The sectored foraging field: a novel design to quantify spatial strategies, learning, memory, and emotion

Although Norway rats are naturally gregarious, males typically live alone at some point during adulthood. Different social ecologies often require different learning strategies and also modulate response to stressors and gonadal development. To measure effects of the social environment on the interaction between cognition and emotion during aging, we focused on a natural learning context and devised the sectored foraging field, a progressively difficult spatial navigation task. Here, we describe how this apparatus and protocol permits multiple learning strategies in a minimally stressful environment, enabling finely graded analyses of cognition and emotionality. Male Sprague-Dawley rats living alone throughout adulthood adopted a sex-typic discernible spatial strategy. In contrast, males housed in group contexts utilized an algorithmic kinesthetic strategy, repeating the same motor action until they found food. Removal of food and distal, but not local cues, elicited anxious alertness, particularly in group-housed males. Cognitive performance of group-housed rats subsequent to food and cue removal was significantly impaired, yet enhanced in isolates.     

Contrast effects in judgments of health hazards

Researchers commonly use 2 models to explain contrast effects (CEs): the standard-of-comparison model and the set-reset model. The 2 models focus on the role of categorization to predict when a CE (instead of an assimilation effect) will happen, while minimizing the role of knowledge accessibility and relevance in determining whether any effect will occur. A 3rd model, the selective-accessibility model (F. Strack & T. Mussweiler, 1997), focuses on knowledge accessibility and relevance, but it is a model of assimilation effects in the anchoring bias. In the present study of CEs, the authors tested 3 predictions implied by the selective-accessibility model. The authors found a CE only when anchor- and target-rating dimensions matched and only in the 1st of multiple targets rated. The CE required a minimum amount of attention to the anchor. These results support the account that selective knowledge accessibility and relevance play an important role in CEs.     

STIMULUS FADING AS TREATMENT FOR OBSCENITY IN A BRAIN-INJURED ADULT

Obscene verbalizations of a person with traumatic brain injury were treated using stimulus fading as the singular form of intervention. Results of a functional assessment revealed that obscenity was maintained by negative reinforcement. Stimulus fading (initial elimination of instructional demands followed by their gradual reintroduction) produced immediate and substantial reductions in obscenity that were maintained as the frequency of demands increased to baseline levels. Potential applications of the use of antecedent treatment strategies are discussed.     

The lack of pseudohomophone priming effects with short durations in reading and naming

The priming effect of pseudohomophones was assessed in reading and naming tasks. In two experiments using the fast priming paradigm in reading, there were no pseudohomophone priming effects when the prime duration was 32, 44, or 56 ms from the beginning of a fixation. In a third experiment, using a naming task with isolated words, there were also no pseudohomophone priming effects with prime durations of 32, 44, and 56 ms, but there was with a 200-ms prime duration. The results suggest that pseudohomophone priming doesn't occur at an early stage of reading (in the first 60 ms from the beginning of fixation), but occurs at a later stage (within the first 200 ms).     

Neurofibromatosis Type 1 in Genetic Counseling Practice: Recommendations of the National Society of Genetic Counselors

The objective of this document is to provide recommendations for the genetic counseling of patients and families undergoing evaluation for neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) or who have received a diagnosis of NF1. These recommendations are the opinions of a multi-center working group of genetic counselors with expertise in the care of individuals with NF1. These recommendations are based on the committee’s clinical experiences, a review of pertinent English language medical articles, and reports of expert committees. These recommendations are not intended to dictate an exclusive course of management, nor does the use of such recommendations guarantee a particular outcome. These recommendations do not displace a health care provider’s professional judgment based on the clinical circumstances of an individual patient. Both Heather B. Radtke and Courtney D. Sebold contributed equally to this document.     

Pediatric trichotillomania: descriptive psychopathology and an open trial of cognitive behavioral therapy

In study 1, 46 children and adolescents with trichotillomania who sought treatment at 2 specialty outpatient clinics were assessed. Most children reported pulling hair from multiple sites on the body, presented with readily visible alopecia, reported spending 30-60 minutes per day pulling or thinking about pulling, and reported experiencing significant distress about their symptoms. Most were described by their parents as having significant problems in school functioning. Few children met criteria for obsessive-compulsive disorder or tic disorder. Child and family rates of other forms of psychopathology were high. In study 2, 22 of these children were enrolled in an open trial of individual cognitive behavioral therapy with particular attention to relapse prevention. Trichotillomania severity decreased significantly and 77% of children were classified as treatment responders at post-treatment and 64% at 6-month follow-up.     

