The development of lexical competition in written- and spoken-word competition

Efficient word recognition depends on the ability to overcome competition from overlapping words. The nature of the overlap depends on the input modality: spoken words have temporal overlap from other words that share phonemes in the same positions, whereas written words have spatial overlap from other words with letters in the same places. It is unclear how these differences in input format affect the ability to recognize a word and the types of competitors that become active while doing so. This study investigates word recognition in both modalities in children between 7 and 15. Children complete a visual-world paradigm eye-tracking task that measures competition from words with several types of overlap, using identical word lists between modalities. Results showed correlated developmental changes in the speed of target recognition in both modalities. Additionally, developmental changes were seen in the efficiency of competitor suppression for some competitor types in the spoken modality. These data reveal some developmental continuity in the process of word recognition independent of modality, but also some instances of independence in how competitors are activated. Stimuli, data and analyses from this project are available at: https://osf.io/eav72

Failure of Public Building Projects: An Investigation of Abandoned Hospital Projects in Imo State, Nigeria

Failure and abandonment of government projects have been a global phenomenon. The study aims at evaluating factors involved in the abandonment of the proposed hospital building projects in the 27 local government areas in Imo State, Nigeria; with a view to developing a framework that will be used as a guide to revive the abandoned health facilities. Among the specific objectives is to evaluate the factors responsible for the abandonment, compare the performance of the procurement method used for the hospital project with other procurement methods, and to assess the effects of the abandoned hospital projects on the socio-economy and environment of Imo state. The targeted population includes the 4 members of the community government Council (CGC) and the building production professionals in the study area. Field survey research method was adopted for collection of both parametric and non parametric data. Ranking of the factors of abandonment was done using the Relative Importance Index (RII), student t-test and ANOVA were use to carry out tests on differences amongst variables of two and more than two sample populations respectively. Chi-square test was used to ascertain dependency of factors of casual relationships. Findings show that the three most significant factors that could cause the abandonment of the hospital project are; poor project implementation, negative politics practiced by the government, and inadequate structure to ensure continuity of projects. The study also finds that the failure of the abandoned project does not depend on the procurement method used. Again, the condition of contract used on the abandoned hospital project is deficient. Lowering of living standard, lack of trust on the government by the citizenry, and visual defects of the environmental are the three most significant implications of the abandoned hospital projects on the socio-economy and environment of the Imo state are. The study however succeeds in developing a framework which can be used as a guide to revive the abandoned hospital project in Imo state; through integration of structure for developmental continuity from one administration to the other, and independent body of monitoring and implementation responsibilities. It is therefore recommended that the ingredient contained in the frame work be applied in the study area.

Childhood roots of being green: Environmental morality and behavior in children and adults

How do environmental morality and sustainable behavior emerge in childhood? We examined individuals’ moral judgments of environmental actions and their observed sustainable behavior in an environmental trade-off task in a sample of N = 555 young adults (Study 1) and N = 45 children ages 3–10 (Study 2). We show that both children and adults viewed pro-environmental behavior positively and environmental harm negatively—even if the action was sanctioned by an authority figure; however, both children’s and adults’ judgments of actions impacting other people were stronger than judgments of actions impacting the environment. Among children, negative judgments of environmental harm strengthened with age, as did their preference to befriend a pro-environmental character. Sustainable behavior was associated with judgments of environmental harm among adults, but with judgments of pro-environmental actions among children. These findings point to both developmental continuity and change in environmental morality and behavior.

A Comparison of Adolescent versus Young Adult Outpatients with First-Presentation Borderline Personality Disorder: Findings from the MOBY Randomized Controlled Trial: Une Comparaison Entre Patients Ambulatoires Adolescents et Jeunes Adultes à la Première Présentation du Trouble de la Personnalité Limite : Résultats de L’essai Randomisé Contrôlé MOBY

