Preattentive bias for snake words in snake phobia?

Stroop interference and skin conductance responses (SCRs) for words related to snakes, spiders, flowers, and mushrooms were studied in a group of women (n=40) with snake phobia who were randomised to a stress or no-stress condition. The 21 low-stress snake phobics showed Stroop interference for unmasked (but not for masked) snake words, compared with 21 age- and sex-matched controls. Stroop interference was not significantly different between high-stress and low-stress snake phobics. No support for stronger SCRs for masked snake words was found in snake phobics in a lexical decision task with masked presentations of the same words. The lack of a masked Stroop interference in snake phobics suggests a possible difference in cognitive-emotional mechanisms underlying specific phobia vs. other anxiety disorders that deserves further investigation.     

The attentional blink reveals sluggish attentional shifting in adolescents with specific language impairment

Rapid processing deficits have been the subject of much debate in the literature on specific language impairment (SLI). Hari and Renvall (2001) [Hari, R. & Renvall, H. (2001). Impaired processing of rapid stimulus sequences in dyslexia. Trends in cognitive sciences, 5, 525-532.] proposed that the source of this deficit can be attributed to sluggish attentional shifting abilities. That is, more time is required to shift attention between stimuli. To test this claim, 26 adolescents with SLI (divided into two subgroups to control for differences in non-verbal intelligence) and 14 controls were presented with a rapid serial visual presentation task. In this task participants were asked to detect two visual targets presented serially with distracter items with varying inter-target intervals (i.e., time difference between targets). This task was designed to elicit an attentional blink (AB). The AB describes the phenomenon whereby non-impaired individuals are less likely to report the second of two targets presented within 200-500ms of each other. After controlling for group differences in non-verbal intelligence, the SLI group was found to be significantly less accurate than the control group at successfully reporting the second target at inter-target intervals of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 800ms. The results were interpreted to suggest that adolescents with language impairments have an AB which differs from non-impaired individuals in both magnitude and duration.     

Attention focusing versus distraction during exposure in dental phobia

A survey of the discrepant findings regarding the effects of attention focusing and distraction on exposure suggested that subjective measures of anxiety and avoidance respond better to the latter condition, and heart rate (HR) reaction responds to the former. To test this hypothesis, 63 dental phobics were recruited who had not visited a dentist for a mean of 6.6 (1.5-25) years. Participants received a 1-h exposure session with either attention focusing or distraction. Subjective anxiety and HR to phobia-related pictures were assessed before and after the treatment session and again after 1 week. Avoidance was recorded in terms of adherence to the dental treatment schedule in the following 6 months. Contrary to expectation, state anxiety showed a greater decrease in the attention focusing than the distraction condition after 1 week. Both treatment conditions were similarly effective with regard to HR and avoidance. HR habituated in both groups after exposure and 73% of followed-up patients adhered to the dental treatment schedule. Comparison of the present with previous results suggests that the differences between attentional conditions tend to be more pronounced during shorter exposure sessions than were employed in the present study.     

Imitation of body postures and hand movements in children with specific language impairment

Within the domain-general theory of language impairment, this study examined body posture and hand movement imitation in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and in their age-matched peers. Participants included 40 children with SLI (5 years 3 months to 6 years 10 months of age) and 40 children with typical language development (5 years 3 months to 6 years 7 months of age). Five tests were used to examine imitation and its underlying cognitive and motor skills such as kinesthesia, working memory, and gross motor coordination. It was hypothesized that children with SLI show a weakness in imitation of body postures and that this deficit is not equally influenced by the underlying cognitive and motor skills. There was a group effect in each cognitive and motor task, but only gross motor coordination proved to be a strong predictor of imitation in children with SLI. In contrast, hand movement imitation was strongly predicted by performance in the Kinesthesia task in typically developing children. Thus, the findings show not only that children with SLI performed more poorly on the imitation tasks than their typically developing peers but also that the groups’ performances showed qualitative differences. The results of the current study provide additional support to the view that the weaknesses in children with SLI are not limited to the verbal domain.     

The single greatest life challenge: How late-midlife adults construct narratives of significant personal challenges

This study introduces the concept of the single greatest life challenge—the most subjectively-significant challenge a person has ever faced—and explores its implications for narrative identity. Through content coding of 157 late-midlife community adults’ life challenge narratives, we catalogued the distribution of 18 life challenge topics. Through exploratory factor analysis of narrative features, we found a four-factor structure (identity processing, agency/emotion, verbosity/specificity, and scope) largely consistent with the “big three” narrative identity metastructure. The agency/emotion factor was most closely tied to traits and functioning: it correlated negatively with neuroticism and depression, correlated positively with psychological well-being and life satisfaction, and provided incremental validity in predicting depression. The stories adults tell of their greatest challenges are informative about personality and psychological functioning.     

