Neural correlates of audiovisual integration of semantic category information

Previous studies have found a late frontal-central audiovisual interaction during the time period about 150-220 ms post-stimulus. However, it is unclear to which process is this audiovisual interaction related: to processing of acoustical features or to classification of stimuli? To investigate this question, event-related potentials were recorded during a words-categorization task with stimuli presented in the auditory-visual modality. In the experiment, congruency of the visual and auditory stimuli was manipulated. Results showed that within the window of about 180-210 ms post-stimulus more positive values were elicited by category-congruent audiovisual stimuli than category-incongruent audiovisual stimuli. This indicates that the late frontal-central audiovisual interaction is related to audiovisual integration of semantic category information.     

Age effects on rotational hand action

We investigated age-related differences in finger coordination during rotational hand actions. Two hypotheses based on earlier studies were tested: higher safety margins and lower synergy indices were expected in the elderly. Young and elderly subjects held a handle instrumented with five six-component force sensors and performed discrete accurate pronation and supination movements. The weight of the system was counterbalanced with another load. Indices of synergies stabilizing salient performance variables, such as total normal force, total tangential force, moments produced by these forces, and total moment of force were computed at two levels of a hypothetical control hierarchy, at the virtual finger-thumb level and at the individual finger level. At each level, synergy indices reflected the normalized difference between the sum of the variances of elemental variables and variance of their combined output, both computed at comparable phases over repetitive trials. The elderly group performed the task slower and showed lower safety margins for the thumb during the rotation phase. Overall, the synergy indices were not lower in the elderly group. In several cases, these indices were significantly higher in the elderly than in the younger participants. Hence, both main hypotheses have been falsified. We interpret the unexpectedly low safety margins in the elderly as resulting from several factors such as increased force variability, impaired feed-forward control, and the fact that there was no danger of dropping the object. Our results suggest that in some natural tasks, such as the one used in this study, healthy elderly persons show no impairment, as compared to younger persons, in their ability to organize digits into synergies stabilizing salient performance variables.     

The relation of self-supporting personality, enacted social support, and perceived social support

This study examines the relational model of self-supporting personality, enacted social support, and perceived social support in a sample of 482 Chinese high school students using the Self-Supporting Personality Scale for Adolescent Students (SSPS-AS), the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Results from the cross-sectional structural equation analyses revealed that interpersonal initiative, interpersonal openness, personal openness and personal initiative predicted perceived social support through the mediating role of enacted social support, while interpersonal responsibility, interpersonal flexibility, and personal initiative predicted perceived social support directly. Thus, the hypothesized relational model of personality, enacted social support, and perceived social support was supported. The positive relational schema may be the main underpinning of the relation of self-supporting personality, enacted social support, and perceived social support. Culture also may influence the relation.     

Accounting for Movement between Childcare Classrooms: Does it Change Teacher Effects Interpretations?

Child care studies that have examined links between teachers' qualifications and children's outcomes often ignore teachers' and children's transitions between classrooms at a center throughout the day and only take into account head teacher qualifications. The objective of this investigation was to examine these traditional assumptions and to compare inferences made from these traditional models to methods accounting for transitions between classrooms and multiple teachers in a classroom. The study examined the receptive language, letter-word identification, and passage comprehension skills of 307 children enrolled in 49 community-based childcare centers serving primarily low-income families in Colorado. Results suggest that nearly one-third of children and over 80% of teachers moved daily between classrooms. Findings also reveal that failure to account for daily transitions between classrooms can affect interpretations of the relationship between teacher qualifications and child outcomes, with the model accounting for movement providing significant improvements in model fit and inference.     

Perspective-taking and depth of theory-of-mind reasoning in sequential-move games

Theory-of-mind (ToM) involves modeling an individual's mental states to plan one's action and to anticipate others' actions through recursive reasoning that may be myopic (with limited recursion) or predictive (with full recursion). ToM recursion was examined using a series of two-player, sequential-move matrix games with a maximum of three steps. Participants were assigned the role of Player I, controlling the initial and the last step, or of Player II, controlling the second step. Appropriate for the assigned role, participants either anticipated or planned Player II's strategy at the second step, and then determined Player I's optimal strategy at the first step. Participants more readily used predictive reasoning as Player II (i.e., planning one's own move) than as Player I (i.e., anticipating an opponent's move), although they did not differ when translating reasoning outcome about the second step to optimal action in the first step. Perspective-taking influenced likelihood of predictive reasoning, but it did not affect the rate at which participants acquired it during the experimental block. We conclude that the depth of ToM recursion (related to perspective-taking mechanisms) and rational application of belief-desire to action (instrumental rationality) constitute separate cognitive processes in ToM reasoning.     

A Sandwich-Type Standard Error Estimator of SEM Models with Multivariate Time Series

Structural equation models are increasingly used as a modeling tool for multivariate time series data in the social and behavioral sciences. Standard error estimators of SEM models, originally developed for independent data, require modifications to accommodate the fact that time series data are inherently dependent. In this article, we extend a sandwich-type standard error estimator of independent data to multivariate time series data. One required element of this estimator is the asymptotic covariance matrix of concurrent and lagged correlations among manifest variables, whose closed-form expression has not been presented in the literature. The performance of the adapted sandwich-type standard error estimator is evaluated using a simulation study and further illustrated using an empirical example.     

Development of Clinical Psychology and Mental Health Resources in Vietnam

In this paper, we discuss development of the Vietnam National University graduate Clinical Psychology Program, which has the goal of training both Vietnamese researchers who will develop and evaluate culturally appropriate mental health treatments, as well as Vietnamese clinicians who will implement and help disseminate these evidence-based treatments. We first review the background situation in Vietnam regarding mental health, and its infrastructure and training needs, and discuss the process through which the decision was made to develop a graduate program in clinical psychology as the best approach to address these needs. We then review the development process for the program and its current status, and our focus on the schools as a site for service provision and mental health task shifting. Finally, we outline future goals and plans for the program, and discuss the various challenges that the program has faced and our attempts to resolve them.     

The impact of associative strength on performance in goal pursuit

The present research explored the hypothesis that strengthened attainment means–goal association leads to enhanced performance in goal pursuit. We hypothesize that because of the instrumental nature of means–goal association, strengthened associative strength leads to greater instrumentality expectancy of the means, which elicits greater motivation in the pursuit and hence better actual performance. We demonstrated in four studies that when the means is believed to facilitate goal attainment, a strong (vs. weak) means–goal association leads to greater performance in goal pursuit. Conversely, when the means is perceived to undermine goal attainment, a strong (vs. weak) association results in worse performance in goal pursuit.     

Motivational predictors of coping with academic examination

The present study focused on the motivational predictors of coping with academic examination through the test of the contribution of self-determination for academic studies and achievement goals. Coping strategies, academic motivation and achievement goals were assessed among 199 undergraduate students. Regression analysis revealed that problem-focused coping is positively predicted by identified regulation and negatively by amotivation, whereas emotion-focused coping is positively predicted by introjected regulation and amotivation. Mastery approach goals contributed positively to problem-focused coping. Identified regulation and mastery approach goals made a unique positive contribution to problem-focused coping, and amotivation was negatively related. Students' coping actions may vary according to both the reasons why they engage in academic studies and the goals they pursue in this setting.