Psychometric Properties and Factorial Structure of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) in Spanish Adolescents

The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale is an instrument widely applied in the assessment of the most common anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. This study examines its psychometric properties and the factorial structure in a large community sample of Spanish-speaking adolescents (N = 1,374) aged 13 to 17 years. The scale demonstrated strong internal consistency and good convergent and discriminant validity. Factor analysis confirmed the 6-factor original model, providing a good fit of the data for the Spanish sample. The good psychometric properties support its use by clinicians and researchers, adding evidence to the international empirical support for this measure.     

Crossmodal interactions in the perception of expressivity in musical performance

In musical performance, bodily gestures play an important role in communicating expressive intentions to audiences. Although previous studies have demonstrated that visual information can have an effect on the perceived expressivity of musical performances, the investigation of audiovisual interactions has been held back by the technical difficulties associated with the generation of controlled, mismatching stimuli. With the present study, we aimed to address this issue by utilizing a novel method in order to generate controlled, balanced stimuli that comprised both matching and mismatching bimodal combinations of different expressive intentions. The aim of Experiment 1 was to investigate the relative contributions of auditory and visual kinematic cues in the perceived expressivity of piano performances, and in Experiment 2 we explored possible crossmodal interactions in the perception of auditory and visual expressivity. The results revealed that although both auditory and visual kinematic cues contribute significantly to the perception of overall expressivity, the effect of visual kinematic cues appears to be somewhat stronger. These results also provide preliminary evidence of crossmodal interactions in the perception of auditory and visual expressivity. In certain performance conditions, visual cues had an effect on the ratings of auditory expressivity, and auditory cues had a small effect on the ratings of visual expressivity.     

The shapes associated with approach/avoidance words

People prefer curved and symmetrical shapes to their angular and asymmetrical counterparts. While it is known that stimulus valence is central to approach and avoidance motivation, the exact nature of the relationship between curvature/symmetry and approach/avoidance motivation still needs to be clarified. Experiment 1 was designed to investigate whether simple shapes are associated with approach and avoidance words. Participants found it easier to match more symmetrical shapes with approach words. In Experiment 2, symmetry was differentially associated with approach words and was rated significantly higher on the approach dimension than asymmetry. Next, we assessed whether object valence and object curvature (Experiment 3) or symmetry (Experiment 4) would lead to different associations to approach and avoidance words. Only object valence had a significant influence on participants’ ratings, with the positively-valenced objects being more closely associated with approach words than their negatively-valenced counterparts. These results highlight the complex relation between visual properties of objects, their valence, and appetitive and aversive categories.     

Socio-Cultural Determinants of Physical Activity among Latin American Immigrant Women in Alberta,Canada

Acculturation has been associated with decreased physical activity among immigrants. This study assessed the process of changing physical activity patterns within the context of Latin American immigrant women’s migration experiences to Canada. Using the ecological model of health promotion, we applied a mixed methods research design. Thirty-six Latin American immigrant women, 18 recent (<10 years in Canada) and 18 non-recent (>10 years in Canada), participated. Six focus groups and 14 in-depth individual interviews were conducted. The Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire was administered. Overall, 86 % of the participants reported gaining weight since coming to Canada. Participants reported becoming more sedentary upon arriving in Canada. Only 27.3 % of recent and 41.7 % of non-recent immigrant women were considered sufficiently physically active. Lack of time, resources, social support, and migration stress were identified as key barriers to physical activity. Migration stress associated with social integration barriers strongly influence physical activity among Latin American immigrant women.     

Faith Communities’ Improvements in Readiness to Engage in Addictions Resilience and Recovery Support Programming

Journal of Religion and Health - Spirituality and religion are well-documented components of prevention, treatment and recovery of substance use disorders. Faith communities are in a distinct...     

Assessing the effects of audiovisual semantic congruency on the perception of a bistable figure

Bistable figures provide a fascinating window through which to explore human visual awareness. Here we demonstrate for the first time that the semantic context provided by a background auditory soundtrack (the voice of a young or old female) can modulate an observer's predominant percept while watching the bistable "my wife or my mother-in-law" figure (Experiment 1). The possibility of a response-bias account-that participants simply reported the percept that happened to be congruent with the soundtrack that they were listening to-was excluded in Experiment 2. We further demonstrate that this crossmodal semantic effect was additive with the manipulation of participants' visual fixation (Experiment 3), while it interacted with participants' voluntary attention (Experiment 4). These results indicate that audiovisual semantic congruency constrains the visual processing that gives rise to the conscious perception of bistable visual figures. Crossmodal semantic context therefore provides an important mechanism contributing to the emergence of visual awareness.     

The Longitudinal Psychometric Properties of the EAS Temperament Survey in Adolescence

Studies on the psychometric properties of the EAS Temperament Survey (EAS) have produced equivocal results. In particular the psychometrics of the EAS are largely unknown in adolescence. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to explore the EAS structure in adolescents. Structural equation modeling was also used to assess measurement invariance and factor stability. A modified 4-factor model provided the best fit to the data and demonstrated reasonable longitudinal invariance and stability. Furthermore, the standardized factor scores correlated at near unity with the sum of observed scores, suggesting factor interpretations remained unchanged. However, the modifications suggest that further work is necessary.     

A Comparative Study of Groups of High and Low Intelligence in Learning a Maze

In accordance with the determination of base-line heart rate and running in an activity wheel, 14 Long-Evans male rats were given ten 30 minute sessions of Immobile-Avoid conditioning followed by 30 minute sessions of Active-Avoid conditioning. Control Ss were yoked to the experimental Ss.

Experimental Ss made significantly fewer responses in the immobile-avoid period and significantly more responses in the active-avoid period than did the yoked control Ss. Heart rate was correlated with skeletal activity both for experimental and control Ss. For experimental Ss, low heart rate was concomitant with a low amount of activity in the immobile-avoid period and high heart rate was concomitant with greater skeletal activity in the active-avoid period.

These results support the position that heart rate is secondary to responses of the somatic-motor system and that heart rate during immobile-avoid or active avoid conditioning is more closely related to the level of somatic-motor activity than to the emotional stress which purportedly motivates instrumental avoidance behavior.     

Epistemological Development and Judgments and Reasoning About Teaching Methods

Children's, adolescents’, and adults’ (N = 96 7–8, 10–11, and 13–14-year-olds and university students) epistemological development and its relation to judgments and reasoning about teaching methods was examined. The domain (scientific or moral), nature of the topic (controversial or noncontroversial), and teaching method (direct instruction by lectures versus class discussions) were systematically varied. Epistemological development was assessed in the aesthetics, values, and physical truth domains. All participants took the domain, nature of the topic, and teaching method into consideration in ways that showed age-related variations. Epistemological development in the value domain alone was predictive of preferences for class discussions and a critical perspective on teacher-centered direct instruction, even when age was controlled in the analysis.