Pre-existing Perceptions of ADHD Predict Children’s Sociometrics Given to Classmates with ADHD

Considerable research documents that even young children possess stigma about mental illness, which may affect how they evaluate peers with mental health conditions. This study examined children’s pre-existing perceptions of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) behaviors as predictors of their subsequent sociometric judgments of classmates with ADHD in a 2-week summer day camp. Participants were previously unacquainted children ages 6.8–9.8 years (113 typically-developing and 24 with ADHD; 48.2% boys; 81% White). Children initially more inclined to interact with a hypothetical classmate with ADHD gave fewer “dislike” nominations to real-life classmates with ADHD at camp. Children who initially believed that ADHD symptoms were uncontrollable gave more “dislike” nominations and lower liking ratings to classmates with ADHD when those classmates displayed severe ADHD symptoms. For children who had ADHD, their attribution of uncontrollability for ADHD symptoms predicted fewer “like” nominations and more “dislike” nominations given to classmates with ADHD. Lastly, children who initially reported they would help a hypothetical classmate with ADHD gave higher liking ratings to classmates with ADHD. These results were found after statistical control of the actual level of ADHD behaviors displayed by the classmates with ADHD. In summary, other children’s pre-existing or stigmatizing perceptions of ADHD behaviors may contribute, in part, to the substantial peer rejection typically experienced by ADHD populations. Findings have implications for understanding peer problems in children with this common mental health condition.     

Selective inactivation of adenosine A(2A) receptors in striatal neurons enhances working memory and reversal learning

The adenosine A(2A) receptor (A(2A)R) is highly enriched in the striatum where it is uniquely positioned to integrate dopaminergic, glutamatergic, and other signals to modulate cognition. Although previous studies support the hypothesis that A(2A)R inactivation can be pro-cognitive, analyses of A(2A)R's effects on cognitive functions have been restricted to a small subset of cognitive domains. Furthermore, the relative contribution of A(2A)Rs in distinct brain regions remains largely unknown. Here, we studied the regulation of multiple memory processes by brain region-specific populations of A(2A)Rs. Specifically, we evaluated the cognitive impacts of conditional A(2A)R deletion restricted to either the entire forebrain (i.e., cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and striatum, fb-A(2A)R KO) or to striatum alone (st-A(2A)R KO) in recognition memory, working memory, reference memory, and reversal learning. This comprehensive, comparative analysis showed for the first time that depletion of A(2A)R-dependent signaling in either the entire forebrain or striatum alone is associated with two specific phenotypes indicative of cognitive flexibility-enhanced working memory and enhanced reversal learning. These selective pro-cognitive phenotypes seemed largely attributed to inactivation of striatal A(2A)Rs as they were captured by A(2A)R deletion restricted to striatal neurons. Neither spatial reference memory acquisition nor spatial recognition memory were grossly affected, and no evidence for compensatory changes in striatal or cortical D(1), D(2), or A(1) receptor expression was found. This study provides the first direct demonstration that targeting striatal A(2A)Rs may be an effective, novel strategy to facilitate cognitive flexibility under normal and pathologic conditions.     

Neural correlates of lexicon and grammar: evidence from the production, reading, and judgment of inflection in aphasia

Are the linguistic forms that are memorized in the mental lexicon and those that are specified by the rules of grammar subserved by distinct neurocognitive systems or by a single computational system with relatively broad anatomic distribution? On a dual-system view, the productive -ed-suffixation of English regular past tense forms (e.g., look-looked) depends upon the mental grammar, whereas irregular forms (e.g., dig-dug) are retrieved from lexical memory. On a single-mechanism view, the computation of both past tense types depends on associative memory. Neurological double dissociations between regulars and irregulars strengthen the dual-system view. The computation of real and novel, regular and irregular past tense forms was investigated in 20 aphasic subjects. Aphasics with non-fluent agrammatic speech and left frontal lesions were consistently more impaired at the production, reading, and judgment of regular than irregular past tenses. Aphasics with fluent speech and word-finding difficulties, and with left temporal/temporo-parietal lesions, showed the opposite pattern. These patterns held even when measures of frequency, phonological complexity, articulatory difficulty, and other factors were held constant. The data support the view that the memorized words of the mental lexicon are subserved by a brain system involving left temporal/temporo-parietal structures, whereas aspects of the mental grammar, in particular the computation of regular morphological forms, are subserved by a distinct system involving left frontal structures.     

Visual working memory for simple and complex visual stimuli

Does the magical number four characterize our visual working memory (VWM) capacity for all kinds of objects, or is the capacity of VWM inversely related to the perceptual complexity of those objects? To find out how perceptual complexity affects VWM, we used a change detection task to measure VWM capacity for six types of stimuli of different complexity: colors, letters, polygons, squiggles, cubes, and faces. We found that the estimated capacity decreased for more complex stimuli, suggesting that perceptual complexity was an important factor in determining VWM capacity. However, the considerable correlation between perceptual complexity and VWM capacity declined significantly if subjects were allowed to view the sample memory display longer. We conclude that when encoding limitations are minimized, perceptual complexity affects, but does not determine, VWM capacity.     