Are children with Specific Language Impairment competent with the pragmatics and logic of quantification?

Specific Language Impairment (SLI) is understood to be a disorder that predominantly affects phonology, morphosyntax and/or lexical semantics. There is little conclusive evidence on whether children with SLI are challenged with regard to Gricean pragmatic maxims and on whether children with SLI are competent with the logical meaning of quantifying expressions. We use the comprehension of statements quantified with ‘all’, ‘none’, ‘some’, ‘some…not’, ‘most’ and ‘not all’ as a paradigm to study whether Spanish-speaking children with SLI are competent with the pragmatic maxim of informativeness, as well as with the logical meaning of these expressions.Children with SLI performed more poorly than a group of age-matched typically-developing peers, and both groups performed more poorly with pragmatics than with logical meaning. Moreover, children with SLI were disproportionately challenged by pragmatic meaning compared to their age-matched peers. However, the performance of children with SLI was comparable to that of a group of younger language-matched typically-developing children. The findings document that children with SLI do face difficulties with employing the maxim of informativeness, as well as with understanding the logical meaning of quantifiers, but also that these difficulties are in keeping with their overall language difficulties rather than exceeding them. The implications of these findings for SLI, linguistic theory, and clinical practice are discussed.     

“You’re only as good as your weakest link”: Implicit theories of golf ability

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to examine the antecedents, specificity, and ceiling effects of golfers’ implicit theories of sport ability.

Design

The present study employs a qualitative research design. A constructivist grounded theory methodology was adopted.

Method

Participants (N = 8) were asked to describe their conceptions of golf ability. All responses were recorded, transcribed, and the data were analyzed through a series of iterations, which led to the identification of three dimensions that constitute golfers’ beliefs about ability.

Results

The three dimensions were: acquirable ability, stable ability, and developing natural attributes. Categories within these dimensions offer initial evidence for the role of social agents and the inherent culture of golf in shaping co-existing beliefs in relation to sport ability. Beliefs with regards to ceiling effects of ability are reported, with one theme proposing a ceiling to sport ability, and a contrasting category exemplifying the belief that there is always room for improvement.

Conclusions

The present study contributes to the field by offering initial evidence for the antecedents, specificity, and ceiling effects of golfers’ conceptions of their sport ability. Implications, both theoretical in terms of future research, and practical with regards to practitioners’ role in educating athletes and cultivating an environment conducive to the perception that sport ability is acquirable, are offered.     

Children with Specific Language Impairment are not impaired in the acquisition and retention of Pavlovian delay and trace conditioning of the eyeblink response

Three converging lines of evidence have suggested that cerebellar abnormality is implicated in developmental language and literacy problems. First, some brain imaging studies have linked abnormalities in cerebellar grey matter to dyslexia and specific language impairment (SLI). Second, theoretical accounts of both dyslexia and SLI have postulated impairments of procedural learning and automatisation of skills, functions that are known to be mediated by the cerebellum. Third, motor learning has been shown to be abnormal in some studies of both disorders. We assessed the integrity of face related regions of the cerebellum using Pavlovian eyeblink conditioning in 7–11 year-old children with SLI. We found no relationship between oral language skills or literacy skills with either delay or trace conditioning in the children. We conclude that this elementary form of associative learning is intact in children with impaired language or literacy development.     

Incidence of Specific Absolute Neurocognitive Impairment in Globally Intact Children with Histories of Early Severe Deprivation

Postnatal deprivation is associated with neurocognitive delay/dysfunction. Although “catch up” in global cognition following adoption has been reported, this study examined the incidence of specific absolute impairment in adopted children with intact global cognitive functioning. Eighty-five children (38 males, mean age = 112.8, SD = 30.3 months; range 61–209 months) raised from birth in orphanages underwent comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Fifty-four were deemed globally intact (IQ > 85). Of those deemed globally intact, 46% evidenced absolute impairment in at least one domain of functioning. Duration of stay in the orphanage was directly associated with incidence of impairment and number of domains affected. A substantial proportion of participants evidenced persistent, absolute impairment in one or more domains of neurocognitive function despite integrity of basic intellectual functions.     

There is more to life stories than memories

Current theories focus on the role of specific memories in organising the life story. However, temporally extended structures of autobiographical memory, like lifetime periods and mini-narratives (here termed chapters), may also play a central role in the organisation of the life story. Here, 30 elderly participants were asked to tell their life story in a free format. The life stories were divided into components and coded as chapters, specific memories, categoric memories, facts, chapters about other people, and autobiographical reasoning categories, i.e., reflections, evaluations, life lessons, and inferences about personality. The results show that chapters were much more common than specific memories in the life stories, indicating that chapters may play a role in the structuring of life stories. The number of chapters and specific memories in the life stories were unrelated, suggesting that the recounting of chapters versus specific memories does not reflect a preferred recall style.