Age-related differences in face processing: a meta-analysis of three functional neuroimaging experiments.

Differences between young and old adults in brain activity, measured with positron emission tomography, were examined during three face processing experiments: episodic memory, working memory, and degraded face perception. Each experiment contained an easy face matching condition and a more difficult processing condition. Young adults showed greater activity in bilateral prefrontal cortex during the memory tasks, compared to face matching, but no difference in prefrontal activity between degraded and nondegraded perception. Older adults, on the other hand, had greater prefrontal activity in both memory and degraded perceptual tasks compared to matching. This suggests that increased prefrontal activity is task-specific in young adults, but, in old adults, is a more general response to increased cognitive effort or need for resources. These data are consistent with the dedifferentiation hypothesis of aging, and suggest a possible neural mechanism for this dedifferentiation, such that dependence on prefrontal activity across a greater number of tasks could also increase the amount of covariance across these tasks.     

Practical guide for prescribing MAOIs: debunking myths and removing barriers

Despite the fact that monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) can be highly effective therapeutic agents for depression and some anxiety disorders, they tend to be underutilized in clinical practice. This is due at least in part to the fact that there is a great deal of misinformation and mythology about their dietary and drug interactions. This article is intended to serve as a guide for clinicians who are not particularly familiar with MAO inhibitors; its aim is to help these clinicians competently integrate these agents into clinical practice when appropriate.     

Conscious and Unconscious Use of Self: The Evolution of a Process

Recent emphasis has been placed on the central role of the therapeutic relationship in successful treatment. One aspect of the development of an effective relationship is the clinical social worker's use of self. We argue that the use of self happens both consciously and unconsciously and is a dynamic and evolving process in psychotherapy. This evolution can result in the clinical social worker shifting from a stance of doing to being. Drawing from a Japanese tradition of learning, three stages of learning provide a framework for understanding how therapists may transition from a state of doing to being in the therapy. Through this process, the conscious use of self may develop into unconscious use of self. Two case examples demonstrate how expanding and using one's self-awareness and the new knowledge through meaningful learning experiences can shift a clinical social worker's ability to develop and enhance his or her use of self, inviting therapeutic presence and depth.     

Incorporating Student Mobility in Achievement Growth Modeling: A Cross-Classified Multiple Membership Growth Curve Model

Multiple membership random effects models (MMREMs) have been developed for use in situations where individuals are members of multiple higher level organizational units. Despite their availability and the frequency with which multiple membership structures are encountered, no studies have extended the MMREM approach to hierarchical growth curve modeling (GCM). This study introduces a cross-classified multiple membership growth curve model (CCMM-GCM) for modeling, for example, academic achievement trajectories in the presence of student mobility. Real data are used to demonstrate and compare growth curve model estimates using the CCMM-GCM and a conventional GCM that ignores student mobility. Results indicate that the CCMM-GCM represents a promising option for modeling growth for multiple membership data structures.     

Motivational incentives modulate age differences in visual perception

This study examined whether motivational incentives modulate age-related perceptual deficits. Younger and older adults performed a perceptual discrimination task in which bicolored stimuli had to be classified according to their dominating color. The valent color was associated with either a positive or negative payoff, whereas the neutral color was not associated with a payoff. Effects of incentives on perceptual efficiency and response bias were estimated using the diffusion model (Ratcliff, 1978). Perception of neutral stimuli showed age-related decline, whereas perception of valent stimuli, both positive and negative, showed no age difference. This finding is interpreted in terms of preserved top-down control over the allocation of perceptual processing resources in healthy aging.