Endogenous-like orienting of visual attention in rats

This study investigated the orienting of visual attention in rats using a 3-hole nose-poke task analogous to Posner, Information processing in cognition: the Loyola Symposium, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, (1980) covert attention task for humans. The effects of non-predictive (50% valid and 50% invalid) and predictive (80% valid and 20% invalid) peripheral visual cues on reaction times and response accuracy to a target stimulus, using Stimuli-Onset Asynchronies (SOAs) varying between 200 and 1,200 ms, were investigated. The results showed shorter reaction times in valid trials relative to invalid trials for both subjects trained in the non-predictive and predictive conditions, particularly when the SOAs were 200 and 400 ms. However, the magnitude of this validity effect was significantly greater for subjects exposed to predictive cues, when the SOA was 800 ms. Subjects exposed to invalid predictive cues exhibited an increase in omission errors relative to subjects exposed to invalid non-predictive cues. In contrast, valid cues reduced the proportion of omission errors for subjects trained in the predictive condition relative to subjects trained in the non-predictive condition. These results are congruent with those usually reported for humans and indicate that, in addition to the exogenous capture of attention promoted by both predictive and non-predictive peripheral cues, rats exposed to predictive cues engaged an additional slower process equivalent to human's endogenous orienting of attention. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an endogenous-like process of covert orienting of visual attention in rats.     

Relative Influence of Professional Counseling Journals

The authors used social network analysis of citation data to study the flow of information and relative influence of 17 professional counseling journals. Although the Journal of Counseling & Development ranked very highly in all measures of journal influence, several division journals emerged as key players in the flow of information within the counseling profession. Results highlight the many facets of journal influence and the fallacy of using single measures, such as journal impact factor, to rank professional counseling journals.     

Living With HIV/AIDS: A Psychosocial Perspective on Coping With Prejudice and Discrimination1

We examined 2 strategies used by people with HIV (N = 68) to cope with the effects of prejudice and discrimination: hiding of stigma and in‐group identification. In support of the first proposed path, we found that group‐based discrimination enhanced hiding of stigma. This reduces the perception of personal discrimination; and this, in turn, is positively related to well‐being. We also found evidence for a second, more collective path by which those who are HIV‐positive protect their well‐being. Perceived group‐based discrimination was positively associated with in‐group identification, which, in turn, was positively related to collective action intentions and well‐being. The discussion focuses on how well‐being can be protected through both individual‐ and group‐level processes.     

Relative and absolute stability in perceived parenting behaviour: a longitudinal study with children and adolescents

Patterns of relative and absolute stability in parental behaviour with children and adolescents are reported. The sample comprised 523 youth (58.7% girls). Data were collected at three time periods: T1 (M age = 11.1 yr.), T2 (M age = 12.2 yr.), and T3 (M age = 13.2 yr.), each separated by one year. According to children's reports, relative consistency was moderate in both mothers and fathers, particularly as regards communication and strict control. In contrast, as children got older, parental rearing practices related to strict control and hostility decreased. There was a similarity between fathers and mothers in terms of relative and absolute stability. Relative stability was affected by the child's sex, the parenting variable, and the time period; however, the patterns of absolute stability reveal no differences by sex.     

Resiliency and Recovery: Lessons From the Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina

Separated by continents and cultures, survivors of the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina share a common bond in their extreme trauma and ensuing struggles. The authors discuss and illustrate core ideas based on the commonalities derived from the experiences of women survivors of these two disasters. Separados tanto por continentes como culturas, los supervivientes del tsunami asiático y el huracán Katrina comparten el vínculo común de su enorme trauma y las dificultades subsiguientes. Los autores discuten e ilustran las ideas fundamentals basándose en las similitudes derivadas a partir de las experiencias de las mujeres que sobrevivieron a ambos desastres.     

Adaptive patterns of stress responsivity: a preliminary investigation

The adaptive calibration model (ACM) is an evolutionary-developmental theory of individual differences in stress responsivity. In this article, we tested some key predictions of the ACM in a middle childhood sample (N = 256). Measures of autonomic nervous system activity across the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches validated the 4-pattern taxonomy of the ACM via finite mixture modeling. Moreover, the 4 patterns of responsivity showed the predicted associations with family stress levels but no association with measures of ecological stress. Our hypotheses concerning sex differences in responsivity were only partly confirmed. This preliminary study provides initial support for the key predictions of the ACM and highlights some of the methodological challenges that will need to be considered in future research on this topic.     

When do adaptive developmental mechanisms yield maladaptive outcomes?

This article discusses 3 ways in which adaptive developmental mechanisms may produce maladaptive outcomes. First, natural selection may favor risky strategies that enhance fitness on average but which have detrimental consequences for a subset of individuals. Second, mismatch may result when organisms experience environmental change during ontogeny, for instance, because they move from one environment to another. Third, organisms may learn about their environment in order to develop an appropriate phenotype; when cues indicate the environmental state probabilistically, as opposed to deterministically, sampling processes may produce mismatch. For each source of maladaptation, we present a selection of the relevant empirical research and illustrate how models from evolutionary biology can be used to make predictions about maladaptation. We also discuss what data can be collected to test these models in humans. Our goal is to show that evolutionary approaches not only yield insights into adaptive outcomes but can also illuminate the conditions leading to maladaptation. This perspective provides additional nuance to the dialectic between the developmental psychopathology model and evolutionary developmental psychology.