Early syntactic productivity: evidence from dative shift

The abstractness of children's early syntactic representations has been questioned in the recent acquisition literature. While some research has suggested that children's knowledge of basic constructions such as the transitive is robust and abstract at a very young age, other work has proposed that young children only have constructions that are specific to individual lexical items. The present paper seeks to resolve this discrepancy by examining children's abstract knowledge of the English dative alternation via a production study. The studies ask whether young children who hear a sentence like I pilked the cup to Petey know that the same meaning can be expressed with the sentence I pilked Petey the cup. This generalization is well-attested in the language that children hear and represents a strong test-case for determining the nature of children's early syntactic representations. The results indicate that three-year-old children have productive knowledge of the English dative alternation, but that their performance can be influenced by small changes in the nature of the task. A preference for the prepositional dative form is also found and the possible reasons for this preference are discussed.     

数字表征的表象赋义效应:来自数字线估计任务的证据

已有研究中数字线估计任务几乎都使用纯数字。本研究以二到六年级儿童为被试,采用纯数字任务和赋义数字任务来探索赋义表象对数字表征形式的影响。结果表明,对0~1000的数字赋义后,对数模型的解释力上升,而线性模型的解释力下降;表象大小对于赋义数字的估计影响显著,大表象赋义提高了对数模型解释力而降低了数字估计的准确性,小表象的影响比较微弱。     

Can small lesions induce language reorganization as large lesions do?

Shift of the cortical mechanisms of language from the usually dominant left to the non-dominant right hemisphere has been demonstrated in the presence of large brain lesions. Here, we report a similar phenomenon in a patient with a cavernoma over the anterolateral superior temporal gyrus associated with epilepsy. Language mapping was performed by two complementary procedures, magnetoencephalography, and electrocorticography. The maps, indicated right temporal lobe dominance for receptive language and left frontal lobe dominance for expressive language. These results indicate that a small lesion, associated with epilepsy, may produce selective shifting of receptive language mechanisms as large lesions have been known to produce.     

The role of context specificity in learning: the effects of training context on explosives detection in dogs

Various experiments revealed that if an animal learns a stimulus–response–reinforcer relationship in one context and is then tested in another context there is usually a lessening of stimulus control, and the same discriminative stimuli that reliably controlled the behavior in the first context will have less effect in the new context. This reduction in performance is known as the context shift effect. The effect of changing context on the probability of detecting explosives was investigated in seven highly trained explosives detection dogs (EDDs). In experiment 1 the dogs were trained alternately on path A, which always had five hidden explosives, and on a very similar path B, which never had any explosives. Within a few sessions the dogs showed a significant decrease in search behavior on path B, but not on path A. In experiment 2 the same dogs were trained only on path B with a target density of one explosive hidden every 4th day. The probability of the dogs now detecting the explosive was found to be significantly lower than in experiment 1. In experiment 3 the effect of the low target density as used in experiment 2 was investigated on a new but very similar path C. Both the detection probability for the one explosive every 4th day on the new path and the motivation to search were significantly higher than found in experiment 2. Finally, in experiment 4, an attempt was made to recondition the dogs to search on path B. Although trained for 12 daily sessions with one explosive hidden every session, the dogs failed to regain the normal levels of motivation they had shown on both new paths and on the paths that they knew usually contained explosives. The findings reveal that even a very intensively trained EDD will rapidly learn that a specific stretch of path does not contain explosives. The dog will then be less motivated to search and will miss newly placed targets. This learning is specific to the formerly always-clean path and is to some extent irreversible. However, the dog will search and detect normally on new paths even if they are very similar to the always-clean path. The data are discussed in terms of variables affecting renewal. The results suggest that following training designed to make a behavior context independent, any extinction training will not generalize beyond that specific context used during the extinction training. In addition, if the behavior is extinguished in a specific context, it will be very difficult to restore that behavior in that context. These conclusions should be considered by anyone attempting to extinguish well-established trans-context behaviors.This research reports portions of a doctoral dissertation submitted by Irit Gazit to Tel Aviv University.     

L’effet du sens du travail sur l’intention de quitter des personnels soignants en EHPAD. Quel impact de la satisfaction au travail et de la charge de travail ?

