Sociotropy and autonomy: differential patterns of clinical presentation in unipolar depression

We examined the relations between sociotropy and autonomy and clinical features of depression. Beck (1983) proposed that sociotropy is related to a sense of deprivation and clinical features associated with reactive depression and that autonomy is related to a sense of defeat and clinical features associated with endogenous depression. Robins, Block, & Peselow (1989) found support for the hypothesis for sociotropy but not for autonomy, and they suggested that the autonomy scale may be problematic. We administered new measures of sociotropy and autonomy and a more comprehensive assessment of clinical features to 50 unipolar depressed inpatients. The results support the selective relations of both sociotropy and autonomy to the predicted sets of clinical features. This study adds to the growing evidence that these personality dimensions are important to the understanding of depression.     

Reaction time and movement time after active and passive smoking

Reaction time and movement time were studied following active and passive smoking in two groups of 20 women. All subjects were tested under a clean air and smoky air condition and the results showed that, while there was no difference between groups for either measure in the clear air condition, the active smokers had faster reaction time and movement time in the smoky air condition. Smoky air had no significant effect on the responses of the passive smoking group.     

Observed behaviors during clinical interviews predict improvement in depression

A considerable percentage of depressed patients do not respond to antidepressive treatment. Early indicators of prognosis are needed. The aims of this study are to examine (a) whether the interpersonal behavior of patients and psychiatrist, as assessed by means of direct observation of behavior during a baseline clinical interview, might have predictive value with respect to therapeutic outcome and (b) which predictive potency measures of psychomotor activation, as assessed by less refined methods, such as global clinical judgment, might have. In the analysis used, speech-pause behavior was taken as the basic structure of the interaction. The relations of other behaviors such as looking and hand and head movement with this structure were determined. Evidence is presented that in a group of 31 depressives, improvement after a period of 10 weeks was related to observed behaviors during a baseline interview. The behaviors of the patients are interpreted as relational or nonrelational. The relational behaviors (i.e., looking yesnodding, gesturing) occur less in patients who will improve, whereas the nonrelational behaviors (i.e., intensive body touching, head movements) occur more in these patients. The nonrelational behaviors are presumed to be indicative of the state of arousal. The predictive potency of these variables could not be explained by their relationship with the baseline severity of depression, which in itself also predicted improvement. Moreover, global clinical assessment of psychomotor activation (i.e., retardation and agitation) could not be related to outcome.     

Influence of extended practice on programming time, movement time, and transfer in simple target-striking responses

Two experiments describe the effects of extended practice on the development of motor control programs for simple target-striking responses. In Experiment 1,400 right-hand trials of simple one-target and two-target striking tasks were performed. In Experiment 2,600 practice trials were given. Overall reaction time (RT) was faster for the one-target condition in both experiments, supporting a response complexity effect. Movement time (MT) for both conditions improved linearly with practice, suggesting that development of the motor control programs was still occurring. Subjects then transferred to a three-target condition for 50 trials, performing the transfer task with the right hand in Experiment 1, and with right and left hands in Experiment 2. Transfer to the three-target conditions produced execution errors in the form of failure to contact the second target and repetitive tapping on the third target. These results suggest that extensive practice may serve to firmly entrench a response sequence, making it difficult to implement a similar, but unique, motor control program. An interpretation in terms of automaticity and enhanced priming of behavioral and neural pathways is offered to account for these results.     

Sequential predictability effects on initiation time and movement time for adults and children

First-grade children and adults performed a two-choice initiation-time/ movement-time task in which signals were (a) more likely to repeat than alternate, (b) more likely to alternate than repeat or (c) equally likely to alternate or repeat. Sequential predictability influenced initiation time but not movement time for adults and for children. These results do not support the suggestion (Wickens, 1974) that sequential predictability affects initiation time and movement time for children but only initiation time for adults. Adults and first graders did differ in their response to repeated events. Adults averaged faster initiation time for alternated than repeated responses and children averaged faster initiation time for repeated than alternated responses.     

Age-related effects in interlimb practice on coding complex movement sequences

Hikosaka et al. (1999) proposed that sequential movements are acquired in independent visual-spatial and motor coordinate systems with coding initially represented in visual-spatial coordinates, and later after extended practice in motor coordinates. One aspect of sequence learning that has not been systematically studied, however, is the question of whether or not older adults show the same pattern of coding in inter-limb practice as younger learners. In the present experiment an inter-limb practice paradigm was designed to determine the role that visual-spatial (Cartesian) and motor (joint angles, activation patterns) coordinates play in the coding and learning of a complex movement sequence. Younger and older adults practiced a 16-element movement sequence with one limb on Day 1 and the contra-lateral limb on Day 2. Practice involved the same sequence with either the same visual-spatial or motor coordinates on the two days. Retention tests were conducted on Day 3. Results indicated that keeping the visual-spatial coordinates the same during acquisition resulted in superior retention only for younger adults. Results also indicated the overall slowing of sequential movement production for older adults which appears to result from these participants inability to impose a structure on the sequence. This provides strong evidence that the visual-spatial code plays a dominant role in complex movement sequences and this code is represented in an effector-independent manner for younger adults, but not for older adults.     