Brief assessment and treatment of pica using differential reinforcement,response interruption and redirection,and competing stimuli

Pica is a life threating form of challenging behavior displayed by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In most cases, pica is maintained by automatic reinforcement. Common interventions for pica use some combination of response blocking, response interruption and redirection (RIRD), differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA), and noncontingent reinforcement with competing stimuli. However, there is need for additional research regarding DRA procedures that emphasize skills acquisition by teaching alternative behaviors that modify the established behavioral chain of pica responses that occur in the presence of non-edible stimuli. There is also a need to examine the generality of recent advances in competing stimulus assessment (CSA) methodologies—namely, the augmented-CSA (A-CSA)—to pica. Thus, the purpose of the present investigation was to systematically replicate and extend previous research for the assessment and treatment of pica in an individual with IDD. First, we conducted a functional analysis to identify environmental variables associated with pica. Next, taught Patrick a differential response (i.e., discard pica items in trash receptacle) to earn reinforcers in conjunction with a RIRD procedure. Finally, we conducted an A-CSA for pica. Overall, low rates of pica were maintained over time with a combination of these procedures, and treatment was generalized across settings and people.     

Gender and Relationship Roles in the Analects and the Mencius

In this paper I argue that the conception of gender as illustrated in the Analects and the Mencius is basically a functional one that assigns women a domestic role. I show how this conception might imply the exclusion of women from the moral ideal of chun-tzu, which would result in the further subordination of women as wives to men as husbands in the context of the Confucian role system. On the other hand, I show how the Confucian role system can have a positive influence on the status of women through its elements of reciprocity and respect. Finally, I argue that the conception itself is not justified.     

Individualism-Collectivism as a Boundary Condition for Effectiveness of Minority Influence in Decision Making

Results of this experiment demonstrate that individualists and collectivists react differently to minority influence. Based on the distinction between objectivity and preference norms in the minority influence literature, we hypothesize that individualism and collectivism influence (A) responses to minority influence (focusing on the target of influence) and (B) effectiveness of minority influence (focusing on the influence agent). Our results replicate past research and demonstrate improved decision quality for individuals exposed to a minority perspective. Moreover, minority influence targets with high horizontal individualism and low horizontal collectivism made higher quality decisions. Influence targets with high vertical collectivism demonstrated higher quality decisions when the influence agent held a high status position in the group. Results also demonstrate that influence agents with high vertical individualism experienced less role stress than those with low vertical individualism. Finally, influence agents with low role stress were more effective in influencing the decision making of others. We discuss our findings in terms of boundary conditions to the minority influence process.     

A Profile of Chinese Family Therapists

It is helpful for professional organizations, policy makers and regulators, third-party payers, and clients to have access to empirical data about family therapists and the practice of family therapy. Nevertheless, there is no such data available in China. This study attempts to fill this gap by profiling Chinese family therapists. A questionnaire was designed and delivered to family therapists and trainees. A total of 117 questionnaires were collected and analyzed. The findings show that the majority of Chinese family therapists are female, in the age range of 31–40 years, hold master’s degrees, and attend continuous training programs that last 20–40 days over 2–3 years and short-term workshops for family therapy training. They are mainly motivated by the need for personal growth in their career choice. Most of them work in the institutional setting. They have worked in the counseling field for 6.6 years on average, and they have practiced family therapy for an average of 3.4 years. They perform counseling for 9.2 h per week, and 4 h involve working with families. They received an average of 30.6 h of family therapy supervision in the past year. They mainly see individuals and families with adolescents, and their approach is eclectic. This paper compares the findings in China with findings from North America, discusses possible reasons for differences in the findings, and provides suggestions for future development and studies of family therapy in China.     

Putting concepts into context

At first glance, conceptual representations (e.g., our internal notion of the object “lemon”) seem static; we have the impression that there is something that the concept lemon “means” (a sour, yellow, football-shaped citrus fruit) and that this meaning does not vary. Research in semantic memory has traditionally taken this “static” perspective. Consequently, only effects demonstrated across a variety of contexts have typically been considered informative regarding the architecture of the semantic system. In this review, we take the opposite approach: We review instances of context-dependent conceptual activation at many different timescales—from long-term experience, to recent experience, to the current task goals, to the unfolding process of conceptual activation itself—and suggest that the pervasive effects of context across all of these timescales indicate that rather than being static, conceptual representations are constantly changing and are inextricably linked to their contexts.