The dominant paradigm of experiments in the social and behavioral sciences views an experiment as a test of a theory, where the theory is assumed to generalize beyond the experiment's specific conditions. According to this view, which Alan Newell once characterized as “playing twenty questions with nature,” theory is advanced one experiment at a time, and the integration of disparate findings is assumed to happen via the scientific publishing process. In this article, we argue that the process of integration is at best inefficient, and at worst it does not, in fact, occur. We further show that the challenge of integration cannot be adequately addressed by recently proposed reforms that focus on the reliability and replicability of individual findings, nor simply by conducting more or larger experiments. Rather, the problem arises from the imprecise nature of social and behavioral theories and, consequently, a lack of commensurability across experiments conducted under different conditions. Therefore, researchers must fundamentally rethink how they design experiments and how the experiments relate to theory. We specifically describe an alternative framework, integrative experiment design, which intrinsically promotes commensurability and continuous integration of knowledge. In this paradigm, researchers explicitly map the design space of possible experiments associated with a given research question, embracing many potentially relevant theories rather than focusing on just one. Researchers then iteratively generate theories and test them with experiments explicitly sampled from the design space, allowing results to be integrated across experiments. Given recent methodological and technological developments, we conclude that this approach is feasible and would generate more-reliable, more-cumulative empirical and theoretical knowledge than the current paradigm – and with far greater efficiency.

Parental reflective functioning (PRF) is the ability of parents to understand their child’s behavior in light of underlying mental processes; it is a core element in the parent–child relationship. RF is also considered crucial for self-regulation for both parents and their children. We investigated the relationship between improvement in PRF after DUET group intervention (a RF-based intervention) and improvement in the parent–child interaction, child RF, and child adjustment, and we examined whether these improvements were distinct for children with different temperamental traits (e.g., effortful control). Eighty-four parents completed the DUET program and were assessed before and after the intervention. PRF was measured using observation (mind-mindedness) and a questionnaire. Statistical analysis included hierarchical regression and moderation of regression analysis. Results showed that improvement in the parent–child interaction, child RF, and child behavioral problems were related to improvement in PRF. Furthermore, we found that child temperament acted as a moderator in the link between PRF and child RF, supporting a vantage sensitivity model, meaning that it was the more sensitive children who benefitted the most as a result of the positive change in their parents’ RF. Clinical and future directions of this study are discussed.

This article sets out some of the analytical moves that are necessary to developing a distinctive area of research called postcolonial memory studies. A key barrier to synthesising insights from postcolonial and memory studies has been a reductive approach to analogue and digital technologies which operate as vehicles for memory. Three analytical moves are needed to decentre, or at the very least de-naturalise the technological narratives and ecologies of Europe and the US. Media memory studies needs to draw more effectively on postcolonial studies to position mediated memory as inextricably connected to the legacies of colonialism and empire; develop a much broader account of media infrastructures emerging from what is increasingly characterised as ‘global media studies’; make an empirical and analytical shift away from the primacy of digital communications technologies and to explore technologies, not just as artefacts but as knowledge generating cultural practices. The combined value of these three shifts in approaches to media and communications technologies in memory studies research has considerable potential for developing postcolonial media memory studies research which offers a thorough and empirically grounded analysis of the complex ways in which the legacies of colonialism shape and structure the ways in which practices and performances of remembering are mediated in contemporary social life. This shift towards postcolonial memory studies can be seen as part of the wider project of what Anna (Amza) Reading has in this volume called ‘rewilding memory’ by rethinking ‘the underlying ecologies of knowledge within studies of memory’.

Early caregiving adversity (ECA) is associated with elevated psychological symptomatology. While neurobehavioral ECA research has focused on socioemotional and cognitive development, ECA may also increase risk for “low-level” sensory processing challenges. However, no prior work has compared how diverse ECA exposures differentially relate to sensory processing, or, critically, how this might influence psychological outcomes. We examined sensory processing challenges in 183 8-17-year-old youth with and without histories of institutional (orphanage) or foster caregiving, with a particular focus on sensory over-responsivity (SOR), a pattern of intensified responses to sensory stimuli that may negatively impact mental health. We further tested whether sensory processing challenges are linked to elevated internalizing and externalizing symptoms common in ECA-exposed youth. Relative to nonadopted comparison youth, both groups of ECA-exposed youth had elevated sensory processing challenges, including SOR, and also had heightened internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Additionally, we found significant indirect effects of ECA on internalizing and externalizing symptoms through both general sensory processing challenges and SOR, covarying for age and sex assigned at birth. These findings suggest multiple forms of ECA confer risk for sensory processing challenges that may contribute to mental health outcomes, and motivate continuing examination of these symptoms, with possible long-term implications for screening and treatment following ECA.

This longitudinal randomized controlled trial examined the impact of a doula home visiting intervention for young, low-income mothers on parenting and toddler social-emotional development and tested whether intervention effects were moderated by maternal emotional and behavioral health characteristics. 156 mothers were offered home visits from a home visitor starting in mid-pregnancy through several years postpartum, with a community doula also working with the mother during pregnancy and after the birth. 156 received case management. Interviews, video recordings of mother-child interactions, and toddler assessments were conducted at 3 weeks, 3 months, 13 months, and 30 months of age. Intent-to-treat analyses conducted with the full sample showed some intervention effects. Moderation analyses, however, showed that most effects were concentrated among mothers engaged in high levels of risk-taking (delinquent behaviors, school suspensions, smoking, alcohol use, sexual risk-taking). Among higher risk-taking mothers, the intervention was related to less intrusiveness during early infancy, less psychological and physical aggression during toddlerhood, more sensitive parenting attitudes, and greater toddler social relatedness. Maternal depressive symptoms were only a moderator for toddler behavior problems. These findings suggest that doula home visiting may be a particularly effective model for enhancing sensitive, non-aggressive parenting among young mothers with a history of risk-taking behavior.