In two experiments, we examined whether 14-month-olds understand the subjective nature of gaze. In the first experiment, infants first observed an experimenter express happiness as she looked inside a container that either contained a toy (reliable looker condition) or was empty (unreliable looker condition). Then, infants had to follow the same experimenter's gaze to a target object located either behind or in front of a barrier. Infants in the reliable looker condition followed the experimenter's gaze behind the barrier more often than infants in the unreliable looker condition, whereas both groups followed the experimenter's gaze to the target object located in front of the barrier equally often. In the second experiment, infants did not generalize their knowledge about the unreliability of a looker to a second 'naïve' looker. These findings suggest that 14-month-old infants adapt their gaze following as a function of their past experience with the looker.

We investigated whether 16-month-old infants' past experience with a person's gaze reliability influences their expectation about the person's ability to form beliefs. Infants were first administered a search task in which they observed an experimenter show excitement while looking inside a box that either contained a toy (reliable looker condition) or was empty (unreliable looker condition). The infants were then administered a true belief task in which they watched as the same experimenter hid a toy in 1 of 2 locations. In the test trial, the infants witnessed the experimenter search for the toy in a location that was consistent or inconsistent with her belief about the toy's location. Results for the true belief task indicated that only the infants in the reliable looker condition looked longer at the incongruent than at the congruent search behavior. These findings are consistent with evidence suggesting that infants encode the identity of agents based on past reliability and implicitly attribute beliefs to others during the 2nd year of life.

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Two experiments were conducted to examine possible sources of age-related decline in sequential performance: age differences in sequence representation, retrieval of sequence elements, and efficiency of inhibitory processes. Healthy young and older participants learned a sequence of eight animal drawings in fixed order, then monitored for these targets within trials of mis-ordered stimuli, responding only when targets were shown in the correct order. Responses were slower for odd numbered targets, suggesting that participants spontaneously organized the sequence in two-element chunks. Perseverations (responses to previously relevant targets) served as an index of inhibitory inefficiency. Efficiency of chunk retrieval and self-inhibition were lower for older than for younger adults. Increasing environmental support in Experiment 2 through overt articulation of current chunk elements showed a pattern of results similar to Experiment 1, with particular benefit for older adults. The findings suggest an underlying susceptibility to interference in old age.

ObjectiveTo develop and encourage the adoption of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for smoking cessation in Canada by engaging stakeholders in the adaptation of existing high-quality CPGs using principles of the ADAPTE framework.MethodsAn independent expert body in guideline review conducted a review and identified six existing CPGs, which met a priori criteria for quality and potential applicability to the local context. Summary statements were extracted and assigned a grade of recommendation and level of evidence by a second expert panel. Regional knowledge exchange brokers recruited additional stakeholders to build a multidisciplinary network of over 800 clinicians, researchers and decision-makers from across Canada. This interprofessional network and other stakeholders were offered various opportunities to provide input on the guideline both online and in person. We actively encouraged end-user input into the development and adaptation of the guidelines to ensure applicability to various practice settings and to promote adoption.ResultsThe final guideline contained 24 summary statements along with supporting clinical considerations, across six topic area sections. The guideline was adopted by various provincial/territorial and national government and non-governmental organisations.ConclusionsThis method can be applied in other jurisdictions to adapt existing high-quality smoking cessation CPGs to the local context and to facilitate subsequent adoption by various stakeholders.