An open trial of cognitive therapy for chronic insomnia

We describe the development of a cognitive therapy intervention for chronic insomnia. The therapy is based on a cognitive model which suggests that the processes that maintain insomnia include: (1) worry and rumination, (2) attentional bias and monitoring for sleep-related threat, (3) unhelpful beliefs about sleep, (4) misperception of sleep and daytime deficits and (5) the use of safety behaviors that maintain unhelpful beliefs. The aim of cognitive therapy for insomnia is to reverse all five maintaining processes during both the night and the day. In an open trial 19 patients meeting diagnostic criteria for primary insomnia were treated with cognitive therapy for insomnia. Assessments were completed pretreatment, posttreatment and at 3-, 6- and 12-month followup. The significant improvement in both nighttime and daytime impairment evident at the posttreatment assessment was retained up to the 12 month followup.     

Fundamental Movement Skills and Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Peer Comparisons and Stimulant Effects

The purpose of this study was to compare the fundamental movement skills of 22 children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), from 6 to 12 years of age, to gender- and age-matched peers without ADHD and assess the effects of stimulant medication on the movement skill performance of the children with ADHD. Repeated measures analyses revealed significant skill differences between children with and without ADHD (p ≤ 0.001). Results from the stimulant medication trials indicated no significant effect of medication on the movement skill patterns of children with ADHD. It is concluded that children with ADHD may be at risk for developmental delays in movement skill performance. Potential factors underlying the movement skill difficulties are discussed, with suggestions for future research.     

The organisation and content of trauma memories in survivors of road traffic accidents

We investigated the trauma narratives of 131 road traffic accident survivors prospectively, at 1 week, 6 weeks, and 3 months post-trauma. At 1 and 6 weeks, narratives of survivors with acute stress disorder (ASD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were less coherent and included more dissociation content. By 3 months, their narratives also contained more repetition, more non-consecutive chunks, and more sensory words. Traumatic brain injury was associated with a separate characteristic, confusion, at all three time points. Three aspects of narrative organisation at 1 week--repetition, non-consecutive chunks, and coherence--predicted PTSD severity at 3 months after controlling for initial symptoms. The results suggest both a strong concurrent and predictive relationship between narrative disorganisation and ASD/PTSD but that as people recover from ASD, their narratives do not necessarily become less disorganised.     

The Occurrence of Bullying in Global Organizations: A Model and Issues Associated With Social/Emotional Contagion

Workplace bullying in global organizations occurs for several reasons, including growing diversity, increased dispersion of employees in geographic locations, lack of experience of managers with new environments, and varying requirements. To gain insight into the bullying phenomenon, one must examine the characteristics of the bully, the target of bullying activities (e.g., the victim or the bullied), observers of the bullying (e.g., bystanders), and resulting changes in the organizational culture because of the bullying. One additional element to be assessed is the means by which bullying activities are embodied in an organization's culture (i.e., social/emotional contagion). This paper proposes a model of bullying in global organizations and examines the potential of social/emotional contagion developing in global organizations' cultures.     

Assessing the multidimensional and hierarchical structure of SERVQUAL

Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry introduced SERVQUAL in 1998 as a scale to measure service quality. Since then, researchers have proposed several variations. This study examines the development of the tool. Marketing researchers have first challenged the conceptualization of a perceptions-expectations gap and have concluded that the performance-based measures are adequate to capture consumers' perception of service quality. Some researchers have argued that the five dimensions of the SERVQUAL scale only focus on the process of service delivery and have extended the SERVQUAL scale into six dimensions by including the service outcome dimension. Others have proposed that service quality is a multilevel construct and should be measured accordingly. From a sample of 467 undergraduate students data on service quality toward up-scale restaurants were collected. Using the structural equation approach, two measurement models of service quality were compared, the extended SERVQUAL model and the restructured multilevel SERVQUAL model. Analysis suggested that the latter model fits the data better than the extended one.     

