The Relationship Between Academic Oral Proficiency and Reading Performance: A Comparative Study Between English Learners and English-Only Students

This study investigates the relationship between oral proficiency and reading proficiency in English-learning children (L2 students) and native English-speaking children (NE students). A set of oral activities measuring students’ academic oral skills in science classes was developed and administered to 61 fourth graders. Both the meaning-related aspects and the formal aspects of the students’ academic oral proficiency were compared between strong and struggling readers and between NE and L2 students. The study thus used a 2 × 2 factorial design (Strong/Struggling Readers × NE/L2 Students). After controlling for the students’ nonverbal analytic and reasoning skills, this study found that strong and struggling readers showed different levels of performance with respect to the meaning-related aspects of oral academic language but not with respect to the formal aspects of language. Conversely, differences between NE and L2 students were found in components related to the formal aspects but not in those related to the meaning aspects of oral language.     

Speed isn't everything: complex processing speed measures mask individual differences and developmental changes in executive control

The rate at which people process information appears to influence many aspects of cognition across the lifespan. However, many commonly accepted measures of ‘processing speed’ may require goal maintenance, manipulation of information in working memory, and decision‐making, blurring the distinction between processing speed and executive control and resulting in overestimation of processing speed contributions to cognition. This concern may apply particularly to studies of developmental change, as even seemingly simple processing speed measures may require executive processes to keep children and older adults on task. We report two new studies and a re‐analysis of a published study, testing predictions about how different processing speed measures influence conclusions about executive control across the lifespan. We find that the choice of processing speed measure affects the relationship observed between processing speed and executive control, in a manner that changes with age, and that choice of processing speed measure affects conclusions about development and the relationship among executive control measures. Implications for understanding processing speed, executive control, and their development are discussed.     

The effects of preexposure-test and conditioning-test intervals on the magnitude of latent inhibition

Using the conditioned taste aversion paradigm, two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of the interval between preexposure and test and that between conditioning and test on the magnitude of latent inhibition. Experiment 1 revealed that the degree of latent inhibition was attenuated when rats were given a 21‐day interval between preexposure and test. It was also found that this attenuation was more marked in subjects which were given conditioning immediately after preexposure than those which were conditioned shortly before the test. Retention interval between preexposure and test was reduced to 12 days in Experiment 2, and exactly the same pattern of results as those found in Experiment 1 was obtained. These findings suggest that the memory of conditioning as well as that of preexposure decreases its retrievability after a long retention interval, although the former is more retainable than the latter.     

Investigating the Relative Contributions of Computerised Working Memory Training and English Language Teaching to Cognitive and Foreign Language Development

The current study reports on an intervention study that investigated the relative contributions of 5‐week English language training (ELT) and 5‐week working memory training (WMT) to improvements in English language knowledge and working memory capacity in university learners of English as a foreign language. The participants were allocated to one of the following three experimental groups and a control group: (i) ELT only; (ii) WMT only; and (iii) both WMT and ELT. The results showed that intervention effects were pronounced in the WMT + ELT group, who improved scores on the reading span test and all tests of verbal and visuo‐spatial short‐term and working memory. The gains on verbal short‐term (Japanese) and working memory (Japanese and English) were maintained 3 months later. None of the interventions, single or combined, were associated with gains in foreign language knowledge, however. The sustained effects of the dual approach and its implications are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A unified framework for inhibitory control

Inhibiting unwanted thoughts, actions and emotions figures centrally in daily life, and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is widely viewed as a source of this inhibitory control. We argue that the function of the PFC is best understood in terms of representing and actively maintaining abstract information, such as goals, which produces two types of inhibitory effects on other brain regions. Inhibition of some subcortical regions takes a directed global form, with prefrontal regions providing contextual information relevant to when to inhibit all processing in a region. Inhibition within neocortical (and some subcortical) regions takes an indirect competitive form, with prefrontal regions providing excitation of goal-relevant options. These distinctions are crucial for understanding the mechanisms of inhibition and how they can be impaired or improved.     

