A Comparison of Taped Problems With and Without a Brief Post-Treatment Assessment on Multiplication Fluency

An adapted alternating treatments design was used to compare the effectiveness of a taped-problems (TP) intervention with TP and an additional immediate assessment (TP + AIA) on the multiplication fluency of six fifth-grade students. During TP, the students listened to a tape playing a series of multiplication problems and answers three times. Students were instructed to try to beat the tape by writing each answer before they heard it on the tape. The interval between each problem and answer was varied as the problems were repeated. For the TP + AIA condition, immediately after completing TP, students completed an extra assessment sheet consisting of the same problems heard on the tape. Results showed increases in math-fact fluency across both treatment sets of problems (TP and TP + AIA) and a control set of problems. However, results varied across students and only two of the students showed meaningful gains when the TP was supplemented with the AIA. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Sleep deprivation in adolescents and adults: changes in affect

The present study investigated the impact of sleep deprivation on several aspects of affective functioning in healthy participants selected from three different developmental periods: early adolescence (ages 10-13), midadolescence (ages 13-16), and adulthood (ages 30-60). Participants completed an affective functioning battery under conditions of sleep deprivation (a maximum of 6.5 hours total sleep time on the first night followed by a maximum of 2 hours total sleep time on the second night) and rest (approximately 7-8 hours total sleep time each night for two consecutive nights). Less positive affect was observed in the sleep-deprived, compared to rested, condition. This effect held for 9 of the 12 positive affect items on the PANAS-C. Participants also reported a greater increase in anxiety during a catastrophizing task and rated the likelihood of potential catastrophes as higher when sleep deprived, relative to when rested. Early adolescents appraised their main worry as more threatening when sleep deprived, relative to when rested. These results support and extend previous research underscoring the adverse affective consequences of sleep deprivation.     

Context processing in schizotypal personality disorder: evidence of specificity of impairment to the schizophrenia spectrum

Working memory abnormalities, which are particularly pronounced on context processing tasks, appear relatively specific to schizophrenia spectrum illnesses compared with other psychotic disorders. However, the specificity of context processing deficits to schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), a prototype of schizophrenia, has not been studied. The authors administered 3 versions of the modified AX Continuous Performance Test and an N-back working memory test to 63 individuals with SPD and 25 with other personality disorders, as well as 42 healthy controls. For the AX Continuous Performance Test standard and degraded versions, there was a significant Trial Type x Delay x Group interaction, as SPDs made significantly more errors reflecting poor maintenance of context and fewer errors reflecting good maintenance of context. SPDs also demonstrated poor performance on the N-back, especially at the 2-back condition. Context processing errors and N-back accuracy scores were related to disorganization symptoms. These findings, which are quite similar to those previously reported in patients with schizophrenia, suggest that context processing deficits are specific to the schizophrenia spectrum and are not a reflection of overall psychopathology.     

Transdiagnostic emotion regulation processes in bipolar disorder and insomnia

Research and treatment have traditionally adopted a 'disorder-focused' approach by targeting one specific disorder, aiming to understanding its cause, maintenance and treatment. The aim of the present study was to contribute to the burgeoning interest in examining common, or 'transdiagnostic,' processes across disorders. Three candidate transdiagnostic processes involved in emotion regulation - rumination, worry, and automatic negative thoughts - were examined in euthymic bipolar I disorder (n=21) and insomnia (n=19), and a non-clinical control group (n=20). Rumination and worry were endorsed to a larger degree by the bipolar and insomnia groups compared to the control group. However, while the bipolar group had more negative automatic thoughts than the control group, there were no significant differences in negative automatic thoughts between the bipolar and insomnia groups or the insomnia and control groups. These results suggested that rumination and worry, but not negative automatic thoughts, might be common across bipolar disorder and insomnia. However, these findings no longer remained significant when current symptoms of anxiety and depression were controlled for. Prospective and experimental studies are needed to test the extent to which these processes contribute to the etiology or maintenance of insomnia and bipolar disorder.     

