Studying overt word reading and speech production with event-related fMRI: a method for detecting, assessing, and correcting articulation-induced signal changes and for measuring onset time and duration of articulation

A quantitative method is introduced for detecting and correcting artifactual signal changes in BOLD time series data arising from the magnetic field warping caused by motion of the articulatory apparatus when speaking aloud, with extensions to detection of subvocal articulatory activity during silent reading. Whole-head images allow the large, spike-like signal changes from the moving tongue and other components of the articulatory apparatus to be detected and localized in time, providing a measure of the time of vocalization onset, the vocalization duration, and also an estimate of the magnitude and shape of the signal change resulting from motion. Data from brain voxels are then examined during the vocalization period, and statistical outliers corresponding to contamination from articulatory motion are removed and replaced by linear interpolation from adjacent, uncontaminated data points. This quantitative approach to cleansing brain time series data of articulatory-motion-induced artifact is combined with a pre-scanning training regimen that reduces gross head movement during reading aloud to the levels observed during reading silently, which can be corrected with available image registration techniques. The combination of quantitative analysis of articulatory motion artifacts and pre-scanning training makes possible a much wider range of tasks involving overt speech than are currently being used in fMRI studies of language and cognition, as well as characterization of subvocal movements of the articulatory apparatus that are relevant to theories of reading skill, verbal rehearsal in working memory, and problem solving.     

Should Universalism Trump Cultural Relativism in Counseling?

Certain cultural customs and practices are viewed as abhorrent by many people, yet contemporary American counselors rarely criticize any specific culture. In this article, the authors explore why counselors abstain from such criticism. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate that universalism, often regarded as a politically incorrect and an academically archaic philosophy, is manifestly prevalent within the world's religious and political realms, as well as within the counseling profession. The authors assert that universalism should be prevalent within the counseling profession and that it can be integrated with multicultural principles. Finally, the authors suggest a procedure for identifying universal principles and practices.     

Expanding and contracting optic-flow patterns and vection

When stationary observers view an optic-flow pattern, visually induced self-motion perception (vection) and a form of motion sickness known as simulator sickness (SS), can result. Previous results suggest that an expanding flow pattern leads to more SS than a contracting pattern. Sensory conflict, a possible cause of SS, may be more salient when an expanding optic-flow pattern is viewed. An experiment was conducted to test if a more salient sensory conflict accompanying expanding flow patterns might inhibit vection. Participants (n = 15) viewed a pattern of blue squares, either steadily expanded or contracted, on a large rear-projection screen. Vection onset and magnitude were measured for 30 s with a computer-interfaced slide device. Vection onset was significantly faster, and vection magnitude stronger, when a contracting pattern was viewed. We propose that our extensive experience with forward self-motion may form a neural expectancy (exposure-history) about the sensory inputs which typically accompany expanding flow. However, since backward self-motion is less common, there may be a weaker exposure-history for contracting flow, and as a result these patterns generate less salient sensory conflict and subsequently less vection.     

Correlates of Alaska Native fatal and nonfatal suicidal behaviors 1990-2001

Factors correlated with suicidal behavior in a predominately Alaska Native region of Alaska are described, and the correlates relating to fatal and nonfatal suicide behaviors in this indigenous population are distinguished. Suicide data from the region (1990-2001) were aggregated and compared to 2000 U.S. Census Data using chi-squared tests. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify predictors of suicide behaviors. Suicidal behaviors were significantly more common among single, unemployed Alaska Natives who had not completed high school. In multivariable analysis, male sex, age > or = 25 years, firearms, and substance abuse history were each associated with suicide death.     

Narrative Therapy Using a Reflecting Team: An Ethnographic Study of Therapists' Experiences

Narrative therapy in the last 15 years has been utilized by many clinicians and yet there is a lack of research on therapists' experience of this approach. This ethnographic research explores the views and perceptions of eight narrative therapists who belonged to a narrative team in an outpatient clinic. These therapists were observed and interviewed. Five themes emerge from the data. The themes include a sense of success in reducing the clients' problems as well as some limitations of narrative therapy. Two recommendations for research and practice involve the use of narrative therapy without a team and the use of narrative therapy in addressing issues of family violence.     

Note taking, review, memory, and comprehension

In previous work assessing memory at various levels of representation, namely the surface form, textbase, and situation model levels, participants read texts but were otherwise not actively engaged with the texts. The current study tested the influence of active engagement with the material via note taking, along with the opportunity to review such notes, and the modality of presentation (text vs. spoken). The influence of these manipulations was assessed both immediately and 1 week later. In Experiment 1 participants read a text, whereas in Experiment 2 participants watched a video recording of the material being read as a lecture. For each experiment the opportunity to take notes was manipulated within participants, and the opportunity to review these notes before the test was manipulated between participants. Note taking improved performance at the situation model level in both experiments, although there was also some suggestion of benefit for the surface form. Thus, active engagement with material, such as note taking, appears to have the greatest benefit at the deeper levels of understanding.     

Childhood Emotional Maltreatment as a Robust Predictor of Suicidal Ideation: A 3-Year Multi-Wave,Prospective Investigation

Despite literature suggesting a relationship between child maltreatment and suicidal ideation, few studies have examined the prospective course of this relationship. The current study examined this relationship in a sample of 682 community youth who were followed over the course of 3 years. Repeated measures of suicidal ideation, emotional maltreatment, and depressive symptom severity were examined in multi-wave path analysis models. Overall, results suggest that emotional maltreatment over time contributes uniquely to the prospective prediction of suicidal ideation, even when controlling for age, previous suicidal ideation, biological sex, and depression symptom severity. Unlike previous studies that have only measured emotional maltreatment at one-time point, the current study demonstrates that emotional maltreatment contributes unique risk to suicidal ideation prospectively among youth. Results speak to the importance of examining emotional maltreatment and suicidal ideation within prospective models of risk and suggest that emotional maltreatment is a robust predictor of suicidal ideation, over and above history of suicidal ideation and depression.     

Measuring Positive Affect,Negative Affect,and Physiological Hyperarousal among Italian Youth: Translations of the PANAS-C and PH-C

Italian-language versions of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children (PANAS-C; Laurent et al. Psychological Assessment, 11, 326–338, 1999) and Physiological Hyperarousal Scale for Children (PH-C; Laurent et al. Psychological Assessment, 16, 373–380, 2004) were developed. Students (N = 1026; M age = 12.05 years, SD = 1.49) from central Italy completed these scales. Measures were evaluated based on criteria from previous studies resulting in an 11-item PANAS-C PA scale (α = .88), a 13-item PANAS-C NA scale (α = .87), and a 14-item PH-C (α = .85). Confirmatory factor analyses resulted in best-fit indices that favored a 3-factor model consistent with the tripartite model of anxiety and depression. Similar to results reported with the original English-language and other translations of these measures, scores on the PA scale were lower and scores on the NA and PH scales were higher for older girls than older boys and younger boys and girls. Findings suggested that the psychometric properties of the Italian-language versions of the PANAS-C and PH-C were similar to the English-language versions and other translated versions of the measures.