Response to bullying (RTB): Behavioral skills and in situ training for individuals diagnosed with intellectual disabilities

This study evaluated behavioral skills training (BST) and in situ training (IST) to teach a response to bullying (RtB) to four adults with intellectual disabilities who were victims of bullying. The RtB consisted of refraining from retaliating, stating disapproval, walking away, and telling a staff member. In situ assessments were conducted in the natural setting to assess the effects of BST and IST. BST alone was successful in teaching the RtB to two participants. When BST did not result in the use of the RtB, IST was effective for one participant, and IST plus an incentive was effective for the other participant. The results of this study are consistent with previous BST and IST research.     

Temperature increases in preterm infants during massage therapy

Temperature was assessed in 72 preterm infants randomly assigned to a control or a massage therapy group. A greater increase in temperature was noted for preterm infants receiving massage therapy versus a control group, even though the incubator portholes remained open during the 15 min massage therapy session but not for the control group over an equivalent time period.     

Intracranial self-stimulation improves memory consolidation in rats with little training

Post-training intracranial electrical self-stimulation can improve learning and memory consolidation in rats. However, the molecular mechanisms involved are not known yet. Since previous paradigms of this kind of facilitation are relatively unsuitable to try a molecular approach, here we develop a single and short model of learning and memory facilitation by post-training self-stimulation that could make easier the research of its neural and molecular basis. Thus, three consecutive experiments were carried out to ascertain whether post-training self-stimulation is able to facilitate memory when learning consists of only a brief (5 trials) two-way active avoidance conditioning session. The results of Experiment 1 showed that it is actually possible, and that 48 h after the acquisition session is a very good time to observe the memory improvement. As a way to probe the retroactive effect of self-stimulation, in Experiment 2 we observed that the same self-stimulation treatment given to the subjects not post-training but 48 h before a single two-way active avoidance session does not improve the acquisition of conditioning. In Experiment 3, we showed that the SS facilitative effect observed 48 h after the acquisition session in Experiment 1 was still maintained one week later. We concluded that post-training intracranial self-stimulation can consistently improve memory consolidation even when little acquisition training is given to the animals in a single training session.     

Free-association norms for the Spanish names of the Snodgrass and Vanderwart pictures.

The most frequent names in Spanish corresponding to a set of 247 pictures in the Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) norms were used as stimuli in a discrete free-association task. A sample of 525 Spanish-speaking participants provided the first word that came to mind for each of the verbal stimuli. Responses were organized according to frequency of production in order to prepare word-association norms for the set of stimuli.     

Differential sucking by neonates of depressed versus non-depressed mothers

Forty-two neonates (M = 39-h old) of depressed and non-depressed mothers sucked on cold (50 °F) and warm (78 °F) nipples on alternating trials. Half the infants received the cold nipple on the first of the eight trials (20 s each) and the other half received the warm nipple first. Neonates of depressed mothers sucked twice as much as neonates of non-depressed mothers, suggesting arousal dysregulation, overactivity or greater hedonic behavior in the newborns of depressed mothers. Although the newborns did not show a preference for cold or warm nipples, a temperature order effect revealed that neonates who received the cold nipple on the first trial sucked significantly more on trials 2–8 than those who received the warm nipple on the first trial, suggesting that an initially cold nipple might elicit greater sucking. More research is needed on maternal mood effects and temperature of objects to determine how these factors affect neonatal sucking behaviors.     

Male–male combats in a polymorphic lizard: residency and size,but not color,affect fighting rules and contest outcome

Theoretical models predict that the outcome of dyadic agonistic encounters between males is influenced by resource‐holding potential, resource value, and intrinsic aggressiveness of contestants. Moreover, in territorial disputes residents enjoy a further obvious competitive advantage from the residency itself, owing to the intimate familiarity with their territory. Costs of physical combats are, however, dramatically high in many instances. Thus, signals reliably reflecting fighting ability of the opponents could easily evolve in order to reduce these costs. For example, variation in color morph in polymorphic species has been associated with dominance in several case studies. In this study, we staged asymmetric resident‐intruder encounters in males of the common wall lizard Podarcis muralis, a species showing three discrete morphs (white, yellow, and red) to investigate the effects of asymmetries in color morph, residency, and size between contestants on the outcome of territorial contests. We collected aggression data by presenting each resident male with three intruders of different color morph, in three consecutive tests conducted in different days, and videotaping their interactions. The results showed that simple rules such as residency and body size differences could determine the outcome of agonistic interactions: residents were more aggressive than intruders, and larger males were competitively superior to smaller males. However, we did not find any effect of color on male aggression or fighting success, suggesting that color polymorphism in this species is not a signal of status or fighting ability in intermale conflicts. Aggr. Behav. 35:274–283, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The shattered mirror: Treatment of a group of narcissistic patients

Increasingly, group psychotherapy takes its place as a valid treatment model for patients with severe character pathology. This paper explores the impact of group treatment on a homogeneous group of patients with narcissistic character problems. The clinical example serves to illustrate the particular dynamics of this patient population; addresses the challenges inherent in treating these patients in a homogeneous, long-term therapy group; and, finally, underscores the countertransference pitfalls in such a clinical situation. Nonetheless, the successful working through of some of these patients' terrifying pathology supports the important of continuing experience and research into this arena.The author wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the invaluable assistance of J. Scott Rutan, Ph.D., in the planning and preparation of this clinical report.     

Sequential cotherapy of groups for training and clinical care

Cotherapy has often been used as the leadership model in group therapy. The literature is full of contradictory data and impressions as to the efficacy of this model. In this article a new form of cotherapy is presented which may offer some of the assets attributed to the cotherapy leadership model while at the same time reducing some of the liabilities. Sequential cotherapy refers to cotherapy when each of the therapists leads sequentially rather than at the same time. The pros and cons of such an approach are discussed from both the perspectives of training new group therapists and of service to patients in groups.Dr. Rutan and Mrs. Alonso are members of the faculty of Harvard University Medical School and share responsibility for training psychiatric residents in group therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.     

Prenatal cortisol, prematurity and low birthweight

Three hundred depressed pregnant women were recruited at approximately 20 weeks gestation. They were then divided by a median split into high and low urinary cortisol level groups. The high cortisol group had higher CES-D depression scores and higher inhibition (BIS) scores prenatally. Their fetuses had smaller head circumference, abdominal circumference, biparietal diameter and fetal weight. The high cortisol group neonates were shorter gestational age and lower birthweight and they had lower Brazelton habituation and higher Brazelton reflex scores. Discriminant function analyses suggested that cortisol levels more accurately classified short gestation and low birthweight groups than CES-D depression scores.