When Experimental Findings Conflict with Everyday Observations: Reflections on Children''s Category Learning

Attempts to reconcile the ease with which young children naturally learn everyday categories with their frequent difficulty in acquiring artificial categories in the laboratory have taken different forms. Kemler Nelson suggested that one reason for the discrepancy may be that many everyday object categories have a family-resemblance structure that can be learned by means of a holistic mode of processing. While Ward et al. have recently questioned this account of why children learn family-resemblance categories easily, conclusions based on their laboratory data fail to provide a good explanation of the real-world case. Accordingly, it is suggested that the laboratory family-resemblance task used by these previous investigators may be unrepresentative and may fail to mimic crucial aspects of the everyday category-learning context. It is also suggested that aspects of Ward et al.'s methodology may lead them to underestimate holistic (or nonselective) processing.     

VICAID: Development and evaluation of a palmtop-based job aid for workers with severe developmental disabilities

The development of technologies to assist people with severe and profound developmental disabilities to engage in constructive activity without constant support from carers may assist such persons to participate fully in vocational and other occupational activities. We describe the development, evaluation and use of VICAID, a system based on a radically simplified palmtop computer. The VICAID system enables a person with a developmental disability to access pictorial instructions designed to help him or her in the accurate completion of tasks. It also provides reminders to access the instructions, and/or alerts a job coach or supervisor should the worker's interaction with the system suggest that they are having difficulty with a task. Evaluative studies show that (1) the system is more effective than alternative supports (pictorial instructions presented in booklets) in maintaining accurate task performance, (2) that the system is preferred to such booklets by most users with severe disabilities, and (3) that it can be used in real work settings. Future development of the system will require attention to be paid to issues of training job-coaches and support workers in its setting-up and maintenance.     

Effects of visual cues and self-explanation prompts: empirical evidence in a multimedia environment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts of visual cues and different types of self-explanation prompts on learning, cognitive load, and intrinsic motivation in an interactive multimedia environment that was designed to deliver a computer-based lesson about the human cardiovascular system. A total of 126 college students were randomly assigned in equal numbers (N?=?21) to one of the six conditions in a 2?×?3 factorial design with visual cueing (cueing vs. no cueing) and type of self-explanation prompts (prediction prompts vs. reflection prompts vs. no prompts) as the between-subjects factors. The results revealed that (a) participants presented with cued animations had significantly higher learning outcome scores than their peers who viewed uncued animations, and (b) cognitive load and intrinsic motivation had different impacts on learning outcomes due to the moderation effect of cueing. The results suggest that the cues may not only enhance learning, but also indirectly impact learning, cognitive load, and intrinsic motivation.     

Language,culture and border lives: mestizaje as positionality / Lengua,cultura y vidas de frontera: el mestizaje como posicionalidad

Recent scholarly work has focused on borders, both geopolitical and cultural, giving attention to border lives and identities. This article, which focuses on sociocultural practices, addresses what can be called border languaculture. With attention on the Texas-Mexico border in North America, the authors discuss three key features of hybrid practices on the US ‘side’: (1) code-mixing that has a strong rhetorical component; (2) cross-border continuation but transformation of ‘traditional’ forms and conventions associated historically with Spain and Mexico; and (3) creation of ‘new’ hybrid forms and cultural products that establish social affiliations and distinctions. These languacultural features support the central point of the article: that self-positioning in this borderland is characterized by the multiplicity, contradictions and syncretism now being labeled mestizaje. Although cultural change has often been explained through acculturation, the syncretic nature of these border practices is better explained through transculturation, which emphasizes mutual influences and shifting power relations.     

African American and European American Mothers' Beliefs about Negative Emotions and Emotion Socialization Practices

OBJECTIVE: Mothers' beliefs about their children's negative emotions and their emotion socialization practices were examined. DESIGN: Sixty-five African American and 137 European American mothers of 5-year-old children reported their beliefs and typical responses to children's negative emotions, and mothers' emotion teaching practices were observed. RESULTS: African American mothers reported that the display of negative emotions was less acceptable than European American mothers, and African American mothers of boys perceived the most negative social consequences for the display of negative emotions. African American mothers reported fewer supportive responses to children's negative emotions than European Americans and more nonsupportive responses to children's anger. African American mothers of boys also reported more nonsupportive responses to submissive negative emotions than African American mothers of girls. However, no differences were found by ethnicity or child gender in observed teaching about emotions. Group differences in mothers' responses to negative emotions were explained, in part, by mothers' beliefs about emotions. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in beliefs and practices may reflect African American mothers' efforts to protect their children from discrimination.     

Thyroid hormone levels and psychological symptoms in sexually abused adolescent girls

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationships between psychological symptoms and thyroid hormone levels in adolescent girls who had experienced the traumatic stress of sexual abuse. METHOD: The study design was cross-sectional/correlational. Subjects (N=22; age range=12-18 years) had their blood drawn, and they completed 2 psychological tests (depression and general distress/posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]). A pediatrician completed a sexual abuse questionnaire after reviewing law enforcement and Child Protective Services reports and conducting forensic interviews and medical examinations. RESULTS: Girls' average free T4, total T4, free T3, total T3, and TSH levels were within age-specific laboratory reference range limits, as were most individual concentrations. The strongest correlations (p<.05) were between free T3 and PTSD total score (-.50), PTSD-avoidance/numbing (-.49), and general distress (-.48); and between total T3 and depression (-.46), general distress (-.45), and PTSD-arousal (-.44). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support one of the two contemporary models of the relationships between thyroid hormones (i.e., free and total T3) and psychological symptoms (i.e., depression, general distress, and PTSD)--one of "shutting down" (vs. "activation") in the face of trauma.