The role of control functions in mentalizing: dual-task studies of theory of mind and executive function

Conflicting evidence has arisen from correlational studies regarding the role of executive control functions in Theory of Mind. The current study used dual-task manipulations of executive functions (inhibition, updating and switching) to investigate the role of these control functions in mental state and non-mental state tasks. The 'Eyes' pictorial test of Theory of Mind showed specific dual-task costs when concurrently performed with an inhibitory secondary task. In contrast, interference effects on a verbal 'Stories' task were general, occurring on both mental state and non-mental state tasks, and across all types of executive function. These findings from healthy functioning adults should help to guide decisions about appropriate methods of assessing ToM in clinical populations, and interpreting deficits in performance in such tasks in the context of more general cognitive dysfunction.     

The Structure of Self-Consciousness in Children and Young Adolescents and Relations to Social Anxiety

Decades of research have examined the structure of self-consciousness in adults and its relationship to social anxiety. This study examined the structure of self-consciousness via the Self-Consciousness Scales (Fenigstein et al., J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 43:522–527, 1975) in a school sample of 175 children and young adolescents (92 girls; mean age = 11.5). Confirmatory factor analysis best supported a five-factor solution (Internal State Awareness, Self-Reflectiveness, Appearance Consciousness, Style Consciousness and Social Anxiety). Although some factor based subscales evidenced low internal consistencies, convergent and discriminant correlations with self-report measures of social phobia, negative affect, and positive affect as well as parent-report measures of internalizing and externalizing problems provided additional support for the five-factor model. Future studies should further examine the multidimensional nature as well as the developmental course of self-consciousness and its relation to social anxiety longitudinally.

The challenge of religious pluralism: A reply to James Kraft

Religious pluralis does have, as James Kraft says, a negative impact on the epistemic confidence with which one holds a religious position, when epistemology is thought on both the externalist and internalist lines. I also conclude both that there is a resulting epistemic humility and that a tolerance of religious diversity results from it, but I reach these conclusions for entirely different reasons. Epistemic humility and religious tolerance are fostered by the realization that many religions are striving for the infinite, though all have limited views of it.     

Ferenczian Elasticity in the Analysis of an Adolescent

Psychoanalytic work with adolescents poses a challenge for analysts who adhere to standard analytic technique as many adolescents who need analytic intervention resist such a structured approach to analysis. The author finds that elasticity of technique is currently widely used by analysts when working with this difficult age group even though they may be unaware that this is, in fact, a Ferenczian technique. Clinical examples are presented to illustrate how frequently the technique is used in cases of resistant, troubled youth. The author outlines an approach that is sensitive to these resistances and makes compromises in technique based on the principle that engaging a troubled youth in a therapeutic venture is preferable to refusing treatment based on the patient’s not being able to adhere to standard analytic technique. In this sense, Ferenczi was an early herald of the type of contemporary analytic work that is practiced currently especially with a difficult population of patients.

     

Costs in searching for two targets: dividing search across target types could improve airport security screening

The cost of searching for two visual targets simultaneously was compared against two separate single‐target searches using exposure time and accuracy measures within a staircase procedure. Dual‐target search for all stimuli (colour, shape and orientation) exhibited a loss of accuracy for one target. For orientation and shape, this dual‐target cost in accuracy was extreme, with chance‐level performance on one target. For colour, dual‐target search exhibited an additional cost in search time, with search requiring a longer exposure than the summed time required for two single‐target searches. An additional search‐time cost was also found for orientation targets when irrelevant colour variation was added to the display. In conclusion, dual‐target search for dissimilar targets is accompanied by an accuracy cost. Furthermore, colour variation, whether task‐relevant or not, leads to an additional cost in processing speed. The results suggest that a divided‐effort strategy would improve performance in search tasks such as X‐ray baggage screening. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What dot clusters and bar graphs reveal: subitizing is fast counting and subtraction

