Gestures in Instructional Animations: A Helping Hand to Understanding Non‐human Movements?

Recent research on dynamic visualizations suggests that these visualizations are effective for learning human movements such as knot tying or paper folding. Using embodied theories of cognition, this study investigated whether learning non‐human movements from a dynamic visualization can also be enhanced by grounding these movements in the learner's motor system. University students viewed an animation on lightning formation, and followed the animation's movements with gestures, saw an on‐screen human hand follow the movements or saw an arrow follow the movements. Results showed that observing an on‐screen human hand following the movements in the animation, but not actually performing these movements, enhanced retention and transfer performance compared with watching the animation without gestures. This suggests that observation of human hand movement in animation‐based instruction, which plays an important role in learning of procedural‐motor tasks, can also improve people's learning from other dynamic systems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Kontroversen um die „Kriegskindheit“

The topic of “childhood during the war” became so popular because there is a growing public interest in the suffering of Germans during and after the Second World War. This “German victim discourse” was received controversially: positively on the one hand, as finally a possible recognition of German suffering and as a liberation from the bonds of political correctness and negatively on the other hand, as the disposal of the moral heritage of the history of Nazi crimes by self-victimization. The causes of the high emotions in this controversy become apparent in examining the notion of childhood during the war and its current usage. Guilt and innocence prove to be the dominant categories in using the notions of war, trauma and childhood. The background of the popularity of this topic is still the need for relief of guilt. Reconciling guilt with suffering is still very difficult for Germany.     

Concepts from research literature and practical assessment of risk awareness: The Swedish driving test from the perspective of cognitive psychology

The Swedish driving test (SDT) was compared to theoretical concepts found in research literature (CRLs) with respect to the rated importance of the CRLs for the overall assessment of risk awareness and the five specific assessment areas used in the SDT. 116 traffic inspectors responded to questionnaires. Results show that visual search was the CRL given the highest rating, and that the assessment of risk awareness can be conceptualised as assessment of lower-order and higher-order cognitive functions. The assessment areas taxing higher-order cognitive functions were rated as most important for risk awareness, and visual search behaviour can be regarded as the best indicator of higher-order cognitive skills.     

Between listening and expression

This paper sets out to conceptualize what goes on in the analyst's mind as he listens—and expresses something—to the patient. Bion's ideas of approaching the patient's O, without memory and desire, are discussed. An alternate, more permissive, attitude to desire is suggested. This is based on the idea that containment, instead of denoting a dyadic interaction between mother and child, is a process which links the child to a begetting couple, thus a triad. Containing the patient corresponds, in the unconscious, to thinking about a sexual couple in a mutually beneficent interaction. Since the patient's anxiety, in his unconscious, parallels a frightening primal scene, containment is viewed as a continuous translation of a primitive primal scene into a mature act of love. A specific kind of genital desire is thus necessary for containment. This finds expression in the analyst's resonance with the patient. Clinical material from an analysis with a 7-year old boy is provided.     

Screening for Behavioral Disorders With the Dyadic Parent-Child Interaction Coding System: Sensitivity,Specificity, and Core Discriminative Components

We assessed the ability of the Dyadic Parent-Child Coding System to discriminate between Norwegian children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder and/or Conduct Disorder (n = 36) and community controls with no diagnosis (n = 122). All children were diagnosed by the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment. Results showed that a composite score of three negative parent codes—Negative Talk, Indirect Commands with No Opportunity for Compliance, and Direct Command with Compliance—as well as one child code, Command, evidenced excellent screening efficiency. Results are discussed in light of possible cultural differences in parent-child interaction and revisions of the coding system.     

Children With Conduct Problems and Co-occurring ADHD: Behavioral Improvements Following Parent Management Training

To scale up evidence-based treatment of conduct problems, parent management training, Oregon model (PMTO) has been disseminated throughout Norway. This study examined whether Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) predicted the outcomes of PMTO. Of 253 children and families, 97 were reported to have an ADHD diagnosis. Although different at intake, the groups with and without ADHD had close to an equal change in behavioral status following treatment. Maternal depression and family income predicted the combined group's behavior following PMTO. The study indicates that reductions in conduct problems following PMTO are of the same magnitude in children with or without ADHD. However, some characteristics may differentially predict outcomes for children with combined problems.     

Distress intolerance and worry: the mediating role of cognitive variables

Background and Objectives: Distress intolerance (DI) has been identified as a potential risk factor for a variety of maladaptive avoidance behaviors, including worry. However, mechanisms linking DI to specific behaviors remain poorly understood. One hypothesis is that DI is a general vulnerability that confers risk of particular avoidance behaviors via more specific, lower-order vulnerabilities. The current study examined associations between DI and worry-related cognitions. Design: A multiple mediator model tested the hypothesis that worry-related variables (intolerance of uncertainty [IU], cognitive avoidance, beliefs about worry, and negative problem orientation) mediated the association between DI and worry. Methods: An undergraduate student (n = 281) and a clinical (n = 123) sample completed self-report measures. Results: Across samples, worry was associated with higher levels of DI, IU, cognitive avoidance, beliefs about worry, and negative problem orientation. Mediation results differed somewhat between the two samples. In the undergraduate sample, IU, negative beliefs about worry, and positive beliefs about worry mediated the association between DI and worry. In the clinical sample, negative problem orientation and negative beliefs about worry mediated the association between DI and worry. Conclusions: Results provide initial evidence that DI may be associated with worry via unique risk factors.