The generalization of deferred imitation in enculturated chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Deferred imitation of object-related actions and generalization of imitation to similar but not identical tasks was assessed in three human-reared (enculturated) chimpanzees, ranging in age from 5 to 9 years. Each ape displayed high levels of deferred imitation and only slightly lower levels of generalization of imitation. The youngest two chimpanzees were more apt to generalize the model's actions when they had displayed portions of the target behaviors at baseline, consistent with the idea that learning is more likely to occur when working within the "zone of proximal development." We argue that generalization of imitation is the best evidence to date of imitative learning in chimpanzees. Electronic Publication     

Agreement Checking in Comprehension: Evidence from Relative Clauses

Work on agreement processing in comprehension in English has provided evidence that the plural feature is specified or marked and that the syntactic structure of the subject plays a role in checking features. It is argued here that the structure intervening between the subject and verb also plays a role in checking and that there is pressure to check features immediately. A self-paced reading study tested this proposal in a previously unstudied configuration: agreement between the verb in a subject relative clause (RC) and the relative clause head (e.g., the niece of the actors who was/were¨). According to the Construal Hypothesis (Frazier and Clifton, 1995), the structural relation between the RC and head is not immediately fully specified (unlike, for example, the relation between the subject and verb of a main clause). Thus, at the point when an agreeing verb is processed, the structure underlying the check may not yet be fully specified. This assumption about structural processing, together with the proposal for agreement checking in comprehension predicts (1) that there will be a large asymmetry between the processing of singular and plural agreeing verbs in the RC (larger than those seen in direct subject-verb predication) and (2) that there could be a role for agreement in determining RC attachment. Clear evidence for the first prediction was found; evidence for the second was inconclusive.     

Transforming mental health care for children and their families

In April 2002, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health was created by executive order to study the mental health care delivery system in our nation and to make recommendations for improvements so that individuals with serious mental disorders can live, work, learn, and fully participate in their homes and communities. In its report, "Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America," the commission provided strategies to address critical infrastructure, practice, and research issues. This article focuses on the work of the commission's Subcommittee on Children and Families, describing its vision for mental health service delivery for children and providing suggestions for strengthening community-based care for youths with or at risk of behavioral health disorders. Training, research, practice, and policy implications for psychologists are discussed.     

Cognitive mediation of childhood maltreatment and adult depression in recent crime victims

Childhood maltreatment has been linked to adult depressive disorders. However, few studies have examined mechanisms through which childhood maltreatment may contribute to adult depression. Thus, we examined the role of one potential mechanism of this relationship, maladaptive cognitions, in a recently traumatized sample. Participants were adult women who had been recently raped (n = 133) or physically assaulted (n = 73). We examined whether maladaptive self-and other-cognitions mediated relationships between childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and current depression. Relationships between childhood sexual abuse and both current depression symptoms and diagnosis were mediated by maladaptive cognitions about self. Relationships between both childhood sexual abuse and childhood physical abuse and adult depressive symptoms were mediated by maladaptive cognitions about others.     

Developments in declarative memory

The second year of life is marked by changes in the robustness of recall memory. Both retrieval and storage processes have been implicated as the major source of age-related improvements in recall. Children 13 to 20 months of age were matched for levels of learning of laboratory events (thereby eliminating encoding as a source of developmental difference) and tested for recall after delays as long as 6 months. In Experiment 1, 16-month-olds evidenced less loss of information and more relearning than 13-month-olds. In Experiment 2, 20-month-olds evidenced less loss of information and more relearning than 16-month-olds. Patterns of performance across test trials and in relearning implicate a decline in susceptibility to storage failure as the primary source of the observed developmental trend.     

Developing a Community Science Research Agenda for Building Community Capacity for Effective Preventive Interventions

Research has shown that prevention programming can improve community health when implemented well. There are examples of successful prevention in local communities, however many continue to face significant challenges, demonstrating a gap between science and practice. Common strategies within the United States to address this gap are available (e.g., trainings), but lack outcomes. Building community capacity to implement high quality prevention can help communities achieve positive health outcomes, thereby narrowing the gap. While there is ample research on the efficacy of evidence-based programs, there is little on how to improve community capacity to improve prevention quality. In order to narrow the gap, a new model of research—one based in Community Science—is suggested that improves the latest theoretical understanding of community capacity and evaluates technologies designed to enhance it. In this article, we describe this model and suggest a research agenda that can lead to improved outcomes at the local level.     

Self-reported personality disorder in the children in the community sample: convergent and prospective validity in late adolescence and adulthood

Approximately 800 youths from the Children in the Community Study (Cohen & Cohen, 1996) have been assessed prospectively for over 20 years to study personality disorders (PDs) in adolescents and young adults. In this article we evaluate the Children in the Community Self-Report (CIC-SR) Scales, which were designed to assess DSM-IV PDs using self-reported prospective data from this longitudinal sample. To evaluate convergent validity, we assessed concordance between the CIC-SR Scales and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (SCID-II; First, Gibbon, Spitzer, Williams, & Benjamin, 1995) in 644 participants at mean age 33. To assess predictive validity, we used CIC-SR Scales at mean age 22 to predict subsequent CIC-SR and SCID-II Personality Questionnaire scores at mean age 33. In these analyses the CIC-SR Scales matched or exceeded benchmarks established in previous comparisons between self-report instruments and structured clinical interviews. Unlike other self-report scales, the CIC-SR did not appear to overestimate diagnoses when compared with SCID-II clinical diagnoses.     

Divergent trajectories in the aging mind: changes in working memory for affective versus visual information with age

Working memory mediates the short-term maintenance of information. Virtually all empirical research on working memory involves investigations of working memory for verbal and visual information. Whereas aging is typically associated with a deficit in working memory for these types of information, recent findings suggestive of relatively well-preserved long-term memory for emotional information in older adults raise questions about working memory for emotional material. This study examined age differences in working memory for emotional versus visual information. Findings demonstrate that, despite an age-related deficit for the latter, working memory for emotion was unimpaired. Further, older adults exhibited superior performance on positive relative to negative emotion trials, whereas their younger counterparts exhibited the opposite pattern.     

Factor structure and validity of the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication

Examination of the available literature regarding the development of the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Criminal Adjudication (MacCAT-CA) reveals 2 theoretical factor structures on which the MacCAT-CA was based: one in which 3 lower-order constructs are proposed (understanding, reasoning, appreciation) and one in which 2 higher-order constructs are proposed (competence to assist counsel and decisional competence). Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted with the MacCAT-CA's original normative sample (N = 729) to test both the relative fit of these 2 theoretical factor structures and models that combine the 2 factor structures. Analyses were also completed to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of the MacCAT-CA. Results are discussed in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of the nomothetic nature of the MacCAT-CA.