NFACOM: A new program for relating solutions in exploratory factor analysis

A new version of the program FACOM (comparison of exploratory factor analysis solutions) is presented. The new version (NFACOM) greatly extends the possibilities of the previous versions. It is now possible to use congruence as well as least squares comparisons in both orthogonal and oblique situations. What is more, n solutions, not just two, can be compared. Recently developed algorithms have been implemented; others, which have proved not to be theoretically well founded, have been omitted.     

Expanding Treatment Options for Children With Selective Mutism: Rationale,Principles, and Procedures for an Intensive Group Behavioral Treatment

Children with selective mutism (SM) experience significant challenges in a variety of social situations, leading to difficulties with academics, peers, and family functioning. Despite the extensive evidence base for cognitive-behavioral interventions for youth anxiety, the literature has seen relatively limited advancement in specialized treatment methods for SM. In addition, geographic disparities in SM treatment expertise and the roughly 6-month duration of some of the supported SM treatment protocols can further restrict the accessibility and acceptability of quality SM care. Intensive group behavioral treatment (IGBT) for SM was developed to expand the portfolio of evidence-based SM treatment options by offering brief, but high-dose, expert SM intervention in a group format for youth ages 3–10 years that can be completed in 1 week. In this article, we outline IGBT for SM program, which has already received initial support in a waitlist-controlled trial. Our presentation is organized around the five main components of the treatment model: (1) individual “lead-in” sessions, (2) camp (i.e., all-day group sessions for children held in a simulated classroom setting, with an emphasis on graduated exposures and structured reinforcement), (3) parent training, (4) school outreach, and (5) booster treatment, as needed. We conclude with a discussion of clinical considerations and future directions for further IGBT refinement and evaluation.     

The relation between overcommitment and burnout: does it depend on employee job satisfaction?

Using the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory as a framework, we hypothesized a maladaptive role played by overcommitment in the escalation of burnout. We further specified our model by testing an interaction effect of job satisfaction. By using a longitudinal design, we proposed a moderated mediational model in which burnout at Time 1 (T1) increases overcommitment, which in turn leads to more burnout one month later. We further expected to find a moderating role of job satisfaction in the link between overcommitment and burnout at Time 2 (T2). A group of 86 white-collar workers in personnel services in Italy (longitudinal response rate = 77.48%) participated in our study. The findings supported our hypotheses even when controlling for gender and role stressors. In particular, by using bootstrapping procedures to test mediation, we found evidence that employees reporting burnout tend to develop a maladaptive coping style, i.e., overcommitment, which in turn increases burnout over time. This relation was particularly strong for dissatisfied employees. These results highlight the importance of overcommitment for burnout escalation, as well as of job satisfaction, since it may mitigate, at least in the short term, the effect of such dysfunctional strategies.     

Online communities as virtual cognitive niches

Synthese - In this paper we aim at discussing cognitive and epistemic features of online communities, by the use of cognitive niche constructions theories, presenting them as virtual cognitive...     

Reasoning through doing. Epistemic mediators in scientific discovery

The recent epistemological and cognitive studies concentrate on the concept of abduction, as a means to originate and refine new ideas. Traditional cognitive science and computational accounts concerning abduction aim at illustration discovery and creativity processes in terms of theoretical and “internal” aspects, by means of computational simulations and/or abstract cognitive models. I will illustrate in this paper that some typical internal abductive processes are involved in scientific reasoning and discovery (for example through radical innovations). Nevertheless, especially concrete manipulations of the external world constitute a fundamental passage in science: by a process of manipulative abduction it is possible to build prostheses (epistemic mediators) for human minds, by interacting with external objects and representations in a constructive way. In this manner it is possible to create implicit knowledge through doing and to produce various opportunity to find, for example, anomalies and fruitful new risky perspectives. This kind of embodied and unexpressed knowledge holds a key role in the subsequent processes of scientific comprehension and discovery.     

Intra-female aggression in the mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) is linked to the estrous cycle regularity but not to ovulation

Intraspecific communication between mice takes place mainly via urinary chemosignals or "pheromones". Pheromones can influence aggressive and reproductive behavior as well as the neuroendocrine condition of the recipient female mice via their olfactory system. In this study, reproductively cyclic mice in the estrus phase were used to test intraspecific agonistic aggressive behavior. Data were obtained also on the count of the eggs shed in the oviducts. The results showed that (i) individually housed female mice are more aggressive toward an intruder female mouse than grouped mice, (ii) mice in which the vomeronasal organ was removed show aggressive behavior intermediate between individually housed and grouped mice, and (iii) a within group analysis did not show a positive correlation between aggression and presence of shed eggs in the oviducts.     

Perceptual visual skills in young highly skilled basketball players

A simple method was designed to evaluate visual abilities such as disance visual acuity, binocular horizontal visual field, simple and choice visual reaction times, and stereoscopic vision in skilled 11- to 13-yr.-old basketball players participating in a 15-day summer training camp. On a test battery, visual abilities were monitored in 473 players of the Spanish Basketball Federation over a 5-yr. period. The players showed outstanding scores on distance visual acuity and stereoscopic vision, and good visual reaction times and horizontal visual fields. When scores were compared by sex and age, significant differences on certain visual measures were observed. Many layers showed crossed eye-hand dominance. Visual screening programs may help promote visual health among junior basketball players and could be used for performance training.     

Mental number line disruption in a right-neglect patient after a left-hemisphere stroke

A right-neglect patient with focal left-hemisphere damage to the posterior superior parietal lobe was assessed for numerical knowledge and tested on the bisection of numerical intervals and visual lines. The semantic and verbal knowledge of numbers was preserved, whereas the performance in numerical tasks that strongly emphasize the visuo-spatial layout of numbers (e.g. number bisection) was impaired. The behavioral pattern of error in the two bisection tasks mirrored the one previously described in left-neglect patients. In other words, our patient misplaced the subjective midpoint (numerical or visual) to the left as function of the interval size. These data, paired with the patient's lesion site are strictly consistent with the tripartite organization of number-related processes in the parietal lobes as proposed by Dehaene and colleagues. According to these authors, the posterior superior parietal lobe on both hemispheres underpins the attentional orientation on the putative mental number line, the horizontal segment of the intraparietal sulcus is bilaterally related to the semantic of the numerical domain, whereas the left angular gyrus subserves the verbal knowledge of numbers. In summary, our results suggest that the processes involved in the navigation along the mental number line, which are related to the parietal mechanisms for spatial attention, and the processes involved in the semantic and verbal knowledge of numbers, are dissociable.     

Managing stress and managing illness: Survival and quality of life in chronic disease

Interest has been steadily building in the impact of stress on psychological and physiological functioning, in particular on immune system responses, furthering the concept of a strong connection between the mind and the body. Implications for prevention of disease onset or treatment of stress-induced illness or immunocompromised conditions have been explored through the implementation of stress management techniques. Cognitive behavioral stress management interventions, biofeedback, relaxation, guided imagery, hypnosis, individual and group psychotherapy, aerobic exercise, and guided self-efficacy treatment are briefly reviewed to identify possible treatment mechanisms that may affect immune function and promote quality of life. The application of behavioral techniques to reduce distress and sharpen coping skills has great promise in reducing the costs associated with chronic disease and in enhancing quality of life among those afflicted.Presented at the APA Presidential Miniconvention, To Your Health: Psychology Through the Life Span, Session VIII, Assuring a Healthy Lifestyle: Psychology Delivers. Chair: Diane J. Willis, Ph.D. The third author received partial funding through the Terry Fox Research Fellowship 5257, National Cancer Institute of Canada.