Maternal Depression and Child Psychopathology: A Meta-Analytic Review

Although the association between maternal depression and adverse child outcomes is well established, the strength of the association, the breadth or specificity of the outcomes, and the role of moderators are not known. This information is essential to inform not only models of risk but also the design of preventive interventions by helping to identify subgroups at greater risk than others and to elucidate potential mechanisms as targets of interventions. A meta-analysis of 193 studies was conducted to examine the strength of the association between mothers’ depression and children’s behavioral problems or emotional functioning. Maternal depression was significantly related to higher levels of internalizing, externalizing, and general psychopathology and negative affect/behavior and to lower levels of positive affect/behavior, with all associations small in magnitude. These associations were significantly moderated by theoretically and methodologically relevant variables, with patterns of moderation found to vary somewhat with each child outcome. Results are interpreted in terms of implications for theoretical models that move beyond main effects models in order to more accurately identify which children of depressed mothers are more or less at risk for specific outcomes.     

Modeling effects of rhythmic context on perceived duration: a comparison of interval and entrainment approaches to short-interval timing

Relative merits of interval and entrainment conceptions of the internal clock were assessed within a common theoretical framework by 4 time-judgment experiments. The timing of tone onsets marking the beginning and ending of standard and comparison time intervals relative to a context rhythm were manipulated: onsets were on time, early, or late relative to the implied rhythm, and 2 distinct accuracy patterns emerged. A quadratic ending profile indicated best performance when the standard ended on time and worst performance when it was early or late, whereas a flat beginning profile (Experiments 1-3) indicated uniform performance for the 3 expectancy conditions. Only in Experiment 4, in which deviations from expected onset times were large, did significant effects of beginning times appear in time-discrimination thresholds and points of subjective equality. Findings are discussed in the context of theoretical assumptions about clock resetting, the representation of time, and independence of successive time intervals.     

Myths and misconceptions about hypnosis and suggestion: Separating fact and fiction

We present 21 prominent myths and misconceptions about hypnosis in order to promulgate accurate information and to highlight questions for future research. We argue that these myths and misconceptions have (a) fostered a skewed and stereotyped view of hypnosis among the lay public, (b) discouraged participant involvement in potentially helpful hypnotic interventions, and (c) impeded the exploration and application of hypnosis in scientific and practitioner communities. Myths reviewed span the view that hypnosis produces a trance or special state of consciousness and allied myths on topics related to hypnotic interventions; hypnotic responsiveness and the modification of hypnotic suggestibility; inducing hypnosis; and hypnosis and memory, awareness, and the experience of nonvolition. By demarcating myth from mystery and fact from fiction, and by highlighting what is known as well as what remains to be discovered, the science and practice of hypnosis can be advanced and grounded on a firmer empirical footing.     

Dissociative alterations in body image among individuals reporting out-of-body experiences: a conceptual replication

A conceptual replication of the link between self-reported dissociative alterations in body-image under experimental conditions and the reporting of prior out-of-body experiences in a recent data set was undertaken. Also examined was whether this relationship would hold for experiences reported during the experimental context and whether it is independent of self-reported New Age belief. Data from mostly undergraduates (N= 40; M age = 33.5, SD = 12.5; 27 women) in a mirror-gazing study were retrospectively analyzed. The 9 individuals who reported prior out-of-body experiences, relative to those 31 who did not, exhibited significantly greater self-reported dissociative alterations in body-image during the mirror-gazing task, even when the influence of scores on New Age belief was controlled for statistically. The same differential relationship was not found between 6 individuals who did and 34 who did not report out-of-body experiences during the task.     

Picking up the pace: effects of global temporal context on sensitivity to the tempo of auditory sequences

This article continues a line of research examining factors affecting listeners' auditory tempo sensitivities. Of particular interest is the question of whether listeners are sensitive to the overall (global) pace of their auditory environment and how this sensitivity may affect their perceptions of sequence timing. To address this question, we manipulated the set of sequence tempi (between 300 and 700 msec) that listeners experienced over the course of a 1-h period (i.e., the global temporal context) while they performed a tempo-discrimination task involving standard-comparison pairs of isochronous tone sequences. Overall findings show systematic distortions in perceived tempo that are consistent with the view that listeners adapt to the global pace of their auditory environments. Moreover, general support was found for the hypothesis that increasing the number of equal intervals in a standard sequence produces greater improvements in tempo sensitivity when the standard sequence tempo is different from the global pace than when it is at the global pace. Implications of these findings for models of timing and temporal processing are discussed.     

