Antecedents of mirror self‐recognition of toddlers: Emotional availability,birth order,and gender

The present study employed a longitudinal design for examining the role of emotional availability of child–mother dyads, birth order of children, and their gender as determinants of mirror self‐recognition of toddlers. It was hypothesized that toddlers who maintained more optimal emotional availability with mother at the age of 12 months would tend to identify themselves more readily at the age of 20 months. We assumed further that first‐born children and females would identify themselves more readily than males and younger siblings. A sample of 54 nonrisk children and their mothers was investigated. Path analysis model showed that emotional availability partly predicted self‐recognition: responsive toddlers identified themselves more often than less responsive peers. No significant effects were found for the other scales of emotional availability. A nonlinear birth order effect was observed, with second‐born children being less likely to show mirror self‐recognition than first‐borns or third‐borns. Child gender was not significantly associated with self‐recognition at the age of 20 months. The data showed further that birth order was significantly linked with components of emotional availability. No significant correlations were found between emotional availability scores and child gender. Results were discussed in light of the different components of emotional availability, and the psychological correlates of ordinal position in the family. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Frequency-range discriminations and absolute pitch in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli), and zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)

The acoustic frequency ranges in birdsongs provide important absolute pitch cues for the recognition of conspecifics. Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli), and zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) were trained to sort tones contiguous in frequency into 8 ranges on the basis of associations between response to the tones in each range and reward. All 3 species acquired accurate frequency-range discriminations, but zebra finches acquired the discrimination in fewer trials and to a higher standard than black-capped or mountain chickadees, which did not differ appreciably in the discrimination. Chickadees' relatively poorer accuracy was traced to poorer discrimination of tones in the higher frequency ranges. During transfer tests, the discrimination generalized to novel tones when the training tones were included, but not when they were omitted.     

Factors influencing inhibitory stimulus control: discrimination training and prior non-differential reinforcement

In Exp. I, shallow U-shaped gradients of inhibition in the line-orientation dimension were obtained from birds that had a vertical (0°) line on a green surround correlated with extinction and a blank green surround correlated with reinforcement. Birds that had massed extinction in the presence of the 0° line showed flat gradients. Thus, discrimination training, but not massed extinction, appears to generate inhibitory control. In Exp. II, as in studies of control by a stimulus correlated with punishment, non-differential training across the line-orientation dimension preceded further sessions. Steep inverted gradients about the 0° line were obtained after discrimination training with the 0° line correlated with extinction. Gradients obtained after massed extinction tended to be flat. Again, discrimination training was critical in obtaining negative gradients of stimulus control.     

Factors influencing inhibitory stimulus control: differential reinforcement of other behavior during discrimination training

Pigeons were trained to respond on a multiple variable-interval 1-min variable-interval 1-min schedule, then switched to a multiple variable-interval 1-min differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior discrimination training. The rate of reinforcement was held constant during the shift from non-differential reinforcement to discrimination training. Behavioral contrast and post-discrimination inhibitory stimulus control followed the observation of a reduction in the rate of responding to the stimulus correlated with reinforcement for the non-occurrence of pecking.     

Nonreligious coping and religious coping as predictors of expressed emotion in relatives of patients with schizophrenia

Expressed emotion (EE) is a measure of the amount of criticism and emotional over involvement expressed by a key relative towards a relative with a disorder or illness. Research has established that living in a high EE environment, which is characterised by increased levels of critical and emotionally exaggerated communication, leads to a poorer prognosis for patients with a mental illness when compared to low EE environments. Despite evidence that EE is a strong predictor of the course of the illness, there continue to be questions concerning why some family members express excessive levels of high EE attitudes about their mentally ill relatives while others do not. Based on indirect evidence from previous research, the current study tested whether religious and nonreligious coping serve as predictors of EE. A sample of 72 family members of patients with schizophrenia completed an EE interview, along with questionnaires assessing situational nonreligious coping and religious coping. In line with the hypotheses, results indicated that nonreligious coping predicted EE. Specifically, less use of adaptive emotion-focused coping predicted high EE. Also consistent with predictions, maladaptive religious coping predicted high EE above and beyond nonreligious coping.     

Burden,Interdependence, Ethnicity,and Mental Health in Caregivers of Patients with Schizophrenia

Caring for a patient with schizophrenia often results in high levels of perceived burden and poorer overall mental health. Using a sample of 176 caregivers of patients with schizophrenia, the present study examined how two components of burden (objective and subjective) interacted with interdependence and ethnicity to influence relatives' overall mental health. In line with study hypotheses, and with the stress‐appraisal‐coping model developed by Lazurus and Folkman (1984), we found that subjective burden mediated the relationship between objective burden and mental health. In other words, subjective appraisals of caregiving appeared to partially underlie the association between the concrete costs of caregiving and psychological outcomes in schizophrenia caregivers. Also as hypothesized, we found that interdependence, or the perceived interconnectedness of individuals within a group, moderated the relationship between objective burden and subjective burden. In other words, when levels of interdependence were high, the objective components of burden appeared to have a weaker relationship with subjective burden. When interdependence was low, on the other hand, objective burden was more likely to be associated with subjective burden. This finding suggests that helping caregivers to value harmony and connection with others over individual self‐interests may reduce the likelihood that objective stressors (which are often inevitable in schizophrenia) will result in subjective distress. On the basis of prior research, we also tested several hypotheses regarding the role of ethnicity and its association with burden, interdependence, and mental health. However, contrary to expectations, no ethnic patterns were observed.     

Absolute pitch in boreal chickadees and humans: Exceptions that test a phylogenetic rule

This research examined generality of the phylogenetic rule that birds discriminate frequency ranges more accurately than mammals. Human absolute pitch chroma possessors accurately tracked transitions between frequency ranges. Independent tests showed that they used note naming (pitch chroma) to remap the tones into ranges; neither possessors nor nonpossessors were accurate at octave (pitch height) naming. Boreal chickadees discriminated frequency ranges less accurately than other birds; they tracked reward across several lower frequency ranges but failed at frequencies over 4000 Hz. The results revealed the error of describing species differences solely in terms of their discrimination of frequency ranges. Exceptions to the rule disappear when the rule is restated in terms of underlying mechanism: birds are superior to mammals in the ability to use absolute pitch height perception to discriminate pitches and ranges of pitches.