Individual differences in delay discounting: relation to intelligence, working memory, and anterior prefrontal cortex

Lower delay discounting (better self-control) is linked to higher intelligence, but the basis of this relation is uncertain. To investigate the potential role of working memory (WM) processes, we assessed delay discounting, intelligence (g), WM (span tasks, 3-back task), and WM-related neural activity (using functional magnetic resonance imaging) in 103 healthy adults. Delay discounting was negatively correlated with g and WM. WM explained no variance in delay discounting beyond that explained by g, which suggests that processes through which WM relates to delay discounting are shared by g. WM-related neural activity in left anterior prefrontal cortex (Brodmann's area 10) covaried with g, r= .26, and delay discounting, r=-.40, and partially mediated the relation between g and delay discounting. Overall, the results suggest that delay discounting is associated with intelligence in part because of processes instantiated in anterior prefrontal cortex, a region known to support the integration of diverse information.     

Varying cautionary instructions, monetary incentives, and comorbid diagnostic training in malingered psychopathology research

In this article, we combine two analogue experiments in which we empirically examined three malingering methodological issues in individuals trained and instructed to simulate posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI; Briere, 1995). In Experiment 1, we examined TSI scale effects of the following manipulations using a 2 x 2 design with 330 college students: (a) inclusion or exclusion of cautionary instructions regarding believability of participants' simulation and (b) different financial incentive levels. In Experiment 2, we examined comorbid psychiatric diagnostic training with 180 college students who were either trained to simulate PTSD and comorbid major depressive disorder or trained to simulate only PTSD. Caution main effects were significant for all but two TSI Clinical Scales, incentive main effects and interactions were only significant for one Clinical scale each, and the comorbidity manipulation did not yield any scale differences. We discuss malingering research design implications regarding the use of cautionary instructions, financial incentive levels, and comorbid training.     

Knowledge and Expectations of Women Undergoing Cancer Genetic Risk Assessment: A Qualitative Analysis of Free-Text Questionnaire Comments

Individuals undergoing cancer genetic risk assessment have been found to have a poor understanding of the process, which may affect how well they cope with learning their risk. This paper reports free-text data from questionnaires completed by women undergoing a randomised controlled trial of a psychological intervention. Of the 268 women undergoing genetic assessment for familial breast/ovarian cancer risk who were invited to take part in the trial, 157 women returned research questionnaires. Of these, 97 women provided free-text comments upon referral to a cancer genetics clinic, 62 provided comments whilst waiting for risk information (average, moderate or high), and 36 women provided comments following notification of risk. This paper reports a thematic analysis of the free-text data. Themes reflected individuals’ poor knowledge and uncertainty about genetic risk assessment. How well individuals responded to learning their risk depended upon whether expectations had been met. Regardless of risk, individuals undergoing cancer genetic risk assessment are likely to benefit from increased information about its process and timescales, and access to increased psychological support. Free-text comments can provide valuable data about individuals’ expectations and knowledge of genetics services.     

Romantic Relationships and Health: An Examination of Individuals’ Perceptions of their Romantic Partners’ Influences on their Health

This study examines individuals’ perceptions of the impact their significant others have on their health and the extent to which these perceptions are associated with relationship quality and actual health. Two-hundred and ten participants (105 U.S. couples; mean age = 24.93) completed measures of their relationship quality and health along with an open-ended measure asking them to indicate how they felt their partner influenced their health. Results indicated that participants perceived their romantic partners to be primarily positive health influences, women believed their partners were more influential than did men, and eating and physical activity behaviors were believed to be most affected by partners. Participants’ relationship quality and health were associated with their reports of their perceived partners’ health influences. The research described in this report was supported by an award to Charlotte Markey from Rutgers University.     

Initiation of Reflective Frames in Counseling for Huntingtons Disease Predictive Testing

Genetic professionals and clients are likely to assign different meanings to the extended format of the counseling protocols for predictive testing. In order to facilitate informed, client-centered decisions about the possibility of predictive testing, counselors routinely use the question format to initiate what we call "reflective frames" that invite clients to discuss their feelings and encourage them to adopt introspective and self-reflective stances toward their own experience--spanning the past, the present, and the hypothetical future. We suggest that such initiations of reflective frames constitute a key element of counselors' nondirective stance, although the exact nature of their formulations can be complex and varied. Examining 24 Huntington's Disease (HD) clinic sessions involving 12 families in South Wales with the tools of discourse analysis, our focus in this paper is twofold: (i) to propose a classification of six types of reflective questions (e.g. nonspecific invites, awareness and anxiety, decision about testing, impact of result, dissemination, and other) and to examine their distribution across the various clinic appointments, and (ii) to investigate the scope of these questions in terms of temporal and social axes. We link our analysis to the current debate within the genetic counseling profession about the merits of reflection- versus information-focused counseling styles and the need to abide by professionally warranted and institutionally embedded counseling protocols.     

Executive and visuospatial sketchpad resources in euthymic bipolar disorder: Implications for visuospatial working memory architecture

Visuospatial working memory theory is used to interpret the cognitive impairment in euthymic bipolar disorder. Such patients show deficits in the Corsi Blocks Test (CBT) and executive control. To understand these deficits, 20 euthymic bipolar patients and controls were administered the CBT, Visual Patterns Test (VPT), and a new visual memory task designed to make minimal demands on executive resources. Initial analyses validated the visual memory task and implicated executive involvement in the CBT and VPT. Subsequent analyses on a number of tests confirmed CBT and executive deficits while performance was normal on the VPT and visual memory test. ANCOVA indicated that impaired executive function underpinned patients' CBT performance. Implications for the interface between executive and slave systems of working memory are discussed.     

Spatial modulation of tactile temporal-order judgments

We report a series of three experiments designed to examine the effect of posture on tactile temporal processing. Observers reported which of two tactile stimuli, presented to the left and right index fingers (experiments 1-3; or thumb, experiment 3), was perceived first while adopting one of two postures--hands-close (adjacent, but not touching) or hands-far (1 m apart)--in the dark. Just-noticeable differences were significantly smaller in the hands-far posture across all three experiments. In the first two experiments we compared hand versus foot responses and found equivalent advantages for the hands-far posture. In the final experiment the stimuli were presented to either the same or different digit on each hand (index finger or thumb) and we found that only when the same digit on each hand was stimulated was there an advantage for the hands-far posture. The finding that temporal precision was better with greater distance contradicts predictions based on attention-switching models of temporal-order judgments, and also contrasts with results from similar experimental manipulations in other modalities (eg vision). These results provide support for a rapid and automatic process that transforms the representation of a tactile stimulus from a skin-centred reference frame to a more external (eg body-centred or allocentric) one.     

Response-monitoring dysfunction in schizophrenia: an event-related brain potential study

Error-monitoring abnormalities may underlie positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Response-synchronized event-related potentials during picture-word matching yielded error- and correct-response-related negativity (ERN, CRN) and positivity (Pe, Pc) and preresponse lateralized readiness potentials (LRP) from 18 schizophrenic patients and 18 controls. Both groups responded faster to matches than nonmatches, although patients were generally slower and made more errors to nonmatches. Compared with controls, patients, particularly with paranoid subtype, had smaller ERNs and larger CRNs, which were indistinguishable. LRPs showed evidence of more response conflict before errors than before correct responses in controls but not patients. Despite ERN/CRN abnormalities, post-error slowing and Pe were normal in patients, suggesting a dissociation of ERN and error awareness. Anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortical dysfunction in schizophrenia are implicated.