In two studies, we found that dot enumeration tasks resulted in shallow-sloped response time (RT) functions for displays of 1-4 dots and steep-sloped functions for displays of 5-8 dots, replicating results implicating subitizing and counting processes for low and high ranges of dots, respectively. Extracting number from a specific type of bar graph within the same numerical range produced a shallow-sloped but scallop-shaped RT function. Factor analysis confirmed two independent subranges for dots, but all bar graph values defined a unitary factor. Significantly, factor scores and asymmetries both showed correlations of bar graph recognition to dot subitizing but not to dot counting, strongly suggesting that subitizing was used in both enumeration of low numbers of dots and bar graph recognition. According to these results, subitizing appears to be a nonverbal process operating flexibly in either additive or subtractive fashion on analog quantities having spatial extent, a conclusion consistent with a fast-counting model of subitizing but not with other models of the subitizing process.     

Ministers’ Perceptions of Depression: A Model to Understand and Improve Care

While depression is a significant worldwide health problem, fewer than half of individuals seek care. Faith-based communities may play an important role in improving the knowledge of and linkage to depression care. Focus groups of Caucasian and African-American clergy were conducted to explore these issues. Using a grounded theory approach five themes emerged, including explanatory models of depression, barriers and facilitators to care, and recommendations for involving religious communities. A model of depression care pathways was constructed that integrates secular and spiritual approaches. The findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to build trust between clergy and mental health professionals. Teresa L. Kramer, Ph.D., is Chief Psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. She has conducted research in child, adolescent and adult mental health assessment, outcomes, and quality of care. Her current research on adolescent depression is funded through a Research Career Development Award from the National Institute of Mental Health. She is currently developing faith-based programs to educate ministers and their congregations about depression-related illness. Dean Blevins, Ph.D., teaches in the Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, at the university and is associated with the Center for Mental Health & Outcomes Research, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, and the South Central Mental Illness, Research, and Clinical Center in Little Rock. Terri L. Miller, Ph.D., also teaches in the Department of Psychiatry. Martha Phillips, Ph.D., is at the Department of Human Services in Little Rock. Vanessa Davis and Billy Burris are employed at the Division of Behavioral Health Services, also in Little Rock.     

E-mail, decisional styles, and rest breaks.

E-mail is a common but problematic work application. A scale was created to measure tendencies to use e-mail to take breaks (e-breaking); and self-esteem and decisional style (vigilance, procrastination, buck-passing, hypervigilance) were used to predict the self-reported and actual e-mail behaviors of 133 participants (students and marketing employees). Individuals who were low in defensive avoidance (buck-passing) engaged in more e-mailing per week, both in time spent on e-mail and message volume. E-breakers were more likely to engage in behavioral procrastination and spent more time on personal e-mail.     

Emotional faces in neutral crowds: Detecting displays of anger,happiness, and sadness on schematic and photographic images of faces

Detection of angry, happy and sad faces among neutral backgrounds was investigated in three single emotion tasks and an emotion comparison task using schematic (Experiment 1) and photographic faces (Experiment 2). Both experiments provided evidence for the preferential detection of anger displays over displays of other negative or positive emotions in tasks that employed all three target emotions. Evidence for preferential detection of negative emotion in general was found only with schematic faces. The present results are consistent with the notion that the detection of displays of anger, and to some extent sadness, does not reflect on a pre-attentive mechanism, but is the result of a more efficient visual search than is the detection of positive emotion.     

Alcohol consumption and handwriting: A kinematic analysis

Cerebellar dysfunction is associated with deficits in the control of movement extent, as well as changes in the amplitude and relative amounts of acceleration and deceleration and action tremor. The present study sought to identify whether cerebellar symptoms occur in the handwriting of intoxicated individuals. Twenty participants in two sub-groups (alcohol dependent and non-alcohol dependent) were asked to write four cursive letter ‘l’s on a Wacom SD420 graphics tablet before and after consumption of a dose of vodka and orange producing a peak blood alcohol concentration of 0.048%. There was a relationship between blood alcohol concentration and stroke length. Kinematic analysis of handwriting indicated increases in the relative proportions of time spent in acceleration and increases in spectral power around 4 Hz. It was found that alcohol intoxication causes symptoms of cerebellar dysfunction, and that alcohol dependent individuals had less ballistic handwriting compared to non-alcohol dependent participants.