Radial bisection of words and lines in right‐brain‐damaged patients with spatial neglect

The bisection of lines positioned radially (with the two ends of the line close and far, with respect to the participant's body) has been less investigated than that of lines placed horizontally (with their two ends left and right, with respect to the body's midsagittal plane). In horizontal bisection, patients with left neglect typically show a rightward bias for both lines and words, greater with longer stimuli. As for radial bisection, available data indicate that neurologically unimpaired participants make a distal error, while results from right‐brain‐damaged patients with left spatial neglect are contradictory. We investigated the bisection of radially oriented words, with the prediction that, during bisection, linguistic material would be recoded to its canonical left‐to‐right format in reading, with the performance of neglect patients being similar to that for horizontal words. Thirteen right‐brain‐damaged patients (seven with left spatial neglect) and fourteen healthy controls were asked to manually bisect 40 radial and 40 horizontal words (5–10 letters), and 80 lines, 40 radial and 40 horizontal, of comparable length. Right‐brain‐damaged patients with spatial neglect exhibited a proximal bias in the bisection of short radial words, with the proximal part corresponding to the final right part of horizontally oriented words. This proximal error was not found in patients without neglect and healthy controls. For bisection, short radial words may be recoded to the canonical orthographic horizontal format, unveiling the impact of left neglect on radially oriented stimuli.     

Task-switch costs subsequent to cue-only trials

There is abundant evidence that there is a performance cost associated with switching between tasks. This “switch cost” has been postulated to be driven by task performance on the preceding trial, but recent research challenges any necessary role of previous task performance in driving the cost. Across three experiments, we investigated whether it is difficult to switch from a task that was prepared but never performed. We replicated the finding of a switch cost following cue-only trials (involving no task performance) whilst controlling for a potential cue-switching confound. This cost was larger than that following completed trials when preparation interval was short (300?ms), and it reduced significantly with a longer preparation interval (1000?ms) on the current trial. We also found that preparing only to attend to a particular visual dimension (colour or shape) was sufficient to drive a significant subsequent switch cost, which appeared to be residual in nature; we speculate that this cost may reflect the persistence of unfulfilled task intentions and/or a strategic slowing when consecutive intentions conflict.     

ROCs in Eyewitness Identification: Instructions versus Confidence Ratings

From the perspective of signal detection theory, different lineup instructions may induce different levels of response bias. If so, then collecting correct and false identification rates across different instructional conditions will trace out the receiver operating characteristic (ROC)—the same ROC that, theoretically, could also be traced out from a single instruction condition in which each eyewitness decision is accompanied by a confidence rating. We tested whether the two approaches do in fact yield the same ROC. Participants were assigned to a confidence rating condition or to an instructional biasing condition (liberal, neutral, unbiased, or conservative). After watching a video of a mock crime, participants were presented with instructions followed by a six‐person simultaneous photo lineup. The ROCs from both methods were similar, but they were not exactly the same. These findings have potentially important policy implications for how the legal system should go about controlling eyewitness response bias.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The test–retest reliability of the latent construct of executive function depends on whether tasks are represented as formative or reflective indicators

This study investigates the test–retest reliability of a battery of executive function (EF) tasks with a specific interest in testing whether the method that is used to create a battery-wide score would result in differences in the apparent test–retest reliability of children’s performance. A total of 188 4-year-olds completed a battery of computerized EF tasks twice across a period of approximately two weeks. Two different approaches were used to create a score that indexed children’s overall performance on the battery—i.e., (1) the mean score of all completed tasks and (2) a factor score estimate which used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Pearson and intra-class correlations were used to investigate the test–retest reliability of individual EF tasks, as well as an overall battery score. Consistent with previous studies, the test–retest reliability of individual tasks was modest (rs ≈ .60). The test–retest reliability of the overall battery scores differed depending on the scoring approach (r_mean = .72; r_{factor_score} = .99). It is concluded that the children’s performance on individual EF tasks exhibit modest levels of test–retest reliability. This underscores the importance of administering multiple tasks and aggregating performance across these tasks in order to improve precision of measurement. However, the specific strategy that is used has a large impact on the apparent test–retest reliability of the overall score. These results replicate our earlier findings and provide additional cautionary evidence against the routine use of factor analytic approaches for representing individual performance across a battery of EF tasks.     

