John M. Elliott

A CLASSIFICATION OF MANIPULATIVE HAND MOVEMENTS

The nature of manual manipulation of objects is discussed. It is argued that a functional distinction should be made between palmar grips which immobilise an object in the hand, and digital patterns which permit manipulation. Such a distinction is separate from any anatomically defined power and precision configurations. Manipulative hand movements may be grouped into three classes, based on differences between sequenced patterns of movement and synergies, the latter being further subdivided into simple and reciprocal patterns. Within each of the three classes, a number of individual movement patterns are described. These differ mainly in the number of digits involved and the way in which the thumb is employed. The classification is concerned with movements of the digits directed at manipulating an object within the hand. It is not concerned with movements of the hand as a whole, using the wrist or more proximal joints, while holding an immobilised object.

DEVELOPMENT OF KINAESTHETIC SENSITIVITY AND MOTOR PERFORMANCE IN CHILDREN

Kinaesthetic acuity of 100 children, aged from four to 13 years, was assessed and a developmental trend is described. The relationship between kinaesthetic acuity and motor performance on a range of motor tests commonly used for assessing children was also examined, and contrary to expectation no evidence of a relationship was discovered. There is little reported evidence for this relationship in the literature, and some possible reasons for this are discussed. A staircase procedure for threshold estimation was used and is described in detail.

Measurement of Kinaesthetic Sensitivity

Two recent papers (Laszlo and Bairstow 1980, Bairstow and Laszlo 1981) have used the method of constant stimuli to measure kinaesthetic difference thresholds. If this method is used, however, certain constraints must be observed: these concern the values of the stimuli relative to the threshold, and the numbers of observations made at each value. Laszlo and Bairstow appear to have neglected these constraints, which must cast doubt on their results. In any case, the method of constant stimuli has largely been superseded by staircase techniques for threshold estimation, on grounds of economy of trials for a given level of accuracy in estimation. It is concluded, therefore, that the details of the method as described by Laszlo and Bairstow are unsuitable for testing kinaesthetic sensitivity, and that other methods are preferable.

Attitudes of the Singapore public to actions suggesting child abuse

OBJECTIVE The aim was to ascertain the views of the Singapore public on the acceptability of actions of an abusive nature. METHOD In-depth interviews were carried out with 401 randomly sampled respondents in relation to a range of actions. Questions were asked concerning the acceptability of 18 actions, whether circumstances might justify eight of them, how respondents felt about reporting child abuse and whether they could recall any case they had come across. RESULTS Respondents strongly disapproved of sexually motivated acts, and were more disapproving of physical abuse or neglect than of emotional abuse or neglect. Circumstances did affect how the less extreme actions were viewed. Respondents supported reporting child abuse, but were somewhat against mandatory reporting. They were able to recall details of a number of possible cases. CONCLUSION We argue that definitions of child abuse should be general and not tied to specific actions, since the effects of actions may vary across cultures, and should be treated as an empirical matter. This allows a research agenda that focuses on the consequences of actions rather than issues of definition.

A cross-cultural cross validation of the dental fear survey in South East Asia

This study was designed as a cross-cultural replication and cross validation of the Dental Fear Survey (DFS) in two groups of Singapore adults: university students and military conscripts. Factor analysis of the DFS in each of these dissimilar samples revealed factor structures that were highly comparable to one another as well as to those obtained in the U.S.A. Behavioral and physiological fear assessment during exposure to simulated dental treatment also showed results comparable to those found in Western cultures. Self report measures were more likely to correlate with other self reports than with physiologic or behavioral measures. Among university students, those who had visited a dentist within the past year had significantly lower DFS scores than those who had avoided dentistry. The fear-avoidance relationship did not hold for military subjects who reported less dental fear overall. It was concluded that the DFS was factorially stable; and therefore, generalizable to this South East Asia culture.

FORWARD DIGIT SPAN AND ARTICULATION SPEED FOR MALAY, ENGLISH, AND TWO CHINESE DIALECTS "'

157 children aged 10 years and 154 university students aged 22 to 25 years were divided into four groups based on their principal home language (Malay, English, Mandarin, or Hokkien). Each subject was tested on forward digit span and articulation speed for numbers in English and in one of the other three languages. Analysis suggested that both speed of articulation and fluency in language affected the digit span value.

The effect of visual frame of reference on a judgement of plane stimulus orientation by children.

Three studies are reported with children aged to years and also with educationally subnormal children, in which it was found that up to about 7 years childrens selection of one of a pair of line stimuli as ‘falling over’ is affected by the nature of the visual surround contours provided. Both the form of the stimulus surround and the presence or absence of a baseline tilted 45° relative to the horizontal were found to affect the childrens judgements. The plane (horizontal or vertical) in which the stimuli were presented had no effect on the results. It is argued that while the results show the influence of the visual surround on childrens comprehension of ‘falling over’, this may not be wholly explicable in terms of surround contour matching, as conventionally correct judgements were obtained in the absence of all straight line contours in the immediate surround.

Is Language Important in Mental Arithmetic

ABSTRACT The language in which a person first learns counting and simple mathematics often seems to be their subsequent language of choice for mental arithmetic. A summary report is offered of an enquiry into the possible role of covert translation in mental arithmetic, based on an experimental study of 128 Primary 4 children. It is argued that performance is potentially imparied by the use of covert translation or other forms of covert linguistic switching. Digit spans and articulatory speeds in English, Malay, Mandarin and Hokkien are also reported, and shown to correlate with speed of mental arithmetic. It is concluded that familiarity and speed of articulation of a language may both affect mental arithmetic. Mean digit span differences between languages appear to reflect articulatory properties of the respective languages, and this limits their potential value for assessing intelligence.