Is body mass index in old age related to cognitive abilities? The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 Study

We tested the hypothesis that the previously reported association between a higher body mass index (BMI) and poorer cognition in later adulthood is an artifact of confounding by previous cognitive ability and socioeconomic status. Participants were 1,079 adults aged about 70 years in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 Study, on whom there are IQ data from age 11. Cognitive outcome measures included: IQ at age 70 using the same test that was administered at age 11; composite measures of general cognitive ability (g factor), speed of information processing, and memory; and two tests of verbal ability. People classified as overweight or obese in later adulthood had significantly lower scores on tests of childhood IQ, age 70 IQ, g factor, and verbal ability. There was no significant association with processing speed or memory performance. After adjusting for childhood IQ and social class in general linear models, associations with age 70 IQ and g factor were nonsignificant or attenuated. However, throughout the models, there was a persistent (inverse) relationship between BMI and performance on the National Adult Reading Test (NART) and Wechsler Test of Adult Reading (WTAR), which remained significant after full adjustment for all sociodemographic and health covariates (for the NART, p = .025; for the WTAR, p = .011). The findings suggest that the previously reported BMI-cognition associations in later adulthood could be largely accounted for by prior ability and socioeconomic status, and by the possible influence of these factors on the adoption of health behaviors in adulthood.     

Women on the Couch: Genital Stimulation and the Birth of Psychoanalysis

Following Freud's emphasis on his rejection of hypnosis as leading up to the development of psychoanalysis, there has been little mention in the psychoanalytic literature of the larger context of the somatic medical treatment of hysteria within which Freud treated his hysterical patients, and which Freud himself practiced. We contend that Freud's emphasis obscured his association with massage, electrotherapy, and the procedure of genital stimulation practiced by his medical colleagues in the treatment of hysteria. We show that the history of genital stimulation—including its obfuscation, desexualization, medicalization, and co-option from traditional women healers by an exclusively male medical establishment—provides us with the background for a more sophisticated understanding of the context in which Freud developed his theories. Specifically, we examine the contribution of this understanding to Freud's theoretical emphases on autonomy and individuality, abstinence and the renunciation of gratification, penis envy, clitoral versus vaginal orgasm, mature genital sexuality, and the “repudiation of femininity” as the “bedrock” of psychoanalysis. We demonstrate that Freud's position as a Jew in an anti-Semitic milieu fueled his efforts to distance his psychoanalytic method from the more prurient practices of his day, including one his society associated with Jewish doctors and patients.     

Population sex differences in IQ at age 11: the Scottish mental survey 1932

There is uncertainty whether the sexes differ with respect to their mean levels and variabilities in mental ability test scores. Here we describe the cognitive ability distribution in 80,000+ children—almost everyone born in Scotland in 1921—tested at age 11 in 1932. There were no significant mean differences in cognitive test scores between boys and girls, but there was a highly significant difference in their standard deviations (P<.001). Boys were over-represented at the low and high extremes of cognitive ability. These findings, the first to be presented from a whole population, might in part explain such cognitive outcomes as the slight excess of men achieving first class university degrees, and the excess of males with learning difficulties.     

An Exploratory Evaluation of the Family Meal Intervention for Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

Although weight restoration is a crucial factor in the recovery of anorexia nervosa (AN), there is scarce evidence regarding which components of treatment promote it. In this paper, the author reports on an effort to utilize research methods in her own practice, with the goal of evaluating if the family meal intervention (FMI) had a positive effect on increasing weight gain or on improving other general outcome measures. Twenty‐three AN adolescents aged 12–20 years were randomly assigned to two forms of outpatient family therapy (with [FTFM] and without [FT]) using the FMI, and treated for a 6‐month duration. Their outcome was compared at the end of treatment (EOT) and at a 6‐month posttreatment follow‐up (FU). The main outcome measure was weight recovery; secondary outcome measures were the Morgan Russell Global Assessment Schedule (MRHAS), amenorrhea, general psychological symptoms, and eating disorder symptoms. The majority of the patients in both groups improved significantly at EOT, and these changes were sustained through FU. Given its primarily clinical nature, findings of this investigation project preclude any conclusion. Although the FMI did not appear to convey specific benefits in causing weight gain, clinical observation suggests the value of a flexible stance in implementation of the FMI for the severely undernourished patient with greater psychopathology.     

