Experience and sentence processing: statistical learning and relative clause comprehension

Many explanations of the difficulties associated with interpreting object relative clauses appeal to the demands that object relatives make on working memory. MacDonald and Christiansen [MacDonald, M. C., & Christiansen, M. H. (2002). Reassessing working memory: Comment on Just and Carpenter (1992) and Waters and Caplan (1996). Psychological Review, 109, 35-54] pointed to variations in reading experience as a source of differences, arguing that the unique word order of object relatives makes their processing more difficult and more sensitive to the effects of previous experience than the processing of subject relatives. This hypothesis was tested in a large-scale study manipulating reading experiences of adults over several weeks. The group receiving relative clause experience increased reading speeds for object relatives more than for subject relatives, whereas a control experience group did not. The reading time data were compared to performance of a computational model given different amounts of experience. The results support claims for experience-based individual differences and an important role for statistical learning in sentence comprehension processes.     

Thought control strategies as mediators of trauma symptoms in young women with histories of child sexual abuse

The current retrospective study examined thought control strategies, or cognitive techniques individuals use to deal with unpleasant thoughts following stressful events, as potential mediators of adjustment in young women with histories of child sexual abuse (CSA). In a sample of 76 undergraduate women who self-reported on abuse experiences, thought control strategies, and current trauma symptoms, several key findings emerged: (i) Greater severity of the CSA event was associated with greater reported use of worry and punishment strategies and less use of social control strategies; (ii) Increased use of worry and punishment strategies following the CSA event was associated with greater levels of trauma symptoms, while increased use of social control strategies following the CSA event was associated with lower levels of trauma symptoms; and (iii) Worry, punishment, and social control strategies served as mediators between CSA severity and trauma symptoms. The results suggest that thought control strategies, specifically increased worry and punishment, and decreased social control, play a vital role in understanding adjustment after CSA. Future research should examine the roles of these cognitive control strategies as possible avenues of intervention following CSA.     

Brief motivational intervention with homeless adolescents: evaluating effects on substance use and service utilization.

A brief motivational intervention with 117 homeless adolescents was evaluated using a randomized design and 3-month follow-up. The intervention was designed to raise youths' concerns about their substance use, support harm reduction, and encourage greater service utilization at a collaborating agency. The study was designed to strengthen initial promising results of an earlier study (P. L. Peterson, J. S. Baer, E. A. Wells, J. A. Ginzler, & S. B. Garrett, 2006). Several modifications in the clinical protocol were included to enhance engagement with the intervention. Analyses revealed no significant benefits for intervention participants when homeless youths' substance use rates were compared with those of control participants. Service utilization during the intervention period increased for those receiving the intervention but returned to baseline levels at follow-up. Participants reported overall reductions in substance use over time. Differences between sampling methods for the current and previous study are discussed, as are the limitations of brief interventions with this population. Future research needs to elucidate mechanisms of change and service engagement for highly vulnerable youth.     

Pathways from proactive and reactive aggression to substance use.

Childhood aggression is a known risk factor for adolescent substance use; however, aggression is a complex construct, and developmental researchers have identified a variety of subdimensions that may be germane to substance use. Very little research has examined risk pathways from subdimensions of aggression. The current study examined a developmental model and tested whether childhood proactive aggression, reactive aggression, or both were related to the development of substance use in adolescence in a sample of 126 children (mean age at initial assessment = 10.4 years, SD = 0.51). Peer rejection and peer delinquency were examined as potential mediators of these relations. The findings suggest that proactive aggression was indirectly associated with substance use through peer delinquency. Reactive aggression was also indirectly associated with substance use through a complex mediational chain, such that high levels of reactive aggression were associated with high levels of peer rejection, which in turn were associated with peer delinquency (p = .06), which subsequently predicted substance use.     

Relationships between worry, psychotic experiences and emotional distress in patients with schizophrenia spectrum diagnoses and comparisons with anxious and non-patient groups

BACKGROUND: This study tests the hypothesis that worry is associated with psychotic experiences and examines whether worry would contribute significantly to emotional response independently of the intensity of psychotic experiences. This study also explores differences in worry between patients with a diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, patients with anxiety disorders and non-patients. METHOD: Fifty-one patients with psychotic diagnoses, 40 patients with anxiety disorders and 60 non-patients were assessed on measures of psychotic experiences, cognitive components of anxiety and depression. RESULTS: Dimensions of worry were associated with dimensions of delusional ideation and with psychotic experiences and social worry predicted emotional responses over and above the intensity of psychotic experiences. Both clinical groups had significantly higher levels of worry in comparison with non-patients. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that worry may be implicated in psychotic experiences and that people with psychotic diagnoses experience high levels of worry. The clinical implications of the findings are also discussed.     

Children's metacognitive judgments in an eyewitness identification task

Two experiments examined children's metacognitive monitoring of recognition judgments within an eyewitness identification paradigm. A confidence-accuracy (CA) calibration approach was used to examine patterns of calibration, over-/underconfidence, and resolution. In Experiment 1, children (n=619, mean age=11 years 10 months) and adults (n=600) viewed a simulated crime and attempted two separate identifications from 8-person target-present or target-absent lineups given lineup instructions that manipulated witnesses choosing patterns by varying the degree of social pressure. For choosers, but not nonchoosers, meaningful CA relations were observed for adults but not for children. Experiment 2 tested a guided hypothesis disconfirmation manipulation designed to improve the realism of children's metacognitive judgments. Children (N=796, mean age=11 years 11 months) in experimental and control conditions viewed a crime and attempted two separate identifications. The manipulation had minimal impact on the CA relation for choosers and nonchoosers. In contrast to adults, children's identification confidence provides no useful guide for investigators about the likely guilt or innocence of a suspect. These experiments revealed limitations in children's metacognitive monitoring processes that have not been apparent in previous research on recall and recognition with younger children.     

Mandated Disciplinary Counseling on Campus: Problems and Possibilities

Because of increased student misconduct in academic institutions, counselors have had to use traditional voluntary counseling models with involuntary disciplinary clients. The authors propose a policy position that would preclude mandated treatment and instead place an emphasis on counseling readiness programming for disciplinary referrals. A stages of behavioral change model is offered as a tool to articulate when counseling can be effective with students entangled in disciplinary procedures.     

Evidence and rationalization

Philosophical Studies - Suppose that you have to take a test tomorrow but you do not want to study. Unfortunately you should study, since you care about passing and you expect to pass only if you...