Children's conceptions of mental illness: A naïve theory approach

This paper reports two studies that investigated children's conceptions of mental illness using a naïve theory approach, drawing upon a conceptual framework for analysing illness representations which distinguishes between the identity, causes, consequences, curability, and timeline of an illness. The studies utilized semi‐structured interviewing and card selection tasks to assess 6‐ to 11‐year‐old children's conceptions of the causes and consequences (Study 1) and the curability and timeline (Study 2) of different mental and physical illnesses/ailments. The studies revealed that, at all ages, the children held coherent causal–explanatory ideas about the causes, consequences, curability, and timeline of both mental and physical illnesses/ailments. However, while younger children tended to rely on their knowledge of common physical illnesses when thinking about mental illnesses, providing contagion and contamination explanations of cause, older children demonstrated differences in their thinking about mental and physical illnesses. No substantial gender differences were found in the children's thinking. It is argued that children hold coherent conceptions of mental illness at all ages, but that mental illness only emerges as an ontologically distinct conceptual domain by the end of middle childhood.     

Healthy and chronically‐ill children's generalisation of illness to biological and non‐biological categories

Using children's naïve theory of biology as a framework, this study investigated children's developing understanding of illness by examining their generalisation of illness to biological and non‐biological categories. In addition to differences associated with age, the children's health status was investigated for any possible linkwith their understanding. Healthy and chronically‐ill children, aged 4–11 years, were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, according to which exemplar (child, dog or duck) was described as suffering from an imaginary illness. Using a card‐sorting technique, the children assessed whether each entity out of 30 entities (five representatives in each of six categories: humans, mammals, non‐mammals, birds, plants and artifacts) could be afflicted by that illness. The children's generalisations indicated a grasp of the distinctiveness of the various categories, although they seemed less certain about the biological status of plants. Furthermore, the type of exemplar on which the children had been taught influenced their responses. However, the children's reasoning appeared unaffected by their health status and largely unaffected by age or gender. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Imaging intelligence with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) is a technique for the assay of brain neurochemistry in vivo. N-acetylaspartate (NAA), the most prominent metabolite visible within the ¹H-MRS spectrum, is found primarily within neurons. The current study was designed to further elucidate NAA–cognition relationships, particularly whether such relationships are moderated by sex, or tissue type (gray or white matter). We administered standard measures of intelligence to 63 young, healthy subjects and obtained spectroscopic imaging data within a slab of tissue superior to the lateral ventricles. We found that lower NAA within right anterior gray matter predicted better performance VIQ (F = 6.83, p = .011, r² = .10), while higher NAA within the right posterior gray matter region predicted better PIQ (F = 8.175, p = .006, r² = .12). These findings add to the small but growing body of literature linking brain biochemistry to intelligence in normal healthy subjects using ¹H-MRSI.     

Language: Definition and Metaphor

This paper argues that there is an urgent need for philosophers to convince educationalists of the practical value and the necessity of the philosophical task, particularly analysis. The nature of philosophical analysis is outlined in terms of the criteria of clarity, coherence, completeness and compatibility, which, it is argued, in turn lead to a degree of commonality. The tendency to substitute metaphor or analogy for analysis in argument is then considered, with illustrative reference to the idea of teaching as a craft. In the final section, it is suggested that resort to analogy is merely one example of a more general tendency to distance ourselves from the task of coming to grips with what is actually our field of interest, namely education.     

Skull size and intelligence, and King Robert Bruce's IQ

An estimate of someone's IQ is a potentially informative personal datum. This study examines the association between external skull measurements and IQ scores, and uses the resulting regression equation to provide an estimate of the IQ of King Robert I of Scotland (Robert Bruce, 1274–1329). Participants were 48 relatively healthy Caucasian men (age 71–76 years) resident in Scotland. Using magnetic resonance imaging data, intracranial volume estimated from external skull length and width correlated greater than .5 (p < .001) with measured intracranial area, which correlates very highly with brain volume. IQ scores estimated from the National Adult Reading Test (NART) correlated .56 (p < .001) with measured intracranial area, and .49 (p < .01) with estimated intracranial volume based on external skull width and length. The partial correlation coefficient of this latter association was .25 (p = .09) after adjustment for measured intracranial area. Thus, actual intracranial area accounts for about 74% of the variance shared by NART and estimated intracranial volume. A cast of the skull of Robert Bruce was measured and its intracranial volume estimated. A regression equation between IQ and estimated intracranial volume, based on data from the 48 subjects, estimated the IQ of Robert Bruce at about 128 (95% confidence interval 106 to  130), i.e. almost two standard deviations above the mean. NART scores show a ceiling effect, so this estimated IQ might be an underestimate. Robert Bruce's estimated high IQ is congruent with his military, political and other intellectual achievements.     

Mood and experimentally-induced respiratory virus infections and illnesses

Abstract

The research described in this paper examined the relationship between mood and experimentally-induced upper respiratory virus infections and illnesses. The first aim was to determine whether pre-challenge mood was related to susceptibility to infection and illness. There was no evidence of an association in any of the trials. A second aim of the research was to examine the nature of the mood changes induced by the different viruses. Subjects with influenza showed a general increase in negative affect. Those who developed a cold following challenge with a coronavirus reported a drop in arousal but little change in other aspects of mood. Colds following challenge with rhinoviruses and respiratory syncytial viruses produced little change in mood. There was little evidence of sub-clinical infections changing mood. However, mood changes were also reported after the symptoms of a coronavirus cold had gone. These results demonstrate selective effects of upper respiratory viruses on mood and show that the changes are not confined to times when the primary symptoms are present. This agrees with the pattern obtained in studies of performance change.     

Influence of duration and location of pauses on comprehension of a temporarily ambiguous utterance in adults

Despite the important influence of prosody on comprehension, it remains unclear how the individual parameters of prosody contribute to the process. Therefore, this study examined the magnitude of one prosodic cue, duration of the pause, that precipitates comprehension when the pause is located either early or late in an ambiguous phrase. Adults between the ages of 20 and 40 years (men: M = 27.9, SD = 4.1, women: M = 26.2, SD = 3.7) listened to a series of phrases and made a decision regarding the meaning of each phrase. Analysis of variance for repeated measures yielded main effects of location and duration of pause with an interaction of location by duration. When the pause was located early in the phrase, a longer pause was needed before adults selected the correct meaning. However, when the pause was located later in the phrase, a pause of much shorter duration was sufficient for accurate selection of the intended meaning. A difference in pause duration of 175 msec. was found between the two locations studied.