The case study of a nine-year-old boy with autism suggested that his frequent repeated utterance "can I talk" served important social and communicative functions for the child who used the phrase as a compensatory strategy to ensure predictability within conversational exchanges while maintaining social interactions. (DB)

Investigates the influence of several factors on accuracy in detecting truth and deceit. Found that accuracy was much higher on truth than deception, novices were more accurate than experts, accuracy depended on type of deception and whether suspicion was present or absent, suspicion impaired accuracy for experts, and questions strategy…

The dendritic structure of layer II-III pyramidal neurons of the parietal cortex in 41 Long-Evans rats was compared to behavioral assessments of attention to novelty, response flexibility, and reasoning. A significant correlation between dendritic arborization and behavioral performance was not demonstrated. (SLD)

Sees research on Type A behavior as plagued by inadequate theory, insensitive assessment, and insufficient interventions. Discusses conceptual models (transactional model, social cognitive theories, and associative network theory); questions view of hostility as only pathogenic feature of Type A behavior; and describes ethnographic gap in Type A…

Discusses issues to consider when investigating behavioral effect of foods, including idiosyncratic response to particular food, necessity of identifying individual sensitive to food being studied, necessity of including washout phase, consideration of withdrawal effects, assessment of change, dietary challenge, and time parameter necessary for…

Critically reviews data about the behavioral characteristics of mentally retarded sexual offenders. Discusses possible interactions between mental retardation and the provision of services and directions for future research. (Author)

Examined the reliability and construct validity in an older adult population (n=149 older adults and their informants) of scores on the Behavioral Competence Inventory (BCI) (P. Hartman-Stein). Results indicate that scores on the BCI's seven scales show adequate internal consistencies and represent seven overlapping but distinct constructs in this…

Four studies analyzing body-rocking in individuals with mental retardation found: (1) rocking chairs are not necessarily preferred and produce higher amplitude rocking; (2) body-rocking characteristics were stable over a 21-month period; (3) when compared with body-rocking college students, persons with mental retardation engage in more…

Three studies analyzed stimulus feedback and the concept of control with three children and two adults having autism. The first study explored feedback from spinning tops, while the second and third emphasized control of various stimuli including spinning tops. Results indicate that autistic individuals' common interest in spinning tops is…

Explores the role of biological causation in the development of behavioral outcomes. Genes and other biological structures constitute complex behavior, but the behavior of complex organisms cannot be derived from the biogenetic units of which it is composed. (SLD)

The facial stereotypies of adults diagnosed as having mental retardation and tardive dyskinesia were examined through a kinematic analysis of videotaped lip and tongue movements. The high degree of movement variability found suggests that low variability of discrete properties of movement kinematics may not be a defining feature of stereotypies.…

Studied leisure behavior patterns over 3 years during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood with data for 954 participants from the Michigan Study of Adolescent Life Transitions. Leisure pattern stability was the most common pathway into young adulthood. Discusses gender differences. (SLD)

Taking a meta-theoretical perspective, this article presents a critical analytical model through which human knowledge, existence, and behaviour can be understood. The article describes the meta-theoretical model and then explains how this model applies to the evolution of seminal family therapy theories.

In this article, the author describes three major temperament categories of infants and toddlers, and why each calls for particular insights and attention. For infants, the temperaments are cautious, fussy, and easygoing. For toddlers, the three most prevalent temperaments are fearful/shy, irritable/active/fussy, and easy. This paper also contains…

We discuss the relationship between sleep, dreams, and memory, proposing that the content of dreams reflects aspects of memory consolidation taking place during the different stages of sleep. Although we acknowledge the likely involvement of various neuromodulators in these phenomena, we focus on the hormone cortisol, which is known to exert…