Cortical movement preparation before and after a conscious decision to move

The idea that our conscious decisions determine our actions has been challenged by a report suggesting that the brain starts to prepare for a movement before the person concerned has consciously decided to move (Libet, Gleason, Wright, & Pearl, 1983). Libet et al. claimed that their results show that our actions are not consciously initiated. The current article describes two experiments in which we attempted to replicate Libet et al.'s comparison of participants' movement-related brain activity with the reported times of their decisions to move and also the reported times of their decisions of which hand to move. We also looked at the distribution of participants' reports over time to evaluate an alternative explanation of Libet et al.'s (1983) results. Although the Readiness Potential was usually present before all of the decisions to move, consistent with the findings of Keller and Heckhausen (1990) and Libet et al. (1983), we found that many reported decision times were before the onset of the Lateralized Readiness Potential, which measures hand-specific movement preparation. The latter finding is consistent with the conclusion that the LRP always started after the conscious decision to move. We conclude that even though activity related to movement anticipation may be present before a conscious decision to move, the cortical preparation necessary for the movement to happen immediately may not start until after the conscious decision to move.     

Understanding of relational time terms before and after in Parkinsonian patients

The role of the relational time terms before and after in language comprehension was investigated using patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and normal controls (NC) in Greek. Results lead to the following four conclusions: (a) Comprehension by PD patients of before and after constructions displaying syntactic, semantic, and cognitive constraints equivalent to those of English is significantly different from that of NC matched on chronological age, sex, education, and socioeconomic status. (b) Before is better understood than after. (c) Syntactic variables, when semantic effects are partialed out, do not affect performance. The same is true of semantic effects when syntactic variables are partialed out. (d) Order of mention of events is a predominant source of errors when syntax and semantics are controlled. The data are discussed in relation both to findings with aphasics and to developmental results on the same time terms.     

Shifts in kinesthesis through time and after active and passive movement.

The position sense of a stationary arm was investigated subsequent to an horizontally adductive movement with axis the shoulder joint. The right arm was the treated arm: it reached a test position actively, using minimal voluntary effort, or passively from each of 10 starting positons. The blind-folded S localized the index finger of the treated arm by attempting to touch it with the index finger of his left hand. The results indicate that subsequent to active movement the final position of a limb is more accurately known than a position resulting from passive movement. A second finding is that concomitant with both forms of limb placement there is a unidirectional drift of perceived limb position over trials.     

Rapid aimed limb movements: differential effects of practice on component submovements

Three experiments are reported in which subjects practiced rapid aimed limb movements (arm pointing and wrist rotation) toward a visible target region. Subjects were required to minimize their movement durations while still landing in the target. The movement trajectories were examined to assess the effects of practice on separate component submovements of the limb movements. The results revealed that practice improved primarily temporal, not spatial, aspects of performance. Practice reduced the overall movement durations, but had different effects on the individual submovements. Practice allowed subjects to reduce the amount of time spent performing final corrective submovements, but actually increased slightly the time needed to produce the initial ballistic submovement. The results suggest that practice in the present task primarily enhanced the ability to use feedback information, but there was also some evidence of changes in the ballistic, preprogrammed portion of the movements. The results demonstrate that analysis of submovements can reveal important details of the underlying motor control processes.     

Treatment preference, engagement, and clinical improvement in pharmacotherapy versus psychotherapy for depression

Pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are generally effective treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD); however, research suggests that patient preferences may influence outcomes. We examined the effects of treatment preference on attrition, therapeutic alliance, and change in depressive severity in a longitudinal randomized clinical trial comparing pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy. Prior to randomization, 106 individuals with MDD reported whether they preferred psychotherapy, antidepressant medication, or had no preference. A mismatch between preferred and actual treatment was associated with greater likelihood of attrition, fewer expected visits attended, and a less positive working alliance at session 2. There was a significant indirect effect of preference match on depression outcomes, primarily via effects of attendance. These findings highlight the importance of addressing patient preferences, particularly in regard to patient engagement, in the treatment of MDD.     

Combined effects of movement velocity and duration on programming time: Spijkers (1989) revisited

The goal of the present study was to determine the combined effects of movement velocity and duration on motor programming. Subjects were submitted to a two-choice reaction time task that could be completed by aiming movements differing in the mean velocity at which they were to be produced as well as by their movement time. The results of the present study indicate that, in each pair of responses used, the responses having the higher mean velocity were initiated faster that those having the lower mean velocity. Contrary to Spijkers' (1989) study, the different movement time pairings did not modify the effect of movement velocity on response programming time. Moreover, the same pattern of results was observed whether or not the subjects were permitted to visually guide their ongoing movement. Thus, Spijkers' proposition, that the type of control one may use to guide an aiming movement needs to be determined before movement initiation can take place, was not confirmed.     

Mood effects on attitude judgments: independent effects of mood before and after message elaboration.

This study investigated the independent effects of induced mood on the encoding of persuasive messages and on the assessment of attitude judgments. In Experiment 1, positive or negative mood was induced either before the encoding of a counterattitudinal message or before the assessment of attitude judgments. When mood was induced before message presentation, Ss in a bad mood were more persuaded by strong than by weak arguments, whereas Ss in a good mood were equally persuaded by strong and by weak arguments. When Ss encoded the message in a neutral mood, however, the advantage of strong over weak arguments was more pronounced when Ss were in a good rather than in a bad mood at the time of attitude assessment. In Experiment 2, Ss exposed to a counterattitudinal message composed of either strong or weak arguments formed either a global evaluation or a detailed representation of the message. Positive, negative, or neutral mood was then induced. Ss in a good mood were most likely and Ss in a negative mood least likely to base their reported attitudes on global evaluations.