Rate reduction strategies used by stutterers and nonstutterers during high- and low-pitched speech

Groups of child and adult normal speakers and stutterers were tested in an habitual condition and in conditions where they were instructed to read aloud at pitches both higher than and lower than normal. Objective measures were made of subjects' fluent reading rate, and vowel and pause durations across conditions. Disfluencies were also counted. Findings revealed that all four subject groups reduced their frequency of disfluency from the habitual to both experimental conditions. These decrements in disfluency were attended by significant reductions in fluent reading rate. Spectrographic analyses revealed that most subjects, regardless of age and speaker characteristic, affected their rate reduction by extending both vowel and pause durations. These results are compatible with those obtained in recent studies and are discussed.     

Interrater reliability of scores derived from two methods for scoring the clock drawing test

Scores on the Clock Drawing Test have long been considered a useful screening tool for neuropsychological dysfunction, and a number of scoring methods have been developed to evaluate various aspects of performance. This study compared quantitative and qualitative scoring by briefly trained students on 145 clock drawings produced by patients in a geriatric psychiatry outpatient clinic to estimate the interrater reliability of the methods, user's acceptance of the methods, and whether the methods provide differential diagnosis. Both systems showed acceptable interrater reliability. Using the quantitative method, raters scored drawings by patients with organic mental disease as more impaired than those patients diagnosed as depressed or schizophrenic. Results suggest that the Clock Drawing Test is a reliable screening tool for cognitive impairment in a geropsychiatric population, but the scoring methods examined do not yet appear psychometrically sound enough to provide a differential diagnosis.     

Measurement of active rotation in standing: reliability of a simple test protocol

Interrater and intrarater reliability were evaluated for a test measuring active rotation range in a standing position. Subjects stood with their feet comfortably apart while a horizontal bar rested on their shoulders. A plumb bob attached to the end of the bar was allowed to drop to the floor, indicating maximal rotation range achieved. Two raters measured 24 subjects (M age = 35 +/- 14 yr.), who were sedentary office workers and active recreational golfers, on two occasions separated by two weeks to obtain values for left and right trunk rotation range. The test had good intrarater and interrater reliabilities, with standard error of measurement values varying from 5.6 degrees to 8.6 degrees against an overall mean range of 128 degrees. This simple active rotation test requires inexpensive equipment and could be incorporated into clinical examinations when there is a need to assess active rotation in standing with minimal constraints.     

Tobacco use in adolescence: longitudinal links to later problem behavior among African American and Puerto Rican urban young adults

In this study, the authors assessed the relationship between adolescent tobacco smoking and measures of inner control, deviant behavior, and associating with deviant peers, which are indicators of problem behavior. African American (N = 333) and Puerto Rican (N = 329) early adolescents completed questionnaires in their classrooms in 1990 at Time 1 (T1) and were individually interviewed thereafter when they were late adolescents in 1995 at Time 2 (T2) and as young adults in 2000 at Time 3 (T3). The authors used ordinary least squares regression analysis to assess the comparative association of adolescent smoking patterns at T1 and T2 and the young adult outcomes at T3; they controlled for demographic variables, level of the outcome measure at T2, and marijuana use at T2. The analyses suggested that experimental tobacco smokers demonstrated more problem behaviors than did nonsmokers, and late and continuous smokers demonstrated more problem behaviors as young adults than did experimental smokers and nonusers. These findings may provide a useful guide to a next step that involves translational research.     

The impact of parental borderline personality disorder on vulnerability to depression in children of affectively ill parents

Children of parents with major depressive disorder (MDD) are four to six times more likely than other children to develop MDD. Little research has examined whether comorbid parental diagnoses further increase children's risk. This study examines whether children of parents with comorbid MDD and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) (1) are at greater risk for experiencing depressive symptoms and/or episodes and (2) whether such increased risk may be due, in part, to their exhibiting higher levels of cognitive/interpersonal vulnerability factors. Children (n = 140; ages 6-14) of parents with MDD completed measures assessing cognitive/interpersonal vulnerability factors. Parents completed semi-structured clinical interviews assessing severity of current depressive symptoms and BPD. Both children and parents completed a semi-structured clinical interview assessing the child's current and past history of MDD. Children of parents with comorbid MDD and BPD exhibited higher levels of current depressive symptoms and higher levels of cognitive/interpersonal vulnerability factors than children of parents with MDD but no BPD, even after controlling for parents' current levels of depressive symptoms. The relationship between parental BPD and chil-dren's current levels of depressive symptoms was partially mediated by children's cognitive/interpersonal vulnerability factors. Last, children of parents with comorbid BPD and MDD were 6.84 times more likely to exhibit a current or past diagnosis of MDD.     

