Working Memory and Motor Activity: A Comparison Across Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder,Generalized Anxiety Disorder,and Healthy Control Groups

Converging findings from recent research suggest a functional relationship between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related hyperactivity and demands on working memory (WM) in both children and adults. Excessive motor activity such as restlessness and fidgeting are not pathognomonic symptoms of ADHD, however, and are often associated with other diagnoses such as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Further, previous research indicates that anticipatory processing associated with anxiety can directly interfere with storage and rehearsal processes of WM. The topographical similarity of excessive motor activity seen in both ADHD and anxiety disorders, as well as similar WM deficits, may indicate a common relationship between WM deficits and increased motor activity. The relationship between objectively measured motor activity (actigraphy) and PH and visuospatial WM demands in adults with ADHD (n = 21), adults with GAD (n = 21), and healthy control adults (n = 20) was examined. Although all groups exhibited significant increases in activity from control to WM conditions, the ADHD group exhibited a disproportionate increase in activity, while activity exhibited by the GAD and healthy control groups was not different. Findings indicate that ADHD-related hyperactivity is uniquely related to WM demands, and appear to suggest that adults with GAD are no more active relative to healthy control adults during a cognitively demanding laboratory task.     

Psychometric Properties of the Response to Anxiety Questionnaire

Recent research highlights the importance of transdiagnostic factors of psychopathology, particularly in understanding comorbidity. Repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is one such factor, which may elucidate anxiety-depression comorbidity. The Response to Anxiety Questionnaire (RAQ) aims to evaluate repetitive negative thinking (RNT) related to anxiety-depression comorbidity, specifically hopelessness and rumination about anxiety symptoms. Anxious hopelessness is negative thoughts about the future due to anxiety symptoms, and anxious rumination includes negative evaluations of the meaning of anxiety symptoms, therefore the current study assessed the RAQ in three studies. We used exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis methodologies to examine the factor structure of the RAQ. In addition, we tested indirect effects of the two factors of RAQ (Rumination and Hopelessness) between anxiety and depression, and tested measure convergent validity. Results of the current study provide additional support for the psychometric properties of the RAQ, suggesting a two factor makeup (hopelessness, rumination), as well as its use in predicting anxiety and depressive symptoms.     

Environmental sound priming: Does negation modify N400 cross-modal priming effects?

Human information processing is incredibly fast and flexible. In order to survive, the human brain has to integrate information from various sources and to derive a coherent interpretation, ideally leading to adequate behavior. In experimental setups, such integration phenomena are often investigated in terms of cross-modal association effects. Interestingly, to date, most of these cross-modal association effects using linguistic stimuli have shown that single words can influence the processing of non-linguistic stimuli, and vice versa. In the present study, we were particularly interested in how far linguistic input beyond single words influences the processing of non-linguistic stimuli; in our case, environmental sounds. Participants read sentences either in an affirmative or negated version: for example: “The dog does (not) bark”. Subsequently, participants listened to a sound either matching or mismatching the affirmative version of the sentence (‘woof’ vs. ‘meow’, respectively). In line with previous studies, we found a clear N400-like effect during sound perception following affirmative sentences. Interestingly, this effect was identically present following negated sentences, and the negation operator did not modulate the cross-modal association effect observed between the content words of the sentence and the sound. In summary, these results suggest that negation is not incorporated during information processing in a manner that word–sound association effects would be influenced.     

Context-dependent memory for meaningful material: information for students

Context-dependency effects on memory for lists of unrelated words have been shown more often with recall than with recognition. Context dependency for meaningful text material was examined using two standard academic testing techniques: short answer (recall) and multiple choice (recognition). Forty participants read an article in either silent or noisy conditions; their reading comprehension was assessed with both types of test under silent or noisy conditions. Both tests showed context-dependency effects in which performance was better in the matching conditions (silent study/silent test and noisy study/noisy test) than in the mismatching conditions (silent study/noisy test and noisy study/silent test). Context cues appear to be important in the retrieval of newly learned meaningful information. An academic application is that students may perform better on exams by studying in silence. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Predictors and moderators of improved social-emotional functioning in mothers with substance use disorders and their young children enrolled in a relationship-based case management program

