Word identification in adults with mild mental retardation: does IQ influence reading achievement?

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between word identification and intelligence in adults with mild mental retardation (IQ < 80). METHOD: A standardized evaluation was administered to 67 adults with mild mental retardation. The evaluation included a psychiatric interview, the WAIS-R, and a 2-h interview with a speech therapist and reading tests. RESULTS: Causes of mental retardation were diverse in the sample, and IQ scores ranged from 43 to 79 (mean score = 64). All subjects exhibited reading impairment, including 69% with severe impairment. No subject with an IQ score under 65 was able to perform adequately in the word identification tasks. Word identification was correlated with total and verbal IQ, but not with performance IQ. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that, in contrast to subjects with normal intelligence, IQ score is correlated with reading in subjects with mild mental retardation. Finally, remediation should be preferentially implemented for subjects with IQ score greater than 65.     

To What Extent do we Hear Phonemic Contrasts in a Non-native Regional Variety? Tracking the Dynamics of Perceptual Processing with EEG

This combined ERP and behavioral experiment explores the dynamics of processing during the discrimination of vowels in a non-native regional variety. Southern listeners were presented with three word forms, two of which are encountered in both Standard and Southern French ([kot] and [kut]), whereas the third one exists in Standard but not Southern French ([kot]). EEG recordings suggest that all of the word pairs were discriminated by the listeners, although discrimination arose about 100ms later for the pairs which included the non-native word form than for those which contained word forms common to both French varieties. Behavioral data provide evidence that vowel discrimination is sensitive to the influence of the listeners’ native phonemic inventory at a late decisional stage of processing.     

Violent Video Games Stress People Out and Make Them More Aggressive

It is well known that violent video games increase aggression, and that stress increases aggression. Many violent video games can be stressful because enemies are trying to kill players. The present study investigates whether violent games increase aggression by inducing stress in players. Stress was measured using cardiac coherence, defined as the synchronization of the rhythm of breathing to the rhythm of the heart. We predicted that cardiac coherence would mediate the link between exposure to violent video games and subsequent aggression. Specifically, we predicted that playing a violent video game would decrease cardiac coherence, and that cardiac coherence, in turn, would correlate negatively with aggression. Participants (N = 77) played a violent or nonviolent video game for 20 min. Cardiac coherence was measured before and during game play. After game play, participants had the opportunity to blast a confederate with loud noise through headphones during a reaction time task. The intensity and duration of noise blasts given to the confederate was used to measure aggression. As expected, violent video game players had lower cardiac coherence levels and higher aggression levels than did nonviolent game players. Cardiac coherence, in turn, was negatively related to aggression. This research offers another possible reason why violent games can increase aggression—by inducing stress. Cardiac coherence can be a useful tool to measure stress induced by violent video games. Cardiac coherence has several desirable methodological features as well: it is noninvasive, stable against environmental disturbances, relatively inexpensive, not subject to demand characteristics, and easy to use. Aggr. Behav. 39:64‐70, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Passion in the romantic sphere: A look at relational outcomes

Based on the Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al. in J Pers Soc Psychol 85:756–767, 2003), a bidimensional perspective on romantic passion, that distinguishes between harmonious and obsessive passions, is proposed. The present research aimed at examining how these two types of romantic passion relate to indices of relationship quality, how one’s own passions are associated with one’s partner’s passions and relationship quality, and how the two types of passion relate to relationship stability over time. Study 1 revealed that harmonious passion was more strongly associated with high relationship quality than obsessive passion. Using a dyadic design, Study 2 revealed that the findings of Study 1 applied to both genders. In addition, one’s own passion predicted partner’s relationship quality, partners were not always matched in terms of the predominant type of passion, and passion matching did not predict relationship quality. Finally, Study 3 revealed that types of passion predicted relationship status over a 3-month period.     

The moderating role of autonomous motivation in the job demands-strain relation: A two sample study

Although job demands are known to be detrimental to employees’ psychological health, research suggests that certain individual characteristics moderate this relationship to some extent. This two-sample study investigated whether autonomous motivation moderates the relationship between specific job demands (role overload, role ambiguity, and role conflict) and psychological distress. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses showed clear moderating effects, indicating that highly autonomously motivated employees experience less psychological distress in the presence of job demands than their less autonomously motivated counterparts. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in light of the job demands–strain perspective and self-determination theory.     