Latent structure of dieting among female high-school students in Japan

The purpose of the present study was (1) to clarify whether individuals could be classified in terms of dieting using latent class analyses; and (2) to review the resulting classes were related to body dissatisfaction, body mass index, depressive mood, and binge eating. The present sample comprises 441 Japanese high-school girls. The optimal solution consisted of three latent classes: (1) unhealthy dieter (27%); (2) healthy dieter (39%); and (3) nondieter (34%). Inclusion in the unhealthy dieter class was predicted by body dissatisfaction and the girls in this class showed a high frequency of binge eating, while that in the other classes was not associated with any variable. This study identifies three classes with regard to dieting among female high-school students in Japan.     

Tufted capuchin monkeys (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cebus apella</Emphasis>) show understanding of human attentional states when requesting food held by a human

Researchers have investigated to what extent non-human primates understand others’ attentional states, as this ability is considered an important prerequisite for theory of mind. However, previous studies using food requesting tasks have failed to show that non-human primates attribute perception to others as a function of their attentional states. One possible reason is that food requesting tasks may require subjects not only to take into account an experimenter’s attentional state but also to direct it toward the food. The present study tested tufted capuchin monkeys’ (Cebus apella) understanding of others’ attentional states in a food requesting task. In the first situation, monkeys were required only to attract an experimenter’s attention. In the second situation, the monkeys were required to both attract the experimenter’s attention and direct it toward food on a table. The results revealed that capuchin monkeys showed evidence of understanding the experimenter’s attentional variations only in the former condition. This suggests that previous tasks, requiring referential gestures, lacking in most non-human primates, failed to reveal sensitivity to human attentional states because the subjects might not have understood the requesting situation. In conclusion, capuchin monkeys can understand variations in others’ attentional states, although this ability appears limited compared to what is seen in humans.     

Item–trait association, scale multidimensionality, and differential item functioning identification in personality assessment

This report documents relationships between differential item functioning (DIF) identification and: (1) item–trait association, and (2) scale multidimensionality in personality assessment. Applying [Zumbo, B. D. (1999). A handbook on the theory and methods of differential item functioning (DIF): Logistic regression modeling as a unitary framework for binary and Likert-type (ordinal) item scores. Ottawa, ON: Directorate of Human Resources Research and Evaluation, Department of National Defense.] logistic regression model, DIF effect size is found to become increasingly inflated as investigated item associations with trait scores decrease. Similar patterns were noted for the influence of scale multidimensionality on DIF identification. Individuals who investigate DIF in personality assessment applications are provided with estimates regarding the impact of the magnitude of item and trait association and scale multidimensionality on DIF occurrence and effect size. The results emphasize the importance of excluding investigated items in focal trait identification prior to conducting DIF analyses and reporting item and scale psychometric properties in DIF reports.     

From grammatical number to exact numbers: early meanings of 'one', 'two', and 'three' in English, Russian, and Japanese

This study examined whether singular/plural marking in a language helps children learn the meanings of the words 'one,' 'two,' and 'three.' First, CHILDES data in English, Russian (which marks singular/plural), and Japanese (which does not) were compared for frequency, variability, and contexts of number-word use. Then young children in the USA, Russia, and Japan were tested on Counting and Give-N tasks. More English and Russian learners knew the meaning of each number word than Japanese learners, regardless of whether singular/plural cues appeared in the task itself (e.g., "Give two apples" vs. "Give two"). These results suggest that the learning of "one," "two" and "three" is supported by the conceptual framework of grammatical number, rather than that of integers.     

Why do children perseverate when they seem to know better: Graded working memory,or directed inhibition?

Children sometimes have trouble switching from one task to another, despite demonstrating an awareness of current task demands. This behavior could reflect problems either directly inhibiting previously relevant information or sufficiently activating graded working memory representations for the current task. We tested competing predictions from each account, using a computerized card-sorting task in which we assessed children’s task switching abilities and their response speed to simple questions about current task demands. All children answered these questions correctly, but children who successfully switched tasks responded more quickly to questions than did children who perseverated on previous tasks, even after factoring out processing speed and age. This reaction time difference supports graded working memory accounts, with stronger representations of current task demands aiding both task-switching and responses to questions. This result poses a challenge for directed inhibition accounts, because nothing needs to be inhibited to answer simple questions that lack conflicting information.