Deficits in thematic integration processes in Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia

This study investigated how normal subjects and Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics integrate thematic information incrementally using syntax, lexical-semantics, and pragmatics in a simple active declarative sentence. Three priming experiments were conducted using an auditory lexical decision task in which subjects made a lexical decision on a 'target' (the last word of each sentence) preceded by a 'prime' (a subject noun phrase and verb). The presence and magnitude of priming was compared to a baseline condition in which non-words systematically replaced real word primes. Normal subjects showed evidence for combinatorial thematics by exhibiting significant and larger amounts of thematic priming in the condition where two real words were present in the prime than in the conditions in which only one real word was present in the prime. Additionally, normal subjects showed sensitivity to both syntactic structures and pragmatics. In contrast, Broca's patients did not show significant priming for any condition nor did they show a difference in the magnitude of priming among the conditions. Nonetheless, they showed sensitivity to pragmatics. Wernicke's patients showed significant priming for all conditions, but did not show differences in the magnitude of priming among the conditions. However, they showed sensitivity to sentence grammaticality and pragmatics. The distinct patterns of performance of Broca's and Wernicke's aphasics are discussed in terms of the nature of their impairments in the processes of combinatorial thematics.     

The nature of speech production impairments in anterior aphasics: an acoustic analysis of voicing in fricative consonants

This study investigated the acoustic characteristics of voicing in English fricative consonants produced by anterior aphasics and the effects of phonetic context on these characteristics. Three patients produced voiced and voiceless fricative-vowel syllables in isolation, following a voiced velar stop, and following a voiceless velar stop. Acoustic analyses were conducted of the amplitude and patterning of glottal excitation, as well as fricative noise duration. Results showed that, although the patients are able to coordinate the articulatory gestures for voicing in fricative consonants, they demonstrated abnormal patterns of glottal excitation in the amplitude measures, owing to weaker amplitudes of glottal excitation in voiced fricatives. Context effects failed to emerge because of dysfluent speech. These results suggest that the locus of the speech production deficit of anterior aphasics is not at the higher stages of phoneme selection or planning but rather in articulatory implementation, one related to laryngeal control.     

Is the learn unit a fundamental measure of pedagogy?

We propose a measure of teaching, the learn unit, that explicitly describes the interaction between teachers and their students. The theoretical, educational research, and applied behavior analysis literatures all converge on the learn unit as a fundamental measure of teaching. The theoretical literature proposes the construct of the interlocking operant and embraces verbal behavior, social interaction, and translations of psychological constructs into complex theoretical respondent-operant interactions and behavior-behavior relations. Research findings in education and applied behavior analysis on engaged academic time, opportunity to respond, active student responding, teacher-student responding, student-teacher responding, tutor-tutee responding, tutee-tutor responding, and verbal episodes between individuals all support a measure of interlocking responses. More recently, research analyzing the components of both the students' and teachers' behavior suggests that the learn unit is the strongest predictor of effective teaching. Finally, we propose applications of the learn unit to other issues in pedagogy not yet researched and the relation of learn units to the verbal behavior of students.     

Maternal Depression and Family Media Use: A Questionnaire and Diary Analysis

We describe the association between postpartum depression and the quantity and content of infant media use. Households with depressed mothers viewed twice as much television as households with non-depressed mothers did, and depressed mothers appeared to derive comparatively greater pleasure from television viewing. Maternal depression was associated with an increased exposure to child-directed content by 6–9-month-old infants, although it was not associated with an increased exposure to adult-directed programming. Depressed mothers also reported being less likely to sit and talk with their children during television use or to consult outside sources of information about media. This increase in television exposure without corresponding parental involvement could negatively affect developmental outcomes.     

The challenge of prejudice: counsellors’ talk about challenging clients’ prejudices

This paper considers the implications for training and practice of counsellors’ responses to the notion of challenging clients’ prejudices. It explores tensions in counselling discourse between social responsibility, responsibility to the client and responsibility for one's self as counsellor. Three focus groups of counsellors were asked whether a counsellor should challenge clients’ prejudices. Responses were categorised as challenge, not-challenge or exit responses. Discursive themes identified in the responses are: managing congruence and being non-judgemental; self-care and self-respect; and social responsibility. Strategies for managing the discursive conflicts identified in responding to counsellor-identified client prejudices are summarised.     

Feedback Informed Treatment: Evidence‐Based Practice Meets Social Construction

This article explores the challenges presented by the mandate for evidence‐based practice for family therapists who identify with the philosophical stance of social construction. The history of psychotherapy outcome research is reviewed, as are current findings that provide empirical evidence for an engaged, dialogic practice. The authors suggest that the binary between empiricism and social construction may be unhinged by understanding empiricism as a particular discursive frame (i.e., a particular way of talking, acting, and being in the world), one of many available as a way of understanding and talking about our work. Through a case vignette, the authors introduce the evidence‐based practice of Feedback Informed Treatment as an elaboration of social construction, and as an example of bridging the gap between the discursive frames of empiricism and social construction.     

Expanding the Therapy Paradigm with Queer Couples: A Relational Intersectional Lens

North American and global cultures in general—and the field of Couple and Family Therapy in particular—have made significant strides toward recognizing and validating LGBTQ identities and relationships. However, clinical assessment and conceptualization of queer couples still lack the complexity needed to encompass the issues involved in treatment. Existing literature provides clinicians a basic understanding of queer couples and the dynamics that make them unique from nonqueer couples. However, much of this knowledge has been normed on White middle‐class couples and has rarely included couples with transgender or bisexual members. This article invites clinicians and researchers to apply a feminist model of intersectionality to understand queer couples. Our proposed intersectional lens considers multiple axes of identity and power and their interrelationships (Crenshaw, 1989, 1991). We argue that intersectionality is important for understanding all identities, whether privileged or marginalized (Falicov, 2003). This application of the concept of intersectionality is unique in its relational focus, emphasizing how partners’ complex individual identities overlap with and intersect with one another. Additionally, this lens considers how the therapists’ and clients’ multidimensional identities intersect. Three case studies are presented to illustrate application of the intersectional lens. In each case, exploring the partners’ multiple social locations, their influences on one another, and the therapist's intersections of identity all proved critical to the direction of therapy.