Psychometric vs. attentional correlates of early onset alcohol and substance abuse

Adolescent inpatients with a diagnosis of alcohol abuse (n=28), nonalcohol substance abuse disorders (n=15), or psychiatric disorders without substance abuse (n=46) were examined on measures of attentional, intellectual, and personality functioning. High scores on a personality measure, the Substance Abuse Proclivity Scale (SAP), was the best predictor of substance abuse in general. Alcohol abusers were differentiated from other substance abusers by their increased impairment on the Continuous Performance Test. Adolescents with alcohol abuse did not manifest the types of cognitive impairments associated with chronic alcoholism. These data suggest that certain attentional impairments may be associated with early onset alcohol abuse and that earlier conceptions of the role of attentional impairments in risk prediction for alcohol abuse are supported.This research was supported by the Four Winds Foundation.     

Facial memory deficits in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Prenatal exposure to alcohol may lead to a range of neurobehavioral effects, including impaired learning and memory. Although children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) exhibit both verbal and nonverbal memory impairments, their memory for faces has not been as thoroughly investigated and the extent literature provides inconsistent results. The aim of the current study was to determine whether difficulties in face memory exist in children with FASD and whether the difficulties are mediated by task demands. To address this, we used two measures of immediate and delayed facial recognition memory, the Children's Memory Scale (CMS) and Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL). Compared to typically developing controls, children with FASD showed memory deficits on all tests and were more likely to perform in a clinically significant range. As well, children performed more poorly on the CMS compared to TOMAL, a finding consistent with the greater difficulty of the CMS task. Our results are consistent with our hypothesis that children with FASD show impairment in facial memory, particularly on demanding memory tasks.     

Facial memory deficits in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Prenatal exposure to alcohol may lead to a range of neurobehavioral effects, including impaired learning and memory. Although children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) exhibit both verbal and nonverbal memory impairments, their memory for faces has not been as thoroughly investigated and the extent literature provides inconsistent results. The aim of the current study was to determine whether difficulties in face memory exist in children with FASD and whether the difficulties are mediated by task demands. To address this, we used two measures of immediate and delayed facial recognition memory, the Children's Memory Scale (CMS) and Test of Memory and Learning (TOMAL). Compared to typically developing controls, children with FASD showed memory deficits on all tests and were more likely to perform in a clinically significant range. As well, children performed more poorly on the CMS compared to TOMAL, a finding consistent with the greater difficulty of the CMS task. Our results are consistent with our hypothesis that children with FASD show impairment in facial memory, particularly on demanding memory tasks.     

Concurrent brief versus intensive smoking intervention during alcohol dependence treatment.

Alcohol dependent smokers (N=118) enrolled in an intensive outpatient substance abuse treatment program were randomized to a concurrent brief or intensive smoking cessation intervention. Brief treatment consisted of a 15-min counseling session with 5 min of follow-up. Intensive intervention consisted of three 1-hr counseling sessions plus 8 weeks of nicotine patch therapy. The cigarette abstinence rate, verified by breath carbon monoxide, was significantly higher for the intensive treatment group (27.5%) versus the rate for the brief treatment group (6.6%) at 1 month after the quit date but not at 6 months, when abstinence rates fell to 9.1% for the intensive treatment group and 2.1% for the brief treatment group. Smoking treatment assignment did not significantly impact alcohol outcomes. Although intensive smoking treatment was associated with higher rates of short-term tobacco abstinence, other, perhaps more intensive, smoking interventions are needed to produce lasting smoking cessation in alcohol dependent smokers.     

Trait aggression is related to anger-modulated deficits in response inhibition

The goal of the present study was to investigate the role of emotion-modulated response inhibition in individual difference in the disposition towards aggressive behavior (i.e. trait aggression). One hundred and twelve undergraduate participants completed a behavioral measure of emotion modulated response inhibition (an emotional go/no-go task), self-report measures previously shown to predict aggression (Big-5 traits, impulsivity), and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) as a measure of trait aggression. Results show that deficient inhibition to angry, but not happy, faces were related to trait aggression but not to other traits. These findings provide support for the role of specific top down executive control mechanisms in the regulation of aggressive tendencies and highlight the importance of examining these mechanisms in an emotional context.     

Psycholinguistic research in language intervention programming: The pronoun system

This paper presents a linguistic analysis of the pronoun system in terms of binary semantic and syntactic features. A model is presented which indicates how these features serve to differentiate among the members of this set. A hypothetical order of development of these features is proposed, supported by developmental data. Suggestions are made regarding the possible relationship of the pronoun system to other areas of language. Finally, proposals are presented for the development of pronoun training procedures within the context of language training programs.This research was supported in part by Speech and Hearing grant HD 05088 and in part by CORE grant HD 02528.     

