Maternal Responses to Infant Distress: Linkages Between Specific Emotions and Neurophysiological Processes

Objective. The goals of the current article were to test the presence of an association between mothers’ neural activity (measured by frontal cortical alpha asymmetry) and their specific emotions (measured by observed facial expressions) in response to infant distress and the moderation of this relation by mothers’ appraisal processes (measured by sense of parenting efficacy). Design. Mothers of 5- to 8-month-olds (n = 26) watched videos of their own infants expressing distress while their brain activity was recorded via electroencephalogram and their facial expressions were videotaped for later microcoding. Mothers also completed a questionnaire measure of parenting efficacy. Results. Greater neurophysiological withdrawal in response to infant distress videos, indexed by frontal alpha asymmetry, was associated with longer sad and tense expressions in mothers with average or below average parenting efficacy, but not in those with above average efficacy. Conclusions. Previous research showing that patterns of parents’ brain activity in response to child stimuli are associated with parenting behavior often interpret results in relation to parental emotion, but rarely measure specific concurrent emotions. The current study helps fill this gap in the literature by showing that maternal neurophysiological withdrawal (together with parenting efficacy) was associated with simultaneously measured facial expressions of negative emotion in response to infant distress stimuli.     

A Strategy for Optimizing Item-Pool Management

Item-pool management requires a balancing act between the input of new items into the pool and the output of tests assembled from it. A strategy for optimizing item-pool management is presented that is based on the idea of a periodic update of an optimal blueprint for the item pool to tune item production to test assembly. A simulation study with scenarios involving different levels of quality of the initial item pool, item writing, and management for a previous item pool from the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) showed that good item-pool management had about the same main effects on the item-writing costs and the number of feasible tests as good item writing, but the two factors showed strong interaction effects.     

The School Counseling Supervision Model: An Extension of the Discrimination Model

It is well documented that clinical supervision in school settings is underutilized. One hypothesis for this situation is the lack of fit between current supervision models that emphasize the supervision of individual counseling and the multiple roles of school counselors within comprehensive school counseling programs (CSCPs). The authors propose the School Counseling Supervision Model (SCSM) as an extension of J. M. Bernard's (1979, 1997) Discrimination Model. The SCSM uses a 3 (focus of supervision) × 3 (supervisor role) × 4 (CSCP domain) matrix. Examples are provided for potential supervision interventions using the SCSM. Implications for training, practice, and research are discussed.     

Domesticated dogs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Canis familiaris</Emphasis>) tend to follow repeated deceptive human cues even when food is visible

There is abundant evidence that domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) readily follow pointing and other cues given by humans. But there has been much less research into the question of whether dogs can learn to discriminate between different humans giving repeated honest or dishonest cues as to food location, by ignoring the information imparted by the deceiver. Prior research has demonstrated that even after repeated exposures to deceptive cues with respect to food location, dogs failed to learn to ignore those cues completely. Kundey, De Los Reyes, Arbuthnot, Coshun, Molina, and Royer (2010) found the same outcome in a similar experiment. The purpose of the current experiment was to determine if dogs could learn to discriminate between an honest and a deceptive human by ignoring the deceiver’s cues even when it was obvious that the container being pointed at was not baited by using two transparent containers. Eight dogs were tested. On 20 cooperator trials, the experimenter stood behind the baited container and cued the dog, located midway between the containers and 3 m away, to approach it. On 20 deceiver trials, a different experimenter stood behind the empty container and cued the dog to approach that container. Results replicated prior research in that, even though the containers were transparent, the dogs failed to learn to distrust the deceiver completely and went to the empty and indicated container on more than half of the deceiver trials.     

“I Didn't Do Nothin'”: The Discursive Construction of School Suspension

This article examines the issue of school suspension by looking at the sociocultural factors that influence a teacher's decision to remove a student from the classroom. The authors use ethnographic and discourse analytic approaches to study how disciplinary moments are constructed by teachers and students in an urban high school in the Midwest. The analysis of classroom observations, videotaped lessons, and interviews from a longitudinal study at this multiethnic high school shows that suspensions frequently occur in the absence of any physical violence or blatant verbal abuse. Rather, suspensions are often preceded by a complex series of nonviolent events when one disruptive act among many is singled out for action by the teacher. This study has implications for current debates about zero-tolerance policies that disproportionately affect students of color for their misbehavior in school. Our analysis suggests that removing a student from class is a highly contextualized decision based on subtle race and gender relations that cannot be adequately addressed in school discipline policies.     

Variation in class size,the class size paradox,and some consequences for students

Even where a total allocation of resources is fixed, it is often possible to vary the distribution of the given resources. This distribution can have important, if sometimes hidden, consequences. In the case of universities, considering the mean class size as given, three nonobvious consequences of the amount of variation in class size are examined. (1) The average class size experienced by students is directly related to the amount of variation in class size. (2) Overall student attendance is inversely related to the amount of variation in class size. (3) Overall student participation time is directly related to the amount of variation in class size. The logic of these relationships is explored, and data on 49 departments and interdisciplinary programs at one university are used to illustrate the nature and extent of the class size paradox at one university.