Picture Cues Research Articles

Clinical application of speech intelligibility research: The River Street Autism Program at Coltsville.

Introduction Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have severe deficits in communication. Because of this problem, behavioral researchers have sought to develop procedures to improve speech production in children with autism (cf. Koegel & Koegel, 1995; Lovaas, 1977; Lovaas, 2003). These researchers have developed powerful and effective strategies for teaching children to produce initial sounds, words, sentences, and conversational speech. Thus, many children have benefited from these procedures with the development of functional vocal repertoires. While some of these children have adequate intelligibility, there is a portion of this population with compromised intelligibility, due to a limited consonant inventory and less complex syllabic structure (National Research Council, 2001). To address this issue, this article will first review the research in this area and then discuss a model of intervention for children with ASD based on these research findings. Guidelines will be provided on how to: 1) assess intelligibility problems; 2) use the normal developmental model when selecting appropriate targets; 3) sequence treatment objectives; 4) improve intelligibility problems using behavioral interventions; 5) program for generalization; and 6) evaluate program success and troubleshooting. Finally, outcome data for five children on the autism spectrum who have received treatment within the context of this model will be provided. Review of the Research Assessment For children with intelligibility problems, speech language pathologists (SLPs) customarily assess sounds in initial, medial and final positions using picture cues with standardized articulation assessments (Newman & Creaghead, 1989). While this is effective in providing information that will guide treatment for the majority of children with intelligibility issues, these tests pose certain problems for children on the autism spectrum. Specifically, these children do not respond well to traditional assessment tools due to their characteristic language delays, excesses in problem behavior, and depressed motivation. Koegel, Koegel and Smith (1997) reported that modifications to the testing situation to respond to these problems will result in significantly higher test scores. Based on the success of this research, Dyer, Fitzgerald, Harris, and Harris (2005) developed an assessment tool that was designed to respond to these problems by: 1) decreasing demands on expressive language production that are often intrinsic to standardized articulation assessment; 2) providing external motivation with stimulus variation and child preferred items; 3) providing behavioral support through individual behavioral support plans and 4) presenting items in a discrete trial format (cf. Koegel & Schreibman, 1982). In addition, the assessment was delivered by a teacher who had stimulus control in a familiar setting, rather than an SLP who had limited contact with the child. The results of the study showed that this assessment method was more effective in providing information on the child's articulation ability than traditional assessment in the context of reversal designs for four children. This suggests that evaluators take steps to address deficits in motivation and language comprehension in the assessment process in order to gain a more representative sample of children's speech production. Treatment Accumulating studies have documented behavioral intervention techniques in the treatment of articulation for children with autism. Using discrete trial techniques described by Koegel and Schreibman (1982), Dyer, Santarcangelo, and Luce (1987) provided articulation treatment to two adolescents with ASD who had persistent articulation errors. After intervention, the first child met criterion on correct production of three separate sounds in less than 200 trials. The second child met criterion on seven sounds in less than 100 trials. …

Are Implicit and Explicit Motive Measures Statistically Independent? A Fair and Balanced Test Using the Picture Story Exercise and a Cue- and Response-Matched Questionnaire Measure

Previous studies that have examined the relationship between implicit and explicit motive measures have consistently found little variance overlap between both types of measures regardless of thematic content domain (i.e., power, achievement, affiliation). However, this independence may be artifactual because the primary means of measuring implicit motives—content-coding stories people write about picture cues—are incommensurable with the primary means of measuring explicit motives: having individuals fill out self-report scales. To provide a better test of the presumed independence between both types of measures, we measured implicit motives with a Picture Story Exercise (PSE; McClelland, Koestner, & Weinberger, 1989) and explicit motives with a cue- and response-matched questionnaire version of the PSE (PSE–Q) and a traditional measure of explicit motives, the Personality Research Form (PRF; Jackson, 1984) in 190 research participants. Correlations between the PSE and the PSE–Q were small and mostly nonsignificant, whereas the PSE–Q showed significant variance overlap with the PRF within and across thematic domains. We conclude that the independence postulate holds even when more commensurable measures of implicit and explicit motives are used.

