The effects of primary reward on the I.Q. performance of grade-school children as a function of initial I.Q. level

The effect of candy reward on I.Q. scores was investigated in 72 first- and second-grade children. All subjects were administered Form A of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and, based upon these scores, were divided into three blocks: low, middle, and high. From each block, subjects were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (contingent reward, noncontingent reward, or no reward) that were in effect during administration of Form B. Results showed that candy given contingent upon each correct response increased I.Q. scores for the initially low scoring subjects, but had no influence on the scores of middle and high scoring subjects.     

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF REINFORCEMENT,RESPONSE COST,AND MIXED PROGRAMS ON CLASSROOM BEHAVIORS1

Six elementary school children served as subjects in an experiment comparing the relative effectiveness of (1) token reinforcement, in which children received tokens for attending and for correct arithmetic performance; (2) response cost, in which children received “free” tokens at the start of a period but lost them for inattention and for arithmetic performance below a specified level; and (3) a combination of both token reinforcement and response cost. During training, the six subjects received all three procedures in counterbalanced sequence. The effects of the three procedures were assessed by a within-subject comparison divided into three phases: (i) baseline, (ii) training, (iii) withdrawal of tokens. Introduction of the three token procedures markedly increased the two dependent measures. However, there were no differences across the procedures in the amount of change produced in either attending behavior or arithmetic performance. During baseline, the subjects averaged 29% attending behavior and 6.4 correct problems. These levels increased to 85% for attending behavior and 11.4 correct problems for arithmetic performance during training. Removal of all token procedures significantly decreased attending behavior (to an average of 65%), but produced a nonsignificant reduction in arithmetic performance (to an average of 7.6 correct problems). There was evidence that this lack of differential effects of the three token procedures was not due to an inability to discriminate among them. Furthermore, the subjects were evenly divided in their preference for the three procedures.     

Effects of two teacher-presentation rates on off-task behavior, answering correctly, and participation

Off-task behavior, correct answering, and participation during beginning reading instruction were recorded for two low-achieving first-grade children during two different rates of teacher presentation. A slow-rate presentation (A) was compared with a fast-rate presentation (B) in an ABABAB design. In slow-rate presentation, there was a delay between the children's response and introduction of the next task. In fast-rate presentation, there was no delay. A new teacher taught during the final AB phases, which allowed for a brief replication. Both teachers were reminded on a fixed-interval 90-sec schedule throughout all phases of the experiment to praise the subjects, thus preventing a confounding of social praise and rate of teacher presentation. Fast-rate presentation was accompanied by a lower per cent occurrence of off-task behavior for both Subjects 1 and 2. For Subject 1, correct answering and participation were more frequent during all three fast-rate phases. For Subject 2, correct answering and participation were more frequent during the fast-rate phases after the first reversal.     

Changes in Children's Episodic Narratives Through Long-Term Repeated Recall: Longitudinal Case Studies1

This study aimed to investigate whether a child's narrative of a particular past episode would change in repeated reporting over the long term, and if so, how it would change. To answer these questions, I conducted longitudinal case studies of episodic reports by children every 2–6 months, from their early childhood to the age of 10–15 years. Criteria for inclusion were set in advance; seven episodic narratives meeting these criteria were analyzed. Two types of changes in the narratives were observed, as expected: that of including other information, and that of an event suddenly being reported after no recall for several years. Information from the children's surroundings seemed to be substantially involved in these changes in their episodic narratives. The present results also indicate that mothers' episodic memories are not always reliable and that the schema children have can influence their episodic memories.     

Treating Childhood Social Anxiety Disorder With Virtual Environments and Serious Games: A Randomized Trial

Disseminating efficacious psychological treatments remains a challenge for researchers and clinicians. In the case of social anxiety disorder (SAD), Social Effectiveness Therapy for Children (SET-C) has been demonstrated as an efficacious intervention, but elements of the protocol, such as peer generalization sessions, remain challenging to conduct in typical clinical settings. To address this need, we developed an artificially intelligent, web-based application, Pegasys-VR™, designed to replace peer generalization sessions and enhance homework compliance. The feasibility of Pegasys-VR™ was tested in a randomized controlled trial in comparison to SET-C. The results indicated that both programs were equally efficacious in decreasing anxiety and improving social skill in social encounters. Sixty-three percent (63%) of children treated with SET-C and 60% treated with Pegasys-VR™ did not meet diagnostic criteria for SAD at posttreatment. Pegasys-VR™ is a feasible, efficacious, and dissemination-friendly element of a comprehensive treatment program for social anxiety disorder in children.     

