Visual cues of motion that trigger animacy perception at birth: the case of self‐propulsion

Self‐propelled motion is a powerful cue that conveys information that an object is animate. In this case, animate refers to an entity's capacity to initiate motion without an applied external force. Sensitivity to this motion cue is present in infants that are a few months old, but whether this sensitivity is experience‐dependent or is already present at birth is unknown. Here, we tested newborns to examine whether predispositions to process self‐produced motion cues underlying animacy perception were present soon after birth. We systematically manipulated the onset of motion by self‐propulsion (Experiment 1) and the change in trajectory direction in the presence or absence of direct contact with an external object (Experiments 2 and 3) to investigate how these motion cues determine preference in newborns. Overall, data demonstrated that, at least at birth, the self‐propelled onset of motion is a crucial visual cue that allowed newborns to differentiate between self‐ and non‐self‐propelled objects (Experiment 1) because when this cue was removed, newborns did not manifest any visual preference (Experiment 2), even if they were able to discriminate between the stimuli (Experiment 3). To our knowledge, this is the first study aimed at identifying sensitivity in human newborns to the most basic and rudimentary motion cues that reliably trigger perceptions of animacy in adults. Our findings are compatible with the hypothesis of the existence of inborn predispositions to visual cues of motion that trigger animacy perception in adults.     

Childhood Emotional Abuse and Psychological Distress in Gay and Bisexual Men

Despite the high prevalence of childhood emotional abuse (CEA) and adult psychological distress (depression and anxiety) among gay and bisexual men (GBM), there is little research examining the relationships among these variables. This study examined internalized homophobia (IH) as a mediator between CEA and psychological distress in a sample of 286 GBM. Controlling for demographics and childhood sexual and physical abuse, CEA was associated with self-report and clinician-administered measures of psychological distress. Concern about stigma of being gay mediated the relationship between CEA and psychological distress. Internalized antigay attitudes might be important in the relationship between CEA and adult psychological distress. Clinicians might address negative beliefs about the self as a GBM that could be exacerbated due to CEA.     

Occupational Therapists' Perception of the Tree Theme Method™ as an Intervention in Psychosocial Occupational Therapy

This study investigated how occupational therapists experience utilization of the Tree Theme Method, an intervention based on creative activities and life-story telling and making. The Tree Theme Method is comprised of five sessions in which the therapist asks the client to paint symbolic trees, with specific themes representing their present life situation, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and the future. Nine occupational therapists in mental health care were asked about their experiences when using the Tree Theme Method. The informants formed two focus groups and each group was interviewed twice. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify five categories including: (1) therapeutic frames, (2) therapist requirements, (3) client requirements, (4) the therapeutic relationship, and (5) the Tree Theme Method as a multi-dimensional process. Overall the informants were satisfied with the intervention with some variation as to therapists' perception about the helpfulness of the tool. The Tree Theme Method was experienced as a structured method of starting a therapeutic process and initiating a therapist–client relationship. The therapeutic attitude, self-knowledge, and expert knowledge seemed to be important prerequisites for the therapists when using the Tree Theme Method intervention.     

Cortisol and Children’s Adjustment: The Moderating Role of Sympathetic Nervous System Activity

We examined relations among cortisol, markers of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity (including salivary alpha-amylase and skin conductance level), and children's adjustment. We also tested the Bauer et al. (Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 23(2), 102-113, 2002) hypothesis that interactions between the SNS and cortisol would be associated with internalizing and externalizing problems. Saliva samples were obtained from 8- to 9-year-olds before and after a laboratory assessment battery, and were assayed for cortisol and alpha-amylase (sAA). Basal skin conductance level (SCL) was measured during resting conditions. Parents reported on child adjustment. Interactions between basal SNS and cortisol levels explained moderate amounts of unique variance in children's externalizing and internalizing problems. More specifically, higher basal cortisol levels were positively associated with higher internalizing and externalizing problems among children with higher SNS activity, as compared to children with lower SNS activity. Findings underscore the utility of including information about the coordination between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) and SNS activity in biosocial models of atypical child development.     

