The perception of faces and of nonface objects share common early visual processing stages. Some argue, however, that the brain eventually processes faces separately from other objects, within a domain-specific module dedicated to face perception. This apparent specialization for faces could, alternatively, result from people's expertise with this category of stimuli. Here we used behavioral and electrophysiological measures of interference to address the functional independence of face and object processing. If the expert processing of faces and cars depend on common mechanisms related to holistic perception (obligatory processing of all parts), then for human subjects who are presumed to be face experts, car perception should interfere with concurrent face perception. Furthermore, such interference should increase with greater expertise in car identification, and indeed this is what we found. Event-related potentials (ERPs) suggest that this interference arose from perceptual processes contributing to the holistic processing of both objects of expertise and faces.

Electrophysiological studies using event-related potentials have demonstrated that face stimuli elicit a greater negative brain potential in right posterior recording sites 170 msec after stimulus onset (N170) relative to nonface stimuli. Results from repetition priming paradigms have shown that repeated exposures of familiar faces elicit a larger negative brainwave (N250r) at inferior temporal sites compared to repetitions of unfamiliar faces. However, less is known about the time course and learning conditions under which the N250 face representation is acquired. In the familiarization phase of the Joe/no Joe task, subjects studied a target “Joe” face (“Jane” for female subjects) and, during the course of the experiment, identified a series of sequentially presented faces as either Joe or not Joe. The critical stimulus conditions included the subject's own face, a same-sex Joe ( Jane) face and a same-sex “other” face. The main finding was that the subject's own face produced a focal negative deflection (N250) in posterior channels relative to nontarget faces. The task-relevant Joe target face was not differentiated from other nontarget faces in the first half of the experiment. However, in the second half, the Joe face produced an N250 response that was similar in magnitude to the own face. These findings suggest that the N250 indexes two types of face memories: a preexperimentally familiar face representation (i.e., the “own face” and a newly acquired face representation (i.e., the Joe/Jane face) that was formed during the course of the experiment.

BackgroundEarly childhood interventions can have both immediate and long-term positive effects on cognitive, behavioural, health and education outcomes. Fathers are underrepresented in interventions focusing on the well-being of children. However, father participation may be critical for intervention effectiveness, especially for parenting interventions for child externalising problems. To date, there has been very little research conducted to understand the low rates of father participation and to facilitate the development of interventions to meet the needs of fathers. This study examined fathers’ experiences of, and preferences for, parenting interventions as well as perceptions of barriers to participation. It also examined how these factors were associated with child externalising behaviour problems, and explored the predictors of participation in parenting interventions.MethodsA community sample of 1001 fathers of children aged 2–16 years completed an online survey about experiences with parenting interventions, perceived barriers to participation, the importance of different factors in their decision to attend, and preferred content and delivery methods. They also completed ratings of their child’s behaviour using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.ResultsOverall, 15% of fathers had participated in a parenting intervention or treatment for child behaviour, with significantly higher rates of participation for fathers of children with high versus low levels of externalising problems. Fathers rated understanding what is involved in the program and knowing that the facilitator is trained as the two most important factors in their decision to participate. There were several barriers to participation that fathers of children with high-level externalising problems were more likely to endorse, across practical barriers and help-seeking attitudes, compared to fathers of children with low-level externalising problems. Almost two-thirds of fathers of children with high-level externalising behaviour had not participated in a parenting intervention or treatment. The only significant predictors of intervention participation were severity of child externalising behaviour problems and child age.ConclusionsThe findings have important implications for services seeking to increase father engagement and highlight a number of strategies to enhance the promotion and delivery of parenting interventions to fathers. These strategies include more public health messaging about parenting programs and the importance of father participation.

