Executive function outcomes of children with traumatic brain injury sustained before three years

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common cause of disability in childhood. While the outcomes of TBI sustained in school years has been heavily researched, very little is known about the impact of TBI in infants and young children. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of TBI on executive function (EF) in children who sustained a TBI before 3 years of age. A group of 55 children, 19 with a mild TBI, 16 children with a moderate-severe TBI, and 20 uninjured comparison children participated. The EF of children aged 3 to 6 years were compared using child-based measures of attentional control and information processing. Parents completed questionnaires rating their child's EF. Severity groups differed on the child-based EF measure of attentional control with children with TBI performing below the control group. There were no significant group differences for information processing or parent-rated EF. It appears that children who sustain a TBI before the age of 3 years display impairments in some areas of attentional control 3–4 years postinjury. The findings fit with the existing EF literature for older children.     

Coping among children and adolescents with chronic illness

The present study was aimed to investigate age and gender effects on coping with everyday stressors among children and adolescents with chronic illness and healthy controls. Patients (8–13 years of age) with asthma (n=47), atopic dermatitis (n=52), and cancer (n=57) were compared to healthy controls (n=158) matched by age, gender, and grade. Self-report data on coping with academic and interpersonal stressors were collected. The primary results indicated that coping with everyday stressors was improved in children and adolescents with chronic illness compared to healthy controls. Thus, patients reported less passive avoidance on cross-situational coping and tended to show more situation-specific coping with social and school-related stressors than healthy controls. Additionally, among the clinical groups, patients with atopic dermatitis and cancer scored higher on positive self-instructions than patients with asthma. Conclusively, the results suggest that coping with a chronic illness may lead to more effective coping with everyday stressors. Implications for evaluating coping styles in patients with chronic illness are discussed.     

Good governance,law and social reality: Problematic relationships

This article examines the ways in which the linkage between good governance and economic development has originally developed as alegal discussion constrained by the constitution of the World Bank. This normative character of the linkage has subsequently shaped discussions about good governance. It is here argued that this tends to lead these discussions to focus on selective and normative aspects of the interrelations between economic, political and legal-administrative structures and institutions. While the role of law is increasingly acknowledged in more recent debates and policy statements, law tends to be approached from a normative economic or legal perspective that does not provide much insight into the social significance of law. Too little attention is given to anthropological or sociological approaches to legal pluralism in society. These factors combine to detract attention from the fact that governance issues in reality deal withbad rather than with good governance. Franz von Benda-Beckmann is professor in the department of Agrarian Law of the Agricultural University Wageningen and teaches on law and rural development in Third World states and anthropology of law. He holds a doctorate in law and aHabilitation in anthropology. His primary research interests are issues of property rights and social security in rural development, legal pluralism and legal anthropological theory. This is a revised version of a paper presented in the 1993 RAWOO (Advisory Council for Scientific Research in Development Problems) lecture series.     

Examining the Construct Validity of the MMPI–2–RF Interpersonal Functioning Scales Using the Computerized Adaptive Test of Personality Disorder as a Comparative Framework

This study aimed to examine the construct validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 Restructured Form (MMPI–2–RF) interpersonal functioning scales (Ben-Porath &; Tellegen, 2008/2011 Ben-Porath, Y. S., &; Tellegen, A. (2011). MMPI–2–RF (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 Restructured Form) manual for administration, scoring, and interpretation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. (Original work published 2008) [Google Scholar]) using as a criterion measure the Computerized Adaptive Test of Personality Disorder–Static Form (CAT–PD–SF; Simms et al., 2011 Simms, L. J., Goldberg, L. R., Roberts, J. E., Watson, D., Welte, J., &; Rotterman, J. H. (2011). Computerized adaptive assessment of personality disorder: Introducing the CAT–PD project. Journal of Personality Assessment, 93, 380–389.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Participants were college students (n = 98) recruited through the university subject pool. A series of a priori hypotheses were developed for each of the 6 interpersonal functioning scales of the MMPI–2–RF, expressed as predicted correlations with construct-relevant CAT–PD–SF scales. Of the 27 specific predictions, 21 were supported by substantial (≥ |.30|) correlations. The MMPI–2–RF Family Problems scale (FML) demonstrated the strongest correlations with CAT–PD–SF scales Anhedonia and Mistrust; Cynicism (RC3) was most highly correlated with Mistrust and Norm Violation; Interpersonal Passivity (IPP) was most highly correlated with Domineering and Rudeness; Social Avoidance (SAV) was most highly correlated with Social Withdrawal and Anhedonia; Shyness (SHY) was most highly correlated with Social Withdrawal and Anxioiusness; and Disaffiliativeness (DSF) was most highly correlated with Emotional Detachment and Mistrust. Results are largely consistent with hypotheses suggesting support for both models of constructs relevant to interpersonal functioning. Future research designed to more precisely differentiate Social Avoidance (SAV) and Shyness (SHY) is suggested.     

