Stuttering treatment control using P300 event-related potentials

Positron emission tomography studies during speech have indicated a failure to show the normal activation of auditory cortical areas in stuttering individuals. In the present study, P300 event-related potentials were used to investigate possible effects of behavioral treatment on the pattern of signal amplitude and latency between waves. In order to compare variations in P300 measurements, a control group paired by age and gender to the group of stutterers, was included in the study. Findings suggest that the group of stutterers presented a significant decrease in stuttering severity after the fluency treatment program. Regarding P300 measurements, stutterers and their controls presented results within normal limits in all testing situations and no significant statistical variations between pre and post treatment testing. When comparing individual results between the testing situations, stutterers presented a higher average decrease in wave latency for the right ear following treatment. The results are discussed in light of previous P300 event-related potentials and functional imaging studies with stuttering adults.Educational objectives: The reader will learn about and be able to describe the: (1) use of P300 event-related potentials in the study of stuttering; (2) differences between stuttering and non-stuttering adults; and (3) effects of behavioral fluency treatment on cerebral activity in stuttering speakers.     

Termination: the hidden face of analysis

Although the question of analytic endings has been the subject of many contributions and round tables, it always presents a theoretical and clinical dilemma that remains unresolved by the search for more explicit criteria. The problem of the final phase is a post‐Freudian development which coincides historically with the emergence of studies on the countertransference, and it presupposes prior questions concerning the goals and results of analytic treatment. The following question is posed: what is the specific psychoanalytic event of the final phase? The author begins by examining the theoretical issues linked to temporality and separation, clarifying certain clinical aspects linked to the precession of the countertransference in determining the ending, before going on to illustrate a number of indicators with a clinical vignette. He proposes that the movement which develops in analysis from the transitional relationship towards the patient’s capacity to ‘stand on his own two feet’ in the clinical setting constitutes a crucial factor in the decision to embark on the process of termination. The conclusion opens out onto ethical issues, in view of the prior necessity for a movement to occur in the countertransference.     

Examining age-related movement representations for sequential (fine-motor) finger movements

Theory suggests that imagined and executed movement planning relies on internal models for action. Using a chronometry paradigm to compare the movement duration of imagined and executed movements, we tested children aged 7-11 years and adults on their ability to perform sequential finger movements. Underscoring this tactic was our desire to gain a better understanding of the age-related ability to create internal models for action requiring fine-motor movements. The task required number recognition and ordering and was presented in three levels of complexity. Results for movement duration indicated that 7-year-olds and adults were different from the other groups with no statistical distinction between 9- and 11-year-olds. Correlation analysis indicated a significant relationship between imagined and executed actions. These results are the first to document the increasing convergence between imagined and executed movements in the context of fine-motor behavior; a finding that adds to our understanding of action representation in children.     

Entrepreneurship education: relationship between education and entrepreneurial activity

The importance of entrepreneurial activity for the economic growth of countries is now well established. The relevant literature suggests important links between education, venture creation and entrepreneurial performance, as well as between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial activity. The primary purpose of this paper is to provide some insights about entrepreneurship education. The meaning of entrepreneurship education is explained, and the significant increase of these educational programmes is highlighted. Literature has been suggesting that the most suitable indicator to evaluate the results of entrepreneurship education is the rate of new business creation. However, some studies indicate that the results of such programmes are not immediate. Therefore, many researchers try to understand the precursors of venture creation, concluding that is necessary to carry out longitudinal studies. Based on an overview of the research published about the existing linkage of entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial activity, the main topics studied by different academics are addressed. For the authors, the positive impact of entrepreneurship education puts a double challenge on governments in the future: the increased need of financial funds to support entrepreneurship education and the choice of the correct educational programme.     

