Use of the Missouri children's picture series with school-referred children

The Missouri Children's Picture Series was administered to two groups of teacher-referred male children: one group that was referred for learning problems and the other for behavioral problems. Results revealed no significant mean differences between groups. Questions are raised as to the usefulness and validity of the MCPS as a diagnostic instrument.     

Perceptions of Sibling Relationships during Middle Childhood and Adolescence

Children in grades 3, 6, 9, and 12 were administered the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire. Relationships were rated as progressively more egalitarian across the 4 grade groups, with adolescents reporting less dominance and nurturance by their older siblings than younger participants. Adolescents also reported less companionship, intimacy, and affection with siblings than younger participants reported. Levels of perceived conflict with younger siblings were moderately high across all 4 grades, whereas ratings of conflict with older siblings were progressively lower across the 4 grades. The findings suggested that sibling relationships: (a) become more egalitarian and less asymmetrical with age, (b) become less intense with age, and (c) encompass experiences that are partially determined by the child's standing in the family constellation.     

The language-like behavior of Lana chimpanzee: Is it merely discrimination and paired-associate learning?

The productions of Lana chimpanzee during an experiment that lasted 25 days were analyzed from a “stock sentence” approach and from a phrase-structure approach. In answering questions posed by the experimenter and in making requests, Lana’s productions seemed to be best explained in the phrase-structure approach, in which phrases, rather than individual lexigrams, served as lexical units. Phrases were transposed, both correctly and incorrectly, and were combined to convey different meanings. Thus, it was concluded that Lana’s productions require a more complex model than the simple discrimination learning model suggested by Thompson and Church (1980).     

Norman geschwind lecture: Geschwind’s lesson

Norman Geschwind had a profound effect on behavioral neurology, not only on the basis of his research and theories expressed during his lifetime, but also through the impact that he had on colleagues privileged to train under him or have their work personally influenced by him. My work falls into the latter category. Novel associations between brain function/structure and behavior characterized his professional contributions, and offer a model for those who follow in his footsteps. He correctly predicted that like aphasic disorders, developmental dyslexia might be associated with deficits in color naming expressed currently as deficits in Rapid Automatized Naming. He stimulated anatomic research regarding patterns of asymmetry and microscopic architecture leading to the establishment of the Orton Dyslexia Neuropathology Laboratory at Beth Israel Hospital, Boston. He predicted an association between autoimmune disorders and reading disorders, an association that proved to be of genetic origin. He further predicted that reading disorders, like language disorders, would be cross-cultural and, similarly, their mechanism of production would be cross-cultural, although affected perhaps by the structure of the language to be learned. His suspicion that the clinical impression of male gender preponderance in dyslexia was accurate and carried biologic significance has recently been reconfirmed by colleagues at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Finally, with respect to dyslexia, one should not be surprised that since affect is influenced by brain architecture, developmental disorders characterized by altered brain architecture might be associated with affective or other psychiatric phenomena. My own work suggests that the altered neuroanatomy in dyslexia may be accompanied by altered clinical neurophysiology, offering the possibility that in some developmental disorders, behaviors, including academic aptitude and cognitive function, might benefit from medications designed originally to lower the risk of clinical seizures. Perhaps Geschwind’s greatest lesson is to not assume that all we have been taught as dogma is truth. Rather, we must have a willingness to make clear perceptions and draw conclusions that come closer to the reality of the causal relationship between brain and behavior.     

Citation Rate of Highly-Cited Papers in 100 Kinesiology-Related Journals

This study extended previous research on several citation-based bibliometric variables for highly cited articles in a large (N = 100) number of journals related to Kinesiology. Total citations and citation rate of the 30 most highly cited articles in each journal were identified by searchers of Google Scholar (GS). Other major biblometric variables for these journals were obtained from three databases: Thomson-Reuters’ Journal Citation Reports, SCImago Journal and Country Rank, and Eigenfactor.org. Two variables (SCImago Journal Rank and the Impact Factor) were aligned with journal impact, and two variables (Eigenfactor? and Hirsh index) were aligned with journal prestige. There was great variation in median citation rates of highly cited articles across these journals indexed in GS. Correlations confirmed the different impact and prestige structure in these Kinesiology journals, which has also been previously observed in Kinesiology and other academic fields. There is a need for scholar ratings of Kinesiology journals because of the disparate citation rates in different sub-disciplines and the multi-factorial nature of journal influence, as well as to improve the recognition of Kinesiology as a distinct field of study.     

Development and evaluation of a biomechanics concept inventory

To help instructors in evaluating innovations in biomechanics instruction, a standardised test of the key concepts taught in the introductory biomechanics course was developed. The Biomechanics Concept Inventory (BCI) consists of 24 questions that test four prerequisite competencies and eight biomechanics competencies. Three hundred and sixty seven students from ten universities throughout the United States took the test at the beginning and the end of the introductory biomechanics course. Analysis of a sub‐sample of the students showed that the BCI was reliable with typical errors in internal consistency and test‐retest conditions of 1.4 and 2.0 questions, respectively. Mean pre‐test scores (8.5 ± 2.0) significantly (p < 0.0001) improved to 10.5 ± 3.2 in the post‐test (n = 305). Typical biomechanics students could correctly answer half of the prerequisite questions on the pre‐test. Instruction resulted in a mean normalised gain (g) of 13.0% of maximum possible improvement that was consistent with research on traditional instruction in introductory physics courses. It was concluded that the BCI could be an effective tool to evaluate the overall effect of pedagogical strategies on student learning of key biomechanical concepts in the introductory biomechanics course.     

Community Forum: Research Libraries in the Digital Age

ABSTRACT

This dialogue provides a summary and assessment of issues discussed relating to research libraries and research universities in a digital environment.