The perceptual similarity of mirror-image acoustic patterns in speech

Prevocalic and postvocalic (unreleased) occurrences of a stop consonant differ in acoustic shape, but are not unrelated. In particular, the formant transitions taking place at release of a stop consonant approximately mirror in time the formant transitions occurring during closure, assuming that the vowel is the ~same. Several experiments have been performed using brief two-component tone burst approximations to the second and third formant transitions’ that occur in prevocalic and postvocalic allophones of/b, d, g/in order to determine whether such mirror-image acoustic patterns are perceptually related. Listener judgments of similarity within triads of these stimuli indicate that mirror-image patterrts representing the same place of articulation are less similar to each other than to patterns representing different places of articulation. Implications for the child who is acquiring language of the fact that mirror-image patterns in speech do not have inherent perceptual similarity are discussed.     

Using source cues and familiarity cues to resist imagination inflation

To investigate whether people can resist imagination inflation--the imagination-induced increased confidence that fictitious childhood events really happened--we gave them different types of cues. In a three-stage procedure, participants: (1) rated their confidence that a list of childhood events had happened to them, (2) imagined some of these events, and (3) made confidence ratings a second time. Subjects received either no cues about the source of the imagined event, an additional source cue (perspective), an additional familiarity cue (a plausibility questionnaire), or both cues. Only subjects who had both types of cues resisted imagination inflation. These results suggest that additional cues can sometimes safeguard people from becoming more confident that fictitious events were genuine experiences.     

Genetic Evaluation and Counseling of Couples with Recurrent Miscarriage: Recommendations of the National Society of Genetic Counselors

The objective of this document is to provide recommendations for genetic evaluation and counseling of couples with recurrent miscarriage (RM). The recommendations are the opinions of the multidisciplinary Inherited Pregnancy Loss Working Group (IPLWG), with expertise in genetic counseling, medical genetics, maternal fetal medicine, internal medicine, infectious disease, cytogenetics, and coagulation disorders. The IPLWG defines RM as three or more clinically recognized consecutive or non-consecutive pregnancy losses occurring prior to fetal viability (<24 weeks gestation). These recommendations are provided to assist genetic counselors and other health care providers in clinical decision-making, as well as to promote consistency of patient care, guide the allocation of medical resources, and increase awareness of the psychosocial and cultural issues experienced by couples with RM. The IPLWG was convened with support from the March of Dimes Western Washington State Chapter and the University of Washington Division of Medical Genetics. The recommendations are U.S. Preventive Task Force Class III, and are based on clinical experiences, review of pertinent English-language published articles, and reports of expert committees. This document reviews the suspected causes of RM, provides indications for genetic evaluation and testing, addresses psychosocial and cultural considerations, and provides professional and patient resources. These recommendations should not be construed as dictating an exclusive course of medical management, nor does the use of such recommendations guarantee a particular outcome. The professional judgment of a health care provider, familiar with the circumstances of a specific case, should always supersede these recommendations.     

Relationship Between the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI) and the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI) in a Community Sample

Using a sample of 144 mature students, aged 18–53 years, attending a high school upgrading program, the screening properties of the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI) and the correspondence of the HPSI to the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI) were evaluated. Correlations between the HPSI and the BPI scales and joint factor analysis of these two inventories demonstrated the validity of HPSI scales and their sampling adequacy from the major components of psychopathology measured by the BPI. Using the BPI as the Gold Standard, the HPSI has almost perfect specificity but the sensitivity of the HPSI is only about 50% at a T-score of 60, whereas at T = 55, the sensitivity is 70%, with a specificity of almost 80%. Overall, results indicated that the three HPSI scales distinctly measure the three major factors of the BPI, and the HPSI has considerable utility as a screening tool.     

