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Although we know much about the conditions under which children demonstrate selective social learning, we have a limited understanding of the cognitive mechanisms by which children's selectivity manifests. Here, we report findings from a brain electrophysiological (ERP) study designed to determine the extent to which words presented by ignorant speakers were later both familiar to children and associated with semantic meaning. Forty-eight children (mean age = 6.5 years) first experienced novel word training from either a knowledgeable or an ignorant speaker. Children's ERPs were subsequently recorded as they heard a recording of the speaker using the novel word, followed by a picture of either the object the word was paired with during training (congruent) or a distractor object that was also present during training (incongruent). Children trained by a knowledgeable speaker showed both N200 and N400 effects to the incongruent word-referent pairings, thereby suggesting that the novel words were both familiar and bore a semantic association. In contrast, children trained by an ignorant speaker demonstrated only the N200 effect, thereby suggesting that the word-referent links were familiar, but not associated with semantic meaning. These findings provide evidence that selective word learning involves the disruption of processes specifically associated with semantic consolidation of word learning events. This study used a combined word training-ERP paradigm to investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying children's selective word learning. Children who were trained novel word-referent links by an ignorant speaker encoded the links, but did not associate semantic meaning to these links, suggesting that selective word learning involves the disruption of processes specifically associated with the semantic consolidation of word learning events.

Previous event‐related potential (ERP) studies reported larger N170, P3, and late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes to sexual than nonsexual stimuli. These ERPs may not be specifically sensitive to processing sexual cues, however, because the sexual stimuli included information beyond sexual cues (e.g., faces, bodies, social interaction) to a greater extent than comparison stimuli. We investigated ERPs to stimuli that focused on sexual and nonsexual body regions, in different states of readiness for activity, to elucidate neural responses involved in processing sexual cues. Forty cisgender, primarily white, undergraduate women who were attracted to men (Mage = 18.6, SD = 0.9) viewed images that varied by male body part (penis, arm) and activity state (rest, poised for activity). Participants viewed 40 images per category (flaccid penises, erect penises, outstretched arms, bent arms). Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded using a 128‐channel net, time‐locked to the onset of each image. Using a whole‐head cluster‐mass approach, we found that the P3 was sensitive to sexual readiness—P3 amplitudes were larger to erect than flaccid penises, but not to bent than outstretched arms. The N170 and LPP components did not show evidence of similarly specific responses to sexual readiness, revealing potential dissociation of different neural processes commonly elicited in response to more complex sexual stimuli. An additional novel finding was that an anterior N270‐400 was sensitive to sexual readiness. Findings clarify the brain's rapid responses to sexual stimuli, setting the stage for future research aimed at better understanding the neurocognitive processes that contribute to the coordination of sexual arousal. This study was the first to examine ERPs to constrained stimuli that specifically varied in a salient sexual cue—readiness for sexual activity. We tested whether previously identified ERPs were integrally involved in sexual processing among young women, and our whole‐head analysis revealed a novel ERP that was sensitive to sexual cues. Results provide insight into the brain's rapid detection of sexual cues and the fundamental neurocognitive processes involved in sexual response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although we know much about the conditions under which children demonstrate selective social learning, we have a limited understanding of the cognitive mechanisms by which children’s selectivity manifests. Here, we report findings from a brain electrophysiological (ERP) study designed to determine the extent to which words presented by ignorant speakers were later both familiar to children and associated with semantic meaning. Forty-eight children (mean age = 6.5 years) first experienced novel word training from either a knowledgeable or an ignorant speaker. Children’s ERPs were subsequently recorded as they heard a recording of the speaker using the novel word, followed by a picture of either the object the word was paired with during training (congruent) or a distractor object that was also present during training (incongruent). Children trained by a knowledgeable speaker showed both N200 and N400 effects to the incongruent word–referent pairings, thereby suggesting that the novel words were both familiar and bore a semantic association. In contrast, children trained by an ignorant speaker demonstrated only the N200 effect, thereby suggesting that the word– referent links were familiar, but not associated with semantic meaning. These findings provide evidence that selective word learning involves the disruption of processes specifically associated with semantic consolidation of word learning events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Clinical significance determines whether an intervention makes a real difference in the everyday life of a client. One of the most recommended approaches for conducting group-level analyses of clinical significance is to evaluate whether the treated clinical group is equivalent to a normal comparison group (normative comparisons). The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the analytical and practical power of assessing clinical significance using normative comparisons that are robust to violations of normality and homogeneity of variance assumptions. Method: Six datasets were gleaned from published intervention studies for depression. Results: We found that normative comparisons using a robust Schuirmann-Yuen test determined equivalency for 11% fewer clinical samples compared to original normative comparisons that use a Schuirmann test of equivalence. Conclusions: We recommend that researchers conducting normative comparisons utilize the Schuirmann-Yuen procedure as it provides the most reliable method available for determining if a treated clinical group is equivalent to a normative comparison group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory of mind (ToM) - the understanding that others' behaviors are connected with internal mental states - is an important part of everyday social cognition. There is increasing behavioral evidence that ToM reasoning can be affected by mood. To gain insight into the ways sad mood may affect the underlying mechanisms of ToM reasoning, we recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) as dysphoric ( N = 16) and non-dysphoric ( N = 24) participants reasoned about a protagonist's true or false beliefs about an object's location. Results showed significant group effects on early components of the ERP - individuals in the dysphoric group showed greater amplitudes for the anterior N1 and N2/P2 components relative to those in the non-dysphoric group. Later in the ERP, non-dysphoric individuals showed evidence of neurocognitive dissociations between true and false belief. Dysphoric individuals, however, did not show evidence for these later dissociations. This evidence suggests that dysphoria may be associated with effortful reasoning about other's mental states, even when that effort is not necessary (i.e., when reasoning about true beliefs). We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding how mood affects ToM reasoning and for how especially deliberative ToM processing in dysphoria may lead to social difficulties.