Why does visual working memory ability improve with age: More objects,more feature detail,or both? A registered report

We investigated how visual working memory (WM) develops with age across the early elementary school period (6–7 years), early adolescence (11–13 years), and early adulthood (18–25 years). The work focuses on changes in two parameters: the number of objects retained at least in part, and the amount of feature-detail remembered for such objects. Some evidence suggests that, while infants can remember up to three objects, much like adults, young children only remember around two objects. This curious, nonmonotonic trajectory might be explained by differences in the level of feature-detail required for successful performance in infant versus child/adult memory paradigms. Here, we examined if changes in one of two parameters (the number of objects, and the amount of detail retained for each object) or both of them together can explain the development of visual WM ability as children grow older. To test it, we varied the amount of feature-detail participants need to retain. In the baseline condition, participants saw an array of objects and simply were to indicate whether an object was present in a probed location or not. This phase begun with a titration procedure to adjust each individual's array size to yield about 80% correct. In other conditions, we tested memory of not only location but also additional features of the objects (color, and sometimes also orientation). Our results suggest that capacity growth across ages is expressed by both improved location-memory (whether there was an object in a location) and feature completeness of object representations.     

The Effect of Race on Decisions by Judges and Other Officers of the Court1

This study examined the impact of the ethnic group of defendant and victim on perceptions of a simulated trial. The subjects were judges, prosecuting attorneys, defense attorneys, and probation officers. People of different racial groups are perceived and would be treated differently by the respondents. Most respondents perceived the White defendant as a more serious offender than a minority defendant. However, there was one very important exception—judges. Judges indicated that a minority defendant who victimized a White was more likely to commit future crimes. Minority respondents and different occupational groups responded in diverse ways. Chen's filtering model of case processing in the criminal justice system (1991) is used to explain these results.     

The assessment of trust orientation

The development of the Trust Inventory, a 40-item measure of trust in generalized others (Generalized Trust) and romantic partners (Partner Trust) is described. A third conceptualization of trust in friends and family members (Network Trust) is also discussed College students (N = 1,229) participated in five stages of test construction and validation. Results indicated that the Trust Inventory scales are reliable, both internally and temporally, and that the Partner Trust and Generalized Trust Scales demonstrate both concurrent and construct validity. The resulting inventory is unique in its capacity to assess these types of trust simultaneously. Evidence supporting the discriminant validity of the Network Trust was mixed, whereas factor analytic treatments of Trust Inventory items supported the distinctiveness of Network Trust as compared to Partner and Generalized Trust, the Network Trust Scale correlated to roughly the same degree as the other two scales with several variables of differential theoretical relevance. Thus, little evidence supporting the incremental validity of Network Trust was observed Discussion focuses on the evidence suggesting the validity of interpretations of Generalized and Partner Trust and considers the issue of additional research regarding Network Trust.     

Physiological arousal and attention in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder

Psychophysiological reactivity has been well documented in WWII, Korean Conflict, and Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In addition, these individuals have demonstrated cognitive impairments within the domains of attention, concentration, new learning, and memory. However, there has been no research examining the impact of physiological arousal on attention in individuals with PTSD. This study documents the level of physiological arousal and associated disruption of attentional abilities in 28 Persian Gulf War veterans (18 without PTSD or other psychopathology and 10 with PTSD). This population represents a group of combat trauma victims who experienced a relatively acute onset of PTSD, thus providing a unique opportunity to compare prior psychophysiological and cognitive results with a group of veterans who manifested a recent onset of PTSD. Results indicated relatively comparable psychophysiological reactivity and arousal between Persian Gulf War veterans with PTSD and Persian Gulf War veterans without PTSD. Furthermore, attentional processes of veterans with PTSD were not more disrupted than in comparison soldiers. Results suggest that the intensity and chronicity of the disorder may impact physiological arousal and disruption of cognitive functioning. Following Persian Gulf War veterans with PTSD over time may reveal that psychophysiological arousal becomes more pronounced with chronicity, perhaps as memory networks become strengthened and/or neuroendocrine systems become increasingly disrupted.     

Medical problems,maladaptive behaviors,and the developmentally disabled

Research has shown that aberrant behaviors of people with developmental disabilities have multiple determinants; of these, medical problems and their potential relations to aberrant behaviors, have been, for the most part, not studied. This retrospective study examined the relations of 26 acute medical treatements to the aberrant behaviors of 10 elderly people with developmental disabilities. Results showed that 73.1% of the aberrant behaviors decreased in frequency after medical treatments. The study suggests the importance of acute medical problems and treatments as possible factors in the occurrence of aberrant behaviors in this population.