The development of morphological representations in young readers: a cross‐modal priming study

The way children organize words in their memory has intrigued many researchers in the past 20 years. Given the large number of morphologically complex words in many languages, the influence of morphemes on this organization is being increasingly examined. The aim of this study was to understand how morphemic information influences English‐speaking children's word recognition. Children in grades 3 and 5 were asked to complete a lexical decision priming task. Prime‐target pairs varied in semantic similarity, with low (e.g., belly‐bell), moderate (e.g., lately‐late), and high similarity relations (e.g., boldly‐bold). There were also word pairs similar in form only (e.g., spinach‐spin) and in semantics only (e.g., garbage‐trash). Primes were auditory and targets were presented visually. Analyses of children's lexical decision times revealed graded priming effects as a function of the convergence of form and meaning. These results indicate that developing readers do not necessarily need to lexicalize morphological units to facilitate word recognition. Their ability to process the morphological structure of words depends on their ability to develop connections between form and meaning.     

ATTACHMENT IN INFANTS WITH CLEFT LIP AND/OR PALATE: MARGINAL SECURITY AND ITS CHANGES OVER TIME

This study examines the attachment quality and how this changed over time among infants who had cleft lip and palate (CLP), by conducting a prospective longitudinal study addressing the effects of this type of perinatal event on the parent–infant relationship and the emotional development of the infants. At 12 months of age, the Strange Situation Paradigm (SSP; M. Ainsworth, M.C. Blehar, E. Waters, & T. Wall, 1978) was administered to a sample of 38 CLP infants (born between 2003 and 2010) and 17 healthy controls. At 4 years of age, the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT; I. Bretherton, D. Ridgeway, & J. Cassidy, 1990) was administered to 32 individuals from the CLP sample and 14 from the control group. As reported in the literature, CLP infants display secure attachment behaviors as frequently as do control infants (55%). However, a more detailed analysis of the attachment scales revealed that CLP infants show more avoidance and less proximity seeking. In addition, a closer examination of the subcategories of attachment styles revealed that most CLP infants (71%) displayed distal attachment strategies such as the B1/B2 or A1/A2 subcategories. At 4 years old, CLP infants clearly displayed more deactivation and less security than did the control sample. Moreover, when detailing the evolution of attachment individually, almost 60% of the CLP children showing distal strategies at 12 months became deactivated or disorganized when they reached 4 years. Indeed, subtle differences in attachment behaviors at 12 months old—which can be considered marginally secure at that age—may reveal attachment vulnerabilities, which seem to be more apparent over the course of development.     

A 21st century cognitive portrait of the Himba,a remote people of Namibia

This research sketches the cognitive portrait of the Himba, a remote population from Northern Namibia living in a non-industrial society almost completely devoid of modern artefacts. We compared the Himba sample to a French sample, exploring cognitive reflection, moral judgement, cooperative behaviour, paranormal beliefs, and happiness. We looked for both differences and similarities across cultures, and for the way cognitive functioning is associated with a range of demographic variables. Results showed some important group differences, with the Himba being more intuitive, more religious, happier, and less utilitarian than the French participants. Further, the predictors of these beliefs and behaviours differed between the two groups. The present results provide additional support to the recent line of research targeting cultural variations and similarities, and call for the need to expand psychology research beyond the Western world.     

Comparison of Mothers', Fathers', and Teachers' Reports on Problem Behavior in 5- to 6-Year-Old Children

Evidence exists that there is low agreement between multiple informants reporting on children's and adolescents' behavior problems. Few studies, however, focus on agreement between informants in specific age groups. This study examined correspondence and disagreement between mother, father, and teacher reports of problem behavior by analyzing CBCL and TRF data of 2 nonclinical samples of 5- to 6-year-old preschool children (N = 424). Findings indicated that interrater agreement was low to moderate. This was shown by the intercorrelations, the explained variance in regression analyses and the little overlap in the number of children rated as behaviorally disturbed by all 3 informants. Agreement between mother and father reports was highest, whereas agreement between mother and teacher reports was lowest. Disagreement between informants was highest for internalizing problems. Potential explanations for the lack of agreement are discussed. Guidelines are formulated to refine assessment and optimize clinical decision-making processes.     