& The degree of commonality between the perceptual mechwhen the car and face stimuli were separated by a 200-msec anisms involved in processing faces and objects of expertise is blank interval. With and without this delay, there was a strong intensely debated. To clarify this issue, we recorded occipitocorrelation between the face-evoked N170 amplitude decrease temporal event-related potentials in response to faces when conand the subject's level of car expertise as measured in an indecurrently processing visual objects of expertise. In car experts pendent behavioral task. Together, these results show that neural fixating pictures of cars, we observed a large decrease of an representations of faces and nonface objects in a domain of evoked potential elicited by face stimuli between 130 and expertise compete for visual processes in the occipito-temporal 200 msec, the N170. This sensory suppression was much lower cortex as early as 130-200 msec

Evidence-based parenting interventions have been developed and evaluated largely with mothers. This study examined practitioner reports of rates of father attendance, barriers to engagement, organizational support for father-inclusive practice, participation in training in father engagement, and competencies in working with fathers. It also explored predictors of practitioner competence and rates of father attendance. Practitioners (N = 210) who delivered parenting interventions completed an online survey. Participants reported high levels of confidence in engaging fathers, but only one in three had participated in training and levels of father attendance in parenting interventions were low. Logistic regressions showed that high levels of practitioner competence were predicted by participation in training. Moderate levels of father attendance (vs. low levels) were predicted by greater number of years of experience while high levels of attendance (vs. low levels) were predicted by greater experience, higher levels of competence and higher levels of organizational support. The implications of the findings to informing policy and practice for enhancing father engagement are discussed.

Levels of father participation in parenting interventions are often very low, yet little is known about the factors which influence father engagement. We aimed to qualitatively explore perceived barriers to, and preferences for, parenting interventions in a community sample of fathers. Forty‐one fathers across nine focus groups were interviewed using a semi‐structured interview. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Key barriers to father participation identified included: the perception that interventions are mother‐focused; beliefs about gender roles regarding parenting and help‐seeking; mothers’ role as ‘gatekeeper’; lack of knowledge and awareness of parenting interventions; and lack of relevance of interventions. Fathers reported preferences for specific content and intervention features, facilitator characteristics, practical factors, and highlighted the need for father‐targeted recruitment and advertising. Many of the barriers and preferences identified are consistent with previous research; however, fathers’ beliefs and attitudes around gender roles and help‐seeking, as well as the perception that interventions are predominantly mother‐focused, may be key barriers for community fathers. Strategies to overcome these barriers and better meet the needs of fathers in promoting and delivering parenting interventions are discussed.

Objective: Given the increasing research and practice interest in father engagement, this article aimed to develop a clinical narrative integrating the extant research literature to distil key practice recommendations for enhancing father engagement in parenting interventions for child wellbeing. Method: A narrative review of research on father engagement in interventions for child wellbeing was conducted, to identify and distil evidence-based policies and practices to enhance father engagement for practitioners and organisations. Results: Six broad policy and practice recommendations are provided that pertain to: engaging the parenting team, avoiding a father deficit model, increasing father awareness of parenting interventions, ensuring father-inclusive program content and delivery, increasing organisational support for father-inclusive practice, and increasing professional father engagement training. Conclusion: This review provides practitioners with guidelines for enhancing father engagement based on the available research. It also provides recommendations for further research regarding the effectiveness of strategies to enhance father engagement.

Objective: To quantitatively aggregate effects of cognitive training (CT) on cognitive and functional outcome measures in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) more than 12-months post-injury.Design: We systematically searched six databases for non-randomized and randomized controlled trials of CT in TBI patients at least 12-months post-injury reporting cognitive and/or functional outcomes.Main Measures: Efficacy was measured as standardized mean difference (Hedges’ g) of post-training change. We investigated heterogeneity across studies using subgroup analyses and meta-regressions.Results: Fourteen studies encompassing 575 patients were included. The effect of CT on overall cognition was small and statistically significant (g = 0.22, 95%CI 0.05 to 0.38; p = 0.01), with low heterogeneity (I2 = 11.71%) and no evidence of publication bias. A moderate effect size was found for overall functional outcomes (g = 0.32, 95%CI 0.08 to 0.57, p = 0.01) with low heterogeneity (I2 = 14.27%) and possible publication bias. Statistically significant effects were also found only for executive function (g = 0.20, 95%CI 0.02 to 0.39, p = 0.03) and verbal memory (g = 0.32, 95%CI 0.14 to 0.50, p < 0.01).Conclusion: Despite limited studies in this field, this meta-analysis indicates that CT is modestly effective in improving cognitive and functional outcomes in patients with post-acute TBI and should therefore play a more significant role in TBI rehabilitation.