Using the Interactive Systems Framework in Understanding the Relation Between General Program Capacity and Implementation in Afterschool Settings

The present study uses the Interactive Systems Framework (ISF) to understand how general capacity influences the implementation of prevention programs in afterschool settings. Eight afterschool sites received the Good Behavior Game (GBG) intervention, a program designed to foster supportive behavioral management and positive youth behavior. In line with the Prevention Support System component of ISF, the intervention afterschool staff were trained and received weekly on-site support from coaches in implementing the GBG. It was found that GBG implementation scores were greatest in afterschool programs that rated high on both organizational- and community-levels of general capacity; high scores on only one level of general capacity resulted in lower implementation scores. Thus, afterschool sites that were more organized, maintained adequate facilities, and developed strong linkages to individuals or organizations in the community scored highest in implementation fidelity and quality. This study highlights the importance of considering interactions among multiple levels of general capacity in efforts to promote evidence-based practices in afterschool settings. Caution should be taken in generalizing findings due to the small sample in this study.     

Attentional control in visual signal detection: effects of abrupt-onset and no-onset stimuli

The attention literature distinguishes two general mechanisms by which attention can benefit performance: gain (or resource) models and orienting (or switching) models. In gain models, processing efficiency is a function of a spatial distribution of capacity or resources; in orienting models, an attentional spotlight must be aligned with the stimulus location, and processing efficiency is a function of when this occurs. Although they involve different processing mechanisms, these models are difficult to distinguish empirically. We compared performance with abrupt-onset and no-onset Gabor patch stimuli in a cued detection task in which we obtained distributions of reaction time (RT) and accuracy as a function of stimulus contrast. In comparison to abrupt-onset stimuli, RTs to miscued no-onset stimuli were increased and accuracy was reduced. Modeling the data with the integrated system model of Philip L. Smith and Roger Ratcliff (2009) provided evidence for reallocation of processing resources during the course of a trial, consistent with an orienting account. Our results support a view of attention in which processing efficiency depends on a dynamic spatiotemporal distribution of resources that has both gain and orienting properties.     

Decision making in children and adolescents: impaired Iowa Gambling Task performance in early adolescence

Disadvantageous decision making is cited as one of the premier problems in childhood development, underlying risky behavior and causing adolescents to make poor choices that could prove detrimental later in life. However, there are relatively few studies looking at the development of decision making in children and adolescents, and fewer still comparing it with the performance trajectories of more typically developing cognitive functions. In the current study, we measured the affective decision-making abilities of children and adolescents 8- to 17-years-old using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT; Bechara, 2007) in conjunction with a battery of established cognitive neuropsychological assessments. In contrast to the typical linear development of executive functions, affective decision-making abilities progressed in a J-shaped curve. Younger, more developmentally naive children performed better on the IGT than older, early-adolescent individuals, with performance becoming advantageous again toward the end of the teenage years. This trajectory is thought to coincide with asymmetric neural development in early adolescents, with relatively overactive striatal regions creating impulsive reward-driven responses that may go unchecked by the slower developing inhibitive frontal cortex. This trajectory is in stark contrast with the linear development of memory, speed of processing, and other cognitive abilities over the ages.     

Hoping for more: The influence of outcome desirability on information seeking and predictions about relative quantities

People must often engage in sequential sampling in order to make predictions about the relative quantities of two options. We investigated how directional motives influence sampling selections and resulting predictions in such cases. We used a paradigm in which participants had limited time to sample items and make predictions about which side of the screen contained more of a critical item. Sampling selections were biased by monetary desirability manipulations, and participants exhibited a desirability bias for both dichotomous and continuous predictions.     

