Difficulties in comprehending causal relations among children with ADHD: the role of cognitive engagement

The present study examined whether time spent in long looks (i.e., >or=15 s), an index of cognitive engagement, would account for differences between children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and comparison children in understanding causal relations. Children viewed two televised stories, once in the presence of toys and once in their absence. Dependent variables were visual attention and questions tapping factual information and causal relations. Comparison children answered significantly more causal relations questions than did the children with ADHD, but only in the toys-present condition. Four lines of evidence revealed that the difficulties children with ADHD had in answering causal relations questions in the toys-present condition could be linked specifically to this group's decreased time spent in long looks.     

Subjectivity in Issue Polarization

SYMLOG, a method and theory of group observation and analysis developed by Bales, is applied to the examination of issue polarization. Using a "phantom other" technique, the locations in SYMLOG's three-space of values for polar stands on ten controversial issues were measured. There was a high rate of agreement on these locations despite great diversity of opinion on the issues themselves. Subjectivity in locations is explained by Lewin's theory of vectors of attraction and repulsion. Individuals tend to draw toward their global favored (PRO) locations those stands with which they agree. For example, one who opposes abortion on demand will draw toward his or her PRO location the image of "opposes abortion on demand." Subjectivity in issue polarization seems to be organized around attraction to and repulsion from the PRO location without regard to the individual's global opposed (CON) location.     

Whisker-based discrimination of object orientation determined with a rapid training paradigm

Rats use their large facial whiskers to discriminate the spatial features of objects. Despite numerous electrophysiological recording studies in the central trigeminal whisker representations that document neurons tuned to the direction of whisker deflection, there is no behavioral evidence to date that rats can use their whiskers to discriminate between object orientations. In the present study, we characterized whisker-dependent orientation discrimination using a one-trial learning procedure. Sprague-Dawley rats were trained and tested in a three-arm 'Y-maze' that was outfitted with 180 independently moveable bars that protruded into the arms of the maze to contact the whiskers. On the first day, the maze was configured to have two arms with only horizontal bars and a third arm with only vertical bars and rats were allowed to freely explore all arms. On the second day, rats were isolated in one arm that contained only vertical bars as a conditioned stimulus (CS) and administered three mild foot shocks. On the third day, the maze was configured identically to the first day and rats were once again allowed to freely explore the maze. We measured the percentage of time spent in each arm of the maze and found that most rats spent significantly less time in the arm containing the CS after training compared to before training. Subsequent control experiments determined that the conditioned avoidance was attributable to orientation cues, was caused by the association of the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus and was whisker-dependent. Avoidance behavior was significantly reduced when the difference between the conditioned and non-conditioned orientation difference was reduced to 45 degrees. Thus, rats can discriminate object orientation with their whiskers and an estimate of their discrimination thresholds can be rapidly acquired through the application of a one-trial learning paradigm.     

Dimensions of Political Reality

Bales (1981) tied his new method of group observation (SYMLOG) io several well-established theories and methods in the social sciences. Among these was Eysenck's Social Attitude space. With two reservations, Bales' initial assumptions concerning the isomorphism of the image or value level of SYMLOG and the Eysenck space were confirmed. First, conservatism was more strongly linked to self-interest and concern for material success and power than to conventionality. Second, the two dimensions of the Eysenck space were correlated in our sample. It is suggested that, while the structure of attitudes and values may remain constant, the correlations between dimensions can be used as an indication of primary and secondary polarizations in attitudes and values and that these polarizations may well reflect the political structure of the specific context. Implications of this observation for the analysis of issue polarization and policy formation are discussed, as are several points of comparison between the two systems.     

Religiousness,Religious Orientation,and Attitudes Towards Gays and Lesbians1

Two studies are reported that examine the relationships among religiousness, religious orientation, and prejudice toward gays and lesbians. Study 1 reports the results of a survey done for the purposes of scientific jury selection. These results suggest that Baptists, fundamentalists, and “Christians” display more antigay prejudice than do Catholics, Jews, and many Protestant denominations, but even many supporters of gay-tolerant religions show more antigay prejudice than those claiming no religious preference. Among those with a religious preference, frequency of worship is significantly related to antigay prejudice among those belonging to antigay denominations, but not among those belonging to more gay tolerant religious faiths. Study 2 reports the results of a study of college students regarding religiousness, religious orientation, and prejudice toward gays and lesbians. Results showed that self reported religiousness, frequency of worship, and Batson's internal and external scales were all positively correlated with measures of prejudice toward gays and lesbians, whereas scores on the Quest (Interactional) scale were negatively correlated. Results of both studies strongly challenge the view that those with an intrinsic religious orientation are unprejudiced. It is argued that a social influence process can account for the role played by religious practice and beliefs in creating and maintaining negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians.     

The Relation of Story Structure Properties to Recall of Television Stories in Young Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Nonreferred Peers

In this study, the authors examined memory for televised stories to gain insight into similarities and differences in story comprehension between young children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their typical peers. In particular, the authors investigated the extent to which 4- to 6-year-old children's free recall of story events is predicted by several structural properties of story events (number of causal connections, whether an event is on or off the story's causal chain, story-grammar category, and position in the story's hierarchical structure), whether differences exist between children with ADHD and nonreferred comparison children in their sensitivity to structural features of stories, and whether age differences in sensitivity to structural features are similar for both groups. For both groups, recall of story events was predicted by all four structural properties, but the effects of the two causal properties was stronger for comparison children than for children with ADHD. Further examination revealed that this difference was observed only when a competing activity was available during television viewing. These findings indicate that both groups of preschool children are able to benefit from causal structure when recalling television stories, but that children with ADHD lose this benefit when attention is divided. Consistent with previous findings for nonreferred children (P. W. van den Broek, E. P. Lorch, & R. Thurlow, 1996), in both diagnostic groups the effects of causal properties increased across age, and older children were more likely to include causally important protagonists' goals in their recalls than younger children.