A pilot investigation into unimpaired and dyslexic Persian children's word naming and spelling: Implications for models of reading and counselling

There is now a growing body of research examining developmental dyslexia in different languages and writing systems. The phonologically transparent Persian orthography is normally transcribed with two distinct spellings, words spelled with vowels (letters) transcribed as a fixed part of the spelling (transparent) and words spelled with vowels (diacritics) omitted (opaque). This peculiarity of Persian would enable one to examine the impact of transparency, as well as the possible psychological factors associated with verbal punishment in Persian schools on the development of reading and spelling. Twenty-nine Persian children (22 male and 7 female) classified as being developmentally dyslexic (mean age 9.4, SD?=?1.4) were compared with 49 unimpaired male children (mean age 9, SD?=?1.3) on two main aspects of reading Persian opaque and transparent spellings, namely: Spelling and word naming. The results showed an expected impairment on all aspects of reading between unimpaired and children with dyslexia. However, performance of both groups of participants was impaired when performing tasks with opaque as opposed to transparent spellings. There was also a strong correlation between the recorded number of times the dyslexic child was verbally punished and the number of errors on the spelling and naming of transparent and opaque words. These results are supportive of the impact of spelling transparency, as well as psychological variables as factors in the development of reading and spelling.     

Depressive symptom manifestation and help‐seeking among Chinese college students in Taiwan

One longstanding hypothesis in the research of depression among Chinese populations is that they tend to express depressive symptoms in somatic terms, which, in turn, prevent them from seeking assistance from mental health services. This study aimed to examine the manifestation of depressive symptoms and its relationship to help‐seeking attitudes among Chinese college students. The Chinese Beck Depression Inventory‐II (BDI‐II; Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996 ) and the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help: Shortened Form (ATSPPH‐SF; Fischer & Farina, 1995 ) were administered to 1039 Chinese college students in a private university in Taiwan. Factor ratio scores analyses revealed that Chinese college students generally emphasized somatic complaints compared to cognitive‐affective complaints in expressing depressive symptoms. Probably‐depressed Chinese students (BDI‐II scores?16), however, placed significantly less emphasis on somatic symptoms than did nondepressed students. Additionally, multiple regression analyses showed that while Chinese students with elevated BDI‐II scores were less likely to seek professional psychological help, neither somatic nor cognitive‐affective symptoms were correlated with their attitudes toward seeking and avoiding professional psychological help. These findings seem to run counter to the common assumption that Chinese people tend to express depression in somatic terms and that somatic complaints help to explain their reluctance to seek professional psychological assistance. The current results suggest that Chinese students with elevated depressive symptoms readily acknowledged and expressed cognitive‐affective symptoms of depression and they were likely to distance themselves from professional psychological help. However, somatic symptoms did not explain their reluctance to utilize mental health services.     

First record: a methodological approach to counter sampling bias

One goal of survey research is to optimize sampling procedures so that the collected data will produce accurate population estimates. In this context, sampling bias is a primary threat to a study's validity. If individuals who do not respond are a random sample of the population, then the estimates obtained from such a subsample are unbiased. However, as the percentage of nonrespondents increases, the assumption of unbiased estimation becomes increasingly tenuous. At this point an investigator has two choices: delete all subjects who have not provided data as part of the first data collection, or allow a respondent's point of entry to define his baseline measures for the study. No previous discussion of the latter option has been noted in the methods literature. Therefore the authors have termed this approach to baseline the "first record". Conditions under which the "first record" technique would be appropriate or inappropriate are discussed.     

Deviant Peer Affiliation and Problem Behavior: A Test of Genetic and Environmental Influences

This study uses a multitrait, multimethod (MTMM) approach to investigate the genetic and environmental etiologies of childhood deviant peer affiliation (DPA) and problem behavior (PROB). The variability of genetic and environmental estimates by agent and method is also examined. A total of 77 monozygotic and 72 dizygotic twin pairs and each twin's close friend were assessed. The informants included parents, teachers, and twins, and the methods involved questionnaire reports and coder ratings of videotaped dyadic interactions between each twin and their close friend. Twin intraclass correlations and univariate models attributed DPA and PROB to genetic, and shared and nonshared environmental effects. Parameter estimates differed by rater and method, however. Results accentuate the imperative to attend to method effects inherent in MTMM behavioral geneticresearch.     

Grouping with and without attention

The effects of perceptual grouping on a line discrimination task were investigated using Moore and Egeth's (1997) paradigm. Observers judged which of two lines, presented one above the other over a matrix of spots, was longer. On some trials, larger spots at both ends of the lines formed arrowheads, thereby making possible the Müller-Lyer illusion. When observers attended only to the lines, they were not aware of the arrowheads. Yet their line judgment performance showed that they had succumbed to the illusion. When the observers' attention was directed to the arrowheads but they nevertheless failed to discern the arrowheads' orientation, their line judgments were still influenced by the illusion.     

Paradoxical facilitation of attention in healthy humans

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-induced virtual lesions in healthy subjects can be used to test neurofunctional models of disease. The interhemispheric rivalry model of heminglect is well suited for such investigations, as simple predictions derived from clinical data can be tested without the caveats normally associated with lesion studies. One of these predictions is that release from contralateral inhibition should lead to increased parietal responsiveness, which, in turn, would enhance spatial attention. Here, we detail studies showing TMS-induced paradoxical functional facilitation of attention in healthy individuals and highlight their contribution to the understanding and treatment of neglect syndromes.     

Implications of Timing of Maternal Depressive Symptoms for Early Cognitive and Language Development

: Statistically, women, particularly pregnant women and new mothers, are at heightened risk for depression. The present review describes the current state of the research linking maternal depressed mood and children's cognitive and language development. Exposure to maternal depressive symptoms, whether during the prenatal period, postpartum period, or chronically, has been found to increase children's risk for later cognitive and language difficulties. The present review considers both the timing of maternal depression and the chronicity of mothers' depression on children's risk for cognitive and language delays. Infancy is frequently identified as a sensitive period in which environmental stimulation has the potential to substantially influence children's cognitive and language development. However, children's exposure to chronic maternal depression seems to be associated with more problematic outcomes for children, perhaps because depression interferes with mothers' ability to respond sensitively and consistently over time. Consistent with this expectation, interventions targeting parenting practices of depressed mothers have been found to increase children's cognitive competence during early childhood. The current review provides a synthesis of the current state of the field regarding the association between maternal depression and children's cognitive and language development during early childhood.