Aging and the intrusion superiority effect in visuo-spatial working memory

This study investigated the active component of visuo-spatial working memory (VSWM) in younger and older adults testing the hypotheses that elderly individuals have a poorer performance than younger ones and that errors in active VSWM tasks depend, at least partially, on difficulties in avoiding intrusions (i.e., avoiding already activated information). In two experiments, participants were presented with sequences of matrices on which three positions were pointed out sequentially: their task was to process all the positions but indicate only the final position of each sequence. Results showed a poorer performance in the elderly compared to the younger group and a higher number of intrusion (errors due to activated but irrelevant positions) rather than invention (errors consisting of pointing out a position never indicated by the experiementer) errors. The number of errors increased when a concurrent task was introduced (Experiment 1) and it was affected by different patterns of matrices (Experiment 2). In general, results show that elderly people have an impaired VSWM and produce a large number of errors due to inhibition failures. However, both the younger and the older adults' visuo-spatial working memory was affected by the presence of activated irrelevant information, the reduction of the available resources, and task constraints.     

Lack of strategy holding: A new pattern of learning deficit in cortical dementias

The aim of this study was to demonstrate, by means of systematic research and qualitative data analysis, the presence, among a group of patients with fronto‐temporal lobar degeneration of a subgroup that, at variance with the standard pattern, is able to devise and implement learning strategies, but appear impaired at carrying them on from a trial to the next. In order to provide evidence of the existence of a group of patients showing this type of learning disability, that we refer to as lack of strategy holding, we performed a stepwise hierarchical cluster analysis of a set of variables whose scores were selected from the subject's performance at the Test de Aprendizaje Verbal España‐Complutense. Results substantiate the segregation of three groups of subjects characterized by the following patterns of performance: normal elderly individuals, who show a quite preserved ability to discover a semantic strategy along the learning trials and to carry it from a trial to the next, patients presenting with a deficit in implementing semantic learning strategies and possibly use of serial and/or phonological strategies to perform the task, and to patients who, although able to generate and implement appropriate learning strategies, appear unable to carry them over the learning trials. The presence of this new pattern raises a few questions that seem worth trying to address.     

Priming the ant or the grasshopper in people's mind: How regulatory mode affects inter‐temporal choices

The present study examined the influence of two regulatory mode concerns—a locomotion concern with movement from state to state and an assessment concern with making comparisons—on choices between immediate and delayed (from 2 to 6 weeks) money rewards. Regulatory mode orientation was induced by means of a priming procedure. We predicted that the choices in the assessment condition would be less impulsive and more far‐sighted than those in the locomotion condition. After taking into account the effects of amount of early reward, length of delay and increase in delayed reward—all of which were in the direction of previous studies—this regulatory mode prediction was supported. Our findings suggest that it might be possible to induce more far‐sighted (or economically rational) inter‐temporal choices by means of instructions that induce an assessment orientation independent of stable inter‐individual differences in discount rate. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Language functioning after bilateral prefrontal leukotomy

Three groups of patients with orbital frontal lesions secondary to leukotomy were compared to psychiatric and normal control groups on a series of tasks involving language. The results indicated that chronic orbital frontal lesions, at least in the patients in this study, do not affect language as defined by the tasks used in the study. The frontal lobes, when implicated in language, appear to require dorsal-lateral or medial cortical involvement.     

Group identification and self-efficacy associated with quality of life in emergency medical services volunteers: A cross-sectional investigation

Volunteering in emergency medical services (EMS) plays a fundamental role in the improvement and maintenance of collective and community health. However, this work often requires rescuers to deal with very stressful situations with consequences in terms of decreased quality of life and psychological well-being. The aim of this work was to analyze the resources that can be positively associated with volunteers’ quality of life. In particular, based on social identity and social cure approaches, we tested the effect of self-efficacy and identification with a volunteer category on both positive and negative aspects of the volunteers’ professional quality of life. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 203 EMS volunteers (53.7% men) from a large nonprofit volunteer association. Results are mostly supportive of predictions from the social identity (and specifically the “social cure”) approach, and show that professional identification and self-efficacy were differently linked to the dimensions of the volunteers’ quality of life. More precisely, professional identification was negatively associated with burnout and positively associated with compassion satisfaction, and both effects were mediated by self-efficacy. On the contrary, self-efficacy and volunteer identification were not associated with secondary traumatic stress. Practical implications for volunteers’ wellbeing are discussed in the light of the policies of volunteer associations to improve collective resources.     

Clinician-Guided Assessment of Personality Using the Structural Interview and the Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO)

This article demonstrates the utility of a theory-guided psychodynamic approach to the assessment of personality and personality pathology based on the object relations model developed by Kernberg (1984). We describe a clinical interview, the Structural Interview (SI; Kernberg, 1984), and also a semistructured approach, the Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO; Clarkin, Caligor, Stern, & Kernberg, 2004) based on this theoretical model. Both interviews focus on the assessment of consolidated identity versus identity disturbance, the use of adaptive versus lower level defensive operations, and intact versus loss of reality testing. In the context of a more clinically oriented assessment, the SI makes use of tactful confrontation of discrepancies and contradictions in the patient's narrative, and also takes into account transference and countertransference phenomena, whereas the more structured approach of the STIPO incorporates clinical judgment informed by clinical theory into a well-guided interaction with the patient. Both interviews have good interrater reliability and are coherent with the alternative model for personality disorder diagnosis proposed by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.), Section III. Finally, they provide the clinician with specific implications for prognosis and treatment planning and can rationally guide clinical decision making.     

Early Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) intervention in a disaster mental health care context

‘Early psychological intervention’ is defined as commencing treatment within three months of the traumatic event, with the aim to prevent or treat posttraumatic stress disorder, ongoing distress or acute stress disorder. In natural disaster situations, specific issues may limit the amount of time available for treatment and the possibility of interventions. Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) can be used without regard to these limits. The aim of the study is to evaluate the effects of EMDR, Recent Traumatic Episode Protocol (R-TEP) provided within three months of the traumatic event to a large sample of individuals exposed to the earthquake that hit Emilia Romagna Region (Northern Italy) in 2012. This study is based on a retrospective review of medical records collected during the activities of psychological and psychosocial unit in the immediate aftermath of earthquake. In total, 529 participants completed the Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R) (pre e post treatment). In order to provide a comparison similar to a waitlist-like control group, a method of cohort analysis was applied. In addition, possible time dependent effect was tested. ET (early-treated sample, participants treated within one month after the earthquake) and LT (late-treated sample, participants treated after the first month from the earthquake) reported at post-treatment an improvement to a level below the IES-R cutoff (65.8% of the ET sample and 64.02% of the LT sample). Control group analogue and time-outcome correlation suggest that positive changes in symptoms were likely due to the treatment provided and not merely to the time lapse from the traumatic event. The results of this study suggest that EMDR is a viable treatment option in response to a disaster crisis and in reducing psychological distress of acutely traumatized individuals within the context of a natural disaster.