The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between the meaning of work and the intention to leave, job satisfaction and workload in a pre-pandemic context. In a population highly affected by turnover problems, care assistants working in French EHPAD (n = 125) completed a self-administered online questionnaire. The results of the study show a significant link between the variables mentioned above. Job satisfaction exerts a mediating effect between the meaning of work and the intention to leave. This mediation is not found for workload. This study highlights the interest of working on the meaning of work as a possible lever against the intention to leave.     

Systems factorial technology provides novel insights into the cognitive processing characteristics of open-skill athletes

Sport expertise has been shown to modulate the cognitive advantage in open-skill athletes, with evidence for a greater advantage for athletes practicing interceptive sports relative to strategic sports. However, this conclusion is solely based on central tendency measures such as accuracy or mean reaction time (RT), dismissing important information embedded in the intra-individual temporal dynamics of cognitive performance. This study aimed to better understand the cognitive advantage associated with open-skill sports, with a non-parametric approach assessing cognitive process at the level of RT distribution (i.e., systems factorial technology, SFT). Twenty-eight interceptive sport athletes, 27 strategic sport athletes, and 26 physically active non-athletes performed a go/nogo version of the redundant target task to assess their processing capacity of simultaneously monitoring multiple information channels. SFT was applied to assess resilience capacity, an estimate of workload capacity underlying inhibitory control. Our findings showed that interceptive sport athletes exhibited shorter mean RT relative to non-athletes selectively in the task condition involving distracting information, while strategic sport athletes showed greater resilience capacity over earlier responses relative to the other groups. These findings suggest that the two types of open-skill sports may be associated with different processing specificity, possibly reflecting the domain-specific rules and requirements.     

Anomalous experiences and schizotypy: which comes first? The Hermit Crab syndrome hypothesis

This study confirms findings of previous research as they state that some triggering events or anomalous experiences can give rise to a disruption of cognitive processes and emotional changes in a predisposed person. Furthermore, our research states that the cognitive process and change of world view (paradigm shift (PS)) accompanying some paranormal experiences (PEs) could facilitate the development of a schizotypal personality structure. For the purposes of this study, 675 young people aged between 13 and 25 years old (M?=?16.8, SD?=?1.9) completed the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire, the Revised and Modified Paranormal Belief Scales, the measurement of eight kinds of PE and a self-reported measurement of change of world view. The results confirm the mediating role of PS between paranormal practices and schizotypy as the cognitive process contributing to symptom formation as well as to symptom maintenance. The said results also confirm the existence of cognitive–emotional stages, also called Hermit Crab syndrome, in the process of the “paranormalisation” of reality.     

“Making it explicit” makes a difference: Evidence for a dissociation of spontaneous and intentional level 1 perspective taking in high-functioning autism

The ability of perspective taking is a fundamental aspect of social cognition. The ability to decide, what another person can or cannot see is referred to as “level 1 perspective taking.” This is thought to be a process that we can make use of intentionally, but which also takes place spontaneously. Autism is characterized by impairments of social interaction, which are thought to be related to deficits in implicit rather than explicit perspective taking. In order to assess both levels of processing with regard to perspective taking, we employed an established task in patients and controls. Our results demonstrate that both groups engage in spontaneous level 1 perspective taking. In contrast to controls, however, patients reacted more slowly if they had to verify the other’s as compared to their own perspective, which shows that participants with high-functioning autism have selective difficulties in explicit, but not implicit, level 1 perspective taking. These findings demonstrate that while spontaneous level 1 perspective taking appears to be intact in autism, this ability is impaired in patients when used explicitly.     

Transdisciplinary Child and Youth Studies: Critical Praxis,Global Perspectives

Drawing on empirical and theoretical literature from across six continents, this Introduction to a special issue of World Futures serves as a prelude to seven articles focused on transdisciplinary child and youth studies. The resulting gestalt builds on the assumption that those engaged in transdisciplinary research and pedagogy are also deeply engaged in the global reform movement currently underway in higher education. As a contribution to this process, we make two key arguments. First, Indigenous epistemologies (defined as traditional integrated knowledge systems drawing on connectedness to the Earth and ontologies of respect for past and future generations) must be fully included within the transdisciplinary canon. Second, we introduce child and youth studies as an inherently transdisciplinary field, one that embraces complex systems analysis along with young people’s participation in research that concerns their well-being.