Rabern’s Semantics for Metaphysical and Epistemic Modalities and the Nesting Problem

Journal of Philosophical Logic - In a recent paper, Brian Rabern suggests a semantics for languages with two kinds of modality, standard Kripkean metaphysical modality as well as epistemic...     

Errors in identifying and expressing emotion in facial expressions, voices, and postures unique to social anxiety

The purpose of the present study was to see if 7-10-year-old socially anxious children (n = 26) made systematic errors in identifying and sending emotions in facial expressions, paralanguage, and postures as compared with the more random errors of children who were inattentive-hyperactive (n = 21). It was found that socially anxious children made more errors in identifying anger and fear in children's facial expressions and anger in adults' postures and in expressing anger in their own facial expressions than did their inattentive-hyperactive peers. Results suggest that there may be systematic difficulties specifically in visual nonverbal emotion communication that contribute to the personal and social difficulties socially anxious children experience.     

The Explorative Nature of Heideggerian Logic

Human Studies - This paper argues for a fundamental re-reading of Heideggerian philosophy, especially regarding the logical structures presented by Heidegger in the thirties and onward. The field,...     

Behaviour–emotional characteristics of primary‐school children rated as having language problems

Background Primary‐school teachers are expected to detect problems related to language function, but the teachers' evaluations may be heavily influenced by gender and classroom behaviour. Aim To investigate the relationship between language problems (LPs) and behaviour–emotional problems as rated by primary‐school teachers. Methods All participants participated in a population‐based study, the Bergen Child Study (BCS). Teachers of 9,072 children and parents of 6,234 children completed forms containing questions pertaining to language function and the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) to screen for behaviour–emotional problems. LP was defined as a score above the 95th percentile on the sum score of five language items. Children achieving a total SDQ score above the 90th percentile were defined as high scorers, indicating a high risk for behavioural–emotional problems. Results Based on teacher reports, 540 children were defined as having LP, more boys (N = 366) than girls. Children defined as having LP were reported to have significantly higher scores on all SDQ subscales, and a higher total difficulty score than children without language problems (NLP). More LP boys than LP girls were defined as high scorers on the SDQ, with the highest effect size on the hyperactivity–inattention subscore. The agreement between teachers and parents was moderate to low, with the highest consensus of behaviour–emotional problems in children with LP. Conclusions Primary‐school children defined as having LP according to their teachers are frequently characterized by behavioural–emotional problems. Further assessment is warranted for primary‐school children defined as having LP by their teachers.     

Imitative interaction increases social interest and elicited imitation in non‐verbal children with autism

Recent studies indicate that being intensely imitated for a brief period of time increases social interest among children with autism. The aim of this study was to replicate and extend these findings. Twenty children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were randomly assigned to one of two interaction strategies: imitation (n=10) or contingent (n=10). The children had little or no functional speech, and their developmental age averaged 25 months (mean chronological age =6:5 years). Both conditions were presented with repeated sessions of a modified version of Nadel's ‘still‐face’ paradigm (still‐face/intervention/still‐face/spontaneous play). The analysis revealed a significant increase of both proximal and distal social behaviours (touch and look at person) for the imitation condition, which confirms previous reports. In addition, an increase in elicited imitation, as measured with the PEP‐R developmental assessment procedure, was also observed for children in the imitation condition, but not in the contingent condition. This finding extends earlier reports in that it suggests that the social expectancies unlocked by imitation also spread to tasks outside the experimental setting. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infant recall memory and communication predicts later cognitive development

This longitudinal study investigates the relation between recall memory and communication in infancy and later cognitive development. Twenty-six typically developing Swedish children were tested during infancy for deferred imitation (memory), joint attention (JA), and requesting (nonverbal communication); they also were tested during childhood for language and cognitive competence. Results showed that infants with low performance on both deferred imitation at 9 months and joint attention at 14 months obtained a significantly lower score on a test of cognitive abilities at 4 years of age. This long-term prediction from preverbal infancy to childhood cognition is of interest both to developmental theory and to practice.     

Effects of Goal Choice,Strategy Choice,and Feedback Source on Goal Acceptance,Performance and Subsequent Goals1

This study examined the effects of goal choice, strategy choice, and feedback source on goal acceptance, performance, and future self-set goals. The results were partially consistent with earlier work by Earley and Kanfer (1985) in that goal and strategy choice interacted to affect initial performance and goal acceptance. However, the nature of the performance interaction was not as expected. Results pertaining to future goals and subsequent performance suggested that goal choice was an important determinant of future goals and that feedback, goal choice, and strategy choice interacted to influence subsequent performance. Contrary to expectations, feedback source did not exert a main effect on subsequent performance, goal setting, or perceptions of feedback acceptance and usefulness. Discussion centered on the differential impact of choice on perceptual and behavioral variables and the failure of self-feedback to significantly affect subsequent goals and performance.     

Imitative reactions among 14–21 day old infants

Imitative reactions in 11 infants, 14–21 days old, were observed. Stimuli were presented by the infant's mother, who protruded her tongue, opened her mouth, or interacted spontaneously. No conclusive overall group effects of the modeled action were found. However, when the responses of the infants were matched with the mothers' judgments concerning whether imitation had occurred, 6 infants showed imitative responses. It is concluded that observations on early imitation are influenced by individual differences between infants and that there may exist two different subgroups: High and low imitators.     

Exploring the Relation Between Memory, Gestural Communication, and the Emergence of Language in Infancy: A Longitudinal Study

The relationship between recall memory, visual recognition memory, social communication, and the emergence of language skills was measured in a longitudinal study. Thirty typically developing Swedish children were tested at 6, 9 and 14 months. The result showed that, in combination, visual recognition memory at 6 months, deferred imitation at 9 months and turn-taking skills at 14 months could explain 41% of the variance in the infants' production of communicative gestures as measured by a Swedish variant of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). In this statistical model, deferred imitation stood out as the strongest predictor.     

Modification of autoregulation of intrinsic physical processes in field-dependent subjects: a study of performance in heart rate biofeedback]

Witkin, the founder of the concept of "field dependence", assumed that there is a relationship between field dependence and body perception. However, this hypothesis was never investigated experimentally in a well-controlled study. Twenty healthy subjects learned to increase and decrease their heart rate dependent upon two discriminative stimuli. In order to increase and decrease their heart rate they received exteroceptive feedback (movements of a rocket-ship on a video screen). Each trial lasted 6 s. The distance of the rocket-ship from a certain point indicated the amount of the achieved increase or decrease. Field dependent subjects scoring higher in field dependency as measured by the Embedded Figures Test were poorer at heart rate control on feedback and transfer trials (test trials with feedback removed) than were subjects scoring low in field dependency. This result may be of therapeutic interest in the application of behavioral medicine to psychosomatic and psychiatric disorders.