The effects of intertrial interval and instructional format on skill acquisition and maintenance for children with autism spectrum disorders

We replicated and extended the study by Koegel, Dunlap, and Dyer (1980) by examining the effects of 3 intertrial‐interval (ITI) durations on skill acquisition in 2 children with autism spectrum disorders. Specifically, we compared the effect of short (2 s), progressive (2 s to 20 s), and long (20 s) ITIs on participants’ mastery of tacts or intraverbals presented in massed‐trial and varied‐trial instructional formats. We also measured (a) stereotypic and problem behavior during the ITI, (b) maintenance of skills, and (c) responding to novel adults and settings. Results showed that short ITIs in a varied‐trial format produced the most efficient acquisition of skills; however, most ITI durations produced more efficient skill acquisition in a varied format compared to a massed format. The trial format and ITI duration associated with the lowest levels of stereotypic and problem behavior during the ITI and responding during maintenance and novel adult and setting probes differed across participants.     

Developing critical awareness: the consequences of action and reflection for perceptions of group injustices

Individuals often cannot address (objective) group injustices until they develop a (subjective) critical awareness of them. In three studies, we tested two potential psychological pathways toward critical awareness: Reflection (deductive, knowledge driven) and action (inductive, action driven) mindsets. Across studies, participants were exposed to an objectively unjust event, enacted by the experimenter. Based on a pilot study (N = 31) and first experiment (N = 28), we developed the hypothesis that action (vs. reflection) mindsets increase group entitativity (due to their reliance on expectancy effects), but not necessarily (subjective) critical awareness of (objective) group injustice. Study 2 (N = 121) confirmed this hypothesis. We discuss the difficulties of developing (subjective) critical awareness of (objective) group injustices.     

The subject in transmission: the phantomic origins of (dual) unity and the birth of the self

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis - Abraham and Torok’s clinical concept of the phantom can be rethought in extended terms to account for the challenges inherent in giving birth to...     

Maturation of EEG power spectra in early adolescence: a longitudinal study

This study investigated the fine-grained development of the EEG power spectra in early adolescence, and the extent to which it is reflected in changes in peak frequency. It also sought to determine whether sex differences in the EEG power spectra reflect differential patterns of maturation. A group of 56 adolescents were tested at age 10 years and then at two further time-points approximately 18 months apart. The EEG was recorded during both eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions and Fourier transformed to provide estimates of absolute and relative spectral power at 0.5 Hz intervals from 0.5 to 40 Hz. The peak alpha frequency for each individual at each time-point was also determined for relative spectral power. Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis was used to determine the combination of electrodes and frequencies that showed developmental change, or differed between the sexes. As a function of age, absolute delta and theta frequencies power decreased, and relative alpha2 and beta frequencies increased, replicating the standard findings of a decrease in lower, and increase in higher, frequencies with age. A small but significant increase in peak alpha frequency with age was detected. Moreover PLS analysis performed with individual alpha frequencies aligned to 10 Hz suggested that the age-related increase seen in alpha2 relative power was driven by changes in the peak frequency. Although males demonstrated higher alpha power than females, there were no sex differences in peak frequency, suggesting that there may be more to sex differences in EEG power than simply different rates of maturation between the two sexes.     

The hide-and-seek of retrospective revaluation: recovery from blocking is context dependent in human causal learning

In a typical blocking procedure, pairings of a compound consisting of 2 stimuli, A and X, with the outcome are preceded by pairings of only A with the outcome (i.e., A+ then AX+). This procedure is known to diminish responding to the target cue (X) relative to a control group that does not receive the preceding training with blocking cue A. We report 2 experiments that investigated the effect of extinguishing a blocking cue on responding to the target cue in a human causal learning paradigm (i.e., A+ and AX+ training followed by A- training). The results indicate that extinguishing a blocking cue increases conditioned responding to the target cue. Moreover, this increase appears to be context dependent, such that increased responding to the target is limited to the context in which extinction of the blocking cue took place. We discuss these findings in the light of associative and propositional learning theories.     

