Acute Intellectual Effects of Pediatric Head Trauma

The current study compared Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) performances of 30 children who sustained head injury with the performance of orthopedic controls matched on gender, age, race, and parental education and occupational attainment. Children were followed during initial hospitalization, trauma severity variables were recorded, and duration of posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) was determined by serial testing of mental status. The WISC-III was administered immediately following resolution of amnesia. Although the majority of patients sustained mild injuries, children with head injuries obtained significantly lower IQ and factor scores than nonneurologically injured children. Consistent with past research, performance-based scores including Performance IQ, Perceptual Organization, and Processing Speed were more sensitive to head trauma than their verbal counterparts. Standardized measurement of PTA appeared to be a better predictor of IQ status following injury than Glasgow Coma Scale score on admission or length of unconsciousness.     

Developmental change in the neuropsychological functioning of very low birth weight infants

Research on very low birth weight (VLBW) infants has not carefully evaluated developmental patterns of neurological and neuropsychological functioning across time. This study reports on a broad range of developmental outcomes for VLBW infants of low (LR, n = 116) and high (HR, n = 84) medical risk compared to full term infants (FT, n = 120) across 6, 12, and 24 months of age. While low risk infants showed initial delays in most areas, faster rates of change in motor and neurological development resulted in catch-up by 2 years of age as compared to the FT infants. The lack of acceleration in development of mental skills demonstrates a persistent lag in this area. In contrast, HR infants showed initial delays in all areas as compared to both LR and FT infants with slower rates of change in mental and expressive language skills. Although faster rates of change were evident for HR infants in motor, neurological, and receptive language skills, scores in these areas remain lower than those for the LR and FT infants. The absence of accelerated rates of development for certain VLBW infants has implications for prognosis and patient access to early intervention services.     

Aging and Family Therapy: Exploring The Training and Knowledge of Family Therapists

The present study examined therapists' training in aging issues, and their knowledge and attitudes about aging. One hundred and ninety-one clinicians completed a web-based questionnaire. The majority of respondents reported to have some training in aging issues, although they did not believe it prepared them well to work with older clients. Clinicians reported feeling comfortable working with older adults, yet they also agreed that special training could benefit their work. Knowledge scores were significantly correlated with interest in aging issues, perceived importance of training, perceived competence, and perceived effectiveness in treating older adults. Research and clinical implications are discussed.     

The Protective Influence of Relationship Commitment on the Effects of Facebook Addiction on Marital Disaffection

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that Facebook use can lead to adverse romantic relationship outcomes due to interpersonal conflicts, interactions with potential romantic alternatives, and jealousy. However, these associations have been explored mainly with undergraduates, focusing primarily on conflict rather than emotional disengagement. The current study examined the associations between Facebook addiction and marital disaffection (e.g., loss of love, emotional disengagement) amongst 138 (95 females and 43 males) cohabiting married Facebook users residing in the United States. The results revealed that Facebook addiction and marital disaffection were positively related, even after controlling for relationship commitment. Additionally, greater relationship commitment weakened the association between Facebook addiction and marital disaffection. There are likely multiple explanations for the current findings; however, results suggest that higher levels of relationship commitment may protect spouses against the negative relationship outcomes associated with Facebook addiction. Future longitudinal work with couples is needed to clarify the directionality of the relationship between Facebook addiction and marital disaffection.     

Longitudinal Test of Forgiveness and Perceived Forgiveness as Mediators between Religiosity and Marital Satisfaction in Long-Term Marital Relationships

Abstract

Substantial research has found relations between religiosity and martial satisfaction. More longitudinal studies are needed to understand the inner-workings of this relationship. Over a four-year period, dyadic data from 331 married couples was used to test the longitudinal mediating effects of spousal forgiveness and partners’ perceptions of spousal forgiveness between religiosity and marital satisfaction. Husbands’ religiosity was associated with increases in wives’ marital satisfaction but the measures of forgiveness were not significant mediators in this relationship. Wives’ religiosity was predictive of lower levels of wives’ perceptions of spousal forgiveness, which led to decreases in both wives’ and husbands’ marital satisfaction.     

