Cognitive control deficits in adolescents born with very low birth weight (≤ 1500 g): Evidence from dichotic listening

The objective of the paper is to explore bottom‐up auditory and top‐down cognitive processing abilities as part of long‐term outcome assessment of preterm birth. Fifty‐five adolescents (age 13–15) born with very low birth weight (VLBW) were compared to 80 matched controls born to term, using three consonant‐vowel dichotic listening (DL) instruction conditions (non‐forced, forced‐right and forced‐left). DL scores were correlated with cortical gray matter thickness derived from T1‐weighted structural MRI volumes using FreeSurfer to examine group differences also in the neural correlates of higher cognitive processes. While showing normal bottom‐up processing, VLBW adolescents displayed impaired top‐down controlled conflict processing related to significant cortical thickness differences in left superior temporal gryus and anterior cingulate cortex. Preterm birth with VLBW induces fundamental changes in brain function and structure posing a risk for long‐term neurocognitive impairments. Deficits emerge in situations of increasing cognitive conflict and can be related to measures of executive functions as well as morphology.     

Occupational Therapists' Perception of the Tree Theme Method™ as an Intervention in Psychosocial Occupational Therapy

This study investigated how occupational therapists experience utilization of the Tree Theme Method, an intervention based on creative activities and life-story telling and making. The Tree Theme Method is comprised of five sessions in which the therapist asks the client to paint symbolic trees, with specific themes representing their present life situation, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and the future. Nine occupational therapists in mental health care were asked about their experiences when using the Tree Theme Method. The informants formed two focus groups and each group was interviewed twice. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify five categories including: (1) therapeutic frames, (2) therapist requirements, (3) client requirements, (4) the therapeutic relationship, and (5) the Tree Theme Method as a multi-dimensional process. Overall the informants were satisfied with the intervention with some variation as to therapists' perception about the helpfulness of the tool. The Tree Theme Method was experienced as a structured method of starting a therapeutic process and initiating a therapist–client relationship. The therapeutic attitude, self-knowledge, and expert knowledge seemed to be important prerequisites for the therapists when using the Tree Theme Method intervention.     

Infants’ ability to track and reach for temporarily occluded objects

Six‐month‐old infants were presented with a moving object that temporarily became invisible. The object moved on a horizontal path and was made invisible for either 400, 800 or 1,200 ms before being within reach. Two kinds of events were used to make the object invisible: blackout of the room lights and occlusion behind a screen. First, infants saw 6 trials of the fully visible motion, then 12 trials of a temporarily invisible motion and finally 6 trials of the fully visible motion again. Each infant was presented with only one of the 6 experimental conditions. The results show that reaching is much more severely affected by a period of temporary non‐visibility than tracking. The effects of the two modes of non‐visibility were rather different. In general, blackout deteriorated tracking and made the gaze lag at reappearance. It inhibited reaching but this effect attenuated with experience. Longer periods of blackout deteriorated tracking and reaching more. Compared to blackout, occlusion had both a facilitating and an inhibiting effect on infants’ actions. Tracking had less tendency to lag but reaching showed more severe inhibition. The results are discussed in terms of graded representations. Furthermore, it is argued that an occluder facilitates tracking by providing information of where the moving object becomes visible again and it inhibits reaching by interfering with the representation of the object behind the occluder.     

Personality and approaches to learning as predictors of academic achievement

The relationship between personality, approaches to learning, and academic achievement was investigated. Two different undergraduate student samples, totalling 310 students, participated in the study. Results showed the expected significant correlations between the personality factors of openness, neuroticism, and conscientiousness, on the one hand, and deep, surface, and strategic approaches to learning, on the other. A significant negative correlation between surface approach and achievement was observed in sample 1. In sample 2, achievement was positively correlated with neuroticism, openness, and deep approach, and negatively correlated with agreeableness. Path analysis showed that each approach to learning was predicted by multiple personality traits, and that academic achievement was predicted by approaches to learning. A separate analysis showed that the relationship between openness and achievement was mediated by a deep approach to learning. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Indexicals and Reference‐Shifting: Towards a Pragmatic Approach

I propose a pragmatic approach to the kind of reference‐shifting occurring in indexicals as used in e.g. written notes and answering machine messages. I proceed in two steps. First, I prepare the ground by showing that the arguments against such a pragmatic approach raised in the recent literature fail. Second, I take a first few steps towards implementing this approach, by sketching a pragmatic theory of reference‐shifting, and showing how it can handle cases of the relevant kind. While the immediate scope of the paper is restricted to indexicals and reference‐shifting, and the discussion is confined to a specific range of theories and cases, the approach proposed is compatible with a fairly broad range of more or less semantically conservative theories, and many of the conclusions drawn are significant for the evaluation of pragmatic explanations in philosophy more generally. The overall goal is to offer a new perspective on the issues under discussion, and to prompt philosophers to reconsider some of the established methods by which pragmatic explanations are evaluated.     

