Evaluation of empirical pretreatment assessments for developing treatments for expulsion in pediatric feeding disorders

A common problem among children with feeding disorders is expulsion (removing or spitting food or drink from the mouth), which interferes with treatment success when the goal is consumption. Previous research has identified effective treatments to reduce expulsion, most commonly—re-presentation (presenting the expelled bite or a new bite of the same food immediately following the expulsion). However, there is not currently an assessment model in place to inform treatment decisions with a goal to reduce expulsion. In the present study, we used a multielement design to identify conditions under which little or no expulsion occurred with three children with feeding disorders. The results of the assessment were then used to inform treatment selection aimed to eliminate expulsion. The comparisons of the assessment included physical prompt, bite number, texture, preference, bite presentation style, and size of the bite. Results suggest that this assessment was useful for the design of individualized treatments for children who frequently expel food.     

The Political Manipulation of Group Composition: Engineering the Decision Context

Group decisions are not made solely by evaluating the merits of the contending positions. Instead, actors may engage in manipulation to increase the fortunes of their policy preference. Actors may manipulate information, group procedures, or group composition. Using a model of group socialization, this paper argues that a manipulator may seek to alter the group composition as to access and/or status. In doing so, the manipulator seeks to create a more favorable decision environment. This political perspective maintains that the dynamic nature of group composition provides an opportunity for a manipulator to engineer the decision context, potentially affecting the group's decisional output. Strategies and tactics of composition manipulation are presented and then utilized to analyze the American decision process during the Iranian revolution.     

ANTECEDENT CONTROL OF ORAL READING ERRORS AND SELF-CORRECTIONS BY MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN

Academic behaviors can be enhanced through the manipulation of either consequent or antecedent stimuli. In this study, we evaluated the effects of manipulating two antecedent stimulus events with respect to oral reading errors and self-corrections of four mentally retarded children. Using an alternating treatments design, the effects of previewing the target text and previewing an unrelated text were evaluated against no-previewing. In the first previewing condition, the teacher discussed the target text with the children before they were required to read it orally. The same procedure was used in the other previewing condition but with the provision that an unrelated text was previewed. Oral reading errors decreased and self-corrections increased when the children previewed the target text with their teacher before reading it orally. No changes were observed as a result of implementing the other two procedures, previewing an unrelated text and no-previewing. The results, which were consistent across all four children, showed that reading proficiency can be increased by manipulating antecedent stimulus events prior to oral reading.     

句子语义、代词和先行词的距离对代词加工的影响

考察了句子语义和代词与其先行词之间的距离对代词加工的影响。结果表明,语义是影响代词加工的主要因素。代词和先行词之间相隔的分句数而不是字数在一定程度上也影响代词加工。作者对这种距离效应的原因进行了讨论。     

Effects of a checklist on self-assessment of blood glucose level by a memory-impaired woman with diabetes mellitus

This study evaluated effects of a checklist on the accuracy of self-assessment of blood glucose level by a diabetic woman with memory impairments caused by viral encephalitis. The checklist consisted of 54 steps for operating an electronic glucometer, which the subject performed in sequence and checked off when completed. Following introduction of the checklist, the percentage of steps completed correctly increased in simulated and actual blood glucose tests and yielded clinically useful information.     

Dispositional and induced optimism lead to attentional preference for faces displaying positive emotions: An eye-tracker study

The aim of this study was to examine whether dispositional optimism and induced optimism are associated with an attentional bias for positive stimuli. Fifty-six healthy participants performed an eye-tracking task twice, while their gazing time at faces displaying joy, anger, pain, or a neutral expression was measured. Participants scoring high on dispositional optimism tended to gaze longer at joy faces during the first face-presentation trial compared to participants scoring lower on optimism, and this correlation became significant during the second face-presentation trial. In between the two presentations, participants received either an optimism manipulation or a control manipulation. There was no effect of type of manipulation on gazing behavior but post hoc analyses demonstrated that participants showing an increase in state optimism displayed a significant decrease in gaze duration for anger faces and a nearly significant increase in gaze duration for joy faces.     

汉语言语产生中先行关联词的隐含数倾向对代词选择的影响

使用句子补全任务, 通过3个实验, 考察了汉语言语产生中先行关联词的隐含数倾向对代词选择的影响, 证实在汉语言语产生中也存在着数一致和数吸引现象。实验1和实验2分别考察了汉语双字动词和双字名词的隐含数倾向对代词选择的影响。实验3进一步探查了在汉语言语产生中的数吸引现象。结果发现, 在汉语言语产生中, 不仅存在着“主语-动词数一致”和“名词-代词数一致”, 还存在着对称的数吸引。研究结果部分支持了特征渗透模型和激活框架理论。