Vulnerability of conditional NCAM-deficient mice to develop stress-induced behavioral alterations

Previous studies in rodents showed that chronic stress induces structural and functional alterations in several brain regions, including shrinkage of the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, which are accompanied by cognitive and emotional disturbances. Reduced expression of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) following chronic stress has been proposed to be crucially involved in neuronal retraction and behavioral alterations. Since NCAM gene polymorphisms and altered expression of alternatively spliced NCAM isoforms have been associated with bipolar depression and schizophrenia in humans, we hypothesized that reduced expression of NCAM renders individuals more vulnerable to the deleterious effects of stress on behavior. Here, we specifically questioned whether mice in which the NCAM gene is inactivated in the forebrain by cre-recombinase under the control of the calcium-calmodulin-dependent kinase II promoter (conditional NCAM-deficient mice), display increased vulnerability to stress. We assessed the evolving of depressive-like behaviors and spatial learning and memory impairments following a subchronic stress protocol (2 weeks) that does not result in behavioral dysfunction, nor in altered NCAM expression, in wild-type mice. Indeed, while no behavioral alterations were detected in wild-type littermates after subchronic stress, conditional NCAM-deficient mice showed increased immobility in the tail suspension test and deficits in reversal spatial learning in the water maze. These findings indicate that diminished NCAM expression might be a critical vulnerability factor for the development of behavioral alterations by stress and further support a functional involvement of NCAM in stress-induced cognitive and emotional disturbances.     

The role of optimism and pessimism in chronic pain patients adjustment

This study analyses the relationships between patients' dispositional optimism and pessimism and the coping strategies they use. In addition, the coping strategies repercussions on adjustment to chronic pain were studied. Ninety-eight patients with heterogeneous chronic pain participated. The assessment tools were as follows: Life Orientation Test (LOT), the Vanderbilt Pain Management Inventory (VPMI), the McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Impairment and Functioning Inventory for Chronic Pain Patients (IFI). The hypothetical model establishes positive relationships between optimism and the use of active coping strategies, whereas pessimism is related to the use of passive coping. Active coping is associated with low levels of pain, anxiety, depression and impairment and high levels of functioning. However, passive coping is related to high levels of pain, anxiety, depression and impairment and low levels of functioning. The hypothetical model was empirically tested using the LISREL 8.20 software package and the unweighted least squares method. The results support the hypotheses formulated regarding the relations among optimism, pessimism, coping and adjust of chronic pain patients. By analysing optimism among chronic pain patients, clinicians could make better predictions regarding coping and adjustment.     

Development and validation of the theory of planned behavior questionnaire in physical activity

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is one of the main theoretical models in the study of the different variables, which influence in the practise of physical activity. The aim in this study was to develop a questionnaire based on TPB in physical activity context providing evidence for the validity of the obtained measures. The instrumental project included three independent studies. The first study entailed the construction and qualitative assessment of the items. In the second study, the analysis of factorial structure was performed by means of exploratory measures, and it showed that the reliability of measures was adequate. The third study provided evidence on the dimensionality of the scale. The confirmatory factorial analysis guaranteed the stability of factorial structure proposed by the TPB and provided evidence for the internal validity of the inventory. Moreover, this study provided evidence of its external validity.     

Differences between immigrant and national students in motivational variables and classroom-motivational-climate perception

The objective of this study is to see whether Immigrant (IM) and Spanish (National) students (SP) need different kinds of help from teachers due to differences in motivation, family expectancies and interests and classroom-motivational-climate perception. A sample of Secondary Students -242 Spanish and 243 Immigrants- completed questionnaires assessing goal orientations and expectancies, family attitudes towards academic work, perception of classroom motivational climate and of its effects, satisfaction, disruptive behavior and achievement. ANOVAs showed differences in many of the motivational variables assessed as well as in family attitudes. In most cases, Immigrant students scored lower than Spanish students in the relevant variables. Regression analyses showed that personal and family differences were related to student's satisfaction, achievement and disruptive behavior. Finally, multi-group analysis of classroom-motivational-climate (CMC) showed similarities and differences in the motivational value attributed by IM and SP to each specific teaching pattern that configure the CMC. IM lower self-esteem could explain these results, whose implications for teaching and research are discussed.     

