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This study examines the practices of assessment of young children's inferential abilities during the comprehension of narratives. The objective is to question the presence of developmental differences that are classically reported between different ages assessed using the same story. Rather than only following this same perspective, this study proposes to investigate the relevance of adjusting to the students' school level to accurately assess their inferential abilities. The inferential abilities of 348 students aged five to eight years old were surveyed, by either using a story that corresponded to their grade level, or using a story from a grade level different from theirs (i.e., higher or lower). The results show that when students at different grade levels are assessed using the same material, they show differences in achievement. However, when students are assessed with a grade-adjusted narrative, no differences are observed between the age groups studied. Key words: inferences, narrative comprehension, grade level, assessment method, children's literature Cette etude examine les pratiques d'evaluation des capacites inferentielles des jeunes enfants durant la comprehension de recits. L'objectif est de se questionner sur la presence de differences developpementales classiquement rapportees entre des enfants de differents ages evalues a partir d'un meme recit. Plutot que de s'inscrire seulement dans cette meme perspective, cette etude propose d'explorer la pertinence de s'adapter au niveau scolaire des eleves pour evaluer precisement leurs capacites inferentielles. Les capacites inferentielles de 349 eleves de 5 a 8 ans ont ete sondees, soit a partir d'un recit qui correspondait a leur niveau scolaire, soit a partir d'un recit d'un niveau scolaire different du leur. Les resultats revelent que lorsque les eleves de differents niveaux scolaires sont evalues a l'aide d'un meme recit, ils presentent des differences de reussite. Cependant, lorsque les eleves sont evalues avec un recit adapte a leur niveau scolaire, aucune difference n'est observee entre les classes d'age etudiees. Mots cles : inferences, comprehension de recits, niveau scolaire, methode d'evaluation, litterature de jeunesse, Introduction La comprehension de textes est une activite cognitive complexe, au coeur de la reussite scolaire des eleves. Il est aujourd'hui admis que cette capacite de comprehension se developpe plusieurs [...]

This study explored the Social Representations (SRs) of Gifted Children in France, both in the general adult population and in different childhood professionals's populations (i.e., primary school teachers, secondary school teachers, and psychologists). Two binary SRs emerged from the data obtained from 608 participants. In the general population, the SR is "performative" and less diversified: gifted children were chiefly associated with exceptional intelligence. The "personological" SR of professionals indicated social, emotional, and behavioral characteristics. Few nuances distinguish the SRs of teachers from that of psychologists. This study highlights the need to better informed the general population and to better trained teachers and psychologists, to move towards a less stereotyped SR, congruent with the proven characteristics of gifted children.

