Alexithymia is not related to tolerance for cold pressor pain

To test the hypothesis that higher scores on alexithymia are associated with reduced tolerance for cold pressor pain, 116 college undergraduates completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 of Bagby, Parker and Taylor and engaged in the cold pressor test. Their alexithymia scores were not associated with tolerance for cold pressor pain, suggesting that individuals scoring high on alexithymia do not show a general hypersensitivity to a cold stimulus.     

The Effects of Real Time Client Feedback Using a Mobile App

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Strong therapeutic relationships built on trust are essential to effective mental and behavioral health services. Regularly eliciting feedback from clients can...     

Gaussian variational estimation for multidimensional item response theory

Multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) is widely used in assessment and evaluation of educational and psychological tests. It models the individual response patterns by specifying a functional relationship between individuals' multiple latent traits and their responses to test items. One major challenge in parameter estimation in MIRT is that the likelihood involves intractable multidimensional integrals due to the latent variable structure. Various methods have been proposed that involve either direct numerical approximations to the integrals or Monte Carlo simulations. However, these methods are known to be computationally demanding in high dimensions and rely on sampling data points from a posterior distribution. We propose a new Gaussian variational expectation--maximization (GVEM) algorithm which adopts variational inference to approximate the intractable marginal likelihood by a computationally feasible lower bound. In addition, the proposed algorithm can be applied to assess the dimensionality of the latent traits in an exploratory analysis. Simulation studies are conducted to demonstrate the computational efficiency and estimation precision of the new GVEM algorithm compared to the popular alternative Metropolis–Hastings Robbins–Monro algorithm. In addition, theoretical results are presented to establish the consistency of the estimator from the new GVEM algorithm.     

Psychometric Properties of the French Version of the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence for Young Children (PMSC)

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a French version of the pictorial scale of Perceived Movement Skill Competence for Young Children (PMSC), which is aligned with the third version of the Test of Gross Motor Development.MethodA sample of 219 French-speaking Canadian children (5 to 12 years old) participated in this study.ResultsResults supported the factor validity and reliability of a 13-item version of the PMSC encompassing two factors (i.e., ball skills and locomotor skills). Subsequent analyses supported the weak, partial strong, and partial strict invariance of responses to the PMSC as a function of sex. Additionally, analyses revealed that boys displayed significantly higher perceived ball skill competence than girls. Results also supported a lack of differential item functioning (DIF) and latent mean differences as a function of body mass index and physical activity/sport involvement, but revealed evidence of DIF and latent mean differences as a function of age. More precisely, these results show that older children displayed significantly: (a) higher scores on the sliding item and lower scores on the kicking item relative to younger children; and (b) lower scores on perceived locomotor skills competence than younger children.ConclusionOverall, results suggest that the French version of the PMSC has acceptable psychometric properties and can be confidently used in research or practice to assess children's perceived movement skill competence.     

A Systematic Review of Student-Mediated Math Interventions for Students with Emotional or Behavior Disorders

Journal of Behavioral Education - Students identified with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) display deficits across academic content areas, most notably in mathematics. We reviewed research...     

Juvenile Competency and Responsibility: Public Perceptions

The current study examined the relationship between knowledge of adolescent brain development and attitudes about juvenile competency, responsibility, likelihood to recidivate, and rehabilitative capacity. In addition, it examined what factors—a juvenile's age, the type of crime committed, or the immediacy of the crime—influenced participants' perceptions. Participants displayed some knowledge of adolescent brain development and social maturity, and tended to see adolescents as not ready, emotionally or psychologically, to handle the proceedings of adult court or a jury trial. However, a delay in criminal behavior (immediate vs. next morning) and type of victim (targeted vs. random) heavily influenced ratings of responsibility, likelihood to recidivate, and rehabilitative capacity. Implications for jury decision making and public policy are discussed.     

Vection during conflicting multisensory information about the axis, magnitude, and direction of self-motion

We examined the vection induced by consistent and conflicting multisensory information about self-motion. Observers viewed displays simulating constant-velocity self-motion in depth while physically oscillating their heads left-right or back-forth in time with a metronome. Their tracked head movements were either ignored or incorporated directly into the self-motion display (as an added simulated self-acceleration). When this head oscillation was updated into displays, sensory conflict was generated by simulating oscillation along: (i) an orthogonal axis to the head movement; or (ii) the same axis, but in a non-ecological direction. Simulated head oscillation always produced stronger vection than 'no display oscillation'--even when the axis/direction of this display motion was inconsistent with the physical head motion. When head-and-display oscillation occurred along the same axis: (i) consistent (in-phase) horizontal display oscillation produced stronger vection than conflicting (out-of-phase) horizontal display oscillation; however, (ii) consistent and conflicting depth oscillation conditions did not induce significantly different vection. Overall, orthogonal-axis oscillation was found to produce very similar vection to same-axis oscillation. Thus, we conclude that while vection appears to be very robust to sensory conflict, there are situations where sensory consistency improves vection.     

Depression in Inner City African American Youth: A Phenomenological Study

Depression can at times be under-identified, and misdiagnosed, especially in youth from under-represented ethnic and racial groups who live in urban environments. This study employed a qualitative phenomenological methodology to examine the subjective experience of depression among clinically diagnosed inner city African American adolescents, aged 13–17 years. Five super-ordinate themes emerged from the study analysis including, (a) the depth of depression, (b) life events and experiences as “root base”, (c) the emotional sense of self, (d) the survival self, and (e) the healing self. Findings also demonstrated the essence of the lived experience of being depressed as including both externalizing and internalizing strategies for coping. The adolescents described depression as a part of life and did not describe suicide as a solution, suggesting the need to consider that these constructs may lead to a more informed understanding and identification of depression among African American youths. Methodological limitations and recommendations for future research are addressed.     

Assessment and treatment of foot-shoe fetish displayed by a man with autism

Results of a functional analysis indicated that a man diagnosed with autism engaged in bizarre sexual behavior in the presence of women wearing sandals. Several treatments proved to be ineffective or impractical. By contrast, a response-interruption/time-out procedure quickly eliminated the problem behavior in multiple settings.     

But I'm No Bigot: How Prejudiced White Americans Maintain Unprejudiced Self‐Images

Four experiments investigate a modern paradox: White Americans harbor racial prejudice, but view themselves as unprejudiced. We hypothesized that social representations of prejudice available in American culture lead many Whites to conclude that they are relatively unprejudiced. In Experiment 1, participants primed with the bigot stereotype viewed themselves as less prejudiced. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants exposed to media representations of racists viewed themselves as less prejudiced. In Experiment 4, participants sought exposure to media representations of prejudice after a threat to their unprejudiced self‐image. These experiments suggest that representations of prejudice in American culture lead prejudiced individuals to view themselves as unprejudiced, and the effect of these representations on people's unprejudiced self‐images can be passive or intentional.