Discourse about discourse: what is it and how does it progress in Alzheimer's disease?

Discourse about discourse or a subject's comments about his/her performance during a discourse task can be defined as modalizing discourse (discours modalisateur; [Nespoulous, 1980]; [Nespoulous et al., 1998]). Since it does not convey the expected content of the discourse task (referential discourse), modalizing discourse has often been considered non-informative, and as such, has received little interest. The present study investigated the modalizing aspect of discourse production and its evolution in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Five AD patients produced a picture-induced narrative across five consecutive assessments. Two measures were derived: the modalizing/referential ratio (M/R ratio) and the percentage of repeated ideas. Results revealed that, compared to a group of 27 normal controls matched for age and education, AD patients: (1) obtained higher M/R ratios that tended to diminish as the number of assessments increased, and (2) produced higher percentages of repeated ideas throughout all assessments. These results suggest that modalizing discourse makes up a large proportion of AD patients' discourse and should be included in further studies to accurately describe their discourse behavior. The implications of modalizing discourse on preserved pragmatic abilities and its inclusion in comprehensive management programs of AD patients are discussed.     

Self-compassion reduces parental burnout: Mediation roles of parental psychological control and support

This study investigated the mediating role of parental psychological control (PPC) and support in the relationship between self-compassion and parental burnout syndrome. The study participants included 1185 Vietnamese parents who completed questionnaires regarding demographic information, parental burnout, self-compassion, parental support of the child, and PPC. We used data analyses, including structural equation modeling, to test the mediation roles of PPC and parental support of the child. Our main findings include: (1) self-compassion had a significant negative effect on parental burnout; (2) the mediation roles of PPC and parental support of the child were also significant. These results suggest that parents with high self-compassion tend to provide more support for children in daily parenting, which helps reduce parental burnout. In contrast, parents with low self-compassion were more likely to use PPC, which exacerbated their burnout. The results from this study provide suggestions for creating effective interventions in the family context to reduce parental burnout and improve parenting effectiveness.     

The effect of shopping channel (online vs. offline) on message framing of naturalness

Naturalness is a significant driver of food-related choices. However, there is scarce knowledge of how textual cues could be utilised to enhance the effectiveness of naturalness claims. Drawn from construal level theory, we attempted to examine how different methods of framing naturalness affect consumers in online vs. offline shopping contexts. Study 1 employed a 2 (abstract vs. concrete) × 2 (online vs. offline) experiment with 127 respondents and demonstrated that concrete framing heightens positive attitudes via increased perceived concreteness of the message, especially in offline shopping situations. Study 2 employed a 4 (abstract vs. control vs. concrete without mentioning natural vs. concrete mentioning natural) × 2 (online vs. offline) experiment with 173 respondents and replicated findings from Study 1. Furthermore, Study 2 ruled out alternative explanations of message authenticity, transparency and credibility and indicated that the effect of message framings is truly driven by the congruency between consumers' construal level and message framings. Interestingly, no significant effect of abstractly framed naturalness claims was observed in online shopping situations, contradicting existing studies. This suggests that other psychological mechanisms may interplay and hinder the effectiveness of abstract framing in our study. Taken together, the current research demonstrate that consumers' mental representation varies across shopping platforms and how it affects their evaluation of different methods of message framing.     

Working memory training improvements and gains in non-trained cognitive tasks in young and older adults

Previous studies on working memory training have indicated that transfer to non-trained tasks of other cognitive domains may be possible. The aim of this study is to compare working memory training and transfer effects between younger and older adults (n = 60). A novel approach to adaptive n-back training (12 sessions) was implemented by varying the working memory load and the presentation speed. All participants completed a neuropsychological battery of tests before and after the training. On average, younger training participants achieved difficulty level 12 after training, while older training participants only reached difficulty level 5. In younger participants, transfer to Verbal Fluency and Digit Symbol Substitution test was found. In older participants, we observed a transfer to Digit Span Forward, CERAD Delayed Recall, and Digit Symbol Substitution test. Results suggest that working memory training may be a beneficial intervention for maintaining and improving cognitive functioning in old age.     

Charles V as Last World Emperor and Jewish Hero

Charles V, king of Spain and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled over vast regions of central and western Europe and the Americas for much of the first half of the sixteenth century. This concentration of power, together with the emperor’s claim to universal monarchy, polarized his contemporaries’ views of him. Pro- and anti-imperial rhetoric and historiography abound, casting Charles V as hero or villain, protagonist or antagonist, depending on the author’s religious, dynastic, or national affiliations, political thinking, and pragmatic interests. While scholars have discussed competing Catholic, Protestant, and Muslim perspectives toward this emperor, Jewish views have not previously been analyzed. This article illuminates how sixteenth-century Jews evaluated Charles V as their own hero. It explores how Jewish witnesses of Charles’s reign perceived the Catholic emperor and his politics of crusade and church reform, contextualizing their reactions within Jewish messianic thought, on the one hand, and political realism, on the other. The article demonstrates that selected contemporaneous sources in Hebrew depict Charles V as a shared hero for European Jews and Christians. Jewish historiographical and prophetic writings from that time drew on the Christian apocalyptic notion of the “Last World Emperor,” adopting widespread Christian tendencies to identify Charles V as the glorious universal monarch who would reign at the culmination of human history as a quasi-messianic figure. Applying Amos Funkenstein’s and David Biale’s approach of counterhistory to these Jewish sources reveals the entangled history of a heroic image that was common to early modern Jews and Christians, albeit ideologically contested.     