Changes in quality of life following cognitive-behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) incorporating exposure and response prevention is a first line treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Although, the efficacy of CBT in reducing OCD symptoms is well documented, less is known about its effects on quality of life (QOL). In the current study, functional impairment aspects of QOL (as measured by the Sheehan Disability Scale) were assessed among 70 adult outpatients with OCD before and after CBT. Statistically significant improvements in QOL and large pre- to post-treatment effect sizes were observed for work, social, and family functioning. Improvements in social and family functioning were predicted by improvements in OCD symptom severity even after controlling for improvements in depressive symptoms. In addition, clinically significant change in OCD symptoms and QOL were highly related, although there was a subset of participants whose symptoms improved without corresponding improvements in QOL. These results suggest that the effects of CBT may extend beyond OCD symptom reduction to QOL.     

Impact of Youth Strengths and Objective Strain on the Experiences of Subjective Strain Among Caregivers of Youth with Behavioral Health Conditions

Caregivers of youth with behavioral health conditions often experience significant and chronic caregiving strain. Caregiving strain is thought to consist of three dimensions: objective strain (observable negative events), subjective internalized strain (negative feelings directed inwardly), and subjective externalized strain (negative feelings directed outwardly). Based on a modified stress process model, the aims of this study were to: (1) examine whether the association between youth emotional-behavioral problem severity (measured with the Child Behavior Checklist/6–18) and subjective internalized and subjective externalized caregiving strain is mediated by objective strain for caregivers, and; (2) identify other predictors of subjective internalized and subjective externalized strain, particularly related to youth emotional-behavioral strengths as measured by the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale-Parent Rating Scale. We also explored the extent to which the association between youth emotional-behavioral problem severity and subjective internalized and subjective externalized strain may be moderated by perceived youth emotional-behavioral strengths. One-hundred and eighty-five (N = 185) caregivers of youth served by a community-based system of care participated in structured survey interviews at program enrollment. Regression analyses indicated that objective strain was found to fully mediate the association between youth emotional-behavioral problem severity and subjective externalized strain. Greater youth strengths related to family involvement were also associated with lower subjective externalized strain. Higher caregiver age, lower education, biological parent relationship to youth, greater youth emotional-behavioral problem severity, higher objective strain, and lower youth strengths related to school functioning were associated with higher subjective internalized strain. A significant interaction was found between youth problem severity, youth affective strengths, and subjective internalized strain such that caregivers who reported higher levels of youth affective strengths experienced stronger effects from youth emotional-behavioral problem severity on subjective internalized strain. These findings shed light upon the complex set of circumstances that may lead caregivers of youth with behavioral health conditions to experience subjective internalized and subjective externalized strain.     

Understanding the Adoptive Family within the Context of Christian Hospitality

Abstract : Adoptive families can take many forms, yet there are similarities across adoptive family types that can be studied. Relevant research regarding the adoptive kinship network, openness and contact in adoption, family communication about adoption, adoption‐related curiosity and information‐seeking, and adoptive identity is reviewed. Christian hospitality is provided as a context within which adoptive families are formed and understood.     

The Latent Structure of the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale

Taxometric analyses were used to assess the latent structure of depressive symptoms as measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Participants were 3,395 college students enrolled in Introductory Psychology classes at a mid-size university. Analyses included data simulation strategies to assure that the data was appropriate for interpreting skewed indicators and small putative taxa. Four indicators (depressed mood, positive affect, somatic, and interpersonal symptoms) were derived from principal components analysis. Taxometric analyses indicated that distributions of the four CES-D factor based indicators were dimensional. Results are consistent with a continuity model of the latent structure of questionnaire measures of depressive symptoms in this young adult population, of which approximately 15% scored above the clinical cut-point for the CES-D scale.