Cultural influences on children's understanding of the human body and the concept of life

This study aimed to identify the age by which children begin to demonstrate a biological understanding of the human body and the idea that the purpose of body functioning is to maintain life. The study also explored the influence of education, culturally specific experiences and religion on knowledge acquisition in this domain. Children aged between 4 and 7 years from three different cultural backgrounds (White British, British Muslim, and Pakistani Muslim) were interviewed about the human body and its functioning. At least half of the 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds in each cultural group, and almost all 6‐ to 7‐year‐olds, referred to the maintenance of life when explaining organs' functions and so were classified as ‘life theorizers’. Pakistani Muslim children gave fewer biological responses to questions about organs' functions and the purpose of eating and breathing, but referred to life more than their British counterparts. Irrespective of cultural group, older children understood organ location and function better than younger children. These findings support Jaakkola and Slaughter's (2002, Br. J. Dev. Psychol., 20, 325) view that children's understanding of the body as a ‘life machine’ emerges around the ages of 4–5 years. They also suggest that, despite many similarities in children's ideas cross‐culturally, different educational input and culturally specific experiences influence aspects of their biological understanding.     

On the Use,the Misuse,and the Very Limited Usefulness of Cronbach’s Alpha

This discussion paper argues that both the use of Cronbach’s alpha as a reliability estimate and as a measure of internal consistency suffer from major problems. First, alpha always has a value, which cannot be equal to the test score’s reliability given the interitem covariance matrix and the usual assumptions about measurement error. Second, in practice, alpha is used more often as a measure of the test’s internal consistency than as an estimate of reliability. However, it can be shown easily that alpha is unrelated to the internal structure of the test. It is further discussed that statistics based on a single test administration do not convey much information about the accuracy of individuals’ test performance. The paper ends with a list of conclusions about the usefulness of alpha.     

A computational model of Parkinsonian handwriting that highlights the role of the indirect pathway in the basal ganglia

Parkinsonian handwriting is typically characterized by micrographia, jagged line contour, and unusual fluctuations in pen velocity. In this paper we present a computational model of handwriting generation that highlights the role of the basal ganglia, particularly the indirect pathway. Whereas reduced dopamine levels resulted in reduced letter size, transition of STN–GPe dynamics from desynchronized (normal) to synchronized (PD) condition resulted in increased fluctuations in velocity in the model. We also present handwriting data from PD patients (n = 34) who are at various stages of disease and had taken medication various lengths of time before the handwriting sessions. The patient data are compared with those of age-matched controls. PD handwriting statistically exhibited smaller size and larger velocity fluctuation compared to normal handwriting.     

“Practical Divine Influence”: Socioeconomic Status and Belief in the Prosperity Gospel

The “prosperity gospel” is an understudied feature of the religious landscape of the United States. Little is known about the social patterning of prosperity gospel beliefs. We focus on two core dimensions of socioeconomic status (SES)—education and income—as potential influences. Our analyses of data from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's 2006 Survey of Pentecostals produce three findings. First, education and income have negative and mostly independent associations with prosperity gospel beliefs. Second, SES‐based patterns remain after accounting for other attributes of the religious role. Third, while most education‐based differences are contingent upon the attributes of the religious role, these contingencies are not replicated for income‐based differences. These observations reinforce the long‐standing claim that SES plays a pivotal—and complex—role in the social patterning of religious beliefs.     

How Being Female Influenced My Professional Experiences and Growth

In this paper I describe some of my professional experiences as a female, both as a graduate student and throughout my career. My own experience was unique because I began graduate school a few months after arriving in the U.S. with limited knowledge of English in a very competitive and demanding program , in addition to the fact that I was a faculty wife in that department.     

论《金人铭》的产生时代

《金人铭》产生的时代应该是战国末年至汉代初年,这有以下几个方面的证据:1.《金人铭》的内容与黄老学派关系密切,应该是黄老思想流行后的产物,不可能产生于孔子时代。2.《金人铭》的内容性质与战国以前的青铜器铭文的特征不符。3.《金人铭》把孔子入周观书和孔子入太庙二事混合在一起,露出了破绽。4.《金人铭》称“三缄其口”,而“缄”字在可靠的先秦文献中无“闭口”义。“缄”的本义为捆箱箧的绳索,“缄”有“闭口”义是西汉才有的现象。     

Gender Role Stereotyping of Parents in Children’s Picture Books: The Invisible Father

Previous studies reveal the reinforcement of gender stereotypes by picture books children read during the formative years. In these books, boys tend to be portrayed as active leaders, and girls as passive followers. Women and girls are under-represented. Men often exhibit career skills, and women perform traditional tasks in the home. Even when careers are nontraditional, personality characteristics and other qualities and behaviors are often stereotypical. Previous researchers emphasized the narrowly defined roles of women and children in picture books. In this study, we focused on the representation of mothers and fathers, and examined whether men are stereotyped as relatively absent or inept parents. A content analysis of the gender roles exhibited in 200 prominent childrens picture books demonstrated that fathers are largely under-represented, and, when they do appear, they are withdrawn and ineffectual parents. Further research could establish whether seriously deficient models of fatherhood in childrens literature affect the incidence of present, caring fathers in society.     

Working Memory and Learning in Early Alzheimer’s Disease

Cognitive deficits associated with early Alzheimers disease (AD) have been recently operationalised in terms of an acquisition deficit and the research supporting this view is presented. However, there is still debate concerning the nature of this deficit and how underlying cognitive processes may be detrimentally affecting the ability to acquire new information in early AD. This review argues that the pattern of cognitive deficits contributing to the acquisition impairment in early AD patients may be readily interpreted within the context of a working memory model. Isolating the component processes of working memory that underlie the acquisition deficit in early AD patients will aid in the design of clinical applications that are focussed at enhancing the ability to acquire new information in everyday life.     

Musical and verbal memory in Alzheimer’s disease: A study of long-term and short-term memory

Musical memory was tested in Alzheimer patients and in healthy older adults using long-term and short-term memory tasks. Long-term memory (LTM) was tested with a recognition procedure using unfamiliar melodies. Short-term memory (STM) was evaluated with same/different judgment tasks on short series of notes. Musical memory was compared to verbal memory using a task that used pseudowords (LTM) or syllables (STM). Results indicated impaired musical memory in AD patients relative to healthy controls. The deficit was found for both long-term and short-term memory. Furthermore, it was of the same magnitude for both musical and verbal domains whether tested with short-term or long-term memory tasks. No correlation was found between musical and verbal LTM. However, there was a significant correlation between verbal and musical STM in AD participants and healthy older adults, which suggests that the two domains may share common mechanisms.