Monolingual and bilingual children's social preferences for monolingual and bilingual speakers

Past research has shown that young monolingual children exhibit language‐based social biases: they prefer native language to foreign language speakers. The current research investigated how children's language preferences are influenced by their own bilingualism and by a speaker's bilingualism. Monolingual and bilingual 4‐ to 6‐year‐olds heard pairs of adults (a monolingual and a bilingual, or two monolinguals) and chose the person with whom they wanted to be friends. Whether they were from a largely monolingual or a largely bilingual community, monolingual children preferred monolingual to bilingual speakers, and native language to foreign language speakers. In contrast, bilingual children showed similar affiliation with monolingual and bilingual speakers, as well as for monolingual speakers using their dominant versus non‐dominant language. Exploratory analyses showed that individual bilinguals displayed idiosyncratic patterns of preference. These results reveal that language‐based preferences emerge from a complex interaction of factors, including preference for in‐group members, avoidance of out‐group members, and characteristics of the child as they relate to the status of the languages within the community. Moreover, these results have implications for bilingual children's social acceptance by their peers.     

Is banner blindness genuine? Eye tracking internet text advertising

Over the last decade or so, the Internet has become a privileged media for advertisement. Despite this increase in popularity, several studies suggested that Internet users ‘avoid’ looking at ads (what is often referred to as the banner blindness phenomena). This conclusion, however, rests mostly on indirect evidence that participants do not remember the ad content. Therefore, it is unclear whether participants actually fixated the ads and how their gaze behaviour is related to memory for the ad. In the present study, we investigated whether Internet users avoid looking at ads inserted on a non‐search website using an analysis of eye movements, and if the ad content is kept in memory. Our results show that most participants fixate the ads at least once during their website visit. Moreover, even though the congruency between the ad and the editorial content had no effect on fixation duration on the ad, congruent ads were better memorised than incongruent ads. This study provides a novel and systematic method for assessing the processing and retention of advertisements during a website visit. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Longitudinal associations among quality of life and its predictors in patients treated for prostate cancer: the moderating role of age

This study examined moderating effects of age on longitudinal associations among quality of life (QOL) and its demographic (e.g., age), clinical [e.g., prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level], and affective and cognitive predictors (i.e., distress, worries about recurrence, decisional regret, subjective life expectancy) in prostate cancer patients treated with external beam radiation (N = 391). Demographic and clinical characteristics were assessed at diagnosis, affective and cognitive variables at 6 months after diagnosis, and QOL at 12 months after diagnosis. Multiple-group analyses showed that among younger patients (< or =68 years old, n = 199), lower levels of decisional regret were associated with better functional QOL, and lower Gleason scores and PSA levels were associated with lower levels of distress and longer expected survival time, respectively. Being employed was related to higher levels of functional QOL and frequent worries about recurrence. Among older patients (>68 years old, n = 192), lower levels of distress were associated with higher levels of functional QOL, and longer expected survival time was associated with better functional and physical QOL.     

Exaggerated leftward bias in the mental number line of patients with schizophrenia

Several visuo-motor tasks can be used to demonstrate biases towards left hemispace in schizophrenic patients, suggesting a minor right hemineglect. Recent studies in neglect patients used a new number bisection task to highlight a lateralized defect in their visuo-spatial representation of numbers. To test a possible lateralized representational deficit in schizophrenia, we used the number bisection task in 11 schizophrenic patients compared to 11 healthy controls. Participants were required to orally indicate the central number of an interval orally presented. Whereas healthy subjects showed no significant bias, schizophrenic patients presented a significant leftward bias. Therefore, these results suggest an impairment in higher order representations of the number space in patients with schizophrenia, an impairment that is qualitatively similar to the deficit described in neglect patients.     

Presumed consent for organ preservation in uncontrolled donation after cardiac death in the United States: a public policy with serious consequences

Organ donation after cessation of circulation and respiration, both controlled and uncontrolled, has been proposed by the Institute of Medicine as a way to increase opportunities for organ procurement. Despite claims to the contrary, both forms of controlled and uncontrolled donation after cardiac death raise significant ethical and legal issues. Identified causes for concern include absence of agreement on criteria for the declaration of death, nonexistence of universal guidelines for duration before stopping resuscitation efforts and techniques, and assumption of presumed intent to donate for the purpose of initiating temporary organ-preservation interventions when no expressed consent to donate is present. From a legal point of view, not having scientifically valid criteria of cessation of circulation and respiration for declaring death could lead to a conclusion that organ procurement itself is the proximate cause of death. Although the revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act of 2006 provides broad immunity to those involved in organ-procurement activities, courts have yet to provide an opinion on whether persons can be held liable for injuries arising from the determination of death itself. Preserving organs in uncontrolled donation after cardiac death requires the administration of life-support systems such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. These life-support systems can lead to return of signs of life that, in turn, have to be deliberately suppressed by the administration of pharmacological agents. Finally, allowing temporary organ-preservation interventions without expressed consent is inherently a violation of the principle of respect for a person's autonomy. Proponents of organ donation from uncontrolled donation after cardiac death, on the other hand, claim that these nonconsensual interventions enhance respect for autonomy by allowing people, through surrogate decision making, to execute their right to donate organs. However, the lack of transparency and the absence of protection of individual autonomy, for the sake of maximizing procurement opportunities, have placed the current organ-donation system of opting-in in great jeopardy. Equally as important, current policies enabling and enhancing organ procurement practices, pose challenges to the constitutional rights of individuals in a pluralistic society as these policies are founded on flawed medical standards for declaring death.     

The United States Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (2006): New challenges to balancing patient rights and physician responsibilities

Advance health care directives and informed consent remain the cornerstones of patients' right to self-determination regarding medical care and preferences at the end-of-life. However, the effectiveness and clinical applicability of advance health care directives to decision-making on the use of life support systems at the end-of-life is questionable. The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) has been revised in 2006 to permit the use of life support systems at or near death for the purpose of maximizing procurement opportunities of organs medically suitable for transplantation. Some states have enacted the Revised UAGA (2006) and a few of those have included amendments while attempting to preserve the uniformity of the revised Act. Other states have introduced the Revised UAGA (2006) for legislation and remaining states are likely to follow soon.     

Case study: Controlling self-injurious escape behaviors

The present study investigated the effects of a treatment program on the self-injurious behaviors of a 12-year-old autistic male. Initial observations indicated that these behaviors functioned primarily as escape responses to terminate performance demands. For 1 year the subject received general compliance training with the frequency of demands being systematically increased through consecutive treatment weeks. The subject's self-injurious behaviors were no longer reinforced by his escaping from demands nor did they receive social attention. Compliance to demands and appropriate behaviors in general were positively reinforced. The treatment produced substantial reductions in the rates of self-injurious behaviors and increased compliance. Additionally, the intensity of the subject's self-injurious behaviors decreased over the course of treatment. The present study suggests that the treatment approach is a reliable means of not only reducing self-injurious behaviors but also expanding performance repertoires.     

First order logic with empty structures

For first order languages with no individual constants, empty structures and truth values (for sentences) in them are defined. The first order theories of the empty structures and of all structures (the empty ones included) are axiomatized with modus ponens as the only rule of inference. Compactness is proved and decidability is discussed. Furthermore, some well known theorems of model theory are reconsidered under this new situation. Finally, a word is said on other approaches to the whole problem.