A prospective naturalistic study of the impact of an intensive medical treatment on the social behavior of child and adolescent cancer patients

The impact of intensive chemotherapy and prolonged hospitalization on the social behavior of child and adolescent cancer patients was assessed. Twenty-three patients, aged 18 months to 21 years, were observed while they received chemotherapy in a protected environment or in a regular hospital room. Single-subject analyses were used to examine changes on six behaviors in relation to changes in physiological status. Fourteen patients showed significant change in the frequency of at least one behavior. Play and sleep were the behaviors most likely to change. The changes began to occur as patients experienced the systemic toxic effects of the drugs, although a dissipation of drug toxicity generally was not accompanied by a corresponding behavior change. The findings are discussed in relation to age-developmental and interindividual heterogeneity in response to treatment.     

A modern assessment of the basic forms of aphasia

A brief survey of the field of aphasia is presented. Many of the facts described in the neurological classics remain valid, but the interpretation of these facts must be altered. The basic principles of aphasia are reassessed in the light of neuropsychology. Neuropsychological analysis shows sensory (acoustico-gnostic) aphasia to be based upon an impairment in phonemic hearing. Motor aphasia breaks down into afferent (kinesthetic) and efferent (kinetic) aphasia. The former is based upon an impaired kinesthetic input into the speech functions, which results in a special type of oral apraxia. Efferent (kinetic) aphasia is based upon a breakdown in the kinetic organization of speech motor acts. Nominative (amnestic) aphasia consists of a number of forms, each based on either a weakness of visual or auditory analysis or difficulty in selection between evoked memory traces. “Transcortical motor aphasia” proves to be either perseverative aphasia, i.e., aphasia in which the dynamics of plasticity are impaired, or the result of the impairment of internal speech. The basic defect underlying “conduction” aphasia is beginning to be understood as a weakened acoustico-gnostic function or difficulties in retarding sideline associations.     

Mobiliser les arbitrages organisationnels pour prévenir les risques professionnels dans les espaces confinés : le cas des chantiers de réfection de canalisation en égouts

This contribution participates to the development of ergonomic contributions to the prevention of occupational risks in confined spaces, specifically in sewer pipe rehabilitation projects. The intervention deployed was structured around a participatory and collaborative approach involving all stakeholders in the project to sustainably improve the prevention of work-related accidents and musculoskeletal disorders among workers. Detailed analyses of workers’ activities coupled with a systemic analysis of the design and collective monitoring of the worksites were carried out. This made it possible to characterize the health and safety risks of site teams as products that compromise between several organizational requirements and situational constraints. Extended to the site manager, the analysis of his activity, although strategic, of anticipation and continuous design of intervention situations, proved to be limited by a vertical organization of the sites, which does not integrate his expertise. Based on the diagnosis, validated and shared by all, the prevention challenges were articulated with the performance objectives of the worksites in a perspective of co-design with and by the different hierarchical levels of the department. The intervention made it possible to collaboratively build new organizational rules that consider the concrete realities of the work of workers and site managers.     

Building self-control strength: Practicing self-control leads to improved self-control performance

Self-control performance may be improved by the regular practice of small acts of self-control.Ninety-two adults’ self-control capacity was assessed using the stop signal paradigm before they started practicing self-control and again at the end of 2 weeks. Participants who practiced self-control by cutting back on sweets or squeezing a handgrip exhibited significant improvement in stop signal performance relative to those who practiced tasks that did not require self-control. Participants who did not practice self-control believed that the tasks should improved self-control, engaged in tasks that were effortful and made self-control salient, but did not actually require self-control. Supplemental analyses suggested that only practicing self-control built self-control capacity; the improved outcomes cannot be explained by self-fulfilling prophecies, increased self-efficacy or awareness of self-control. The results may have implications for understanding the development of self-control in both children and adults, as well as clinical implications for treating disorders that involve low self-control.     

