Creative Education
2012. Vol.3, No.4, 533-539
Published Online August 2012 in SciRes (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ce) http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ce.2012.34081
Influence of Maternal Praise on Developmental Trajectories of
Early Childhood Social Competence
Ryoji Shinohara1,2, Yuka Sugisawa1,3, Lian Tong1,3, Emiko Tanaka1,3, Taeko Watanabe1,3,
Yoko Onda1,3, Yuri Kawashima1,3, Maki Hirano1,3, Etsuko Tomisaki1,3,
Yukiko Mochizuki1,3, Kentaro Morita1,3, Gan-Yadam Amarsanaa1,3, Yuko Yato1,4,
Noriko Yamakawa1,5, Tokie Anme1,3
1Research Institute of Science and Technology for Society, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, Japan
2Center for Birth Cohort Studies, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering,
University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan
3Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaragi, Japan
4College of Letters, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan
5Clinical Research Institute, Mie-Chuo Medical Center National Hospital Organization, Mie, Japan
Received April 27th, 2012; revised May 25th, 2012; accepted June 12th, 2012
We aimed to clarify the effects of the praise of mothers on their 18-month-old offspring by tracing the
trajectory of the latters’ social competence from this time to 30 and 42 months. The participants were 226
mother-child dyads whose interaction was observed when the children were 18, 30, and 42 months old.
The features of mother-child interaction, and specifically the social proficiency of the children, were ex-
amined using the Interaction Rating Scale (IRS) as an aspect of social competence. Our findings indicate
that caregivers’ praise of 18-month-old children is very important in promoting a high-level trajectory of
child social competence from that time to 30 and 42 months. It is hoped that caregivers and health care
professionals will use these findings appropriately when providing care giving support to parents.
Keywords: Child Development; Praise; Social Competence; Caregiver-Child Interaction; Longitudinal
Study
Introduction
Many studies suggest that positive parenting behavior is as-
sociated with the development of social competence in children.
A secure parent-child attachment, which partly flows from the
sensitivity and responsiveness of the caregiver, provides chil-
dren with personal resources, such as emotional security and a
sense of autonomy. Subsequently, these resources empower
children to explore peer relationships (Ainsworth et al., 1978;
Belsky et al., 1984; Lamb et al., 1985). Children derive work-
ing models from attachment relationships to their parents, that
is, they internalize an enduring blueprint or a set of expecta-
tions concerning the operation of interpersonal relationships in
general (Bowlby, 1969; Sroufe & Fleeson, 1985). In addition,
parental warmth and engagement are associated with prosocial
behavior among young peers (Attili, 1989; Hinde & Tamplin,
1983). Mothers who are constructive and agreeable tend to have
children who exhibit similar forms of behavior in their own
interactions with others (Putallaz, 1987). Inductive disciplinary
styles, in which parents emphasize reasoning, are predictive of
children’s use of prosocial behavior (Becker, 1964; Zahn-
Waxler et al., 1979).
Within positive parent-child relationships, “praise” is the one
of the most important factors leading to the development early
social skills. Previous studies on “praise” suggest that a par-
ent’s constructive verbal feedback is related to a child’s achieve-
ment incentive in the early stage of development (Kamins &
Dweck, 1999; Kelly et al., 2000); furthermore, a high frequency
of praise is related to high self-esteem in the child (Felson &
Zielinski, 1989; Kelly et al., 2000; Stipek et al., 1992). How-
ever, these reports focus on a 14-year-old child, who had been
followed from 2 years of age. Few similar studies on toddlers
exist in the literature.
With the increase in the antisocial behavior and aggression of
school-aged children, the development of social competence in
youngsters is of high interest. Health care and welfare special-
ists must urgently develop an evaluation method for assessing
the development of social competence in children and for em-
ploying it to support childcare. However, Japan, possesses few
such methods. Therefore, we developed a Japanese version of
the Interaction Rating Scale (IRS), which can be easily and
accurately used to assess several aspects of social competence
in children. The reliability and validity of the IRS is found to be
satisfactory in another study (Anme et al., 2007; Anme et al.,
2010).
