Grammatical pattern learning by human infants and cotton-top tamarin monkeys

There is a surprising degree of overlapping structure evident across the languages of the world. One factor leading to cross-linguistic similarities may be constraints on human learning abilities. Linguistic structures that are easier for infants to learn should predominate in human languages. If correct, then (a) human infants should more readily acquire structures that are consistent with the form of natural language, whereas (b) non-human primates' patterns of learning should be less tightly linked to the structure of human languages. Prior experiments have not directly compared laboratory-based learning of grammatical structures by human infants and non-human primates, especially under comparable testing conditions and with similar materials. Five experiments with 12-month-old human infants and adult cotton-top tamarin monkeys addressed these predictions, employing comparable methods (familiarization-discrimination) and materials. Infants rapidly acquired complex grammatical structures by using statistically predictive patterns, failing to learn structures that lacked such patterns. In contrast, the tamarins only exploited predictive patterns when learning relatively simple grammatical structures. Infant learning abilities may serve both to facilitate natural language acquisition and to impose constraints on the structure of human languages.     

Microstructural integrity of the corpus callosum linked with neuropsychological performance in adolescents

Background: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has revealed microstructural aspects of adolescent brain development, the cognitive correlates of which remain relatively uncharacterized. Methods: DTI was used to assess white matter microstructure in 18 typically developing adolescents (ages 16–18). Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusion (MD) were evaluated within the splenium and body of the corpus callosum in relation to cognitive performance. Results: Visuospatial construction abilities were associated with white matter integrity in both the splenium and body of the corpus callosum, while only splenium integrity was associated with language and psychomotor function. Conclusion: Results suggest that, for typically developing adolescents, white matter coherence positively relates to visuospatial, psychomotor, and language skills. These findings may have implications for the cognitive functioning of clinical populations in which typical white matter development is altered.     

Repetition priming and the haptic recognition of familiar and unfamiliar objects

In four experiments, we examined the haptic recognition of 3-D objects. In Experiment 1, blindfolded participants named everyday objects presented haptically in two blocks. There was significant priming of naming, but no cost of an object changing orientation between blocks. However, typical orientations of objects were recognized more quickly than nonstandard orientations. In Experiment 2, participants accurately performed an unannounced test of memory for orientation. The lack of orientation-specific priming in Experiment 1, therefore, was not because participants could not remember the orientation at which they had first felt an object. In Experiment 3, we examined haptic naming of objects that were primed either haptically or visually. Haptic priming was greater than visual priming, although significant cross-modal priming was also observed. In Experiment 4, we tested recognition memory for familiar and unfamiliar objects using an old-new recognition task. Objects were recognized best when they were presented in the same orientation in both blocks, suggesting that haptic object recognition is orientation sensitive. Photographs of the unfamiliar objects may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive.     

Is task interference in event-based prospective memory dependent on cue presentation?

Whether having an intention produces a performance cost to ongoing activities (task interference) is central to theoretical claims regarding the mechanisms underlying cue detection in event-based prospective memory. Recent evidence suggests that task interference primarily reflects an attention allocation policy stored in memory when intentions are encoded. The present study examined whether these policies can change with ongoing task experience. In Experiment 1, task interference was more greatly reduced when expected cues were not presented than when they were. Experiment 2 replicated this effect when the importance of the prospective memory task was emphasized. In Experiment 3, task interference decreased with time, and this decrease was greater when expected cues were not presented than when they were. Cue presentation is crucial to maintenance of attention allocation policies established by task instructions. This is the first article to demonstrate changes in task interference with ongoing task experience without forewarning individuals of the relevance of upcoming ongoing task trials to intentions.     

Do older individuals adapt to their traits?: Personality–emotion relations among younger and older adults

Prominent lifespan theories posit that older adults are motivated to engage in emotion-regulation more frequently than younger adults. The present study follows from such theories and makes a novel prediction hitherto unexamined in the aging–emotion literature. Based on the idea that older adults more frequently regulate their emotions, it was predicted that traits, reflective of temperament or habit, would be less predictive of emotions among older adults (N = 60; M age = 74.9 years) than younger adults (N = 44; M age = 19.5 years). This hypothesis was confirmed across four of the Big 5 traits and, consistent with predictions, the moderating effects of age were particularly strong for negative emotions. The discussion focuses on the implications of the present findings for understanding age differences in personality, emotion, and emotion-regulation.     

