Pathways from Birth Weight to ADHD Symptoms through Fluid Reasoning in Youth with or without Intellectual Disability

Although individual differences in fluid reasoning reliably mediate predictions of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms from birth weight in youth with typical cognitive development (TD), it is unknown if this indirect effect operates similarly in the development of ADHD symptoms secondary to intellectual disability (ID). Thus, we evaluated mediation by fluid reasoning in a longitudinal sample of 163 youth (45% female) with (n = 52) or without (n = 111) ID who were followed prospectively from age 5 to age 13. At age 9, youth completed the Arithmetic subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, a measure of fluid reasoning. At ages 9 and 13, mothers and teachers separately rated youth ADHD symptoms and mothers completed a diagnostic interview. Mediation was tested via path analysis with bootstrapped confidence intervals, and moderated mediation estimated whether indirect effects differed between ID and TD youth or based on youth IQ. Controlling for demographic factors and age 9 ADHD symptoms, age 9 Arithmetic mediated birth weight and multi-method/informant age 13 ADHD symptoms, such that birth weight positively predicted Arithmetic, which negatively predicted ADHD symptoms. Neither ID status nor IQ moderated the observed indirect effect through Arithmetic, suggesting that it was similar for ID and TD youth as well as across the range of youth IQs. These findings support previous evidence that fluid reasoning, as measured by Arithmetic, may causally mediate birth weight and ADHD symptoms, and suggest that this pathway operates similarly with respect to the development of ADHD symptoms in youth with ID.     

Mediated pathways from maternal depression and early parenting to children's executive function and externalizing behaviour problems

Structural equation models were used to examine pathways from maternal depression and early parenting to children's executive function (EF) and externalizing behaviours in the first nationally representative study to obtain direct assessments of children's kindergarten EF skills (i.e., the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011). Preliminary analyses revealed that maternal depression was negatively related to children's EF and positively related to children's externalizing behaviour problems. However, the negative association between maternal depression and children's EF was completely mediated by maternal parenting practices (i.e., warmth and home learning stimulation). Furthermore, there was an indirect effect from maternal parenting practices to children's externalizing behaviour problems through EF, such that children with stronger EF skills had fewer externalizing behaviour problems. Findings provide support for a family process model in which warm, cognitively stimulating parenting supports children's EF, which in turn decreases externalizing behaviours.

Highlights

• This study examined pathways from parent mental health to children's executive function (EF) and behaviour problems.
• Maternal depression was negatively related to children's EF and positively related to children's behaviour problems.
• The negative association between maternal depression and children's EF was completely mediated by maternal parenting. There was an indirect effect from maternal parenting to children's behaviour problems through EF.

     

Multisensory information boosts numerical matching abilities in young children

This study presents the first evidence that preschool children perform more accurately in a numerical matching task when given multisensory rather than unisensory information about number. Three- to 5-year-old children learned to play a numerical matching game on a touchscreen computer, which asked them to match a sample numerosity with a numerically equivalent choice numerosity. Samples consisted of a series of visual squares on some trials, a series of auditory tones on other trials, and synchronized squares and tones on still other trials. Children performed at chance on this matching task when provided with either type of unisensory sample, but improved significantly when provided with multisensory samples. There was no speed–accuracy tradeoff between unisensory and multisensory trial types. Thus, these findings suggest that intersensory redundancy may improve young children’s abilities to match numerosities.     

The face of an angel: Effect of exposure to details of moral behavior on facial recognition memory

The Dangerous Decisions Theory (DDT; Porter & ten Brinke, 2009) posits that instantaneous perceptions of trustworthiness based on a stranger's face influence the manner in which ensuing information about the target is processed. This study tested a bi-directional DDT model, proposing that information concerning a target's moral behavior could distort eyewitness memory for the individual's facial trustworthiness. Participants (N = 141) viewed a target individual's face (previously rated as appearing “neutral” on trustworthiness) and then were exposed to one of the three vignettes describing the target's behavior (either immoral, morally neutral, or altruistic). Following a delay, observers were asked to identify the target individual on a facial morph video (continuously ranging in levels of perceived trustworthiness). Results indicated that behavioral information varying in morality influenced facial recognition memory; specifically, faces were recalled as having less trustworthy features following a disclosure of immoral/criminal behavior.     