In a previous study, we examine the longitudinal relationship
between the social competence of children at 18 months of age
and the caregiver’s attitude of “praise,” with particular empha-
sis on the change in child attitudes at 4 and 9 months of age,
after controlling for confounding factors. We find that the
“praise” of caregivers influenced children’s social competence
at 18 months of age (Shinohara et al., 2009; Shinohara et al.,
2010). In an effort to trace the impact of such praise over time,
we go on to assess the children’s social competence at 30 and
42 months and indicate the changes in their attitudes from the
time when these youngsters were 4 and 9 months old. We place

R. SHINOHARA ET AL.
particular emphasis on the actual behaviors of caregivers ex-
tending praise, in a situation involving mothers and 18-month-
old children.
We use a group-based semiparametric approach (Nagin,
1990: Nagin, 2005) to analyze the trajectory social competence
development in children. This statistical technique enables us to
evaluate subgroups of participants, multiple patterns of change
in the outcome, and the shape of the change over time, etc. This
model can be estimated using The SAS Trajectory Procedure
“ProcTraj” described in Jones, Nagin, and Roeder (2001), and
Jones and Nagin (2007). Further, Arrandale, Koehoorn, Mac-
Nab, and Kennedy (2006) offer explanations of “ProcTraj”.
The present study is longitudinal in nature and examines re-
lationship between three variables: first, the trajectory of social
competence in children from 18 months to 30 and 42 months;
second, the actual behaviors of caregivers offering praise at 18
months; and finally, the change in the attitudes of children over
time, beginning at 4 and 9 months. Demographic variables with
the potential to influence this relationship are controlled for.
The actual behaviors of caregivers offering praise to 18-month-
old children are emphasized.
Methods
Participants and Overview
Data was obtained from 231 mother-child dyads enrolled in a
longitudinal study of social development conducted as part of a
project initiated by the Japan Science and Technology Agency
(JST). The children and their parents were recruited from two
Japanese cities (Mie and Osaka). Laboratory-based videotaped
observations of all dyads were made three times, once when the
children were18 months old in 2007, and the others at 30 and
42 months, in 2008 and 2009 respectively. However, the ana-
lyses are restricted to the 226 dyads for which the mothers pro-
vided demographic data and completed a questionnaire on their
attitudes towards the importance of praise when their children
were 4 months and 9 months old. All mothers gave informed
written consent before participating in the study, the protocol of
which was approved by the ethics committee of the JST.
Measures
Demographic data and attitudes regarding praise were ob-
tained from the questionnaire. Demographic variables include
the gender of the child, the presence of siblings, the family type
(nuclear or extended), and the age of the mother (see Table 1).
The item addressing the caregiver’s attitude towards the impor-
tance of praise is termed “Praising child”; it has four response
options: 1) Not at all important; 2) Of minor importance; 3)
Fairly important; and 4) Very important (see Table 2).
Table 1.
Demographic information.
Variable Category n %
Gender
Boy 0 116 51.3
Girl 1 110 48.7
0 115 50.9
1 88 38.9
2 22 9.7
Numbers of sibl ings
3 1 0.5
Family type
Nuclear 0 193 85.4
Extended 1 33 14.6
Mother’s age
20 - 29 57 25.2
30 - 39 158 69.9
40 - 49
Continuous variable
11 4.9
Table 2.
Caregiver’s attitude towards the importance of praise.
Respondent Child’s age
(months) Attitude Category n %
1. Not at all important 0 0.0
2. Of minor importance 0 0.0
3. Fairly important
0
10 4.4
4
4. Very important 1 21695.6
1. Not at all important 0 0.0
2. Of minor importance 1 0.4
3. Fairly important
0
12 5.3
Mother
9
4. Very important 1 21394.3
The IRS was used to assess social competence in children
and child-rearing competence in mothers. This measure has 10
subscales, five addressing each of the child-related and care-
giver-related factors*. Scores for all IRS subscales are derived
from laboratory-based observations of mother-child interactions.
The 36 items of the IRS are based on items of the Nursing
Child Assessment Satellite Training (NCAST) teaching scales
(Sumner & Spietz, 1994); we also refer to the Home Observa-
tion for Measurement of the Environment (HOME; Caldwell &
Bradley, 1984) and the Social Skills Rating Systems (SSRS;
Gresham & Elliot, 1990).