Psychometric comparability of English- and Spanish-language measures of anxiety and related affective symptoms

An array of measures of anxiety and related disorders (viz., Albany Panic and Phobia Questionnaire; Anxiety Sensitivity Index; Beck Anxiety Inventory; Beck Depression Inventory-II; Body Sensation Questionnaire; Fear Questionnaire; Padua Inventory; Penn State Worry Questionnaire; Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Diagnostic Scale; Social Interaction Anxiety Inventory; and Worry Scale) was edited or translated from English into Spanish. Following an extensive edit and translation process, bilingual participants (n = 98) were assessed with the English and Spanish versions of these measures. Coefficient alphas were excellent and comparable across language versions. Means and standard deviations were also comparable across language versions. Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity was found for both language versions. The two language versions of each measure correlated highly with each other. This psychometric comparability adds confidence in using the newly edited or translated Spanish language measures in clinical practice and research.     

Neurocognitive deficits related to poor decision making in people behind bars

Using a novel quantitative model of repeated choice behavior, we investigated the cognitive processes of criminal offenders incarcerated for various crimes. Eighty-one criminals, including violent offenders, drug and sex offenders, drivers operating a vehicle while impaired, and 18 matched controls were tested. The results were also contrasted with those obtained from neurological patients with focal brain lesions in the orbitofrontal cortex and from drug abusers. Participants performed the computerized version of the Iowa gambling task (Bechara, Damasio, Damasio, & Anderson, 1994), and the results were decomposed into specific component processes, using the expectancy valence model (Busemeyer & Stout, 2002). The findings indicated that whereas all the criminal groups tended to select disadvantageously, the cognitive profiles exhibited by different groups were considerably different. Certain subpopulations--most significantly, drug and sex offenders--overweighted potential gains as compared with losses, similar to chronic cocaine abusers. In contrast, assault/murder criminals tended to make less consistent choices and to focus on immediate outcomes and, in these respects, weremore similar to patients with orbitofrontal damage. The present cognitive model provides a novel way for building a bridge between cognitive neuroscience and complex human behaviors.     

Psychometric features related to the acute phase and final outcome of anorexia nervosa

The MMPI responses of a poor and good final outcome group from a follow-up study of anorexia nervosa were compared with responses of a group of anorexic patients in the acute phase. The poor outcome group produced elevated scores in the psychopathological range except on scales 4, 5 and 9. No elevations occurred in the good outcome group and the MMPI thus discriminated significantly between different kinds of final outcome of anorexia nervosa. The profile of the patients in the acute phase at time of testing was not significantly different from the poor outcome group profile. In order to improve the predictive validity of the MMPI related to anorexia nervosa, the paper points to possible directions for further research.     

The role of parent depressive symptoms in positive and negative parenting in a preventive intervention

This study examined the role of parent depressive symptoms as a mediator of change in behaviorally observed positive and negative parenting in a preventive intervention program. The purpose of the program was to prevent child problem behaviors in families with a parent who has current or a history of major depressive disorder. One hundred eighty parents and one of their 9- to 15-year-old children served as participants and were randomly assigned to a family group cognitive-behavioral (FGCB) intervention or a written information (WI) comparison condition. At two months after baseline, parents in the FGCB condition had fewer depressive symptoms than those in the WI condition, and these symptoms served as a mediator for changes in negative, but not positive, parenting at 6 months after baseline. The findings indicate that parent depressive symptoms are important to consider in family interventions with a parent who has current or a history of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Age-related deficits in face recognition are related to underlying changes in scanning behavior

Previous studies demonstrating age-related impairments in recognition memory for faces are suggestive of underlying differences in face processing. To study these differences, we monitored eye movements while younger and older adults viewed younger and older faces. Compared to the younger group, older adults showed increased sampling of facial features, and more transitions. However, their scanning behavior was most similar to the younger group when looking at older faces. Moreover, while older adults exhibited worse recognition memory than younger adults overall, their memory was more accurate for older faces. These findings suggest that age-related differences in recognition memory for faces may be related to changes in scanning behavior, and that older adults may use social group status as a compensatory processing strategy.     

Focused attention and depressive deficits in memory.

Hertel and Rude (1991) investigated the effects of depression on memory for words in a sentence completion task. They found that depressive deficits in memory can be eliminated by procedures that increase depressed Ss' focused attention to the task. Three areas are considered in this article: irrelevant thoughts, distraction, and inhibition.     