3D mapping of language networks in clinical and pre-clinical Alzheimer's disease

We investigated the associations between Boston naming and the animal fluency tests and cortical atrophy in 19 probable AD and 5 multiple domain amnestic mild cognitive impairment patients who later converted to AD. We applied a surface-based computational anatomy technique to MRI scans of the brain and then used linear regression models to detect associations between animal fluency and Boston Naming Test (BNT) performance and cortical atrophy. The global permutation-corrected significance for the maps associating BNT performance with cortical atrophy was p=.0124 for the left and p=.0196 for the right hemisphere and for the animal fluency maps p=.055 for the left and p=.073 for the right hemisphere. The degree of language impairment correlated with cortical atrophy in the left temporal and parietal lobes (BA 20, 21, 37, 39, 40, and 7), bilateral frontal lobes (BA 8, 9, and 44) and the right temporal pole (BA 38). Using a novel 3D mapping technique, we demonstrated that in AD language abilities are strongly influenced by the integrity of the perisylvian cortical regions.     

Eye movements when reading transposed text: the importance of word-beginning letters

Participants' eye movements were recorded as they read sentences with words containing transposed adjacent letters. Transpositions were either external (e.g., problme, rpoblem) or internal (e.g., porblem, probelm) and at either the beginning (e.g., rpoblem, porblem) or end (e.g., problme, probelm) of words. The results showed disruption for words with transposed letters compared to the normal baseline condition, and the greatest disruption was observed for word-initial transpositions. In Experiment 1, transpositions within low frequency words led to longer reading times than when letters were transposed within high frequency words. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the position of word-initial letters is most critical even when parafoveal preview of words to the right of fixation is unavailable. The findings have important implications for the roles of different letter positions in word recognition and the effects of parafoveal preview on word recognition processes.     

Family support, family income, and happiness: a 10-year perspective.

This study examined the role of 2 central aspects of family life--income and social support--in predicting concurrent happiness and change in happiness among 274 married adults across a 10-year period. The authors used hierarchical linear modeling to investigate the relationship between family income and happiness. Income had a small, positive impact on happiness, which diminished as income increased. In contrast, family social support, measured by 3 subscales, Cohesion, Expressiveness, and Conflict, showed a substantial, positive association with concurrent happiness, even after controlling for income. Furthermore, family income moderated the association between family social support and concurrent happiness; family social support was more strongly associated with happiness when family income was low than when family income was high. In addition, change in family social support was positively related to change in happiness, whereas change in family income was unrelated to change in happiness. These findings suggest that happiness can change and underscore the importance of exploring more deeply the role that family relationships play in facilitating such change.     

Anger style, psychopathology, and regional brain activity

Depression and anxiety often involve high levels of trait anger and disturbances in anger expression. Reported anger experience and outward anger expression have recently been associated with left-biased asymmetry of frontal cortical activity, assumed to reflect approach motivation. However, different styles of anger expression could presumably involve different brain mechanisms and/or interact with psychopathology to produce various patterns of brain asymmetry. The present study explored these issues by comparing resting regional electroencephalographic activity in participants high in trait anger who differed in anger expression style (high anger-in, high anger-out, both) and participants low in trait anger, with depression and anxiety systematically assessed. Trait anger, not anger-in or anger-out, predicted left-biased asymmetry at medial frontal EEG sites. The anger-in group reported higher levels of anxious apprehension than did the anger-out group. Furthermore, anxious apprehension moderated the relationship between trait anger, anger-in, and asymmetry in favor of the left hemisphere. Results suggest that motivational direction is not always the driving force behind the relationship of anger and left frontal asymmetry. Findings also support a distinction between anxious apprehension and anxious arousal.     

Romantic involvement and depressive symptoms in early and late adolescence: The role of a preoccupied relational style

Two studies examined the association between depressive symptoms and romantic involvement in adolescence and tested the hypothesis that romantic involvement is associated more strongly with symptoms among adolescents who have a more preoccupied style of relating, compared to adolescents who have a less preoccupied style of relating. Study 1 (N = 96 early adolescent females) examined concurrent associations and Study 2 (N = 80 late adolescent males and females) examined longitudinal associations. In both age groups, romantic involvement was associated with greater depressive symptoms and this was most true among adolescents with a preoccupied style of relating. Implications for models of depression and adolescent romantic functioning are discussed.