The Effects of Practice on Children's Ability to Apply Ground Rules in a Narrative Interview

Despite the widespread use of ground rules in forensic interview guidelines, it is unknown whether children retain and apply these rules throughout narrative interviews. We evaluated the capacity of 260 five- to nine-year-olds to utilize three ground rules. At the beginning of the interview all children heard the rules; half also practiced them. Children then responded to open-ended prompts about a repeated laboratory event and were assessed for their application of the rules. Logistic regressions revealed that practice only benefitted the use of the “don't know” rule. Although the children accurately answered “don't understand” and “correct me” practice questions, practice appeared to give no greater benefit than just hearing the rules. Results suggest that the current format of ground rule practice in interview guidelines is appropriate for the “don't know” rule, but the other rules may require more extensive practice with this age group. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can we predict mathematical learning disabilities from symbolic and non‐symbolic comparison tasks in kindergarten? Findings from a longitudinal study

Background. The ability to compare numbers, as the most basic form of number sense, has been related to arithmetical achievement. Aims. The current study addressed the predictive value of non‐symbolic and symbolic (number word (NW) and Arabic number (AN)) comparison for arithmetics by means of a longitudinal design. Sample. Sixteen children with mathematical disabilities (MD), 64 low achievers (LA), and 315 typical achieving (TA) children were followed from kindergarten till grade 2. Method. The association of comparison skills with arithmetical skills in grades l and 2 was studied. The performances of MD, LA and TA children were compared. Results. Regression analyses showed that non‐symbolic skills in kindergarten were predictively related to arithmetical achievement 1 year later and fact retrieval 2 years later. AN comparison was predictively related to procedural calculation 2 years later. In grade 2, there was an association between both symbolic tasks and arithmetical achievement. Children with MD already had deficits in non‐symbolic and symbolic AN comparison in kindergarten, whereas in grade 2 the deficits in processing symbolic information remained. Conclusions. The combination of non‐symbolic and symbolic deficits represents a risk of developing MD.     

Why did you choose that person over me? Ingroup rejection and attributions to discrimination

The present research examined the attributions that people make when an individual rejects a member of his or her own group in favor of a member of an outgroup (i.e., ingroup rejection). Study 1 showed that Latinos rejected by an ingroup member (perpetrator) made more attributions to discrimination than Whites under similar circumstances. Study 2 showed that Latinos made more attributions to discrimination for ingroup rejection when the perpetrator was Latino as compared to when the perpetrator was White, whereas Whites' attributions to discrimination were relatively low regardless of perpetrator's ethnicity. Study 3 showed that priming loyalty norms increased attributions to discrimination among Latinos in response to ingroup rejection, but not in response to outgroup rejection. This research brings a new perspective to discrimination research by focusing on intragroup rejection and nonprototypical cases of discrimination.     

“I deserve success”: Academic entitlement attitudes and their relationships with course self-efficacy, social networking, and demographic variables

This study investigated differences in university students?? academic entitlement (AE) by demographic group (sex, college class, college generational status) as well as AE??s relationship with self-efficacy for college coursework and social networking. It also investigated predictors of AE in first-generation (FG) students and continuing-generation (CG) students. Participants were 313 undergraduates at a south-central U.S. university. Males reported significantly greater AE than females. No differences in AE were found by college class or generational status. AE was significantly correlated with college course self-efficacy and social network use. College course self-efficacy, sex, and social network use predicted AE in CG students; however, in FG students, AE was predicted by college course self-efficacy alone. Implications for future research are presented.     

Spatial mislocalization as a consequence of sequential coding of stimuli

In three experiments, we tested whether sequentially coding two visual stimuli can create a spatial misperception of a visual moving stimulus. In Experiment 1, we showed that a spatial misperception, the flash-lag effect, is accompanied by a similar temporal misperception of first perceiving the flash and only then a change of the moving stimulus, when in fact the two events were exactly simultaneous. In Experiment 2, we demonstrated that when the spatial misperception of a flash-lag effect is absent, the temporal misperception is also absent. In Experiment 3, we extended these findings and showed that if the stimulus conditions require coding first a flash and subsequently a nearby moving stimulus, a spatial flash-lag effect is found, with the position of the moving stimulus being misperceived as shifted in the direction of its motion, whereas this spatial misperception is reversed so that the moving stimulus is misperceived as shifted in a direction opposite to its motion when the conditions require coding first the moving stimulus and then the flash. Together, the results demonstrate that sequential coding of two stimuli can lead to a spatial misperception whose direction can be predicted from the order of coding the moving object versus the flash. We propose an attentional sequential-coding explanation for the flash-lag effect and discuss its explanatory power with respect to related illusions (e.g., the Fr?hlich effect) and other explanations.