Recognition of code-mixed gated words: Phonotactic features of Spanish and English / Reconocimiento de palabras cerradas de código mixto: características fonotácticas

Introduction: This study examined word identification among Spanish-English bilingual and English monolingual individuals, i.e., speech perception using a gated word task examining phonetic category formation. Methods: Participants included 25 English-speaking monolingual and 10 fluent Spanish-English speaking bilingual adults. The experiment included a gating task incorporating Spanish sentences, English sentences, code-mixed Spanish-English sentences, and code-mixed English-Spanish sentences. The gated words at the end of the sentences consisted of voiceless initial consonants, voiced initial consonants, CV-tense words, or CV-lax words. Results: There was a significant main effect for consonant voicing features and for language group. In addition, there was a significant interaction between consonant voicing features and language group. A significant main effect for vowel tenseness was also found along with a significant interaction between vowel tenseness and language group. Discussion: Results suggest that bilinguals are capable of ultimate attainment, with phonotactic capabilities similar to that of monolingual speakers when identifying English words. Bilingual speakers may also be more sensitive to voicing features for both Spanish and English words.(AU)

Introducción: Este estudio examinó la identificación de las palabras entre los individuos bilingües español-inglés y monolingües de habla inglesa, es decir, la percepción del lenguaje utilizando un sistema de palabras cerradas que examina la formación de la categoría fonética. Métodos: Los participantes incluyeron 25 adultos monolingües de habla inglesa y 10 adultos bilingües español-inglés. El experimento incluyó un sistema cerrado que incorporaba frases en español, frases en inglés, frases español-inglés de código mixto y frases inglés-español de código mixto. Las palabras cerradas al final de las frases consistían en consonantes iniciales sordas, consonantes iniciales sonoras, palabras tensas con CV o palabras laxas con CV. Resultados: Se produjo un efecto principal significativo para las características de entonación de las consonantes y para el grupo de lenguaje. Además, se produjo una interacción entre las características de entonación de las consonantes y el grupo de lenguaje. También se encontró un efecto principal significativo de la tensión de las vocales, y una interacción significativa entre la tensión de las vocales y el grupo de lenguaje. Discusión: Los resultados sugieren que las personas bilingües son capaces de alcanzar un logro máximo, con capacidades fonotácticas similares a las de los hablantes monolingües, al identificar las palabras en inglés. Los hablantes bilingües pueden ser más sensibles también a las características de entonación de las palabras españolas e inglesas.(AU)

Are peer specialists happy on the job?

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to examine the impact of role clarity and job training on job satisfaction among peer specialists. METHOD: A 3-part survey assessing job training, job satisfaction, and role clarity was administered online to 195 peer specialists who are members of the International Association of Peer Specialists. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlational analyses to include multiple linear regressions and analysis of variance. RESULTS: Self-study and online training methods were negatively correlated with job satisfaction while job shadowing was positively correlated with job satisfaction. Role clarity was positively correlated with job satisfaction and job training satisfaction as well as job shadowing and one-on-one training. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The use of self-study and online training for peer specialists is contraindicated by current findings, which suggest the need to utilize job shadowing or training methods that allow for personal interaction between peer specialists and their colleagues. (PsycINFO Database Record

Differentiating Tower of Hanoi performance: interactive effects of psychopathic tendencies, impulsive response styles, and modality.

Previous research has demonstrated that performance on the computerized Tower of Hanoi is lower than performance on the manual Tower of Hanoi. The present study was conducted to elucidate potential factors that contribute to performance differences across modalities. Personality characteristics related to psychopathy and impulsive response styles were hypothesized to be correlates of poor performance on the computerized version of the Tower of Hanoi, which is a problem-solving task that requires working memory, planning, and inhibition. Eighty-four college students from a mid-sized university participated. Participants were grouped as low, middle, or high psychopathy based on their total scores on the Psychopathic Personality Inventory. A 2 (Modality) × 3 (Psychopathy) analysis of covariance, controlling for visuospatial working memory, yielded a significant interaction, in which the high psychopathy group did not differ in performance across modality, whereas the low and middle psychopathy groups performed more poorly on the computerized version. Subsequent analyses on reaction time and accuracy for the computerized modality indicated that a reflective, methodical approach to the computerized task was more productively utilized in the low psychopathy group, whereas the fast and accurate approach was more productively utilized in the high psychopathy group. These results suggest that individuals with elevated psychopathic tendencies within a normal population are not necessarily deficient in problem-solving performance on the Tower of Hanoi. Impulsive responding is associated with poor performance in the computerized version of the Tower of Hanoi, irrespective of psychopathic tendencies. Caution should be exercised in interpreting scores on the computerized Tower of Hanoi because the psychometric properties required for comparability with the manual version have not been sufficiently demonstrated.