Individual Differences in Mediators and Reactions to a Personal Safety Threat Message

Individual differences in processing information about a personal threat message about bisphenol A (BPA) risk were examined using the threat orientation model (Thompson &; Schlehofer, 2008 Thompson , S. C. , &; Schlehofer , M. M. ( 2008 ). Control, denial, and heightened sensitivity reactions to personal threat: Testing the generalizability of the threat orientation approach . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 34 , 1070 – 1083 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Adults (N = 448) read a risk message concerning BPA in plastics. Threat orientations, intentions to protect oneself from BPA risk, and emotional and cognitive reactions to the message were measured. Individuals with different approaches to threat reached different conclusions about the message and used different information in that process. These findings suggest that consideration of individual differences could improve the predictive ability of existing theoretical models and the effectiveness of health and safety messages.     

Contrastación de teorías de representación y razonamiento sobre silogismos lineales

Resumen

El objetivo de esta investigación es la comprobación de la capacidad predictiva de los distintos modelos existentes sobre razonamiento y representación en silogismos lineales: modelo de la imagen, lingüístico-proposicional, mixto y de niveles de representación. Se utilizaron 64 tipos de silogismos lineales con el fin de cumplir los requisitos mínimos necesarios para utilizar la metodología empleada. Aunque los resultados obtenidos no presentan diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los dos modelos con mayor capacidad predictiva, el modelo de niveles de representación supera al modelo mixto.     

Cartesian Method and the Aristotelian-Scholastic Method

In book one of the Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius is portrayed as a man who suffers because he forgot philosophy. Scholars have underestimated the significance of this portrayal and considered it a literary device the goal of which is simply to introduce the discussion that follows. In this paper, I show that this view is mistaken since it overlooks that this portrayal of Boethius is the key for the understanding of the whole text. The philosophical therapy that constitutes the core of the ‘Consolation’ can in fact be properly evaluated only if we recognize the condition it is designed to cure. Through the portrayal of Boethius's forgetfulness, the ‘Consolation’ illustrates that it is the very nature of philosophical knowledge that makes it susceptible to being forgotten. Philosophical knowledge can (i) turn into misology, when it appears unable to solve certain problems, and (ii) be overrun by strong emotions. The therapy offered in the ‘Consolation’ is designed to make Boethius aware of the ‘fragility’ of philosophical knowledge and show him how to ‘strengthen’ it. He is taught how to more fully embody philosophy's precepts and that philosophy's inability to solve certain problems reveals not its failures but its limits.     

Desarrollo cognitivo y comunicación intencional preverbal: un estudio longitudinal multivariado

Resumen

A partir de la revisión de las investigaciones sobre las relaciones entre la aparición de la intención comunicativa y el desarrollo sensoriomotor, se planteó la conveniencia de realizar un estudio empírico que permitiera profundizar en el estudio de estas relaciones desde una perspectiva de análisis multivariado. Para ello se realizó un estudio longitudinal de 16 sujetos, con tres momentos de medida (en torno a los ocho, diez y doce meses de edad). Los sujetos fueron evaluados mediante la aplicación de las escalas Uzgiris y Hunt (1975) y grabados en dos situaciones de interacción diàdica, una libre con su madre y otra semiestructurada de carácter elicitador. La conducta comunicativa de los niños fue registrada mediante un sistema de codificación diseñado con tal fin (Sarriá, 1991). Los datos fueron analizados mediante análisis de correlaciones y análisis de correspondencias múltiples. Los resultados obtenidos no apoyan la hipótesis de la homología local sobre la interdependencia de determinadas capacidades cognitivas y el desarrollo comunicativo planteada por Bates, Benigni, Bretherton, Camaioni y Volterra (1979), sino más bien sugieren una hipótesis de diferenciación entre los dominios de adaptación al mundo físico y el social-comunicativo, en el período de aparición de la intención comunicativa.