VISUO-PERCEPTIVE AND VISUO-MOTOR PERFORMANCE OF CHILDREN WITH READING DISABILITIES

N ielsen , H. H. & R inge , K. Visuo-perceptive and visuo-motor performance of children with reading disabilities. Scand. J. Psychol ., 1969, 10 , 225–231.—Twenty 9–10-year-old children with reading disability were compared with twenty normal readers on Frostig Test of Visual Perception, Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test and Goodenough Draw-a-Person Test. Contrary to prediction, the results showed more similarity than difference in performance level between the two groups, only the Bender Test discriminating significantly ( p<0.05 ). It was concluded that impaired visual perception and visuo-motor dysfunction did not seem important correlates of reading disability.     

SOCIAL VULNERABILITY AND ADJUSTMENT OF CEREBRAL PALSIED CHILDREN

Social adjustment of forty cerebral palsied children was studied by means of the Düss Fable Test, and interviews with parents and teachers. More cerebral palsied than normal children apperceived the fables as containing rejective and frustrating elements and responded with feelings of hostility, jealousy and defiance. The cerebral palsied children revealed a more dependent and conflict-laden relationship with their parents. One third of the cerebral palsied children showed a poor social adjustment in school but those with harmonious family background obtained a satisfactory social adjustment in school. The data gave no support for the existence of a typical psychological syndrome of cerebral palsy.     

Validation of a Self-Concept Scale for Lynch Syndrome in Different Nationalities

Learning about hereditary cancer may influence an individual’s self-concept, which otherwise represents a complex but stable cognitive structure. Recently, a 20-statement self-concept scale, with subscales related to stigma-vulnerability and bowel symptom-related anxiety, was developed for Lynch syndrome. We compared the performance of this scale in 591 mutation carriers from Denmark, Sweden and Canada. Principal component analysis identified two sets of linked statements—the first related to feeling different, isolated and labeled, and the second to concern and worry about bowel changes. The scale performed consistently in the three countries. Minor differences were identified, with guilt about passing on a defective gene and feelings of losing one’s privacy being more pronounced among Canadians, whereas Danes more often expressed worries about cancer. Validation of the Lynch syndrome self-concept scale supports its basic structure, identifies dependence between the statements in the subscales and demonstrates its applicability in different Western populations.     

Contextual modulation of the motion aftereffect

The authors examined center-surround effects for motion perception in human observers. The magnitude of the motion aftereffect (MAE) elicited by a drifting grating was measured with a nulling task and with a threshold elevation procedure. A surround grating of the same spatial frequency, temporal frequency, and orientation significantly reduced the magnitude of the MAE elicited by adaptation to the center grating. This effect was bandpass tuned for spatial frequency, orientation, and temporal frequency. Plaid surrounds but not contrast-modulated surrounds that moved in the same direction also reduced the MAE. These results provide psychophysical evidence for center-surround interactions analogous to those previously observed in electrophysiological studies of motion processing in primates. Collectively, these results suggest that motion processing, similar to texture processing, is organized for the purpose of highlighting regions of directional discontinuity in retinal images.     

Personality traits of Russians from the observer's perspective

Data were collected by the members of the Russian character and personality survey from 39 samples in 33 administrative areas of the Russian Federation. Respondents (N = 7065) identified an ethnically Russian adult or college‐aged man or woman whom they knew well and rated the target using the Russian observer rating version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, which measures neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Factor analyses within samples showed that the factor structure of an international sample combining data from 50 different cultures was well replicated in all 39 Russian samples. Sex differences replicated the known pattern in all samples, demonstrating that women scored higher than men on most of the neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness facet scales. Cross‐sectional analyses demonstrated consistent age differences for four factors: Older individuals compared to younger ones were less extraverted and open but more agreeable and conscientious. The mean levels of traits were similar in all 39 samples. Although in general personality traits in Russians closely followed the universal pattern, some reliable culture‐specific effects were also found that future studies can help interpret. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Blind children recognizing tactile pictures respond like sighted children given guidance in exploration

Theory of tactile pictures argues that untrained blind subjects can recognize raised, outline pictures. It contends the blind person’s knowledge of the shapes of common objects is like that of the sighted, and the blind person’s pictorial abilities use the same principles as the sighted person’s. To test this theory, blind children (aged 8–13) and blindfolded age-matched sighted children were asked to identify raised-line drawings of common objects. Their performances were correlated. In addition, the blind children identified more than sighted children exploring the pictures actively, but the same number of pictures as sighted children who were given passive, guided exploration. We argue blind and sighted children use the same principles to identify the pictures, but the blind have superior exploration skills. The differences in the effects of exploration skills on recognition scores are minimized when the sighted children are given guidance, since the sighted children then have efficient contact with the displays, and the performance of the sighted and the blind is then governed by the same principles, without one group benefitting from advantages in exploration skills.     

Comparability of Self‐Reported Conscientiousness Across 21 Countries

In cross‐national studies, mean levels of self‐reported phenomena are often not congruent with more objective criteria. One prominent explanation for such findings is that people make self‐report judgements in relation to culture‐specific standards (often called the reference group effect), thereby undermining the cross‐cultural comparability of the judgements. We employed a simple method called anchoring vignettes in order to test whether people from 21 different countries have varying standards for Conscientiousness, a Big Five personality trait that has repeatedly shown unexpected nation‐level relationships with external criteria. Participants rated their own Conscientiousness and that of 30 hypothetical persons portrayed in short vignettes. The latter type of ratings was expected to reveal individual differences in standards of Conscientiousness. The vignettes were rated relatively similarly in all countries, suggesting no substantial culture‐related differences in standards for Conscientiousness. Controlling for the small differences in standards did not substantially change the rankings of countries on mean self‐ratings or the predictive validities of these rankings for objective criteria. These findings are not consistent with mean self‐rated Conscientiousness scores being influenced by culture‐specific standards. The technique of anchoring vignettes can be used in various types of studies to assess the potentially confounding effects of reference levels. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Explanatory power of extended cognition

I argue that examining the explanatory power of the hypothesis of extended cognition (HEC) offers a fruitful approach to the problem of cognitive system demarcation. Although in the discussions on HEC it has become common to refer to considerations of explanatory power as a means for assessing the plausibility of the extended cognition approach, to date no satisfying account of explanatory power has been presented in the literature. I suggest that the currently most prominent theory of explanation in the special sciences, James Woodward's contrastive-counterfactual theory, and an account of explanatory virtues building on that theory can be used to develop a systematic picture of cognitive system demarcation in the psychological sciences. A major difference between my differential influence (DI) account and most other theories of cognitive extension is the cognitive systems pluralism implied by my approach. By examining the explanatory power of competing traditions in psychological memory research, I conclude that internalist and externalist classificatory strategies are characterized by different profiles of explanatory virtues and should often be considered as complementary rather than competing approaches. This suggests a deflationary interpretation of HEC.