Increases in language lateralization in normal children as observed using magnetoencephalography

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies investigating hemispheric dominance for language have shown that hemispheric specialization increases with age. We employed magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate these effects as a function of normal development. In sum, 22 healthy children aged 7-16 years were investigated using two language tasks: a verb-generation (VG) task and a vowel-identification (VI) task. Significant hemispheric differences were found for both tasks in cerebral language areas using oscillatory MEG spectral analyses, confirming the MEG's ability to detect hemispheric specialization for language in children. Additionally, a significant increase of this lateralization as a function of age was observed for both tasks. As performance in the VI task showed no correlation with age, this increase seems to be unrelated to performance. These results confirm an increase in hemispheric specialization as a function of normal brain maturation.     

Reorganization of the cerebro-cerebellar network of language production in patients with congenital left-hemispheric brain lesions

Patients with congenital lesions of the left cerebral hemisphere may reorganize language functions into the right hemisphere. In these patients, language production is represented homotopically to the left-hemispheric language areas. We studied cerebellar activation in five patients with congenital lesions of the left cerebral hemisphere to assess if the language network is reorganized completely in these patients, i.e. including also cerebellar language functions. As compared to a group of controls matched for age, sex, and verbal IQ, the patients recruited an area not in the right but in the left cerebellar hemisphere. The extent of laterality of the cerebellar activation correlated significantly with the laterality of the frontal activation. We suggest that the developing brain reacts to early focal lesions in the left hemisphere with a mirror-image organization of the entire cerebro-cerebellar network engaged in speech production.     

Domain specificity in experimental measures and participant recruitment: an application to risk-taking behavior

We challenge the prevailing notion that risk taking is a stable trait, such that individuals show consistent risk-taking/aversive behavior across domains. We subscribe to an alternative approach that appreciates the domain-specific nature of risk taking. More important, we recognize heterogeneity of risk profiles among experimental samples and introduce a new methodology that takes this heterogeneity into account. Rather than using a convenient subject pool (i.e., university students), as is typically done, we specifically targeted relevant subsamples to provide further validation of the domain-specific nature of risk taking. Our research shows that individuals who exhibit high levels of risk-taking behavior in one content area (e.g., bungee jumpers taking recreational risks) can exhibit moderate levels in other risky domains (e.g., financial). Furthermore, our results indicate that risk taking among targeted subsamples can be explained within a cost-benefit framework and is largely mediated by the perceived benefit of the activity, and to a lesser extent by the perceived risk.     

Social stress in tree shrews as an animal model of depression: an example of a behavioral model of a CNS disorder

Animal models are invaluable in preclinical research on human psychopathology. Valid animal models to study the pathophysiology of depression and specific biological and behavioral responses to antidepressant drug treatments are of prime interest. In order to improve our knowledge of the causal mechanisms of stress-related disorders such as depression, we need animal models that mirror the situation seen in patients. One promising model is the chronic psychosocial stress paradigm in male tree shrews. Coexistence of two males in visual and olfactory contact leads to a stable dominant/subordinate relationship, with the subordinates showing obvious changes in behavioral, neuroendocrine, and central nervous activity that are similar to the signs and symptoms observed during episodes of depression in patients. To discover whether this model, besides its "face validity" for depression, also has "predictive validity," we treated subordinate animals with the tricyclic antidepressant clomipramine and found a time-dependent recovery of both endocrine function and normal behavior. In contrast, the anxiolytic diazepam was ineffective. Chronic psychosocial stress in male tree shrews significantly decreased hippocampal volume and the proliferation rate of the granule precursor cells in the dentate gyrus. These stress-induced changes can be prevented by treating the animals with clomipramine, tianeptine, or the selective neurokinin receptor antagonist L-760,735. In addition to its apparent face and predictive validity, the tree shrew model also has a "molecular validity" due to the degradation routes of psychotropic compounds and gene sequences of receptors are very similar to those in humans. Although further research is required to validate this model fully, it provides an adequate and interesting non-rodent experimental paradigm for preclinical research on depression.     

