The formulation of argument structure in SLI: an eye-movement study

This study investigated the formulation of verb argument structure in Catalan- and Spanishspeaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing age-matched controls. We compared how language production can be guided by conceptual factors, such as the organization of the entities participating in an event and knowledge regarding argument structure. Eleven children with SLI (aged 3;8 to 6;6) and eleven control children participated in an eyetracking experiment in which participants had to describe events with different argument structure in the presence of visual scenes. Picture descriptions, latency time and eye movements were recorded and analyzed. The picture description results showed that the percentage of responses in which children with SLI substituted a non-target verb for the target verb was significantly different from that for the control group. Children with SLI made more omissions of obligatory arguments, especially of themes, as the verb argument complexity increased. Moreover, when the number of arguments of the verb increased, the children took more time to begin their descriptions, but no differences between groups were found. For verb type latency, all children were significantly faster to start describing one-argument events than two- and three-argument events. No differences in latency time were found between two- and three-argument events. There were no significant differences between the groups. Eye-movement showed that children with SLI looked less at the event zone than the age-matched controls during the first two seconds. These differences between the groups were significant for three-argument verbs, and only marginally significant for one- and two-argument verbs. Children with SLI also spent significantly less time looking at the theme zones than their age-matched controls. We suggest that both processing limitations and deficits in the semantic representation of verbs may play a role in these difficulties

Las prácticas de lectura en estudiantes universitarios

This is a preliminary exploratory study of reading among university students. It aims to analyze their actual reading practices, not the reading skill itself. We describe the study-related reading practices of a sample of 243 psychology students and 156 teacher trainees from the University of Barcelona, applying un indirect measurement test of their exposure to written material and establishing a correlation between exposure and academic level. We also describe types of material support that students use during study-related reading. The analysis of our own students' study-related reading is not only a theoretically and methodologically complex task, but an academically committed one as well, since it involves an examination of our own teaching system.El presente es un primer estudio exploratorio que tiene como objetivo la descripción de las lecturas de los estudiantes universitarios a partir de su exposición al material impreso de manera diferencial. No se trata de estudiar la capacidad de lectura concebida como habilidad, sino de describir las prácticas o el ejercicio de tal habilidad. Se describen las lecturas de estudio (y no las lecturas de otro tipo) de una muestra circunscrita de 243 estudiantes de Psicologia y de 156 estudiantes de Magisterio de la Universidad de Barcelona. Para ello aplicamos un test de medida indirecta de la exposición al material escrito y establecimos la correlación con el nivel académico de los alumnos. Por otra parte, realizamos una breve descripción del tipo de soporte material que usan los estudiantes durante su lectura universitaria. El estudio de las prácticas de lectura en un grupo definido de lectores, cuando son nuestros propios estudiantes, es una tarea no sólo teórica y metodológicamente compleja, sino también comprometida profesionalmente, en tanto implica interrogarse sobre el propio sistema de enseñanza

Estimation of logistic regression models in small samples. A simulation study using a weakly informative default prior distribution

In this paper, we used simulations to compare the performance of classical and Bayesian estimations in logistic regression models using small samples. In the performed simulations, conditions were varied, including the type of relationship between independent and dependent variable values (i.e.,unrelated and related values), the type of variable (i.e., binary and continuous), and different Binomial distribution values and symmetry (i.e., symmetry and positive asymmetry). Iteratively reweighted least squares was used as the estimate method to fit the models in both the classical and Bayesian estimations. A weakly informative default distribution was chosen as the prior distribution for Bayesian estimation. The simulation results demonstrate that Bayesian estimations provide more stable distributions but are notable to solve problems generated by asymmetric distributions based on small samples. Additional research using different kinds of priors that is addressed at solving problems caused by asymmetry is needed

Executive functions, Personality traits and ADHD symptoms in adolescents: A mediation analysis

Certain personality traits and cognitive domains of executive functions (EF) are differentially related to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in adolescents. This study aimed to analyze the five-factor model (FFM) personality characteristics in adolescents with ADHD, and to examine whether EF mediate the relationships between FFM personality traits and ADHD symptoms. A comprehensive diagnostic assessment, including ADHD clinical interviews, ADHD rating scales, neuropsychological EF testing (i.e., working memory, flexibility and inhibition) and a personality assessment was carried out in a sample of 118 adolescents (75 ADHD and 43 control participants, 68% males), aged 12 to 16 years, and their parents and teachers. Adolescents with ADHD had lower scores than control participants on Conscientiousness and Agreeableness, and higher scores on Neuroticism. Structural equation models (SEM) showed that Conscientiousness directly influenced inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms, while Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Extraversion directly affected hyperactive-impulsive symptoms. Only Conscientiousness exerted indirect effects on inattention, but not on hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms, via EF; higher scores on Conscientiousness were related to higher scores on EF, which in turn were related to lower scores on inattentive symptoms. These findings corroborate the relationships between ADHD symptoms, FFM personality traits and EF and indicate the mediating effect of EF on the relationship between Conscientiousness and inattention

Qualitative methods of data analysis in psychology: an analysis of the literature

In this article, we present a general overview of the state of qualitative research in psychology by analyzing publications found in the Institute for Scientific Information's Web of Science database. Our objective is to provide a global perspective on the use of qualitative methods in data analysis and the frequency with which they are used in the journals. In total, 4840 articles were analyzed. We used bibliometrics methods to describe the publication patterns. We find a considerable increase throughout the 1990s in the number of publications using qualitative methods. Specifically, content analysis, grounded theory and discourse analysis steadily increased. The most representative qualitative publication in psychology uses content analysis and is most likely published in a journal indexed in the Social Sciences edition of the Journal Citation Reports. The data that we have obtained seem to indicate that qualitative research publications will continue increasing in the coming years