A coordinated analysis of the associations among personality traits,cognitive decline,and dementia in older adulthood

There are individual differences in the rates of cognitive decline across later adulthood. Personality traits are among the factors that may account for these differences. The current project investigated whether personality traits were associated with trajectories of cognitive decline, and whether the associations were different before and after dementia diagnosis. The data was analyzed using linear mixed effects regression. Across study aims is a focus on replicability and generalizability. Each question was addressed in four independent longitudinal studies (EAS, MAP, ROS, SATSA), then meta-analyzed, providing estimates of replicability. Results indicated that low neuroticism and high openness were associated with total cognitive function. We detected evidence for cognitive decline in all four samples, and openness was associated with decline post dementia diagnosis.     

Synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions revealed through timed event sequences

This report extends a previous cross-cultural study of synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions (Bornstein et al., 2015) to immigrant samples. Immigrant dyads from three cultures of origin (Japan, South Korea, South America) living in the same culture of destination (the United States) were compared to nonmigrant dyads in those same cultures of origin and to nonmigrant European American dyads living in the same culture of destination (the United States). This article highlights an underutilized analysis to assess synchrony in mother-infant interaction and extends cross-cultural research on mother-infant vocal interaction. Timing of onsets and offsets of maternal speech to infants and infant nondistress vocalizations were coded separately from 50-min recorded naturalistic observations of mothers and infants. Odds ratios were computed to analyze synchrony in mother-infant vocal interactions. Synchrony was analyzed in three ways -- contingency of timed event sequences, mean differences in contingency by acculturation level and within dyads, and coordination of responsiveness within dyads. Immigrant mothers were contingently responsive to their infants’ vocalizations, but only Korean immigrant infants were contingently responsive to their mothers’ vocalizations. For the Japanese and South American comparisons, immigrant mothers were more contingently responsive than their infants (but not robustly so for South American immigrants). For the Korean comparison, mean differences in contingent responsiveness were found among acculturation groups (culture of origin, immigrant, culture of destination), but not between mothers and infants. Immigrant dyads’ mean levels of responsiveness did not differ. Immigrant mothers’ and infants’ levels of responsiveness were coordinated. Strengths and flexibility of the timed event sequential analytic approach to assessing synchrony in mother-infant interactions are discussed, particularly for culturally diverse samples.     

Parent-child interactions during joint engagement with touchscreen technology: A comparison of younger versus older toddlers

With a plethora of touchscreen apps aimed at young children, parents are receiving mixed messages about the appropriateness of such technology for their toddlers. The American Academy of Pediatrics (2016) advises limited engagement with digital media for this age group and encourages parents to co-engage with children when they are using screens. However, very little is known about parent-child interaction in the context of joint engagement with digital screen media in the toddler years. This study observed 56 toddlers (M = 32.5 months old; 53 % female) and a parent (52 mothers; 4 fathers) performing a 3-minute drawing task on a touchscreen tablet (digital condition), and on an Etch-A-Sketch (non-digital condition) using a repeated measures design. Observations were analysed using global ratings of dyadic interaction, comparing warmth, cooperation and conflict between digital and non-digital conditions. A mixed MANCOVA analysis, controlling for levels of daily usage of touchscreens, revealed lower levels of parent-child cooperation and warmth in the digital condition compared to the non-digital condition. In addition, there was a main effect of age with younger dyads displaying less cooperation overall, particularly in the digital condition where interactions were also less warm. Results suggest that co-engaging with digital technology can be a challenging and potentially emotionally charged context for both parents and young children. Younger toddlers, especially, may be more likely to experience less cooperative interactions when co-engaging with digital technology with a parent. Results are discussed in relation to developmental differences between 2- and 3-year olds, and the need for more nuanced guidance for parents supporting young children’s interaction with digital media.     

汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童视觉同时性加工技能子成分的发展及其与阅读的关系

通过分别以高频汉字(实验1)和图形非言语材料(实验2)为刺激的两个联合视觉注意任务, 并采用基于Budensen视觉注意理论的参数估计方法, 系统地探查小学三~六年级汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童的视觉同时性加工技能缺陷的内在机制。以43名汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童和46名生理年龄匹配典型发展儿童为被试, 每类被试均被分为小学中年级组(三、四年级)和高年级组(五、六年级)。两个实验均发现不同年级组的阅读障碍儿童在知觉加工速度参数上显著小于控制组儿童。在空间注意分布权重参数上, 实验1的结果显示, 不同于控制组儿童向左侧化发展的注意分布模式, 两个年级组的阅读障碍儿童均表现为无偏的注意分布; 而实验2未发现显著组别差异。且这两种同时性加工子技能分别与不同水平的汉语阅读技能密切相关。结果表明, 汉语阅读障碍儿童在同时加工多个视觉刺激时存在持续的知觉加工速度缓慢的问题, 在同时加工言语类刺激时还表现出异常的空间注意分布模式。本研究有助于从基础认知层面揭示汉语发展性阅读障碍儿童的缺陷机理, 为进一步设计相关的提高阅读效率的干预方案提供理论依据。     