Changes in Anxiety Control Beliefs Following a Brief CBT Treatment and Their Association With Anxiety Symptom Reduction

Anxiety control beliefs (i.e., beliefs regarding one’s ability to cope with external, fear-inducing threats and internal reactions to those perceived threats) have been found to negatively predict anxiety symptoms in children and adults and to be modifiable by cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders. The current study examines whether changes in anxiety control beliefs were seen following a brief, intensive treatment for specific phobias, and whether those changes were associated with improvements in the targeted phobia and comorbid anxiety disorder symptoms. Participants were 135 children and adolescents (M age = 9.01 years, 49% male) who received one-session treatment (OST) with or without parental involvement for their primary specific phobia. Results indicated that self-reported anxiety control beliefs significantly increased following treatment and that these increases significantly predicted reductions in specific phobia severity and symptoms of comorbid anxiety disorders 6 months and 1 year following treatment. Findings illustrate that involvement in a single 3-hour OST was associated with changes in anxiety control beliefs and demonstrate the potential importance of targeting control beliefs in pediatric anxiety treatment.     

Real and virtual classrooms can trigger the same levels of stuttering severity ratings and anxiety in school-age children and adolescents who stutter

PurposeMany school-age children and adolescents who stutter experience the fear of public speaking. Treatment implications include the need to address this problem. However, it is not always possible to train repeatedly in front of a real audience. The present study aimed to assess the relevance of using a virtual classroom in clinical practice with school-age children and adolescents who stutter.MethodsTen children and adolescents who stutter (aged 9–17 years old) had to speak in three different situations: in front of a real audience, in front of a virtual class and in an empty virtual apartment using a head-mounted display. We aimed to assess whether the self-rated levels of anxiety while speaking in front of a virtual audience reflect the levels of anxiety reported while speaking in front of a live audience, and if the stuttering level while speaking to a virtual class reflects the stuttering level while speaking in real conditions.ResultsResults show that the real audience creates higher anticipatory anxiety than the virtual class. However, both the self-reported anxiety levels and the stuttering severity ratings when talking in front of a virtual class did not differ from those observed when talking to a real audience, and were significantly higher than when talking in an empty virtual apartment.ConclusionOur results support the feasibility and relevance of using a virtual classroom to expose school-age children and adolescents who stutter to a feared situation during cognitive behavioral therapy targeting the fear of public speaking.     

Enhancing the care of children with chronic diseases through the narratives of patient,physician, nurse and carer

We tested the hypothesis that a narrative approach may enhance a bio‐psycho‐social model (BPS) in caring for chronically ill children. Forty‐eight narratives were collected from 12 children with six different medical conditions, their mothers, physicians, and nurses. By a textual analysis, narratives were classified on their predominant focus as disease (biological focus), illness (psychologic focus), or sickness (social focus). Sixty‐one percent of narrative’ text were classified as illness, 28% as disease and 11% as sickness. All narratives had a degree of illness focus. Narratives by patients and physicians on the one hand, and nurses’ and mothers’ on the other were disease focused. Narratives were also evaluated with respect to the type of medical condition: Illness was largely prevalent in all but Crohn’s disease and HIV infection, the latter having a predominance of sickness most probably related to stigma. Narrative exploration proved a valuable tool for understanding and addressing the needs of children with complex conditions. Narrative approaches allow identification of the major needs of different patients according to health conditions and story tellers. In the narratives, we found a greater illness and disease focus and surprisingly a low sickness focus, except with HIV stories. Narrative medicine provides a tool to strengthen the BPS model in health care.     

主观声旁家族对汉语儿童汉字命名的影响

研究选取三年级、五年级和七年级学生,采用两个汉字命名实验,考察主观声旁家族对汉字命名的影响。实验一操纵主观声旁家族大小,发现三年级儿童没有表现出家族效应;五年级儿童表现出边缘显著的家族抑制效应,即对大家族的字命名更慢;七年级儿童表现出显著的家族抑制效应。实验二操纵了目标字是否有高频家族成员字（higher frequency neighbors,HFNs）这个变量,发现儿童普遍都表现出HFNs抑制效应,即对有高频家族成员字的目标字命名更慢。以上结果表明随着年级增长,主观声旁家族对儿童命名的影响逐渐增强,且高年级儿童已表现出家族抑制效应,这一表现与普遍出现的HFNs抑制效应有关。     

儿童空间观点采择的自动性及其发展

使用空间观点采择任务,探究7~11岁儿童的空间观点采择的自动性和发展趋势。结果发现：（1）在他人任务中,正确率随着角度的增长而减小;（2）在自我任务中,相比于空间关系不一致时,一致时的正确率更高,且反向的一致性效应出现在150°~180°间。本研究结果显示：本项空间观点采择任务对儿童有效;7~9岁的儿童可以自动进行空间转换;11岁的儿童可以自动进行需要判断左右位置的空间观点采择。本研究首次证明,11岁是儿童自动进行需要判断左右位置的空间观点采择的相对年龄转折点。