The affirmation of the scientist-practitioner. A look back at Boulder

In the aftermath of World War II, several influences were paramount in forcing academic psychology to recognize, albeit reluctantly, the coming professionalization of psychology. The federal government, wishing to avoid a repeat of blunders following World War I that led to significant dissatisfaction among veterans, took proactive steps to ensure that mental health needs of the new veterans would be met. The USPHS and the VA were mandated to expand significantly the pool of mental health practitioners, a direction that led not only to the funding of the Boulder conference but also to the development of APA's accreditation program, funded practical and internship arrangements with the VA, and the USPHS grants to academic departments for clinical training. The GI Bill, amended to include payment for graduate education, created tremendous interest in graduate programs in psychology. As a result, psychology programs were inundated with funded applicants, most of whom were interested in the application of psychology to clinical and other applied fields. Graduate psychology departments were mixed in their views of this "blessing." The reality of a separate curriculum for professional training in psychology was a bitter pill for some academic psychologists to swallow. Graduate departments feared that control of their programs would be taken over by external forces and that they would lose their right to determine their own curriculum. Further, they feared the domination of clinical training within their own departments and the effects of such educational emphasis on their traditional experimental programs. The Boulder conference brought together these disparate needs and concerns, although one can argue about how well some points of view were represented with respect to others. It was a time of high anticipation and fear. The conference could easily have ended in failure, with such diverse interests being unable to reach any consensus. There are many letters in the correspondence of committee members that suggest disagreements serious enough to prevent the development of any single model of training. Instead, by most yardsticks that one could apply, the conference succeeded, perhaps beyond the dreams of many of those in attendance who were most invested in a model for professional training. In evaluating the legacy of Boulder, several points are apparent. First, the conference succeeded because 73 individuals were able to agree to some 70 resolutions in 15 days, creating the scientist-practitioner model of professional training. Such consensus was arguably a remarkable achievement. The endorsement of the model by academic units followed with little evident resistance, although it is clear that some Boulder-model programs were developed that bore little resemblance to the model's insistence on significant training in both research and practice. Second, as a response to social and political needs, the conference was clearly a success. The cooperation of the APA, the USPHS, and the VA benefited all three entities. Clinical psychology was given the financial support and backing to advance it as a profession, and the federal government was able to begin the process of securing the personnel needed to address the mental health needs of the nation. The architects of Boulder were clear that their vision of training for professional psychology should be viewed as dynamic and experimental rather than fixed and prescribed. Certainly there are several variants of professional training extant today, yet the overwhelming majority of currently accredited programs in psychology label themselves as "Boulder-model" programs or "scientist-practitioner" programs. Still, new national conferences on professional training in psychology occur with some regularity as participants seek to resolve many of the same concerns debated by those at Boulder. The grand experiment goes on.     

Finding the neutral position: patient and analyst perspectives

In light of current debates between classical and intersubjective schools of psychoanalysis, the challenge posed by the latter to such basic concepts as the analyst's neutrality, anonymity, and abstinence is taken up. It is maintained that the term neutral position is today more germane and meaningful than the term neutrality, which frequently has been taken to prescribe the analyst's posture. It is proposed that for each patient the neutral position is uniquely sited and that it is incumbent on the analyst to find its location. The neutral position is defined within the context of the interaction between analyst and patient. The concept is therefore compatible with--indeed it is essential to--an intersubjective or relational orientation. The manifold reasons, conscious and unconscious, why the analyst is vulnerable to leaving the neutral position are considered. The patient's reaction to the analyst who has left the neutral position and the analyst's clinical use of this reaction are discussed.     

Intrusive thoughts and auditory hallucinations: a comparative study of intrusions in psychosis

Several theories of auditory hallucinations implicate the involvement of intrusive thoughts and other theories suggest that the interpretation of voices determines the distress associated with them. This study tested the hypotheses that patients who experience auditory hallucinations will experience more intrusive thoughts and be more distressed by them and interpret them as more uncontrollable and unacceptable than the control groups. It also examines whether the interpretation of hallucinations is associated with the distress caused by them and whether there are differences in the way that patients respond to and interpret their thoughts and voices. A questionnaire examining the frequency of intrusive thoughts and the reactions to them was administered to a group of patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia who experienced auditory hallucinations, a psychiatric control group and a non-patient control group. In addition, the patients in the first group completed a similar questionnaire in relation to their voices. Analyses of covariance showed that patients who experienced auditory hallucinations had more intrusive thoughts than the control groups and that they found their intrusive thoughts more distressing, uncontrollable and unacceptable than the control groups. Correlational analyses revealed that patients' interpretations of their voices were associated with the measures of distress in relation to them. Repeated measures analyses of covariance found no differences between thoughts and voices on the dimensions assessed. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Not to be and then to be: visual representation of ignored unfamiliar faces

Negative priming, the increase in response time and/or errors to targets previously encountered as distractors, is explained by inhibitory mechanisms that block the access of distractor representations to response systems. The processing of unfamiliar human faces was investigated using negative priming. Observers viewed a row of faces to decide whether 2 target faces were the same or different. Response latencies were longer when 1 or both targets had appeared as distractors on the immediately preceding trial--evidence that never-before seen faces are represented and require inhibition. Response latencies were shorter when face targets had appeared as distractors, either corrupted with high-frequency noise or contrast inverted--evidence that representations are facilitated. Finally, response latencies remained unaltered when face targets had appeared as upside-down distractors--evidence that not all distractor representations afford response priming. The visual system indeed represents ignored unfamiliar faces, but blocks these representations only if they vie with targets for the control of action.