The Pediatric Neuropsychologist Introduction to the Special Section

Abstract

The rapid expansion of clinical neuropsychology during the past decade has fostered increasing specialization in the practices of neuropsychologists. Recent surveys indicate that a small but significant number of neuropsychologists devote most of their professional activities to children and adolescents. The growing interest in pediatric and child-clinical neuropsychology is reflected most recently in the formation of the Pediatric Neuropsychology Interest Group (PNIG) in August 1995 and the subsequent establishment of an internet mailing list devoted to pediatric neuropsychology in October 1996. This new special section of Child Neuropsychology was created to foster increased communication and opinion exchange among the community of pediatric and child-clinical neuropsychologists regarding research, training, and clinical issues. In this inaugural section, we present a thoughtful discussion of training issues in pediatric neuropsychology. Future sections that are already planned will discuss the reporting of neuropsychological evaluations, and graduate and postdoctoral preparation for specializing in child neuropsychology. As Editors of the special section, we welcome and encourage additional contributions from readers regarding these or any other issues as they pertain to the growth and development of the profession of pediatric neuropsychology.     

Houston Conference: Need for More Fundamental Knowledge in Neuropsychology

Two training models in neuropsychology have been recently proposed (Guidelines of the INS-Division 40 Task Force on Education, Accreditation, and Credentialing, Clin. Neuropsychol. 1: 29–34, 1987; Hannay, H. J. et al., Arch. Clin. Neuropsychol. 13: 157–250, 1998). When comparing both educational models, similarities but also differences are found. According to the Houston Conference model—but not to the former model—neuropsychology represents a specialty of psychology. In the Houston Conference training model, applied knowledge is overtly emphasized, whereas fundamental or basic knowledge in neuropsychology appears weak. The proposed program does not seem to provide sufficient emphasis and background knowledge in (1) History of neuropsychology, (2) Neuropsychological syndromes, and (3) Neuropsychology theory.     

The Future of Psychology in Medical Specialities: Introduction to the Special Issue

The continuing evolution of the health care delivery system in the United States presents threats and opportunities to psychologists in medical settings. This special issue explores the future of psychology in psychiatry, family medicine, rehabilitation, geriatric medicine, and pediatric medicine. The challenges facing neuropsychology and pain management are explored also. Finally, the professional issues of ethics in managed care, psychology in the public sector, and training future psychologists are addressed. Each paper summarizes concerns and provides recommendations for clinical practice, research, and training.     

The neuropsychology of depression and its implications for cognitive therapy

The past few years have witnessed a growing interest in the specialty of neuropsychology as well as continued support for cognitive therapy of depression. The purpose of this paper is the examination of the neuropsychology of depression and its implications for A. T. Beck's cognitive theory and therapy of depression ([1963] Thinking and Depression: Idiosyncratic Content and Cognitive Distortions,Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 9, pp. 324–333; [1964] Thinking and Depression,Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 10, pp. 561–571; [1967]Depression: Clinical, Experimental, and Theoretical Aspects, New York: Harper & Row). Specifically, the neuropsychological and cognitive theory and therapy literatures related to depression are reviewed followed by an antegration of these areas. Neuropsychological evidence is presented that both supports cognitive theory and therapy of depression and helps explain why such therapy may prove ineffective in treating depression. Implications for clinical practice, including neuropsychological assessment of depressives, and potential future research directions are also provided.     

Episodic future thinking

Thinking about the future is an integral component of human cognition – one that has been claimed to distinguish us from other species. Building on the construct of episodic memory, we introduce the concept of ‘episodic future thinking’: a projection of the self into the future to pre-experience an event. We argue that episodic future thinking has explanatory value when considering recent work in many areas of psychology: cognitive, social and personality, developmental, clinical and neuropsychology. Episodic future thinking can serve as a unifying concept, connecting aspects of diverse research findings and identifying key questions requiring further reflection and study.     

Book Reviews

For inexperienced sales representatives, success provides an important learning opportunity from which to build confidence and hone strategies. Such learning is derived from the attributions one makes for success and how those attributions shape future behavior. This research investigates the interpretation and behavioral intentions of inexperienced sales representatives following a successful sales call using a sample of financial services representatives. Surprisingly, we found that achieving success did not assure the adoption or future use of the strategy that garnered that success. These results suggest that inexperienced sales representatives may require managerial attention to fully understand and appropriately assimilate their sales successes. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.     

From data through discount rates to the area under the curve

The rate of discounting future goods is a crucial factor in intertemporal trade-offs, upon which depends not only individual well-being but also that of our planet: How much privation now for a temperate future for our grandchildren? What is the best way to measure how the value of future goods decreases with its delay? The most accurate discount functions involve several covarying parameters, making interpretation equivocal. A universal and robust measure is the area under the discount curve, the AuC. The AuC of a hyperbolic discount function is a logarithmic function of the discount rate, k. The same integral also approximates the area under a hyperboloid function. A simple technique converts each datum into estimates of the discount rate, eliminating rogue data points in the process. These trimmed estimates are converted into areas and tested against data, where they succeed at predicting the AuC and its relation to log(k).     