The resentful sucker: Do rewards ease the pain?

In a cross-sectional field study we found, as predicted, that performance differences between members of semi-autonomous teams were associated with feelings of unfairness. On the basis of equity theory we hypothesized that the relationship between performance differences and unfairness feelings would be moderated for suckers, i.e., team members with relatively high performances, who feel highly rewarded for their efforts, either with high financial rewards, with high task rewards, or with high social rewards. The results showed that financial rewards had no moderating effects, but high social rewards and low task rewards moderated feelings of unfairness for suckers.     

The role of standing in the psychology of procedural justice: Towards theoretical integration

In the current chapter, the authors explore the relation between social standing and procedural justice. Standing is an important construct in procedural justice theories and tends to be broadly defined as the position that people have in social groups. It is argued that the standing construct suffers from conceptual ambiguity: In procedural justice literature two distinct interpretations of standing can be distinguished, one defining standing as intragroup status and one defining standing as the extent to which people are included in social groups. Furthermore, it is argued that research findings on the relation between standing and procedural justice are not conclusive. The authors review recent empirical findings that address these concerns, and conceptually integrate these findings. In closing, the authors outline avenues for future research that the procedural justice field may want to take, and discuss implications of the work reviewed here.     

Nachsorge nach station?rer Psychotherapie f��r Essst?rungen

Background

Despite high relapse rates there is a lack of feasible, effective and efficient interventions to provide aftercare support to patients who complete treatment for an eating disorder. A program based on the short message service (SMS) and text messaging has been developed in order to provide such additional support to patients who undergo inpatient treatment for an eating disorder.

Materials and methods

A total of 165 patients with bulimia nervosa or an eating disorder not otherwise specified were randomly assigned either to the intervention group (n?=?82) with access to the text messaging intervention for 4 months following discharge from hospital or to the control group (n?=?83). The efficacy of the intervention was determined via the three eating disorder related subscales of the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-2) at 4 and 8 months follow-up and via the frequency of self-reported binge eating and compensatory behaviors (vomiting and abuse of laxatives) in the Short Evaluation of Eating Disorders (SEED) at 8 months follow-up.

Results

Participants in the intervention group reported significantly lower impairment on the EDI scales drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction both at 4 and 8 months follow-up. They also reported significantly fewer episodes of binge eating and vomiting. No differences were found for the EDI subscale bulimia and for the frequency of the use of laxatives.

Conclusion

The intervention based on text messaging proved efficacious in the aftercare treatment of patients with eating disorders. Chances and limitations concerning its use in the clinical routine as part of a stepped care model are discussed.     

Juvenile stress potentiates aversive 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations and freezing during auditory fear conditioning in adult male rats

Traumatic experiences that occur during adolescence can render individuals vulnerable to mood and anxiety disorders. A model in juvenile rats (age: 27-29 days) was developed previously to study the long-term effects of adolescent stress exposure on behaviour and physiology. This paradigm, termed juvenile stress, involves subjecting juvenile rats to different stressors on consecutive days over a 3-day period. Here, we investigated the effects of the juvenile stress paradigm on freezing behaviour and aversive 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) during auditory fear conditioning in adult male rats (age: 68-90 days). We found that rats previously subjected to juvenile stress increased aversive 22-kHz USVs (total calls and time spent calling) compared with controls during fear-conditioning training. The acoustic USV parameters between control and juvenile stress rats were largely equivalent, including duration, peak frequency and amplitude. While rats did not differ in freezing behaviour during fear conditioning, juvenile stress rats exhibited greater cue-conditioned freezing upon testing 24 h later. Our results show that juvenile stress elicited different long-term changes in freezing and aversive USVs during fear conditioning. Furthermore, they highlight the importance of assessing USVs to detect experience-dependent differences between control and stress-exposed animals which are not detectable by measuring visible behaviour.