study

Major theories informing conceptions of psychological well-being draw heavily from Western-centric perspectives, which often neglect culturally bound frameworks. We investigated how US Hispanics/Latinos conceptualize well-being, how psychosocial and behavioral aspects may increase well-being, and how psychosocial stressors may impact positive emotional states. Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latino adults were recruited from a church in an urban city in the US and invited to participate in focus groups. Two groups of women (n = 19) and one group of men (n = 8) participated. The importance of harmonious social relationships emerged as a theme with the central family unit as the fundamental force influencing long-lasting emotional well-being. Additional correlates of well-being included: faith/religiosity; physical health; self-love and -esteem; effective/open communication with family and friends; and financial security. Programs aimed at increasing well-being may need to be adapted before administration in Hispanics/Latinos to include a heightened focus on interpersonal factors. Delivery in religious institutions may also be particularly beneficial.     

Hormonal changes of intimate partner violence perpetrators in response to brief social contact with women

This study investigated whether men with a history of real-life aggressive, dominant behavior show increases in testosterone and cortisol levels after brief social contact with women. Furthermore, we tested the prediction that such changes in hormones would be larger than those observed previously in young male students. Sixty-seven male participants convicted of intimate partner violence (IPV) either had brief social contact with a female confederate (experimental condition) or a male confederate (control condition). We also performed meta-analyses to investigate whether IPV perpetrators' hormonal responses were larger than the typical responses of young male students in prior studies. All statistical analyses were preregistered. Change in testosterone did not differ across experimental conditions, and testosterone in the IPV perpetrators actually declined from baseline in the female confederate condition. Our meta-analysis showed that this testosterone decrease was different from the testosterone increase typically observed in young male students. The cortisol levels of IPV perpetrators did not change in response to contact with women. This result was consistent with our meta-analysis since young male students also did not experience a cortisol change in response to interactions with women. In sum, our findings provide no evidence that male IPV perpetrators exhibit larger hormone increases to brief interactions with women, although it is possible that the men in this sample did not perceive the social contact period as a courtship opportunity. These results suggest that hormone reactivity to social encounters may differ across subject populations and depend on how subjects perceive social situations within laboratory settings.     

Social Perception of Rape Victims in Dating and Married Relationships: The Role of Perpetrator’s Benevolent Sexism

Two hypothetical scenario studies examined how situational, perpetrator, and observer factors affect blame towards rape victims. In Study 1, Spanish high school students (N?=?206) read about a rape committed by a boyfriend or husband who was described as benevolently sexist or not. Study 2 (N?=?201 British college students) replicated and extended Study 1 by adding a condition in which the rapist was described as a hostile sexist. In both studies, participants’ benevolent sexism scores predicted more victim blame when the rapist was described as a husband (but not a boyfriend) who held benevolently sexist attitudes. Study 2 showed that participants’ hostile sexism scores predicted more victim blame when the rapist was described as a hostile sexist.     

Negative High School Experiences Predict Internalizing Symptomatology among Employed U.S. Adults with LD and ADHD

Journal of Adult Development - Adolescence is a formative time in the development of self-concept, and negative self-concept predicts internalizing symptoms in later adulthood. This study examined...     

Reading Against the Grain,Readings of Substitution: Catholic Books as Inspiration for Judaism in Early Modern Iberia

Forced conversion produced a large number of converts, many or at least some of whom sought to continue to practice their former religion. For many crypto-Jews and crypto-Muslims, polemical literature was actually a source of knowledge about their old religion—sometimes the only source. It was not unusual for Iberian New Christians, lacking access to Jewish or Islamic books, to make use of Catholic works either to gather information about Judaism and Islam or to borrow from their expressions of spirituality and piety. In this essay I explore the unintended readings and reception of polemical works among converts, in particular the Christian books of piety and devotion that persons of converso origin read and used in their own writings. In the end most of these books were included by the Inquisition and Church censors in the Index of Forbidden Books, affecting in this way the perception of these orthodox books by Catholic Church authorities. On the one hand, I am interested in how a heterodox (or Jewish or Muslim) spirituality could be constructed using Catholic books; on the other hand, in how this phenomenon had an impact on orthodox Catholics. I argue that Catholic books were sometimes condemned to the Index simply because they were read by New Christians who the Inquisition considered to be judaizers or crypto-Muslims.

     

Dramatizing The SUBJECT’S Identity

Philosophia - One of major branches of philosophical research is the self, which, in particular, tries to find out how a subject creates her identity. In this work, I will just focus on two kinds...     

The relationship between sociocultural factors and autobiographical memories from childhood: the role of formal schooling

ABSTRACT

Cross-cultural differences in autobiographical memory (AM) are associated with cultural variations. In models of the self and parental reminiscing style, but not many studies have analysed the relationship between AM and specific cultural practices such as formal schooling. Theoreticians like [Greenfield, P. M. (2009). Linking social change and developmental change: Shifting. pathways of human development. Developmental Psychology, 45, 401–418. doi:10.1037/a0014726; Ka?itçiba?i, C. (2005). Autonomy and relatedness in cultural context. Implications for self and family. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36, 403–422. doi:10.1177/0022022105275959] and [Keller, H. (2007). Children development across cultures. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates] have considered formal schooling as an engine towards the model of independence; however, the empirical evidence in this regard is inconclusive: while some studies found evidence of a relation between formal schooling and characteristics of AM, others did not. To solve this inconsistency, the present study compared orally narrated childhood memories of Mexican adults with three different levels of education (from rudimentary literacy to university). Results support a relationship between formal schooling and AM in the predicted direction: More educated participants reported longer, more specific and more self-oriented memories than those with less schooling experience did. Some gender differences were also observed, with males generally reporting more individually and less socially oriented memories than females, except for university level participants. We conclude that these results support Greenfield’s theory about formal schooling as a sociocultural factor that promotes the cultural pathway to independence, as well as complexity and context-boundedness of gender differences in AM.