Neurophysiological signature of effective anticipatory task‐set control: a task‐switching investigation

Changing between cognitive tasks requires a reorganization of cognitive processes. Behavioural evidence suggests this can occur in advance of the stimulus. However, the existence or detectability of an anticipatory task-set reconfiguration process remains controversial, in part because several neuroimaging studies have not detected extra brain activity during preparation for a task switch relative to a task repeat. In contrast, electrophysiological studies have identified potential correlates of preparation for a task switch, but their interpretation is hindered by the scarcity of evidence on their relationship to performance. We aimed to: (i) identify the brain potential(s) reflecting effective preparation for a task-switch in a task-cuing paradigm that shows clear behavioural evidence for advance preparation, and (ii) characterize this activity by means of temporal segmentation and source analysis. Our results show that when advance preparation was effective (as indicated by fast responses), a protracted switch-related component, manifesting itself as widespread posterior positivity and concurrent right anterior negativity, preceded stimulus onset for approximately 300 ms, with sources primarily in the left lateral frontal, right inferior frontal and temporal cortices. When advance preparation was ineffective (as implied by slow responses), or made impossible by a short cue-stimulus interval (CSI), a similar component, with lateral prefrontal generators, peaked approximately 300 ms poststimulus. The protracted prestimulus component (which we show to be distinct from P3 or contingent negative variation, CNV) also correlated over subjects with a behavioural measure of preparation. Furthermore, its differential lateralization for word and picture cues was consistent with a role for verbal self-instruction in preparatory task-set reconfiguration.

Heart rate variability response to alcohol, placebo, and emotional picture cue challenges: Effects of 0.1‐Hz stimulation

Heart rate variability (HRV) supports emotion regulation and is reduced by alcohol. Based on the resonance properties of the cardiovascular system, a new 0.1-Hz methodology was developed to present emotional stimuli and assess HRV reaction in participants (N=36) randomly assigned to an alcohol, placebo, or control condition. Blocked picture cues (negative, positive, neutral) were presented at a rate of 5 s on, 5 s off (i.e., 0.1-Hz frequency). SDNN, pNN50, and HF HRV were reduced by alcohol, compared to the placebo and control. The 0.1-Hz HRV index was diminished by alcohol and placebo, suggesting that autonomic regulation can be affected by cognitive expectancy. The 0.1-Hz HRV index and pNN50 detected changes in arousal during emotional compared to neutral cues, and the 0.1-Hz HRV index was most sensitive to negative valence. The 0.1-Hz HRV methodology may be useful for studying the intersection of cognition, emotion, and autonomic regulation.

Typicality aids search for an unspecified target, but only in identification and not in attentional guidance

Participants searched for a picture of an object, and the object was either a typical or an atypical category member. The object was cued by either the picture or its basic-level category name. Of greatest interest was whether it would be easier to search for typical objects than to search for atypical objects. The answer was"yes," but only in a qualified sense: There was a large typicality effect on response time only for name cues, and almost none of the effect was found in the time to locate (i.e., first fixate) the target. Instead, typicality influenced verification time-the time to respond to the target once it was fixated. Typicality is thus apparently irrelevant when the target is well specified by a picture cue; even when the target is underspecified (as with a name cue), it does not aid attentional guidance, but only facilitates categorization.

Finding groups using model-based cluster analysis: Heterogeneous emotional self-regulatory processes and heavy alcohol use risk.

Model-based cluster analysis is a new clustering procedure to investigate population heterogeneity utilizing finite mixture multivariate normal densities. It is an inferentially based, statistically principled procedure that allows comparison of nonnested models using the Bayesian information criterion to compare multiple models and identify the optimum number of clusters. The current study clustered 36 young men and women on the basis of their baseline heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV), chronic alcohol use, and reasons for drinking. Two cluster groups were identified and labeled the high alcohol risk and normative groups. Compared to the normative group, individuals in the high alcohol risk group had higher levels of alcohol use and more strongly endorsed disinhibition and suppression reasons for use. The high alcohol risk group showed significant HRV changes in response to positive and negative emotional and appetitive picture cues, compared to neutral cues. In contrast, the normative group showed a significant HRV change only to negative cues. Findings suggest that individuals with autonomic self-regulatory difficulties may be more susceptible to heavy alcohol use and use of alcohol for emotional regulation.

Overgeneral memory extends to pictorial retrieval cues and correlates with cognitive features in posttraumatic stress disorder.

Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) show overgeneral memory (OGM) when retrieving autobiographical memories to word cues. We investigated whether OGM extends to picture cues and whether it is related to PTSD symptoms and cognitions. Trauma survivors with (n = 29) and without (n = 26) PTSD completed the standard Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) and a novel picture version. Compared to the no-PTSD group, the PTSD group showed OGM in both test versions. Pictures facilitated specific memory retrieval, but this effect was no longer significant when verbal intelligence or depressive symptoms were controlled. OGM correlated with PTSD symptoms and perceived self-change; with intrusive memories, their perceived "nowness," responses to intrusions (thought suppression, rumination, dissociation), and negative interpretations of symptoms.

PENGEMBANGAN KOMPETENSI KOMUNIKATIF BERBAHASA SISWA SMA/SMK

Abstract This study is to accelerate or develop communicative or functional competence in using Indonesian and English of General and Vocational Senior High School students through communicative approach. Several techniques are used. The Picture Cue Card technique is used for the students of the State Vocational Senior High School 3 Purwokerto, whereas the Feature Analysis technique is used for the students of General Senior High School of Abdi Negara of Muntilan. Retelling technique is used for the students of State Vocational Senior High School1 of Depok, whereas the Progressive technique is used for the students of the State General High School 7 of Yogyakarta. This research is a classroom action rsearch with communicative learning approach. The result show following: (1) Picture Cue Card thechnique can accelerate English ability. (2) Feature Analysis technique can accelerate the mastery of Indonesian vocabulary (3) Retelling technique can accelerate the ability in reading English texts (4) Progressive learning can accelerate the ability in writing in Indonesian. Keywords: picture cue cards technique, analysis feature, retelling, progressive learning,classroom action research.

The Thematic Apperception Test: Toward a Standard Measure of the Big Three Motives

The application of the Thematic Apperception Test to the assessment of motives has been heralded as an important milestone in personality psychology. However, although this approach is well established, there is at present no standard battery of cues for measuring the Big Three motives (achievement, affiliation, power). Furthermore, the extent to which scoring subcategories contribute to overall motive scores has been neglected. Our research with students and managers examined the effectiveness of picture cues in eliciting motive imagery and the prevalence of scoring subcategories within each motive scoring system. Results from 2 data sets comprising 547 men and women suggested that there were 3 cues that should be retained for future research and that motive scoring systems could be refined through removal of redundant subcategories. Further research is needed to systematically investigate the effectiveness of a standard battery of cues and the validity of revised motive scoring systems.

The effects of anxiety upon attention allocation to affective stimuli

Pictures of emotionally aversive, neutral, and pleasant scenes were presented for 500 ms, followed by a probe presented in the same location (valid trials) or an alternate location (invalid trials) as the picture. Response-times to the probes were recorded in low ( N = 20 ) and high ( N = 27 ) trait anxious participants. Results revealed an overall negative cue validity effect of shorter reaction times (RTs) on invalid than valid trials, suggestive of an inhibition of return effect. Moreover, high trait anxious females showed a reduced negative cue validity effect for aversive pictures in comparison with neutral and pleasant pictures, suggestive of selective interference by the unpleasant material. By contrast, low trait anxious females showed an enhanced negative cue validity effect for aversive pictures relative to neutral and pleasant pictures, suggestive of attentional avoidance of the aversive content. The emotional content of picture cues did not significantly affect RTs in males, regardless of anxiety status. The results suggest that biased attention processes for aversive stimuli may contribute to the greater female propensity for anxiety disorders.

Differential motivational responses to food and pleasurable cues in anorexia and bulimia nervosa: a startle reflex paradigm