*The child-related subscales are 1) Autonomy: Child initiates interaction
with caregiver; 2) Responsiveness: Child is responsive to caregiver’s be-
havioral cues; 3) Empathy: Child behaves in accord with caregiver’s affec-
tive expression; 4) Motor regulation: Child’s behavior is clearly directed
toward the task and he/she is not overactive/underactive; and 5) Emotional
regulation: Child adjusts his/her emotional state to a comfortable level. The
caregiver-related subscales are 6) Respect for the development of autonomy
Partner encourages child’s autonomy; 7) Respect for the development o
f
responsiveness: Partner encourages child’s responsiveness; 8) Respect for
the development of empathy: Partner encourages the child to develop em-
pathy; 9) Respect for cognitive development: Caregiver encourages child’s
cognitive development; and 10) Respect for social-emotional development:
Caregiver encourages child’s social-emotional development.
The internal consistencies (Cronbach’s alpha = α) ofIRS
(Sugisawa et al., 2010) were as follows. The internal consis-
tency of the whole level of IRS was 0.91, and the α values in
the domains of the child and caregiver were 0.88 and 0.85,
respectively. Regarding the internal consistencies in the five
subscales related to the child, the child’s 1) Autonomy (α =
0.74); 2) Responsiveness (α = 0.61); 3) Empathy (α = 0.70); 4)
Motor regulation (α = 0.43) and (5) Emotional regulation (α =
534

R. SHINOHARA ET AL.
0.66). In the subscales related to thecaregivers; 6) Respect for
the development of autonomy (α = 0.59); 7) Respect for the
development of responsiveness (α = 0.62); 8) Respect for the
development of empathy (α = 0.43); 9) Respect for cognitive
development (α = 0.70); and (10) Respect for social-emotional
development (α = 0.45). Regarding the validity of IRS (Sugi-
sawa et al., 2010), pearson’s correlation coefficient between
IRS and NCATS total scores was 0.89 (p < 0.001), the coeffi-
cient of correlation between the child’s total IRS and total
scores NCATS was 0.70 (p < 0.001), and the coefficient of
correlation between the caregiver’s total IRS and total scores
NCATS was 0.98 (p < 0.001).
For the actual behaviors of caregivers offering praise, we use
the two following items of the subscale (7): (7)-1. Caregiver
praises child’s efforts at least once during the episode; (7)-2.
Caregiver verbally praises child during the episode.
Mother-Child Interactions
Mother-child interactions took place in a playroom (4 m × 4
m) that was furnished with a small table and a child-sized chair
and that contained toys (small dolls, mini cars, and plastic toys).
This was a relatively natural setting, conducive both to sponta-
neous interaction and to a certain degree of experimental con-
trol. The play activity was standardized in being restricted to
building blocks, an age-appropriate activity popular in Japan,
and began when the each parent was given a box containing the
blocks. Her child then took the blocks from the box, played
with them, and then put them back in the box. Mothers were
asked to play with their children as they would normally at
home (providing instructions or help). The play activity lasted
for 5 minutes. Three mother-child interactions were allowed in
each task. Children who completed the task on the first attempt
were not asked to perform additional tasks. Mother-child inter-
actions were videotaped from five different angles (cameras
were in each corner of the room and on the ceiling) and sound-
recorded.
Coding of Mother-Child Interactions
Coders had to be sensitive to the cues of both mothers and
children. In the latter, such clues were often ambiguous or con-
fusing and quite transitory. Sensitivity was achieved via one
month of training in the coding of videotaped parent-child in-
teractions. The coders, doctoral or master’s students, achieved
at least 80% inter-rater agreement during training with pilot
tapes. The reliability of the coding procedure was evaluated by
having two coders each analyze a sample of tapes from the
study (25% of the total) and was verified if the inter-rater
agreement attained 87%.
Data Treatment
Attitude Variables
Responses to the “Praising child” item were converted to a
binary variable, with the response option “Very important”
assigned a score of 1 (positive attitude) and all other response
options assigned a score of 0 (negative attitude). From these
values we construct a variable representing the transition of the
attitude towards praise across the period at which the child was
4 months and 9 months old (see Table 3). This variable (Atti-
tude variables) has four categories: 0, reflecting a negative atti-
tude at both ages (consistently negative); 1, reflecting a change
Table 3.
Caregiver’s change of attitude towards the importance of praise.
