Subtypes of psychopathology in children referred for neuropsychological assessment.

The validity of a Personality Inventory for Children-Revised edition (PIC-R) typology was examined in a sample of 323 children aged 6-16 years. These children had been referred to a children's mental health centre for neuropsychological assessment. In study 1, K-means cluster analysis (k = 12) was applied to the PIC clinical scales in an attempt to replicate the 12 clusters identified by Gdowski, Lachar, and Kline (1985). Partial cluster replication was achieved. Examination of the obtained clusters revealed significant overlap, suggesting that fewer clusters would represent an optimal solution. In study 2, a two-stage cluster analysis yielded a seven-cluster solution consistent with several key forms of psychopathology previously reported in the literature using specific neuropsychological populations. Identified subtypes included profiles characterized as: normal, cognitive deficit, cognitive deficit with internalized psychopathology, cognitive deficit with social impairment, cognitive deficit with hyperactivity, cognitive deficit with both internalized and externalized psychopathology, and combined internalized and externalized psychopathology without a cognitive deficit component.     

Structuring Decisions Under Deep Uncertainty

Topoi - Innovative research on decision making under ‘deep uncertainty’ is underway in applied fields such as engineering and operational research, largely outside the view of normative...     

Evaluating preference for and reinforcing efficacy of a therapy dog to increase verbal statements

The purpose of this study was to evaluate preference for and reinforcing efficacy of a therapy dog to increase verbal statements across different contingencies. Five children with autism spectrum disorder ages 3-8 years participated. Alternating treatments and reversal designs were used to compare conditions in which (a) a therapy dog was not present, (b) access to a therapy dog was noncontingent, (c) access to a therapy dog was contingent on interacting with a therapist, and (d) access to another preferred item was contingent on interacting with a therapist. Results varied across participants. Noncontingent access to the therapy dog slightly increased verbal statements for 1 participant. Contingent access to the therapy dog increased social interactions for 2 participants; however, this was the most effective intervention for only 1 participant. Practitioners should be aware that some clients may be better suited for interventions including therapy dogs than others.     

The influence of instructive feedback presentation schedule: A replication with children with autism spectrum disorder

Instructive feedback (IF) is a modification to discrete trial instruction that may increase instructional efficiency for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Several variations of IF have recently been evaluated in the literature; however, few studies have assessed the effectiveness and efficiency of presenting secondary targets on continuous versus intermittent presentation schedules. The current study evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of various presentation schedules of secondary targets during discrete trial instruction. Specifically, we replicated and extended Griffen et al. (1998) by comparing a condition in which secondary targets were presented during each trial of a session, a condition in which secondary targets were presented every other trial, and a condition in which secondary targets were presented about every 4 trials. Within-subject replications were included for both participants. One of the intermittent presentation schedules was associated with the most optimal outcomes in all 4 comparisons.     

Spatial representation of pitch height: the SMARC effect

Through the preferential pairing of response positions to pitch, here we show that the internal representation of pitch height is spatial in nature and affects performance, especially in musically trained participants, when response alternatives are either vertically or horizontally aligned. The finding that our cognitive system maps pitch height onto an internal representation of space, which in turn affects motor performance even when this perceptual attribute is irrelevant to the task, extends previous studies on auditory perception and suggests an interesting analogy between music perception and mathematical cognition. Both the basic elements of mathematical cognition (i.e. numbers) and the basic elements of musical cognition (i.e. pitches), appear to be mapped onto a mental spatial representation in a way that affects motor performance.     

Hippocampal injections of amyloid beta-peptide 1-40 impair subsequent one-trial/day reward learning

The injection of amyloid beta-peptide (Abeta) into rat CNS has been reported to induce cellular neuropathology. The present study investigated whether multiple intrahippocampal injections of Abeta 1-40 would impair one-trial/day reward learning 14 days later. Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats, 3-4 months old, were injected with either Abeta 1-40 or distilled water into seven hippocampal sites bilaterally. Ten rats received 3 nmol Abeta 1-40 in 2 microl of distilled water per injection site, while 14 rats received distilled water alone. Following a 9-day recovery period, rats were gradually food deprived to 82% of their initial body weight. Fourteen days after the intrahippocampal injection, all rats received an initial training trial and three subsequent daily retention trials. Rats receiving Abeta 1-40 were significantly impaired on the second retention trial in terms of accuracy (number of unbaited alleys entered) and on the second and third retention trials in terms of speed (reciprocal of latency to reward). Histological analysis showed that Abeta 1-40 injections produced significant neuronal loss and gliosis. Abeta 1-40 immunoreactivity persisted locally at the injection site and in macrophages 2 weeks following the hippocampal injections. These effects appear to be sequence-specific; rats receiving Abeta 1-42 with a scrambled peptide sequence did not differ significantly from rats receiving distilled water alone in retention of the learning task or degree of histological damage.     

Predicting Pay Grade in the U.S. Military by Gender and Ethnic Minority Status1

This study examined predictors of pay grade for ethnic minorities and women in the U.S. military using hierarchical regression analyses. In the analysis including all personnel, being a woman and ethnic minority status were negative predictors of pay grade after controlling for education and years of service. In the analysis using enlisted personnel, the interaction between years of service and minority status showed that more years of service was associated with higher pay grade among ethnic majority enlisted personnel after controlling for education and years of service. In the model using officers, being a woman was a negative predictor of pay grade after controlling for education and years of service. Future studies, implications, limitations, and strengths are discussed.     

Conflict and criterion setting in recognition memory

Recognition memory requires both retrieval processes and control processes such as criterion setting. Decision criteria were manipulated by offering different payoffs for correct "old" versus "new" responses. Criterion setting influenced the following late-occurring (1,000+ ms), conflict-sensitive event-related brain potential (ERP) components: the stimulus-locked late posterior negativity (LPN) and the response-locked error-related negativity (ERN). The LPN-ERN were most negative to hits under conservative payoff conditions involving conflict between the correct old response and the payoff for new responses. This same conservative-hit condition was most frequently associated with response reversals when fast initial judgments were followed by slower judgments. Postresponse ERP activity may index conflict-sensitive processes underlying postretrieval cognitive control mechanisms involved with assessing responses to current items and updating response criteria on later trials.     

Repetition of deliberate self-harm: a study of the characteristics and subsequent deaths in patients presenting to a general hospital according to extent of repetition

Repetition of deliberate self-harm (DSH) is common. Some patients repeat multiple times. We have investigated the characteristics of repeaters, and mortality in three groups of DSH patients by repetition status. Data collected by the Oxford Monitoring System for Attempted Suicide were used to examine the pattern of repetition of DSH patients presenting to a general hospital between 1990 and 1997. Each patient was tracked through the monitoring system with regard to repetition. Patients traceable through National Death Registers were followed up until 2000 with respect to mortality. A total of 4,167 patients were studied of which 1,022 (24.5%) repeated at least once during follow-up. Using multinomial regression, past history of DSH was the variable most strongly associated with frequent (4+) and less frequent (1-3) repetitions. Risk of suicide was significantly increased in females with frequent repetition (7.7% dying by suicide), compared with both those with 1-3 repetitions (2.3%) and those not repeating (1.0%). The analyses were repeated for the 2,167 patients with no past history of DSH at their first presentation. Using multinomial regression, personality disorder was the only variable that was associated with 4+ repetitions compared with no repetitions, although a number of variables distinguished between patients with 1-3 repetitions and no repeat episodes. For clinicians assessing DSH patients, past history of DSH is the best predictor of infrequent and frequent repetition. In patients with no past history of DSH the presence of personality disorder increases the risk of frequent repetition of DSH.