Sleep disruption explains age-related prospective memory deficits: implications for cognitive aging and intervention

The high prevalence of sleep disruption among older adults may have implications for cognitive aging, particularly for higher-order aspects of cognition. One domain where sleep disruption may contribute to age-related deficits is prospective memory—the ability to remember to perform deferred actions at the appropriate time in the future. Community-dwelling older adults (55–93 years, N = 133) undertook assessment of sleep using actigraphy and participated in a laboratory-based prospective memory task. After controlling for education, sleep disruption (longer awakenings) was associated with poorer prospective memory. Additionally, longer awakenings mediated the relationship between older age and poorer prospective memory. Other metrics of sleep disruption, including sleep efficiency and wake after sleep onset, were not related to prospective memory, suggesting that examining the features of individual wake episodes rather than total wake time may help clarify relationships between sleep and cognition. The mediating role of awakening length was partially a function of greater depression and poorer executive function (shifting) but not retrospective memory. This study is among the first to examine the association between objectively measured sleep and prospective memory in older adults. Furthermore, this study is novel in suggesting sleep disruption might contribute to age-related prospective memory deficits; perhaps, with implications for cognitive aging more broadly. Our results suggest that there may be opportunities to prevent prospective memory decline by treating sleep problems.     

Factors related to cigarette smoking and alcohol use among adolescents

Based on a national survey of Icelandic adolescents, this study examined the various predictors of cigarette smoking and alcohol use. It was found that the use of tobacco and alcohol was related to a number of different factors: sex, residence, hours of paid work, physical activities, social network, educational performance and beliefs, and psychological distress. Further, smoking and drinking had most predictors in common. It was concluded that existing theoretical perspectives on juvenile deviance do not provide an adequate account of adolescent smoking and drinking. The need to integrate existing theories into a wider explanatory framework is discussed.     

Weight gain and withdrawal symptoms after smoking cessation: a preventive intervention using d-fenfluramine

Directly measured food intake in 31 overweight female smokers to test whether (a) calorie and carbohydrate intakes increase after smoking cessation and (b) double-blind d-fenfluramine (30 mg), a serotonin-releasing drug, suppresses weight gain, overeating, and dysphoric mood associated with stopping smoking. Placebo-treated patients grew dysphoric after smoking withdrawal and ate 300 kcal/day more from 2 to 28 days after, showing a 3.5-lb weight gain. Fat and protein intakes did not change, but carbohydrate intake increased (30% to 40%). D-fenfluramine prevented postcessation dysphoria. Although drug-treated patients ate more carbohydrate snacks just after quitting, they returned to baseline by 4 weeks, showing a 1.8-lb weight loss. Agents that enhance brain serotonin-mediated neurotransmission may help prevent weight gain, overeating, and dysphoric mood after smoking withdrawal.     

Evaluation of a preventive intervention for child anxiety in two randomized attention-control school trials

The present research examined the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) based intervention program, FRIENDS, for children from grades 4 to 6, using random assignment at the school-level and an attention-control design in two longitudinal studies. The first study targeted children with anxiety symptoms (N = 191, mean age = 10.1) as screened with self, parent, and teacher-reports; the second study took a universal approach with full classrooms of children participating (N = 253, mean age = 9.8). The results showed no intervention effect in both studies, with children’s anxiety symptoms decreasing over time regardless of whether they were in the story-reading (attention control) or FRIENDS condition. The findings also indicated that girls reported a higher level of anxiety than boys and children in higher grades reported lower anxiety relative to younger children in both studies. In addition, similar patterns were found using a subgroup of children with high-anxiety symptoms from both studies.     

Risk-appraisal,outcome and self-efficacy expectancies: Cognitive factors in preventive behaviour related to cancer

Abstract

Health education often attempts to influence or persuade through risk-appraisal of impending danger or harm. Risk: appraisal implies cognitive processes concerning the severity of the threatening event and the probability of its occurrence. In two studies we investigated whether risk factors could adequately predict preventive behaviour with respect to cancer. The tint study concerned the health belief model. the second study the protection motivation theory. Protection motivation theory includes the health belief factors but also self-efficacy expectancy. The most important finding is that risk-appraisal does not predict preventive behaviour adequately: outcome expectancy and self-efficacy expectancy should be included in the prediction of preventive behaviour. In general, our findings suggest the superiority of the protection motivation theory to the health belief model in predicting preventive behaviour with respect to cancer.     

The Yale Children''s Inventory—A screening tool for attention deficits and related disorders. Normative data for boys

Norwegian populated-based normative data on the Yale Children's Inventory (YCI) were provided for boys. All parents of boys aged 8 through 11 years in the county of Hammerfest received the YCI, and 77% responded. Mean scores on the YCI scales attention, activity, tractability, and fine motor were significantly lower in the Norwegian sample compared to the US normative data. Factor analysis of the 40 scale items yielded factors that corresponded generally well to the YCI scale constructs derived from US samples. We conclude that the scale constructs of the YCI seem to be transferable across these two cultures, but that restandardization is warranted. Further research is needed to establish cut-off values for clinical screening purposes. The Yale Children's Inventory has the potential to become a valuable screening tool for behavioral problems at school-age.