Abnormal perceptions of food and shape underpin the cognitive behavioural model of eating disorders (EDs). The aim of this study was to investigate motivational processing of disorder-specific and standard emotional cues in anorexia (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) using startle eyeblink modulation (SEM). SEM was used because it is sensitive to motivational states of approach (appetitive response) and withdrawal (aversive response), which are independent of conscious intentional control. Acoustically elicited SEM and subjective anxiety ratings were measured in 30 female patients with an ED (n=15 AN, n=15 BN) and 30 female control subjects while they viewed ED-relevant stimuli (food, female bodies) and standardized emotional pictures. BN subjects showed an appetitive response (startle inhibition) to food relative to neutral cues that differed significantly from AN subjects. By contrast, self-reports indicated significantly increased anxiety related to food cues across both ED groups. To female body picture (relative to neutral) cues, no significant between-group differences were found for SEM. ED subjects unexpectedly showed an aversive response (startle potentiation) to positive cues, in contrast to controls, who showed the established startle attenuation. These preliminary results suggest that BN patients demonstrated an exaggerated appetitive response to food but not to standardized positive cues, whereas SEM in AN patients points to a generalized failure to activate the appetitive motivational system. Differences in motivational salience to food cues are in line with distinctions between AN and BN in eating behaviour and food consumption and support differential treatment requirements.

The effect of visual threat on spatial attention to touch

Viewing a threatening stimulus can bias visual attention toward that location. Such effects have typically been investigated only in the visual modality, despite the fact that many threatening stimuli are most dangerous when close to or in contact with the body. Recent multisensory research indicates that a neutral visual stimulus, such as a light flash, can lead to a tactile attention shift towards a nearby body part. Here, we investigated whether the threat value of a visual stimulus modulates its effect on attention to touch. Participants made speeded discrimination responses about tactile stimuli presented to one or other hand, preceded by a picture cue (snake, spider, flower or mushroom) presented close to the same or the opposite hand. Pictures of snakes led to a significantly greater tactile attentional facilitation effect than did non-threatening pictures of flowers and mushrooms. Furthermore, there was a correlation between self-reported fear of snakes and spiders and the magnitude of early facilitation following cues of that type. These findings demonstrate that the attentional bias towards threat extends to the tactile modality and indicate that perceived threat value can modulate the cross-modal effect that a visual cue has on attention to touch.

Assessing Implicit Motives in U.S. College Students: Effects of Picture Type and Position, Gender and Ethnicity, and Cross-Cultural Comparisons

We assessed implicit needs for power, achievement, and affiliation in 323 U.S. college students using a Picture Story Exercise (PSE; McClelland, Koestner, & Weinberger, 1989) consisting of 6 picture cues and Winter's (1994) content coding system. Picture cues differed markedly in the amount of motive imagery they elicited and picture motive profiles closely resembled those reported by Schultheiss and Brunstein (2001) for a German student sample. Picture position influenced the expression of power and affiliation motivation, with affiliation motivation being most strongly expressed at the beginning and power motivation being most strongly expressed in the middle of the PSE. Women had higher affiliation motive scores than men. Asian Americans had higher affiliation motive scores than Whites, and African Americans had higher levels of achievement motivation than Asian Americans or Whites. PSE motive measures showed little or no overlap with questionnaire measures of impulsivity and anxiety (Behavioral Inhibition System–Behavioral Activation System scales; Carver & White, 1994) or specific motivational orientations (Personality Research Form; Jackson, 1984). Comparisons with Schultheiss and Brunstein's (2001) German sample indicate that U.S. students have higher achievement motivation and lower power motivation and activity inhibition scores than German students.

Agrammatism: A Cross-Linguistic Clinical Perspective

Agrammatism: A Cross-Linguistic Clinical Perspective

Encouraging Positive Behavior with Social Stories

s International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering, 62(8-B), Mar 2002, pp. 3797. (UMI NO. AAI3024504) Gray, C. (1993). The original social stories book. Austin, TX: Future Horizons. Gray, C. (2000). The new social stories book (illus. ed.). Austin, TX: Future Horizons. Gray C. A., & Garand J. D. (1993). Social sto- ries: Improving responses of students with autism with accurate social information. Focus on Autistic Behavior, 8(1), 1-10. Hagiwara, T., & Myles, B. S. (1999). A multi- media social story intervention: Teaching skills to children with autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 14(2), 82-95. Koegel, L. K., Koegel, R. L., & Surratt, A. (1992). Language intervention and disrup- tive behaviors in preschool children with autism. Journal of Autism and Related Disorders, 22, 141-153. Kuttler, S., Myles, B. S., & Carlson, J. K. (1998). The use of social stories to reduce precursors to tantrum behavior in a student with autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 13(3), 176-182. Lorimer, P. A., Simpson, R. L., Myles, B. S., & Ganz, J. B. (2002). The use of social sto- ries as a preventative behavioral interven- tion in a home setting with a child with autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 4, 53-60. National Research Council. (2001). Educating children with autism. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. Norris, C., & Dattilo, J. (1999). Evaluating effects of a social story intervention on a young girl with autism. Focus on Autism 30 ■ COUNCIL FOR EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN Figure 4. Sample Social Story With Picture Cues

