Neuropsychological Findings in Two Children Diagnosed with Hamartoses: Evidence of a NLD Phenotypic Profile

Hamartoses (HM) are defined as disorders involving nonneoplastic tissue overgrowth. Studies have examined the neuropsychological profiles of children with common HM, such as neurofibromatosis type 1. Limited information is known regarding neuropsychological profiles of rare HM such as Osteochondromatosis Syndrome (OS) and Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome (KTS). The current investigation is, to our knowledge, the first attempt to define the cognitive phenotypes in two boys with OS and KTS. Results revealed significantly greater impairments involving sensorimotor and visuospatial skills, while verbal memory and language skills appeared relatively preserved. Significant neurobehavioral problems and marked social difficulties were evident. These findings suggest that these syndromes are on a Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NLD) continuum, with varying degrees of severity.     

Attentional modulation of visual-evoked potentials by threat: investigating the effect of evolutionary relevance

In dot-probe tasks, threatening cues facilitate attention to targets and enhance the amplitude of the target P1 peak of the visual-evoked potential. While theories have suggested that evolutionarily relevant threats should obtain preferential neural processing, this has not been examined empirically. In this study we examined the effects of evolutionarily relevant (e.g. spiders and snakes) and irrelevant (e.g. knifes and syringes) threatening cues. Non-predictive threatening cues (in left or right visual field) were paired with non-threatening cues and were followed by neutral targets in the same or opposite location. The amplitude of the target P1 was increased in contralateral electrodes when the target followed in the same location as the threatening cues. This effect did not interact with evolutionary relevance. Both evolutionary relevant and evolutionary irrelevant threats led to increased P1 amplitude, although the effect was stronger for modern threats. We conclude that the threat-superiority effect is robust and largely independent of the type of threatening stimulus.     

Decision making under risk condition in patients with Parkinson's disease: a behavioural and fMRI study

We aimed to study whether previously described impairment in decision making under risky conditions in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) is affected by deficits in using information about potential incentives or by processing feedback (in terms of fictitious gains and losses following each decision). Additionally, we studied whether the neural correlates of using explicit information in decision making under risk differ between PD patients and healthy subjects. We investigated ten cognitively intact PD patients and twelve healthy subjects with the Game of Dice Task (GDT) to assess risky decision making, and with an fMRI paradigm to analyse the neural correlates of information integration in the deliberative decision phase. Behaviourally, PD patients showed selective impairment in the GDT but not on the fMRI task that did not include a feedback component. Healthy subjects exhibited lateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate and parietal activations when integrating decision-relevant information. Despite similar behavioural patterns on the fMRI task, patients exhibited reduced parietal activation. Behavioural results suggest that PD patients' deficits in risky decision making are dominated by impaired feedback utilization not compensable by intact cognitive functions. Our fMRI results suggest similarities but also differences in neural correlates when using explicit information for the decision process, potentially indicating different strategy application even if the interfering feedback component is excluded.     

Patient Perspectives on the Learning Health System: The Importance of Trust and Shared Decision Making

We conducted focus groups to assess patient attitudes toward research on medical practices in the context of usual care. We found that patients focus on the implications of this research for their relationship with and trust in their physicians. Patients view research on medical practices as separate from usual care, demanding dissemination of information and in most cases, individual consent. Patients expect information about this research to come through their physician, whom they rely on to identify and filter associated risks. In general, patients support this research, but worry that participation in research involving randomization may undermine individualized care that acknowledges their unique medical histories. These findings suggest the need for public education on variation in practice among physicians and the need for a collaborative approach to the governance of research on medical practices that addresses core values of trust, transparency, and partnership.     

Addiction in Maternity: Prevalence of Mental Illness,Substance Use,and Trauma

Women living in vulnerable neighborhoods experience higher rates of poverty, homelessness, psychiatric issues, illicit substance use, rates of HIV, and a lowered life expectancy. The aim of the study was to further explore the history of mental illness and trauma in a sample of women (N?=?31) who had recently given birth and had a substance use problem while pregnant. We investigated sociodemographic characteristics, history of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), rates of substance use and dependence, and psychiatric symptoms. Childhood and adult traumatic experiences were found in the majority of the sample, and one-third presented with suspected PTSD diagnosis at the time of the interview. Women-centered services are in great demand, as well as trauma informed care, and further research on appropriate treatment for substance using, traumatized, women with a mental illness.     

Trust in organismic development, autonomy support, and adaptation among mothers and their children

The current studies examined relations between mothers’ trust in organismic development, autonomy supportive parenting, and adaptation among mothers and their young children. Study 1 showed that trust in organismic development was distinct from optimism, neuroticism, and social desirability whereas it correlated with having relaxed expectations for developmental milestones and making fewer social comparisons about one’s child. Study 2 used observational methods to demonstrate a significant link between trust in organismic development and mothers behaving in an autonomy-supportive rather than controlling manner toward their 1-year-old child during puzzle solving activities. Study 3 used a 1 year prospective design to show that trust in first time mothers was associated with better maternal and child adaptation over time, controlling for initial levels of adaptation and child temperament. Study 4 explored possible social/political antecedents of trust in organismic development by comparing the beliefs of first time mothers from Canada and Norway. The four studies suggest that trust in organismic development fosters autonomy supportive parenting practices and positive maternal and child adaptation. These findings are discussed from the perspective of self-determination theory.

The effects of the contingence during the visual habituation task in 3 and 6 months old infants]

Thirty-six 3-month old infants and the same number of 6-month old infants underwent three visual habituation procedures differentiated by degree of behavioural contingency. Results showed significant differences between conditions only for the six-month olds: the lower the contingency, the higher the visual fixation scores. Results support some of the propositions that Gergely and Watson (1996, 1999) have put forth regarding the developmental model for detecting contingencies. The results also challenge the traditional model for visual habituation which suggests that varied durations of visual fixation should basically be determined by the visual characteristics of the stimulus.     

When political expertise moderates the impact of scandals on young adults' judgments of politicians

This short note investigated how expertise in a political scandal moderates whether the activation of this scandal produces assimilation in the evaluation of politicians in general and contrast in the evaluation of specific politicians. It was hypothesized that participants with a rich knowledge about the scandal would display the assimilation and contrast effects whereas those with a poorer knowledge would not. Results tended to support this prediction, suggesting that the impact on judgment of a specific context depends on the amount of knowledge participants possess about this context. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Listeners feel the beat: Entrainment to English and French speech rhythms

Can listeners entrain to speech rhythms? Monolingual speakers of English and French and balanced English–French bilinguals tapped along with the beat they perceived in sentences spoken in a stress-timed language, English, and a syllable-timed language, French. All groups of participants tapped more regularly to English than to French utterances. Tapping performance was also influenced by the participants’ native language: English-speaking participants and bilinguals tapped more regularly and at higher metrical levels than did French-speaking participants, suggesting that long-term linguistic experience with a stress-timed language can differentiate speakers’ entrainment to speech rhythm.