Eye movements and morphological segmentation of compound words: There is a mouse in mousetrap

In two experiments, readers' eye movements were monitored as they read sentences containing compound words. In Experiment 1, the frequency of the first and second morpheme was manipulated in compound words of low whole word frequency. Experiment 2 compared pairs of low frequency compounds with high and low frequency first morphemes but identical second morphemes that were embedded in the same sentence frames. The results showed significant effects of the frequency of both morphemes on gaze duration and total fixation time on the compound words. Regression analyses revealed an influence of whole word frequency on the same measures. The results suggest that morphemic constituents of compound words are activated in the course of retrieving the representation of the whole compound word. The fact that the frequency effects were not confined to fixations on the morphemic constituents themselves implies that saccadic eye movements are implemented before morphemic retrieval has been completed. The results highlight the importance of developing more precise models of the perceptual processes underlying reading and how they interact with the processes involved in lexical retrieval and comprehension.     

Counseling Customers: Emerging Roles for Genetic Counselors in the Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Market

Individuals now have access to an increasing number of internet resources offering personal genomics services. As the direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC GT) industry expands, critics have called for pre- and post-test genetic counseling to be included with the product. Several genetic testing companies offer genetic counseling. There has been no examination to date of this service provision, whether it meets critics’ concerns and implications it may have for the genetic counseling profession. Considering the increasing relevance of genetics in healthcare, the complexity of genetic information provided by DTC GT, the mediating role of the internet in counseling, and potential conflicts of interest, this is a topic which deserves further attention. In this paper we offer a discourse analysis of ways in which genetic counseling is represented on DTC GT websites, blogs and other online material. This analysis identified four types of genetic counseling represented on the websites: the integrated counseling product; discretionary counseling; independent counseling; and product advice. Genetic counselors are represented as having the following roles: genetics educator; mediator; lifestyle advisor; risk interpreter; and entrepreneur. We conclude that genetic counseling as represented on DTC GT websites demonstrates shifting professional roles and forms of expertise in genetic counseling. Genetic counselors are also playing an important part in how the genetic testing market is taking shape. Our analysis offers important and timely insights into recent developments in the genetic counseling profession, which have relevance for practitioners, researchers and policy makers concerned with the evolving field of personal genomics.     

Emotional and Physiological Responses to Social‐Evaluative Threat

Social‐evaluative threat has been theorized to elicit coordinated psychological and physiological responses, including increases in self‐conscious emotions as well as increases in cortisol and proinflammatory cytokine activity. Acute laboratory stressors with social‐evaluative threat have triggered robust increases in cortisol, whereas equivalent laboratory stressors without this explicit social‐evaluative component have not elicited changes in this physiological parameter. Participants who have reported the greatest increases in self‐conscious emotions have also shown the greatest increases in cortisol activity, suggesting that these physiological changes may occur in concert with self‐conscious states. Other work has shown that social‐evaluative threat and accompanying self‐conscious emotions can influence immune parameters associated with inflammation. These findings have implications for a number of areas of research within social and personality psychology.     

How Do Children with ADHD (Mis)manage Their Real-Life Dyadic Friendships? A Multi-Method Investigation

This multimethod study provides detailed information about the friendships of 87 children (76% boys) with ADHD and 46 comparison children aged 7–13 years. The methods included parent and teacher ratings, self-report measures and direct observation of friends’ dyadic behaviors in three structured analogue tasks. Results indicated that, in contrast with comparison children, children with ADHD had friends with high levels of ADHD and oppositional symptoms; they perceived fewer positive features and more negative features, and were less satisfied in their friendships. Observational data indicated that children with ADHD performed both more legal and more illegal maneuvers than comparison children in a fast-paced competitive game. While negotiating with their friends, children with ADHD made more insensitive and self-centered proposals than comparison children. In dyads consisting of one child with ADHD and one typically developing child, children with ADHD were often more dominant than their friends.     

Reason-Giving and the Natural Normativity of Argumentation

Topoi - Argument is a pervasive feature of human interaction, and in its natural contexts of occurrence, it is organized around the management of disagreement. Since disagreement can occur around...