Estimated age of acquisition norms for 834 Portuguese nouns and their relation with other psycholinguistic variables

The main objective of this study is to report rated age of acquisition (AoA) norms for 834 nouns in Portuguese (European). AoA ratings were collected on a 7 point scale, generally following Gilhooly and Logie (1980) procedure with an 8 extra point for "don't know the word" answers. Results were analyzed considering AoA ratings and their standard deviations and considering the relationship between AoA ratings and other psycholinguistic variables (imageability, familiarity, written word frequency, concreteness, number of syllables and number of words). AoA ratings and their standard deviations were significantly and positively correlated, with early acquired word ratings showing higher agreement. Correlation and multiple regression analyses confirmed the major contribution of imageability and familiarity to AoA ratings obtained in other languages. The full database of AoA ratings and other psycholinguistic variables may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive or www.fpce.ul.pt/pessoal/ulfpfred/aoa.htm.     

Telephone versus print delivery of an individualized motivationally tailored physical activity intervention: Project STRIDE.

OBJECTIVE: Given that only 25% of Americans meet physical activity recommendations, there is a need to develop and disseminate effective, evidence-based interventions to promote physical activity. The authors tested 2 delivery channels, telephone and print, to determine whether one was more effective in promoting physical activity. DESIGN: The authors randomly assigned 239 healthy, sedentary adults to (a) telephone-based individualized feedback, (b) print-based individualized feedback, or (c) contact control. Both intervention arms were guided by a motivationally tailored, theoretically driven computer expert system. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Physical activity as measured by the 7-day Physical Activity Recall interview. RESULTS: At 6 months, both telephone and print arms significantly increased in minutes of moderate intensity physical activity compared with control, with no differences between the intervention arms. At 12 months, print participants reported a significantly greater number of moderate intensity minutes than both telephone and control participants, who did not differ. CONCLUSION: Results suggest that both telephone and print enhance the adoption of physical activity among sedentary adults; however, print interventions may be particularly effective in maintaining physical activity in the longer term.     

The Separation of ADHD Inattention and Hyperactivity-Impulsivity Symptoms: Pathways from Genetic Effects to Cognitive Impairments and Symptoms

Both shared and unique genetic risk factors underlie the two symptom domains of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. The developmental course and relationship to co-occurring disorders differs across the two symptom domains, highlighting the importance of their partially distinct etiologies. Familial cognitive impairment factors have been identified in ADHD, but whether they show specificity in relation to the two ADHD symptom domains remains poorly understood. We aimed to investigate whether different cognitive impairments are genetically linked to the ADHD symptom domains of inattention versus hyperactivity-impulsivity. We conducted multivariate genetic model fitting analyses on ADHD symptom scores and cognitive data, from go/no-go and fast tasks, collected on a population twin sample of 1,312 children aged 7–10. Reaction time variability (RTV) showed substantial genetic overlap with inattention, as observed in an additive genetic correlation of 0.64, compared to an additive genetic correlation of 0.31 with hyperactivity-impulsivity. Commission errors (CE) showed low additive genetic correlations with both hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention (genetic correlations of 0.17 and 0.11, respectively). The additive genetic correlation between RTV and CE was also low and non-significant at ?0.10, consistent with the etiological separation between the two indices of cognitive impairments. Overall, two key cognitive impairments phenotypically associated with ADHD symptoms, captured by RTV and CE, showed different genetic relationships to the two ADHD symptom domains. The findings extend a previous model of two familial cognitive impairment factors in combined subtype ADHD by separating pathways underlying inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms.     

When context <Emphasis Type="Italic">matters</Emphasis>: Negative emotions predict psychological health and adjustment

Functional theories of emotion argue for the adaptive function of negative emotions in response to specific contextual or environmental demands. However, data supporting these theories in community samples is limited and much research has suggested the opposite: negative emotions predict poor adjustment. To begin to address this discrepancy, we tested the functional association between negative emotion and psychological health and adjustment across three diverse samples: adults in intimate-partnerships, patients with chronic illness, and first-year college students. In each study we employed lab-based methods to elicit and index emotion as a multi-dimensional response system and considered contextual factors and the theorized or demonstrated function of negative emotions in that context and in relation to specific outcomes. Data analysis revealed that contextually sensitive negative emotion was adaptive, and associated with better relationship adjustment and related behaviors (Study 1), higher treatment adherence (Study 2), and adaptive responses to peer rejection (Study 3). Across samples, circumstances, and outcomes, negative emotions were positively associated with psychological health and adjustment.     

