Anxiety sensitivity and distress tolerance typologies and relations to posttraumatic stress disorder: A cluster analytic approach

A growing literature suggests a relationship between a high anxiety sensitivity (AS; the fear of anxiety and its related consequences)/low distress tolerance (DT; the capacity tolerate internal negative states) profile and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, specific profiles have not been identified or examined specifically in Veteran samples. Thus, the aims of the present study were to establish empirically derived profiles created from response patterns on the Anxiety Sensitivity Index and Distress Tolerance Scale and to examine associations with PTSD symptom clusters among a sample of combat-exposed Veterans (N = 250). A cluster analytic approach was used to identify AS/DT profiles, and a series of multivariate analyses of variance with post hoc analyses was conducted to examine the relationship between each AS/DT profile and each PTSD symptom cluster. Results indicated a 3-cluster solution including a high AS/low DT “at risk” profile, a low AS/high DT “resilient” profile, and an average AS/DT “intermediate” profile. The at-risk profile was associated with significantly greater symptoms in each PTSD cluster (i.e., hyperarousal, avoidance, re-experiencing) when compared to the other two profiles. The at-risk profile was also associated with greater depressive symptoms and lower self-reported resilience. These findings extend the previous literature by identifying a high AS/low DT “at risk” profile and its associations with PTSD symptoms, underscoring the potential utility in targeting these affect-regulation constructs for clinical intervention.     

Incidence of Specific Absolute Neurocognitive Impairment in Globally Intact Children with Histories of Early Severe Deprivation

Postnatal deprivation is associated with neurocognitive delay/dysfunction. Although “catch up” in global cognition following adoption has been reported, this study examined the incidence of specific absolute impairment in adopted children with intact global cognitive functioning. Eighty-five children (38 males, mean age = 112.8, SD = 30.3 months; range 61–209 months) raised from birth in orphanages underwent comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Fifty-four were deemed globally intact (IQ > 85). Of those deemed globally intact, 46% evidenced absolute impairment in at least one domain of functioning. Duration of stay in the orphanage was directly associated with incidence of impairment and number of domains affected. A substantial proportion of participants evidenced persistent, absolute impairment in one or more domains of neurocognitive function despite integrity of basic intellectual functions.     

Hilda Oakeley on Idealism,History and the Real Past

In the early twentieth century, Hilda Diana Oakeley (1867–1950) set out a new kind of British idealism. Oakeley is an idealist in the sense that she holds mind to actively contribute to the features of experience, but she also accepts that there is a world independent of mind. One of her central contributions to the idealist tradition is her thesis that minds construct our experiences using memory. This paper explores the theses underlying her idealism, and shows how they are intricately connected to the wider debates of her period. I go on to explain how the parts of Oakeley's idealism are connected to further areas of her thought – specifically, her views on history and her growing block theory of time – to provide a sense of Oakeley's philosophy as a system. As there is no existing literature on Oakeley, this paper aims to open a path for further scholarship.     

The impact of psychological therapies on violent behaviour in clinical and forensic settings: A systematic review

Violent behaviour is a serious problem in terms of the impact on victims, quality of life for perpetrators, and the financial burden on the prison service, the health sector, and society generally. However, to date there is not a general consensus as to how this can be managed other than removing the perpetrators from communities. Incarceration can be on an indeterminate basis or for a short period of time before reintegration into society, depending on the gravity of the offence. This systematic review critically examines the existing research literature on psychotherapeutic interventions for violent behaviour in forensic and clinical populations. Five databases were searched, selected journals were hand searched, and authors of identified papers were contacted in efforts to obtain relevant unpublished work. The first author and a colleague independently evaluated the eligibility of all studies identified, abstracted data, and assessed study quality. The overall findings provide tentative support for the utility of psychotherapeutic interventions in reducing aggressive behaviour in forensic and psychiatric patients with a history of violent behaviour.     

Be Kind to Three-Legged Dogs: Children's Literal Interpretations of TV's Moral Lessons

Sixty-four kindergarteners watched a 10-minute television episode intended to promote inclusive attitudes toward people with disabilities. In the original version, a disabled character was initially feared then eventually accepted. In an edited version, the fear was removed. The majority of children in both conditions, misunderstood the intended moral lesson, and failed to generalize beyond the specifics of the plot. Among children who were randomly assigned to the original version, those who understood the characters' goals and emotions better were less likely to comprehend the intended message of tolerance; remembering the happy ending had no effect. Among those assigned to the fear-removed version, those who better understood the goals and the happy ending were more likely to comprehend the intended message.     

Helping Children Enter Into Another's Experiences: The Look and Feel of It

The role of focusing 4-year-olds' attention on “feeling” or “looking” was examined in three experiments by testing predictions about children's memory for their interactions with an adult partner as they engaged in a collaborative task. Children made collages with an adult partner, and they were later asked to remember who placed the pieces on the collage. Children were more likely to claim they placed pieces actually placed by their partner (Experiments 1, 2, and 3), unless directed to think about how their partner looked when placing the partner's pieces (Experiments 1 and 3). False claims were observed after children were directed to think about how it would “feel” to perform the actions, whether motoric instructions were focused on the self (Experiment 2, N = 48) or partner (Experiment 1, N = 40, and Experiment 3, N = 24). Furthermore, false claims (referred to as I did it errors) were positively associated with accurate collage memory (Experiment 3). These findings suggest that adopting a perspective during encoding that involves “feeling” movements—whether focused on the self or partner—plays an important role in children's memory for collaboration (in this context, memory for contributions made by children or their adult partners to the completion of a collage). A focus on “feeling” may be a way to “enter into” the experiences of another, promoting anticipation and recoding, which may lead to better learning in both collaborative and non-collaborative contexts.     

Math and Memory in Bilingual Preschoolers: The Relations Between Bilingualism,Working Memory,and Numerical Knowledge

ABSTRACT

Bilingual children exhibit enhanced working memory (WM) skill relative to monolingual children, which could have implications for early mathematics development. Competency in mathematics is supported by conceptual and procedural mathematical knowledge, and numerical knowledge is in turn supported by underlying cognitive processes such as WM. Building on this evidence, we investigated whether bilingual preschoolers demonstrated, relative to monolingual peers, enhanced performance on WM and greater numerical knowledge. We examined the role of WM in numerical understanding for both monolingual and bilingual children. Participants were 4- and 5-year old children (74) recruited from preschools serving families from a range of socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. Participants completed a nonverbal WM task and a range of numerical-knowledge measures, specifically numeral identification, addition, symbolic magnitude comparison, and nonsymbolic magnitude comparison tasks. Results revealed that bilingual children outperformed monolingual peers on WM even after controlling for age and socioeconomic status (SES). Bilingual children also demonstrated greater performance on addition and numeral identification tasks. For all tasks except numeral identification, WM predicted children’s performance on numerical knowledge measures. We discuss results in terms of the possible unique cognitive and academic advantages bilingual children may have.