Infants' ability to use luminance information to individuate objects

Recent research indicates that infants first use form and then surface features as the basis for individuating objects. However, very little is known about the underlying basis for infants' differential sensitivity to form than surface features. The present research assessed infants' sensitivity to luminance differences. Like other surface properties, luminance information typically reveals little about an object. Unlike other surface properties (e.g. pattern, color), the visual system can detect luminance differences at birth. The outcome of two experiments indicated that 11.5-month-olds, but not 7.5-month-olds, used luminance differences to individuate objects. These results suggest that it is not the age at which infants can detect a feature, but the nature of the information carried by the feature, that determines infants' capacity to individuate objects.     

Eighteen month test-retest stability of the youth self report in a sample of Catalonian adolescents

The aim of this study is to assess the test-retest stability of the Spanish version of Youth Self Report after 18 mo. for a sample of 357 Catalonian high school students (158 boys and 199 girls). At Time 2 the girls' scores increased on Delinquent and Aggressive Behavior scales and, therefore on Externalizing scores. At Time 2 the boys' scores increased on Attention Problems and Delinquent Behavior and decreased on Anxious/Depressed, Social Problems, and Internalizing scales. Significant differences in the remaining scales were not observed. The test-retest intraclass correlations for the broad-band scales ranged between .62 (Internalizing) and .68 (Externalizing) and for the narrow-band scales between .37 and .67. The correlations for girls and boys were similar but slightly higher for girls on Anxious/Depressed and Thought Problems.     

Sex-specific differences in olfactory sensitivity for putative human pheromones in nonhuman primates

In humans, the volatile C19-steroids androsta-4,16-dien-3-one (AND) and estra-1,3,5(10),16-tetraen-3-ol (EST) have been shown to modulate autonomic nervous system responses, and to cause hypothalamic activation in a gender-specific manner. Using two conditioning paradigms, the authors here show that pigtail macaques and squirrel monkeys of both sexes were able to detect AND and EST at concentrations in the micromolar and mM range, respectively. Male and female spider monkeys, in contrast, differed markedly in their sensitivity to these two odorous steroids, with males not showing any behavioral responses to the highest concentrations of AND tested and females not responding to the highest concentrations of EST. These data provide the first examples of sex-specific bimodal distributions of olfactory sensitivity in a nonhuman primate species.     

Determinants of offline processing of visual information for the control of reaching movements

The authors investigated the use of visual feedback as a form of knowledge of results (KR) for the control of rapid (200-250 ms) reaching movements in 40 participants. They compared endpoint accuracy and intraindividual variability of a full-vision group (FV) with those of no-vision groups provided with KR regarding (a) the endpoint in numerical form, (b) the endpoint in visual form, or (c) the endpoint and the trajectory in visual form (DEL). The FV group was more accurate and less variable than were the no-vision groups, and the analysis of limb trajectory variability indicated that their superior performance resulted primarily from better movement planning rather than from online visual processes. The FV group outperformed the DEL group even though both groups were obtaining the same amount of spatial visual information from every movement. That finding suggests that the effectiveness with which visual feedback is processed offline is not a simple function of the amount of visual information available, but depends on how that information is presented.     

Lists of Spanish sentences with equivalent predictability, phonetic content, length, and frequency of the last word

This paper presents a pool of Spanish sentences designed for use in cognitive research and speech processing in circumstances in which the effects of context are relevant. These lists of sentences are divided into six lists of 25 equivalent high-predictability sentences and six lists of 25 low-predictability sentences according to the extent to which the last word can be predicted by the preceding context. These lists were also equivalent in phonetic content, length and frequency of the last word. These lists are intended for use in psycholinguistic research with Spanish-speaking listeners.     

The Attentional Focus of Expert Golfers in Training and Competition: A Naturalistic Investigation

This study explored the attentional focus of expert golfers using a naturalistic approach. Eight male professional golfers were filmed in two contexts (training and competition). Self-confrontation interviews based on the video were conducted immediately afterwards. Qualitative data analyses showed that golfers used various attentional foci. Foci were classified according to their content and their characteristics. Golfers adapted their attentional foci to the context. They used sequences of attentional foci and moved from one attentional focus to another when they prepared, executed, or evaluated their shot. Future research on attentional focus of expert athletes should study the phenomenon over time.     

Concordance Between the Quality of Maternal and Paternal Parenting Behavior Within Couples

There is compelling evidence that the quality of maternal and paternal parenting behavior bears critical importance for child development. Yet, less is known of the degree of similarity between maternal and paternal parenting behavior in families, and especially little is known about the factors that may explain variation in degrees of similarity. This article aims to examine (a) the concordance (similarity) between the quality of mothers’ and fathers’ interactive behavior with their child and (b) the sociodemographic determinants of this concordance. The sample included 74 families (mother, father, and their child). The quality of maternal and paternal interactive behavior was assessed independently, and rated with the Maternal Behavior Q-Sort (mother–infant, 12 months; D. R. Pederson et al., 1990) or the Mutually Responsive Orientation scale (father–toddler, 18 months; N. Aksan et al., 2006). The results indicated that the overall correlation between the quality of mothers’ and fathers’ behavior was moderate. The concordance was greater among higher socioeconomic status families or when interacting with a boy, but did not differ according to the presence or absence of siblings in the family.     

Marital Satisfaction and Quality of Father–Child Interactions: The Moderating Role of Child Gender

The authors aimed to investigate the prospective links between normative variation in fathers’ marital satisfaction and the observed quality of father–toddler interactions, as well as the moderating role of child gender in these associations. Sixty-three fathers reported on their marital satisfaction when their children were 15 months of age, and were observed interacting with their child at 18 months. The results suggested that marital satisfaction was positively associated with the quality of father–son interactions, while no relations emerged among fathers of girls. These findings reiterate the importance of marital relationships for the quality of fathers’ parenting, while reaffirming previous suggestions that the role of child gender in the marriage-parenting connections requires further investigation.     

Skill Level,Vision, and Proprioception in Simple One-Hand Catching

Two experiments examined the interaction of vision and articular proprioception in simple one-hand catching. In Experiment 1 (N = 18) skilled baseball and Softball players used the left and right hands to catch slowly moving tennis balls, while Experiment 2(N = 16) used novice catchers as subjects. In half the trials, sight of the catching hand was prevented by placing a screen alongside the subjects’ face. Results of Experiment 1 revealed that the screen caused minimal disruption of the positioning phase of the catch, with moderate disruption of the grasping phase. However, for the unskilled subjects of Experiment 2, the screen caused considerable disruption of positioning. The data provide only minimal support for Smyth and Marriott’s (1982) contention that limb position is inadequately specified by articular proprioception. It is argued that skill level serves as a mediator in the ability to use proprioception for limb positioning, but vision appears necessary to control the precise temporal organization of the grasp phase of one-hand catching.