Lexical stress,frequency, and stress neighbourhood effects in the early stages of Italian reading development

We examined the development of stress assignment in reading Italian aloud. We investigated frequency effects as a marker of the use of item-specific lexical knowledge in assigning stress together with stress dominance and stress neighbourhood (the number of words sharing both stress and ending) as markers of distributional information regarding properties of the lexicon extracted from spoken language. We tested second- and fourth-graders in a reading-aloud experiment including high- and low-frequency words and nonwords. Results show that despite the regularity of orthography–phonology mappings in Italian and the predominant use of phonological recoding procedures, item-specific lexical knowledge is also used, even by beginning readers. The frequency effect was significant and did not increase with age, while stress errors on low-frequency words decreased with increasing grade. Stress neighbourhood increasingly affected stress assignment on nonwords with older children. Taken together, our findings show that both item-specific knowledge and general information about stress distribution are relevant in children's reading, suggesting the simultaneous use of both lexical and sublexical information. Moreover, as the reading system develops, and knowledge about the relative distribution of stress neighbourhood increases, larger grain-size units are also exploited.     

Prospective Associations Between Prosocial Behavior and Social Dominance in Early Childhood: Are Sharers the Best Leaders?

A short-term longitudinal study during early childhood (N = 96; M = 42.80; SD = 7.57) investigated the concurrent and prospective association between prosocial behavior and social dominance. Time-intensive school-based focal child sampling with continuous recording observations of prosocial behavior to peers were conducted and teacher-reports of social dominance were collected. The study documents significant prospective links between prosocial behavior to peers and increases in social dominance over time. Social dominance was not associated with changes in prosocial behavior. The findings extend past empirical work in early childhood and future directions are discussed.     

Hemispheric Differences in the Processing of Words Learned Early Versus Later in Childhood

The research investigated whether there are hemispheric differences in processing for words acquired early in childhood (early AoA) and words acquired later in childhood (late AoA). We hypothesized that because of recent evidence suggesting that there is a right hemisphere dominance in early childhood, early AoA words would be represented in the right hemisphere, and late AoA words would be represented in the left hemisphere. This hypothesis differs from an early view that late AoA words would be represented in the left hemisphere, and early AoA words would be represented in both hemispheres (Gazzaniga, 1974). We report two experiments using the divided visual field (DVF) technique. The results showed that there was a right visual field (RVF)/left hemisphere (LH) advantage only for late AoA words. For early AoA words, there was a left visual field (LVF)/right hemisphere advantage (RH). Implications for theories of hemispheric differences in word processing are discussed.     

Mapping the Connections between Politics and Morality: The Multiple Sociopolitical Orientations Involved in Moral Intuition

According to moral foundations theory (Haidt & Joseph, 2004), five foundations are central to moral intuition. The two individualizing foundations—harm/care and fairness/reciprocity—hinge on the rights of the individual, whereas the three binding foundations—in‐group/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/sanctity—focus on communal bonds. Recent work suggests that reliance on the various foundations varies as a function of sociopolitical orientation: liberals consistently rely on the individualizing foundations, whereas conservatives rely on both the individualizing and binding foundations. In an effort to further explore the relationship between sociopolitical orientation and morality, we argue that only certain types of sociopolitical attitudes and beliefs should relate to each cluster of foundations. Drawing on dual‐process models of social and political attitudes, we demonstrate that the individualizing foundations are aligned with attitudes and beliefs relevant to preferences for equality versus inequality (i.e., SDO and competitive‐jungle beliefs), whereas the binding foundations are aligned with attitudes and beliefs relevant to preferences for openness versus social conformity (i.e., RWA and dangerous‐world beliefs). We conclude by discussing the consequences of these findings for our understanding of the relationship between sociopolitical and moral orientations.     

Effects of multimodal presentation and stimulus familiarity on auditory and visual processing

Two experiments examined the effects of multimodal presentation and stimulus familiarity on auditory and visual processing. In Experiment 1, 10-month-olds were habituated to either an auditory stimulus, a visual stimulus, or an auditory-visual multimodal stimulus. Processing time was assessed during the habituation phase, and discrimination of auditory and visual stimuli was assessed during a subsequent testing phase. In Experiment 2, the familiarity of the auditory or visual stimulus was systematically manipulated by prefamiliarizing infants to either the auditory or visual stimulus prior to the experiment proper. With the exception of the prefamiliarized auditory condition in Experiment 2, infants in the multimodal conditions failed to increase looking when the visual component changed at test. This finding is noteworthy given that infants discriminated the same visual stimuli when presented unimodally, and there was no evidence that multimodal presentation attenuated auditory processing. Possible factors underlying these effects are discussed.     

