Background. While various screening systems are used worldwide for early detection of developmental delay (DD), Russia still does not have such a screening system in place, even though a good prognosis for the cognitive development of a child with DD depend strongly on the time of the diag nosis. Objective. The objective of this study was to create a system to rapidly monitor the mental development of four-to five-year-old Russian children, a system that allows for the use of modern information technologies to obtain reliable results. Design. This study was carried out with a sample of 1,232 children. For data collection, the multifactor study of mental development tool was used as a part of a software complex for longitudinal research. This tool included a much more extensive set of tasks than in traditional tests of abilities, allowing for a wider variation of the factor structure. For the 4-year-olds, 236 tasks were used and 349 for the 5-year-olds. Factor and discriminant analysis were carried out to construct scales for each age group (6-7 points in each), which most accurately predict the diagnosis (Norm/DD). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to verify the prediction model. Results. Two scales were elaborated, which coincided with the type of variables combined in each of them regardless of age (for 4-years-simpler and for 5-years-more complex): logical reasoning, motor skills, and general awareness (listed in descending order of contribution to the prediction). SEM confirmed that the selected scales are indicators of the general ability factor, which is the main predictor of the diagnosis. Conclusions. Two short scales for the rapid diagnosis of DD in preschool children were constructed, allowing the use of computer technology to timely identify the risk group among 4-and 5-year-olds with high sensitivity and specificity of the forecast (not lower than 95%).

Introduction. The present article is aiming to describe the procedure of stimuli selection for the psycho-semantic experiment on visual perception of imitative words in native (Russian) and non-native language (English). The methodology of the experiment is predominantly based on the implementation of the “lexical decision” method. Thus, the aim of the article is to verify the procedure of and to define clear-cut criteria for the material selection. In particular, we introduce indicating de-iconization stage of imitative words as an important criterion for data pre-selection. De-iconization is a gradual loss of an iconic sound-sense link in an imitative word due to the parallel impact of regular sound changes and semantic shifts.Methodology and sources. The  research  methodology  is  based  on  the  works  ofS. V. Voronin who is the founder of phonosemantics as a linguistic discipline inRussia, as well as on works of his followers (including a co-author of this paper, M. A. Flaksman). The article is also based on the methodology of research on phonotactics. The authors also use psycho-semantic methods such as the method of lexical decision. The main sources of stimuli selection are The Russia Etymological Dictionary by M. Vasmer, The Oxford English Dictionary, the frequency dictionaries by O. N. Liashevskaya and S. A. Sharov. The classification of imitative words according to their de-iconization stages was done by the method of the diachronic evaluation of the imitative lexicon.Results and discussion. As a result of a rigorous selection procedure described in the article the authors arrived on 128 stimuli (an even number (64 + 64) of words and quasiwords). The quasi-words are coined according to phonotactic rules and made according to the same pattern as the corresponding words. The group of real words is constituted of two sub-groups: 32 imitative words and 32 non-imitative words. The words from these two subgroups are homomorphous – they have the same number of syllables, frequency and belong to the same parts of speech. Imitative words include onomatopoeic and soundsymbolic words of different sub-classes and de-iconization stages. The combination of the material selection methods discussed in this paper (especially, the introduction of the distinction of imitative words according to their de-iconization stage) is aiming at facilitating the experiment procedure as well as eliminating the chance factors.Conclusion. The stimuli selection for the psycholinguistic experiment based on the procedure introduced in this paper allows to establish the existing patterns of the systematic function of human brain in the process of visual perception of imitative words on different de-iconization stages.

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Iconic words constitute an integral part of the lexicon of a language, exhibiting form-meaning resemblance. Over the course of time, semantic and phonetic transformations “weaken” the degree of iconicity of a word. This iconicity loss is known as the process of de-iconization, which is divided into four stages, and, at each consecutive stage, the degree of a word’s iconicity is reduced. The current experimental study is the first to compare and contrast how English (N = 50) and Russian (N = 106) subjects recognize visually presented native iconic words (N = 32). Our aim is two-fold: first, to identify native speakers’ ability to perceive the fine-grained division of iconicity; and second, to control for the influence of participants’ native languages. This enables us to provide a more exhaustive analysis of the role of iconicity in word recognition and to combine empirical results with a theoretical perspective. The findings showed that the speakers of these languages are not equally sensitive to iconicity. As opposed to the English-speaking participants, who showed almost similar performance on each group of iconic words, the Russian participants tended to respond slower and less accurately to the words that were higher in iconicity. We discuss the major factors that may affect iconic word recognition in each language.

This article focuses on the effect of urbanization on violent crime – particularly homicide in Costa Rica. Although violence is a major problem throughout Latin America, few empirical studies carried out in the area use high-quality socioeconomic and crime databases with a high level of geographical disaggregation. In this article, we employ data from all 473 districts of Costa Rica between 2010 and 2013. We develop a model which takes into account endogeneity problems and uses contrasts of marginal linear predictions. We conclude that the degree of urban concentration plays a key role in explaining homicide rates, other things being equal. This effect is progressive: the greater the urban concentration, the greater the increase in homicide rates. This causal relationship is not observed in offenses other than homicide.

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Scientific achievements of the third millennium РАЗДЕЛ V. ПСИХОЛОГИЯ Наследов А.Д., Мирошников С.А., Ткачева Л.О. Маркеры задержки психического развития детей дошкольного возрастаСанкт-Петербургский государственный университет (Россия, Санкт-Петербург)