Age differences in self-set goal effects for memory

Research has shown that goal setting leads to gains in memory performance and memory self-efficacy across adulthood when goals are set by experimenters and accompanied by positive feedback. However, self-set memory goals have had less consistent impact. This research extended past studies on aging and memory goals to examine the impact of self-set goals using anchors to guide goal selection. Two trials of name, text, and list recall were administered to younger and older adults, comparing goal and no-goal groups. After baseline, participants assigned to the goal group set personal goals for memory gain on a second, post-goal trial for each of the three tasks. Anchoring for goal-setting was used to encourage the selection of realistic, yet challenging goals. Younger and older participants set comparable goals. Only younger adults showed a motivational response (higher gains across trials for goals than no goals), even though older adults reported being just as committed to their personal goals. Older adults may have failed to show reliable goal-related gains because no positive feedback was offered or because they were unable to activate effective strategies for improved performance.     

The Impact of Siblings During Talent Development: A Longitudinal Examination in Sport

Recent studies have begun to explore the potentially positive impact of siblings on sporting talent development. This study aimed to explore potential mechanisms through which siblings impact on this process. Bimonthly interviews were conducted with 4 families over a 1-year period (parents and siblings; N = 14) during the talent development process. Findings revealed several themes (regularity of interaction, emotional interpersonal skills, rivalry, resilience, and separation) aligning with previous studies, alongside two new themes: communication and skill development. The study's longitudinal nature exposed important differences of potential mechanisms across families, highlighting the complex nature of the sibling relationship.     

Detecting deception through small talk and comparable truth baselines

The present experiment investigates similarities in participants' nonverbal and verbal behaviours when responding to baseline and investigative questions, comparing two different types of baselines. Police literature suggests to obtain a baseline through small talk, whereas academic literature underlines the importance of baseline and investigative themes to be comparable. First, a baseline was obtained (either small talk or comparable), then the investigative questioning started. During the investigative questioning, participants either truthfully reported a set of actions they had actually performed or lied about them. Findings revealed that truth tellers and liars in the small talk condition did not differ in their level of similarity when responding to the baseline and investigative questions. In the comparable truth condition, levels of verbal similarity between the baseline and investigative questions were higher for truth tellers than for liars, but only for one variable: spatial detail. Results therefore showed that a small talk baseline should not be used to assess interviewees' credibility, and that a comparable truth baseline, although better than a small talk baseline, is still problematic.     

How Does the Neighborhood “Come through the Door?” Concentrated Disadvantage,Residential Instability,and the Home Environment for Preschoolers

Living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with heightened risk for poor school readiness and health outcomes in early childhood, and the home environment is thought to be a primary mechanism by which neighborhood context impacts preschoolers. This study examined the effects of neighborhood concentrated disadvantage and neighborhood residential instability on the home physical environment and home learning environment for preschoolers in economically disadvantaged families (N = 187). Using structural equation modeling, mothers' perceived neighborhood disorder and depressive symptoms were examined as mechanisms by which neighborhood context “comes through the door.” Mothers' neighborhood social embeddedness was also explored as a protective factor. Results showed that concentrated disadvantage was negatively associated with the quality of the home physical environment, and residential instability was negatively associated with the quality of the home learning environment. Concentrated disadvantage had an indirect effect on the home learning environment through mothers' perceived neighborhood disorder and depressive symptoms. The effects of concentrated disadvantage on the home environment were buffered by mothers' neighborhood social embeddedness. Study findings advance understanding of socioeconomic‐ and place‐based disparities in developmental outcomes and identify potential targets for interventions aimed at lessening effects of neighborhood disadvantage on families with young children.     

Caregivers’ beliefs about dementia: findings from the IDEAL study

Abstract

Objective: Informal caregivers of people with dementia develop their own beliefs about the condition, referred to as Dementia Representations (DRs), as they try to make sense of the changes they are observing. The first aim of this study was to provide a profile of the types of DRs held by caregivers. The second aim was to examine the impact of caregivers’ DRs on their well-being, satisfaction with life (SwL) and caregiving stress.

Methods: Participants were 1264 informal caregivers of people in the mild-to-moderate stages of dementia from time-point 1 of the IDEAL cohort study.

Measures: DRs were measured using questionnaire items covering: Identity, Cause, Control, and Timeline.

Results: Almost half (49.2%) of caregivers used a diagnostic term to describe the person’s condition, although 93.4% of caregivers stated they were aware of the diagnosis. Higher well-being, SwL, and lower caregiving stress were associated with the use of an identity term relating to specific symptoms of dementia, attributing the cause to ageing or not knowing the cause, and believing the condition would stay the same. Lower well-being, SwL, and higher caregiving stress were associated with believing there was little that could be done to control the effects of the condition.

Conclusion: Healthcare professionals should assess and gain an understanding of caregivers’ DRs in order to provide more tailored information and support.     

Competitive Dynamics in Forecasting: The Interaction of Skill and Uncertainty

The outcomes in many competitive tasks depend upon both skill and luck. Behavioral theories on risk taking in tournaments indicate that low‐skilled individuals may have incentives to take more risks than high‐skilled ones. We build on these theories and suggest, in addition, that when luck is more important in determining outcomes, the increase in risk taking is larger for low‐skilled than high‐skilled individuals. We test this hypothesis by analyzing stock analysts' forecasts of companies' earnings per share under market conditions that vary in volatility and thus imply different levels of luck in outcomes. Specifically, noting that forecasts that deviate widely from the consensus—which is observable by the analyst—potentially carry career‐related rewards but also reputational risks, we examine the degree of deviation from consensus exhibited by analysts of different skill levels (measured by both past forecasting accuracy and education) in different market conditions. We find that average deviations from consensus increase as markets become more volatile. At the same time, under conditions of high volatility, low‐skilled analysts exhibit larger increases in deviations from consensus than high‐skilled analysts. These field data results support our hypothesis based on of risk taking in tournaments. We discuss alternative interpretations such as, for example, self‐serving attributions and indicate directions for future research. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Bodies and other visual objects: the dialectics of reaching toward objects

Participants viewed video clips of a left or right-handed reach toward an object that was orientated with a handle to the left or right. They were required to classify the object by making a left or right-handed key-press and ignore the reach. These responses were, never-the-less, affected by the observed reach in ways which largely reflected the opportunities for complementary actions in the viewed scenes, given the simultaneous constraints of the object orientation combined with the direction and hand of reach. These influences are claimed to reflect the interdependency of the action possibilities that arise from a set of objects and agents in three-dimensional space that together determine behaviour.     

Differentiated associations between childhood maltreatment experiences and social understanding: A meta-analysis and systematic review

The extreme parenting experiences encountered by children who are physically abused or neglected place them at increased risk for impaired socio-emotional development. There is growing evidence that maltreated children may apprehend interpersonal encounters in different ways from children without such traumatic histories. This systematic review examines the links between childhood physical abuse and neglect and various constituent skills of social understanding (including emotion recognition and understanding, perspective taking, false belief understanding, and attributional biases) in 51 empirical studies. The review incorporates a meta-analysis of 19 studies on emotion recognition and understanding in this population. This showed an overall negative effect of maltreatment, but moderation analyses revealed that significantly stronger effects were found for measures of emotion understanding rather than recognition, and for younger rather than older age groups. The broader review also reveals a complex and differentiated profile of social understanding among maltreated children. Directions for future research that addresses individual differences in children’s experiences, both within and outside the maltreatment context, are discussed.