Gender differences on the Five to Fifteen questionnaire in a non‐referred sample with inattention and hyperactivity‐impulsivity and a clinic‐referred sample with hyperkinetic disorder

Lambek, R., Trillingsgaard, A., Kadesjö, B., Damm, D. & Thomsen, P. H. (2010). Gender differences on the Five to Fifteen questionnaire in a non‐referred sample with inattention and hyperactivity‐impulsivity and a clinic‐referred sample with hyperkinetic disorder. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 51, 540–447. The aim of the present study was to examine gender differences in children with inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity on the Five to Fifteen (FTF) parent questionnaire. First, non‐referred girls (n = 43) and boys (n = 51) with problems of attention and hyperactivity‐impulsivity and then clinic‐referred girls (n = 35) and boys (n = 66) with hyperkinetic disorder (HKD) were compared on the FTF. Results suggested that non‐referred boys were more hyperactive‐impulsive than non‐referred girls, whereas clinic‐referred boys and girl with HKD were more similar than dissimilar on the FTF questionnaire. Secondly, it was examined whether the application of gender mixed norms versus gender specific norms would result in varying proportions of clinic‐referred children with HKD being identified as impaired on the subdomains of the FTF questionnaire. Based on results it was concluded that the use of a gender mixed normative sample may lead to overestimation of impairment in boys with HKD, but the type of sample applied to define impairment on the FTF should depend on the purpose for applying the questionnaire.     

Effect of low dose ionizing radiation exposure in utero on cognitive function in adolescence

Heiervang, K. S., Mednick, S., Sundet, K. & Rund, B. R. (2010). Effect of low dose ionizing radiation exposure in utero on cognitive function in adolescence. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 210–215. Radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown greatly affected several Norwegian counties. The cognitive consequences of in utero exposure to radiation from the Chernobyl accident have been intensely debated. This study examines the cognitive outcomes for those Norwegians who were exposed as fetuses to the fallout from Chernobyl. The participants, 84 adolescents who were exposed in utero to radiation from the most contaminated areas in Norway and 94 adolescents from areas not contaminated by the radiation, were tested on verbal and nonverbal IQ. Two data analyses were conducted. First, using a control‐group design, the IQ scores of exposed and unexposed adolescents were compared. Second, in a timing‐of‐exposure design, those exposed during the most sensitive period were contrasted with those exposed later in gestation. Adolescents exposed to low‐dose ionizing radiation in utero scored significantly lower in full‐scale IQ than unexposed adolescents. The difference was restricted to verbal IQ and was not evident for nonverbal IQ. The effect was not observed in exposed adolescents who had passed the most sensitive gestational period prior to the accident and thus were exposed to the radiation from Chernobyl exclusively after gestational week 16. These participants performed as well as the controls. Although the results should be interpreted cautiously due to the study’s nonrandomized design, the data add new and important support to the hypothesis that the Chernobyl accident may have had a subtle effect on the cognitive functioning of those exposed to low‐dose ionizing radiation in utero during the most sensitive gestational period.     

Imprinted numbers: newborn chicks’ sensitivity to number vs. continuous extent of objects they have been reared with

Newborn chicks were tested for their sensitivity to number vs. continuous physical extent of artificial objects they had been reared with soon after hatching. Because of the imprinting process, such objects were treated by chicks as social companions. We found that when the objects were similar, chicks faced with choices between 1 vs. 2 or 2 vs. 3 objects chose the set of objects of larger numerosity, irrespective of the number of objects they had been reared with. Moreover, when volume, surface or contour length were controlled for using sets of 1 vs. 4, 1 vs. 6 or 1 vs. 3 objects, chicks resorted to choosing the larger object, rather than the familiar numerosity. When, however, chicks were reared with objects differing in their aspect (colour, size, and shape) and then tested with completely novel objects (of different colour and shape but controlled for continuous extent), they chose to associate with the same number of objects they had been reared with. These results suggest that identification of objects as different and separate individuals is crucial for the computation of number rather than continuous extent in numerical representation of small numerosities and provide a striking parallel with results obtained in human infants. Early availability of small numerosity discrimination by chicks strongly suggests that these abilities are in place at birth.     