Future of neuropsychology]

The future development of neuropsychology as an independent discipline, which has as its principal subject the relationships between the brain as a material substrate and the psychic behavior shown by human beings as well as animals, is discussed on the basis of a schematic presentation of the possible structure of this discipline (general, genetic, clinical and pathological, and applied neuropsychology.     

The shape of things to come: Psychoneural reduction and the future of psychology

I contrast Bickle's new wave reductionismwith other relevant views about explanation across intertheoretic contexts. I then assess Bickle's empirical argument for psychoneural reduction. Bickle shows that psychology is not autonomous from neuroscience, and concludes that at least some versions of nonreductive physicalism are false. I argue this is not sufficient to establish his further claim that psychology reduces to neuroscience. Examination of Bickle's explanations reveals that they do not meet his own reductive standard. Furthermore, there are good empirical reasons to doubt that the cognitive approach to mind should be abandoned. I suggest that the near future will not see a reduction of psychology to neuroscience, so much as a replacement of both sciences by an improved form of neuropsychology.     

One hundred years of neuropsychology in Japan: Retrospect and prospect

The development of neuropsychology in Japan since the end of the 19th century will be outlined, including a number of pioneering works that gave a scientific basis to contemporary Japanese neuropsychology. The activities of societies/associations of related disciplines as well as the educational systems of clinical and experimental neuropsychology, which represents in Japan an interdisciplinary field, will be described. After national and international activities are mentioned, a review of significant Japanese contributions to main topics in neuropsychology will be given in some detail: dementia, memory disorders, frontal lobe syndromes, aphasia-alexia-agraphia, callosal syndromes, and specific right hemisphere syndromes. The issues of these interdisciplinary scientific investigations have found application in language and cognitive disabilities of brain-damaged patients, as well as evaluation of medical treatments and comedical rehabilitational efforts, care, and counseling. Finally, some comments will be presented on possible and desirable developments of Japanese neuropsychology in the future.     

Time to get rid of the ‘Modular’ in neuropsychology: A unified theory of anosognosia as aberrant predictive coding

Cognitive neuroscience, being more inclusive and ambitious in scope than cognitive neuropsychology, seems to have taken the place of the latter within the modern neurosciences. Nevertheless, recent advances in the neurosciences afford neuropsychology with epistemic possibilities that simply did not exist even 15 years ago. Human lesion studies still have an important role to play in shaping such possibilities, particularly when combined with other methods of enquiry. I first outline theoretical and methodological advances within the neurosciences that can inform and shape the rebirth of a dynamic, non‐modular neuropsychology. I then use an influential computational theory of brain function, the free energy principle, to suggest an unified account of anosognosia for hemiplegia as a research example of the potential for transition from a modular, cognitive neuropsychology to a dynamic, computational and even restorative neuropsychology. These and many other adjectives that can flexibly, take the place of ‘cognitive’ next to ‘neuropsychology’ will hopefully designate the much needed rebirth and demarcation of a field, neuropsychology itself, that has somehow lost its place within the modern neurosciences and yet seems to have a unique and important role to play in the future understanding of the brain.     

Ecological Neuropsychology: An Alternative to the Deficit Model for Conceptualizing and Serving Students with Learning Disabilities

The present paper contends that children with learning disabilities are better served when assessment and intervention are conceptualized within an ecological neuropsychology perspective than within the traditional deficit model perspective, which is the predominant approach to intervention in medical and educational settings. The deficit method conceptualizes problems as within the child, and the major consequence of this approach is that little time is spent analyzing the learning environment or other systems that might impact the child's ability to be successful in an academic setting. Therefore, rehabilitation efforts have had limited success. In contrast, ecological neuropsychology is a strength-based approach that considers the child, as well as the systems within which he/she interacts, when assessing, diagnosing, and intervening with students who are experiencing learning difficulties.     

The Future of Psychology in Pain Management

Pain treatment facilities have proliferated in recent years and psychology has enjoyed considerable success in the clinical and research arenas of pain management. However, changes in the health care environment present significant challenges to the future of psychology in pain management. This article discusses concerns in three important areas of pain treatment that psychologists must address if they are to maintain a strong presence in this field: (1) evaluating and treating patients in the pain treatment setting, (2) evaluating and enhancing the efficacy of pain treatment, and (3) applying pain treatment services to other patient populations. With appropriate attention to these issues, psychology can continue to thrive in pain treatment settings.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Prediction in forensic and neuropsychology: Edited by R. D. Franklin An introduction to statistics in psychology: By D. Howitt & D. Cramer Designing experiments and analyzing data: A model comparison perspective: Edited by S. E. Maxwell and H. D. Delaney Stochastic musings: Perspectives from pioneers of the late 20th century: Edited by J. Panaretos     

