Happy faces are habituated more slowly by infants of depressed mothers

Three-month-old infants of depressed (n=16) and non-depressed mothers (n=16) were habituated to video clips of a female model reciting phrases while posing happy or sad facial/vocal expressions and dishabituated to the alternate expressions. Overall, infants of depressed mothers took longer to habituate the video clips compared to infants of non-depressed mothers, and those assigned to habituate the sad video clips displayed a novelty response or dishabituated to the happy expressions. These findings suggest that 3-month-old infants of depressed mothers discriminate sad from happy expressions, however, they do not appear to perceive sad expressions as novel.     

Newborns of depressed mothers who received moderate versus light pressure massage during pregnancy

Sixty-four neonates (M age=6.8 days) of depressed mothers who received moderate pressure massage versus light pressure massage therapy during pregnancy (month 5 through month 8) were compared on their behaviors during 15-min observations and on their performance on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale. The group of neonates whose mothers received moderate pressure massage spent a greater percent of the observation time smiling and vocalizing, and they received better scores on the orientation, motor, excitability, and depression clusters of the Brazelton scale.     

Greater arousal and less attentiveness to face/voice stimuli by neonates of depressed mothers on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale

Neonates born to depressed (n = 44) versus non-depressed (n = 43) mothers were compared on individual items of the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS). The neonates of depressed mothers received lower scores on orienting to the live face/voice stimulus and on the alertness items, suggesting they were less attentive. They also scored less optimally on the cuddliness and hand-to-mouth activity items, suggesting they were more aroused. These data lend support to the model that infants of depressed mothers are more aroused and less attentive.     

Prenatal paternal depression

Prenatal depressive symptoms, anxiety, anger and daily hassles were investigated in 156 depressed and non-depressed pregnant women and their depressed and non-depressed partners (fathers-to-be). Depressed versus non-depressed fathers had higher depression, anxiety and daily hassles scores. Although the pregnant women in general had lower anxiety, anger and daily hassles scores than the men, the scores on the measures for depressed fathers and depressed mothers did not differ. Paternal depression appeared to have less effect than maternal depression on their partners’ scores. However, the similarity between the scores of depressed mothers and depressed fathers highlights the importance of screening for depression in fathers-to-be as well as mothers-to-be during pregnancy.     

Frontal brain asymmetry and reward responsiveness: a source-localization study

The influence of approach and avoidance tendencies on affect, reasoning, and behavior has attracted substantial interest from researchers across various areas of psychology. Currently, frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) asymmetry in favor of left prefrontal regions is assumed to reflect the propensity to respond with approach-related tendencies. To test this hypothesis, we recorded resting EEG in 18 subjects, who separately performed a verbal memory task under three incentive conditions (neutral, reward, and punishment). Using a source-localization technique, we found that higher task-independent alpha2 (10.5-12 Hz) activity within left dorsolateral prefrontal and medial orbitofrontal regions was associated with stronger bias to respond to reward-related cues. Left prefrontal resting activity accounted for 54.8% of the variance in reward bias. These findings not only confirm that frontal EEG asymmetry modulates the propensity to engage in appetitively motivated behavior, but also provide anatomical details about the underlying brain systems.     

How Do Therapists Understand Their Client’s Problem and Its Resolution: Objectification in Theories of Change

Images and metaphors help to structure the therapist’s belief system in two ways. First, images represent strategies used by therapists in order to simplify the most abstract theoretical concepts. Second, images provide a system according for organizing the information about a client and anticipate the patterns of client change. Within the theoretical frameworks of social representations and of goal directed action theory, the present study explores the metaphorical aspects linked with therapeutic knowledge. This study aims to reconstruct the social representations that therapists use to objectify their theoretical model. The present research relies on a qualitative methodology. The results show that therapists from different orientations rely on different metaphors although, in certain conditions, they tend to share a more general representational system. Implications for psychotherapy training and clinical practice are considered.     

Mental disorders and communication of intent to die in indigenous suicide cases, Queensland, Australia

In comparing Indigenous to non-Indigenous suicide in Australia, this study focussed on the frequency of the association between some psychiatric conditions, such as depression and alcohol abuse, and some aspect of suicidality, in particular communication of suicide intent. Logistic regression was implemented to analyze cases of Indigenous (n = 471) versus non-Indigenous suicides (n = 6,655), using the Queensland Suicide Register as a data source. Compared to non-Indigenous suicides, Indigenous cases had lower odds of being diagnosed with unipolar depression, seeking treatment for psychiatric conditions or leaving a suicide note. Indigenous suicides had greater odds of verbally communicating suicide intent and having a history of alcohol and substance use. The magnitude of these differences is remarkable, underscoring the need for culturally sensitive suicide prevention efforts.     

Using an eye-tracker to assess the effectiveness of a three-dimensional riding simulator in increasing hazard perception

A crucial factor contributing to the high rate of road accidents involving young people is inexperience, in particular the inability to promptly identify risky situations. The aim of this study is to test the effectiveness of a riding simulator in improving this skill in young inexperienced riders. We use the first fixation latency to measure the improvement in detecting the hazardous object. Results show that four training sessions can significantly affect promptness in detecting new hazardous objects as they appear, decreasing the time needed to orient the eyes to the hazard.     

How gender affects the relationship between hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions?

Five hundred and fifteen consumer responses are used to model the affect of online hedonic shopping motivation and online purchase intentions: moderated by the consumers' perceptions of their offline and online gendered behaviour. The model was applied across five product categories using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. We conclude that there is no online‐gender effect on hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions. However, offline‐gendered behaviour does significantly affect hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions for females across all product categories. Our findings support the proposition that gender is merely a prosthetic device of the private self and is an intentional manipulation and misrepresentation of the anonymous body. Online gender is a performance that is hidden by the technological veil from the offline space and public self, without social constraints or criticisms. Research implications are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.