Stability and change in intelligence from age 11 to ages 70, 79, and 87: the Lothian Birth Cohorts of 1921 and 1936

Investigating the predictors of age-related cognitive change is a research priority. However, it is first necessary to discover the long-term stability of measures of cognitive ability because prior cognitive ability level might contribute to the amount of cognitive change experienced within old age. These two issues were examined in the Lothian Birth Cohorts of 1921 and 1936. Cognitive ability data were available from age 11 years when the participants completed the Moray House Test No. 12 (MHT). The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (LBC1936) completed the MHT a second time at age 70. The Lothian Birth Cohort 1921 (LBC1921) completed the MHT at ages 79 and 87. We examined cognitive stability and change from childhood to old age in both cohorts, and within old age in the LBC1921. Raw stability coefficients for the MHT from 11-70, 11-79, and 11-87 years were .67, .66, and .51, respectively; and larger when corrected for range restriction in the samples. Therefore, minimum estimates of the variance in later-life MHT accounted for by childhood performance on the same test ranged from 26-44%. This study also examined, in the LBC1921, whether MHT score at age 11 influenced the amount of change in MHT between ages 79 and 87. It did not. Higher intelligence from early life was apparently protective of intelligence in old age due to the stability of cognitive function across the lifespan, rather than because it slowed the decline experienced in later life.     

Is the processing of words during eye fixations in reading strictly serial?

Extant models of oculomotor control during reading maintain that allocation of attention confines word recognition to one (target) word at a time, and that an eye movement to a new (posttarget) word is computed before attention is shifted to it. To test these assumptions, properties of the posttarget's preview were manipulated during the fixation of the preceding target word. The main results revealed longer target viewing durations when the posttarget preview was visually distinctive or when it was orthographically illegal. The meaning of posttarget text did not affect initial target word reading, although it affected the time spent rereading the target. To account for these findings, extant attention-shift models must assume that readers obtain at least visuospatial and orthographic information from a parafovelly visible word before it is attended. This view has shortcomings, however, and several considerations favor less restrictive model assumptions according to which attention can be allocated to more than one word at a time.     

Cross-language word segmentation by 9-month-olds

Dutch-learning and English-learning 9-month-olds were tested, using the Headturn Preference Procedure, for their ability to segment Dutch words with strong/weak stress patterns from fluent Dutch speech. This prosodic pattern is highly typical for words of both languages. The infants were familiarized with pairs of words and then tested on four passages, two that included the familiarized words and two that did not. Both the Dutch- and the English-learning infants gave evidence of segmenting the targets from the passages, to an equivalent degree. Thus, English-learning infants are able to extract words from fluent speech in a language that is phonetically different from English. We discuss the possibility that this cross-language segmentation ability is aided by the similarity of the typical rhythmic structure of Dutch and English words.     

Aging and repetition effects: separate specific and nonspecific influences

The research reported in this article focuses on processes that contribute to the repetition effect in 2-alternative forced-choice tasks and on how these processes change with age. An analytical approach is presented that allows researchers to discriminate between 2 components of performance. The results of Experiment 1 show that differences in the relative contributions of these 2 processes can produce differences in repetition effects between younger and older adults. Furthermore, as in the negative priming domain, increasing the contribution of 1 of these 2 components can eliminate this age difference. Together, the results argue against the practice of attributing age differences in repetition effects to deficits in any single cognitive process.     

High school students’ math and science gender stereotypes: relations with their STEM outcomes and socializers’ stereotypes

Social Psychology of Education - This longitudinal study explores three research questions. First, what is the prevalence of math and science gender stereotypes among high school students, their...