Secondary control critiqued: is it secondary? is it control? Comment on Morling and Evered (2006)

In an insightful review on secondary control, B. Morling and S. Evered argued that the seminal article spawning the construct (F. Rothbaum, J. R. Weisz, & S. S. Snyder) contained the roots of two distinct conceptualizations focusing on "fit" and "control" and that distinguishing between them clarifies inconsistent research findings. They concluded that the best definition of secondary control focuses on fit. The author of the current commentary agrees with Morling and Evered's premises but draws the opposite conclusion. Herein, it is argued that (a) current control-focused definitions have more valid claims to the term secondary control, and (b) current incarnations that focus on "fit" are important, but they are not secondary and they are not control. Hence, fit-focused constructs should be liberated from the domain of control and studied in their own right, under their own more appropriate label, such as accommodative processes. Moreover, theoretical clarity and depth regarding the functions of fit-focused processes can be gained by examining these processes in relation to other underlying motives, such as belongingness or autonomy, to which they are more closely allied.     

Evaluating and Comparing Interventions Designed to Enhance Math Fact Accuracy and Fluency: Cover,Copy, and Compare Versus Taped Problems

An adapted alternating treatments design was used to evaluate and compare the effects of two procedures designed to enhance math fact accuracy and fluency in an elementary student with low cognitive functioning. Results showed that although the cover, copy, compare (CCC) and the taped problems (TP) procedures both increased the student's math fact accuracy and fluency, TP was more effective as it took less time to implement. Discussion focuses on the need to develop strategies and procedures that allow students to acquire basic computation skills in a manner that will facilitate, as opposed to hinder, subsequent levels of skill and concept development.     

Behavioral consistency in a changed social context in Carolina chickadees

Stable personality-like influences on behavior have been documented in nonhuman animals (S. D. Gosling, 2001), but little is known about such influences within explicitly social contexts. The authors tested whether individuals of a socially complex avian species, Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis), show consistent behavioral profiles when their social context changes. Consistency was tested using 7 groups of chickadees, each group comprising 2 female-male pairs. The 2 pairs from each group were isolated from one another until the male birds were switched between the pairs. The authors made several measures before and after the male switch, including measures of affiliative and agonistic behavior, self-maintenance behavior, and vocalizations. The authors observed strong behavioral consistency despite the major change in social context, suggesting that personality can influence this fundamental social relationship.     

An assessment of response, direction and place learning by rats in a water T-maze

Behavioral data suggest that distinguishable orientations may be necessary for place learning even when distal cues define different start points in the room and a unique goal location. We examined whether changes in orientation are also important in place learning and navigation in a water T-maze. In Experiment 1, rats were trained to locate a hidden platform and given a no-platform probe trial after 16 and 64 trials with the maze moved to a new position. Direction and response strategies were more prevalent than a place strategy. In Experiment 2, acquisition of place, response and direction strategies was assessed in a water T-maze that was moved between two locations during training. Rats were impaired on the place task when the maze was translated (moved to the L or R) but were successful when the maze was rotated across trials. These data are consistent with findings from appetitive tasks.     

Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancement in Schizophrenia

Cognitive impairments in schizophrenia are common and severe. These impairments are also related to functional disability in schizophrenia. As a result, efforts are underway to enhance cognition in schizophrenia through a variety of pharmacological mechanisms. As part of this effort, a designated research design has been developed for this process, through an extensive consensus and validation effort. This paper reviews the methods for pharmacological cognitive enhancement, as well as previous results of efforts in the pharmacological domains. These domains include cholinergic, noradrenergic, serotonergic, glutamatergic, and GABA-ergic mechanisms. While previous results have not been particularly encouraging, there are many challenges that need to be overcome and many of the reasons for past failures may be due to resolvable issues. It is likely that this will be an area of research that will be developing extensively over the next decade and expanding to other conditions as well.