Genetic architecture of context processing in late middle age: more than one underlying mechanism

Studies comparing young and older adults suggest a deficit in processing context information as a key mechanism underlying cognitive aging. However, the genetic architecture of context processing has not been examined. Consistent with previous results, we found evidence of functionally dissociable components of context processing accuracy in 1127 late middle-aged twins ages 51-60. One component emphasizes use of context cues to prepare responses (proactive cognitive control), and the other emphasizes adjustment of responses after probes are presented (reactive control). Approximately one-quarter of the variance in each component was accounted for by genes. Multivariate twin analysis indicated that genetic factors underlying two important components of context processing were independent of one another, thus implicating more than one underlying mechanism. Slower reaction time (RT) on noncontext processing trials was positively correlated with errors on the strongly proactive control component on which young adults outperform older adults, but RT was negatively correlated with errors on the strongly reactive control component on which older adults perform better. Although this RT measure was uncorrelated with chronological age in our age-homogeneous sample, slower RT was associated with performance patterns that were more like older adults. However, this did not generalize to other processing speed measures. Genetic correlations, which reflect shared genetic variance, paralleled the phenotypic correlations. There was also a positive genetic correlation between general cognitive ability and accuracy on the proactive control component, but there were still mostly distinct genetic influences underlying these measures. In contrast, the reactive control component was unrelated to general cognitive ability.     

Do rufous hummingbirds (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Selasphorus rufus</Emphasis>) use visual beacons?

Animals are often assumed to use highly conspicuous features of a goal to head directly to that goal (‘beaconing’). In the field it is generally assumed that flowers serve as beacons to guide pollinators. Artificial hummingbird feeders are coloured red to serve a similar function. However, anecdotal reports suggest that hummingbirds return to feeder locations in the absence of the feeder (and thus the beacon). Here we test these reports for the first time in the field, using the natural territories of hummingbirds and manipulating flowers on a scale that is ecologically relevant to the birds. We compared the predictions from two distinct hypotheses as to how hummingbirds might use the visual features of rewards: the distant beacon hypothesis and the local cue hypothesis. In two field experiments, we found no evidence that rufous hummingbirds used a distant visual beacon to guide them to a rewarded location. In no case did birds abandon their approach to the goal location from a distance; rather they demonstrated remarkable accuracy of navigation by approaching to within about 70 cm of a rewarded flower’s original location. Proximity varied depending on the size of the training flower: birds flew closer to a previously rewarded location if it had been previously signalled with a small beacon. Additionally, when provided with a beacon at a new location, birds did not fly directly to the new beacon. Taken together, we believe these data demonstrate that these hummingbirds depend little on visual characteristics to beacon to rewarded locations, but rather that they encode surrounding landmarks in order to reach the goal and then use the visual features of the goal as confirmation that they have arrived at the correct location.     

Viewer perspective affects central bottleneck requirements in spatial translation tasks

A psychological refractory period (PRP) approach and the locus of slack logic were applied to examine the novel question of whether spatial translation processes can begin before the central bottleneck when effector or noneffector stimuli are processed from an egocentric (viewer-centered) perspective. In single tasks, trials requiring spatial translations were considerably slower than trials without translations (Experiment 1). Dual tasks consisted of tone discriminations (Task 1) and spatial translations (Task 2) using PRP methods with different manipulations on perceptual and response demands. When a viewer-centered perspective was used, the effect of spatial translation was reduced at short compared with long stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) when the potential for code overlap between tasks was removed (Experiments 2, 3, and 4); this finding supports the view that translation processes can begin before the central bottleneck. When an allocentric (non-viewer-centered) perspective was used (Experiment 5), the slowing associated with spatial translation was additive with SOA, suggesting that the processes of spatial translation cannot begin before the bottleneck. These findings highlight the importance of viewer perspective on central bottleneck requirements. Findings are further discussed in relation to the dorsal-ventral model of action and perception.     

Von anderen Patienten lernen

Today, internet-based technologies are used at all levels of psychosocial services. Current psychotherapeutic applications concentrate on the implementation of traditional approaches in the internet. Self-help programs are posted onto the net, therapies are conducted via e-mail and groups meet in virtual chat rooms. If one looks at the development of the web over the last 2 years, it becomes clear that the substantial growth and popularity of this medium is due to internet platforms where contents and knowledge can be developed in collaborative environments and experiences can be shared with other users. The present paper addresses this development. On the basis of our example it is discussed how collaborative elements can be integrated into a psychotherapeutic application.     

Target-related coupling in bimanual reaching movements

While bimanual interference effects can be observed when symbolic cues indicate the parameter values of simultaneous reaching movements, these effects disappear under conditions in which the target locations of two movements are cued directly. The present study investigates the generalizability of these target-location cuing benefits to conditions in which symbolic cues are used to indicate target locations (i.e., the end points of bimanual movements). Participants were asked to move to two of four possible target locations, being located either at the same and different distances (Experiment 1), or in the same and different directions (Experiment 2). Circles and crosses served as symbolic target-location cues and were arranged in a symmetric or non-symmetric fashion over the four target locations. Each trial was preceded by a variable precuing interval. Results revealed faster initiation times for equivalent as compared to non-equivalent target locations (same vs. different cues). Moreover, the time course of prepartion suggests that this effect is in fact due to target-equivalence and not to cue-similarity. Bimanual interference relative to movement parameter values was not observed. These findings suggest that cuing target locations can dominate potential intermanual interference effects during the concurrent programming of different movement parameter values.