The acquisition of complex predicates in japanese specifically language-impaired and normally developing children

Japanese exhibits two different types of morphological processes. Some morphologically complex predicates are generated within the domain of the lexicon, whereas others are generated outside the domain of the lexicon. An elicited production task involving both types of complex predicates was administered to six Japanese children with specific language impairment (JSLI) and six children with normal language development (JNLD). The JSLI children experienced significant difficulty forming the lexicon-external complex predicates but much less difficulty with the lexicon-internal complex predicates while the performance of the JNLD children exhibited no such asymmetry. These preliminary results suggest that the deficit of SLI affects the ability to construct implicit procedural rules for morphology that are generated outside the lexicon while their lexical operations for morphology that are generated within the domain of the lexicon remain relatively unimpaired.     

On fatalism, pessimism, and depressive symptoms among Mexican-American and other adolescents attending an obstetrics-gynecology clinic

There is growing evidence that Mexican-American adolescents may be at increased risk for depressive symptoms. We sought to replicate and explain this result in a study of adolescent girls attending an obstetric-gynecologic clinic. Three hundred and four girls of diverse ethnic backgrounds completed measures of depressive symptoms, negative attributional style, and locus of control. Consistent with predictions, we found that Mexican-American adolescent girls reported more depressive symptoms than adolescent girls from other ethnic backgrounds, and that Mexican-American adolescent girls displayed more negative cognitive styles than girls from other ethnic backgrounds. Depression differences appeared to be partly explained by differences in negative cognitive style. Implications of the results for a theory of increased Mexican-American adolescent depression, and for applied work, were discussed.     

Distinguishing obsessive features and worries: the role of thought-action fusion

Obsessions are a key feature of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and chronic worry is the cardinal feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). However, these two cognitive processes are conceptually very similar, and there is a need to determine how they differ. Recent studies have attempted to identify cognitive processes that may be differentially related to obsessive features and worry. In the current study we proposed that (1) obsessive features and worry could be differentiated and that (2) a measure of the cognitive process thought-action fusion would distinguish between obsessive features and worry, being strongly related to obsessive features after controlling for the effects of worry. These hypotheses were supported in a sample of 173 undergraduate students. Thought-action fusion may be a valuable construct in differentiating between obsessive features and worry.     

Patterns of recovery from trauma: the use of intraindividual analysis

Patterns of recovery from sexual and nonsexual assault were examined. Two studies containing data from female victims of these assaults were analyzed. In Study 1, victims (N = 101) underwent 12 weekly assessments with measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and state anxiety. In Study 2, victims (N = 108) underwent monthly assessments on the same measures. The authors examined the effects of type of trauma and time of peak reaction on long-term recovery using intraindividual analysis of change. In both studies, initial and peak reactions of rape victims were more severe than were those of nonsexual assault victims on all measures of psychopathology. Victims with delayed peak reaction exhibited more severe pathology at the final assessment than did victims with early peak reaction. Results of Study 2 indicated a slower recovery rate from sexual than nonsexual assault; in Study 1 a similar pattern of recovery emerged. The advantages of an individual-focused, longitudinal approach to recovery from a trauma are discussed.     

Hierarchies, similarity, and interactivity in object recognition: "category-specific" neuropsychological deficits.

Category-specific impairments of object recognition and naming are among the most intriguing disorders in neuropsychology, affecting the retrieval of knowledge about either living or nonliving things. They can give us insight into the nature of our representations of objects: Have we evolved different neural systems for recognizing different categories of object? What kinds of knowledge are important for recognizing particular objects? How does visual similarity within a category influence object recognition and representation? What is the nature of our semantic knowledge about different objects? We review the evidence on category-specific impairments, arguing that deficits even for one class of object (e.g., living things) cannot be accounted for in terms of a single information processing disorder across all patients; problems arise at contrasting loci in different patients. The same apparent pattern of impairment can be produced by damage to different loci. According to a new processing framework for object recognition and naming, the hierarchical interactive theory (HIT), we have a hierarchy of highly interactive stored representations. HIT explains the variety of patients in terms of (1) lesions at different levels of processing and (2) different forms of stored knowledge used both for particular tasks and for particular categories of object.     

Pictorial cues and three-dimensional information processing in early infancy.

Adults derive 3-D information from 2-D images by initially processing local line junction cues and then combining information from many junctions. Prior research indicates that 3-month-olds are sensitive to 3-D cues in individual line junctions. In Experiment 1, we examined whether infants are sensitive to holistic combinations of line junctions that adults use to derive overall 3-D structure. Infants detected a misoriented shape in an array depicting 3-D blocks but not in 2-D patterns that contained all of the trilinear junctions of the 3-D shapes but without the connecting lines. Thus, like adults, infants exhibited sensitivity to holistic combinations of line junctions rather than to individual junctions. In Experiment 2, when confronted with two test patterns, one containing an individual novel element among 15 familiar elements and the other containing a single familiar element among 15 novel elements, infants preferred to look at the former pattern in the 3-D condition but at the latter pattern in the 2-D condition. Thus, akin to pop-out in adults, discrepancies in 3-D cues selectively engaged infants' attention. These results suggest that 3-month-olds are not only sensitive to holistic combinations of line junctions that adults use to derive 3-D information but also selectively attend to these 3-D cues in static images.     

Philosophy of medicine: should it be teleologically or socially construed?

This response to Kevin Wildes's article in the previous issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal addresses several major points of disagreement between Pellegrino and Wildes regarding the nature and scope of a philosophy of medicine, in particular how it is derived and by what method of philosophical enquiry it is best pursued.