The role of occupational complexity in trajectories of cognitive aging before and after retirement.

We examined the association between complexity of the main lifetime occupation and changes in cognitive ability in later life. Data on complexity of work with data, people, and things and on 4 cognitive factors (verbal, spatial, memory, and speed) were available from 462 individuals in the longitudinal Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging. Mean age at the first measurement wave was 64.3 years (SD = 7.2), and 65% of the sample had participated in at least three waves of data collection. Occupational complexity with people and data were both correlated with cognitive performance. Individuals with more complex work demonstrated higher mean performance on the verbal, spatial, and speed factors. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that, after correcting for education, only complexity with people was associated with differences in cognitive performance and rate of cognitive change. Continued engagement as a result of occupational complexity with people helped to facilitate verbal function before retirement, whereas a previous high level of complexity of work with people was associated with faster decline after retirement on the spatial factor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Brain–behavior correlations: Relationships between mother–stranger face processing and infants' behavioral responses to a separation from mother.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 6-month-olds (N = 30) as they looked at pictures of their mother's face and a stranger's face. Negative component (Nc) and P400 component responses from the ERP portion of the study were correlated with behavioral responses of the infants during a separation from their mothers. We measured the mother-directed infant behaviors of distress and visual search for mother during separation in order to determine if they were predictive of infants' brain responses to pictures of the mother's face versus a stranger's face. These behavioral measures are important because they likely reflect the functioning of the emerging mother–child relationship and inform debates about interactions between social experience and face processing. Infant distress and visual search for mother during separation were predictive of face processing ERPs, and this relationship differed across mother and stranger face presentations. In particular, distress was associated with larger amplitude P400 and Nc responses to the mother's face, and visual search for mother was associated with longer P400 and Nc latencies to the stranger's face. Implications for the developing mother–child relationship and face processing system are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of individual differences and gender differences in knowledge.

The authors investigated the abilities, self-concept, personality, interest, motivational traits, and other determinants of knowledge across physical sciences/technology, biology/psychology, humanities, and civics domains. Tests and self-report measures were administered to 320 university freshmen. Crystallized intelligence was a better predictor than was fluid intelligence for most knowledge domains. Gender differences favoring men were found for most knowledge domains. Accounting for intelligence reduced the gender influence in predicting knowledge differences. Inclusion of notability predictors further reduced the variance accounted for by gender. Analysis of Advanced Placement test scores largely supported the results of the knowledge tests. Results are consistent with theoretical predictions that development of intellect as knowledge results from investment of cognitive resources, which, in turn, is affected by a small set of trait complexes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptualizing cross-cultural school psychology competencies.

This Delphi study was designed to identify essential cross-cultural competencies for school psychologists. The investigation extends the results of the Rogers and Lopez (in press) Delphi study by using a distinct panel of experts, different instrumentation, and a modified process to identify cross-cultural competencies for school psychologists. The term cross-cultural is defined broadly and refers to racially, ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse clients from African American, Asian American, Hispanic, Native American and Pacific Islander backgrounds in addition to individuals with diverse handicaps, sexual orientations, economic status, religious backgrounds, and gender. In this study, the investigators used the Delphi technique to poll the opinions of 11 experts in cross-cultural school psychology using an open-ended questionnaire. The panelists reached high levels of agreement in identifying 89 essential cross-cultural competencies. The competencies reflect a wide range of knowledge and skills for school psychologists working in broad ranging capacities with students with cross-cultural backgrounds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development of cognitive and academic abilities: Growth curves from an early childhood educational experiment.

In the Abecedarian Project, a prospective randomized trial, the effects of early educational intervention on patterns of cognitive and academic development among poor, minority children were examined. Participants in the follow-up were 104 of the original 111 participants in the study (98% African American). Early treatment was full-time, high-quality, educational child care from infancy to age 5. Cognitive test scores collected between the ages of 3 and 21 years and academic test scores from 8 to 21 years were analyzed. Treated children, on average, attained higher scores on both cognitive and academic tests, with moderate to large treatment effect sizes observed through age 21. Preschool cognitive gains accounted for a substantial portion of treatment differences in the development of reading and math skills. Intensive early childhood education can have long-lasting effects on cognitive and academic development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It takes three: Selection, influence, and de-selection processes of depression in adolescent friendship networks.

The authors of this study tested a selection–influence–de-selection model of depression. This model explains friendship influence processes (i.e., friends' depressive symptoms increase adolescents' depressive symptoms) while controlling for two processes: friendship selection (i.e., selection of friends with similar levels of depressive symptoms) and friendship de-selection (i.e., de-selection of friends with dissimilar levels of depressive symptoms). Further, this study is unique in that these processes were studied both inside and outside the school context. The authors used a social network approach to examine 5 annual measurements of data in a large (N =847) community-based network of adolescents and their friends (M = 14.3 years old at first measurement). Results supported the proposed model: adolescents tend to select friends with similar levels of depression, and friends may increase each other's depressive symptoms as relationships endure. These two processes were most salient outside the school context. At the same time, friendships seemed to be ended more frequently if adolescents' level of depressive symptoms was dissimilar to that of their friends. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

15—SOME ASPECTS OF THE MEASUREMENT OF COLOUR IN RAW WOOL

Factors influencing the measurement of CIE tristimulus co-ordinates for scoured wool, such as the test-specimen mass, the density, and the colour of the backing plate in the wool holder, are examined. Results obtained suggest that colour can be measured with high precision provided that the technique is standardized. Wools of greater fibre diameter are more sensitive to measurement conditions than fine wools, presumably owing to their higher mass-to-surface-area ratio.     

Temperamental emotionality in preschool-aged children and depressive disorders in parents: Associations in a large community sample.

Researchers and clinicians have long hypothesized that there are temperamental vulnerabilities to depressive disorders. Despite the fact that individual differences in temperament should be evident in early childhood, most studies have focused on older youth and adults. We hypothesized that if early childhood temperament is a risk factor for depressive disorders, it should be associated with better established risk markers, such parental depression. Hence, we examined the associations of laboratory-assessed positive emotionality (PE), negative emotionality (NE), and behavioral inhibition (BI) with semistructured interview-based diagnoses of parental depressive disorders in a community sample of 536 3-year old children. Children with higher levels of NE and BI had higher probabilities of having a depressed parent. However, both main effects were qualified by interactions with child PE. At high and moderate (but not low) levels of child PE, greater NE and BI were associated with higher rates of parental depression. Conversely, at low (but not high and moderate) levels of child NE, low PE was associated with higher rates of parental depression. Child temperament was not associated with parental anxiety and substance use disorders. These findings indicate that laboratory-assessed temperament in young children is associated with parental depressive disorders; however, the relations are complex, and it is important to consider interactions between temperament dimensions rather than focusing exclusively on main effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

25—THE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF SOME BINARY MIXTURES OF FIBRES BY METHODS OF INFRA-RED SPECTROSCOPY

An investigation is described in which infra-red spectroscopy was applied to binary mixtures of cotton–Acrilan and wool–Terylene by multiple-internal-reflexion techniques. Two methods of analysis of the spectra obtained were used to demonstrate the existence of statistically highly significant relationships between fibre proportions in the blend and the absorbance of selected absorption bands. The results obtained indicate that the methods used are eminently suitable for the quantitative analysis of mixtures of cotton–Acrilan and wool–Terylene of unknown blend proportions.