Attachment,Behavioral Inhibition,and Anxiety in Preschool Children

This study examined the association between insecure attachment, behavioral inhibition, and anxiety in an at risk sample of preschool children. The relationship between maternal anxiety and child anxiety was also assessed. Participants were 104 children aged 3–4 years who were assessed for behavioral inhibition and mother–child attachment (using the Strange Situation procedure). DSM-IV criteria were used to assess childhood anxiety disorders. Insecure attachment and behavioral inhibition were both independently associated with child anxiety, even after controlling for the effect of maternal anxiety. Maternal anxiety was also associated with child anxiety. This study identified both constitutional and environmental factors associated with the expression of anxiety in young children. Furthermore, the highest levels of anxiety were shown by children who were behaviorally inhibited and insecurely attached and whose mothers were also anxious.     

Functional dissociation between perception and action is evident early in life

The functional distinction between vision for perception and vision for action is well documented in the mature visual system. Ganel and colleagues recently provided direct evidence for this dissociation, showing that while visual processing for perception follows Weber's fundamental law of psychophysics, action violates this law. We tracked the developmental trajectory of this functional dissociation, asking whether the qualitatively different pattern observed in adults of adherence of perception but not of action to Weber's law would also be evident early in life. Children aged 5-8 and adults were asked to either estimate the size of discs (perception) or grasp discs (action) varying in diameter. Interestingly, variability of perceptual estimates increased as a function of object size in accord with Weber's law, while variability of grasping did not scale with object size, at all ages tested. This provides the first clear evidence for an early emergence of the dissociation between perception and action.     

I’mprovisation – Therapists’ Subjective Experience during Improvisational Moments in the Clinical Encounter

Improvisational (or now) moments can serve as important change mechanisms in psychotherapy. Yet there is little understanding of the therapists’ subjective experiences during those Improvisation Experiences (IE). In this pilot study, 17 clinicians reported on their clinical IE following theater improvisation training. Reports were analyzed in relation to three constructs: peak experience, flow, and peak performance. Results show that during IE therapists experience dimensions of peak experience and flow, but not of peak performance. Additional unique dimensions of IE are discussed in relation to different constructs, leading us to name therapists’ IE as I’mprovisation. Recommendations practice and training are discussed.     

Caregiving representations of mothers of behaviorally inhibited and uninhibited preschool children

This study examined differences in the caregiving representations of mothers of 3- to 4-year-old behaviorally inhibited and uninhibited children with secure or insecure attachments. Mothers of inhibited children perceived their children as more vulnerable than did mothers of uninhibited children, and they acknowledged difficulties associated with their children's inhibited temperament. However, mothers of insecure inhibited children were less likely than mothers of secure inhibited children to validate their children's emotional experiences and to be aware of their children's internal states and perspectives, and they showed higher levels of boundary violation and defense against negative affect. Implications of the more problematic caregiving representations of mothers of insecure inhibited children for parent-child relationships are discussed.