Non-lateralised deficits of drawing production in hemispatial neglect

Spatially lateralised deficits that typically define the hemispatial neglect syndrome have been shown to co-occur with other non-lateralised deficits of attention, memory, and drawing. However even a simple graphic task involves multiple planning components, including the specification of drawing start position and drawing direction. In order to investigate the influence of these factors in neglect we presented patients with a circle-copying task, and specified the drawing start point. The ability to draw from the instructed location was strongly related to tests that measure constructional abilities, but not related to start point laterality. In contrast, the direction in which patients drew the circle was affected by start point laterality: patients with neglect were less likely to draw in a typical direction when the cue was on the affected side of space and this was strongly related to severity of the neglect. Patients with neglect consistently produced circles that were smaller than the model; however, the scaling was not affected by the laterality of the start point, nor was the proportion of drawings correctly started at the cue. These findings demonstrate the complex relationship between neglect and even the simplest test for the syndrome.     

Fast and accurate measurement of taste and smell thresholds using a maximum-likelihood adaptive staircase procedure.

This paper evaluates the use of a maximum-likelihood adaptive staircase psychophysical procedure (ML-PEST), originally developed in vision and audition, for measuring detection thresholds in gustation and olfaction. The basis for the psychophysical measurement of thresholds with the ML-PEST procedure is developed. Then, two experiments and four simulations are reported. In the first experiment, ML-PEST was compared with the Wetherill and Levitt up-down staircase method and with the Cain ascending method of limits in the measurement of butyl alcohol thresholds. The four Monte Carlo simulations compared the three psychophysical procedures. In the second experiment, the test-retest reliability of MLPEST for measuring NaCl and butyl alcohol thresholds was assessed. The results indicate that the ML-PEST method gives reliable and precise threshold measurements. Its ability to detect malingerers shows considerable promise. It is recommended for use in clinical testing.     

Sharing genes fosters identity fusion and altruism

Researchers have shown that the more genes twins share, the more they care about one another. Here, we examine a psychological mediator of such genetic influences, “identity fusion” (a visceral sense of oneness with them). Results supported this hypothesis. Relative to dizygotic twins, monozygotic twins reported stronger fusion and elevated desire to have contact and share experiences with their twin (Study 1), to forgive and grant favors to their twin after being disappointed by him/her (Study 2), and willingness to make sacrifices for their twin (Study 3). Fusion with the twin mediated the impact of zygosity on these outcomes. These findings demonstrate that genetic relatedness fosters a powerful feeling of union with one’s twin that predicts sharing, tolerance, and self-sacrificial behavior toward him or her.     

Depression, self-esteem, and anger in emerging adulthood: seven-year trajectories

This study used a school-based community sample (N=920) to examine trajectories of depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and expressed anger in the critical years of emerging adulthood (ages 18-25). Using data from 5 waves, the authors discovered that multilevel models indicated that, on average, depressive symptoms and expressed anger declined, whereas self-esteem increased. Between-persons predictors of variability in trajectories included gender (gender gaps in depressive symptoms and self-esteem narrowed), parents' education, and conflict with parents (depressive symptoms and expressed anger improved fastest in participants with highly educated parents and in those with higher conflict). Across time, increases in social support and marriage were associated with increased psychological well-being, whereas longer periods of unemployment were connected with higher depression and lower self-esteem. Emerging adulthood is a time of improving psychological well-being, but individual trajectories depend on specific individual and family characteristics as well as role changes.     

Role of the serotonin 5-HT(2A) receptor in learning

This study reviews the role of the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor in learning as measured by the acquisition of the rabbit's classically conditioning nictitating membrane response, a component of the eyeblink response. Agonists at the 5-HT2A receptor including LSD (d-lysergic acid diethylamide) enhanced associative learning at doses that produce cognitive effects in humans. Some antagonists such as BOL (d-bromolysergic acid diethylamide), LY53,857, and ketanserin acted as neutral antagonists in that they had no effect on learning, whereas others (MDL11,939, ritanserin, and mianserin) acted as inverse agonists in that they retarded learning through an action at the 5-HT2A receptor. These results were placed in the context of what is known concerning the anatomical distribution and electrophysiological effects of 5-HT2A receptor activation in frontal cortex and hippocampus, as well as the role of cortical 5-HT2A receptors in schizophrenia. It was concluded that the 5-HT2A receptor demonstrates constitutive activity, and that variations in this activity can produce profound alterations in cognitive states.