虚拟现实技术应用于神经心理评估的研究概述

传统神经心理评估的实验控制和生态效度的平衡问题日益受到研究人员的关注,而新兴的虚拟现实(Virtual Reality,VR)技术为问题的改善带来了希望,它不仅可以模拟现实环境并支持被试的直接交互,而且能对传统测试进行再现和扩展。它所形成的评估系统能对刺激的内容和表象、任务的复杂度和被试的响应进行灵活控制,所获取的信息更丰富、准确。在初步评估注意过程(注意、单侧空间忽略)、记忆(前瞻记忆、情景记忆、空间记忆、地形定向)和执行功能方面已获得了令人满意的效果。然而目前VR评估的应用仍存在技术和设备方面的不足,以及对评估者和被试不同操作要求的局限,因此今后除了要规范化现有VR评估系统,还应该进一步发展基础条件来推动系统的广泛应用。     

Interaction Analysis and Psychology: A Dialogical Perspective

Interaction analysis is not a prerogative of any discipline in social sciences. It has its own history within each disciplinary field and is related to specific research objects. From the standpoint of psychology, this article first draws upon a distinction between factorial and dialogical conceptions of interaction. It then briefly presents the basis of a dialogical approach in psychology and focuses upon four basic assumptions. Each of them is examined on a theoretical and on a methodological level with a leading question: to what extent is it possible to develop analytical tools that are fully coherent with dialogical assumptions? The conclusion stresses the difficulty of developing methodological tools that are fully consistent with dialogical assumptions and argues that there is an unavoidable tension between accounting for the complexity of an interaction and using methodological tools which necessarily “monologise” this complexity.     

Risk factors associated with eating disorders in Mexican preadolescents with normal weight

This study aimed to identify the differences in body self-esteem, general self-esteem and eating attitudes in a representative sample of children, aged 9-12 years, attending school in México DF. The logistic regression model incorporated the variables of sex, general self-esteem, BMI, age and discrepancy between the perceived image and the ideal image. Participants with an increased risk of eating disorders were girls: a) with less general self-esteem; b) BMI at the upper range of normal weight; c) greater negative discrepancy between perceived and ideal image; d) aged 11-12 years. Higher general self-esteem would act as a protector for eating disorders, while the desire for a thinner ideal body would be a risk factor.     

More on the Gendered Division of Household Labor: A Response to Commentators

This article is a response to the commentaries made regarding our original article (Lachance-Grzela and Bouchard 2010), which reviewed the state of research on the division of household labor and summarized the main theoretical perspectives used to explain why women continue to complete the larger share of household tasks. In the following pages, we underline how the commentators were helpful in identifying some limitations of the current research on the allocation of household labor and in suggesting relevant paths for future studies. We discuss points on which the commentators agree, such as the need to achieve a better understanding of all forms of inequalities, and points on which they disagree, such as the way researchers should proceed when studying the impact of national context. We also reply to each individual commentary. In response to Coltrane (2010), we discuss the causal loops that exist between gender inequalities in the private and public spheres. We agree with Davis (2010) who proposed that studying the question from other angles could help understand why household labor continues to be divided along gendered lines. We add to Claffey and Manning’s discussion (2010) of the paradox which stems from the fact that couples often perceive an objectively unequal division of household labor as fair to both partners. In conclusion, we take the opportunity to address additional issues related to the division of household labor. For instance, from a clinical psychology standpoint, we discuss how couples who strive to achieve a more egalitarian division of household labor do so.     

Krankheitsbelastung bei chronisch entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen

Background

Psychosocial distress is considerable in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of this study was to assess the association of illness perceptions with disease-specific distress in patients with IBD in the context of various medical and psychological parameters.

Method

A total of 62 patients suffering from IBD were examined for illness perceptions using the illness perception questionnaire revised (IPQ-R), medical parameters and affective parameters using the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) in a cross-sectional study. Associations with disease-specific distress were assessed.

Results

In multiple regression analyses illness perceptions and also physical well-being were identified as significant predictors of disease-specific distress and showed significant effects on the explanation for the amount of variance (R²=0.70).

Conclusion

Even in the context of various medical and psychological parameters illness perceptions showed significant associations with disease-specific distress in patients with IBD.