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Recent studies suggest that even infants attend to others' beliefs in order to make sense of their behavior. To warrant the assumption of early belief understanding, corresponding competences need to be demonstrated in a variety of different belief-inducing situations. The present study provides corresponding evidence, using a completely nonverbal object-transfer task based on the general violation-of-expectation paradigm. A total of n = 36 infants (15-month-olds) participated in one of three conditions. Infants saw an actor who either observed an object's location change, did not observe it, or performed the location change manually without seeing it (i.e., variations in the actor's information access). Results are in accordance with the assumption that 15-month-old infants master different belief-inducing situations in a highly flexible way, accepting visual as well as manual information access as a proper basis for belief induction.

We investigated whether witnessing social exclusion influenced memory recall in preschool children. A sample of 81 children (Mage = 5 years, 4 months) first watched priming videos either depicting social exclusion or not. Subsequently, they participated in two memory tasks, one testing recall of numbers and the other testing recall of previously heard story events. These consisted of social (e.g., "brother") and nonsocial (e.g., "circus") items. In addition, a language-screening test was conducted to ensure that in both conditions (i.e., social exclusion and control), children's language levels were similar. In both conditions, children scored comparably on number recall and overall recall of story events. However, only children who observed social exclusion remembered more social than nonsocial items. The findings suggest that vicarious social exclusion triggers selective retention of social information in preschool age, in accord with findings of older children and adults who directly experienced social exclusion. Social exclusion affects the need to belong in young children, not only indicated by means of increased attempts to affiliate, but also by an increased memory for social events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Meningiomas are neoplasms which give extracranial metastases in only 0.1%-0.2% cases. Vertebral and intraspinal metastases are rare, complicate treatment and worsen prognosis. We present a patient diagnosed with an atypical meingioma in the left posterior cranial fossa. The patient underwent a surgical resection. Due to oncologist recommendation, radiotherapy was not conducted. Within a year, tumor reccurred on the same place. Recraniotomy with subtotal resection was performed, and radiotherapy was conducted. Nine month after, another recidive occured. Third surgical removal of the tumor was done. Six months later, multiple intraosseus lesions in the cervicothoracic region, without intracranial recurrence occured. Within five months patient underwent radiotherapy which resulted with complete eradication of spinal masses, but small intracranial recurrence was noted. Although WHO Grade II meningiomas are considered benign, with recidive rate of only 3%, and most extracranial metastases occuring after the recurrence of the tumor, available literature suggests that it is not that rare and highlights the importance of following up low-grade meingiomas. Spinal metastases are often diagnosed after patient’s complaints of a pain with no intracranial recidives. Control MRI scan of the spine should be considered in those patients. Although there are few treatment options: symptomatic or chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, reported outcome is mostly not satisfying. There is no established standard of care for the menagment of these patients so furher investigation in this field and clinical follow up is required. Proper neurosurgical treatment and regular radiological scans may improve the prognosis.

Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen (ASS) sind heterogene und persistierende Entwicklungsstörungen, für die in den letzten Jahrzehnten verschiedene Therapieansätze insbesondere zur frühen Förderung entwickelt wurden. Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Therapieeffekte des Frankfurter Frühinterventionsprogramms (FFIP), einem verhaltenstherapeutischen Ansatz basierend auf dem natürlichen Lernformat, in dem ambulante Einzel- und Gruppentherapie (2 Std./Wo.) mit intensiver Elternarbeit kombiniert werden, zu untersuchen. Nach dem ersten Therapiejahr zeigten sich eine signifikant beschleunigte Steigerung des Entwicklungsalters und eine Verbesserung der rezeptiven und expressiven Sprache. Ein niedrigeres chronologisches Alter und ein höheres Entwicklungsalter zu Therapiebeginn erwiesen sich als positive Einflussfaktoren auf den Zuwachs der expressiven Sprachfertigkeiten. Die Ergebnisse werden im Kontext anderer Frühförderprogramme diskutiert.

Seeking proximity to another person immediately expresses affiliative intentions. These are highly relevant after experiencing social exclusion. Through a novel task, the current study investigated the relation between proximity and observed ostracism during early childhood. A sample of 64 children (Mage = 58 months) first watched priming videos either depicting ostracism or not. Subsequently, children saw four seats of varying distances from an interactant’s seat and chose where to sit. Children who observed social exclusion selected seats with higher proximity. The results suggest that young preschoolers can immediately express the threatened need to belong by literally getting closer to even a stranger after witnessing ostracism. The task provides new opportunities to test reactions to social exclusion during early childhood.

Recent studies suggest that even infants attend to others’ beliefs in order to make sense of their behavior. To warrant the assumption of early belief understanding, corresponding competences need to be demonstrated in a variety of different belief-inducing situations. The present study provides corresponding evidence, using a completely nonverbal object-transfer task based on the general violation-of-expectation paradigm. A total of n = 36 infants (15-montholds) participated in one of three conditions. Infants saw an actor who either observed an object’s location change, did not observe it, or performed the location change manually without seeing it (i.e., variations in the actor’s information access). Results are in accordance with the assumption that 15-monthold infants master different belief-inducing situations in a highly flexible way, accepting visual as well as manual information access as a proper basis for belief induction.

For infants it is crucial to differentiate conspecifics from other animates in order to profoundly learn about the world, the self, and other people. The current study investigates brain correlates of a categorical human-animal distinction in infants of different age groups as well as in adults. Using the categorical oddball task (Pauen, Wahl, & Hoehl, 2011), we compared event-related potentials of 4- and 7-month-old infants with those of adults. A total of 100 different-looking pictures of animals and humans were presented in random sequence. In 80% of the trials exemplars of one category were shown (standards), and in 20% of the trials exemplars of the contrasting category were shown (oddballs). In 7-month-olds, an increased Nc response was found for oddballs as compared to standards, independent of the oddball category. Furthermore, amplitude of the P400 was increased in reaction to standards as compared to oddballs, when humans served as standards (i.e., in the human-standard condition). No corresponding ERP-effects were observed in 4-month-olds. Thus, while 7-month-olds showed signs of categorical differentiation on the neural level, 4-month-olds׳ ERPs suggest less stable category representations within the categorical oddball paradigm. In adults, we found an increased N1 amplitude for oddballs as compared to standards. Thus, adults' sensitivity to the relative frequencies of the contrasted categories at the level of the N1 was comparable to infants' Nc response at 7 months. Furthermore, in adults we found the N2 amplitude to reflect category-specific processing, with a consistently increased amplitude in reaction to animals.