Discounting and conditionalization

When people are asked to judge the strengths of two potential causes of an effect, they often demonstrate discounting--devaluing the strength of a target cause when it is judged in the presence of a strong (relative to a weak) alternative cause. Devaluing the target cause sometimes results from conditionalization--holding alternative causes constant while evaluating the target cause. Yet discounting not attributable to conditionalization also occurs. We sought to dissociate conditionalization and discounting (beyond that accounted for by conditionalization) by having subjects perform either a spatial or a verbal working memory task while learning a causal relation. Conditionalization was disrupted by the verbal task but not the spatial task; however, discounting was disrupted by the spatial task but not the verbal task. Conditionalization and discounting are therefore cognitively dissociable processes in human causal inference.     

A warm heart and a clear head. The contingent effects of weather on mood and cognition

Prior studies on the association between weather and psychological changes have produced mixed results. In part, this inconsistency may be because weather's psychological effects are moderated by two important factors: the season and time spent outside. In two correlational studies and an experiment manipulating participants' time outdoors (total N = 605), pleasant weather (higher temperature or barometric pressure) was related to higher mood, better memory, and "broadened" cognitive style during the spring as time spent outside increased. The same relationships between mood and weather were not observed during other times of year, and indeed hotter weather was associated with lower mood in the summer. These results are consistent with findings on seasonal affective disorder, and suggest that pleasant weather improves mood and broadens cognition in the spring because people have been deprived of such weather during the winter.     

Cystic Fibrosis Prenatal Screening in Genetic Counseling Practice: Recommendations of the National Society of Genetic Counselors

For over a decade, prenatal screening for cystic fibrosis (CF) has been considered a model for the integration of genetic testing into routine medical practice. Data from pilot studies and public policy discourse have led to recommendations by some professional organizations that CF screening should be offered or made available to pregnant women and their partners, and to couples planning a pregnancy. It is crucial that genetic counselors gain thorough understanding of the complexities of CF and the implications of positive test results, so that they may serve as a reliable, educated referral base and resource for health care providers and their patients. While not all pregnant women will be referred for genetic counseling prior to CF carrier testing, genetic counselors often will be asked to counsel clients after they have a positive test result, or who are found to be at increased risk. Genetic counselors can play an important role in providing accurate and current information as well as support for patients informed decisions. These recommendations were created by a multicenter working group of genetic counselors with expertise in CF and are based on personal clinical experience, review of pertinent English language medical articles, and reports of expert committees. The recommendations should not be construed as dictating an exclusive course of management, nor does the use of such recommendations guarantee a particular outcome. These recommendations do not displace a health care providers professional judgment based on the clinical circumstances of a particular client.     

Genetic Evaluation and Counseling of Couples with Recurrent Miscarriage: Recommendations of the National Society of Genetic Counselors

The objective of this document is to provide recommendations for genetic evaluation and counseling of couples with recurrent miscarriage (RM). The recommendations are the opinions of the multidisciplinary Inherited Pregnancy Loss Working Group (IPLWG), with expertise in genetic counseling, medical genetics, maternal fetal medicine, internal medicine, infectious disease, cytogenetics, and coagulation disorders. The IPLWG defines RM as three or more clinically recognized consecutive or non-consecutive pregnancy losses occurring prior to fetal viability (<24 weeks gestation). These recommendations are provided to assist genetic counselors and other health care providers in clinical decision-making, as well as to promote consistency of patient care, guide the allocation of medical resources, and increase awareness of the psychosocial and cultural issues experienced by couples with RM. The IPLWG was convened with support from the March of Dimes Western Washington State Chapter and the University of Washington Division of Medical Genetics. The recommendations are U.S. Preventive Task Force Class III, and are based on clinical experiences, review of pertinent English-language published articles, and reports of expert committees. This document reviews the suspected causes of RM, provides indications for genetic evaluation and testing, addresses psychosocial and cultural considerations, and provides professional and patient resources. These recommendations should not be construed as dictating an exclusive course of medical management, nor does the use of such recommendations guarantee a particular outcome. The professional judgment of a health care provider, familiar with the circumstances of a specific case, should always supersede these recommendations.     

Use of the Conners-wells adolescent self-report scale (short form) with children

The short form of the Conners-Wells Adolescent Self-Report Scale (CASS:Short) is administered to 319 children and 844 adolescents to investigate whether the instrument can be used with respondents under the age of 12. Mothers of all respondents are asked to rate each child using a measure designed to assess a parallel set of problem behaviors. The factor structure of the CASS:Short is tested in both samples and is found to have good fit to the data. Mean levels of ADHD symptomatology are also examined for possible sex and age effects, as was the relationship between parent and self-report ratings. The overall results provide empirical support for the use of the CASS:Short with children ages 7 to 11.     

Safari to masking land: A hunt for the elusive U

Due to the theoretical interest in whether U-shaped visual masking functions are obtained when discrimination responses are required of the Ss, an attempt was made to replicate the Weisstein and Haber (1965) experiment. The attempt was unsuccessful. The results indicated that masking was uniform over a temporal range of approximately 50 msec. The possibility of individual differences in the shape of masking functions was investigated in two subsequent experiments with negative results. Overall, the results of the three experiments supported a temporal integration account of masking when assessed by detection or discrimination criteria. Some possible reasons for discrepancies with the Weisstein and Haber (1965) experiment were considered.     

Preschool language and visuospatial skills respectively predict multiplication and addition/subtraction skills in middle school children

A converging body of evidence from neuroimaging, behavioral, and neuropsychology studies suggests that different arithmetic operations rely on distinct neuro-cognitive processes: while addition and subtraction may rely more on visuospatial reasoning, multiplication would depend more on verbal abilities. In this paper, we tested this hypothesis in a longitudinal study measuring language and visuospatial skills in 358 preschoolers, and testing their mental calculation skills at the beginning of middle school. Language skills at 5.5 years significantly predicted multiplication, but not addition nor subtraction scores at 11.5 years. Conversely, early visuospatial skills predicted addition and subtraction, but not multiplication scores. These results provide strong support for the existence of a double dissociation in mental arithmetic operations, and demonstrate the existence of long-lasting links between language/visuospatial skills and specific calculation abilities.