Binary variable
Respondent
4 months9 months
Attitude
variables n %
0 0 0 4 1.8
1 0 1 9 4.0
0 1 2 6 2.7
Mother
1 1 3 20791.5
in attitude from positive at 4 months to negative at 9 months
(inconsistently negative); 2, reflecting a change in attitude from
negative at 4 months to positive at 9 months (inconsistently
positive); and 3, reflecting a positive attitude at both ages (con-
sistently positive).
Behavior Dummy Variables
The two items measuring praise (Behavior variables) are
(7)-1 Caregiver praises child’s efforts at least once during the
episode (yes = 1, no = 0) and (7)-2 Caregiver verbally praises
child more than once during the episode (yes = 1 no = 0). From
these values we construct the dummy variables (Behavior
dummy variables: X1, X2, X3), representing the occurrence of
the two items (see Table 5).
Children’s Social Competence
Child-related subscale items of the IRS were assigned a score
of 1 if coded as “yes” and a score of 0 if coded as “no”; the
summed score across all five subscales constitute the child’s
total score (maximum = 25). The summed score at 18, 30, and
42 months was calculated.
Statistical Approach
The Statistical Analysis System (SAS) statistical package
(Ver. 9.1) was used for the analysis. In performing this task, we
calculated the descriptive demographic data, the attitude vari-
ables, the behavior variables, the behavior dummy variables,
and the children’s social competence at three points. The tra-
jectories of children’s social competence from 18 months to 30
and then to 42 months were estimated by using a group-based
semiparametric approach (Nagin, 1990; Nagin, 2005). This meth-
od focuses on describing the trajectory, or pattern, of change
over time in the dependent variables, and the ProcTraj estimates
a regression model for each discrete group within the popula-
tion (Arrandale, Koehoorn, MacNab, & Kennedy, 2006). The
Bayesian information criteria (BIC) were used to decide on the
optimum number of groups. In the ProcTraj procedure, the BIC
values given in the output are negative; the best-fit model is the
one with the smallest negative number (Jones, Nagin, & Roeder,
2001; Arrandale et al., 2006). After deciding on the optimum
number of groups, we estimated the relationship between the
trajectories of children’s social competence, the attitude vari-
ables, and the behavior dummy variables.
Results
The demographic details, the attitude variables, the behavior
variables, the behavior dummy variables, and the children’s

R. SHINOHARA ET AL.
social competence at three points of the 226 mother-child dyads
who participated in this study are summarized in Tables 1-6.
A group-based semiparametric approach (Nagin, 1990: Na-
gin, 2005) enables us to evaluate subgroups of participants,
multiple patterns of change in the outcome, and the shape of the
change over time. To analyze the trajectory social competence
development in children and evaluate subgroups of participants,
we calculated the BIC values from one to four groups. The
optimum number of groups was two (the BIC = −1332.72) (see
Table 7). Therefore, for the trajectory of children’s social com-
petence, two groups (Low group vs High Group) were adopted
in this study (see Figure 1). There was a general trend for each
child’s social competence to increase with age.
In addition, to analyze the relationship between the trajectory
social competence development in children from 18 to 42
months of age and the caregiver’s behavior of “praise” when
Table 4.
Distribution of behavior variables.
Variable Category n %
(7)-1 Praise
no 0 64 28.3
yes 1 162 71.7
(7)-2 Praise
no 0 77 34.1
yes 1 149 65.9
Note: (7)-1 Praise: caregiver praises the child’s efforts at least once during
the episode; (7)-2 Praise: caregiver verbally praises the child during the
episode.
Table 5.
Distribution of behavior dummy variables.
Behavior variables Behavior dummy
variables
(7)-1
Praise
(7)-2
Praise n % X1
0 0 62 27.4 0 0 0
0 1 15 6.6 1 0 0
1 0 2 1.0 0 1 0
1 1 147 65.0 0 0 1
Note: (7)-1 Praise: caregiver praises the child’s efforts at least once during
the episode; (7)-2 Praise: caregiver verbally praises the child during the
episode.
Table 6.
Child’s social competence at three points of age.
Child’s social competence
Age of child
Mean SD
18 months 21.420 3.545
30 months 22.452 2.944
42 months 22.961 2.565
19
20
21
22
23
24
18 30 42
IRSscore
Months
Highgroup
Lowgroup
Figure 1.