Further development of measures of early math performance for preschoolers

The purpose of this study was to examine the progress monitoring and screening accuracy for a set of curriculum-based measures (CBM) of early mathematics skills. Measures included counting objects, selecting numbers, naming numbers, counting, and visual discrimination. Measures were designed to be administered with preschoolers in a short period of time using a developmentally appropriate format, and to constitute minimal disruption to the classroom routine. Previous research indicated that each of these measures produced scores with acceptable consistency across alternate forms on consecutive days. Scores yielded on the experimental probes correlated moderately, in most cases, with two commonly used standardized measures (i.e., the Brigance Screens and TEMA-2). Performance on the probes also correlated with teacher rankings and ratings of child performance. In the present study, data were collected in two phases. In the first phase, a cohort of children were administered the early math measures in spring of preschool and were followed into winter of kindergarten where they were administered kindergarten CBM probes to examine the degree to which performance in preschool (as measured by the early math probes) could predict performance on similar tasks in kindergarten. Second, risk criteria were examined and compared to identification by the Brigance Screens. These analyses provided data about the potential accuracy of the probes for screening. In the second phase, sensitivity of the probes to performance differences was examined by comparing mean performance on the probes of preschoolers and kindergartners. The lowest-performing children were provided with seven intervention sessions to examine the degree to which probes could detect growth resulting from intervention. Directions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.     

Word frequency,articulatory suppression and memory span

Watkins (1977) found memory span was longer when first and second halves of lists contained high- and low-frequency words, respectively, than when low-frequency words preceded high. One of the four experiments reported here failed to replicate this finding and found that articulatory suppression had a greater detrimental effect on span for high- than for low-frequency words. Another experiment showed that high-frequency words similar to those used by Watkins were easier to articulate than low-frequency words. In the third experiment articulatory suppression did not differentially affect delayed recall of high- and low-frequency words. The fourth experiment showed span for high- and low-frequency words was influenced in a similar way when encouraging subjects to maintain words from either early or late serial positions by articulatory rehearsal. It is concluded that differences in the strategies adopted to maintain words in the articulatory rehearsal loop can account for inconsistencies in the results obtained here and in previous experiments.     

A work commitment typology of sales representatives in the college textbook industry

The paper presents the results of an empirical study designed to develop a work commitment typology of sales representatives based on the combination of scores for job involvement and organizational commitment. Four types are identified and profiled: the totally involved, the organizational prone, the job prone, and the unattached. A multiple discriminant analysis suggests the sales representative's view of work-related characteristics to be more useful than personal characteristics in predicting work commitment type. Strategies for influencing the predominant types are provided.     

The False Consensus Effect in Unfavorable (Suicide) and Favorable (Honor) Events1

According to the false consensus effect (FCE), people view their own judgments, choices, and characteristics as common; judgments, choices, and characteristics which are not their own are viewed as uncommon and deviant. To test the FCE both for unfavorable and favorable characteristics and for positive and negative events, 135 undergraduate subjects were divided into four groups based on median splits of their self-attributions of intelligence and psychological disturbance. They then read a history about a 19-year old youth who either committed suicide or received an honor and they rated the youth and both parents on psychological disturbance and intelligence. Subjects who viewed themselves as relatively intelligent viewed others as relatively intelligent, whereas subjects who viewed themselves as relatively psychologically disturbed viewed others as relatively disturbed. These results partially support the FCE as opposed to attributive projection. It may be helpful to explain these results to bereaved families so that they can better understand and anticipate the reactions of others.     

A set of 254 Snodgrass-Vanderwart pictures standardized for Spanish: Norms for name agreement,image agreement,familiarity, and visual complexity

The Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) picture set was standardized for a Spanish sample (N = 261). The present article shows the main results, but more explicitly, it shows the differences between English and Spanish data. This evidence justifies the statement that normative data of cognitive stimuli cannot be taken into another language directly, because object names that are very common in one language may not be so in another, or objects that have a specific name in one language may have a generic name in another, and so on. Finally, because of the potential usefulness of the data for bilingualism studies, the Spanish data are presented jointly with the English data.     

The logic of delusion

Piagetian concepts explaining normal mental development are applied to delusion, a major psychiatric disorder of thought which can result in bizarre conduct. Piaget constructed problems in which the errors of six to eight year old children fit the standard textbook definition of delusion surprisingly well. When we examined cases of delusional individuals, we concluded that their apparent irrational and bizarre conduct could be explained as problem-solving errors like those of Piaget's young children. In contradistinction to existing theories, we define delusion as a regression under stress to the logic of children of a particular age range, and that what appears bizarre and irrational is the result of an adult attempting to filter experience through a child's logic.Under a different title this paper was presented at the Biennial Congress of the World Federation for Mental Health in Mexico City in August, 1991.