Can Word Puzzles be Tailored to Improve Different Dimensions of Verbal Fluency? A Report of an Intervention Study

Verbal fluency is commonly used as a proxy measure of executive functioning, as it involves cognitive flexibility, working memory, and inhibitory control. Previous research has demonstrated that crosswords can be a useful means of improving verbal fluency, results consistent with the cognitive reserve hypothesis; the form of verbal fluency affected has, however, differed across studies. The present study sought to assess the extent to which it was possible to target phonemic (PVF) and semantic verbal fluency (SVF) separately through word puzzles designed to focus on semantic/thematic and structural clues respectively. Fifty-three university students were randomly assigned to one of three groups: semantic/thematic, structural, or a daily diary control group. They were assessed on PVF and SVF at baseline, and immediately following a four-week intervention. Age, sex, and depression scores were controlled for. A 2 × 3 mixed ANCOVA showed that the structural group improved significantly more in PVF during the intervention period than did the semantic/thematic or control groups, with the improvement linked to improved switching performance. The effect size was large. No significant difference in improvement in SVF emerged, although the effect size was moderate. The findings support the notion that it is possible to improve specific forms of verbal fluency through tailored brief word-puzzle interventions.     

Notes on the weighting biases in value trees

The variation in the structure of value trees can have undesirable effects on the attribute weights. Earlier experiments suggest that an attribute receives a higher weight if it is presented at an upper level in a value tree or if it is split into subattributes. Here we show that it is flawed to make conclusions about the biases at the individual level based on the averages of weights across large groups of subjects. Averages do not describe individual behavior. Furthermore, the averages of weights tend to approach even weights. By using the data from earlier experiments we illustrate how the averaging can produce different phenomena. We also show that the use of weights based on the rank order of attributes only can easily lead to biases when the structure of a value tree is changed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Incivility at work,upset at home? Testing the cross‐level moderation effect of emotional dysregulation among female nurses from primary health care

Workplace incivility is a growing problem in nursing. However, most studies that explore this psychosocial risk and its consequences do so considering a single level and a between‐person perspective. The aims of the study were to explore whether the effects of experiencing incivility during work‐time could explain the daily levels of well‐being of nurses at home; and to analyze if that relationship could be moderated by their levels of emotional dysregulation as a trait. This is a multilevel study with diary methodology. The study was carried out in 18 primary health‐care centers belonging to Madrid and the Basque Country, in Spain. Ninety‐four nurses completed a general questionnaire and 54 of them a diary booklet over five consecutive working days in two different moments, immediately after work and at bedtime. The results showed that nurses’ emotional dysregulation moderated the relationship between daily workplace incivility and daily fatigue, and positive affect at night at home. However, there were no direct effects of daily incivility on these outcome variables. In conclusion, the presence of difficulties in emotional regulation among nurses can increase the negative effects of daily workplace incivility on their health and well‐being.     

On the Systematic Inadequacy of Fictionalism about Fictional Characters

Philosophia - Critical statements, if true, bear ontological commitments to fictional entities. A well-known version of fictionalism about fictional characters tries to eliminate these ontological...     

Choose your lunch companion wisely: the relationships between lunch break companionship,psychological detachment,and daily vigour

This diary study examines psychological detachment, companionship, and content of conversation during lunch break as predictors of daily vigour after lunch break and at the end of the working day. Drawing on resource regulation theory and the effort recovery model (ERM), we hypothesize that companionship of the supervisor during lunch break is negatively and companionship of colleagues positively related to employee’s daily vigour. The companionship of both, supervisors and colleagues, as well as work-related conversations are hypothesized to decrease psychological detachment during lunch breaks. In total, 71 persons in administrative jobs completed daily surveys over one working week. Results of hierarchical linear modelling showed that psychological detachment is positively related to vigour after lunch break, but unrelated to vigour at the end of the working day. Lunch breaks with the supervisor predicted a lower level of vigour at the end of the working day, but a higher level of vigour after lunch break. Lunch breaks with colleagues were unrelated to vigour after lunch break, but associated with higher vigour at the end of a working day. The companionship of both—colleagues and supervisors—as well as work-related conversation decreased psychological detachment during lunch break.     

The Factor Structure of MASC Youth Report in Norwegian School Children

Identifying children with symptoms of anxiety before they develop clinical disorders is important. The objective of our study was to examine the latent factor structure of the MASC (youth report version) in a large self-selected sample of school children in 4th to 6th grade, and examine if the measure had a comparable factor structure for gender and age. Gender and age differences in anxiety symptoms were also examined. Children (N?=?1686, 53.8% female) were recruited from schools during pretest of an ongoing randomized, controlled, indicative intervention. Latent variable modelling was used to determine the underlying concepts of the MASC. We found good model fit for the four-factor model, however some items on the Harm/Avoidance scale had low factor loadings. Invariance analysis indicated that the MASC had similar factor structure (comparable meaning) for boys and girls and for younger and older children in this sample. Girls scored significantly higher than boys on all subscales and on the Total Anxiety scale. Age differences were only found on the Separation Anxiety scale. Overall, the original four-factor structure of the MASC was confirmed within a large sample of school children and was invariant across gender and age. However, the Harm/avoidance scale warrants some attention. The MASC is a potentially useful measure to be used for screening purposes in a school setting.