Additive factors and stages of mental processes in task networks

To perform a task a subject executes mental processes. An experimental manipulation, such as a change in stimulus intensity, is said to selectively influence a process if it changes the duration of that process leaving other process durations unchanged. For random process durations a definition of a factor selectively influencing a process by increments is given in terms of stochastic dominance (also called “the usual stochastic order”). A technique for analyzing reaction times, Sternberg’s Additive Factor Method, assumes all the processes are in series. When all processes are in series, each process is called a stage. With the Additive Factor Method, if two experimental factors selectively influence two different stages by increments, the factors will have additive effects on reaction time. An assumption of the Additive Factor Method is that if two experimental factors interact, then they influence the same stage. We consider sets of processes in which some pairs of processes are sequential and some are concurrent (i.e., the processes are partially ordered). We propose a natural definition of a stage for such sets of processes. For partially ordered processes, with our definition of a stage, if two experimental factors selectively influence two different processes by increments, each within a different stage, then the factors have additive effects. If each process selectively influenced by increments is in the same stage, then an interaction is possible, although not inevitable.     

Interindividual differences in neonatal sociality and emotionality predict juvenile social status in rhesus monkeys

In humans, socioeconomic status (SES) has profound outcomes on socio‐emotional development and health. However, while much is known about the consequences of SES, little research has examined the predictors of SES due to the longitudinal nature of such studies. We sought to explore whether interindividual differences in neonatal sociality, temperament, and early social experiences predicted juvenile social status in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), as a proxy for SES in humans. We performed neonatal imitation tests in infants’ first week of life and emotional reactivity assessments at 2 and 4 weeks of age. We examined whether these traits, as well as the rearing environment in the first 8 months of life (with the mother or with same‐aged peers only) and maternal social status predicted juvenile (2–3 years old) social status following the formation of peer social groups at 8 months. We found that infants who exhibited higher rates of neonatal imitation and newborn emotional reactivity achieved higher social status as juveniles, as did infants who were reared with their mothers, compared to infants reared with peers. Maternal social status was only associated with juvenile status for infant dyads reared in the same maternal group, indicating that relative social relationships were transferred through social experience. These results suggest that neonatal imitation and emotional reactivity may reflect ingrained predispositions toward sociality that predict later outcomes, and that nonnormative social experiences can alter socio‐developmental trajectories. Our results indicate that neonatal characteristics and early social experiences predict later social outcomes in adolescence, including gradients of social stratification.     

视觉表象产生的大脑半球专门化效应

采用Kosslyn单侧视野速示技术, 以英文字母图片为学习材料, 通过三个实验考察了视觉表象产生的大脑半球专门化效应。实验一提出在两种类型的视觉表象产生任务中, 有两种截然不同的加工起作用, 但却不能直接证实这两种不同加工机制的存在。实验二和实验三则进一步证实了两种表象产生任务具有不同的认知加工机制, 并表现出不同的大脑半球专门化效应。上述研究表明: 大脑两半球均参与产生视觉心理表象, 但分工不同, 并表现出不同的单侧化效应: 大脑左半球通过运用类别空间关系产生表象更有效, 大脑右半球运用数量空间关系产生表象更有效。结果进一步拓展了Kosslyn关于视觉空间关系加工的大脑半球专门化观点。     

The relationship between stress,hemispheric preference and decision making among managers

Abstract

Previous studies have shown important effects of stress on decision making (DM). In addition, individuals differ in their relative activation of the left and right hemispheres (hemispheric preference; HP), with possible implications for DM. This study tested the relationship between stress, HP and their interaction, with DM in managers. We included a sample of 114 managers from Israel, Italy and France. Stress was inversely and significantly related to DM thoroughness (r=?.333), left-HP (r=?.24) and was positively correlated with instinctiveness DM (r=.25; all p<.05). Importantly, a stress×HP interaction accounted for an additional and significant 9% of the variance in thoroughness, beyond their main effects, nationality and gender. In this interaction, only in right HP managers, but not in left HP managers, stress was inversely correlated with thoroughness. A stress×HP interaction was not found for instinctiveness. Theoretically, our results advise investigating both situational (stress) and personal or biological (HP) factors in the job stress field. Practically, it can guide stress specialists to whom to provide scarce counseling resources of stress management, to improve workers’ DM and well-being.     

Assessment of Developed General Intellectual Ability with Nonverbal Measures

A canonical correlation analysis was performed between two measures of general intellectual ability: The D. 48 Test and the Standard Progressive Matrices were taken as one set of variables, and general scholastic ability, verbal and quantitative ability, English and mathematics achievement, time spent in school, and ethnic/cultural group membership were used as the second set of variables. Subjects were 180 girls attending a large urban parochial high school. The D. 48 Test performances made a substantial contribution to the first canonical variate associated with the only significant canonical correlation; quantitative ability performances made a substantial contribution to the second variate. Matrices performances and performances in mathematics achievement and general scholastic ability made lesser contributions to their respective variates.