Psychometric Properties of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form: A Study of Portuguese Speaking Children/Youths

The development of measures of children and adolescents’ subjective well-being is crucial to the conceptualization and evaluation of positive mental health. The aim of this study was to investigate the factorial structure and invariance of the Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF—adolescents) across children and youths. Participants were from two different samples: 208 elementary school children (sample 1) and 216 middle school youths (sample 2). Results confirmed the three-dimensional structure of subjective well-being in both samples. The three sub-scales of the MHCSF yielded high internal consistency and results from the HTMT85 indicated discriminant validity. Measurement invariance testing across three different age groups (7–8, 9–10 and 11–14 years) confirmed the full metric and approximate scalar invariance of the MHC-SF. Full scalar invariance was achieved across gender. The study also compared the latent means for mental well-being in the three age groups, and found that the younger groups showed significantly higher levels of wellbeing. The present research study strongly suggests that the MHC-SF (adolescents) is an appropriate instrument to measure the positive mental health and well-being of children and pre-adolescents as multidimensional construct.     

‘For Fun’: (De) Humanizing Gisberta—The Violence of Binary Gender Social Representation

In 2006, Gisberta Salce Júnior died inside of a pit, in an abandoned building, after being tortured for 3 days by a group of teenagers, in Porto, Portugal. Gisberta was a transgender woman who had moved to Portugal from Brazil in the 1980’s. In this paper, we explore the media coverage of her death as an illustrative case of existing social representations of gender, resulting in two main findings: that even those who are seen as communities of support and recognition perpetuate discourses of gender binary norms, and that the only apparent possibility to humanize and transcend these norms is materialized in artistic performance and production, which allows for a more emotional connection to the ‘subject’ as a human individual rather than a mere transgression. The analysis of articles about Gisberta revealed that there is a very strong social representation of gender as a binary, consisting rigidly of female and male poles. As such, the social representation of those individuals who transgress this binary, embodying alternative performances of gender, as was the case with Gisberta, is reduced to their sexuality, their embodiment of something other than the gender binary. Different perspectives were identified: media, the courtroom, the teenagers, LGTB activists and the arts. Through this analysis and division, it was possible to conclude that these binary norms are embedded to the extent that they permeate even the discourses of those who tend to speak for trans people, in such a way that it seems almost impossible to escape them, with one powerful exception: that of artistic expression, which seems to be the only topos from which true recognition is achieved. This case is an extreme example of the necessity to transcend gender norms and allow for recognition of individuals as such.     

Choice biases in no-sample and delay testing in pigeons (Columba livia)

Animal Cognition - In experimental tasks that involve stimuli that vary along a quantitative continuum, some choice biases are commonly found. Take, for instance, a matching-to-sample task where...     

Equivalence of human odometry by walk and run is indifferent to self-selected speed

Humans and other animals can measure distances nonvisually by legged locomotion. Experiments typically employ an outbound measure (M) and an inbound report (R) phase. Previous research has found distance reproduction to be maximally accurate, when gait symmetry and speed of M and R are of like kind: Successful human odometry manifests at the level of the M-R system. In the present work, M was an experimenter-set distance produced by a blindfolded participant using a primary gait (walk, run). R was always by walk. Fast and slow versions of walk and run were adopted by participants, such that when M was fast R was slow, and vice versa. Distance was underestimated when M was slower than R and overestimated when M was faster than R. However, the pattern of participant-adopted velocities indicated that it was the instructions, not the speed as such, that yielded the pattern of results. The results are interpretable through a dynamical perspective and indicate speed is an imperfection parameter acting on the attractors of the M-R system.