Ethnic and Gender Differences in Distress Among Anglo American, African American, Japanese American, and Mexican American Spousal Caregivers of Persons with Dementia

Distress, coping, and social resources were compared in a sample of 202 Japanese-, Anglo-, African-, and Mexican American spousal caregivers of persons with dementia using a Stress-Coping model. Both ethnicity and gender showed differential effects on the outcome and on the moderating variables. Female caregivers in all ethnic groups reported significantly higher levels of psychiatric symptomatology. All 4 ethnic groups reported high rates of psychological distress, with Mexican Americans reporting significantly higher rates of depression than Anglo or African Americans. Ethnicity was related to (1) the kind of caregiving appraisals (spiritual, pessimistic, and lack of support), (2) coping styles (escape-avoidance and seeking social support), and (3) social support. African Americans were more likely to be spiritual appraisers, to have more positive appraisals, and to have more social support available to them. Gender differences were evident on 4 out of the 6 caregiver appraisals, but none of the coping styles. Although males tended to have more perfectionistic appraisals, they were also more likely to view caregiving with a less negative and more self-efficacious outlook.     

Cherry pit primes Brad Pitt: Homophone priming effects on young and older adults' production of proper names

Abstract— This study investigated why proper names are difficult to retrieve, especially for older adults. On intermixed trials, young and older adults produced a word for a definition or a proper name for a picture of a famous person. Prior production of a homophone (e.g., pit) as the response on a definition trial increased correct naming and reduced tip-of-the-tongue experiences for a proper name (e.g., Pitt) on a picture-naming trial. Among participants with no awareness of the homophone manipulation, older but not young adults showed these homophone priming effects. With a procedure that reduced awareness effects (Experiment 2), prior production of a homophone improved correct naming only for older adults, but speeded naming latency for both age groups. We suggest that representations of proper names are susceptible to weak connections that cause deficits in the transmission of excitation, impairing retrieval especially in older adults. We conclude that homophone production strengthens phonological connections, increasing the transmission of excitation.     

Galantamine facilitates acquisition of a trace-conditioned eyeblink response in healthy, young rabbits

Previous work has demonstrated that drugs increasing brain concentrations of acetylcholine can enhance cognition in aging and brain-damaged organisms. The present study assessed whether galantamine (GAL), an allosteric modulator of nicotinic cholinergic receptors and weak acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, could improve acquisition and retention of an eyeblink (EB) classical conditioning task in healthy, young animals. We trained 24 rabbits (n = 8/group) in a 1000-msec trace Pavlovian EB conditioning paradigm in which a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) was presented for 500 msec, followed by a 500-msec trace period in which no stimuli were presented. A 100-msec corneal airpuff was the unconditioned stimulus (US). Acquisition sessions, consisting of 100 trials each, occurred daily for 10 consecutive days, followed by 3 d of extinction training. Animals were treated with one of three doses of GAL (0.0-3.0 mg/kg) prior to each session. Animals that received 3.0 mg/kg GAL showed significantly more EB conditioned responses (CRs) in fewer training trials than animals receiving either 1.5 mg/kg GAL or vehicle injections. GAL had no effect on CR performance during extinction. Pseudoconditioning control experiments, consisting of 200 explicitly unpaired tone-puff presentations indicated that GAL did not increase reactivity to the CS or US. These findings indicate that GAL may improve acquisition of moderately difficult associative learning tasks in healthy young organisms.     

The role of James McCosh in God's exile from psychology

As a discipline of psychology coalesced during the latter half of the 19th century in American institutions of higher learning, the role of God as an explanatory force declined dramatically. Part of this story must include the role played by James McCosh, president and primary psychology professor at Princeton, 1868-1888, in assuring orthodox educated believers that the new psychology was essentially a safe endeavor and that the truths discovered therein posed no threat and ultimately would harmonize with the truths of the historic Christian faith. Several of McCosh's students later credited him with leading the way. Where McCosh led and how he did it is the focus of this article.     

Asian American multidimensional acculturation scale: development, factor analysis, reliability, and validity

This article describes the development and psychometric properties of the Asian American Multidimensional Acculturation Scale (AAMAS). The results of 3 separate studies provide strong evidence of the instrument's reliability and validity. The principles for the development of the AAMAS were orthogonality of cultural dimensions, inclusion of a pan-ethnic Asian American dimension, and ease of use across ethnic groups. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicate that within each cultural dimension (AAMAS-Culture of Origin, AAMAS-Asian American, and AAMAS-European American) there are 4 reliable acculturation domains of cultural identity, language, cultural knowledge, and food consumption. These features of the AAMAS allow for a more complex assessment of acculturation level of Asian Americans and its relationship to psychological functioning.     

The DRD4 VNTR polymorphism influences reactivity to smoking cues

Recent research has indicated that craving for tobacco can be reliably elicited by exposure to smoking cues, suggesting that cue-elicited craving for tobacco may be a useful phenotype for research on genetic factors related to nicotine dependence. Given the potential role of dopamine in cue-elicited craving, the authors examined whether the DRD4 VNTR polymorphism is associated with cue-elicited craving for tobacco. Participants who were homozygous or heterozygous for the 7 repeat (or longer) allele were classified as DRD4 L, and all other participants were classified as DRD4 S. Participants were exposed to smoking cues before smoking either high-nicotine cigarettes or control cigarettes. Analyses suggested that participants in the L group demonstrated significantly greater craving, more arousal, less positive affect, and more attention to the smoking cues than did the participants in the S group.     

Measures of fluency as predictors of incidental memory among older adults

This study investigated fluency performance as a mediator of age-related declines in incidental memory performance as both are thought to rely on strategic retrieval processes. A large sample of community dwelling older adults completed a battery of tests assessing fluency, verbal knowledge, speed of information processing, and incidental recall. Fluency measures included initial and excluded letter fluency and the Uses for Objects Test, and they were assumed to reflect increasing reliance on strategic retrieval search. Speed emerged as the best mediator of age-related variance in incidental recall, and Uses for Objects Test performance added to the variance after controlling for verbal knowledge and speed. The results suggest that age-related decline in incidental recall is largely due to speed and the strategic search of memory.     

Behavior analysis and social constructionism: some points of contact and departure

Social constructionists occasionally single out behavior analysis as the field of psychology that most closely resembles the natural sciences in its commitment to empiricism, and accuses it of suffering from many of the limitations to science identified by the postmodernist movement (e.g., K. J. Gergen, 1985a; Soyland, 1994). Indeed, behavior analysis is a natural science in many respects. However, it also shares with social constructionism important epistemological features such as a rejection of mentalism, a functional-analytic approach to language, the use of interpretive methodologies, and a reflexive stance on analysis. The current paper outlines briefly the key tenets of the behavior-analytic and social constructionist perspectives before examining a number of commonalties between these approaches. The paper aims to show that far from being a nemesis to social constructionism, behavior analysis may in fact be its close ally.