Objective: The increasing focus on adolescent personality disorder has tended to ignore evidence of the developmental continuity of the period from puberty to young adulthood. This study aims to: (1) describe the characteristics of a sample of young people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) who had no previous history of evidence-based treatment for the disorder and (2) compare their characteristics by participant age group. Methods: One hundred and thirty-nine young people (15 to 25 years) with BPD, newly enrolled in the Monitoring Outcomes of BPD in Youth randomized controlled trial, completed semi-structured interview and self-report measures assessing demographic, clinical, and functional characteristics. Younger (aged 15 to 17 years; n = 64) and older (aged 18 to 25 years; n = 75) participants were compared on these same variables using t-tests, chi-square tests, and logistic regression. Results: Young outpatients with BPD had extensive and severe psychopathology and were functioning poorly. Adolescents and young adults with BPD showed substantial similarities on 20 key aspects of their presentation. Significant between-groups differences were observed in household makeup, treatment history, antisocial personality disorder, emotion dysregulation, substance use, age of commencement and extent of self-harm, and achievement of age-appropriate educational milestones. Adolescent BPD group membership was predicted by family composition and self-harm, whereas young adult BPD group membership was predicted by not achieving age-appropriate milestones, vocational disengagement, and emotion dysregulation. The final model explained 54% of the variance and correctly classified 80.2% of the sample by age. Conclusions: Both adolescents and young adults with early stage BPD present with severe and often similar problems to one another, supporting developmental continuity across this age range. However, there are also meaningful differences in presentation, suggesting that pathways to care might differ by age and/or developmental stage. Detection and intervention for personality disorder should not be delayed until individuals reach 18 years of age.

Children’s evaluations of third-party responses to unfairness: Children prefer helping over punishment

Third-party punishment of selfish individuals is an important mechanism to intervene against unfairness. However, there is another way in which third parties can intervene. Rather than focusing on the unfair individual, third parties can choose to help those who were treated unfairly by reducing inequality. Such third-party helping as an alternative to third-party punishment has received little attention in studies with children. Across four studies, we examined the evaluations of third-party punishment versus third-party helping in N = 322 5- to 9-year-old children. Study 1, 3 and 4 showed that when asked about the agents directly, children evaluated both helpers and punishers positively, but they preferred helpers over punishers overall. When asked about the type of intervention itself, children preferred helping over punishment, suggesting that their preference for the type of intervention corresponds to how children think about the agents performing these interventions. Study 2 showed that children’s preference for third-party helping is driven by distributive justice concerns and not a mere preference for giving or resource maximization as children consider which type of third-party intervention decreases inequality. Together, this series of studies demonstrate that children between 5 and 9 years of age develop a sophisticated understanding of punishment and helping as two adequate forms of intervention but also display a preference for third-party helping. We discuss how these findings and prior work with adults supports the hypothesis of developmental continuity, showing that a preference for helping over punishment is deeply rooted in ontogeny.

The Pervasive Role of Pragmatics in Early Language

Language is a fundamentally social endeavor. Pragmatics is the study of how speakers and listeners use social reasoning to go beyond the literal meanings of words to interpret language in context. In this article, we take a pragmatic perspective on language development and argue for developmental continuity between early nonverbal communication, language learning, and linguistic pragmatics. We link phenomena from these different literatures by relating them to a computational framework (the rational speech act framework), which conceptualizes communication as fundamentally inferential and grounded in social cognition. The model specifies how different information sources (linguistic utterances, social cues, common ground) are combined when making pragmatic inferences. We present evidence in favor of this inferential view and review how pragmatic reasoning supports children's learning, comprehension, and use of language.

Predictors of early life milestones: Results from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort

Background Pre- and postnatal factors have been found to be predictors of age at attaining milestones in infancy; however, the degree to which such factors are predictors of milestones in the subsequent years is less investigated. The aim was to conduct a systematic evaluation of a broad range of possible predictors of milestone attainment during the second and third years to identify factors that explain significant inter-individual variance. Methods Mothers of 4009 children from the Copenhagen Perinatal Cohort (1959–61) were interviewed by a physician about 20 developmental milestones at a three-year examination. Milestones were related to: Language, Walking, Eating, Dressing, Social interaction, and Toilet training. Information on possible predictors was collected during pregnancy and at a 1- and 3-year follow-up. Results Several pre- and postnatal factors were significantly associated with the timing of milestone attainment; especially parental social status, paternal age, sex, gestational age, birth weight, birth length, weight increase in the first year of life, and motor development during the first year of life. The significant predictors explained 16.2% of the variance in the Overall mean of milestones and 20.3% of the variance in milestones related to Walking. The most influential individual factor for the timing of milestone attainment was previous motor development during the first year of life. Additionally, sex was an important factor as girls were generally faster at attaining milestones. Parental social status was a consistent, but relatively week predictor. Conclusion A notable amount of variance in the timing of milestones during the first three years of life can be explained by perinatal and early postnatal factors. The study provides evidence of developmental continuity as the main predictor of milestones in the second and third years was the speed of development during the first year.