Conscious Control Is Associated With Freezing of Mechanical Degrees of Freedom During Motor Learning

This study investigated whether conscious control is associated with freezing of mechanical degrees of freedom during motor learning. Participants practiced a throwing task using either error-strewn or error-reduced practice protocols, which encourage high or low levels of conscious control, respectively. After 24 hr, participants engaged in a series of delayed retention and transfer tests. Furthermore, propensity for conscious control was assessed using participants' ratings and freezing was gauged through movement variability of the throwing arm. Performance was defined by mean radial error. In the error-strewn group, propensity for conscious control was positively associated with both freezing and performance. In the error-reduced group, propensity for conscious control was negatively associated with performance, but not with freezing. These results suggest that conscious control is associated with freezing of mechanical degrees of freedom during motor learning.     

A comparison of prompts and feedback for promoting handwashing in university restrooms

We compared the effects of prompts versus feedback on handwashing behavior across six restrooms at a large university. We evaluated the effects using two separate multiple baseline designs across three men's and three women's restrooms. Results indicate that feedback was more effective for increasing handwashing.     

Enhancing Critical Consciousness Through a Cross‐Cultural Immersion Experience in South Africa

Using phenomenological approaches, the author explored the meanings and essences of a cross‐cultural immersion experience in South Africa among counseling master's‐level students. Five core themes—the meaning of being American, sociopolitical awareness, engagement with South Africans and their communities, appreciation of life, and commitment to change—characterized the development of critical consciousness (Freire, 1973 , 2000 ). Findings support positive influences of cross‐cultural immersion as an experiential pedagogical method for multicultural development. Usando enfoques fenomenológicos, se exploraron los significados y esencias de una experiencia de inmersión transcultural en Sudáfrica entre estudiantes de nivel máster en consejería. Cinco temas centrales (el significado de ser estadounidense, la conciencia sociopolítica, la interacción con individuos sudafricanos y sus comunidades, la valoración de la vida y el compromiso con el cambio) caracterizaron el desarrollo de la conciencia crítica (Freire, 1973 , 2000 ). Los hallazgos confirman influencias positivas de la inmersión transcultural como un método pedagógico basado en la experiencia para el desarrollo multicultural.     

Helping Peers Seek Professional Treatment for Depression Among Young South Koreans: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

This study examined the applicability of the theory of planned behavior to understand factors that influence whether young South Koreans help peers with depression to seek professional counseling services. The structural equation modeling on the survey data collected from 191 South Korean students suggests that subjective norms and behavioral control could be salient factors for young South Koreans to take initiative and assist their peers in need of counseling services. Este estudio examinó la aplicabilidad de la teoría del comportamiento planificado para comprender factores que influyen sobre la decisión de jóvenes surcoreanos de ayudar a sus compañeros que sufren de depresión a buscar ayuda profesional a través de servicios de consejería. El modelo de ecuación estructural de los datos de la encuesta recogidos de 191 estudiantes surcoreanos sugiere que las normas subjetivas y el control del comportamiento podrían ser factores destacados para los jóvenes surcoreanos a la hora de tomar la iniciativa y ayudar a sus compañeros que necesitan servicios de consejería.     

Dispositions and Bogus Counterexamples: Reply to Lee

This paper discusses Lee’s argument that Lewis’s reformed conditional analysis of dispositions is preferable to the simple conditional analysis of dispositions. Lee’s argument is basically that there are some examples that can be adequately handled by Lewis’s analysis but cannot by the simple conditional analysis of dispositions. But I will reveal that, when carefully understood, they spell no trouble for the simple conditional analysis of dispositions, failing to serve a motivating role for Lewis’s analysis.     

Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapies for Alzheimer’s Disease: A Review of Methods to Improve Treatment Engagement and Self-Efficacy

Cognitive rehabilitation therapies for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are becoming more readily available to the geriatric population in an attempt to curb the insidious decline in cognitive and functional performance. However, people with AD may have difficulty adhering to these cognitive treatments due to denial of memory deficits, compromised brain systems, cognitive incapacity for self-awareness, general difficulty following through on daily tasks, lack of motivation, hopelessness, and apathy, all of which may be either due to the illness or be secondary to depression. Cognitive rehabilitation training exercises are also labor intensive and, unfortunately, serve as a repeated reminder about the memory impairments and attendant functional consequences. In order for cognitive rehabilitation methods to be effective, patients must be adequately engaged and motivated to not only begin a rehabilitation program but also to remain involved in the intervention until a therapeutic dosage can be attained. We review approaches to cognitive rehabilitation in AD, neuropsychological as well as psychological obstacles to effective treatment in this population, and methods that target adherence to treatment and may therefore be applicable to cognitive rehabilitation therapies for AD. The goal is to stimulate discussion among researchers and clinicians alike on how treatment effects may be mediated by engagement in treatment, and what can be done to enhance patient adherence for cognitive rehabilitation therapies in order to obtain greater cognitive and functional benefits from the treatment itself.     

Affective facilitation and inhibition of cultural influences on reasoning

Research in South Korea and the United States examined how affective states facilitate or inhibit culturally dominant styles of reasoning. According to the affect-as-information hypothesis, affective cues of mood influence judgements by serving as embodied information about the value of accessible inclinations and cognitions. Extending this line of research to culture, we hypothesised that positive affect should promote (and negative affect should inhibit) culturally normative reasoning. The results of two studies of causal reasoning supported this hypothesis. Positive and negative affect functioned like “go” and “stop” signals, respectively, for culturally typical reasoning styles. Thus, in happy (compared to sad) moods, Koreans engaged in more holistic reasoning, whereas Americans engaged in more analytic reasoning.     

Depression in Homebound Older Adults: Problem-Solving Therapy and Personal and Social Resourcefulness

The goal of problem-solving therapy is to teach patients systematic coping skills. For many homebound older adults, coping skills must also include both personal and social (help-seeking) resourcefulness. This study aimed to examine the relationship between perceived resourcefulness and depressive symptoms at postintervention and potential mediating effect of the resourcefulness among 121 low-income homebound older adults who participated in a pilot randomized controlled trial testing feasibility and preliminary efficacy of telehealth-PST. Resourcefulness Scale for Older Adults was used to measure personal and social resourcefulness. Only personal resourcefulness scores were significantly associated with depression outcomes at postintervention, and neither resourcefulness scores were significantly associated with group assignment. Analysis found no mediation effect of resourcefulness. The findings call for further research on potential mediators for the potentially effective depression treatment that could be sustained in the real world for low-income homebound older adults who have limited access to psychotherapy as a treatment modality.