The induction of shared identity: the positive role of individual distinctiveness for groups

This article examines inductive processes of social identity formation, the bottom-up processes by which individual group members influence a social identity, integrating it with work on entitativity. Three studies tested the prediction that feelings of individual distinctiveness mediate the relation between inductive social identity formation and entitativity and that entitativity in turn predicts identification. The studies provided consistent support for this theoretical model over alternative models, using a range of different social groups and methods. Study 1 found support for the model in self-selected small groups. Study 2 supported it with a much broader set of groups that were not self-selected. Finally, Study 3 varied levels of inductive social identity formation systematically by varying group size and provided direct support for the hypothesized causal relations.     

Reciprocal teaching and self-monitoring of strategy use: effects on reading comprehension

Reciprocal teaching (RT) is an instructional procedure to teach students cognitive strategies that might lead to improved reading comprehension. However, self-monitoring (SM) strategy use can optimize instruction of comprehension. Thus, the present study analyzed: (a) the efficacy of RT in regular classes and (b) the efficacy of RT + SM of strategy use. A sample of 59 students in the fourth year of primary education was selected: 19 children were selected as an RT condition, 18 as an RT + SM condition, while the remaining 22 made up the comparison group. Two types of comprehension measures were used: tasks of specific effects (getting the main idea, writing a summary, comprehension-monitoring test) and transfer effect measures (standardised tests, word meaning inference, and free recall). Thus, the results show that both the RT condition and the RT + SM condition benefited from the instruction, performing better than the comparison group in measures of specific effects and in some of the transfer effect measures. This result shows that SM is not a necessary component in the instruction of reading comprehension with RT.     

Coping strategies and quality of life among liver transplantation candidates

The maintenance of self-reported quality of life (QL) among people on the liver transplantation waiting list is one of the priority objectives of transplantation teams. Although there are different determinant factors of QL, results are not conclusive. In our study, the goal was to evaluate both the influence of cirrhosis etiology (ethylic and non-ethylic) and the coping strategies used concerning QL. A sample of 93 patients was selected, divided into two groups: ethylic cirrhosis (EC) and non-ethylic cirrhosis (NEC). QL was evaluated through the SF-36 Health Survey, and coping strategies through the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire (MCMQ). Our results indicated that subjects with EC obtained similar QL levels to subjects with NEC, on all the SF-36 and MCMQ subscales. Furthermore, negative correlations were found between avoidance and acceptance-resignation coping strategies with the SF-36 components. Consequently, the acceptance-resignation strategy was associated with a worse perception of physical functioning, general and mental health, and vitality and role-emotional. Overall, these results suggest that cirrhosis etiology is not a determinant factor of QL, whereas the acceptance-resignation coping strategy might lead to lower self-perception of QL.     

Sleep architecture in patients with fibromyalgia

The main objective of this work was to evaluate the characteristics of sleep in patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome. Sleep architecture in 32 patients with fibromyalgia and 20 healthy controls was evaluated. Following the recommendations of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology, polysomnographies were conducted with fibromyalgia patients and the control subjects. The fibromyalgia patients showed alterations in cyclic organization of sleep and an increased number of periodic leg movements associated with cortical arousals. No significant differences were found in respiratory and oximetry variables or in alpha-delta sleep. The results support that fibromyalgia patients present an increase of superficial sleep at the expense of deep sleep and also an increase of periodic leg movements, which could have a pathogenic effect, facilitating the onset of the illness. Lastly, we discuss the results and propose some future lines of research.     

Aligning Mars and Venus: The Social Construction and Instability of Gender Differences in Romantic Relationships

An evolutionary approach to gender differences in romantic relationships has pervaded the scientific literature, a trend mirrored in popular culture by Mars-Venus stereotyping. Three studies tested the accuracy of the popular notion that gender differences would emerge for the behaviors women and men want and receive from romantic partners in a sample of 375 students at a southeastern U.S. public university. Across the three studies, only one stable and robust gender difference emerged (desires regarding relationship support), as did several unstable gender differences. However, gender-role identity significantly accounted for nearly half of the variance in this one stable gender difference, challenging the viability of some evolutionary conceptualizations of gender differences and instead providing support for social constructionist and feminist perspectives.