Simple Summary: The use of virtual reality to support cancer patients has gained increasing interest in recent years, leading to a rise in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. However, no umbrella review has yet been carried out to synthesize the current state of evidence. The aim of this umbrella review is to fill this gap, providing a comprehensive overview of the various virtual reality-based interventions in oncology, and examining their effects and limitations. This synthesis provides a framework to guide future research and enable the scientific community to direct the development and optimization of virtual reality technologies to improve the cancer care pathway. Background/Objectives: Cancer patients often experience psychological and physical symptoms that can significantly impact their quality of life and treatment outcomes. Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a promising complementary approach to standard cancer care. Due to the rapidly evolving nature of VR research in oncology, it seems essential to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge in this field. Therefore, this umbrella review aimed to synthesize evidence from all relevant systematic reviews and meta-analyses on VR-based interventions for improving psychological and physical well-being among cancer patients. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in four databases (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Medline, Web of Science, PsycInfo) from inception to August 2023. We included systematic reviews with or without meta-analyses that evaluated the effects of VR-based interventions on any health-related outcomes in cancer patients. The methodological quality of included reviews was assessed using the AMSTAR-2 (A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews) tool. Results: Eighteen individual systematic reviews including ten performed meta-analyses were included, with sample sizes ranging from 225 to 842 participants. VR-based interventions were categorized into three main types: distraction, rehabilitation, and education. The interventions varied significantly in terms of content, equipment, setting, and duration. The most frequent use of VR is one-off exposure in hospital settings to distract patients from anticancer treatment and painful procedures, with natural or game-based content. The mechanism most commonly proposed to explain the effectiveness of VR involves attentional redirection. Conclusions: This umbrella review suggests that VR-based interventions may be effective in improving psychological outcomes in cancer patients, particularly anxiety, pain, and depression. However, high heterogeneity across studies and mixed results for some outcomes indicate a need for further high-quality research. Moreover, a more refined analysis of VR-based interventions is essential to explore the specific mechanisms of action associated with each type. This approach would enable us to establish the optimal characteristics of each intervention and their long-term effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three studies were designed to explore a major criticism of sacrificial dilemmas, namely that their potential humorous aspects may distort moral decision-making. We collected moral responses (i.e. moral judgment and choice of action) but also asked participants to rate the funniness of moral dilemmas, in order to combine humour assessment and moral responses. In addition, the emotional responses to moral dilemmas were recorded for both men and women (including emotions related to humour), and the potential effect of individuals’ need for humour was also considered. Overall, three main results were reported. Firstly, the dilemmas used in our studies were not rated as funny at all. Secondly, reading moral dilemmas increased negative emotions (i.e. sadness, disgust, guilt) and decreased positive emotions associated with humour (i.e. joy, amusement, and mirth), with gender effects since women experienced stronger negative emotions than men. Thirdly, funniness ratings of sacrificial dilemmas did not vary according to gender and need for humour. This series of studies does not report empirical evidence to support the humorous aspects of trolley-type dilemmas, but invites a more systematic examination of how sacrificial dilemmas are perceived by participants who have to produce moral responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Traditionally, human morality has been largely studied with classical sacrificial dilemmas. A way to advance current understandings of moral judgment and decision-making may involve testing the impact of contexts that are made available to individuals presented with these archetypal dilemmas. This preliminary study focused on assessing whether the availability of factual and contextual information delivered through classical scenarios would change moral responses. Method: A total of 334 participants were presented with sacrificial dilemmas either with a scenario or without a scenario before performing two moral tasks: one consisted in moral judgment (e.g., is it acceptable to sacrifice one person to save five?) and one was related to choice of action (e.g., would you sacrifice one person to save five?). In the condition with a scenario, participants were presented with a story describing the dilemma, its protagonists, their roles, the location and some background details of the situation, before answering to the two moral tasks. In the condition without a scenario, participants were only asked to perform the two moral tasks without any additional contextual elements usually provided by the scenario. Participants' emotions were also measured before and after completing the two moral tasks. Results: The results indicated that the presence of a scenario did not affect moral judgments. However, the presence of a scenario significantly increased utilitarian action choices (i.e., sacrificing one person in the interest of saving a greater number) and this effect was partially mediated by an increase in the perceived plausibility of the sacrificial action. Regarding emotional reaction to dilemmas, no differences were observed between the two conditions, suggesting that emotions are mainly based on the two moral tasks. Discussion: These findings underscore the value of carefully considering the role of factual and contextual information provided by the scenarios in moral dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atypical sensory processing is common in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but their role in adaptive difficulties and problem behaviors is poorly understood. Our aim was to determine the prevalence and type of atypical sensory processing in children with ASD and investigate its impact on their adaptive functioning and maladaptive behaviors. We studied a subsample of 197 children rigorously diagnosed with ASD from the ELENA cohort. Children were divided into atypical and typical sensory processing groups and several independent variables were compared, including adaptive functioning and maladaptive behaviors. Overall, 86.8% of the children had at least one atypical sensory pattern and all sensory modalities were disturbed. Atypical sensory processing explained a significant part of the variance of behavioral problems.

Learning to read and spell constitutes a major societal concern. As a result, different studies have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of different instructional methods. However, few studies have investigated how teachers appropriate and implement a newly reading and spelling instructional method in the classroom. In order to grasp information regarding this appropriation and implementation, we set up a qualitative study. An online questionnaire was completed by 116 teachers and an interview was conducted with 15 other teachers who voluntarily used a reading and spelling instructional method that they had never used before. A thematic content analysis and the QDA Miner Lite software (ProvalisResearch) were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the conditions underlying appropriation can be organized into three categories: (1) "Context" with the teacher profile, the class profile, and the organizational context, (2) "Implementation conditions" with the resources and time allocated to the implementation of the instructional method and training and supervision conditions, and (3) "Cognitive and Behavioral Appropriation" with characteristics of the instructional method and the knowledge/understanding of the theoretical underpinnings. We thus provide recommendations aiming at improving appropriation of instructional methods, and we highlight methodological challenges for planning effective assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alors que l’attention portée à l’échelle mondiale à l’adaptation au changement climatique s’intensifie, l’objet de cet article est d’étudier l’évolution des stratégies d’adaptation à l’échelle locale, au sein de trois territoires franciliens. Notamment parce que l’incertitude liée aux risques est forte au niveau local, nous plaidons pour une approche transformationnelle de l’adaptation, s’appuyant sur les capabilités. Nous montrons toutefois que l’adaptation reste principalement envisagée sous l’angle de la réduction des risques environnementaux. Jusqu’à présent, la participation du public met peu en avant les capabilités valorisées par les populations. La désectorialisation des politiques climatiques permet néanmoins de mieux inclure les citoyens.

Up to now, very few studies investigated the influence of gender on the depiction of emotions in children's drawings. However, the literature on emotions reveals differences between boys and girls in various kinds of tasks (e.g. recognising emotional facial expressions, understanding an emotional situation, etc.). Therefore, we examined the impact of gender on the depiction of sadness and anger. We took into account children's gender but also the gender of the character expressing the target emotion. Forty-four boys and forty-seven girls aged 7-8 and thirty-six boys and fifty-three girls aged 9-10 were asked to listen to stories where the main character (either a male or a female) was feeling sad or angry and then to draw the facial cues corresponding to the target emotion. Two methods were used to rate the drawings: judges assessed the correct vs. incorrect depiction of the two target emotions and a content analysis was then conducted on the correct drawings so as to reveal the type of facial cues used by children. By showing the major influence of children's gender on their depiction of sadness and anger, our findings offer promising lines of research in educational and clinical settings.