Creating activity schedules using Microsoft Powerpoint

We describe how PowerPoint presentation software can be used to create computer activity schedules to teach individuals with special needs. Presented are the steps involved in creating activity schedules with close-ended and open-ended activities, and for preparing schedules that include photos, sounds, text, and videos that can be used to occasion an individual's engagement in a variety of learning activities.     

Feedback specificity, learning opportunities, and learning

Although increasing feedback specificity is generally beneficial for immediate performance, it can undermine certain aspects of the learning needed for later, more independent performance. The results of the present transfer experiment demonstrate that the effects of increasing feedback specificity on learning depended on what was to be learned, and these effects were partially mediated through the opportunities to learn how to respond to different task conditions during practice. More specific feedback was beneficial for learning how to respond to good performance and detrimental for learning how to respond to poor performance. The former relationship was partially mediated by feedback specificity's effect on learning opportunities during practice. The results have implications for designing feedback interventions and training to maximize the learning of various aspects of a task.     

Studies of open-loop pointing in the presence of induced motion

In the present research, we examined the influence of induced motion (IM) on open-loop pointing responses and the possibility that IM alters the registration of either eye or trunk position. In two experiments, subjects tracked a dot that oscillated vertically while a rectangular stimulus oscillated horizontally. The pairing of frame and dot motion caused the dot to appear to move on a slant, due to IM. In the first experiment, the subjects made judgments of the apparent slant of the dot's motion and, on separate trials, pointed open loop at the apparent location of the dot at the endpoints of its motion. Both responses were influenced by IM, although the effect on dot localization was less than the amount predicted by the IM, as indicated by the slant responses. Results were similar immediately following IM and after a 5-sec delay. In the second experiment, the subjects pointed open loop either at the apparent location of the endpoints of the tracked dot's motion or at the apparent location of one of three other briefly flashed stationary dots. The pointing responses directed toward the fixated IM target were influenced by IM to a greater extent than the responses directed toward the stationary dots. The results of the two experiments are inconsistent with the hypothesis that the effect of IM on open-loop pointing at the IM target results completely from altered perception of either eye or trunk position, since misregistration of either would be expected to influence, in a similar fashion, pointing at both the tracked dot and the briefly flashed, stationary targets.     

Anticipatory balance control is affected by loadless training experiences

The main purpose of this study was to identify whether a lot of sports training had any effect on the balance control associated with a leg movement. The nature of the training experience was also an important concern and we chose subject who had undergone specific training experience in absence of equilibrium constraints. To this end a comparison between control (untrained) subjects, triathletes and swimmers was designed to establish whether a general training in sports (triathletes) or a specific loadless training (swimmers), leads to differences in the balance control. A leg movement is preceded by a shift of the center of mass (CM) towards the supporting side to maintain equilibrium and forward to create the condition for progression. To provide an acceleration of the CM sideward and forward, an initial displacement of the center of pressure (CP) towards the moving limb and in posterior direction was performed. Interestingly, the lateral pressure onto the ground was greater increased in swimmers in both leg raising and obstacle avoidance tasks compared to the control group and/or triathletes whereas the backward CP shift in all group was the same. The initial control of the CM shift is very different in swimmers compared to triathletes and controls. The increased lateral pressure onto the ground in swimmers may be a result of a prolonged training in water. This suggests that prolonged training in the absence of equilibrium constraints has more of an effect on balance control than a prolonged general training. In addition, the lack of differences in the backward CP shift suggests that M/L and A/P controls support two functional goals: equilibrium maintenance and movement initiation.     

The therapeutic alliance in couples therapy: clinical considerations

This article presents clinical considerations about the therapeutic alliance in couples therapy, stimulated by pertinent new research findings reported in this issue. A loyalty dimension of the couple's relationship is described, as well as its influence on the therapeutic alliance in couples therapy. The therapist's establishment of a "meta-alliance" with the couple around their loyalty conflicts, avoidance of splits and disruptions, and prioritization of marital distress (versus individual symptoms) as the primary focus of treatment all serve to solidify the therapeutic alliance. In addition, identifying the partners' early family-of-origin distress can help predict and respond to strains in the therapeutic alliance that may occur later in therapy. Finally, the therapist helping the couple to balance their relational power differences in therapy and to address their concerns about the impact of the therapist's gender also strengthens their therapeutic alliance. A clinical case and vignettes are included to illustrate these issues.     