Effect of a behavioral intervention on dimensions of self-regulation and physical activity among overweight and obese adults with type 2 diabetes: a pilot study

The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the preliminary effect of a behavioral intervention on the use of self-regulation strategies and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in overweight and obese adults with type 2 diabetes. 23 individuals recruited from ResearchMatc.org and campus advertisements were randomized into an intervention (n = 12) and control (n = 11) group. The intervention group received a behavioral intervention that used goal setting, time management, and self-monitoring to target dimensions of self-regulation and MVPA. The control received information regarding their PA habits. MVPA was measured via BodyMedia Armbands at pre- and post-test. The use of self-regulatory strategies for MVPA was assessed at pretest and posttest using the Self-Regulation for Exercise Scale. Cohen’s d effect sizes were calculated to determine the practical impact of the intervention. The intervention had a large effect on all dimensions of self-regulation across time: including total self-regulation (3.15), self-monitoring (4.63), goal setting (3.17), social support (1.29), self-reward (1.98), time management (4.41), and overcoming barriers (2.25). The intervention had no impact on dimensions of MVPA across time. This pilot study demonstrated the ability of a behavioral intervention to improve the use of self-regulation strategies for MVPA in a sample of adults with type 2 diabetes. These findings can further inform the development of health promotion programs to promote self-regulation. Future research should focus on determining ability of improvements in self-regulation to stimulate behavior change.     

Relations among Social Anxiety,Eye Contact Avoidance,State Anxiety,and Perception of Interaction Performance during a Live Conversation

There is building evidence that highly socially anxious (HSA) individuals frequently avoid making eye contact, which may contribute to less meaningful social interactions and maintenance of social anxiety symptoms. However, research to date is lacking in ecological validity due to the usage of either static or pre-recorded facial stimuli or subjective coding of eye contact. The current study examined the relationships among trait social anxiety, eye contact avoidance, state anxiety, and participants’ self-perceptions of interaction performance during a live, four-minute conversation with a confederate via webcam, and while being covertly eye-tracked. Participants included undergraduate women who conversed with same-sex confederates. Results indicated that trait social anxiety was inversely related to eye contact duration and frequency averaged across the four minutes, and positively related to state social anxiety and negative self-ratings. In addition, greater anticipatory state anxiety was associated with reduced eye contact throughout the first minute of the conversation. Eye contact was not related to post-task state anxiety or self-perception of poor performance; although, trends emerged in which these relations may be positive for HSA individuals. The current findings provide enhanced support for the notion that eye contact avoidance is an important feature of social anxiety.     

Effects of musicality and motivational orientation on auditory category learning: A test of a regulatory-fit hypothesis

Two experiments investigated the effects of musicality and motivational orientation on auditory category learning. In both experiments, participants learned to classify tone stimuli that varied in frequency and duration according to an initially unknown disjunctive rule; feedback involved gaining points for correct responses (a gains reward structure) or losing points for incorrect responses (a losses reward structure). For Experiment 1, participants were told at the start that musicians typically outperform nonmusicians on the task, and then they were asked to identify themselves as either a “musician” or a “nonmusician.” For Experiment 2, participants were given either a promotion focus prime (a performance-based opportunity to gain entry into a raffle) or a prevention focus prime (a performance-based criterion that needed to be maintained to avoid losing an entry into a raffle) at the start of the experiment. Consistent with a regulatory-fit hypothesis, self-identified musicians and promotion-primed participants given a gains reward structure made more correct tone classifications and were more likely to discover the optimal disjunctive rule than were musicians and promotion-primed participants experiencing losses. Reward structure (gains vs. losses) had inconsistent effects on the performance of nonmusicians, and a weaker regulatory-fit effect was found for the prevention focus prime. Overall, the findings from this study demonstrate a regulatory-fit effect in the domain of auditory category learning and show that motivational orientation may contribute to musician performance advantages in auditory perception.