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Biomedical subjects

S W Kirkpatrick

Publications and source records attributed to S W Kirkpatrick.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Interpretation of emotion from facial expressions in children with and without learning disabilities.

The accuracy and time required for children with and without learning disabilities to interpret emotions when restricted to information from facial expressions, and the accuracy of those interpretations, were investigated. Ninety-six children participated; an equal number of males and females were included in both learning categories and age levels. Accuracy and response time on a modified version of Pictures of Facial Affect were recorded for the emotions of fear, sadness, surprise, anger, happiness, and disgust, as well as for the entire task. Three-way ANOVAs revealed children with learning disabilities to (a) be less accurate interpreters of emotion and (b) spend more time identifying specific emotions. Both age and sex influenced response time: Younger subjects required more time to interpret the emotions of fear and anger; males spent more time interpreting happiness. Younger females with learning disabilities displayed difficulty in interpretation, and older children with learning disabilities (particularly males) were rapid, but often inaccurate, interpreters of emotion.

Adolescent

Body image of anorexic, obese, and normal females.

This study investigated disturbances in body image perception with anorexic, obese and control groups (N = 24). Each group was comprised of 8 female subjects matched for age. An original silhouette chart and chi squares were employed, and a significant difference was found among the groups in the perception of the present-self body image (chi 2 (8) = 24.19, p less than .01), body image at plus 10 pounds (chi 2 (6) = 27.63, p less than .01), and body image at minus 10 pounds (chi 2 (8) = 26.05, p less than .01). No differences among the groups appeared in perceived ideal-self body image or in their perception of the body image that was expected from their families. A directional trend was noted in anorexic overestimation and obese underestimation on the total concept of body image. Significant differences among the groups as judged via a semantic differential technique were found for personality descriptions of happy/sad, active/passive, popular/unpopular, effective/ineffective, competent/incompetent, smart/stupid, and cold/warm.

Adolescent

Vision and academic performance of learning disabled children.

The purpose of this study was to assess difference in academic performance among myopic, hyperopic, and emmetropic children who were learning disabled. More specifically, myopic children were expected to perform better on mathematical and spatial tasks than would hyperopic ones and that hyperopic and emmetropic children would perform better on verbal measures than would myopic ones. For 439 learning disabled students visual anomalies were determined via a Generated Retinal Reflex Image Screening System. Test data were obtained from school files. Partial support for the hypothesis was obtained. Myopic learning disabled children outperformed hyperopic and emmetropic children on the Key Math test. Myopic children scored better than hyperopic children on the WRAT Reading subtest and on the Durrell Analysis of Reading Difficulty Oral Reading Comprehension, Oral Rate, Flashword, and Spelling subtests, and on the Key Math Measurement and Total Scores. Severity of refractive error significantly affected the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Revised Full Scale, Performance Scale, Verbal Scale, and Digit Span scores but did not affect any academic test scores. Several other findings were also reported. Those with nonametropic problems scored higher than those without problems on the Key Math Time subtest. Implications supportive of the theories of Benbow and Benbow and Geschwind and Behan were stated.

Achievement

Ocular anomalies: a comparison of learning disabled and nonlearning disabled elementary school children.

This study compared descriptive data, obtained via retinal reflex photography, concerning ocular anomalies of 439 learning disabled elementary school children, 1657 kindergarten and Grade 1 nonlearning disabled children, and 724 nonlearning disabled children in Grades 2 to 6. Ocular factors included refractive and nonametropic errors as well as severity of the problem. The learning disabled sample had a significantly higher incidence of refractive error than the normal samples in Kindergarten and Grade 1 but lower incidence than the normal sample in Grades 2 to 6. The learning disabled group had a significantly higher incidence of myopia in one or both eyes than did the kindergarten and first grade normal group. No such difference for myopia existed between the learning disabled and the normal sample in Grades 2 to 6. Incidence of hyperopia in both eyes was significantly lower in the learning disabled than in the kindergarten-first grade sample; however, hyperopia in one eye only was greater for the learning disabled than for the older normals. Significant differences between the younger and older normals existed for all types of refractive error except hyperopia in only one eye. Severity of the problem differed significantly between the learning disabled and the kindergarten-first grade sample in the classes of severe and minimal, not at all when comparing learning disabled and older normals, and in all classes when comparing younger and older normals. The learning disabled also had a significantly higher incidence of nonametropic anomalies than did the normal group. Implications relating refractive error and near environment were discussed.

Child

Eye classification, sex, and math anxiety in learning disabled children: behavioral observations on conservation of volume.

Benbow and Benbow suggest that myopia and maleness are advantages in mathematical giftedness; however, the influence of these biological correlates on learning disabilities is not yet as clearly defined. 29 learning disabled children (aged 7-13 yr; eye class diagnosed) performed two Piagetian tasks on conservation of volume, one using numbered blocks to rebuild an original house whose "rooms" were cued by an illogically ordered system, and one using plain blocks to recreate an unnumbered house. A modification of the Preschool Observation Scale of Anxiety was used to observe frequencies of overt physiological behavioral indicators of anxiousness during task performances. No significance was noted by eye class; however, a significant interaction of sex by task did occur. Means differed by sex significantly on the numbered tasks. Implications are discussed in terms of certainty times versus correctness and facilitative versus debilitative anxiety.

Adolescent

Body image stereotypes: a developmental comparison.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that temperament judgments associated with different body types were dependent upon sex and age of the respondents. A total of 500 participants, 249 females and 251 males ranging from 6 to 60 years of age, were sampled. Participants were drawn from various civic, educational, institutional, and residential groups in a Southern cosmopolitan city. A paper-pencil instrument consisted of three body silhouettes (representing an ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph) and 40 temperament/behavior descriptors. The respondents matched each descriptor with one of the three body types. The results indicated that the descriptors were differentially associated with body types according to age groups but not by sex. The mesomorph was overwhelmingly and consistently viewed as the most positive of the three body types, but was rated somewhat more negatively as the age of the group increased. Participants of ages 6 through 25 rated the endomorph more negatively than the ectomorph, while those of ages 26-40 rates them equally. In contrast, participants over 40 years of age viewed the ectomorph more negatively than the endomorph.

Adolescent