Making sense of sentences in schizophrenia: electrophysiological evidence for abnormal interactions between semantic and syntactic processing

Event-related potentials to critical verbs were measured as patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls read sentences word by word. Relative to their preceding context, critical verbs were (a) congruous, (b) incongruous and semantically unrelated to individual preceding words (pragmatic-semantic violations), (c) incongruous but semantically related to individual preceding words (animacy-semantic violations), or (d) syntactically anomalous. The N400 was modulated normally in patients, suggesting that semantic integration between individual words within sentences was normal in schizophrenia. The amplitude of the P600 to both syntactic and animacy-semantic violations was reduced in patients relative to controls. The authors suggest that, in schizophrenia, an abnormality in combining semantic and syntactic information online to build up propositional meaning leaves sentence processing to be primarily driven by semantic relationships between individual words.     

Brief functional analysis and treatment of tantrums associated with transitions in preschool children

A brief functional analysis was used to examine the influence of termination of prechange activities and initiation of postchange activitieson tantrums exhibited by 2 preschool children. For 1 participant, tantrums were maintained by access to certain (pretransition) activities. For a 2nd participant, tantrums were maintained by avoidance of certain task initiations. Although advance notice of an upcoming transition was ineffective, differential reinforcement of other behavior plus extinction reduced tantrums for both participants.     

Incremental validity of the typical intellectual engagement scale as predictor of different academic performance measures

The incremental validity of the Typical Intellectual Engagement (TIE) scale (Goff & Ackerman, 1992) as a predictor of academic performance (AP) was tested over and above other established determinants of AP, namely, psychometric g (as extracted from 5 cognitive ability tests) and the Big Five personality traits, assessed by the Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five Factor Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992). One hundred four British students were tested on arrival to university, and AP measures were collected longitudinally throughout a 3-year period. TIE, g, and Conscientiousness were the highest correlates of AP. A series of multiple-hierarchical regressions showed that TIE had significant incremental validity (over and above g and the Big Five) in the prediction of AP. Implications are discussed in light of the investment theory of intellectual competence and the utility of self-report inventories as predictors of academic achievement.     

Collegiate year of eligibility, sex, and sports achievement motivation

The relations among year of eligibility, sex, and achievement motivation were investigated with 88 athletes representing three levels of collegiate eligibility (Year 1, Year 2/3, and Year 4) by sex. Participants were given Achievement Motivation subscales for Sporting Environments (approach-success practice, approach-success competition, failure-avoidance practice, failure-avoidance competition). A 3 x 2 analysis of variance showed significant main effects for year of eligibility and sex, and an interaction for age x sex for the failure-avoidance competition scores. Mean approach-success and failure-avoidance practice scores were not significantly different. Fear of failure may be less for male athletes in Year 4 of eligibility.     

Multigenerational stress and nuclear family functioning

This longitudinal study tested Bowen theorys assumption that stressors in the interdependent multigenerational family influence variation in nuclear family functioning. Forty-nine newly developing nuclear families and their multigenerational families were studied over five years. Quantitative analysis demonstrated an association between the perceived impact of multigenerational stressors and variation in nuclear family functioning. Multigenerational stressors, as compared to individual or nuclear family stressors, had a stronger association with nuclear family functioning. The stress response was manifested in symptomatic outcomes of the nuclear family emotional process. Generally, the number of stressors and the total impact of stressors increased over time, stressors in some years associated with functioning in subsequent years, nuclear family-of-origin stressors demonstrated a decreasing association over time, and developing nuclear family stressors demonstrated a somewhat increasing association over time.     

Validation of the Beck Depression Inventory-II in a low-income African American sample of medical outpatients

The psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) are well established with primarily Caucasian samples. However, little is known about its reliability and validity with minority groups. This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the BDI-II in a sample of low-income African American medical outpatients (N=220). Reliability was demonstrated with high internal consistency (.90) and good item-total intercorrelations. Criterion-related validity was demonstrated. A confirmatory factor analysis supported a hierarchical factor structure in which the BDI-II reflected 2 first-order factors (Cognitive and Somatic) that in turn reflected a second-order factor (Depression). These results are consistent with previous findings and thus support the use of the BDI-II in assessing depressive symptoms for African American patients in a medical setting.     

Measurement of low-signal suppression and other parameters of the forced-choice psychometric function

Empirical forced-choice psychometric functions often depart in shape from those based on the theory of normal sensory-excitation distributions and optimal decision processes. The typical departure is that the detectability of small signals is too low compared to that of high signals. Some possible explanations were reviewed and it was emphasized that the source of the effect is not known with certainty. An extra parameter resembling a threshold was introduced for the measurement of the effect, and a method of moments was proposed for estimating the two parameters of the resulting two-alternative forced-choice psychometric function. The method was tried out with success in the task of detecting a 0.1-sec luminance increment to a steady adapting luminance of a large visual target. There were large amounts of low-signal suppression, indicating the advisability of reviewing some current psychophysical practices.     

Effects of Peer-Mediated Accountability on Opportunities to Respond and Correct Skill Performance by Elementary School Children in Physical Education

We investigated the effects of group instruction, peer-dyads, and peer-mediated accountability on the number of trials performed and the number of correct trials during one-minute timed trials of volleyball skills. Peer-mediated accountability consisted of teacher goal setting, peer recording of performance, public posting of performance, and special content-related activities that served as public recognition of achievement. Twenty-four students in a Grade 4 physical education class participated. A reversal A-B-A-C design was used to assess the effects of each condition. Results indicated that students performed more trials and were more successful in the peer-mediated accountability condition than during either group instruction of peer dyads conditions. Findings are discussed in terms of the contingent relation between performance and consequences created by the peer-mediated accountability variable.     

Fimbria/fornix lesions facilitate the learning of a nonspatial response task

The spatial cognitive map theory of O’Keefe and Nadel (1978) predicts that lesions of the hippocampal system should impair learning on spatial tasks but not learning on nonspatial tasks. However, there is evidence that such lesions can facilitate learning on certain nonspatial tasks. Their theory does not predict such facilitation. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to expect that animals possessing a spatial cognitive map would have an inherent bias to engage a mapping strategy and thus be at a disadvantage on certain nonspatial tasks in comparison with animals without the mapping capacity and bias. In the present study, fimbria/fornix lesions impaired learning on a spatial task, but actually facilitated learning on a nonspatial task of equal difficulty. Thus, brain lesions that interfere with map functioning can facilitate learning on tasks for which a mapping strategy interferes with task solution. The results require a modification of the spatial cognitive map theory.     

EFFECTS OF RESPONSE AND TRIAL REPETITION ON SIGHT-WORD TRAINING FOR STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Alternating treatments designs were used to compare the effects of trial repetition (one response within five trials per word) versus response repetition (five response repetitions within one trial per word) on sight-word acquisition for 3 elementary students diagnosed with specific learning disabilities in reading. Although both interventions occasioned the same number of accurate responses per word during training, the trial-repetition condition, which involved complete antecedent-response-feedback sequences, resulted in more words mastered for all 3 students.