Cognitive flexibility in preschoolers: the role of representation activation and maintenance

Preschoolers' lack of cognitive flexibility has often been attributed to perseverative processing. This study investigates alternative potential sources of difficulty such as deficits in activating previously ignored information and in maintaining currently relevant information. In Experiment 1, a new task tapping attentional switching was designed to isolate the difficulty of overriding an initial representation, that is, perseverative processing ('Perseveration' version), and the difficulty of activating a previously ignored representation, that is, activation deficit ('Activation-deficit' version). Three-year-olds' performance suggested that inflexibility may primarily stem from an activation deficit. Control experiments confirmed that the difficulty of the 'Activation-deficit' version could not be attributed to the effect of attraction to novelty. In Experiment 2, 'distraction' errors, alleged to reflect a failure to maintain a relevant representation, and 'perseverative' errors were distinguished. The results highlighted the important role of representation maintenance in flexibility. The present study indicates that preschoolers' lack of cognitive flexibility is multi-determined and prompts us to reconsider the role of perseveration.     

Women's eye contact and men's later interest: two field experiments

Previous studies indicated various nonverbal behaviors including eye contact of women are associated with men's approach; however, duration of the eye contact was not tested. In Exp. 1, a female confederate established eye-contact of 3 sec. or 1 sec. with a man when entering a bar. Duration of returned glance was the dependent variable. Analysis showed mean duration of the return glance was statistically shorter in the 1-sec. condition. In Exp. 2, the confederate made eye contact with a man and looked at him less than 1 sec., 2 sec., or 4 sec. The presence versus absence of smile was the dependent variable. Longer duration of eye contact was associated with an increase of smiling.     

Language in autism and specific language impairment: where are the links?

It has been suggested that language impairment in autism is behaviorally, neurobiologically, and etiologically related to specific language impairment (SLI). In this article, the authors review evidence at each level and argue that the vast majority of data does not support the view that language impairment in autism can be explained in terms of comorbid SLI. The authors make recommendations for how this debate might be resolved and suggest a shift in research focus. They recommend that researchers concentrate on those aspects of language impairment that predominate in each disorder rather than on those comparatively small areas of potential overlap.     

Harbour seals (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Phoca vitulina</Emphasis>) can steer by the stars

Offshore orientation in marine mammals is still a mystery. For visual orientation during night-time foraging and travelling in the open seas, seals cannot rely on distant terrestrial landmarks, and thus might use celestial cues as repeatedly shown for nocturnally migrating birds. Although seals detect enough stars to probably allow for astronavigation, it was unclear whether they can orient by the night sky. The widely accepted cognitive mechanism for bird night-time orientation by celestial cues is a time-independent star compass with learned geometrical star configurations used to pinpoint north as the rotational centre of the starry sky while there is no conclusive evidence for a time-compensated star compass or true star navigation. Here, we present results for two harbour seals orienting in a custom made swimming planetarium. Both seals learned to highly accurately identify a lodestar out of a pseudo-randomly oriented, realistic projection of the northern hemisphere night sky. Providing the first evidence for star orientation capability in a marine mammal, our seals’ outstanding directional precision would allow them to steer by following lodestars of learned star courses, a celestial orientation mechanism that has been known to be used by Polynesian navigators but has not been considered for animals yet.     

The "model minority" and their discontent: examining peer discrimination and harassment of Chinese American immigrant youth

Using an ecological framework, the authors explore the reasons for peer discrimination and harassment reported by many Chinese American youth. They draw on longitudinal data collected on 120 first- and second-generation Chinese American students from two studies conducted in Boston and New York. Our analyses suggested that reasons for these experiences of harassment lay with the beliefs about academic ability, the students' immigrant status and language barriers, within-group conflicts, and their physical appearance that made them different from other ethnic minority or majority students. Implications and future research are also discussed.     

From peers to policy: how broader social contexts influence the adaptation of children and youth in immigrant families

This chapter provides an overview of non family contexts that shape the development and adjustment of children and youth from immigrant families. It also describes the four chapters in this special issue that focus on peer, network, legal, and institutional contexts that influence the lives of immigrant parents and their children. Directions for future research on the social contexts of development in immigrant families are discussed.     

Variation in the serotonin transporter gene modulates selective attention to threat

The 5-HTTLPR is an insertion/deletion polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene. Prior research has revealed associations between the short-allele variant of this polymorphism, enhanced self-reported negative emotionality, and hypersensitivity of fear relevant neural circuits. In a sample of 50 healthy women we examined the role of 5-HTTLPR for cognitive-affective processing of phylogenetical fear-relevant stimuli (spiders) in a dot probe task. In contrast to homozygote long-allele carriers (ll), participants carrying at least 1 short allele (ss and sl) selectively shifted attention toward pictures of spiders, when these were presented for a duration of 2,000 ms. These results argue for an involvement of 5-HTTLPR in cognitive processing of threatening stimuli and thus, underpin its general role for individual differences in negative affect.