The effect of age-at-testing on verbal memory among children following severe traumatic brain injury

Memory deficits are a common sequelae following childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI), which often have serious implications on age-related academic skills. The current study examined verbal memory performance using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) in a pediatric TBI sample. Verbal memory abilities as well as the effect of age at-testing on performance were examined. A sample of 67 children following severe TBI (age average = 12.3 ± 2.74) and 67 matched controls were evaluated using the RAVLT. Age effect at assessment was examined using two age groups: above and below 12 years of age during evaluation. Differences between groups were examined via the 9 RAVLT learning trials and the 7 composite scores conducted out of them. Children following TBI recalled significantly less words than controls on all RAVLT trials and had significantly lower scores on all composite scores. However, all of these scores fell within the low average range. Further analysis revealed significantly lower than average performance among the older children (above 12 years), while scores of the younger children following TBI fell within average limits. To conclude, verbal memory deficits among children following severe TBI demonstrate an age-at-testing effect with more prominent problems occurring above 12 years at the time of evaluation. Yet, age-appropriate performance among children below 12 years of age may not accurately describe memory abilities at younger ages following TBI. It is therefore recommended that clinicians address child’s age at testing and avoid using a single test as an indicator of verbal memory functioning post TBI.     

Transition to motherhood: A longitudinal study

A prospective longitudinal study assessed the development of the mother-child relationship within the context of other important aspects of transition to parenthood. In the prenatal phase, 238 women who were 8 months pregnant with their first child completed a set of questionnaires. At 1 month post-partum, 165 of these women completed a second set of questionnaires, and a subset of 86 were observed for 1 hour at home with their infants. When their child was 2 years old, 62 of the 86 mothers completed questionnaires and were observed in interaction with their toddler in the laboratory. The several hundred individual variables were reduced to internally consistent composite variables, 5 in the prenatal phase, 7 postpartum, and 14 in the toddler phase. Preliminary analyses reported in this paper assessed the structure of relationships among the composite variables within each phase (Pearson correlations) and whether there was significant prediction from one dimension to another across the phases, beyond stability in the predicted dimension (multiple regressions). Causal modeling analyses are still in progress. The results indicate that the development of maternal attachment is a gradual process and that feelings of attachment are related to a number of other measures of women's psychological well-being. Parenting confidence was found to play a central role in adaptation to motherhood within each phase, as well as from the prenatal to postpartum and postpartum to toddler phases.     

Determinants of academic self-efficacy in different socialization contexts: investigating the relationship between students’ academic self-efficacy and its sources in different contexts

Social Psychology of Education - The present study examined the four sources of self-efficacy (mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal and social persuasion, and physiological state) and...     

Availability of three-year-old kibbutz children to mothers and metapelets in two functional contexts

Responsiveness and availability of kibbutz children to mothers and to metapelets in two functional contexts were studied. Thirty-three 3-year-old children, participated in the study. Every child participated twice in two co-construction tasks: once with the mother and once with the metapelet. A factor analysis conducted over the present categories yielded six orthogonal factors: Three pertained to cooperative child involvement of the adult and three referred to oppositional involvement. Analyses of variance indicated that children involved the mother more often than the metapelet in their activities and were more responsive to her. Additional analyses conducted on each factor separately showed that this higher level of involvement of the mother was evident in the cooperative factors. The children's involvement of the adults and their responsiveness to the adults' bids differed significantly between tasks. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Stereotype change and prejudice reduction: short‐ and long‐term evaluation of a cross–cultural awareness programme

The present study reports an evaluation of an applied prejudice reduction intervention. Previous research has indicated that such programmes achieve limited success. The programme evaluated was an in‐house anti‐racist education programme aimed at reducing prejudice towards Aboriginal Australians. The target audience were employees of a large public service organization. Knowledge of, prejudice towards, and stereotyping of Aboriginal Australians were assessed before commencing the programme to establish a baseline. Changes in these variables were assessed immediately after completing the programme, and again 3 months after completing the programme. The programme had pronounced effects immediately after completion: there was a significant increase in knowledge and significant decrease in prejudice and negative stereotyping. However, 3 months later, there was no significant difference to baseline levels of prejudice and stereotyping. Knowledge remained significantly higher than at baseline 3 months after completing the programme. High prejudice participants alone experienced a significant, long‐term decrease in old‐fashioned racism. It is concluded that further research must be done to develop more successful strategies of prejudice reduction and stereotype change that are also applicable to ‘real world’ contexts. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The integration of knowledge and experimentation strategies in understanding a physical system

This study investigated how people integrate different kinds of knowledge in coming to understand the functions of components of a physical system. Twenty-three undergraduates worked on a hypothesis-testing task in which they constructed test circuits to decide the identity of electrical components hidden inside boxes. The students' problem-solving was driven by qualitative causal models that included ideas about cause and effect, task demands, and functions of circuits and circuit components. There was a hierarchy of four causal models, with higher levels representing increasing understanding and supporting increasingly successful problem solution. These causal models were associated with characteristic experimentation strategies, including strategies for generating evidence, interpreting evidence, and managing memory requirements. Some of these strategies followed directly from the causal model a student held, whereas others appeared to be more general. The level of understanding a student eventually attained about this physical system was a function of both domain knowledge and proficiency in experimentation strategies.     

The effect of change in sequential visual stimuli on GSR adaptation: II,the novel stimulus as a disinhibiting stimulus

GSR records were obtained for 20 Ss presented with a series of 80 stimuli (four lights alternating in apparent random sequence). Records were obtained, also, for 20 Ss in each of two groups, using the same procedure: in Group 1, a tone was substituted for one of the lights, early in the sequence, and in Group 2, it was substituted later in the sequence. The tone, the novel stimulus, produced significant changes in the GSR adaptation patterns of the two groups.     

Stimulus novelty and intraseries primacy in GSR adaptation

GSR records were obtained for four groups of 20 Ss. Group I was presented with a series of four different lights (amber, blue, green, and white) appearing 20 times each, in apparent random order. The procedure was similar for the other three groups except that in group 2, a novel stimulus (a red light) appeared instead of the sixth amber light; in group 3, it appeared instead of the 16th amber light; and, in group 4, it appeared instead of the 16th amber light. Typical GSR adaptation phenomena were observed in all groups. The introduction of the novel stimulus appeared to have no effect on the course of GSR adaptation.     

Ipsi-and bilateral interactions in taste

In two experiments, the integration over spatial extent in taste was investigated for threshold sensitivity to NaCl and for suprathreshold intensity perception of saltiness. The area of stimulation was doubled by adding either an ipsilateral or a bilateral stimulus. The two stimuli could be of equal or unequal intensity. The data showed that at threshold level a probability summation model applied to all bilateral and most of the ipsilateral stimulus combinations. Probability summation failed to predict detection probability when two stimuli with different intensities were presented at the same tongue side. For suprathreshold stimuli, the magnitude of the saltiness sensation as estimated by a line-length method depended on the level of stimulation. The possible peripheral interaction mechanisms and central factors contributing to the taste response were discussed.