Current Perspectives on Interventions for Self-Injurious Behavior of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Our purpose in this systematic review was to identify, evaluate, and summarize the single-case research design studies examining behavioral interventions to address self-injurious behavior for young children with autism spectrum disorder. We identified 24 studies published between 2000 and 2016 that met the inclusion criteria. We reviewed and coded each study across five content areas using systematic procedures. These content areas consisted of the methodological quality of single-case research designs, children’s demographic information, conditions under which the intervention was implemented, characteristics of intervention, and outcomes. Our findings indicate that procedural integrity data were reported for only one study and social validity for two studies. The majority of studies were implemented by researchers or therapists in the school setting. For 24 of 30 children included in the studies reviewed, the authors taught a replacement behavior selected on the basis of an assessment conducted prior to intervention. All authors reported a decrease in the self-injurious behavior post-intervention. A limited number of authors examined generalization and maintenance of low rates of self-injurious behavior. Limitations of the present review and future directions and implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Longitudinal Evaluation of the Role of Academic and Social Impairment and Parent-Adolescent Conflict in the Development of Depression in Adolescents with ADHD

Older adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have a significantly increased likelihood of developing comorbid depression. It is important to evaluate factors during the early adolescent period that may contribute to this risk. A predominant theory is that impairment and failure experiences lead to the development of low-self efficacy and depression, and that parent and family factors also play a role. In a sample of 326 young adolescents with ADHD (Mage?=?12), the present study evaluated whether parent-adolescent conflict mediated the association between social and academic impairment and the development of depression. This study builds upon prior work by evaluating these associations longitudinally and by using a multi-rater approach, including the parent, adolescent, and teacher perspectives. Social and academic impairment directly predicted depression controlling for baseline levels of depression and change in ADHD symptoms. The association between social impairment and depression was partially mediated by parent-adolescent conflict. Mediation through conflict was not found for academic impairment, and the association between academic impairment and depression was no longer significant when accounting for conflict. These findings highlight the importance of social impairment in the development of depression in adolescents with ADHD. Caregivers may play an important role in determining whether adolescents with ADHD internalize social impairment and failure experiences and develop depressive symptoms. Implications of these findings in terms of the importance of interventions focused on parent-adolescent conflict are discussed.     

Perceptions of Hospitalization by Children with Chronic Illnesses and Siblings

Understanding children’s perceptions of their illnesses and functioning when they are undergoing medical procedures remains an important area for research. Further research about siblings’ perceptions will also provide knowledge about how they are coping with a brother or sister’s chronic illness. The current study examined the perceptions of children with illnesses and their siblings using a play interview. Themes in the data indicated resilience in child functioning for both patients and siblings. Children with chronic illnesses could experience pain, which often related to fears and other negative feelings about hospitalization and potentially doctors or nurses, if they were administering painful procedures. Distraction and prayer were coping tools for patients. However, most patients believed their illness and recovery would be a “long journey.” Brothers and sisters of children with chronic illnesses could experience loneliness. A more common report was a strong desire to help and be a support for a brother or sister with an illness. Support from parents was critical for both patients and siblings and both typically enjoyed child life activities. A member-checking process, with a different group of children with illnesses and siblings, was used to audit themes discovered after reviewing play interviews. The audit process supported the positive and negative themes in the data. In the future, examining the impact of magical thinking on outcomes and conducting studies after the children have gained distance from medical trauma will be important. Moreover, increasing a focus on resilience as a hallmark of children’s functioning remains another area for further research.     