Mental state decoding in past major depression: Effect of sad versus happy mood induction

Individuals with mild depression show an enhanced ability to read or “decode” others' mental states. The goal of the present study was to investigate whether this pattern of performance is related specifically to the pathology of depression or whether it is simply a feature of the transient dysphoric state. Forty-one undergraduates with a previous episode of major depression and 52 undergraduates with no depression history participated in a mental state decoding task following a sad versus happy mood induction. Previously depressed participants were significantly more accurate in their mental state judgements than were the never-depressed participants, suggesting that enhanced mental state decoding may be a specific feature of depression in remission. Furthermore, previously depressed participants whose positive mood increased in response to the happy mood induction showed a poorer level of performance on the task, similar to that observed in the never-depressed group. Thus, a happy mood may have induced a somewhat less accurate, but perhaps more adaptive, approach to processing social information. These findings were robust after controlling for current level of depression and anxiety symptoms, intensity of response to the mood induction, response times, and performance on a control task.     

Performance on a measure of category fluency in cognitively impaired elderly

ABSTRACT

Measures of verbal fluency are widely used in the assessment of cognitive functioning of the elderly. However, limited research has evaluated patterns (across specific timed intervals) of performance on tasks of language fluency in different forms of dementia. The current study investigated semantic fluency in 488 elderly individuals (249 with Alzheimer's dementia, 97 Vascular dementia, 97 Mild Cognitive Impairment and 45 cognitively intact) across 15-second intervals in an animal naming task using retrospective chart review. Normal controls produced significantly more exemplars and AD patients produced fewer animal names than the other groups. After the first 15- second time interval, the demented groups produced significantly fewer exemplars than the non-demented. At the end of 30 seconds it was possible to differentiate normal aging from MCI who no longer differed from the VaD group. Overall, it appears that the greatest and most clinically meaningful differences between the diagnostic groups were detected in the first three 15-second intervals. The present findings support the use of time intervals and total scores on tasks of verbal fluency in clinical settings and for research purposes.     

Stances on Assisted Suicide by Health and Social Care Professionals Working With Older Persons in Switzerland

This qualitative study investigated the personal and professional stances of 40 health and social care professionals confronted with assisted suicide of older persons living in nursing homes or supported by social welfare or home care and support services in French-speaking Switzerland. Requests of assisted suicide triggered questions with regard to the professional mission, the quality of accompaniment, values, and ethical principles. Four types of stances emerged from the analysis performed according to the principles of the grounded theory: favorable in principle, professional compromise, personal compromise, and opposed in principle. Each stance results from the combination of several dimensions: personal or professional concordance or compatibility with assisted suicide; implication in, and impact of, the process; appreciation of the process; and satisfaction with the resources at disposal. The differentiated stances adopted by professionals depend largely on their way of interpreting their mission, deontology, and the relationship to the older person.     

Research Participants’ Preferences for Hypothetical Secondary Results from Genomic Research

Secondary or incidental results can be identified in genomic research that increasingly uses whole exome/genome sequencing. Understanding research participants’ preferences for secondary results and what influences these decisions is important for patient education, counseling, and consent, and for the development of policies regarding return of secondary results. Two hundred nineteen research participants enrolled in genomic studies were surveyed regarding hypothetical preferences for specific types of secondary results, and these preferences were correlated with demographic information and psychosocial data. The majority of research participants (73%) indicated a preference to learn about all results offered, with no clear pattern regarding which results were not desired by the remaining participants. Participants who reported greater interest in genetic privacy were less likely to indicate a preference to learn all results, as were individuals who self-identified as Jewish. Although most research participants preferred to receive all secondary results offered, a significant subset preferred to exclude some results, suggesting that an all-or-none policy would not be ideal for all participants. The correlations between preferences to receive secondary results, religious identification, and privacy concerns demonstrate the need for culturally sensitive counseling and educational materials accessible to all education levels to allow participants to make the best choices for themselves.     

The Universal Principles of Evolution

Here we identify the core properties of genetic evolution with the intention of providing a unified definition of evolving systems that applies unequivocally in the natural and social sciences. Our definition is: evolution sustains organized systems through high fidelity replication of information. This definition can be broken down into five essential components: (1) high fidelity replication of information with 0% < survival rate < 100%; (2) expendable replication technology distinct from the replication information; (3) inert information that provides no kinetic energy to the replication process; (4) demonstrates a quantifiable resistance to entropy; (5) demonstrates intentionality.