Do you "want" to play? Distinguishing between conflicted shyness and social disinterest in early childhood

This study attempted to distinguish two types of social withdrawal in early childhood: (a) one based on social fear and anxiety despite a desire to interact socially (conflicted shyness) and (b) one based on the lack of a strong motivation to engage in social interaction (social disinterest). Two samples of preschoolers (n = 119 and n = 127) 3-5 years of age participated. Their mothers completed the newly developed Child Social Preference Scale, which was designed to assess conflicted shyness and social disinterest. Maternal ratings of child temperament, parenting style, and social goals, teacher ratings of child social adjustment, observations of child free-play behaviors, and child interview assessments of perceived competence and preference for playing with peers were also collected. Distinct patterns of associations were found between conflicted shyness and social disinterest and outcome variables. Implications for the motivational underpinnings and adjustment outcomes of shyness and social disinterest are explored.     

Group therapy for depressed elderly women

We describe and evaluate a group therapy program targeting depression among elderly residents (N=303) of subsidized high-rise apartments in Nashville, TN. This eclectic program was comprised of 12 sessions (a total of 24 hours) that included modules on exercise and preventive health behaviors, cognitive and re-motivation therapy, reminiscence and grief therapy, and social skills development. Our multivariate regression analyses of pre-post measures using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) showed that the effects of the group therapy varied by race, age, and level of initial depression among the participants. The program was effective in reducing depression, but only among Caucasian women who reported at least moderate depression prior to the program, and it yielded greater benefits for women between 55 and 75 years of age.     

Neuropsychological executive functioning in children at elevated risk for alcoholism: findings in early adolescence

One component of individual risk for alcoholism may involve cognitive vulnerabilities prodromal to alcoholism onset. This prospective study of 198 boys followed between 3 and 14 years of age evaluated neurocognitive functioning across three groups who varied in familial risk for future alcoholism. Measures of intelligence, reward-response, and a battery of neuropsychological executive and cognitive inhibitory measures were used. Executive functioning weaknesses were greater in families with alcoholism but no antisocial comorbidity. IQ and reward-response weaknesses were associated with familial antisocial alcoholism. Executive function effects were clearest for response inhibition, response speed, and symbol-digit modalities. Results suggest that executive deficits are not part of the highest risk, antisocial pathway to alcoholism but that some executive function weaknesses may contribute to a secondary risk pathway.     

Associations in the course of personality disorders and Axis I disorders over time

In this study, the authors examined time-varying associations between schizotypal (STPD), borderline (BPD), avoidant (AVPD), or obsessive-compulsive (OCPD) personality disorders and co-occurring Axis I disorders in 544 adult participants from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study. The authors tested predictions of specific longitudinal associations derived from a model of crosscutting psychobiological dimensions (L. J. Siever & K. L. Davis, 1991) with participants with the relevant Axis I disorders. The authors assessed participants at baseline and at 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up evaluations. BPD showed significant longitudinal associations with major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. AVPD was significantly associated with anxiety disorders (specifically social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder). Two of the four personality disorders under examination (STPD and OCPD) showed little or no association with Axis I disorders.     

Cognitive vulnerability to depression: a taxometric analysis

Although there is increasing support for the hypothesis that negative cognitive styles contribute vulnerability to depression, it remains unclear how best to conceptualize the heterogeneity in cognitive vulnerability to depression. Specifically, does this heterogeneity reflect quantitative or qualitative differences among individuals? The goal of this study was to address this question by examining whether the underlying structure of cognitive vulnerability to depression is best conceptualized as dimensional or categorical. Taxometric analyses provided consistent support for the dimensional nature of negative cognitive styles. It appears, therefore, that cognitive vulnerability to depression is best conceptualized as a dimensional construct, present to a greater or lesser extent in all individuals. Despite this, the strength of the relationship between negative cognitive styles and depressive symptoms does appear to vary as a function of where along the cognitive style continuum one falls.