The effects of a responsive parenting intervention on parent-child interactions during shared book reading

This study examined mother-child shared book reading behaviors before and after participation in a random-assignment responsive parenting intervention called Play and Learning Strategies (PALS) that occurred during infancy (PALS I), the toddler-preschool (PALS II) period, or both as compared with a developmental assessment (DAS) intervention (DAS I and/or II). The efficacy of PALS was previously demonstrated for improving mother and child behaviors within play contexts, everyday activities, and standardized measures of child language. We hypothesized that PALS effects would generalize to influence maternal and child behaviors during a shared reading task even though this situation was not a specific focus of the intervention and that this would be similar for children who varied in biological risk. Participation in at least PALS II was expected to have a positive effect due to children's increased capacity to engage in book reading at this age. Four groups of randomized mothers and their children (PALS I-II, PALS I-DAS II, DAS I-PALS II, DAS I-II) were observed in shared reading interactions during the toddler-preschool period and coded for (a) mother's affective and cognitive-linguistic supports and (b) child's responses to maternal requests and initiations. Support was found for significant changes in observed maternal and child behaviors, and evidence of mediation was found for the intervention to affect children's behaviors through change in maternal responsiveness behaviors. These results add to other studies supporting the importance of targeting a broad range of responsive behaviors across theoretical frameworks in interventions to facilitate children's development.     

Does delaying judgments of learning really improve the efficacy of study decisions? Not so much

A widely held assumption in metamemory is that better, more accurate metamemory monitoring leads to better, more efficacious restudy decisions, reflected in better memory performance--we refer to this causal chain as the restudy selectivity hypothesis. In 3 sets of experiments, we tested this hypothesis by factorially manipulating metamemory monitoring accuracy and self-regulation of study. To manipulate monitoring accuracy, we compared judgments of learning (JOLs) made contemporaneously with a delayed retrieval attempt to JOLs either made at a delay without attempting retrieval or made immediately after study; in previous studies, delayed retrieval-based JOLs have robustly predicted recall with greater relative accuracy than have the other JOL types. To manipulate self-regulation of study, in Experiments 1A-1C and 2A-2C, we compared conditions in which participants' restudy selections were honored with conditions in which they were completely or randomly dishonored; in Experiments 3A-3C, we randomly honored or dishonored half of the restudy selections and half of the nonselections. Results revealed that the benefit of delayed, retrieval-based JOLs for final memory performance was due largely to the selection of more items for restudy rather than to better discriminations between items that would benefit more versus less from restudy. In most cases, gains in recall due to greater self-regulation of study did not increase with better monitoring accuracy; when they did, the effect was extremely small. The surprising conclusion was that restudy decisions were not very much more efficacious under conditions that yield greater monitoring accuracy than under those that do not.     

Using the movement-related cortical potential to study motor skill learning

The movement-related cortical potential (MRCP) is a low-frequency negative shift in the electroencephalographic recording that occurs about 2 s before voluntary movement production. The MRCP is thought to reflect the cortical processes involved in movement planning and movement preparation. In recent years, researchers have used this potential to investigate the processes involved in motor skill learning. Their findings indicate differences in the amplitude and onset times of the MRCP between experienced and novice performers, which have been attributed to long-term training in the experts. The authors discuss these findings critically and consider their implications for both future research and practice.     

Profiles of anger control in second-grade children: examination of self-report, observational, and physiological components

The current study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to examine anger control in 257 second-grade children (∼8 years of age). Anger was induced through losing a game and prize to a confederate who cheated. Three components of anger control were assessed: self-report of awareness of anger, observed intensity of angry facial expressions, and skin conductance reactivity. These components served as indicators in an LPA conducted to determine whether distinct groups of children who differed in anger control profiles would emerge. Five groups were found: (a) Physiology-and-Expression Controllers (high self-report, low expression, low physiological arousal), (b) Expression-Only Controllers (high self-report, low expression, high physiological arousal), (c) Non-controllers (high self-report, high expression, medium physiological arousal), (d) Non-reactive (low self-report, low expression, low physiological arousal), and (e) Non-reporters (low self-report, medium expression, medium physiological arousal). These findings are discussed in terms of implications for the assessment of children’s anger control skills and intervention programs for children’s anger management.     

Foundations of an ontology of philosophy

We describe an ontology of philosophy that is designed to aid navigation through philosophical literature, including literature in the form of encyclopedia articles and textbooks and in both printed and digital forms. The ontology is designed also to serve integration and structuring of data pertaining to the philosophical literature, and in the long term also to support reasoning about the provenance and contents of such literature, by providing a representation of the philosophical domain that is oriented around what philosophical literature is about.