Development trajectories of child’s social competencefrom 18 to 42
months.
their children were 18 months of age, multinomial logistic re-
gressions in the ProcTraj carried out.
The results show that after controlling for the effects of the
demographic data, in the direction of the High group based on
the Low group, the attitude variables (β = 1.203, p = 0.036) and
the behavior dummy variables X3 (β = 2.619, p = 0.005) were
significantly related to the trajectory of the children’s social
competence (Low group vs High Group). Additionally, for the
demographic data, the results reveal that the gender of the child
(Girls: β = 1.889, p = 0.026), siblings (Yes: β = 1.024, p =
0.045) was significantly related to the trajectory of social com-
petence (Low Group vs High Group) (see Table 8).
Discussion
Characteristics of This Research
This study is unique in the following respects. In Japan, there
are few previous studies to assess the trajectory social compe-
tence development in infancy. We examined the longitudinal-
relationship between the trajectory social competence devel-
opment in children from 18 to 42 months of age and the par-
ent’s attitude towards the importance of praising the child when
he/she was 4 or 9 months old, and the caregiver’s behavior of
“praise” when their children were 18 months of age.
Meanwhile, this research has limitations that hinder gener-
alization because the participants were those who live in two
cities. Moreover, the number of participants was low. However,
the use of the results can be expected given that the subjects
represent ordinary families in Japan.
The Trajectory of Children’s Social Competence and
the Caregi ver’s Behavior of “Pr ai s e”
The children were active and had more potential than we ex-
pected, although they could not have managed without their
mothers’ help and support. White (1959) explains the rich po-
tential of competence encouragement in ensuring the healthy
development of a child. Competence is defined as those “abili-
ties [though which] the person is effectively related with the
environment.” In the development of a child’s competence,
his/her mother’s response to him/her is important; that is, the
536

R. SHINOHARA ET AL.
Table 7.
The optimal number of trajectories (Liner model).
Numbers of groups Group number n (%) Intercept p value Linear (β) p value BIC
1 1 100.0 20.294 <0.001 0.097 <0.001 −1333.22
1 31.0 16.286 <0.001 0.146 0.003
2
2 69.0 22.161 <0.001 0.071 0.010
−1332.72
1 25.5 14.642 <0.001 0.192 <0.001
2 21.3 17.978 <0.001 0.289 0.039 3
3 53.2 23.261 <0.001 0.004 0.944
−1338.17
1 25.5 14.642 <0.001 0.192 <0.001
2 21.3 17.978 <0.001 0.289 0.039
3 47.2 23.261 <0.001 0.004 0.965
4
4 6.0 23.262 0.178 0.004 0.994
−1346.30
N = 226; BIC: Bayesian information criterion.
Table 8.
Multinominal logistic analyses for predicting child’s social competence
trajectories group memberships.
Low vs High
Independent variables
β p value
Constant −4.659 0.132
Gender (based on boy) 1.889 0.026
Numbers of siblings (based on 0 person) 1.024 0.045
Family type (based on nuclear family) −0.691 0.502
Mother’s age (continuous variable) −0.065 0.397
Attitude variables (based on 0) 1.203 0.036
Behavior dummy variables (based on 0)
X1 2.522 0.123
X2 15.503 0.994
X3 2.619 0.005
accumulation of quick and appropriate responses of the mother
to her child’s needs (the baby’s cries, calls for help, etc.) leads
to the development of the child’s self-esteem. An infant’s posi-
tive response to the environment affects the development of
his/her social competence later on in life.
However, regarding the parent-child interaction after infancy,
many studies show that the more positive the parent-child in-
teraction, the higher the child’s level of social competence later
in life. Mothers with high levels of social competence and their
children display more positive behaviors and emotions (La-
Freniere & Dumas, 1992), and the extent to which mothers give
their children autonomy during play and teaching predicts posi-
tive assertiveness in preschoolers (Denham et al., 1990). This
outcome is explained by the constructive response of mother to
their children’s emotions (Eisenberg et al., 1996); the latter then
imitate these social and emotional behavioral patterns (Putallaz,
1987).
