The Effects of Haloperidol on Thought Disorder and IQ in Schizophrenia

The impact of haloperidol treatment on the Wechsler Adult intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Thought Disorder Index was investigated in a group of 19 patients with schizophrenia tested both before and after 26 days of treatment with haloperidol. Thought disorder scores declined significantly over the course of treatment and fewer patients demonstrated severe forms of thought disorder at the end of the trial. WAIS performance improved significantly but the magnitude of change was consistent with the literature on expected practice effects. Thought disorder scores were negatively correlated with IQ at baseline, but not at Day 26. The results suggest a partial dissociation of thought disorder and other cognitive functions in schizophrenia.     

Compliance and Problem-Solving Competence in Girls and Boys

The problem-solving abilities of 4- and 5-year old children (N = 208) were assessed to test the hypothesis that high levels of compliance are negatively related to problem solving. Problem-solving competence was examined with a task-specific measure and a standardized measure of general problem-solving performance. Low compliant children performed better on both measures. The role of compliance in the cognitive development of girls and boys is discussed.     

Medical Education for Social Justice: Paulo Freire Revisited

Although social justice is an integral component of medical professionalism, there is little discussion in medical education about how to teach it to future physicians. Using adult learning theory and the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, medical educators can teach a socially-conscious professionalism through educational content and teaching strategies. Such teaching can model non-hierarchical relationships to learners, which can translate to their clinical interactions with patients. Freirian teaching can additionally foster professionalism in both teachers and learners by ensuring that they are involved citizens in their local, national and international communities.     

Order of question presentation and correlation between judgments of comparative and own risk

Unrealistic optimism is often assessed using a single question asking for an estimate of comparative risk. However, it has been proposed that individuals treat such a question essentially as though it were only about their own risk. This proposal leads to the prediction that, when the questions about own risk and comparative risk are asked in sequence, the correlation between the resulting estimates should be lower if the question about own risk comes first than if the question about comparative risk comes first. This prediction was tested using a student sample (N=68). Participants answered the two types of question in sequence, with order of presentation being counterbalanced. Results were in accord with the prediction. Possible reasons are advanced for individuals' answering questions about comparative risk as if the questions concerned their own risk.     

The effects of haloperidol on thought disorder and IQ in schizophrenia

The impact of haloperidol treatment on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Thought Disorder Index was investigated in a group of 19 patients with schizophrenia tested both before and after 26 days of treatment with haloperidol. Thought disorder scores declined significantly over the course of treatment and fewer patients demonstrated severe forms of thought disorder at the end of the trial. WAIS performance improved significantly but the magnitude of change was consistent with the literature on expected practice effects. Thought disorder scores were negatively correlated with IQ at baseline, but not at Day 26. The results suggest a partial dissociation of thought disorder and other cognitive functions in schizophrenia.     

EQUATING INVERSE PROBABILITIES IN IMPLICIT PERSONALITY JUDGMENTS

Abstract— Meehl and Rosen (1955) observed that their colleagues tended to equate the sensitivity of a sign (its probability given a diagnostic category) with its predictive accuracy (the probability of the diagnostic category given the sign). Such equating of inverse probabilities implies ignoring base rates. Later, many researchers demonstrated such neglect in a number of experimental contexts involving hypothetical judgments; others have found some use of base rates—but only when base rates were supplied by the experimenter, in which case even irrelevant base rates influenced judgment. The present study tested for equating conditional probabilities in a context similar to the contexts involved in the initial observations—that is, subjects strove for accuracy rather than attempted to make good judgments about hypothetical problems, and the base rates were generated by the subjects themselves. Neglect of base rates was revealed by within-individual comparisons showing subjects equated inverse probabilities without equating the corresponding unconditional ones.     

Age-related changes in memory and in acetylcholine functions in the hippocampus in the Ts65Dn mouse, a model of Down syndrome

Spatial working memory and the ability of a cholinesterase inhibitor to enhance memory were assessed at 4, 10, and 16 months of ages in control and Ts65Dn mice, a partial trisomy model of Down syndrome, with possibly significant relationships to Alzheimer's disease as well. In addition, ACh release during memory testing was measured in samples collected from the hippocampus using in vivo microdialysis at 4, 10, and 22-25 months of age. When tested on a four-arm spontaneous alternation task, the Ts65Dn mice exhibited impaired memory scores at both 4 and 10 months. At 16 months, control performance had declined toward that of the Ts65Dn mice and the difference in scores across genotypes was not significant. Physostigmine (50 microg/kg) fully reversed memory deficits in the Ts65Dn mice in the 4-month-old group but not in older mice. Ts65Dn and control mice exhibited comparable baseline levels of ACh release at all ages tested; these levels did not decline significantly across age in either genotype. ACh release increased significantly during alternation testing only in the young Ts65Dn and control mice. However, the increase in ACh release during alternation testing was significantly greater in control than Ts65Dn mice at this age. The controls exhibited a significant age-related decline in the testing-related increase in ACh release. With only a small increase during testing in young Ts65Dn mice, the age-related decline in responsiveness of ACh release to testing was not significant in these mice. Overall, these results suggest that diminished responsiveness of ACh release in the hippocampus to behavioral testing may contribute memory impairments in Ts65Dn mice.     

The influence of emotional awareness and expressiveness on care-giving burden and health complaints in women and men

This study was designed to investigate the role of emotional awareness and expressiveness as influences on the experience of burden and impaired health for women and men maintaining a spouse or relative at home who had been diagnosed as having dementia. One hundred and thirty-one Caucasian care givers, 41 males and 90 females, participated in the study. Multivariate analysis of variance indicated that women scored higher than men on measures of burden, health complaints, and awareness of others' emotions. Regression analysis indicated that self-awareness of emotions interacted with care-giver gender to decrease health complaints for female care givers but increased health complaints for male care givers. Self-awareness of emotions also increased feelings of burden for male care givers in general and for female care givers experiencing low levels of burden. Awareness of others' emotions tended to reduce feelings of burden. Emotional expressiveness did not influence burden or health complaint scores.This research was funded by grants from the Health Research Funds of Quebec, the Quebec Council for Social Research, and the Montreal Alzheimer Society. The authors would like to express their gratitude to Valerie Takeda, Charlene Stamegna, and Helene Fyfe for their work on the project, and to the families, patients, and staff of the various referral agencies for their cooperation with the study.To whom reprint requests should be addressed at Centre for Research in Human Development, Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Boulevard West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3G 1M8.     

Gay male sexual assault survivors: the relations among internalized homophobia, experiential avoidance, and psychological symptom severity

This study explored the relations among internalized homophobia (IH), experiential avoidance, and psychological symptom severity in a community sample of 74 gay male sexual assault survivors. Results indicated that IH is associated with both depressive and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity. IH accounted for more variance than assault severity in predicting both PTSD and depression symptom severity. IH and experiential avoidance similarly predicted PTSD symptom severity. In comparison with IH, however, experiential avoidance is a stronger predictor of depression symptom severity. Results also showed that experiential avoidance partially mediated the relation between IH and both depressive and PTSD symptom severity. The implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.