302 research outputs found
The joint role of trained, untrained, and observed actions at the origins of goal recognition
Recent findings across a variety of domains reveal the benefits of self-produced experience on object exploration, object knowledge, attention, and action perception. The influence of active experience may be particularly important in infancy, when motor development is undergoing great changes. Despite the importance of self-produced experience, we know that infants and young children are eventually able to gain knowledge through purely observational experience. In the current work, three-month-old infants were given experience with object-directed actions in one of three forms and their recognition of the goal of grasping actions was then assessed in a habituation paradigm. All infants were given the chance to manually interact with the toys without assistance (a difficult task for most three-month-olds). Two of the three groups were then given additional experience with object-directed actions, either through active training (in which Velcro mittens helped infants act more efficiently) or observational training. Findings support the conclusion that self-produced experience is uniquely informative for action perception and suggest that individual differences in spontaneous motor activity may interact with observational experience to inform action perception early in life.PostprintPeer reviewe
Children's Evaluations of Helpful and Unhelpful Individuals
Humans are cooperative and often help one another. Although we know that young children are helpful, there is much to understand about childrenâs evaluations of others who do and do not help. Prior work examined evaluations during middle childhood of helpers and non-helpers in India and the US in different settings (Miller, Bersoff, & Harwood, 1990). American childrenâs evaluations centered on their relationships with the needy person (e.g. friend or family member) and how severe the personâs need was. These differences in evaluations raise questions of how childrenâs views of helpful and unhelpful interactions arise, earlier development. The current studies examine 3- to 6-year-old childrenâs interpretations and evaluations of helpful and unhelpful people.
Experiment 1 (N=95 of planned 96) investigated childrenâs evaluations of people who help versus neutral people and their views of helpful versus unhelpful interactions. Children watched two sets of videos. First, children watched a video of a helper giving tape to someone hanging a poster and a video of a neutral character with another girl. When asked to evaluate the helpful versus neutral characters, children rated the helper more positively (59 of 95, p = 0.01). Then, children watched videos of helpful and not helpful interactions. Overall, children viewed helpful action as more acceptable than unhelpful actions (X^2(1) = 85.01, p < 0.01). Experiment 2 (N=61 of planned 96) expanded this work by examining childrenâs evaluations of characters who do not help. Preliminary analyses will be presented in the poster
Alligator Diet in Relation to Alligator Mortality on Lake Griffin, FL
Alligator mississippiensis (American Alligators) demonstrated low hatchrate
success and increased adult mortality on Lake Griffin, FL, between 1998 and
2003. Dying Lake Griffin alligators with symptoms of poor motor coordination were
reported to show specific neurological impairment and brain lesions. Similar lesions
were documented in salmonines that consumed clupeids with high thiaminase levels.
Therefore, we investigated the diet of Lake Griffin alligators and compared it with
alligator diets from two lakes that exhibited relatively low levels of unexplained
alligator mortality to see if consumption of Dorosoma cepedianum (gizzard shad)
could be correlated with patterns of mortality. Shad in both lakes Griffin and Apopka
had high levels of thiaminase and Lake Apopka alligators were consuming greater
amounts of shad relative to Lake Griffin without showing mortality rates similar to
Lake Griffin alligators. Therefore, a relationship between shad consumption alone
and alligator mortality is not supported
Ugliness: A Cultural History
Review of Ugliness: A Cultural History, Reviewed March 2016 by Amanda Woodward, User Engagement Librarian, Woodbury University, [email protected]
The Complexity of Disrupting the Struggling Reader Label: The Potential for Cross-Pollinating Disability Studies and Dynamic Models of Comprehension in Literacy Teacher Education
There have been numerous recent calls in literacy research and teacher education to disrupt the \u27struggling reader\u27 label, but a dearth of empirical studies on the topic. This qualitative analysis explores the complex issues preservice teachers (PSTs) faced as they examined young readers\u27 sense-making through a reading assessment assignment. Our research question asked: How do PSTs challenge and/or reinforce the \u27struggling reader\u27 label as they examine young readers\u27 sense-making? Using a conceptual lens that cross-pollinates dynamic models of reading comprehension with Disability Studies in Education, we look across three cases to identify ways PSTs challenged and reinforced the \u27struggling reader\u27 label as they examined intermediate-grade readers\u27 interactions with texts. Ultimately, we argue that embracing a dynamic model of comprehension--on its own--is an insufficient focus in literacy teacher education in order to disrupt harmful labeling practices in schools
Lessons Learned Recruiting Comparison Elementary Schools for Impact Evaluation of SNAP-Ed Interventions
To determine the effectiveness of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program- Education (SNAP-Ed) nutrition and physical activity programming in elementary schools, it is necessary to recruit socioeconomically similar comparison schools not receiving SNAP-Ed programming. We developed a flexible recruitment strategy to tailor our approach to each individual school district and site. Here we discuss the lessons learned during the 10-month recruitment period, including early outreach, emphasizing participation benefits, leveraging and building relationships, and visiting sites
Major Depressive Disorder Among Older African Americans, Caribbean Blacks, And NonâHispanic Whites: Secondary Analysis Of The National Survey Of American Life
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98298/1/da22041.pd
Exploring intra- and inter-cultural differences in toddlersâ time allocation in a Yucatec Maya and US community
The extent to which toddlers have opportunities to learn in interactive, observational, and independent contexts is thought to vary by culture. However quantitative assessments of cultural variability and of the factors driving intraâ and interâcultural differences in toddler's time allocation are lacking. This paper provides a comparative and quantitative examination of how toddlers spend their time and with whom (adults or children) in two communities (rural Yucatec Maya, urban United States). Additionally, it considers individual factors that predict time allocation. Results demonstrated that Maya toddlers spent more time in independent contexts compared to US toddlers and spent more time exclusively with other children than did US toddlers. Maya toddlers were more likely than US toddlers to spend time observing other people, however, when given the opportunity to observe others there were no differences in visual attentional allocation across cultures. For Maya toddlers maternal schooling related negatively to both time spent with other children and time spent in interactive contexts. The findings highlight the need for researchers to include diverse populations when considering early social experiences as well as assessing factors that may contribute differentially to variations in early experience across cultures
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