The Role of Animacy and Structural Information in Relative Clause Attachment: Evidence From Chinese.

We report one production and one comprehension experiment investigating the effect of animacy in relative clause attachment in Chinese. Experiment 1 involved a fill-in-the-blank task that manipulated the order of an animate noun phrase in a complex NP construction. The results showed that while low attachment responses exceeded high attachment responses overall (cf. Shen, 2006), a tendency exists to attach a relative clause to an animate NP in Chinese (cf. Desmet et al., 2002). Experiment 2 used a rating task to examine the interplay between animacy and structural information by manipulating the order of the animate NP as well as the relative clause type (i.e., subject vs. object relative clauses). The results showed that the animate NP modification tendency found in Experiment 1 was limited to subject-relative clauses and that no animacy-related effect was found with object-relative clauses. These results are incompatible with purely structural parsing strategies such as Late Closure (Frazier, 1987) and the Predicate Proximity Principle (Gibson et al., 1996). Instead, the current results suggest that attachment ambiguity resolution in Chinese relative clauses is sensitive to animacy as well as structural information.

A systematic review and secondary data analysis of the interactions between the serotonin transporter 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and environmental and psychological factors in eating disorders.

OBJECTIVES: To summarize and synthesize the growing gene x environment (GxE) research investigating the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) in the eating disorders (ED) field, and overcome the common limitation of low sample size, by undertaking a systematic review followed by a secondary data meta-analysis of studies identified by the review. METHOD: A systematic review of articles using PsycINFO, PubMed, and EMBASE was undertaken to identify studies investigating the interaction between 5-HTTLPR and an environmental or psychological factor, with an ED-related outcome variable. Seven studies were identified by the systematic review, with complete data sets of five community (n = 1750, 64.5% female) and two clinical (n = 426, 100% female) samples combined to perform four secondary-data analyses: 5-HTTLPR x Traumatic Life Events to predict ED status (n = 909), 5-HTTLPR x Sexual and Physical Abuse to predict bulimic symptoms (n = 1097), 5-HTTLPR x Depression to predict bulimic symptoms (n = 1256), and 5-HTTLPR x Impulsiveness to predict disordered eating (n = 1149). RESULTS: Under a multiplicative model, the low function (s) allele of 5-HTTLPR interacted with traumatic life events and experiencing both sexual and physical abuse (but not only one) to predict increased likelihood of an ED and bulimic symptoms, respectively. However, under an additive model there was also an interaction between sexual and physical abuse considered independently and 5-HTTLPR, and no interaction with traumatic life events. No other GxE interactions were significant. CONCLUSION: Early promising results should be followed-up with continued cross-institutional collaboration in order to achieve the large sample sizes necessary for genetic research.

A systematic review and meta-analysis on the longitudinal relationship between eating pathology and depression.

OBJECTIVE: Undertake a meta-analysis to provide a quantitative synthesis of longitudinal studies that assessed the direction of effects between eating pathology and depression. A second aim was to use meta-regression to account for heterogeneity in terms of study-level effect modifiers. METHOD: A systematic review was conducted on 42 studies that assessed the longitudinal relationship between eating pathology and depression. Of these 42 studies, multilevel random-effects meta-analyses were conducted on 30 eligible studies. RESULTS: Meta-analysis results showed that eating pathology was a risk factor for depression (rm = 0.13) and that depression was a risk factor for eating pathology (rm = 0.16). Meta-regression analyses showed that these effects were significantly stronger for studies that operationalized eating pathology as an eating disorder diagnosis versus eating pathology symptoms, and for studies that operationalized the respective outcome measure as a categorical variable (e.g., a diagnosis of a disorder or where symptoms were "present"/"absent") versus a continuous measure. Results also showed that in relation to eating pathology type, the effect of an eating disorder diagnosis and bulimic symptoms on depression was significantly stronger for younger participants. DISCUSSION: Eating pathology and depression are concurrent risk factors for each other, suggesting that future research would benefit from identifying factors that are etiological to the development of both constructs. RESUMEN OBJETIVO: Llevar a cabo un meta-análisis para proporcionar una síntesis cuantitativa de los estudios longitudinales que evaluaron la dirección de los efectos entre la alimentación patológica y la depresión. Un segundo objetivo fue utilizar la meta-regresión para dar cuenta de la heterogeneidad en términos de modificadores del efecto a nivel de estudio. MÉTODO: Una revisión sistemática se llevó a cabo en 42 estudios que evaluaron la relación longitudinal entre la alimentación patológica y la depresión. De estos 42 estudios, se realizaron meta-análisis de multinivel de efectos aleatorios en 30 estudios elegibles. RESULTADOS: Los resultados del meta-análisis mostraron que la alimentación patológica era un factor de riesgo para depresión (rm=0.13) y que la depresión era un factor de riesgo para la alimentación patológica (rm=0.16). Los análisis de meta-regresión mostraron que estos efectos eran significativamente más fuertes para estudios que operacionalizaban la alimentación patológica como un diagnóstico de trastorno de la conducta alimentaria versus síntomas de alimentación patológica, y para los estudios que operacionalizaban la medida respectiva de resultado como una variable categórica (e.g., un diagnóstico de trastorno o cuando los síntomas estaban "presentes"/"ausentes") versus una medida continua. Los resultados mostraron que en relación al tipo de alimentación patológica, el efecto de un diagnóstico de trastorno de la conducta alimentaria y síntomas bulímicos en la depresión era significativamente más fuerte para participantes más jóvenes. DISCUSIÓN: La alimentación patológica y la depresión son factores de riesgo concurrentes uno para el otro, lo que sugiere que la investigación futura se beneficiaría de identificar factores que son etiológicos al desarrollo de ambos constructos. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2016;49:439-454).