Early Social Cognition: Alternatives to Implicit Mindreading

According to the BD-model of mindreading, we primarily understand others in terms of beliefs and desires. In this article we review a number of objections against explicit versions of the BD-model, and discuss the prospects of using its implicit counterpart as an explanatory model of early emerging socio-cognitive abilities. Focusing on recent findings on so-called ‘implicit’ false belief understanding, we put forward a number of considerations against the adoption of an implicit BD-model. Finally, we explore a different way to make sense of implicit false belief understanding in terms of keeping track of affordances

Secagem da madeira de louro preto (Nectandra cuspidata) em estufa de micro-ondas

Microwave drying will play an important role in the industrialization of timber in the near future, because improved dimensional stability and increased mechanical strength of wood are dependent on its drying. The objective of this study was to evaluate the drying of Louro preto wood using the microwave process and its influence on drying time, final moisture content, and formation of checks. A program originally developed for Mahogany wood was used due to the similarity between the basic density values of the two wood species. To this end, three (3) drying processes were conducted: drying S1, with initial average moisture content above the fiber saturation point (FSP), reached 13.99% of the final average moisture content after 2h 25min; whereas drying S2 and S3, with initial average moisture contents below the FSP, showed 14.00 and 14.62% of the final average moisture content after 2h 8min and 2h 2min, respectively. The drying processes were considered fast, and the difference in the initial moisture contents of the samples showed the influence of the treatments in the formation of end and surface checks. Drying S2 was more prone to present surface checks than end checks, whereas internal checks were not found in any of the drying processes performed

Patterns of personal and social adjustment among sport-involved and noninvolved urban middle-school children.

This article examines patterns of adjustment among urban middle-school children as a function of involvement in organized team sports. Four hundred twenty-three seventh-grade students (216 boys and 207 girls) reported on their involvement in sport, self-esteem, delinquent activity, and drug use during the year preceding the survey. Physical Education teachers rated social competence, shyness/withdrawal, and disinhibition/aggression. Compared with noninvolved children, sport-involved youth reported higher self-esteem and were rated by teachers as more socially competent and less shy and withdrawn. Sport-involved youth, including those in contact sports, were not rated as more aggressive than noninvolved children. And though sport-involved youth reported a slightly broader range of delinquent activities than noninvolved youth, sport-involved boys were actually less likely than noninvolved boys to have experimented with marijuana

Perspective-taking and gift-giving in Chinese preschool children

This study explored Chinese preschool children's perspective-taking via a gift-giving paradigm. Unlike findings with North American children (Atance et al. in, Dev Psychol 46:1505–1513, 2010), the results from two experiments (NExp. 1 = 329; NExp. 2 = 112) showed that allowing Chinese children to first choose a desired object for themselves did not enhance their subsequent perspective-taking performance in gift selection or gift justifications. This was true regardless of gift type (consumable or recreational items) or of recipient (mom, teacher, experimenter, or friend). In addition, children's perspective-taking did not correlate with their performances in behavioral inhibition and delay of gratification tasks. These results suggest the possibility that the prior desire fulfillment effect varies with children's socio-cultural experiences. Finally, Chinese children showed better perspective-taking in choosing consumable gifts (e.g., drinks, snacks) than recreational gifts (e.g., toys, magazines), although this effect was not found for gift selection in Experiment 2. One interpretation of these results is that children's capacity for prosocial perspective-taking is influenced by socio-cultural experiences and social knowledge about individuals' preferences for different kinds of objects

Wood Permeability Assessment of Young Teak (Tectona Grandis L.f.)

Wood properties of young teak (Tectona grandis L.f.) is inferior, and then preservative treatment is one possible solution to enhance its service life. The uptake and movement of preservatives through wood cell structure is directly connected to the wood permeability. There are two simple methods to identify wood permeability: water soaking and bubble test methods. This paper assesses the young teak permeability by water soaking and bubble test methods. The assessment was conducted into five cm thick young-teak discs by soaking in the red-dye water and blowing air into the discs which had been coated with soap. Results show that the heartwood is less permeable than sapwood. Red-dye penetrates almost 100% of the sapwood area, and the red-dye did not penetrate in the heartwood. Red-dye only penetrates in the cracked heartwood through the void volume in the cracking heartwood. There is a transition zone between sapwood and heartwood, and it is refractory. Bubble test with air pressure from compressor could open the air-pathway in the heartwood and sapwood of young-teak discs taken from Bogor. The bubble test result of young-teak discs from Madiun showed air-pathway only in the sapwood, but heartwood. The air pressure is not capable of moving the vapour through the wood cell. It indicates that the heartwood of young-teak from Madiun is less permeable and less possibility for pressure treatment