Timed written picture naming in 14 European languages

We describe the Multilanguage Written Picture Naming Dataset. This gives trial-level data and time and agreement norms for written naming of the 260 pictures of everyday objects that compose the colorized Snodgrass and Vanderwart picture set (Rossion & Pourtois in Perception, 33, 217–236, 2004). Adult participants gave keyboarded responses in their first language under controlled experimental conditions (N = 1,274, with subsamples responding in Bulgarian, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Icelandic, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish). We measured the time to initiate a response (RT) and interkeypress intervals, and calculated measures of name and spelling agreement. There was a tendency across all languages for quicker RTs to pictures with higher familiarity, image agreement, and name frequency, and with higher name agreement. Effects of spelling agreement and effects on output rates after writing onset were present in some, but not all, languages. Written naming therefore shows name retrieval effects that are similar to those found in speech, but our findings suggest the need for cross-language comparisons as we seek to understand the orthographic retrieval and/or assembly processes that are specific to written output.     

Innovative Moments in Humanistic Therapy II: Analysis of Change Processes Across the Course of Three Cases of Grief Therapy

The current study is an extension of a complementary investigation examining links between process and outcome within six-session psychotherapies in which three eminent psychotherapists each worked with a bereaved client, using person-centered, existential, and constructivist approaches, respectively. The Innovative Moments Coding System (IMCS) was used in both studies to examine processes of change in the moment-by-moment unfolding of grief therapy. The initial study's findings help inform theory regarding the relevance of humanistic interventions when working with bereaved clients, particularly those that help promote meaning making in the wake of loss. The current investigation extends the original by offering a fine-grained analysis of the progression of innovative moments (IMs) in the context of good-outcome grief therapy, liking specific therapy procedures with positive indicators of client functioning, while providing case illustrations of each therapy dyad. Findings highlight the promise of humanistic approaches in grief therapy, and suggest directions for further research in this area. Implications for future use of the IMCS in psychotherapy process and outcome research are also discussed.     

Self-reported psychosocial factors among in vitro fertilization patients interviewed alone or with the partner

The purpose of this study was to compare the sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics reported by female in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients interviewed alone or with the partner in heterosexual couples. During 12 months (2011–2012), all patients undergoing IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection at one public reproductive medicine unit, in Portugal, were interviewed on the day of the diagnosis of pregnancy, being recruited 221 women interviewed with the partner and 92 interviewed alone. Interviewers collected data on sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics; and anxiety, depression, social support and partner relationship were collected by self-administered questionnaires. χ² test was used to assess the independent association between the categorical variables and being interviewed alone or with the partner. For continuous variables, mean or median differences were compared by the t-test or the Mann–Whitney test, according to data distribution. No statistically significant differences were found in the self-reporting of depression, anxiety, social support and partner relationship or in sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics between women interviewed alone or with the partner. Although women interviewed alone were older and more frequently had children than women interviewed with the partner, no significant associations were observed. Thus, having a male partner present in the research setting during a self-administered questionnaire seems not to influence women’s responses to psychosocial measures. Other outcomes and settings need to be evaluated to support evidence-based guidelines for research on infertility.     

Orientation in the cuttlefish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sepia officinalis</Emphasis>: response <Emphasis Type="Italic">versus</Emphasis> place learning

Several studies have demonstrated that mammals, birds and fish use comparable spatial learning strategies. Unfortunately, except in insects, few studies have investigated spatial learning mechanisms in invertebrates. Our study aimed to identify the strategies used by cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) to solve a spatial task commonly used with vertebrates. A new spatial learning procedure using a T-maze was designed. In this maze, the cuttlefish learned how to enter a dark and sandy compartment. A preliminary test confirmed that individual cuttlefish showed an untrained side-turning preference (preference for turning right or left) in the T-maze. This preference could be reliably detected in a single probe trial. In the following two experiments, each individual was trained to enter the compartment opposite to its side-turning preference. In Experiment 1, distal visual cues were provided around the maze. In Experiment 2, the T-maze was surrounded by curtains and two proximal visual cues were provided above the apparatus. In both experiments, after acquisition, strategies used by cuttlefish to orient in the T-maze were tested by creating a conflict between the formerly rewarded algorithmic behaviour (turn, response learning) and the visual cues identifying the goal (place learning). Most cuttlefish relied on response learning in Experiment 1; the two strategies were used equally often in Experiment 2. In these experiments, the salience of cues provided during the experiment determined whether cuttlefish used response or place learning to solve this spatial task. Our study demonstrates for the first time the presence of multiple spatial strategies in cuttlefish that appear to closely parallel those described in vertebrates.     

Long-term musical training may improve different forms of visual attention ability

Many studies have suggested that structural and functional cerebral neuroplastic processes result from long-term musical training, which in turn may produce cognitive differences between musicians and non-musicians. We aimed to investigate whether intensive, long-term musical practice is associated with improvements in three different forms of visual attention ability: selective, divided and sustained attention. Musicians from symphony orchestras (n = 38) and non-musicians (n = 38), who were comparable in age, gender and education, were submitted to three neuropsychological tests, measuring reaction time and accuracy. Musicians showed better performance relative to non-musicians on four variables of the three visual attention tests, and such an advantage could not solely be explained by better sensorimotor integration. Moreover, in the group of musicians, significant correlations were observed between the age at the commencement of musical studies and reaction time in all visual attention tests. The results suggest that musicians present augmented ability in different forms of visual attention, thus illustrating the possible cognitive benefits of long-term musical training.     

Clinical features of tic-related obsessive-compulsive disorder: results from a large multicenter study

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical features of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients with comorbid tic disorders (TD) in a large, multicenter, clinical sample.MethodA cross-sectional study was conducted that included 813 consecutive OCD outpatients from the Brazilian OCD Research Consortium and used several instruments of assessment, including the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS), the USP Sensory Phenomena Scale, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders. RESULTS: The sample mean current age was 34.9 years old (SE 0.54), and the mean age at obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) onset was 12.8 years old (SE 0.27). Sensory phenomena were reported by 585 individuals (72% of the sample). The general lifetime prevalence of TD was 29.0% (n = 236), with 8.9% (n = 72) presenting Tourette syndrome, 17.3% (n = 141) chronic motor tic disorder, and 2.8% (n = 23) chronic vocal tic disorder. The mean tic severity score, according to the YGTSS, was 27.2 (SE 1.4) in the OCD + TD group. Compared to OCD patients without comorbid TD, those with TD (OCD + TD group, n = 236) were more likely to be males (49.2% vs. 38.5%, p < .005) and to present sensory phenomena and comorbidity with anxiety disorders in general: separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, impulse control disorders in general, and skin picking. Also, the "aggressive," "sexual/religious," and "hoarding" symptom dimensions were more severe in the OCD + TD group.ConclusionTic-related OCD may constitute a particular subgroup of the disorder with specific phenotypical characteristics, but its neurobiological underpinnings remain to be fully disentangled.     

Understanding source effects in ADHD rating scales: reply to DuPaul (2003)

G. J. DuPaul (2003) offered two suggestions for additional research to understand the strong source effects reported by R. Gomez, G. L. Burns, J. A. Walsh, and M. A. de Moura (2003) in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rating scales. The first suggestion was to determine whether the source effects represent mostly bias or accuracy. The second suggestion was to minimize source effects through the development of better ADHD rating scales. Because source effects can represent bias or accuracy, it is important to minimize the bias aspect through content validation procedures prior to attempts to determine whether source effects better reflect bias or accuracy. This comment offers various suggestions to reduce the bias in ADHD rating scales.