Keeping the Body in Mind: The Influence of Body Esteem and Body Boundary Aberration on Consumer Beliefs and Purchase Intentions

This research explores the influence of consumers’ body‐related information on beliefs and purchase intentions toward products for which the consumption experience is significantly and directly determined by body‐related information (e.g., feel, fit, sense of safety) when the products are bought in body‐absent purchase environments such as the Internet. We examine the effects of consumers’ body esteem (i.e., like or dislike of one's body) and body boundary aberration (variation in the perceived location of the edges of one's body) in the context of apparel purchases that are made on the Internet. Body esteem had a positive influence on involvement with apparel, and body boundary aberration had a negative influence on consumers’ overall concern with the fit of apparel. Involvement with apparel and overall concern with fit, in turn, significantly influenced consumers’ intentions to purchase apparel online. Consequently, consumers with high body esteem were less likely to buy on the Internet and those with high body boundary aberration were more likely to buy.     

Do Positive and Negative Stereotypes of Gay and Heterosexual Men Affect Job-Related Impressions?

Sex Roles - Traditional gender stereotypes encompass (typically masculine) agency, comprising task-related competence, and (typically feminine) communion or warmth. Both agency and communion are...     

Behavioral and emotional problems among Italian international adoptees and non-adopted children: father's and mother's reports

This study intends to fill the gap in empirical research carried out in Italy regarding international adoptees' behavioral and emotional problems. Assuming a multi-informant approach, it aims to compare parents' reports of behavioral problems of adopted and non-adopted children and to examine parental agreement. The sample was composed of 186 adoptive couples and 195 biological couples with the target child between ages 7 and 11 years. The mother and father filled in the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) separately. Analysis of the CBCL revealed that adopted children are perceived by their parents as having more Total and Externalizing Problems than are their non-adopted counterparts. Moreover, they are more likely to demonstrate attention difficulties and aggressive behavior. The agreement between parents turned out to be moderate for adoptive parents and slightly lower for the biological ones. Consistent with most adoption research, the results confirm the higher risk of behavioral problems among adopted children. They also shed light on the significant perceptual discrepancy between mothers and fathers, underlining the importance of considering both parents' reports in the study of adopted children's adjustment.     

The magnitude of binocular disparity modulates search time for targets defined by a conjunction of depth and colour

Nakayama and Silverman (1986) proposed that, when searching for a target defined by a conjunction of color and stereoscopic depth, observers partition 3D space into separate depth planes and then rapidly search each such plane in turn, thereby turning a conjunctive search into a "feature" search. In their study, they found, consistent with their hypothesis, shallow search slopes when searching depth planes separated by large binocular disparities. Here, the authors investigated whether the search slope depends upon the extent of the stereoscopically induced separation between the planes to be searched (i.e., upon the magnitude of the binocular disparity. The obtained slope shows that (1) a rapid search only occurs with disparities greater than 6 min of arc, a value that vastly exceeds the stereo threshold, and that (2) the steepness of this slope increases in a major way at lower disparities. The ability to implement the search mode envisaged by Nakayama and Silverman is thus clearly limited to large disparities; less efficient search strategies are mandated by lower disparity values, as under such conditions items from one depth plane may be more likely to "intrude" upon the other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

Learning to ignore: Acquisition of sustained attentional suppression

We examined whether the selection mechanisms committed to the suppression of ignored stimuli can be modified by experience to produce a sustained, rather than transient, change in behavior. Subjects repeatedly ignored the shape of stimuli, while attending to their color. On subsequent attention to shape, there was a robust and sustained decrement in performance that was selective to when shape was ignored across multiple-colortarget contexts, relative to a single-color-target context. Thus, amount of time ignored was not sufficient to induce a sustained performance decrement. Moreover, in this group, individual differences in initial color target selection were associated with the subsequent performance decrement when attending to previously ignored stimuli. Accompanying this sustained decrement in performance was a transfer in the locus of suppression from an exemplar (e.g., a circle) to a feature (i.e., shape) level of representation. These data suggest that learning can influence attentional selection by sustained attentional suppression of ignored stimuli.