Friendship and loneliness among bullies and victims: Data from seven countries

Research suggests that the relationship between school bullying and its various risk factors should be clearer among girls than boys, and should become stronger with age, as roles within the peer group stabilise. This paper tests this theory by comparing sex, school type, and bully/victim status differences in friendships and playground social interactions, using data from nine surveys in seven countries: China, England, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Portugal, and Spain. A total of approximately 48,000 children completed various translations of the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire. Small but generally consistent main effects were found for sex and school type (boys and primary pupils enjoyed playtimes more and had more friends, but were also more likely to spend playtimes alone). Larger effects were consistently found for bully/victim status (victims were significantly worse off on all the measures in all the samples where a difference was found, while bullies and neutrals did not differ consistently), but the interactions between these factors varied widely between samples and there were few consistent patterns. It is concluded that bullying is a universal phenomenon with many negative correlates for victims and few (if any) for bullies, but that there are cultural variations in the way that bullying is related to sex, age, and social support. Aggr. Behav. 30:71–83, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

“Almost There”...Why Clients Fail to Engage in Family Therapy: An Exploratory Study

A great deal of clinical research has sought to describe and suggest remedies for the client dropout phenomenon. However, few studies have addressed the equally pervasive, yet often ignored, non-engagement problem. An exploratory study was conducted to understand why many clients fail to engage in family therapy services after they have completed the initial intake. The results of the study suggest that therapist gender and experience level, clinic policies regarding videotaping sessions, family concerns, and changes in the presenting problem prior to the first session, had an impact on potential clients’ decision to engage in therapy. Implications and future research are discussed.Meng-ning Wang, MA, a doctoral student, and Jonathan Sandberg, PhD, a faculty member in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at Syracuse University at Syracuse University are co-first authors. Amy Zavada, MA, Tziporah Rosenberg, MA, Aaron Jeffrey, MA, and Justin McPheters, MA, are doctoral students, and Mona Mittal, PhD, and Anne Gosling, PhD, are faculty in the same program.     

Can a nonspecific bias toward top-heavy patterns explain newborns' face preference?

This study examined newborns' face preference using images of natural and scrambled faces in which the location of the inner features was distorted. The results demonstrate that newborns' face preference is not confined to schematic configurations, but can be obtained also with veridical faces. Moreover, this phenomenon is not produced by a specific bias toward the face geometry, but derives from a domain-general bias toward configurations with more elements in the upper than in the lower half (i.e., top-heavy patterns). These results suggest that it may be unnecessary to assume the existence of a prewired tendency to orient toward the face geometry, and support the idea that faces do not possess a special status in newborns' visual world.     

School Competence among Adolescents in Low-Income Families: Does Parenting Style Matter?

In the present study, we investigated parenting styles and self-perceived school competence among low-income adolescents in Norway. The purpose of the study was threefold: (1) to identify differences, if any, in self-perceived school competence between low-income ethnic Norwegians and low-income ethnic minorities; (2) to determine differences, if any, in the perception of parenting styles between the groups; and (3) to determine if parenting styles predict self-perceived school competence in the two groups. The sample consisted of 253 adolescents 12–18 years of age; 130 adolescents were ethnic Norwegians, and 123 were from ethnic minorities. Self-perceived school competence was measured using the Scholastic Competence subscale of Harter’s Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents. Perception of parenting style was measured with the following three scales: support, monitoring and neglect. An independent-samples t-test revealed that ethnic minorities reported higher levels of self-perceived school competence than did ethnic Norwegians. No significant difference between the groups in their perception of parenting styles was observed. Support and monitoring were positively correlated with school competence, whereas neglect was negatively correlated with school competence. When all three parenting styles were entered separately into standard multiple regression analyses for the two groups, a high degree of perceived neglect significantly predicted low self-perceived school competence in both groups. This finding indicates how schools and policy makers can explore the types of support that families may need to adopt better upbringing styles.     

Newborns’ attention is driven by the translational movement

The present study investigated whether 2-day-old newborns are able to discriminate two translating meaningless Point-Light Displays (PLD) videos, in which the shape of one of them changes compared to that of the other along the trajectory, independently from movement kinematics, and if this ability is present both when stimuli differed at the end or at the beginning of the movement. To manipulate the instant in which along the movement the difference between stimuli was evident, and to maintain every unspecific dissimilarity possibly determining the preference, videos were played in a loop either forward or backwards. In Experiment 1, PLD stimuli moved with natural accelerated-decelerated kinematics; in Experiment 2 they moved at constant velocity. Four groups of newborns were submitted to the preferential looking technique experiments. Results showed that newborns looked longer at natural kinematics and that, irrespective of the type of kinematics, they discriminated the two stimuli only when videos were played forward, that is, only when stimuli differed at the end of the movement. These data suggest that, independently from kinematics, movement translational components induce newborns to allocate attention at the end of the observed movement. Given the strict link between attention and eye movements, we suggest that this effect may bootstrap the system and give rise to proactive gaze, the typical gaze behaviour present during executed and observed goal-directed actions.