Residual Geriatric Depression Symptoms: A Place for Psychotherapy

Geriatric depression is a relatively commonly occurring mental disorder. A subpopulation of depressed older adults are those who have engaged in or completed pharmacotherapy, yet continue to experience depressive symptoms. We review the prevalence, psychosocial effects, and treatment of residual symptoms of depression in older adults. Data from previous studies conducted by our group are presented to support our contention that residual symptoms of geriatric depression are treatable through psychosocial means.     

Mentoring Program Enhancements Supporting Effective Mentoring of Children of Incarcerated Parents

Children of incarcerated parents (COIP) are at risk for a range of negative outcomes; however, participating in a mentoring relationship can be a promising intervention for these youth. This study examined the impact of mentoring and mentoring program enhancements on COIP. Secondary data analyses were conducted on an archival database consisting of 70,729 matches from 216 Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) local agencies to establish the differential effects of mentoring on COIP. A subset of 45 BBBS agencies, representing 25,252 matches, participated in a telephone interview about program enhancements for better serving COIP. Results revealed that enhanced program practices, including having specific program goals, providing specialized mentor training, and receiving additional funding resulted in better outcomes for COIP matches. Specifically, specialized mentor training and receiving additional funding for serving matches containing COIP were associated with longer and stronger matches. Having specific goals for serving COIP was associated with higher educational expectations in COIP. Results are discussed in terms of benefits of a relationship‐based intervention for addressing the needs of COIP and suggestions for program improvements when mentoring programs are serving this unique population of youth.     

Language comprehension vs. language production: age effects on fMRI activation

Normal language acquisition is a process that unfolds with amazing speed primarily in the first years of life. However, the refinement of linguistic proficiency is an ongoing process, extending well into childhood and adolescence. An increase in lateralization and a more focussed productive language network have been suggested to be the neural correlates of this process. However, the processes underlying the refinement of language comprehension are less clear. Using a language comprehension (Beep Stories) and a language production (Vowel Identification) task in fMRI, we studied language representation and lateralization in 36 children, adolescents, and young adults (age 6-24 years). For the language comprehension network, we found a more focal activation with age in the bilateral superior temporal gyri. No significant increase of lateralization with age could be observed, so the neural basis of language comprehension as assessed with the Beep Stories task seems to be established in a bilateral network by late childhood. For the productive network, however, we could confirm an increase with age both in focus and lateralization. Only in the language comprehension task did verbal IQ correlate with lateralization, with higher verbal IQ being associated with more right-hemispheric involvement. In some subjects (24%), language comprehension and language production were lateralized to opposite hemispheres.     

The noninvasive measurement of regional cerebral circulation

A brief introduction to the history and development of the noninvasive regional cerebral blood flow technique is presented. The procedures and apparatus are described in a nontechnical manner to provide a resource background for the other papers in this issue.     

Patterns of regional cerebral blood flow during attempted reading aloud by stutterers both on and off haloperidol medication: Evidence for inadequate left frontal activation during stuttering

Two stutterers, both recent college graduates, were subjected to regional cerebral blood flow measurements while attempting to read aloud. Each one received two measurements, one of which was under the influence of haloperidol, 3 mg daily. Both subjects showed improvement on medication, allowing a stuttering versus essentially no stuttering comparisons for each subject. Both subjects showed higher Broca's area flow in the right compared to the left hemisphere, during stuttering. Both showed higher Wernicke's area flow in the left compared to the right hemisphere, however, during stuttering. During reading aloud without stuttering, however, the Brocas's area flows were reversed, now showing a left hemisphere advantage. The results were interpreted as consistent with H. M. Sussman and P. F. MacNeilage's (1975, Neuropsychologia, 13, 19–26) proposal that stutterers exhibit conventional left cerebral dominance for speech reception, but inadequate left cerebral dominance for speech production.     

Five‐year outcomes of ADHD diagnosed in adulthood

There is a dearth of long‐term follow‐up studies of adults diagnosed with ADHD. Here, the aim was to evaluate long‐term outcomes in a group of ADHD patients diagnosed in adulthood and receiving routine psychiatric health care. Adults diagnosed with any type of ADHD (n = 52) and healthy controls (n = 73) were assessed at baseline and at a 5‐year follow‐up, using Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), Clinical Global Impression (CGI), Brown ADD Scale (BADDS) and Adult ADHD Self‐Report Scale (ASRS). A multivariate regression method was used to identify factors predicting 5‐year outcomes, including baseline ratings, medication intensity, comorbidity, intelligence quotient (IQ), age, and sex. After 5 years, ADHD patients reported fewer and/or less severe symptoms compared to baseline, but remained at clinically significant symptom levels and with functional deficits. Baseline self‐reports of ADHD symptoms predicted their own 5‐year outcome and low baseline functioning level predicted improved global functioning at follow‐up. Factors previously reported to predict short‐term outcomes (i.e., medication, comorbidity, IQ, age, and sex) did not anticipate long‐term outcomes in present study.     

Course of relational and non-relational recognition memory across the adult lifespan

Human recognition memory shows a decline during normal ageing, which is thought to be related to age-associated dysfunctions of mediotemporal lobe structures. Whether the hippocampus is critical for human general relational memory or for spatial relational memory only is still disputed. The human perirhinal cortex is thought to be critically involved in non-relational memory, but another view postulates hippocampal involvement in both relational and non-relational memory. Investigating whether there is a differential impact of ageing on these memory processes may shed further light into these issues. Thus, in the present study, 106 healthy adults performed three recognition memory tasks in a consecutive age groups design involving a range from age 20 to 76. This allowed the separate assessment of spatial and nonspatial relational memory as well as non-relational memory. Both spatial and nonspatial relational memory declined in the 66-76 yr group. This pattern is consistent with the presumed course of hippocampal changes across normal ageing and points to the hippocampal role in relational memory in general. An impairment of non-relational memory commenced earlier in the 51-65 yr group. This finding is discussed in relation to perceptual/attentional mediation of memory and its potential brain correlates in ageing.     

Can we perceive mental states?

Synthese - In this paper, I defend Non-Inferentialism about mental states, the view that we can perceive some mental states in a direct, non-inferential way. First, I discuss how the question of...     

SCIENCE AND OTHER COMMON NOUNS: FURTHER IMPLICATIONS OF ANTI-ESSENTIALISM

The term “science” is a common noun that is used to designate a whole range of activities. If Reeves is right—and I think he is—that there is no essence to these activities that allows them to be objectively identified and demarcated from nonscience, then what qualifies as science is determined by communities. It becomes much more difficult on this antiessentialism position to identify and dismiss pseudo-science. I suggest we might find a way forward, though, by engaging a philosophical tradition that has largely been neglected in English-speaking science and religion studies, and by articulating a theory of consensus along the lines of Oreskes (2019).