La dynamique identitaire de stagiaires immigrants : Stratégies d’acculturation et insertion dans un collectif de travail

The aim of this research was to explore reciprocal relations between acculturative strategies of immigrant trainees and their “strategies” of integration into a workgroup. The investigation of each participant’s identity dynamics served as a basis to this qualitative and exploratory study, using the IMIS (multistage social identity investigator), created by Zavalloni and Louis-Guérin (1984, 2007). In both the cases presented here, work environments echoed back to some of the main obstacles opposing to the social integration of immigrants. Therefore, part of the results revealed spontaneous emergence of adaptative strategies simultaneously linking to cultures and the profession.     

Individual Differences in visual imagery and spatial ability

Spatial ability is generally assumed to involve construction, transformation, and interpretation of mental images. To explore the relationship between spatial ability and both image quality and image process efficiency, 79 subjects performed eight spatial tests, completed three imagery questionnaires, and participated in six laboratory tasks. These laboratory tasks were devised to measure image quality and the efficiency of image generation, image rotation, image scanning, adding and subtracting detail in images, and integration of images. Although ratings of imagery control and vividness were unrelated to spatial test performance, laboratory measures of process efficiency and image quality were strongly related to spatial test performance and weakly related to one another. A structural equation model identified a single spatial factor, Visualization ability, that can be decomposed into unique variance plus a linear combination of measures of image quality and image process efficiency. An interpretation of this model is that successful performance on spatial tests requires maintenance of a high-quality image and efficient image transformation and inspection processes.     

The relation of congruence,differentiation, and consistency to interest and aptitude scores in women with stable and unstable vocational choices

This study examined by canonical variate analysis the relation between congruence, differentiation, and consistency, and academic aptitude and vocational interests for 280 women with stable vocational choices over 4 years and 327 women with unstable vocational choices over 4 years. Findings offered support for the importance of congruence in stable women; differentiation and consistency operated similarly for women with stable and unstable choices.     

The effect of reinforcement for global or analytic strategies on the performance of reflective and impulsive children

Second and sixth grade impulsive and reflective children were administered a conceptual style task with a modification that children were reinforced specifically for either global or analytic processing. Results indicated that both reflectives and impulsives were capable of offering either a global or analytic hypothesis under appropriate reinforcement. Results were interpreted as indicating the relevance of motivational factors to reflection/impulsivity and cognitive style.     

Intensity and orientation of reasoning: Motivational determinants of children's compliance to verbal rationales

The effects of varying the motivational content of verbal rationales on children's compliance to a prohibition were investigated. Sixty-four 7- to 10-year-old children received an explanation that focused either on the consequences of their behavior for themselves or on the consequences of their behavior for the experimenter. The intensity of these explanations was manipulated verbally by varying the severity of the self- or other-oriented consequences. Preratings of the rationales by an independent sample of 42 children indicated that children's perceptions of the aversiveness of the rationales increased as a function of intensity. Intensity was a determinant of children's compliance but females were more likely to increase in resistance to deviation as a function of intensity than males. Children who received other-oriented rationales performed a greater amount of work and were less likely to show decrements in working over time than subjects who received self-oriented rationales. The results were explained in terms of a model of reasoning effects in which the kind and amount of motivation aroused are two separable determinants of children's compliance.     

A strong developmental theory of field dependence-independence

Assume an X-linked gene in two alleles mediates performance on field dependent-independent tests such as the rod-and-frame test. Only the recessive gene with relative frequency q facilitates field independence. Other genotypes lead to field dependence. Under a simple genetic model, field dependence-independence may be viewed as outcomes of a discrete random variable B with field independent and dependent probabilities π_iq and 1 ? π_iq for men, and π_iq² and 1 ? π_iq² for women, respectively. The parameter π_i is a maturational ageindexed parameter, 0 < π_i ≤ 1, monotonically increasing with development until maturity when π_k = 1. Observations of performance are made on a random variable W of the form W = B + N, where N is normal in distribution independent of B; N represents a composite of influences including error. The model implies testable age-related between- and within-sex predictions regarding E(W) and Var(W), predictions which appear to coincide with major empirical findings; it also generates novel predictions. For instance, W is a mixture of normals distribution. The model is briefly evaluates in two data sets.