Affect as a motivational state

Using Brehm's (1999) intensity of emotion paradigm, we investigated whether basic positive or negative affect operates like a motivational state. We focused on one of the most basic affects, the sensory affect experienced when eating food. Participants tasted a delicious chocolate truffle (Study 1) or some bitter chocolate (Study 2) and were exposed to either a weak, moderately strong, or a very strong reason for feeling an opposing-valence affect or to no reason. In line with the predictions, the affect that participants reported in response to chocolate functioned like a motivational state as its intensity was a cubic function of the importance of the reason for feeling an opposing affect. We discussed the implications of these findings for the conceptualisation of affect and consider several applications for food advertising and consumer rating research.     

Behavioural,affective, and physiological effects of negative and positive emotional exaggeration

Emotion regulation is essential for the production of socially appropriate affect and successful interpersonal functioning. The relative inability to modulate affect, known as "emotional dysregulation", is associated with many common mood disorders (such as major depressive disorder or bipolar spectrum disorders). Thus, understanding the physiological processes underlying emotional regulation is extremely important. This experiment was designed to explore the affective, behavioural, and physiological responses associated with a rarely studied emotion regulation technique--exaggeration. A total of 52 undergraduate participants watched a 2 minute video designed to elicit either feelings of amusement (positive affect) or disgust (negative affect). Physiological recordings--including skin conductance, interbeat interval (IBI), high frequency (HF) power spectrum of heart rate variability (HRV), and sympathovagal balance (LF/HF)--were recorded for the 2 minutes prior to, during, and after mood induction. As expected, persons asked to exaggerate their responses were rated as behaviourally showing increased arousal relative to individuals in the natural-watch condition. With regard to IBI, those in the exaggerate condition experienced significantly greater IBI reductions (increased heart rate) during reactivity and IBI increases during recovery relative to those in the natural-watch condition (who showed the opposite pattern of response). Moreover, persons in the exaggerate condition evidenced increased sympathovagal balance in response to the emotional videos relative to those in the natural-watch condition. Results generally support and extend previous research findings designed to assess the impact of response-focused affect modulation strategies. Suggestions for future research are presented.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE DIFFERENCE DEFICIT HYPOTHESIS USING THE CLOZE PROCEDURE

Abstract

This study considers the hypothesized differences of difference and deficitreaders using the cloze procedure in narrative passages at the fourth grade level. The authors reject the hypothesis that deficit readers are better able to use surrounding context than difference readers. While the study's experimental design to test the difference/deficit hypothesis may not be the most powerful, it is a modified replication of a previous study from which the difference/deficit hypothesis was drawn (Cromer & Weiner, 1966). As such it does not seem to support difference/deficit notions of reading disability.     

Depressive implicit associations and adults' reports of childhood abuse

Theory and research suggest that negative events in childhood (e.g., childhood abuse) may contribute to the development of a cognitive vulnerability to depression. A limitation of past research, however, is that the majority has focused on explicit cognitions (e.g., attributional style) and it remains unclear whether similar relations would be observed for more implicit measures of depressive cognitions. This study investigated the relation between young adults' reports of childhood abuse and their implicit depressive cognitions, as measured by the Implicit Association Test. As hypothesised, young adults reporting a history of childhood abuse exhibited stronger implicit associations for depression-relevant stimuli than did individuals with no abuse history. These results were maintained even after statistically controlling for the influence of current depressive symptom levels.     

A Treatise vs. An enquiry: Omissions and Distortions by the New Humeans

There is a definite stress on the primacy of An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding over A Treatise of Human Nature by the so-called New Humeans, who in turn, advocate the sceptical/causal realist interpretation of Hume's empiricism. This paper shows how there has been a deliberate attempt by them to omit and distort certain negative aspects of Hume's life in the belief that in order to accept their interpretations we must first acknowledge that, (1) the Enquiry is the superior text and, (2) reject any criticisms suggesting that Hume only wrote it to help promote the Treatise and fulfil his ambitions for literary fame.