Interdisciplinary
Differences in Multimodal Cue Use Across Language Modalities During Joint Attention Establishment
Carmela Carbone
Joint attention (JA), the shared focus of two individuals on the same object, is foundational for early language development2,3. Previous research suggests that parents of children who are D/deaf/hard-of-hearing (CDHH) often adapt their communication strategies by incorporating visual, tactile, auditory, language, and multimodal cues to establish joint attention1. However, less is known about how these cues function alongside the language modality used within the family. This study examines differences in multimodal cue use preceding a JA event across families using spoken and visual-based (sign-support and ASL) systems. Parent-child dyads included children aged 2-3 years old with bilateral hearing loss who used hearing technology. Participants completed a 10-minute free-play session with 10 toys, and dyadic eye-tracking data, as well as video footage from cameras around the room, were collected and analyzed. Trained coders identified JA episodes, and auditory, visual, tactile, and language-based cue usage were identified to analyze multimodal language patterns. Families were grouped according to their reported language modalities, and cue use was compared across groups. By identifying whether language modality impacts parental cue use before successful JA, this study aims to improve our understanding of multimodal learning for children with hearing loss. These findings may inform future research regarding whether multimodal cue use affects language learning and contributes to identifying methods for better attention-directing behaviors in and out of the classroom. Ultimately, this work represents one step toward identifying strategies that support more accessible and inclusive learning environments for CDHH.
The Effects of Pornography on Romantic Relationships
Jade Green
This study examined the relationship between pornography use, attitudes toward pornography, and romantic relationship outcomes among adults in the United States. The hypotheses are as follows: pornography use is negatively associated with relationship satisfaction, positive attitudes toward pornography are negatively associated with relationship satisfaction, men will report more positive attitudes toward pornography than women, and higher pornography use is associated with being single. Using a convenience sample of 165 adults from central Arkansas, participants completed measures assessing pornography use/ acceptance and relationship satisfaction. Statistical analyses included a correlation matrix, an independent-samples t-test, and a chi-square analysis. Results showed that pornography use was not significantly associated with relationship satisfaction, and positive attitudes toward pornography were not significantly related to relationship satisfaction. Likewise, pornography use was not significantly associated with relationship status. However, men reported significantly more positive attitudes toward pornography use than women (H:3). These findings suggest that, within this sample, attitudes toward pornography differed by sex, while pornography use and acceptance were not significant predictors of relationship satisfaction or relationship status. Future research should examine more diverse samples and consider additional factors: relationship communication, religiosity, and problematic pornography use. The author gratefully acknowledges the Harding University McNair Program, Harding University, and Dr. Benjamin Hall for their guidance, mentorship, and support throughout this research project.
Language Proficiency and Memory Strategy Use in Spanish English Bilinguals
Leticia Lopez
California State University, Sacramento
This study examined whether Spanish English bilingual adults use different memory strategies across languages and whether language proficiency was associated with those differences. Previous bilingualism research has focused on whether speaking two languages improves executive function, but findings have been inconsistent. It was hypothesized that lower proficiency would be associated with greater reliance on rehearsal, while higher proficiency would be associated with greater use of elaborative encoding strategies. Forty-one bilingual participants completed English and Spanish word-recall tasks, following structured questionnaires assessing rehearsal, grouping, and meaning-based strategies. Additionally, Participants reported language background information, including self-reported proficiency, age of language acquisition, and current exposure to both. Recall performance did not differ significantly between English and Spanish. Participants recalled an average of 6.44 words in English and 6.83 in Spanish. Rehearsal was the most frequently reported method, used by 66% of participants in English and 73% in Spanish. Elaborative strategies were reported by 22% in English and 17% in Spanish. Additional exploratory analyses showed Spanish proficiency had only weak or insignificant associations with rehearsal and meaning-based groups. Therefore, findings did not support the hypothesis on proficiency predicting memory strategy selection. The brief study period may instead encourage repetition-based strategies across proficiency levels. Findings suggest bilinguals may process information differently across languages while achieving similar recall effects. Future studies should include larger, more diverse samples, as a small sample may have reduced ability to detect meaningful differences in strategy use. Researchers should also use objective measures of language ability, additional memory tasks, and lower reliance on self-report.