Methodological Considerations of Applying a Tat-Type Picture-Story Test in Cross-Cultural Research

This article examines problems associated with the selection and use of picture cues to assess data on implicit motives in cross-cultural research. A TAT-type picture-story test was administered to 121 Gwembe Tonga adolescents in Zambia. The stories were coded following Winter’s scoring system. The cue strength of each of the five picture stimuli in Zambia was identified and compared to findings on cue strength in a German student sample. Cue strengths differed markedly in both samples. Analyses on differential item functioning (item bias) showed that cross-cultural comparisons on motive strengths are not advisable. In further analyses, the influence of Zambian participants’educational level and written language on the stimulus pull of the picture cues was verified. Consequences of the validity of the findings on motive strength and some possible guidelines for future cross-cultural research are discussed.

How fast can you change your mind? The speed of top-down guidance in visual search

Most laboratory visual search tasks involve many searches for the same target, while in the real world we typically change our target with each search (e.g. find the coffee cup, then the sugar). How quickly can the visual system be reconfigured to search for a new target? Here observers searched for targets specified by cues presented at different SOAs relative to the search stimulus. Search for different targets on each trial was compared to search for the same target over a block of trials. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that an exact picture cue acts within 200 ms to make varied target conjunction search as fast and efficient as blocked conjunction search. Word cues were slower and never as effective. Experiment 3 replicated this result with a task that required top-down information about target identity. Experiment 4 showed that the effects of an exact picture cue were not mandatory. Experiments 5 and 6 used pictures of real objects to cue targets by category level.

Repressive coping and the use of passive and active coping strategies

The present experiment investigated whether coping strategies employed by individuals who possess a repressive coping style depend on the intensity of the encountered threat. We expected repressors to employ passive coping strategies (e.g. attentional avoidance) when the intensity of threatening stimuli is low and to shift to more active coping strategies (e.g. thinking positive thoughts) when confronted with strong threats. Individuals classified as repressors and non-repressors worked on a visual-spatial task under either low threat of failure or high threat of failure. Lexical decisions to failure-related words (as compared to neutral words) served as a measure of attentional avoidance. Success imagery generated in response to picture cues served as an indicator of active coping. As expected, repressors showed signs of attentional avoidance in the low threat condition, but not in the high threat condition. Conversely, repressors were more likely to generate success imagery than non-repressors in the high threat condition, but not in the low threat condition.

Assessment of Implicit Motives With a Research Version of the TAT: Picture Profiles, Gender Differences, and Relations to Other Personality Measures

Four hundred twenty-eight participants wrote imaginative stories in response to 6 picture cues of a research version of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT; Morgan & Murray, 1935). Story protocols were coded for n (need) Power, n Achievement, and n Affiliation using Winter's (1991) integrated scoring system that provided detailed information about the motive profiles of individual picture cues. In general, picture cues differed strongly from each other with regard to how many scorable instances of power, achievement, or affiliation imagery they elicited. The n Affiliation, but not n Power, n Achievement, or activity inhibition-a measure of impulse control-was found to be higher in (a) women than in men and (b) individuals tested in a group than in individuals tested individually. TAT motive measures showed no significant overlap with questionnaire measures of motivational orientation (German Personality Research Form; Stumpf, Angleitner, Wieck, Jackson, & Beloch-Till, 1985) or traits (German NEO-Five-Factor Inventory; Borkenau & Ostendorf, 1993).

Increasing Engagement of Preschoolers With Disabilities Through Correspondence Training and Picture Cues

This investigation evaluated the effects of a hierarchical intervention that consisted of picture cues and correspondence training procedures to increase engagement of 4 young children with significant developmental delays during classroom free play sessions. Up to three levels of intervention were introduced with each child, with more intrusive levels being used only when less intrusive levels had failed to impact behavior. A multiple-probe design across children was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. Results of the study were mixed, with 2 children requiring less intrusive levels of intervention and 2 children requiring the entire intervention package in order to reach criterion.