Single-Stage Prediction Models Do Not Explain the Magnitude of Syntactic Disambiguation Difficulty

The disambiguation of a syntactically ambiguous sentence in favor of a less preferred parse can lead to slower reading at the disambiguation point. This phenomenon, referred to as a garden-path effect, has motivated models in which readers initially maintain only a subset of the possible parses of the sentence, and subsequently require time-consuming reanalysis to reconstruct a discarded parse. A more recent proposal argues that the garden-path effect can be reduced to surprisal arising in a fully parallel parser: words consistent with the initially dispreferred but ultimately correct parse are simply less predictable than those consistent with the incorrect parse. Since predictability has pervasive effects in reading far beyond garden-path sentences, this account, which dispenses with reanalysis mechanisms, is more parsimonious. Crucially, it predicts a linear effect of surprisal: the garden-path effect is expected to be proportional to the difference in word surprisal between the ultimately correct and ultimately incorrect interpretations. To test this prediction, we used recurrent neural network language models to estimate word-by-word surprisal for three temporarily ambiguous constructions. We then estimated the slowdown attributed to each bit of surprisal from human self-paced reading times, and used that quantity to predict syntactic disambiguation difficulty. Surprisal successfully predicted the existence of garden-path effects, but drastically underpredicted their magnitude, and failed to predict their relative severity across constructions. We conclude that a full explanation of syntactic disambiguation difficulty may require recovery mechanisms beyond predictability.     

Temporal coordination between maternal looming and infant gaze in depressed and nondepressed dyads: A bootstrapping approach

In this study, we examine the convergent validity of a measure of maternal looming derived using a motion capture system, and the temporal coordination between maternal loom and infant gaze using an event-based bootstrapping procedure. The sample comprised 26 mothers diagnosed with postpartum depression, 43 nondepressed mothers, and their 4-month-old infants. Mother-infant interactions were recorded during a standard face-to-face setting using video cameras and a motion capture system. First, results showed that maternal looming was correlated with a globally coded measure of maternal overriding. Maternal overriding is an intrusive behavior occurring when the mother re-directs the infant’s attention to parent-led activities. Thus, this result confirms that maternal looming can be considered a spatial intrusion in early interactions. Second, results showed that compared to nondepressed dyads, depressed dyads were more likely to coordinate maternal loom and infant gaze in a Loom-in-Gaze-pattern. We discuss the use of automated measurement for analyzing mother-infant interactions, and how the Loom-in-Gaze pattern can be interpreted as a disturbance in infant self-regulation.     

2~3岁幼儿执行功能与母子互动的关系:幼儿气质的调节作用

研究考察幼儿气质与母子互动质量对执行功能的作用。160名2~3岁幼儿及其母亲（主要抚养者）完成了亲子互动任务,然后幼儿完成工作记忆、认知灵活性与抑制控制的测查任务。结果发现母子互动质量对幼儿认知灵活性有显著预测作用,幼儿努力控制负向调节母子互动与认知灵活性的关系,即幼儿努力控制维度得分越高,母子互动对幼儿认知灵活性的作用越小。研究表明幼儿气质与亲子互动质量的交互作用解释幼儿执行功能的发展水平。     

Elucidating the mental processes underlying the direct retrieval of autobiographical memories

The literature on autobiographical memory retrieval has directed much attention to the concepts of direct retrieval (fast, automatic retrieval) and generative retrieval (slower, deliberative/strategic retrieval). Among the many findings reported on these phenomena, their relative prevalence has stood out as a central feature in many studies, with most studies reporting the frequency of direct retrieval as equal to or exceeding generative retrieval. In this study, we used the retrieve-aloud procedure (a method where participants verbalize their thoughts while retrieving) to delve more deeply into the nature of reports of ubiquitous direct retrieval. We hypothesized that much of the direct retrieval reported in literature is not bona fide direct retrieval (i.e., seemingly automatic retrieval), but is a combination of other retrieval processes, including generative-like retrieval processes. Our results supported this view, showing that less than one-half of all of the observed direct retrievals were bona fide direct retrieval, while the rest were a form of generative retrieval, or fell somewhere in between direct and generative retrieval. We argue that the results suggest that the prevalence of direct retrieval may be overestimated in the literature, and we further propose an alternative classification schema for direct retrievals.