Brain hyper‐connectivity and operation‐specific deficits during arithmetic problem solving in children with developmental dyscalculia

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is marked by specific deficits in processing numerical and mathematical information despite normal intelligence (IQ) and reading ability. We examined how brain circuits used by young children with DD to solve simple addition and subtraction problems differ from those used by typically developing (TD) children who were matched on age, IQ, reading ability, and working memory. Children with DD were slower and less accurate during problem solving than TD children, and were especially impaired on their ability to solve subtraction problems. Children with DD showed significantly greater activity in multiple parietal, occipito‐temporal and prefrontal cortex regions while solving addition and subtraction problems. Despite poorer performance during subtraction, children with DD showed greater activity in multiple intra‐parietal sulcus (IPS) and superior parietal lobule subdivisions in the dorsal posterior parietal cortex as well as fusiform gyrus in the ventral occipito‐temporal cortex. Critically, effective connectivity analyses revealed hyper‐connectivity, rather than reduced connectivity, between the IPS and multiple brain systems including the lateral fronto‐parietal and default mode networks in children with DD during both addition and subtraction. These findings suggest the IPS and its functional circuits are a major locus of dysfunction during both addition and subtraction problem solving in DD, and that inappropriate task modulation and hyper‐connectivity, rather than under‐engagement and under‐connectivity, are the neural mechanisms underlying problem solving difficulties in children with DD. We discuss our findings in the broader context of multiple levels of analysis and performance issues inherent in neuroimaging studies of typical and atypical development.     

Cosmetic Customization of Mobile Phones: Cultural Antecedents,Psychological Correlates

Mobile phones are seen as extensions of the self, with users individualizing their phones via customized accessories and features. A Korea–U.S. comparison survey (N = 551) examines the degree to which aspects of cultural psychology predict aesthetic motivations for mobile-phone customization, including the possibility that repression of self-expression in predominantly collectivistic Eastern cultures may be fueling the need to publicly express oneself through visible accessories. Furthermore, it explores psychological correlates of the tendency for cosmetic customization. Analyses using structural equation modeling show that culture predicts other-directedness, which is associated with aesthetic motivations for cosmetic customization of mobile phones, which in turn is related to product attachment—a relationship that is mediated by the degree to which users perceive their phones as reflecting their self. Theoretical contributions include an empirically based explication of the social psychology underlying the phenomenon of personal-media accessorizing, with practical implications for the design of customization options and cross-cultural marketing of mobile phones.     

The associations between parenting styles and proactive and reactive aggression in Hong Kong children and adolescents

Previous research suggests that reactive and proactive aggression may be differentially related to family contextual (e.g. parenting practices) factors. However, the existing research has focused largely on children and adolescents from Western countries, and no study has examined the parenting–aggression association using a parenting style measure sensitive to Asian culture. In this study parenting styles (i.e. warmth, control and guan/training) and proactive and reactive aggression were assessed in a large sample of school children in Hong Kong, China (N = 4,175, mean age = 11.75). We found that: (a) both low warmth (in boys only) and guan (i.e. high expectation and close supervision, in both boys and girls) were associated with elevated parent‐reported proactive aggression, (b) high restrictive control (i.e. dominating and rejecting) was associated with high reactive aggression (in both boys and girls) based on parent‐ or child‐report data, and with high proactive aggression (in boys only) based on parent‐report data, and (c) guan was also positively associated with parent‐reported reactive aggression. Findings provide more information about the Parenting Inventory using a large Asian sample, and extend existing research on familial correlates of different types of aggression.     

Establishing versus preserving impressions: Predicting success in the multiple audience problem

People sometimes seek to convey discrepant impressions of themselves to different audiences simultaneously. Research suggests people are generally successful in this “multiple audience problem.” Adding to previous research, the current research sought to examine factors that may limit this success by measuring social anxiety and placing participants into situations requiring them to either establish or preserve multiple impressions simultaneously. In general, participants were more successful when preserving previously conveyed impressions than when establishing impressions for the first time. In contrast, social anxiety did not affect multiple audience success. In all, this research offers valuable insight into potential challenges that people face in many social situations.