Three questions about Leplin’s reliabilism

Jarrett Leplin’s paper is multifaceted; it’s rich with ideas, and I won’t even try to touch on all of them. Instead, I’d like to raise three questions about the paper: one about its definition of reliable method, one about its solution to the generality problem, and one about its answer to clairvoyance-type objections.     

Alzheimer's disease: progress in the development of anti-amyloid disease-modifying therapies

The amyloid hypothesis--the leading mechanistic theory of Alzheimer's disease--states that an imbalance in production or clearance of amyloid beta (Abeta) results in accumulation of Abeta and triggers a cascade of events leading to neurodegeneration and dementia. The number of persons with Alzheimer's disease is expected to triple by mid-century. If steps are not taken to delay the onset or slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, the economic and personal tolls will be immense. Different classes of potentially disease-modifying treatments that interrupt early pathological events (ie, decreasing production or aggregation of Abeta or increasing its clearance) and potentially prevent downstream events are in phase II or III clinical studies. These include immunotherapies; secretase inhibitors; selective Abeta42-lowering agents; statins; anti-Abeta aggregation agents; peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma agonists; and others. Safety and serious adverse events have been a concern with immunotherapy and gamma-secretase inhibitors, though both continue in clinical trials. Anti-amyloid disease-modifying drugs that seem promising and have reached phase III clinical trials include those that selectively target Abeta42 production (eg, tarenflurbil), enhance the activity of alpha-secretase (eg, statins), and block Abeta aggregation (eg, transiposate).     

Mindreading as social expertise

In recent years, a number of approaches to social cognition research have emerged that highlight the importance of embodied interaction for social cognition (Reddy, How infants know minds, 2008; Gallagher, J Conscious Stud 8:83–108, 2001; Fuchs and Jaegher, Phenom Cogn Sci 8:465–486, 2009; Hutto, in Seemans (ed.) Joint attention: new developments in psychology, philosophy of mind and social neuroscience, 2012). Proponents of such ‘interactionist’ approaches emphasize the importance of embodied responses that are engaged in online social interaction, and which, according to interactionists, present an alternative to mindreading as a source of social understanding. We agree that it is important to take embodied interaction seriously, but do not agree that this presents a fundamental challenge to mainstream mindreading approaches. Drawing upon an analogy between embodied interaction and the exercise of expert skills, we advocate a hierarchical view which claims that embodied social responses generally operate in close conjunction with higher-level cognitive processes that play a coordinative role, and which are often sensitive to mental states. Thus, investigation of embodied responses should inform rather than conflict with research on mindreading.     

Analyses of Model Fit and Robustness. A New Look at the PISA Scaling Model Underlying Ranking of Countries According to Reading Literacy

This paper addresses methodological issues that concern the scaling model used in the international comparison of student attainment in the Programme for International Student Attainment (PISA), specifically with reference to whether PISA’s ranking of countries is confounded by model misfit and differential item functioning (DIF). To determine this, we reanalyzed the publicly accessible data on reading skills from the 2006 PISA survey. We also examined whether the ranking of countries is robust in relation to the errors of the scaling model. This was done by studying invariance across subscales, and by comparing ranks based on the scaling model and ranks based on models where some of the flaws of PISA’s scaling model are taken into account. Our analyses provide strong evidence of misfit of the PISA scaling model and very strong evidence of DIF. These findings do not support the claims that the country rankings reported by PISA are robust.     

Integrating flow theory and the serious leisure perspective into mental health counseling

This article explores how flow theory and the serious leisure perspective (SLP) can be integrated into mental health counseling. Although different counseling models have acknowledged the role of leisure in the counseling process, leisure is largely an unknown and superficial concept in the mental health counseling literature. Four broad-based pragmatic ideas regarding how flow theory and the SLP can be integrated into the counseling process include mental health counselors (1) understanding the concepts of serious leisure, casual leisure, project-based leisure, flow (enjoyment), and hedonistic pleasure; (2) becoming aware of various assessment instruments that measure flow and serious leisure; (3) using the provision characteristics of entering flow into the counseling process; and (4) empowering clients to becoming community change agents through serious leisure pursuit, resulting in flow experiences.     

Biological attributions for postdeployment distress relate to higher likelihood of seeking mental health treatment in Iraq/Afghanistan service members/veterans

Service members/veterans (SM/Vs) underuse mental health care. Attribution theory suggests that attributions for psychological distress might inform help-seeking. Given recent mental health campaigns leveraging military values aimed at facilitating help-seeking for postdeployment distress, understanding how SM/Vs explain psychological distress may contribute to a better grasp of the low help-seeking rate in this population. The authors examined the association of biological and psychological attributions for postdeployment distress with help-seeking intentions from a mental health professional and medical doctor in 162 Iraq/Afghanistan SM/Vs. At the bivariate level, biological attributions were positively associated with help-seeking intentions from a mental health professional and medical doctor with small effect sizes. Psychological attributions were unrelated to help-seeking intentions from either provider. Path analysis revealed that biological attributions were positively correlated with help-seeking intentions from a medical doctor with a small effect size above and beyond the effects of psychological attributions and correlates. Biological attributions were also positively correlated with help-seeking intentions from a mental health professional with a small effect size but the significance value only trended toward significance (p = .06). Emphasizing the role of biology in postdeployment distress may promote help-seeking in SM/Vs, particularly help-seeking from medical professionals. Interventions that test the effectiveness of promoting biological explanations in campaigns aimed at increasing help-seeking may be a necessary next step in this area of inquiry.     

The association between change in cognitive ability and cause-specific mortality in a community sample of older adults

While there is consistent evidence that initial levels of cognitive ability predict mortality, there is mixed evidence for a relationship between changes in cognition and mortality. There have been few studies that have examined whether the level and slope of cognitive performance is predictive of subsequent mortality from all causes or from cardiovascular disease, stroke, heart disease, respiratory disease, or cancer. This study aimed to assess whether the level and slope of cognitive ability were associated with all-cause or cause-specific mortality. A cohort of 896 community-based elderly people in Australia was interviewed four times over 12 years, with vital status followed for up to 17 years. Of these, 592 participants completed two or more interviews and were included in survival models of six mortality outcomes. Cognitive change in five domains of ability was estimated using latent growth models. Poorer initial processing speed or verbal fluency was significantly associated with greater all-cause and/or cardiovascular mortality. In addition, declines in global ability were associated with greater all-cause, cardiovascular, and heart disease mortality. Vocabulary and episodic memory were not associated with mortality, and none of the cognitive tests significantly predicted respiratory or cancer mortality. Initial levels of cognitive ability tended to be better predictors of subsequent mortality than were changes in ability. The results suggest that vascular events may be largely responsible for the overall relationship between cognition and mortality.