Caregiving Behavior Is Associated With Decreased Mortality Risk

ABSTRACT— Traditional investigations of caregiving link it to increased caregiver morbidity and mortality, but do not disentangle the effects of providing care from those of being continuously exposed to an ailing loved one with serious health problems. We explored this possible confound in a national, longitudinal survey of elderly married individuals ( N = 3,376). Results showed that spending at least 14 hr per week providing care to a spouse predicted decreased mortality for the caregiver, independently of behavioral and cognitive limitations of the care recipient (spouse), and of other demographic and health variables. These findings suggest that it may be premature to conclude that health risks for caregivers are due to providing active help. Indeed, under some circumstances, caregivers may actually benefit from providing care.     

On the role of depersonalization in Merleau-Ponty

This essay considers the role of depersonalization in the philosophy of Merleau-Ponty. While there has been a modest amount of interest in depersonalization from a phenomenological perspective, a critical exploration of the theme of depersonalization in Merleau-Ponty’s thinking itself remains overlooked (cf. Varga (Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology, 19:2, 103-113, 2012); Colombetti and Ratcliffe (Emotion Review, 4:2, 145-250, 2012). This is an oddity, given that the theme of depersonalization proves instructive in Merleau-Ponty’s account of the constitution of the subject, and appears within Phenomenology of Perception at key points in his thinking (Merleau-Ponty 2012). This paper serves as a critical exposition of the role of depersonalization in Merleau-Ponty’s thought. I proceed in three ways. In the first instance, I provide an overview of depersonalization, addressing its salient characteristics, which includes: a feeling of disturbed bodily subjectivity; a diminishment of affective feeling; and a corresponding and overarching sense of unreality, carrying with it a sense of estrangement. In the main part of the paper, I consider the articulation of depersonalization in Merleau-Ponty, especially as it figures in Phenomenology of Perception. My claim is that depersonalization can be best captured as an expression of Merleau-Ponty’s idea of ambiguity. I conclude by considering to what extent Merleau-Ponty’s account of depersonalization corresponds with the medical understanding of the condition.     

Motives matter: The emotional consequences of recalled self- and other- focused prosocial acts

Past research has demonstrated that engaging in and reflecting upon past instances of prosocial behavior promote happiness. Yet, people provide help for a myriad of reasons. Do the motives for giving impact its emotional consequences? In three experiments (N?>?680), we compared the emotional outcomes of recalling a past instance of prosocial behavior motivated by self-focused and other-focused concerns. Using both between and within subjects designs, we find that recalling an instance of other-focused helping leads to higher positive affect than recalling an instance of self-focused helping. This finding was mediated by feelings of morality. The present work suggests that not all acts of kindness offer equivalent well-being benefits and that selfish motives may undermine the emotional rewards that typically follow other-focused prosocial behavior.     

Do realistic reverberation levels reduce auditory distraction?

Acoustically treated ceilings and wall panels can be used as part of a strategy to reduce the impact of background sound on the health and performance of employees by decreasing the reverberation times of the office noise. In this article we examine the impact of two reverberation times upon task performance. A cognitive task known to be a sensitive index of auditory distraction (serial recall) was used to assess the degree of distraction associated with two types of ceiling: a hard ceiling, such as plasterboard, and a soft ceiling, such as an acoustically treated ceiling. Office noise (in the range 65–75 dB (A)) was found generally to be disruptive relative to a quiet control condition but there was no difference in performance with regard to the ceiling types. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reduction in auditory distraction by retrieval strategy

Most research on auditory distraction on task performance focuses on those features of the sound that determine a drop in efficiency, with scant regard for examining the processing properties inherent in the focal task. We report how one such property, retrieval strategy, can also influence the degree of disruption by background sound. Using a task that called for the retrieval of realistic train journey information, we showed that retrieval by categories of verbal sequences was not susceptible to disruption by office sound - 65-75 dB(A). However, versions of the task requiring either free or serial recall showed evidence of disruption, a pattern of results consistent with the changing-state account of the irrelevant sound effect, which highlights the key role of serial rehearsal in determining disruption.     

The confounded nature of angry men and happy women

Findings of 7 studies suggested that decisions about the sex of a face and the emotional expressions of anger or happiness are not independent: Participants were faster and more accurate at detecting angry expressions on male faces and at detecting happy expressions on female faces. These findings were robust across different stimulus sets and judgment tasks and indicated bottom-up perceptual processes rather than just top-down conceptually driven ones. Results from additional studies in which neutrally expressive faces were used suggested that the connections between masculine features and angry expressions and between feminine features and happy expressions might be a property of the sexual dimorphism of the face itself and not merely a result of gender stereotypes biasing the perception.     

Can SMART Training Really Increase Intelligence? A Replication Study

A burgeoning research stream supports the efficacy of a novel behavior-analytic intervention, known as SMART training, in raising general intelligence by training a set of crucial cognitive skills, referred to as relational skills. A sample of Irish secondary school students (n?=?26) was divided into two IQ matched groups, with the experimental group receiving 12 weeks of SMART training delivered in bi-weekly 45-min sessions. WASI IQ assessments were administered at baseline and follow-up to all participants by blind testers. For each of the three WASI IQ indices and the four IQ subtests, significant follow-up rises were found for the experimental group only. Analyses of variance indicated a significant effect of training on Verbal IQ, Matrix Reasoning and Vocabulary scores. Results lend further support for the efficacy of the SMART training program in enhancing intellectual skills.     

Predictors of Appraisal and Psychological Well-Being in Alzheimer's Disease Family Caregivers

The objective of this study was to test a model of stress, appraisal, and adaptation in 114 family caregivers of patients diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (white non-Hispanic, N = 64; Hispanic-American, N = 50). Results of structural equation analysis show that appraised caregiver burden played a central role in determining the psychological well-being of family caregivers. The findings indicate that this mediating variable, negative caregiver appraisal, was predicted by increased functional limitations and behavioral disturbances in the patient, poorer perceived physical health, and lower levels of perceived emotional support. Contrary to a priori hypotheses, functional limitations in the patient also exhibited a direct association with caregiver depression. Further, patient cognitive impairment and caregiver ethnicity were not related to caregiver appraisal. Overall, these results support the role of appraised burden in mediating the relationships between caregiving factors and the adaptational outcome of depression. The implications of these findings, limitations of the study, and future directions are discussed.