A cross-cultural validation of stage development: A Rasch re-analysis of longitudinal socio-moral reasoning data

Kohlberg's characterization of moral development as displaying an invariant hierarchical order of structurally consistent stages is losing ground. However, by applying Rasch analysis, Dawson recently gave new interpretation and support to his characterization of stage development. Using Rasch models, we replicated and strengthened her findings in a re-analysis of three sets of longitudinal socio-moral reasoning data collected in Iceland. A new application of Rasch analysis provided support for upward development. Our results supported Kohlberg's characterization of stage development and the cross-cultural stability of Dawson's findings that were exclusively based on US samples. We conclude that proposals to replace Kohlberg's characterization of moral development are premature.     

Goal-driven attentional capture by invisible colors: Evidence from event-related potentials

We combined event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and behavioral measures to test whether subliminal visual stimuli can capture attention in a goal-dependent manner. Participants searched for visual targets defined by a specific color. Search displays served as metacontrast masks for preceding cue displays that contained one cue in the target color. Although this target-color cue was spatially uninformative, it produced behavioral spatial cuing effects and triggered an ERP correlate of attentional selection (i.e., the N2pc component). These results demonstrate that target-color cues captured attention, in spite of the fact that cue localization performance assessed in separate blocks was at chance level. We conclude that task-set contingent attentional capture is not restricted to supraliminal stimuli, but is also elicited by visual events that are not consciously perceived.     

幼儿对条件许诺的理解

通过给4、5、6岁儿童呈现一系列图片,分别代表孩子、妈妈以及双方违反约定的不同情况,考察了幼儿对条件许诺形式的社会约定的理解。结果表明：幼儿对条件许诺的认知表现出明显的发展趋势,绝大多数幼儿都能指出孩子违反,随年龄增大能指出妈妈违反、双违反的人次百分比逐渐增多,其中4岁组没有人能指出妈妈违反,5岁组没有人能指出双违反;幼儿对条件许诺中不同角色违背的检测存在“角色效应”和“同侪违背优先检测效应”;多数幼儿还没有将条件许诺理解为双条件规则。     

Approach-avoidance goals and relationship problems,communication of stress,and dyadic coping in couples

Partners in romantic relationships differ in the extent to which they are oriented towards positive outcomes (e.g., intimacy) or away from negative outcomes (e.g., conflict). The present study examines these approach-avoidance relationship goals in relation to self-reported relationship problems, stress communication, and dyadic coping. Hypotheses were tested on a dyadic level (Actor-Partner Interdependence Model) using data from 368 couples. As expected, people endorsing approach goals reported fewer relationship problems, more effective stress communication, and better dyadic coping. People endorsing avoidance goals reported more relationship problems and poorer dyadic coping. Further, approach-oriented people tended to perceive their partner as being more communicative and more supportive, whereas avoidance-oriented people tended to perceive their partner as more communicative but less supportive. Reports by partners agreed with the self-reports of approach- and avoidance-oriented spouses concerning stress communication and dyadic coping. These findings highlight motivational factors in general, and orientation towards approach-avoidance goals in particular, as key features in understanding relationship maintenance.     

Oxidative stress in university students during examinations

Mental stress in psychiatric disease and in daily life contributes to oxidative stress in the body. In this study we investigated a connection between possible psychological stress caused by university undergraduate examinations and oxidative stress experienced by our test subjects. Some parameters of oxidative stress (single strand breaks of DNA in lymphocytes, sensitivity to lipid oxidation and antioxidant status) were studied in medical students on the day of the examination (stress condition) and compared with the same parameters obtained from the same students during the term between two examination periods (non-stress condition). The results show that in the stress condition oxidative damage to DNA and sensitivity to lipid oxidation were significantly increased (p<0.05) when compared with the same parameters in "non-stress" conditions. A significant decrease in plasma antioxidant activity (p<0.05) in students that were under stress was observed. These results suggest that during university examinations students are under increased oxidative stress.     

A comparison of between- and within-subjects imitation designs

Two experimental methods, which have dominated the study of declarative memory in preverbal children with imitation tasks, namely the deferred imitation and elicited imitation paradigm, differ in the amount of physical contact with test stimuli afforded infants prior to a test for long-term recall. The current study assessed effects of pre- and post-demonstration contact with test stimuli on deferred imitation of novel, single-step unrelated actions with multiple objects by 8½- and 10½-month-old infants (N = 50). The rate of target action completion after a delay remained consistent at both ages across different conditions of prior contact with test stimuli. This study shows that a within-subjects baseline appraisal is valid within certain experimental parameters and offers a more economical alternative. The results show furthermore that different experimental designs utilized to assess deferred imitation are highly comparable for the first year despite differences in determining baseline.     

Didactic adjustments in fathers' and mothers' speech to their 3-month-old infants

Vocal dialogues of 3-month-old infants with their mothers and fathers were recorded during dyadic interactions in the laboratory. Six-minute speech samples were analyzed for syntacticlexical and temporal-melodic features. Both parents adopted strikingly similar speech registers. Segmentation, reduction in syntactic complexity, repetitiveness, and slow tempo were more marked than reported for parental speech to children above 1 year. However, rather than providing proper linguistic models, parents utilized simplified patterns of expressive melodic contours as the most salient units of speech. This tendency is interpretable as age-specific adjustment to infants' integrative capacities. Structural similarities between maternal and paternal baby talk by far outweighed a few quantitative differences. The intuitive nature of recourse to basic nonverbal properties of vocal communication, together with universality across sex, favors the assumption that baby talk is a part of species-specific didactic support to infant communicative development.