Resurgence of temporal patterns of responding

The resurgence of temporal patterns of key pecking by pigeons was investigated in two experiments. In Experiment 1, positively accelerated and linear patterns of responding were established on one key under a discrete-trial multiple fixed-interval variable-interval schedule. Subsequently, only responses on a second key produced reinforcers according to a variable-interval schedule. When reinforcement on the second key was discontinued, positively accelerated and linear response patterns resurged on the first key, in the presence of the stimuli previously correlated with the fixed- and variable-interval schedules, respectively. In Experiment 2, resurgence was assessed after temporal patterns were directly reinforced. Initially, responding was reinforced if it approximated an algorithm-defined temporal pattern during trials. Subsequently, reinforcement depended on pausing during trials and, when it was discontinued, resurgence of previously reinforced patterns occurred for each pigeon and for 2 of 3 pigeons during a replication. The results of both experiments demonstrate the resurgence of temporally organized responding and replicate and extend previous findings on resurgence of discrete responses and spatial response sequences.     

The specificity of age-related decline in interpretation of emotion cues from prosody

Older adults are not as good as younger adults at decoding prosodic emotions. We sought to determine the specificity of this finding. Performance of older and younger adults was compared on a prosodic emotion task, a "pure" prosodic emotion task, a linguistic prosody task, and a "pure" linguistic prosody task. Older adults were less accurate at interpreting prosodic emotion cues and nonemotional contours, concurrent semantic processing worsened interpretation, and performance was further degraded when identifying negative emotions and questions. Older adults display a pervasive problem interpreting prosodic cues, but further study is required to clarify the stage at which performance declines.     

Priestley Duality for Bilattices

We develop a Priestley-style duality theory for different classes of algebras having a bilattice reduct. A similar investigation has already been realized by B. Mobasher, D. Pigozzi, G. Slutzki and G. Voutsadakis, but only from an abstract category-theoretic point of view. In the present work we are instead interested in a concrete study of the topological spaces that correspond to bilattices and some related algebras that are obtained through expansions of the algebraic language.     

Sécurité des patients et développement des recherches : de la loi Bertrand à la loi Jardé

The legislator has successively adopted two laws amending deeply the legal framework of research. The first one is the law “Bertrand” no. 2011-2012 of 29 December 2011 on strengthening the safety of the drug and health products, which emphasizes the need for transparency of links of interest and opens wider opportunities for using post-marketing authorization trials. The second one is the law “Jardé” no. 2012-300 of March 5, 2012 on researches involving the human person, reforming all the rules governing researches and which establishes a national commission of researches involving the human person. If the first one is a clear move towards strengthening the protection of patients in research, it is possible to be more reserved about the effects of the latter, which seems more oriented towards an easing of constraints on researchers.     

Student Teachers' Classroom Management Anxiety: A Study on Behavior Management and Teaching Management

The purpose of this study is to examine student teachers' anxiety related to classroom management in terms of behavior and teaching management. The study is carried out with the participation of 700 student teachers attending Ziya Gökalp Education Faculty at Dicle University in the 2007–2008 academic year. In order to determine their anxiety levels concerning behavior management and teaching management, the scales of “behavior management anxiety” and “teaching management anxiety” are used. Data are analyzed with correlation (Pearson), t test, and analysis of variance techniques. The Scheffé test is used to test significance. According to the student teachers' participation to school experience and to their branches, significant differences are determined between all subscales of behavior management anxiety levels.     

Hamsters' (Mesocricetus auratus) memory in a radial maze analog: the role of spatial versus olfactory cues

The golden hamster's (Mesocricetus auratus) performance on radial maze tasks has not been studied a lot. Here we report the results of a spatial memory task that involved eight food stations equidistant from the center of a circular platform. Each of six male hamsters depleted the food stations along successive choices. After each choice and a 5-s retention delay, the hamster was brought back to the center of the platform for the next choice opportunity. When only one baited station was left, the platform was rotated to evaluate whether olfactory traces guided hamsters' choices. Results showed that despite the retention delay hamsters performed above chance in searching for food. The choice distributions observed during the rotation probes were consistent with spatial memory and could be explained without assuming guidance by olfactory cues. The radial maze analog we devised could be useful in furthering the study of spatial memory in hamsters.