The effect of the uniqueness point in spoken-word recognition

Summary The study examines the possibility of observing on-line recognition of spoken words through manipulations of the location of the uniqueness point (UP) in a gender-classification task. The subjects were presented with spoken French nouns and had to indicate by a key-press response whether each was feminine or masculine. RTs measured from word onset were significantly correlated with UP location, a finding that supports the notion of on-line processing. The effect of UP location is, however, smaller than that predicted by the original cohort theory (that recognition occurs exactly at the UP). On the other hand, it is stronger when words with respectively early and late UPs are presented in homogeneous blocks rather than in mixed order. It is proposed that the results can be accounted for by the notion of a sub-optimal lexical strategy in which some monitoring of the phonetic data continues past the UP.     

Exposure to community violence and social support as predictors of anxiety and social and emotional behavior among African American children

We examined the effects of exposure to violence and social support on self-reported state and trait anxiety and parental rated problem behaviors among school-aged African-American children in low and high violence areas. Ninety-seven (97) fourth through sixth graders and their parents were interviewed about exposure to community violence, social support, and state and trait anxiety. Results indicate that trait anxiety was correlated positively with exposure to violence and negatively with social support. State anxiety was correlated negatively with family social support. Problem behaviors were correlated negatively with family support and income. Hierarchial multiple regression analyses indicated that children's reports of their exposure to community violence continued to explain significant variability in trait anxiety, and problem behavior after controlling for both income and social support measures. Social support from peers, family and teachers played differential roles in predicting problem behaviors among children from high and lower violence areas. These findings suggest that in planning intervention programs for children exposed to violence, greater attention to empowering parents to support their children, to fostering peer group support, and to bolstering teacher support may be useful, but attention to the underlying socio-political causes of violence exposure is essential.     

Language function and dysfunction among Chinese- and English-speaking polyglots: Cortical stimulation, Wada Testing, and clinical studies

Language functions in a group of Chinese- and English-speaking polyglots living in a multiracial society have been investigated by several methods: the effects of cortical stimulation on object-naming and reading tasks in patients who required awake craniotomy, lateralization of cerebral dominance for speech by the Wada Test, and the pattern of language loss and recovery following stroke. The data indicate that these polyglots were all left hemisphere dominant for the languages tested: no consistent evidence for increased participation by the right hemisphere for language functions was found. The cortical stimulation experiments provided data most compatible with the "differential localization" model of cerebral localization in bilingualism. The variable which most influenced performance in all of these investigations was which language was used primarily for speaking as well as reading and writing at the time of the study.     

Phonological priming in spoken word recognition: Task effects

In two experiments, we examined the role of phonological relatedness between spoken items using both the lexical decision task and the shadowing task. In Experiment 1, words were used as primes and overlaps of zero (control), one, two, or all four or five (repetition) phonemes were compared. Except for the repetition conditions, in which facilitation was found, phonological overlap resulted in interference on word responses. These effects occurred in both tasks but were larger in lexical decision than in shadowing. The effects that were evident in shadowing can be attributed to an attentional mechanism linked to the subjects' expectancies of repetitions. The extra effects obtained in lexical decision can be interpreted by taking into account both activation of the response corresponding to the prime's lexical status and postlexical processes that check for phonological congruency between prime and target. In Experiment 2, some modifications were introduced to prevent the involvement of strategic factors, and pseudowords were used as primes. No effect at all was observed in shadowing, whereas in lexical decision interference effects occurred, which is consistent with the hypothesis that lexical decision may be negatively affected by finding a phonological discrepancy at the same time as the primed response is reactivated. Neither experiment provided evidence for the occurrence of phonological priming in the perceptual processing of words.     

THE EFFECTS OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL MESSAGES ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND WHITE WOMEN'S ADOLESCENT SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

To clarify the relationship between sexual communication and sexual behavior, multiple components of sexual messages recalled from child hood were examined in a community sample of 248 African-American and White women. Respondents were matched on a predesignated set of demographic variables and were interviewed using the Wyatt Sexual History Questionnaire. We anticipated that women's recollections of messages from parents and television would differ both individually and across ethnicity, and that messages recalled from parents would be multidimensional, varying in tone (positive vs. negative) across time (childhood vs. adolescence) and form (verbal vs. nonverbal). We also expected that the presence and tone of specific types of messages re called would be associated with risk-related sexual behavior. Results confirmed predictions concerning differential interpretations of messages, and ethnicity emerged as a strong mediating variable. The implications of the specific types of parental messages influencing behavior are discussed.     

Parental Bereavement After Suicide and Accident: A Comparative Study

In what way is the bereavement process following suicide different from other types of bereavement? The participants were 30 survivors of suicide and 30 survivors of car accidents who were interviewed twice at an average of six months, and the second measure was taken at an average of nine months after the death, with standardized questionnaires to measure depression and grief reaction. Measures of shame, social support, family adaptation, psychological distress, and prior losses were also obtained during the second interview. All survivors were parents who had lost a son aged between 18 and 35 years. The results indicate that suicide survivors were more depressed than accident survivors at the first measure but this difference disappeared at the second measure. Survivors of suicide experienced greater feelings of shame and had experienced more life events after the death than did accident survivors. There was also a greater history of loss in parents bereaved by suicide. Parental bereavement after suicide appears to differ in several ways from other types of bereavement and appears to happen more often in vulnerable families.     

Introduction: New Directions in Educational Practice

Ce texte presente I'ensemble des articles d'un numero special sur la psychopedagogie. Les auteurs vanes y defendent le point-de-vue que les modtles d'enseignement qui sont couramment utilises dans les systtmes educatifs devraient être reconsiderks de fason drastique, parce qu'ils ont survtcu A leur utilite. Neanmoins, ils sont optimistes sur le fait que la psychopkdagogie est bien placke pour conseiller enseignants, tducateurs et politiciens dans la course A entreprendre. Je poserai en premier lieu la question: pourquoi un changement drastique? Ensuite, je presenterai les differentes notions Cmises par les auteurs et defendrai I'idee que I'acquisition du savoir est un processus graduel qui coQte des efforts et fait jaillir des emotions. Pour conclure je ferai le point sur les nouvelles directions de recherche et de pratique pkdagogique.
This article introduces the papers in the special issue on educational psycho-logy. The various contributions defend the view that instruction models that are currently in vogue in education should undergo drastic changes, because they have outlived their usefulness. Nevertheiess, they are oitimistic that educational psychology is in a position to advise teachers, educators, and policy makers about the course of action that should be taken. I will start with the question: Why is drastic change in order? Next, I will introduce the ideas presented by the various authors, and defend the view that knowledge acquisition is a gradual process that costs effort and elicits emotions. In the concluding section, I will point to some new directions for research and for educational practice.     

Collective efficacy following a series of natural disasters

This article examined adolescents' reports of how they cope with a specific social stressor: authority conflict with parents. This situation was presented to 626 adolescents as part of a larger study on coping with stress. Students were requested to report on the intensity of the stress experienced, intensity of emotions, emotion regulation, perceived availability of social support, goal framing, and coping strategies used. Coping strategies split up factor-analytically into two coping patterns, namely fighting the stressor and coming to terms with the stressor. The relations between these two coping modes and various aspects of the students' mental representation of the stressor were examined. It was predicted that the way students frame the coping goal would affect their choice of coping strategies. Direct effects of coping strategy, emotion regulation and social support on intensity of stress were tested as well as moderating effects of the type of coping mode used on the relationship between emotion regulation and experienced stress. It is suggested that some youngsters consider an authority conflict with their parents as a normal aspect of daily functioning, whereas other view it as a developmental challenge.