Response inhibition difficulties in preterm children aged 9–12 years: Relations with emotion and behavior

Previous studies with children have demonstrated inhibition difficulties associated with prematurity, but the question of potentially catching up with a delay in inhibition processes before adolescence still remains. Moreover, preterm adolescents are more at risk than their term-born peers for presenting behavioral problems such as emotional difficulties and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In addition to examining response inhibition, this study addressed, for the first time, the impact of an emotional context on response inhibition abilities and its relation to behavioral problems in late school-aged preterm children. Fifty-eight preterm children aged 9–12 years were compared with 61 controls on two versions of a stop-signal task, the Delay Frustration Task, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Results showed general difficulties in inhibiting a response, rather than a specific impact of emotional context in preterm children. Compared with controls, these children exhibited more and longer button presses in a delay situation, as well as faster go reaction times associated with lower probability of inhibition in the stop-signal tasks. These difficulties reflected impulsivity and were associated with higher hyperactivity/inattention and conduct problems. Additionally, intrauterine growth restriction was found to be an additional perinatal risk factor for hyperactivity/inattention symptoms. These findings suggest that remaining inhibition difficulties in the preterm population at preadolescence could reveal increasing behavioral issues.     

Baby do–baby see!: How action production influences action perception in infants

With a series of four experiments we show that self-produced actions influence infants’ perception of actions performed by others. After having played with an object, 7–11-month-olds simultaneously watched two videos presenting adults who act on either the same object or a different one. The 9- and 11-month-old preferred to watch the same-object video indicating an influence of action production on action perception at this age. Follow-up studies showed that this influence was restricted to object-related actions. Agentive experience enhanced interest in actions with objects, but not in watching objects or persons per se. These findings indicate that infants are not only interested in acting on objects themselves, but that this experience increases their interest in the actions of other people with the same object.     

Children's left parietal brain activation during mental rotation is reliable as well as specific

Some recent evidence suggests that mental rotation of characters in children aged 7 or 8 years might be lateralized to the left parietal hemisphere. An alternative statement exists, however, the finding might be completely unspecific for mental rotation but either be simply a function of task difficulty or a consequence of the use of characters as stimuli. To test these alternatives, ERPs of 24 second graders were measured twice: (a) during mental rotation with characters as stimuli and orientations of 30°, 90°, or 150° and (b) during memory scanning with characters as stimuli and set sizes of 1, 2, or 3 letters. In both cases, an amplitude modulation was found. The effect of mental rotation as a function of character orientation turned out to be lateralized to the left parietal hemisphere. The effect of memory scanning as a function of set size, however, turned out to be completely non-lateralized. Thus, children's left hemisphere activation during mental rotation is reliable as well as specific.     

Suppression of intrusive thoughts and working memory capacity in repressive coping

Previous research using a thought suppression paradigm found that repressors are more skilled in suppressing anxious autobiographical thoughts than low anxious, high anxious, and defensive high anxious people. Another line of research showed that individual differences in working memory capacity are related to the ability to intentionally suppress intrusive thoughts. This study aimed at combining these findings and sought to investigate whether repressors' superior ability to suppress intrusive thoughts is related to a larger working memory capacity. Results indicate that in a thought suppression paradigm, repressors report fewer intrusive thoughts for their most anxious experiences than participants in the 3 other subgroups. Furthermore, the superior ability of repressors to avoid intrusive thoughts can be explained largely by their higher working memory capacity.     

Panikattacken,ein Zusammenbruch des „Selbst“?

Anhand der Vorstellung von zwei v?llig unterschiedlich wirkenden Patienten versuche ich, die trotzdem bestehenden Gemeinsamkeiten der Menschen mit Panikattacken darzustellen. Es scheint so, als k?nnten diese Menschen Gefühle zwar allgemein spüren, aber nicht genug differenzieren und zuordnen. Mentzos sieht in der vom Patienten erlebten Angst vor dem Verlust der physischen Existenz als Todesangst eine tiefer liegende Angst vor Selbstverlust. Dieser Hypothese folgend kommt es durch St?rung der frühen Mutter-Kind-Beziehung zur Fehlentwicklung von Repr?sentanzen bei Patienten mit Panikerkrankungen. Diese Menschen reagieren dann in Situationen, denen emotionale Reaktionen entsprechen, mit k?rperlichen Symptomen, weil die Affektrepr?sentanzen nicht ausreichen, um es als psychisches Erlebnis unterzubringen. Für die Therapie von Panikerkrankungen bedeutet diese Arbeitshypothese, dass die Einbringung aller Gefühle trotz hartn?ckiger Abwehr seitens der Patienten sehr wichtig ist, um eine Nachreifung der Repr?sentanzen zu erm?glichen.     