Unidimensionality of Abbreviated Proactive Personality Scales across Cultures

Vu la pertinence de la personnalité proactive et du comportement proactif pour l’efficacité des individus, des équipes et des organisations dans un environnement de plus en plus multiculturel, cette étude a examiné l’unidimensionnalité des formes abrégées de l’Echelle de Personnalité Proactive (PPS) de Bateman & Crant (1993) sur des données ni américaines, ni britanniques. L’unidimensionnalité des PPS à 10, 6, 5 et 4 items a été mise à l’épreuve grâce à une analyse factorielle et à une analyse de fidélité interne sur des échantillons indépendants provenant de trois pays: la Belgique (N= 822), la Finlande (N= 100) et l’Espagne (N= 100). Les résultats montrent que les versions de 4 et 5 items ne présentent aucune fidélité interne en Belgique, en Finlande et en Espagne, tandis que les deux autres formes abrégées sont satisfaisantes. L’analyse factorielle confirme qu’un modèle à facteur unique est une solution quasi optimale pour la PPS à 10 items. La PPS à 6 items mesure la personnalité proactive avec une fidélité interne cohérente à partir d’un facteur unique. Le score total sur l’échelle a été calculé par l’addition des scores sur les 6 items. On a obtenu sur un autre échantillon belge (N= 499) une corrélation des plus satisfaisantes (r= .92) entre la PPS de 6 items et la version originelle de 17 items. Given the relevance of proactive personality and proactive behavior for effectiveness of individuals, teams, and organisations in an increasingly multicultural context, this study investigated the unidimensionality of abbreviated forms of the Proactive Personality Scale (PPS; Bateman & Crant, 1993 ) beyond American and British data. The unidimensionality of the 10‐item, the 6‐item, the 5‐item, and the 4‐item PPS was tested through internal reliability analysis and factor analysis across independent samples in three countries (Belgium, N= 822; Finland, N= 100; Spain, N= 100). The results showed that the 5‐item and the 4‐item versions were not internally reliable in Belgium, Finland, and Spain, while the two other abbreviated forms of the PPS were. Factor analysis showed that a one‐factor solution for the 10‐item PPS was a sub‐optimal solution. The 6‐item PPS, however, measured the proactive personality in an internally consistent manner and through a single factor. The total score on the scale was calculated by adding up scores on the six items. In a separate Belgian sample (N= 499), correlations of the 6‐item PPS with the original 17‐item PPS proved satisfactory with r= .92.     

Perceived reality of visually mediated hazards and beliefs about risk

The aim of the present paper was to explore whether beliefs about risk are affected by media content authenticity as perceived by the viewers. A total of 69 participants were shown either a fictional or a reality‐based film on nuclear power. They rated risk perception prior to and after the film as well as ten days later, reactions to the film experience, and items of the scale for Need for Cognition. Results showed that individuals high in need for cognition were more accurate in their judgment of the authenticity of films, but were as influenced in their risk perception as their counterparts. Nuclear risk ratings showed a significant and large increase immediately upon the film session, but had resumed pre‐film level when measured ten days later. The potential influence of perceived content authenticity on risk perception is discussed in light of increasingly transformed patterns of media consumption. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Drivers’ decision to speed: A study inspired by the theory of planned behavior

Using structural equation modeling (LISREL 8.71), drivers’ everyday speeding behavior was predicted using the theory of planned behavior as a frame of reference. One hundred and twelve test drivers had a device installed in their vehicles that continuously logged their speeding behavior in a large area under an extended period of time. The test drivers also completed a questionnaire including questions inspired by the theory of planned behavior. It was found that the independent variables stipulated in the theory afforded a level of prediction of drivers’ self-reported speeding as well as of their logged speeding. Attitude towards speeding, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control were significant determinants of self-reported speeding. Self-reported speeding, and subjective norm, but not perceived behavioral control, did then contribute to the prediction of drivers’ logged speeding. The fact that perceived behavioral control did not directly contribute to the prediction of drivers’ logged speeding may be due to the possibility that drivers with several years of experience already take into account the actual control they have over the target behavior. As the theory of planned behavior can be used as a frame of reference to predict drivers’ everyday speeding behavior, it is suggested that the drivers might decide on a target behavior and in living up to this decision they continuously monitor their target speed during everyday driving.     

Influence of personal therapy on learning and development of psychotherapeutic skills

The aim of the present study was to investigate psychodynamic psychotherapists’ experience of the influence of personal therapy on professional growth during training with a focus on the acquisition of knowledge and the development of psychotherapeutic skills. Thematic analysis was conducted on interviews with former students (N=10) at two training institutes for psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The resulting theme “professional subjectivity” indicated that personal therapy was experienced as having a positive effect on learning and growth of professional skill by facilitating the development of a theory- and knowledge-based professional subjectivity, a personally founded, professional attitude. Important elements of this development are “shared experience,” “personal influence,” and “knowledge integration.” The emergence of professional subjectivity proved to be an important factor in terms of professional advancement for future psychotherapists. Finding and relating to their own subjectivity was crucial in the process of developing a personally founded, professional attitude in the clinical work.