Speed and Rhythm Affect Temporal Structure of Variability in Reaching Poststroke: A Pilot Study

Temporal structure reveals the potential adaptive strategies employed during upper extremity movements. The authors compared the temporal structure of upper extremity joints under 3 different reaching conditions: preferred speed, fast speed, and reaching with rhythmic auditory cues in 10 individuals poststroke. They also investigated the temporal structure of these 3 reaching conditions in 8 healthy controls to aid in the interpretation of the observed patterns in the poststroke cohort. Approximate entropy (ApEn) was used to measure the temporal structure of the upper extremity joints. ApEn was similar between conditions in controls. After stroke, ApEn was significantly higher for shoulder, elbow, and wrist both at fast speed and with rhythmic cues compared with preferred speed. ApEn at index finger was significantly higher only with rhythmic cues compared with preferred speed. The authors propose that practice reaching at faster speed and with rhythmic cues as a component of rehabilitation interventions may enhance adaptability after stroke.     

Is there conscious choice in directed mutation, phenocopies, and related phenomena? An answer based on quantum measurement theory

In a previous article (Goswami, 1997), it was suggested that an application of quantum measurement theory under the auspices of a monistic idealist ontology (that consciousness is the ground of being) can solve many difficult problems of neo-Darwinism, e.g., alternating rapid creativity and homeostasis observed in evolution and the directionality, origin, and nature of life. In this article, we propose an epigenetic quantum mechanism to explain the connection of developmental processes and evolution, as has been evidenced in such controversial phenomena as directed mutation and phenocopies. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A31BB026 00003     

Sentence Comprehension Deficits in Alzheimer''s Disease: A Comparison of Off-Line vs. On-Line Sentence Processing

Two studies explored whether sentence comprehension impairments in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are due to deficits in syntactic processing or memory. Study 1 used a picture-pointing sentence comprehension task to measure the final outcome of comprehension in an off-line fashion. It showed the comprehension of 30 patients with AD to be impaired, but suggested that the deficits could not be attributed solely to syntactic impairments. Study 2 investigated the effects of memory on sentence comprehension by comparing off-line (grammaticality judgment) with on-line (cross-modal naming) language processing in 11 AD and 9 control subjects. The results revealed impaired performance in the off-line task but normal performance in the on-line task using the same sentences. Performance on the off-line task correlated with independent measures of verbal working memory. These data are used to argue that sentence comprehension impairments are related to verbal working memory deficits in AD.     

Maternal Personality and Distress as Predictors of Child Neglect

Previous studies suggest that maternal personality problems predict child neglect. However, these studies have not distinguished between the common and unique contributions of various maternal personality dimensions, nor have they compared the contribution of maternal personality with maternal emotional distress. The current study addresses these issues using data collected by James Gaudin and distributed by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect at Cornell University. Information was extracted on 94 neglectful and 101 comparison mothers. Logistic regression analyses revealed that a composite score reflecting maternal empathic capacity inversely predicted child neglect, whereas maternal depressive symptoms and loneliness did not. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of distinguishing between common and unique contributions of maternal personality dimensions to clinical and social outcomes and in terms of the relative contribution of maternal personality and emotional distress to child neglect.     

Risk-factor research and prevention programs for anxiety disorders: a translational research framework

The aim of the present essay is to discuss the interconnection between risk-factor research and prevention program development for panic-spectrum psychopathology. We argue that prevention of panic-spectrum psychopathology specifically, and anxiety disorders more generally, is likely to be best advanced through active, systematic translation of basic, risk-factor research. After operationalizing key terminology, we present some exemplar risk-factor candidates for panic-spectrum psychopathology, summarize research related to their role as risk-factors for panic problems, and link this discussion to risk-factor nomenclature. We then present a translational framework for extrapolating extant knowledge on these and other potential risk-factors for panic-spectrum psychopathology with respect to the development of preventative interventions. The proposed translational framework is intended to describe a forward-feeding process by which risk-factor research could be used by clinical researchers to inform prevention programs; and reciprocally, how such prevention knowledge could be most effectively utilized to drive new, clinically focused risk-factor research.     

Aversive stimulus properties of morphine: evaluation using the drug preexposure conditioned taste aversion paradigm

Interpretation of the finding that positive-reinforcing drugs such as morphine also possess possible aversive properties, as revealed by their ability to induce a conditioned taste aversion (CTA), remains problematic. This issue was addressed in the present study using the drug preexposure CTA paradigm. Water-deprived rats were given noncontingent preexposure to one of three doses of morphine (2.5, 5.0, or 15.0 mg/kg) or drug vehicle. Subsequently, animals in each of these preexposure groups were presented with a novel 0.1% saccharin-flavored solution followed immediately by injection with one of the same three morphine doses or drug vehicle. This procedure was repeated at 5-day intervals until six saccharin presentations had been performed. Results indicated that while the three morphine doses were differentially potent as taste aversion-conditioning agents, they were equipotent as preexposure agents serving to disrupt CTA. These data suggest that preexposure to morphine's predominantly positive-reinforcing (and non-CTA-inducing) properties is sufficient for preexposure disruption of subsequent morphine CTA. A second experiment indicated that the minimal effective preexposure dose is between 0.3 and 1.25 mg/kg of morphine. It is suggested that an important commonality may exist between the discriminative stimulus properties of morphine as a CTA-inducing agent and as a positive reinforcer.     

Latent inhibition in within-subject designs: The roles of masking, schizotypy, and gender

Latent inhibition (LI) is defined as poorer associative learning with a previously exposed, irrelevant stimulus than with a non-preexposed, novel stimulus. This study examined how type of within-subject procedure, class of schizotypal symptoms, and gender modulate LI. Two within-subject procedures were examined, one excluding, and one including a masking task. The former yielded a stronger stimulus preexposure effect than the latter. However, the stimulus preexposure effect was attenuated by total schizotypy score in the masked, but not in the non-masked procedure. The results with schizotypy factors (positive and negative symptoms) as well as with schizotypy factors × gender interactions were inconsistent with those of other studies. It was suggested that in addition to LI, interference and novel pop-out effects were also produced by the procedures, particularly in the non-masked condition.     

Sales manager cost control engagement: antecedents and performance implications

Many organizations face competing agendas by which they are expected to simultaneously grow sales output while controlling associated costs. At the interface of this organizational pressure and the sales force’s implementation of such initiatives is the sales manager. However, questions with significant implications remain regarding how a sales manager’s requisite engagement with cost control affects sales performance. To address this issue, the authors conceptualize and operationalize the notion of sales manager cost control engagement. Results from a survey of 178 business-to-business sales managers show the antecedent and consequence effects of sales manager cost control engagement. A variety of organizational factors are shown to effectively direct the sales manager’s attention to cost control, which in turn has a positive impact on cost-related sales performance. These findings add to an emergent body of research aimed at understanding key skills required of sales managers for driving sales performance as well as provide a novel perspective for sales managers to consider when balancing pressures between cost inputs and sales outputs. Several theoretical and managerial implications are offered, as are future research directions.