Auditory instructional cues benefit unimanual and bimanual drawing in Parkinson's disease patients

The present study investigated performance of unimanual and bimanual anti-phase and in-phase upper limb line drawing using three different types of cues. Fifteen Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, 15 elderly, and 15 young adults drew lines away from and towards their body on a tabletop every 1000 ms for 30 s under three different cueing conditions: (1) verbal (‘up’, ‘down’); (2) auditory (high tone, low tone); (3) visual (target line switched from top to bottom). PD patients had larger and more variable amplitudes which may be related to the finding that they also produced more curvilinear movements than young and elderly adults. Consistent with previous research, when compared to the elderly and young adult group PD patients produced a mean relative phase which deviated more from the instructed coordination modes and they showed larger variability of relative phase in bimanual coordination, especially in anti-phase conditions. For all groups, auditory and verbal cues resulted in lower coefficient of variance of cycle time, lower variability of amplitude and lower variability of relative phase than visual cues. The benefit of auditory cues may be related to the timing nature of the task or factors related to the auditory cues (e.g., reduced attentional demands, more kinesthetic focus).     

Chronic exposure to violent video games is not associated with alterations of emotional memory

Although acute effects of violent video game (VVG) exposure on affect and behaviour have been studied extensively, less is known about VVG effects on cognition. The present study examined whether chronic exposure to VVGs was associated with alterations in emotional long‐term memory. Participants completed an old‐new recognition task with 300 pictures of scenes ranging in emotion (negative, neutral and positive). We analysed accuracy and reaction time data using diffusion modelling to test a desensitization hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, VVG players would show reduced memory or a less liberal response bias for negative stimuli, compared with nonplayers. Contrary to the desensitization hypothesis, VVG exposure was not associated with differences in memory or response bias. This result suggests that, unlike other cognitive domains, long‐term memory may be robust to deleterious influences of chronic VVG exposure. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measuring motor speed through typing: a surrogate for the finger tapping test

Motor speed is an important indicator and predictor of both cognitive and physical function. One common assessment of motor speed is the finger-tapping test (FTT), which is typically administered as part of a neurological or neuropsychological assessment. However, the FTT suffers from several limitations, including infrequent in-person administration, the need for a trained assessor and dedicated equipment, and potential short-term sensory–motor fatigue. In this article, we propose an alternative method of measuring motor speed, with face validity to the FTT, that addresses these limitations by measuring the interkeystroke intervals (IKI) of familiar and repeated login data collected in the home during a subject’s regular computer use. We show significant correlations between the mean tapping speeds from the FTT and the median IKIs of the nondominant (r = .77) and dominant (r = .70) hands, respectively, in an elderly cohort of subjects living independently. Finally, we discuss how the proposed method for measuring motor speed fits well into the framework of unobtrusive and continuous in-home assessment.     

Functional analysis and treatment of bizarre vocalizations exhibited by an adult with schizophrenia: a replication and extension

A functional analysis suggested that the bizarre vocalizations exhibited by a woman with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were maintained by attention. A treatment consisting of awareness training, competing response training, differential reinforcement of the competing response, and attention extinction was effective in reducing bizarre vocalizations. The use of self‐management based treatment components with this population and target behavior is discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of task difficulty on sibling teaching in middle childhood

Teaching styles were investigated in 28 middle‐class sibling dyads (older sibling M age = 8.2 yrs; younger sibling M age =5.11 yrs) using two sets of block design tasks (five easy; five hard). Older siblings employed a greater number of strategies (i.e. physical demonstrations, scaffolding, corrective feedback) in the hard than in the easy tasks, thus demonstrating the ability to adjust teaching strategies according to task difficulty. Teachers also employed more frequent strategies when learners were younger indicating that they may be sensitive to developmental differences. In the hard tasks, learners responded positively to teacher guidance, but were also more likely to reject the teacher's help, perhaps demonstrating responsibility for their own learning. Findings are discussed in light of current social‐cognitive approaches highlighting the important roles of both teacher and learner during episodes of sibling teaching in middle childhood. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Critical Ethical Issues in Online Counseling: Assessing Current Practices With an Ethical Intent Checklist

The authors used a 16‐item Ethical Intent Checklist, developed from the American Counseling Association's (1999) Ethical Standards for Internet Online Counseling, to assess the current practices of 88 online counseling Web sites. Results showed fewer than half of online counselors were following the accepted practice on 8 of the 16 items. Online counselors who identified themselves as licensed or as association members had significantly higher mean checklist scores.     

What we want to do versus what we think we should do: an empirical investigation of intrapersonal conflict

People often feel torn between what they want to do and what they believe they should do. As a result, they experience intrapersonal conflict. For example, people know that they should avoid credit card debt, but they want to splurge on just one more purchase. Following Loewenstein's ( 1996 ) temporal perspective to understanding internal conflict and inconsistency, we offer three studies that empirically demonstrate (1) a distinction between the want self and the should self, (2) that behavior is more closely linked to the want self, (3) that the want self is the self that is temporally inconsistent, and (4) that adopting a want versus should perspective can have a significant impact on actual behavior. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Prevalence and Co-Occurrence of the Forms of Violence Against Women

ABSTRACT

To examine the relative risk of the multiple forms of violence against women as well as the incidence and co-occurrence rates of self-reported childhood sexual assault (CSA), childhood physical assault (CPA), intimate partner violence (IPV), and witnessing family violence. The sample included 1,069 female undergraduates who completed measures of childhood trauma exposure (CPA, CSA, and exposure to family violence) and IPV victimization. Fifty-four percent of women in the sample experienced one or more forms of violence. Nearly 30% of participants reported IPV, 23% reported witnessing violence as a child, 13% reported experiencing CPA, and 11% reported experiencing CSA. Regarding co-occurrence, 31% experienced only one form of violence, 16% reported two forms, 6% reported three forms, and just over 1% of the sample reported experiencing all four forms of violence. For all forms of violence, the relative risk of experiencing another form of violence was significant at p < .0001, with witnessing violence and CPA being associated with the highest risks. This study highlights the importance of more carefully describing the violence experiences of participants used in violence research and accounting for poly-victimization in explanatory models of these forms of aggression and abuse.