Suggestibility in children: A review: Suggestibility differences between children with and without mild intellectual impairment

Literature review: The following review outlines the broad area of children and suggestibility with a focus on children with intellectual disabilities. Key determinants of suggestibility including cognitive, social and stress factors underpinning the phenomenon are examined. Secondly, methodological issues such as poor ecological validity and generaliseability to the child-victim context are discussed. Relevant studies in the field are examined in light of these methodological issues. The implications of generalising from ecologically invalid studies for legal and psychological professionals are discussed. Finally, future directions for research such as effects of different ages, differences in ethnicity and IQ differences on suggestibility are outlined. Research report: This study examined the influence of participation and suggestive questioning on 9-11 year-old children\u27s reports based on a study by Rudy & Goodman (1991). Rudy and Goodman\u27s design was used to replicate the study with a larger sample and examine the variable of intellectual impairment and suggestibility. Fifty-seven children (26 mildly intellectually impaired and 31 non-impaired children) were assigned either to a participant or observer role. The participant child interacted with an unfamiliar male assistant while the observer watched. One week later children were individually interviewed about the experience with the assistant using an interview schedule developed by Rudy and Goodman (1991). The interview schedule measured children\u27s memory using the following question types: free recall; specific; misleading and correctly leading questions. Questions which had implications of abuse were also measured. Results were analysed using MANOV A\u27s, ANOV A\u27s and t-tests. Overall, participation was found to be unrelated to suggestibility. Children without intellectual impairments recalled more information and were more accurate on both specific and misleading questions than intellectually impaired children. However intellectually impaired children were found to be equally as resistant to suggestibility as non-impaired children when questions were specific and about the person involved or implicated abuse. The implications of intellectually impaired children\u27s testimonies for psychological and legal contexts are discussed

Recruitment Constraints in Singapore's Fluted Giant Clam (Tridacna squamosa) Populations - A Dispersal Model Approach

10.1371/journal.pone.0058819PLoS ONE83

The behaviour of giant clams (Bivalvia: Cardiidae: Tridacninae)

Giant clams, the largest living bivalves, live in close association with coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific. These iconic invertebrates perform numerous important ecological roles as well as serve as flagship species—drawing attention to the ongoing destruction of coral reefs and their associated biodiversity. To date, no review of giant clams has focussed on their behaviour, yet this component of their autecology is critical to their life history and hence conservation. Almost 100 articles published between 1865 and 2014 include behavioural observations, and these have been collated and synthesised into five sections: spawning, locomotion, feeding, anti-predation, and stress responses. Even though the exact cues for spawning in the wild have yet to be elucidated, giant clams appear to display diel and lunar periodicities in reproduction, and for some species, peak breeding seasons have been established. Perhaps surprisingly, giant clams have considerable mobility, ranging from swimming and gliding as larvae to crawling in juveniles and adults. Chemotaxis and geotaxis have been established, but giant clams are not phototactic. At least one species exhibits clumping behaviour, which may enhance physical stabilisation, facilitate reproduction, or provide protection from predators. Giant clams undergo several shifts in their mode of acquiring nutrition; starting with a lecithotrophic and planktotrophic diet as larvae, switching to pedal feeding after metamorphosis followed by the transition to a dual mode of filter feeding and phototrophy once symbiosis with zooxanthellae (Symbiodinium spp.) is established. Because of their shell weight and/or byssal attachment, adult giant clams are unable to escape rapidly from threats using locomotion. Instead, they exhibit a suite of visually mediated anti-predation behaviours that include sudden contraction of the mantle, valve adduction, and squirting of water. Knowledge on the behaviour of giant clams will benefit conservation and restocking efforts and help fine-tune mariculture techniques. Understanding the repertoire of giant clam behaviours will also facilitate the prediction of threshold levels for sustainable exploitation as well as recovery rates of depleted clam populations