Order Matters! Influences of Linear Order on Linguistic Category Learning

Linguistic category learning has been shown to be highly sensitive to linear order, and depending on the task, differentially sensitive to the information provided by preceding category markers (premarkers, e.g., gendered articles) or succeeding category markers (postmarkers, e.g., gendered suffixes). Given that numerous systems for marking grammatical categories exist in natural languages, it follows that a better understanding of these findings can shed light on the factors underlying this diversity. In two discriminative learning simulations and an artificial language learning experiment, we identify two factors that modulate linear order effects in linguistic category learning: category structure and the level of abstraction in a category hierarchy. Regarding category structure, we find that postmarking brings an advantage for learning category diagnostic stimulus dimensions, an effect not present when categories are non-confusable. Regarding levels of abstraction, we find that premarking of super-ordinate categories (e.g., noun class) facilitates learning of subordinate categories (e.g., nouns). We present detailed simulations using a plausible candidate mechanism for the observed effects, along with a comprehensive analysis of linear order effects within an expectation-based account of learning. Our findings indicate that linguistic category learning is differentially guided by pre- and postmarking, and that the influence of each is modulated by the specific characteristics of a given category system.     

Modality and variability of synesthetic experience

In synesthesia, stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to additional, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. We here review previous surveys on this neurologically based phenomenon and report the results of 63 synesthetes who completed our Internet and paper questionnaire on synesthesia. In addition to asking for personal data and information on the participant's synesthesia, the questionnaire focused on the components of the inducer that elicit or modulate synesthesia. Synesthesia was most often developmental (92%) and of the grapheme-color type (86%). Sixty-two percent of the participants perceived time-related words in a spatial configuration. Music-color synesthesia was common (41%), and synesthesia for natural and artificial sounds (33%) was higher than in previous estimates. Eighty-one percent of participants experienced more than one form of synesthesia. Multimodal synesthesia, in which inducer and concurrent belong to 2 different sensory modalities, occurred in 92% of the participants. Overall, auditory stimuli were most often reported as inducers, and visual concurrents were most common. Modulations of the synesthetic experiences such as changes of the concurrent color, expansion within the same or to a different sensory modality, or reduction of the number of inducers over time were reported by 17% of participants. This challenges the presumed consistency of synesthesia and the adequacy of the test-retest consistency score still most commonly used to assess the veracity of reported synesthesia. Implications of the high prevalence of cross-modal synesthesia and the variability of synesthesia are discussed.     

Motor anticipation failure in infants with autism: a retrospective analysis of feeding situations

Previous studies on autism have shown a lack of motor anticipation in children and adults with autism. As part of a programme of research into early detection of autism, we focussed on an everyday situation: spoon-feeding. We hypothesize that an anticipation deficit may be found very early on by observing whether the baby opens his or her mouth in anticipation of the spoon's approach. The study is based on a retrospective analysis from family home movies. Observation of infants later diagnosed with autism or an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (n = 13) and infants with typical development (n = 14) between 4 and 6 months old show that the autism/ASD group has an early anticipation deficit.     

Towards a theory-based assessment of coping: The german adaptation of the strategic approach to coping scale

Although coping has become one of the central constructs in the area of research on life events, emotions, and health, it is yet not clear how to conceptualize coping in the most powerful way. Coping instruments often lack a clear underlying theory or are confounded with the stress process itself. Therefore, a theoretical as well as empirical framework is needed. The study at hand presents cross-sectional data from a German version of a coping scale that is constructed in line with the Strategic Approach to Coping Scale (SACS) developed by Hobfoll et al. The German scale findings support those of the original, US version, but also indicate potential cultural distinction. The findings suggest that the GSACS is theory syntonic and has potential for elaborating coping research.