Symptom perception in childhood asthma: the role of anxiety and asthma severity.

This study tested the relationship of anxiety and asthma severity to symptom perception. Eighty-six children diagnosed with mild or moderate asthma had symptom perception and pulmonary function measured throughout methacholine challenge (to induce bronchoconstriction). Higher trait anxiety was associated with heightened symptom perception (controlling for pulmonary function) at baseline. Greater asthma severity was associated with blunted symptom perception (controlling for pulmonary function) at the end of methacholine challenge and with a slower rate of increase in symptom perception across methacholine challenge. These results suggest that anxiety plays a role when children's symptoms are mild, whereas medical variables such as severity play a role in perception of changes in asthma symptomatology as bronchoconstriction worsens.     

Cardiovascular reactivity during social and nonsocial stressors: do children's personal goals and expressive skills matter?

The relationships between social competence and cardiovascular reactivity were evaluated in 180 children (ages 8-17; 52% female; 53% Caucasian). Participants performed a social task (Social Competence Interview [SCI]) and 2 nonsocial tasks while reactivity measures were obtained. Social competence was coded from SCI audiotapes. Among adolescents, higher scores on the Acceptance-Affiliation subscale were associated with increased heart rate (HR) and blood pressures and with decreased HR variability during the SCI. Among boys, greater Acceptance-Affiliation scores were associated with increased vascular reactivity during the SCI. During the nonsocial tasks, higher Self-Defensiveness and Expressiveness scores were associated with increased cardiac output and stroke volume among African American children. Personal strivings and expressive skills do matter for understanding cardiovascular responses in children.     

Remarks on aggression

This paper attempts to draw attention to the difference between the states of mind and inner worlds of neurotic, borderline and psychopathic patients, with reference to different types of destructiveness: anger in the neurotic patient; desperate vengeful hatred in the borderline paranoid; and a cold addiction to violence in the psychopath. Discussion focuses on technical issues and the need to meet the psychopathic patient where he really is, in the inner bleak emotional cemetery he may be inhabiting. Although most patients refuse to stay put in the neat schematic categories outlined, they do seem to appreciate and to need the therapist's recognition of the specific quality of these vastly different states of mind.     

The brain circuitry of syntactic comprehension

Syntactic comprehension is a fundamental aspect of human language, and has distinct properties from other aspects of language (e.g. semantics). In this article, we aim to identify if there is a specific locus of syntax in the brain by reviewing imaging studies on syntactic processing. We conclude that results from neuroimaging support evidence from neuropsychology that syntactic processing does not recruit one specific area. Instead a network of areas including Broca's area and anterior, middle and superior areas of the temporal lobes is involved. However, none of these areas appears to be syntax specific.     

Does time fly when you're counting down? The effect of counting direction on subjective time judgment

We show that counting downward while performing a task shortens the perceived duration of the task compared to counting upward. People perceive that less time has elapsed when they were counting downward versus upward while using a product (Studies 1 and 3) or watching geometrical shapes (Study 2). The counting direction effect is obtained using both prospective and retrospective time judgments (Study 3), but only when the count range begins with the number “1” (Study 2). Furthermore, the counting direction affects peoples' attitude toward the product, their likelihood of using it again, and their purchase intentions. We test several plausible accounts for the counting direction effect, including task difficulty, numerical anchoring, and arousal. We find preliminary evidence that downward counting feels shorter because it is more arousing than upward counting.     

Temporal dynamics of activation of thematic and functional knowledge during conceptual processing of manipulable artifacts

The current research aimed at specifying the activation time course of different types of semantic information during object conceptual processing and the effect of context on this time course. We distinguished between thematic and functional knowledge and the specificity of functional similarity. Two experiments were conducted with healthy older adults using eye tracking in a word-to-picture matching task. The time course of gaze fixations was used to assess activation of distractor objects during the identification of manipulable artifact targets (e.g., broom). Distractors were (a) thematically related (e.g., dustpan), (b) related by a specific function (e.g., vacuum cleaner), or (c) related by a general function (e.g., sponge). Growth curve analyses were used to assess competition effects when target words were presented in isolation (Experiment 1) and embedded in contextual sentences of different generality levels (Experiment 2). In the absence of context, there was earlier and shorter lasting activation of thematically related as compared to functionally related objects. The time course difference was more pronounced for general functions than specific functions. When contexts were provided, functional similarities that were congruent with context generality level increased in salience with earlier activation of those objects. Context had little impact on thematic activation time course. These data demonstrate that processing a single manipulable artifact concept implicitly activates thematic and functional knowledge with different time courses and that context speeds activation of context-congruent functional similarity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Do People Comprehend Legal Language in Wills?

This study assessed the ability of laypeople to understand a document that most have read and signed: a last will and testament. We focused on concepts that are frequently included in wills, examined whether understanding can be enhanced by psycholinguistic revisions, and assessed comprehension as a function of age. Participants ages 32 to 89 years read will‐related concepts in (i) their traditional format, (ii) a version revised to increase readability, or (iii) a version in which, in addition to those changes, we explained archaic and legal terms. Results showed that increasing the readability and explaining terms enhanced participants' abilities to apply will‐related concepts to novel fact patterns and to explain their reasoning. We found no age‐related effects on comprehension, consistent with well‐documented findings that processing at the situation level of text comprehension is preserved in older adults. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest ideas for further research. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.