Language organization and language change in bilinguals

Two experimental studies with bilingual speakers examined the influence of (I) semantic organization across language, (2) input language change and (3) output language change on speech encoding during a sentence completion task. The first study used fluent Welsh-English bilinguals while the second used fluent French-English bilinguals; all subjects were at school in the U.K. A model proposed how subjects with different degree of overlap in bilingual semantic organization achieved functional separation of the two languages. Predictions derived from this were tested and were substantially confirmed for both groups of bilinguals. It was concluded that subjects have different degrees of overlap in semantic organization of their two languages and that this influences speech encoding where input or output language changes are present.     

Caffeine as a performance-enhancing drug in rats: sex, dose, housing, and task considerations

Past animal studies of the performance-enhancing properties of stimulant drugs, such as caffeine, may have suffered from a number of procedural and ethical problems. For example. the housing condition of the animals was often not taken into consideration. As well, endurance tests, such as the forced swim task, sometimes involved ethically (and procedurally) questionable interference with natural swimming behaviour. Some of the manipulations, such as attaching a weight to the swimming animal's tail to increase the difficulty of the task and using mortality as a dependent variable, seem grotesque, even unnecessary. In this experiment, the performance-enhancing effects of caffeine in a modified forced swim task and a dominance task were evaluated using male and female rats as subjects (N=60), housed in either enriched or isolated environments. Analysis indicated that rats respond to caffeine as an interactive function of sex, housing, dose, and task characteristics. It was concluded that performance-enhancing properties of stimulant drugs may be the result of a complex interplay of variables, making simple generalizations questionable.     

Emotional cascade theory and non-suicidal self-injury: the importance of imagery and positive affect

Grounded in Emotional Cascade Theory, we explored whether rumination and multisensory imagery-based cognitions moderated the relationships between affect and both odds of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), and frequency of the behaviour. A sample of 393 university students completed self-report questionnaires assessing the constructs of interest. Contrary to expectations, rumination did not emerge as a significant moderator of the affect-NSSI relationship. However, the relationship between affect and frequency of NSSI was moderated by the use of imagery. Further, the relationship between negative affect and NSSI was moderated by positive affect, underscoring the need to consider both negative and positive affect in models of NSSI. Most youth who self-injured reported thinking in images while the urge to self-injure was strong, with 53% thinking in images at least half the time. Future work is needed to explore how positive and negative affect work in concert to govern NSSI, and how imagery might either exacerbate or reduce risk of NSSI.     

Pragma-Dialectical Analysis and Evaluation of Problem-Solving Discussion

In this article, after arguing that present approaches to improving problem-solving discussions for various reasons are not satisfactory, I turn to the pragma-dialectic approach to argumentative discourse to derive a normative framework that can serve as a point of departure to enhance the quality of problem-solving discussions. I then show how this approach can be used as analytical and evaluative instrument that can help the analyst to establish whether participants in actual practice act in a fashion that is in accord with the norms posited. Two real-life problem-solving discussions provide the material for this demonstration.     

“The Team Behind the Team”: Exploring the Organizational Stressor Experiences of Sport Science and Management Staff in Elite Sport

This study explored the organizational stressors encountered by the “team behind the team” (viz., those operating in sport science and management roles) in elite sport and the consequences these can have. Forty support personnel working in elite sport were interviewed. Thematic analyses unveiled 36 lower and 6 higher order themes, which were separated into stressors encountered (e.g., relationship and interpersonal, physical resource, contractual and performance development, organizational structure and logistical) and their consequences (e.g., emotions and outcomes). Building on extant work, this study moves the focus beyond athletes' stress experiences to provide novel insight into those operating in sport science and management roles. The findings offer original insight into the educational needs of sport science and management staff, which can inform practitioners who face increasing demands to work with such personnel, and raise sports organizations' awareness of their duty of care to employees and the factors that need to be managed.     

A case study investigating the role of the anterior temporal lobes in general semantics and semantics specific to persons,emotions and social conceptual knowledge

The role of the anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) in semantic representation remains still much debated. Long thought to support domain-general semantic processing, recent accounts have alternatively suggested that they may be preferentially involved in the processing of person-related semantic knowledge. Several studies have supported such a distinction, but few have either examined both types of semantic processing together, or considered the role of potentially important confounding variables. Here, we address these issues by investigating both domain-general and person-specific semantic processing in a patient with focal ATL damage. The patient presents with dense anterograde and retrograde amnesia. Performance was impaired on tests of general semantic knowledge, but most striking deficits were for person-related semantics, including recognition and identification, knowledge of emotions and social conceptual knowledge. This unique case provides compelling evidence that, in addition to the role in general semantic knowledge, the ATLs are critical for person-related semantics.