Cognitive ability in virtual reality: Validity evidence for VR game‐based assessments

Virtual reality (VR) technology may provide unique benefits for assessing individual characteristics, in contrast with traditional assessments. This study examined validity evidence for the use of VR game (VRG) scores to indicate specific cognitive abilities. Participants completed three VRGs, three computer‐based assessments (CBAs), and additional scales. To evaluate convergent validity, VRG scores were compared with CBA scores. For divergent validity, VRG scores were compared with five factors of personality based on the Five Factor Model. For criterion‐related validity, VRG scores were compared with academic achievement (i.e., grade point average). Findings generally provided support that the VRG scores are related to certain spatial reasoning subdimensions of cognitive ability. However, further research is needed to examine the qualities of VRGs as assessment tools.     

Habiletés phonologiques chez des enfants dysphasiques de GS et CP : étude comparative avec des enfants au développement langagier normal

The aim of this study was to investigate the deficit in phonological skills of pre-reader and beginning reader children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). We compared their performances in different metaphonological tasks (a common unit detection task (syllable vs phoneme) and a phoneme deletion task) with those of children with Normal Language Development (NLD) of the same school level. Phoneme detection task is very difficult for all children in kindergarten. The performances of SLI children are poorer than those of NLD children for syllables and phonemes in first grade. The forced choice phoneme deletion tasks point out a specific difficulty for children with SLI to focus on the phonological properties of words when their attention must shift from content to form.     

Comprehension of televised stories in boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and nonreferred boys

Two studies compared comprehension of televised stories by 7- to 12-year-old boys with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and nonreferred comparison boys. Boys watched one show with toys present and one with toys absent. Visual attention was continuously recorded, and recall was tested after each show. Across studies, visual attention was high with toys absent but decreased sharply with toys present for boys with ADHD. Groups showed similar levels of cued recall of discrete units of information regardless of differences in attention. When recall tasks and television story structure required knowledge of relations among events, the reduced attention of boys with ADHD interfered with recall. Although visual attention of comparison boys also decreased to some extent with toys present, there was no such decrement in recall. Implications of the difficulties children with ADHD have in integrated story comprehension are discussed.     

Stigmatized‐Identity Cues and Consumer Applications Revisited

This article responds to thoughtful commentaries provided by Lamberton (2019–this issue) and Wooten & Rank‐Christman (2019—this issue) on Chaney, Sanchez, & Maimon (2019—this issue), an article in which we discussed the implications of social psychological research on stigmatized‐identity safety cues for consumer behavior. In Chaney, et al. (2019–this issue), we contend that stigmatized‐identity cues can signal belonging to marginalized groups via the ideological assumptions made about companies. In this article, we first clarify our definition of stigmatized identities beyond the limitation assumed by Wooten & Rank‐Christman (2019—this issue). In addition, we join the conversation regarding when cues lead to divergent responses in social groups. We also consider how using identity cues can “backfire” and the importance of using marketing goals to assess the extent to which strategies using such cues succeeded. Lastly, we integrate Lamberton's (2019–this issue) framework of dignity architecture and related empirical findings to discuss some of the challenges of research on stigmatized‐identity cues.     

Is speech alignment to talkers or tasks?

Speech alignment, or the tendency of individuals to subtly imitate each other’s speaking styles, is often assessed by comparing a subject’s baseline and shadowed utterances to a model’s utterances, often through perceptual ratings. These types of comparisons provide information about the occurrence of a change in subject’s speech, but they do not indicate that this change is toward the specific shadowed model. In three experiments, we investigated whether alignment is specific to a shadowed model. Experiment 1 involved the classic baseline-to-shadowed comparison, to confirm that subjects did, in fact, sound more like their model when they shadowed, relative to any preexisting similarities between a subject and a model. Experiment 2 tested whether subjects’ utterances sounded more similar to the model whom they had shadowed or to another, unshadowed model. In Experiment 3, we examined whether subjects’ utterances sounded more similar to the model whom they had shadowed or to another subject who had shadowed a different model. The results of all experiments revealed that subjects sounded more similar to the model whom they had shadowed. This suggests that shadowing-based speech alignment is not just a change, but a change in the direction of the shadowed model, specifically.     

Pregnant and Parenting Battered Women Speak Out about their Relationships and Challenges

Domestic violence is one of the leading health risks to women in the United States. Abuse during pregnancy increases the negative health consequences for mothers and their unborn children. This article presents survey and open-ended interview data from participants in an innovative program for pregnant and parenting battered women and examines the health status of mothers and newborns, their experience and perception of both physical and nonphysical abuse, and their challenges to prenatal care.     

An examination of the seductive details effect in terms of working memory capacity

Previous work on learning from text has demonstrated that although illustrated text can enhance comprehension, illustrations can also sometimes lead to poor learning outcomes when they are not relevant to understanding the text This phenomenon is known as the seductive details effect. The first experiment was designed to test whether the ability to control one's attention, as measured by working memory span tasks, would influence the processing of a scientific text that contained seductive (irrelevant) images, conceptually relevant images, or no illustrations. Understanding was evaluated using both an essay response and an inference verification task. Results indicated that low working memory capacity readers are especially vulnerable to the seductive details effect. In the second experiment, this issue was explored further, using eye-tracking methodology to evaluate the reading patterns of individuals who differed in working memory capacity as they read the same seductively illustrated scientific text Results indicated that low working memory individuals attend to seductive illustrations more often than not and, also, for a longer duration than do those individuals high in working memory capacity.     

Single-trial learning of "what" and "who" information in a gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla): implications for episodic memory

Single-trial learning and long-term memory of "what" and "who" information were examined in an adult gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). We presented the gorilla with a to-be-remembered food item at the time of study. In Experiment 1, following a retention interval of either approximately 7 min or 24 h, the gorilla responded with one of five cards, each corresponding to a particular food. The gorilla was accurate on 70% of the short retention-interval trials and on 82% of the long retention-interval trials. In Experiment 2, the food stimulus was provided by one of two experimenters, each of whom was represented by a card. The gorilla identified the food (55% of the time) and the experimenter (82% of the time) on the short retention-interval trials. On the long retention-interval trials, the gorilla was accurate for the food (73%) and for the person (87%). The results are interpreted in light of theories of episodic memory. Electronic Publication     

Behavioral activation and the prevention of suicidal behaviors in patients with borderline personality disorder

Clinical approaches in treating and preventing suicidal behaviors in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have received limited attention. To stimulate further work in this area, we present a behavioral activation treatment for depression (BATD; Lejuez, Hopko, & Hopko, 2002) that has shown promising results in treating clinically depressed patients and a theoretical conceptualization for why BATD may prove particularly useful in reducing the frequency of suicide-related behaviors and other symptoms characteristic of patients with BPD. We also present theoretical consistencies between BATD and the well-established intervention of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT; Linehan, 1993), which may allow for their practical integration, and conclude with a case study that illustrates the assimilation of these strategies in the treatment of a patient with BPD.