Stop the blame game: An analysis of blaming on Weibo during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in rice and wheat areas in China

In the pandemic era, social media has provided the public with a platform to make their voice heard. One of the most important public opinions online during a pandemic is blame. Blame can lead to stigma towards patients as well as potential patients and decrease social cooperation, which might impede prevention and control measures during epidemics. Thus, studying online blame during the early days of COVID-19 can facilitate the management and control of future pandemics. By analyzing 3791 posts from one of the most popular social media sites in China (Weibo) over the 10 days immediately after COVID-19 was declared to be a communicable disease, we found that there were four main agents blamed online: Individuals, corporations, institutions, and the media. Most of the blame targeted individual agents. We also found that there were regional-cultural differences in the detailed types of blamed individual agents, that is, between rice- and wheat-farming areas in China. After controlling influence of distance from the epicenter of Wuhan, there were still stable differences between regions: people in wheat areas had a higher probability of blaming agentic, harmful individuals, and people in rice areas had a higher probability of blaming individuals with low awareness of social norms for preventive health behavior. Findings have implications for preventing and predicting blame across cultures in future pandemics.     

认知神经心理学简介

认知神经心理学是认知心理学的一个分支。它的目的是探讨当人们执行认知活动的时候,心理信息加工过程是怎样的,所采用的手段是研究这些认知功能受损的病人。它与认知神经科学的不同在于：认知神经心理学关注的是心理（mind）,而认知神经科学关注的是大脑（特别是关注与认知有关的大脑机制）。研究认知神经心理学的方法也可以用于研究发展性认知障碍,如阅读障碍,或者特殊的语言损伤,这就是发展性认知神经心理学。这些方法还可以用于高级认知发面的研究,如信念形成和心理理论。这些高级认知方面的障碍是精神病学的范畴,因此这类研究错觉、幻想或虚构等的认知神经心理学叫做认知神经精神病学。认知神经心理学的典型特征有：1）研究症状,而不是并发症;2）采用个案研究,而不是群体研究;3）主要数据来源是症状间的双分离;4）致力于模块化认知模型的建立。     

Remarriage Beliefs as Predictors of Marital Quality and Positive Interaction in Stepcouples: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Model

Using an Actor–Partner Interdependence Model, we examined remarriage beliefs as predictors of marital quality and positive interaction in a sample of 179 stepcouples. Three beliefs were measured using subscales from the Remarriage Belief Inventory (RMBI) including success is slim, children are the priority, and finances should be pooled. Several significant actor and partner effects were found for both wives' and husbands' beliefs. Wives' marital quality was positively associated with their own beliefs that finances should be pooled and negatively associated with their own beliefs that success is slim. Wives' reports of their own and spouses' positive interaction were both positively associated with their beliefs that finances should be pooled. Their reports of spouses' positive interaction were also negatively associated with husbands' beliefs that success is slim. Husbands' marital quality was positively associated with wives' beliefs that children are the priority, positively associated with their own beliefs that finances should be pooled, and negatively with success is slim. Positive interaction for husbands was positively associated with wives' beliefs that finances should be pooled and negatively associated with their own beliefs that success is slim. Finally, husbands' reports of positive interaction for their spouses were positively associated with wives' beliefs that finances should be pooled. Implications for future research utilizing dyadic data analysis with stepcouples are addressed.     

Adolescents' perceptions of the causes and consequences of success in sex-linked occupations

Junior and senior high school students rated the extent to which occupational success is attributable to internal versus external factors and the extent to which it results in negative versus positive outcomes; 144 seventh through twelfth graders responded to one of six success cues in which either a male or female character was depicted achieving success as a doctor, nurse, or department head. Junior high girls assigned a more positive valence to success than junior high boys (p<.001), with no sex differences among the senior high subjects. Girls of both age groups were more likely to rate success as difficult to achieve (p<.01) and requiring more effort (p<.05), while boys were more likely to indicate that success was a function of luck (p<.01). Socialization influences which may have mediated the age and sex differences are discussed.     

Desirable features in neuropsychological tests

Seven desirable features are presented as guidelines for the design and evaluation of neuropsychological tests. Such features are not systematically present in most commonly used testing procedures because the field's methods have been borrowed from disciplines whose theories and measurement goals are quite different from those of modern neuropsychology. In the course of the presentation, three meanings of the term deficit are differentiated.     

Advances,Problems, and Challenges in the Study of Emotion Regulation: A Commentary

As observed by Zinbarg and Mineka (American Psychologist 62:259–261, 2007), the study of emotion regulation faces significant challenges that need to be addressed. In reviewing the articles in the present issue, we comment upon how researchers have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to meet these challenges. We suggest that the articles in the present volume demonstrate important conceptual and methodological advances in emotion regulation research, but that the most central problems noted by Zinbarg and Mineka have yet to be fully remedied. In highlighting both the progress made and problems faced by the field of emotion regulation, we suggest new directions for future research in this area.