Teachers' knowledge, misconceptions, and lacks concerning Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

This study was designed to analyze the knowledge, misconceptions, and lacks about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in a sample of 193 teachers, as a replication of the study carried by Sciutto, Terjesen and Bender in 2000. Teachers completed the Knowledge of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (KADDS) (Spanish version), adapted by the authors of this research, to measure knowledge of ADHD in three content areas: general knowledge, symptoms/diagnosis, and treatment. Results indicated an average of correct responses of 31.67, 63.88 and 40.46% in general knowledge, symptoms/diagnosis and treatment, respectively. Teachers displayed significantly more knowledge in the Symptoms/Diagnosis scale than in the other scales. Their knowledge correlated positively with: years of experience with hyperactive children, number of hyperactive pupils in their classrooms, and level of perceived self-efficacy. These findings are consistent with those obtained by Sciutto and colleagues.     

The Impact of Competency Statements on Résumés for Short-listing Decisions

Sixty-two managers and human resource consultants rated a series of genuine résumés with covering letters. The résumés were manipulated to contain varying amounts of information about the candidate’s knowledge, skills and abilities (competency statements). This information appeared at different locations in the résumé and covering letter. In addition, half the managers were provided with extra job requirement details beyond the job advertisement. Managers rated the candidate résumés for candidate suitability, decision to interview and overall ranking. The inclusion of competency statements resulted in higher manager ratings. However, the location of the competency statements did not influence ratings given to résumés. Further, the extra information provided to managers did not influence their ratings. The results replicate and extend an earlier study by Earl, Bright and Adams (1998) and challenge the idea that selection decisions are largely based on the notion of applicant fit. The results suggest that the inclusion on the résumé of statements that address job competencies even in a general fashion will boost an applicant’s chances of being short-listed.     

Compliance with National Ethics Requirements for Human-Subject Research in Non-biomedical Sciences in Brazil: A Changing Culture?

Science and Engineering Ethics - Ethics regulation for human-subject research (HSR) has been established for about 20 years in Brazil. However, compliance with this regulation is...     

Processing complex graphemes in handwriting production

Recent studies on handwriting production and neuropsychological data have suggested that orthographic representations are multilevel structures that encode information on letter identity and order, but also on intermediate-grained processing units such as syllables and morphemes. This study on handwriting production examined whether orthographic representations also include a graphemic-processing level. French adults wrote words containing an embedded one-, two-, or three-letter grapheme (e.g., a in clavier, ai in prairie, ain in plainte) on a digitizer. The results for letter duration revealed that the timing of movement processing depends on grapheme length (e.g., the duration of a for one-letter graphemes was shorter than that for two-letter graphemes, which, in turn, was shorter than that for three-letter graphemes). Two- and three-letter graphemes start to be processed before we start to write them. The results therefore revealed that orthographic representations also encode information on grapheme complexity.     

Stressful life events and suicidal behaviour in countries with different development levels: Nicaragua,El Salvador,Chile and Spain

This paper presents a study conducted on 709 Latin American undergraduates from four countries with different development levels (Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile and Spain). The intention of this paper is to value the differences in the number and characteristics of stressful life events (SLE) suffered by the participants. Another purpose is to confirm the relation between SLE and suicidal conduct in Spanish cultural contexts, through the study of a multicultural sample of Spanish‐speaking university students, and finally, to isolate the SLE that allow predicting a later suicidal conduct to a greatest extent. The information was collected by means of a self‐applied questionnaire. The results indicate a greater presence of SLE among those who live in countries with lower development levels and among those who have attempted committing suicide. It is observed that the fact of having suffered certain SLE—physical or sexual mistreatment, excessive alcohol or drug consumption and having left home during childhood or adolescence—aid in the prediction of later suicidal conducts in the studied samples. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Relationship Between Overeducation and Job Satisfaction Among Young Spanish Workers: The Role of Salary,Contract of Employment,and Work Experience

The increase of education in younger generations and the relative scarcity of qualified jobs available for them makes overeducation of young employees a social issue. We explored the relationships between overeducation and job satisfaction (extrinsic, intrinsic, social facet), as well as the direct and moderating role of salary, contract of employment, and work experience in these relationships using hierarchical regression analyses. Data were collected from a sample of 643 young Spanish employees. As expected, there were negative relationships between overeducation and all 3 satisfaction facets. Moreover, high work experience emerged as a moderating factor that buffered the negative effect of overeducation on extrinsic satisfaction. Contract of employment and salary did not moderate these relationships.     

One-back reinforcement dissociates implicit-procedural and explicit-declarative category learning

The debate over unitary/multiple category-learning utilities is reminiscent of debates about multiple memory systems and unitary/dual codes in knowledge representation. In categorization, researchers continue to seek paradigms to dissociate explicit learning processes (yielding verbalizable rules) from implicit learning processes (yielding stimulus–response associations that remain outside awareness). We introduce a new dissociation here. Participants learned matched category tasks with a multidimensional, information-integration solution or a one-dimensional, rule-based solution. They received reinforcement immediately (0-Back reinforcement) or after one intervening trial (1-Back reinforcement). Lagged reinforcement eliminated implicit, information-integration category learning but preserved explicit, rule-based learning. Moreover, information-integration learners facing lagged reinforcement spontaneously adopted explicit rule strategies that poorly suited their task. The results represent a strong process dissociation in categorization, broadening the range of empirical techniques for testing the multiple-process theoretical perspective. This and related methods that disable associative learning—fostering a transition to explicit-declarative cognition—could have broad utility in comparative, cognitive, and developmental science.     

The Effect of Motor-Mental Preperformance Routines on Motor Performance in Novice Learners

Two sequential studies were conducted to test the notion that preperformance routines (PPRs) positively affect motor performance. The first study consisted of observations and interviews with 115 elite athletes to explore crucial time periods and body positions inherent in expert preparation for performing a golf putt, tennis serve, volleyball serve, and basketball free throw. In the second study, we taught these features of PPR to novice performers: 240 male and female high school students were assigned to two motor-mental PPR, and one control condition. Findings revealed that PPR enhances motor performance and can be implemented at an early stage of learning.