Nighttime sleep and physical activity in 6-7 month-old infants

This study examined associations between objectively-measured nighttime sleep duration and physical activity in a sample of 6–7 month-old infants (N=93). The study also investigated relationships between infant sleep and demographic and environmental characteristics. Cross-sectional relationships were assessed using linear regression analyses. Nighttime sleep duration was positively associated with physical activity levels. Nighttime sleep duration was greater when infants had a consistent bedtime, slept in a separate room, were male, and had mothers who reported having a college education or greater. These findings can inform the development of interventions that aim to improve infant sleep.     

Gender differences in emotional and overt/covert aggressive responses to stress

We examined the role of stress exposure on gender differences in hostile (emotional and behavioral) reactions within the context of a laboratory paradigm. Aggressive behavior was indexed via the intensity (overt) and the duration (covert) of putative shocks delivered to a confederate. Half of the participants were exposed to a chronic stressor (high stress) and half were not (low stress). Participants' emotional responses were measured via self-report mood ratings before and after the experiment. Men displayed higher aggression in both stress conditions, which corresponded to their ratings of state hostility. On the other hand, women in high stress delivered lower intensity shocks, and this decreased overt aggression was positively correlated with sadness ratings. However, women did not decrease their levels of shock duration (covert aggression) under high stress and showed equivalent shock duration compared with men in high stress. These findings are discussed in terms of differential overt manifestations of distress between men and women.     

Do familiarity and expectations change perception? Drivers’ glances and response to changes

The present study shows that repeated exposure to a road environment changes eye movement behaviour. In addition, repeated exposure may result in inadequate responses to unexpected changes in the road environment. Participants drove a low-cost simulator while their eye movements were recorded. With repeated exposure participants’ glances at traffic signs along the route were shorter while having a better recollection of the traffic signs along the route. At the last drive, the priority situation at an intersection was changed (a priority road was changed into a yield situation). Even though drivers glanced at the sign that indicated the new priority situation, they did not sufficiently process the information to show an adequate response. Only two out of 12 drivers showed any response, being a response only after crossing the priority road markings. The current finding that unexpected but relevant information may be missed by drivers is relevant for other monitoring tasks.     

汉语词汇语音中介效应的眼动研究

使用美国应用科学实验室生产的504型眼动仪,采用语音中介启动范式,对汉语词汇识别是否存在语音中介效应进行考察。结果发现：（1）被试对语音中介词的首次注视点持续时间、凝视时间均显著高于控制条件;（2）当语音中介词为低频词时,被试对语音中介启动词的总注视时间显著高于控制类型;（3）语音中介类型的正确率显著低于控制类型;（4）实验结果表明,汉语词汇识别中存在语音中介效应。     

时距的短时保持: 缩短还是变长

采用Wearden和Ferrara(1993)的经典方法, 分别考察了1s以下(350 ms~650 ms)和1s以上(1000 ms ~ 2000 ms)不同类型(空、实时距)和通道(视、听)时距的短时保持效应。实验1发现, 不同刺激通道条件下, 1s以下时距的短时保持都呈现出主观缩短, 其中视觉条件比听觉条件明显; 实验2表明, 1s以上时距在不同刺激通道条件下都呈现出主观变长, 其中听觉条件比视觉条件明显。分析表明, 主观缩短趋势可能是由主观缩短效应和正的顺序误差效应共同作用所致, 而主观变长趋势是由主观变长效应和负的顺序误差效应造成的。     

The effect of time-out (to) duration on assaultiveness in psychiatrically hospitalized children

The effect of differential time-out (TO) durations (15, 30, 45, 60, and 90 minutes) on assaultive behavior for 13 psychiatrically hospitalized children and adolescents was analyzed. For the total sample, no statistically significant difference in assault frequencies was evident. Also evident was the effect of time-out duration on time taken to become settled: the longer the time-out given, the longer the time needed to become calm.     

Effects of attention and external stimuli on duration estimation under aprospective paradigm

The study examined whether there are two independent cognitive factors affecting duration estimation. In two experiments, we manipulated simultaneously and independently two variables, namely, the level of attention to the lapse of time and the quantity of perceived changes, and examined their effects on duration estimation under a prospective paradigm. The duration was estimated to be longer when subjects attended to the lapse of time than when they attended to tasks during the target interval (Experiments 1 and 2). The characteristics of external stimuli irrelevant to the tasks, namely, the rate of presentation of sounds (Experiment 1) and the velocity of moving dots (Experiment 2), affected duration estimation, even though the attention level was little changed by these stimuli. These findings suggest that there are at least two independent cognitive factors that affect duration estimation.     

Sleep duration and chronotype in adults in Côte d'Ivoire: influence of gender,religion and age

This study investigated the sleep-wake rhythm and chronotype of people living in Côte d'Ivoire. We assessed sleep-wake behaviour in 556 adults (336 men, 220 women) between 25 and 54 years (mean: 38.63) by means of structured interviews. Data were analysed by linear models with sleep wake variables as dependent variables and age, gender, religion and region (urban/rural) as fixed factors controlling for number of working hours and children. Results suggest sleep length not to differ between weekdays and weekends but sleep timing (chronotype) was later on weekends with a midpoint of sleep at 1:37am during weekdays compared to 1:58am on weekends. The more children, the earlier was the midpoint of sleep and the shorter was sleep length. Midpoint of sleep was earlier in older people. Women slept longer during weekdays and were earlier chronotypes. Sleep duration was longer in the rural areas and midpoint of sleep was later in the urban areas on weekdays and on the weekend. Muslims showed the shortest sleep duration and were earliest chronotypes. Sleep-wake cycles in the African setting sample were shorter for women, Moslems, and older people.     

Repetition in visual word identification: Benefits and costs

University students performed lexical tasks with visually presented target words after the presentation of an identical or unrelated prime, at short (80–120?ms) or longer (410–710?ms) prime–target stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). Experiment 1 showed perceptual identification benefits in vocal responding at a short SOA that were reduced (accuracy) or reversed (latency) at a longer SOA. Experiment 2 showed a transition from a repetition benefit to a cost over 3 SOAs in a target-masked version of the lexical decision task (LDT; target displayed for only 141?ms). In Experiment 3 the repetition cost was replicated at a 530-ms SOA in the LDT with masked targets, but a repetition benefit was observed in the conventional LDT (target displayed until response). The dependence of repetition costs on target masking is more consistent with biases based on episodic confusions than refractoriness of lexical representations.