Color-function categories that prime infants to use color information in an object individuation task

There is evidence for developmental hierarchies in the type of information to which infants attend when reasoning about objects. Investigators have questioned the origin of these hierarchies and how infants come to identify new sources of information when reasoning about objects. The goal of the present experiments was to shed light on this debate by identifying conditions under which infants’ sensitivity to color information, which is slow to emerge, could be enhanced in an object individuation task. The outcome of Experiment 1 confirmed and extended previous reports that 9.5-month-olds can be primed, through exposure to events in which the color of an object predicts its function, to attend to color differences in a subsequent individuation task. The outcomes of Experiments 2-4 revealed age-related changes in the nature of the representations that support color priming. This is exemplified by three main findings. First, the representations that are formed during the color-function events are relatively specific. That is, infants are primed to use the color difference seen in the color-function events to individuate objects in the test events, but not other color differences. Second, 9.5-month-olds can be led to form more abstract event representations, and then generalize to other colors in the test events if they are shown multiple pairs of colors in the color-function events. Third, slightly younger 9-month-olds also can be led to form more inclusive categories with multiple color pairs, but only when they are allowed to directly compare the exemplars in each color pair during the present events. These results shed light on the development of categorization abilities, cognitive mechanisms that support color-function priming, and the kinds of experiences that can increase infants’ sensitivity to color information.     

The Beck Anxiety Inventory-Trait (BAIT): a measure of dispositional anxiety not contaminated by dispositional depression

We describe development of the Beck Anxiety Inventory-Trait (BAIT), a measure of trait anxiety. In Study 1 with 191 undergraduates, the BAIT correlated higher with another trait-anxiety measure than with state anxiety and trait depressiveness and lower with depressiveness than the other trait-anxiety measure did. In Study 2 (Ns of 149 undergraduates initially and 107 at 3 weeks later), the BAIT demonstrated convergent validity against the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI; Beck, Epstein, Brown, & Steer, 1988) and self-rated trait anxiety plus discriminant validity against abstract curiosity. In Study 3 (Ns of 161 undergraduates initially and 121 at 3 weeks later), the BAIT correlated more highly with another anxiety measure than with depression, stress, positive affect, and negative affect. It also showed good internal consistency across studies and high stability in Studies 2 and 3, higher than the BAI's in Study 2. Factor analyses across studies all supported 2 factors, 1 Somatic and 1 Subjective.     

Co-creating change within a child protection system: integrating art therapy with family therapy practice

This paper considers family art therapy intervention using a partnership developed between an art therapist and a family therapist within a child protection system. The aim of this co-working relationship is to bring together skills that can amplify the child's voice within the family, using art as a means of extending the family story. The use of metaphor adds to the repertoire of skills available when working with families, and offers a particular form of communication in which children can more easily engage. By co-working, we also bring together our personal and professional stories, creating multiple ideas and ways of seeing and taking account of differences in the life experiences of individual families.     

LEARNING TO TIME: A PERSPECTIVE

In the last decades, researchers have proposed a large number of theoretical models of timing. These models make different assumptions concerning how animals learn to time events and how such learning is represented in memory. However, few studies have examined these different assumptions either empirically or conceptually. For knowledge to accumulate, variation in theoretical models must be accompanied by selection of models and model ideas. To that end, we review two timing models, Scalar Expectancy Theory (SET), the dominant model in the field, and the Learning‐to‐Time (LeT) model, one of the few models dealing explicitly with learning. In the first part of this article, we describe how each model works in prototypical concurrent and retrospective timing tasks, identify their structural similarities, and classify their differences concerning temporal learning and memory. In the second part, we review a series of studies that examined these differences and conclude that both the memory structure postulated by SET and the state dynamics postulated by LeT are probably incorrect. In the third part, we propose a hybrid model that may improve on its parents. The hybrid model accounts for the typical findings in fixed‐interval schedules, the peak procedure, mixed fixed interval schedules, simple and double temporal bisection, and temporal generalization tasks. In the fourth and last part, we identify seven challenges that any timing model must meet.     

Benefits of physical exercise on executive functions in older people with Parkinson’s disease

The benefits of physical exercise on cognitive functioning have been reported in the literature, but the potential benefits to slow the eventual decline in executive functioning (EF) caused by neurodegeneration from Parkinson’s Disease (PD) have rarely been studied. Thus the objective of this study was to analyze the effects of a multimodal physical exercise program on EF in older people with Parkinson’s disease. The EF of the older people was evaluated by neuropsychological testing, and for confounding variables such as attention, depressive symptoms and anxiety, before and after intervention. The 20 participants were assigned into Control (CG) and Trained (TG) Groups. The TG participated in generalized physical training for 6 months. The ANOVA showed a significant interaction (p < .05) that indicated a beneficial contribution of training on EF. No significant interactions were found in the results for confounding variables between groups and pre- and post-intervention, which supports the beneficial findings of physical exercise training on EF.     

Book review

Journal of Behavioral Education -     

Goals,Values, and Beliefs as Predictors of Achievement and Effort in High School Mathematics Classes

Gender and motivation in high school mathematicsclass were examined by using an expectancy-valueframework. There were 366 students (146 males, 212females)from a school with an enrollmentof approximately 1900 students (81% Caucasian, 8% NativeAmerican, 5% Hispanic, 4% African American, and 2%Asian). These students completed a questionnaireconsisting of 92 items which measured students'situation-specific goals (4 subscales), task-specific values (3subscales), task-specific beliefs (3 subscales), andgender self-schemata (2 subscales). Students' percentagegrade in math and selfreported effort in math class were the dependent variables. The three sets oftask-specific variables each accounted for between 11%and 14% of variance in achievement, while the genderself-schemata variables contributed another 2%. Task-specific goals were much strongerpredictors of effort than any other set of variables. Anunexpected finding was that, for both males and females,endorsing the stereotype that mathematics is a male domain was negatively related to reportedeffort. There were also differences in the prediction ofachievement and effort based on gender and math classtype (required or elective). Several path models supported these results.     

Two kinds of adaptation in the constancy of visual direction

Adaptation in the constancy of visual direction had previously been obtained by causing a large or a small visible area representing the environment to be objectively displaced in dependence on head movements. No stationary objects were permitted to be visible. Now experiments are reported in which displacements of a large patterned field, with the subject fixating a stationary mark in its center, led to adaptation. In these experiments, objective displacements of the environment were given by image displacements on the retina. Adaptation also resulted when the large field was stationary and only the fixation mark was displaced. Here the objective displacement was given by the rate of pursuit eye movements.