In a recent neuroscience study, 19 college students partici-
pated in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) ex-
periments involving monetary and social rewards. Izuma et al.
reported that the acquisition of a good reputation robustly acti-
vates reward-related brain areas, notably the striatum, and these
overlap with the areas activated by monetary rewards (Izuma et
al., 2008).
This research suggests that the attitudes of parents toward
positive interactions with their child, particularly through the
use of praise, has a very significant effect on the development
of their children’s social competence later in life. Such praise at
18 months influences the trajectory of social competence in
children from 18 to 30 and 42 months. A follow-up study
should be conducted to further clarify the mechanism underly-
ing the effect of interactions involving praise, one that consid-
ers not just the praise-related behaviors of mothers but also
those of fathers. It is hoped that caregivers and health care pro-
fessionals will use these findings appropriately when providing
parenting support to parents.
Acknowledgements
The research described in this report received financial sup-
port from the R&D Area “Brain-Science & Society” of JST/
RISTEX as part of the “Exploration of factors affecting chil-
dren’s cognitive and behavioral development in Japan” project.
We are grateful to all of the researchers in groups cooperating
on this project, and to all of the families who participated in the
study. And this research was supported by the Grants-in-Aid
for Scientific Research (23330174).
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R. SHINOHARA ET AL.
Appendix
Japan Children’s Study Group
Chairmen
Zentaro Yamagata (Department of Health Sciences, School
of Medicine, University of Yamanashi), Hideaki Koizumi (Ad-
vanced Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.)
Participating Researchers
Kevin K. F. Wong, Yoko Anji, Hiraku Ishida, Mizue Iwasaki,
Aya Kutsuki, Misa Kuroki, Haruka Koike, Daisuke N. Saito,
Akiko Sawada, Yuka Shiotani, Daisuke Tanaka, Shunyue
Cheng, Hiroshi Toyoda, Kumiko Namba, Tamami Fukushi,
Tomoyo Morita, Hisakazu Yanaka (Research Institute of Sci-
ence and Technology for Society, Japan Science and Technol-
ogy Agency), Yoichi Sakakihara (Department of Child Care
and Education, Ochanomizu University), Kanehisa Morimoto
(Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University), Kayako
Nakagawa (Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University),
Shoji Itakura (Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University),
Kiyotaka Tomiwa (Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto Uni-
versity), Shunya Sogon (The Graduate Division of the Faculty
of Human Relations, Kyoto Koka Women’s University), Toyo-
jiroMatsuishi (Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Ku-
rume University), Tamiko Ogura (Graduate School of Humani-
ties, Kobe University), Masako Okada (Koka City Educational
Research Center), Hiroko Ikeda (National Epilepsy Center
Shizuoka Institute of Epilepsy and Neurological Disorder),
Norihiro Sadato (National Institute for Physiological Sciences,
National Institutes of Natural Sciences), Mariko Y. Momoi,
Hirosato Shiokawa, Takanori Yamagata (Department of Pediat-
rics, Jichi Medical University), Tadahiko Maeda, Tohru Ozaki
(The Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Research Organiza-
tion of Information and Systems), Tokie Anme (Graduate
School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsu-
kuba), Takahiro Hoshino (Graduate School of Arts and Sci-
ences, The University of Tokyo), Osamu Sakura (Interfaculty
Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo),
Yukuo Konishi (Department of Infants' Brain & Cognitive De-
velopment, Tokyo Women's Medical University), Katsutoshi
Kobayashi (Center for Education and Society, Tottori Univer-
sity), Tatsuya Koeda, Toshitaka Tamaru, Shinako Terakawa,
Ayumi Seki, Ariko Takeuchi (Faculty of Regional Sciences,
Tottori University), Hideo Kawaguchi (Advanced Research
Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.), Sonoko Egami (Hokkaido Univer-
sity of Education), Yoshihiro Komada (Department of Pediatric
and Developmental Science, Mie University Graduate School
of Medicine Institute of Molecular and Experimental Medicine),
Hatsumi Yamamoto, Motoki Bonno, Noriko Yamakawa (Clini-
cal Research Institute, Mie-chuo Medical Center, National Hos-
pital Organization), Masatoshi Kawai (Institute for Education,
Mukogawa Women’s University), Yuko Yato (College of Let-
ters, Ritsumeikan University), Koichi Negayama (Graduate
School of Human Sciences, Waseda University).