Narrative abilities in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and normal peers

A story retelling task was used to assess narrative abilities in 30 boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 30 normally developing boys, matched on age and IQ. Each boy listened to two stories and retold them for another child. Results indicated that the two groups did not differ in their ability to comprehend and extract the main ideas from the stories, but did differ in the production of narratives. Boys with ADHD provided less information overall, and their stories were more poorly organized and less cohesive and contained more inaccuracies. As a result, their stories were often confused and hard to follow. Organization and monitoring of information are functions of executive control. Thus the observed deficits in narrative production in children with ADHD may reflect underlying deficits in executive processes.This work was supported by funds from Health and Welfare Canada (NHRDP) and Medical Research Council of Canada. Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, Zandvoort, The Netherlands, June 1991. The authors gratefully acknowledge Michael Marriott and Patricia Fulford for their assistance with data collection and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.     

Impure Agency and the Just War

Feminist critiques of intention challenge some aspects of traditional just war reasoning, including the criteria of right intention and discrimination (particularly as interpreted using the doctrine of double effect). I take note of these challenges and propose some directions just war reasoners might take in response. First, right intention can be evaluated more accurately by judging what actors in war actually do than by attempting to uncover inward dispositions. Assessing whether agents in war have taken due care to minimize foreseeable collateral damage, avoided intentional targeting of noncombatants, corrected previous mistakes in their later actions, and taken responsibility to repair unintended damage they cause are examples of ways in which just war reasoners can evaluate intention by looking at actions.     

The role of number words: the phonological length effect in multidigit addition

We explored the role of phonological representations of number words in exact calculation. The reaction times and accuracy of responses in multidigit addition problems were compared across three groups of participants (young healthy, older healthy, and 3 patients with severe aphasia) and two types of addition problems: phonologically long in English (containing the bisyllabic number word ??seven??) and short in English (monosyllabic number words??e.g., ??six??). Older healthy participants were significantly faster and more accurate in calculation than younger healthy participants. The older participants showed no evidence of a phonological length effect. However this effect was apparent in the younger adults, with longer reaction times on phonologically long problems. Furthermore, there was an association between the presence of a phonological length effect and the overall speed of response, suggesting that less proficient calculators were more reliant on phonological mediation of performance. The aphasic participants retained the ability to complete multidigit additions and were as accurate as the younger healthy group, although the response times of two of the 3 patients were slow. The aphasic participants varied with regard to the presence of a phonological length effect. Two participants showed no evidence of phonological mediation, while 1 displayed a phonological length effect. The results suggest that language resources are not mandatory for exact addition, although they may be used to scaffold math performance in less competent calculators. Evidence of phonological mediation of performance in aphasic participants may provide insight into the integrity or otherwise of inner speech in severe aphasia.     

THE EYE OF THE BEGETTER: PREDICTING INFANT ATTACHMENT DISORGANIZATION FROM WOMEN'S PRENATAL INTERPRETATIONS OF INFANT FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

Infant–caregiver attachment disorganization has been linked to many long‐term negative psychosocial outcomes. While various prevention programs appear to be effective in preventing disorganized attachment, methods currently used to identify those at risk are unfortunately either overly general or impractical. The current investigation tested whether women's prenatal biases in identifying infant expressions of emotion—tendencies previously shown to relate to some of the maternal variables associated with infant attachment, including maternal traumatization, trauma symptoms, and maternal sensitivity—could predict infant attachment classification at 18 months postpartum. Logistic regression analyses revealed that together with women's adult history of high betrayal traumatization, response concordance with a normative reference sample in labeling infant expressions as negatively valenced, and the number of infant facial expressions that participants classified as “sad” and “angry” predicted subsequent infant attachment security versus disorganization. Implications for screening and prevention are discussed.     

Haste makes waste,but not for all: The speed-accuracy trade-off does not apply to neurotics

ObjectivesTo examine if neurotics are the exception to the speed-accuracy rule and in fact are more accurate when making faster decisions.DesignThe study employed a laboratory-based, cross-sectional design.MethodOne hundred and ninety-six elite young cricketers completed measures of neuroticism before performing a cricket-specific computer-based decision-making task.ResultsNeuroticism significantly moderated the relationship between decision-making time and decision-making accuracy such that decreases in response time were associated with improvements in decision-making accuracy for individuals with high levels of neuroticism. Conversely, decreases in response time were associated with decrements in accuracy for individuals with low levels of neuroticism.ConclusionsThe study presents the first data that confirm that speed accuracy trade-offs do not occur across all individuals; individuals with high levels of neuroticism benefit from making faster decisions.     

SEX DIFFERENCES IN VISUAL ENCODING SKILLS: READING SYMBOLS

Written language in all cultures is composed of symbols to which sounds have been attached somewhat arbitrarily. Meanings are also attached somewhat arbitrarily to letters and groups of letters. The transformation of symbols into sounds is generally seen to be part of the reading process, though it is not clear whether it is of equal importance at all stages of competence. It is possible that, at some stages, the skilled reader may have direct access to the meaning of a word or phrase from its visual representation. There is evidence from work of Coltheart, Hull and Slater (1975) that females tend to use phonological encoding to a greater extent than males when reading. Naish (1980) found that females encoded phonologically at a faster rate than males, and suggested that this might explain why the preferred mode of access to meaning appeared to be phonological for females but visual for males.     

Empirically Derived Ability-Achievement Subtypes in a Clinical Sample

The purpose of the present study was to identify reliable and clinically meaningful patterns of ability and achievement using the WISC-III and WIAT. Cluster analysis was used to group the 182 WISC-III and WIAT profiles (10 WISC-III subtests and 4 WIAT subtests) of children between the ages of 9 and 14 years. Theoretical and empirical considerations were used to identify a cluster solution, which involved comparison of several five-, six- and eight-cluster solutions. A five-cluster solution was selected as being representative of the data, which was well replicated across three hierarchical clustering methods (i.e., complete linkage, average linkage-within groups, and average linkage-between groups (UPGMA)). The clusters were labeled based on their most salient characteristics, which included a group of predominantly low ability and achievement, a group demonstrating a pattern of verbal processing deficits, a group demonstrating a pattern of visual spatial/processing speed deficits, a group with low ability and achievement with average processing speed, and a group with deficits consistent with an ACID pattern. The external validity of the five subtypes was assessed through an evaluation of the relationship between cluster membership and neuropsychological test data. Most predictions regarding neuropsychological performance were supported by the data, providing further evidence of the validity of the five-cluster solution. Clinical implications of the ability-achievement typology and suggestions for future research are discussed.