Mothers with substance use disorders (SUDs) typically have trauma histories and psychosocial difficulties that lead to poor social-emotional functioning and disrupted mother–child relationships. This 12-month study explored associations of family adverse circumstances and services (case management, therapeutic, and community-based) received by 57-mothers with SUDs and their infants (less than 24-months-old) with changes in social-emotional functioning. All mothers were enrolled in a relationship-based case management program (Parent–Child Assistance Program [PCAP]) that emphasized connecting mothers to appropriate community services. A subset of mothers was additionally provided a trauma-focused psychotherapeutic intervention (infant–parent psychotherapy [IPP]). Dyads in both treatment groups improved in overall social-emotional functioning as assessed by the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS). A combined-sample regression analysis revealed that improved FEAS scores were significantly predicted by the number of community services received but not by PCAP case management hours (IPP was not included in this analysis). More adverse circumstances were associated with less improvement in social-emotional functioning in the children; but among the mothers trauma level did not predict FEAS scores. We also found a moderating effect of trauma: Dyads with relatively more adversity showed a significantly greater association of community services received with improvement in FEAS scores than did those with relatively less adversity.     

Dynamic Reciprocity and Ontological Affinity in the Pauline Account of Solidarity

This article suggests that the dynamic elements of gift‐giving and reciprocity, which are incisively re‐evaluated in John Barclay's study Paul and the Gift, might fruitfully be combined with the classical incarnational understanding of the union of natures to better our understanding of Paul's soteriology. Setting Paul's account of salvation within the framework of the wider New Testament, the article highlights the presence of key elements that might best be articulated in terms of the dual kinship of Jesus with both God and humanity and that require some discussion of the ontology of the one who saves. When Paul speaks of the solidarity that exists within the Christian community, he does so in a way that links it to the presence of the Spirit, by whom we participate in the oneness of God through the one mediator; his development of this emphasis draws heavily upon the Shema, which Jewish traditions associate with the distinctive ‘being’ of God.     

Maternal territoriality as an offspring defense strategy in red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii,Girard)

The offspring‐defense hypothesis of maternal territoriality in solitary and semisocial mammals [Wolff JO and Peterson JA. 1998. Ethol Ecol Evol 10:227–239] was evaluated in another taxon using maternal and nonmaternal female red swamp crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), a freshwater decapod crustacean that shows pronounced shelter‐related maternal aggression. The maternal females were of three different categories: (1) ovigerous, (2) carrying primarily stage 1 offspring, or (3) tending offspring that were primarily stage 2. Each female was in residence in an individual aquarium containing only a gravel substrate for 24 hr prior to serial intrusions by male conspecifics. Virtually all of the residents, maternal and nonmaternal, excavated a depression (shelter) in the substrate prior to the first intrusion. The results showed that residents in each of the maternal categories won a significantly higher proportion of their encounters than did the nonmaternal residents, which showed only negligible defense and lost every encounter. However, there were no significant differences in encounter outcomes between the maternal resident categories. There was clear defense of the shelter by maternal females, with virtually all fighting being in or around it, thus demonstrating stable, heightened territorial defense throughout these maternal phases of reproduction. This support of the offspring‐defense hypothesis of maternal territoriality is the first such evidence for a freshwater crustacean and is very similar to that recently reported in a related marine decapod, the American lobster (H. americanus). Aggr. Behav. 27:391–403, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Counseling for loss of faith

Pastoral Psychology -     

Book reviews

Schulkin, J. (1991). Sodium hunger: The search for a salty taste. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 192. ISBN 0-521-35368-8. £30.00 (hardback).

Heiligenberg, W.F. (1991). Neural nets in electric fish. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (A Bradford Book). Pp. 179. ISBN 0-262-08203-9. £33.75 (hardback).

Donald, M. (1991). Origins of the modern mind: Three stages in the evolution of culture and cognition. Cambrdige, MA: Harvard University Press. Pp. 413. ISBN 0-674-64483-2. £22.25 (hardback).