Intergenerational Continuity in Qualities of the Parent–Child Relationship: Mediating and Moderating Mechanisms

Intergenerational continuity in parenting quality has been demonstrated but the mechanisms underlying this continuity are less understood. This study investigated whether the offspring personality and years of education mediate the continuity in qualities of the parent–child relationship and whether offspring personality moderates this association. The sample comprised 1308 Finnish offspring (G2; 62% female) and their mothers (G1). G1 (Mean age?=?37.7) reported self-perceived qualities of the parent–child relationship in terms of emotional warmth and acceptance towards G2 aged 3–18 years in 1980. Thirty-two years later, once having become parents themselves, G2 (Mean age?=?42.9) self-rated their own qualities of the parent–child relationship towards their children using the same scales. Between these follow-ups, G2 self-rated their personality (consisting of temperament and character traits) using the Temperament and Character Inventory and reported years of education. Results indicated that G2 character traits—Self-directedness and Cooperativeness—partially mediated the intergenerational continuity in self-perceived emotional warmth and explained 16% of this association. No mediating role of G2 temperament traits was found (all ps?>?.240). Character traits accounted for the indirect association better than education in a multiple mediator model. Moreover, no moderating role of either temperament or character traits was found (all ps?≥?.064). Study findings show that warm and accepting qualities of the parent–child relationship in childhood are related to offspring character traits that reflect personality maturity in adulthood, which in turn would predict their own positive parent–child relationship later in life.     

Suicide Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Is Marriage a Protective Factor for Veterans?

Alarming numbers of military veterans end their lives each day which has a profound effect on the military population. This study examines a sample (N?=?434) of suicide-exposed (i.e., personally knowing someone who has died by suicide) veterans to determine whether the proportion of individuals who report high impact from suicide exposure and those who have clinically-significant posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms is related to marital status. Using Hill’s (Social Casework 49: 139–150, 1958) ABC-X model for conceptualizing the relationships between variables, mean scores for posttraumatic stress disorder were significantly different between groups, and the odds of a married veteran reporting high-impact suicide exposure were 2.19 times lower than the odds of a single veteran reporting high-impact. Likewise, the odds of a veteran with high-impact suicide exposure having clinically-significant posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms were 10.04 times higher than veterans with low-impact suicide exposure. Findings indicate that veterans who are married are less likely to be highly-affected by another individual’s suicide. Thus, marriage is a protective factor for suicide-exposed veterans.     

Mothers’ Mental Health Treatment Associated with Greater Adolescent Mental Health Service Use for Depression

Despite concerns surrounding depression in adolescence and the existence of effective treatments, adolescent depression often goes untreated. In 2014, only 41.2% of adolescents experiencing a major depressive episode (MDE) received mental health treatment. Parents play a key role in adolescents’ treatment utilization. We examined whether among mothers with any mental illness, mothers’ utilization of mental health treatment was associated with greater likelihood of their adolescent children who experienced an MDE receiving mental health treatment. Using nationally representative data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2008–2014), we performed logistic regression analysis to model the odds of adolescents (aged 12 to 17 years) with a past year MDE receiving any mental health treatment in the past year as a function of their mothers’ mental health treatment utilization in the past year, adjusting for control variables. The rate of adolescent treatment utilization was 66% when mothers had utilized treatment, as compared to 45% when mothers did not utilize treatment (p?<?0.001). The odds of an adolescent with an MDE receiving mental health treatment were two times greater when the mother received mental health treatment as compared to adolescents whose mothers did not receive any mental health treatment (OR?=?2.09, 95% CI [1.04, 4.17]). There was no effect of adolescent gender (OR?=?1.15, 95% CI [0.40, 3.28]) or interaction between gender and mothers’ treatment (OR?=?0.95, 95% CI [0.26, 3.46]). Barriers to adolescent mental health treatment may be lower when mothers receive mental health treatment.