A quasi-experimental analysis of the influence of neighborhood disadvantage on child and adolescent conduct problems

A quasi-experimental comparison of cousins differentially exposed to levels of neighborhood disadvantage (ND) was used with extensive measured covariates to test the hypothesis that neighborhood risk has independent effects on youth conduct problems (CPs). Multilevel analyses were based on mother-rated ND and both mother-reported CPs across 4-13 years (n = 7,077) and youth-reported CPs across 10-13 years (n = 4,524) from the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. ND was robustly related to CPs reported by both informants when controlling for both measured risk factors that are correlated with ND and unmeasured confounds. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that ND has influence on conduct problems.     

Development of the coordination between posture and manual control

Studies have suggested that proper postural control is essential for the development of reaching. However, little research has examined the development of the coordination between posture and manual control throughout childhood. We investigated the coordination between posture and manual control in children (7- and 10-year-olds) and adults during a precision fitting task as task constraints became more difficult. Participants fit a block through an opening as arm kinematics, trunk kinematics, and center of pressure data were collected. During the fitting task, the precision, postural, and visual constraints of the task were manipulated. Young children adopted a strategy where they first move their trunk toward the opening and then stabilize their trunk (freeze degrees of freedom) as the precision manual task is being performed. In contrast, adults and older children make compensatory trunk movements as the task is being performed. The 10-year-olds were similar to adults under the less constrained task conditions, but they resembled the 7-year-olds under the more challenging tasks. The ability to either suppress or allow postural fluctuations based on the constraints of a suprapostural task begins to develop at around 10 years of age. This ability, once developed, allows children to learn specific segmental movements required to complete a task within an environmental context.     

Spiritual Integration Predicts Self-Reported Mental and Physical Health

Data from 167 participants were used to establish the psychometric properties of the Reidhead spiritual integration scale, 31-item version (SI-31). Structural equation modeling was used to empirically evaluate influences on perceived health functioning, while accounting for possible confounds. The analyses showed that SI-31 predicted perceived mental and physical health while controlling for life satisfaction, religious variables, mood patterns, depression symptoms, and demographics. The importance of SI as a predictor of health-related outcomes is supported, as is the usefulness of the SI-31 in predicting these outcomes.     

Reducing stereotype threat in order to facilitate learning

Recent stereotype threat research has demonstrated that negative stereotypes about women's math ability can impair their mathematical learning. This experiment extends this research by examining whether presenting “gender fair” information can reduce learning decrements (on a focal and transfer task) and if the timing of this information matters. Women (N = 140) and men (N = 60) were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: control, stereotype threat only, stereotype threat removed before learning, and stereotype threat removed after learning. Compared with women in the control condition and women who had stereotype threat removed before learning, learning and transfer were poorer for women in the stereotype threat only condition and women who had stereotype threat removed after learning but before learning assessment. Men's learning and transfer were unaffected by condition. These findings suggest that a manipulation that can reduce performance deficits can also reduce learning decrements if it is presented before learning occurs. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A diffusion model analysis of task interference effects in prospective memory

Holding an intention often interferes with other ongoing activities, indicating that resource-demanding processes are involved in maintaining the intention and noticing the appropriate event to fulfill it. Little is known, however, about the nature of the processes underlying this task interference effect. The goal of the present research was to decompose the processes contributing to the task interference effect by applying the diffusion model (Ratcliff, Psychological Review 85:59–108, 1978) to an event-based prospective memory task. In the first experiment, we validated the interpretation of the response criterion parameter (a) of the diffusion model as reflecting strategies to cope with the anticipated demands of a prospective memory task in the context of the ongoing task. The second experiment served to investigate which underlying processes contribute to the task interference often found with prospective memory tasks. Diffusion model analyses revealed that the task interference effect was due to (1) less efficient processing in the more demanding than in the less demanding prospective memory task and (2) a more conservative response criterion. We suggest that the anticipated demands and the additional processing demands of the prospective memory task jointly contribute to the task interference effect.     

Right-hemispheric cortical contributions to language ability in healthy adults

In this study we investigated the correlation between individual linguistic ability based on performance levels and their engagement of typical and atypical language areas in the brain. Eighteen healthy subjects between 21 and 64 years participated in language ability tests, and subsequent functional MRI scans measuring brain activity in response to a sentence completion and a word fluency task. Performance in both reading and high-level language tests correlated positively with increased right-hemispheric activation in the inferior frontal gyrus (specifically Brodmann area 47), the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and the medial temporal gyrus (Brodmann area 21). In contrast, we found a negative correlation between performance and left-hemispheric DLPFC activation.Our findings indicate that the right lateral frontal and right temporal regions positively modulate aspects of language ability.     

The moderating role of empathy in the association between parental support and adolescent aggressive and delinquent behavior

The present two‐wave longitudinal study addressed the role of affective empathy and parental support in aggressive and delinquent behavior in a sample of 323 adolescents (158 boys, 165 girls). Self‐report questionnaires were used to assess affective empathy, perceived support from parents, delinquency, and aggression. Guided by theories on children's differential susceptibility to socialization, we expected adolescents with different levels of empathy to vary in their responsiveness to parental support. In agreement with our hypothesis, empathy moderated the relation of perceived parental support with aggressive and delinquent behavior. Controlling for the effect of gender and for the stability of aggression and delinquency, higher perceived parental support was predictive of lower levels of aggression at age 15, but only for adolescents high in empathy. Remarkably, adolescents low in empathy not only appeared to benefit less from parental support, but even showed more aggression and delinquency at age 15 when they perceived their parents to be more supportive at age 14. Aggr. Behav. 38:368‐377, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Updating the premotor theory: The allocation of attention is not always accompanied by saccade preparation

There is an ongoing controversy regarding the relationship between covert attention and saccadic eye movements. While there is quite some evidence that the preparation of a saccade is obligatory preceded by a shift of covert attention, the reverse is not clear: Is allocation of attention always accompanied by saccade preparation? Recently, a shifting and maintenance account was proposed suggesting that shifting and maintenance components of covert attention differ in their relation to the oculomotor system. Specifically, it was argued that a shift of covert attention is always accompanied by activation of the oculomotor program, while maintaining covert attention at a location can be accompanied either by activation or suppression of oculomotor program, depending on the probability of executing an eye movement to the attended location. In the present study we tested whether there is such an obligatory coupling between shifting of attention and saccade preparation and how quickly saccade preparation gets suppressed. The results showed that attention shifting was always accompanied by saccade preparation whenever covert attention had to be shifted during visual search, as well as in response to exogenous or endogenous cues. However, for the endogenous cues the saccade program to the attended location was suppressed very soon after the attention shift was completed. The current findings support the shifting and maintenance account and indicate that the premotor theory needs to be updated to include a shifting and maintenance component for the cases in which covert shifts of attention are made without the intention to execute a saccade. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Therapist effects and the dissemination of cognitive behavior therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome in community-based mental health care

ObjectiveThe purpose of the present study was to explore the role of the therapist in the dissemination of manualized cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) outside specialized treatment settings.MethodWe used the routinely collected outcome data of three community-based mental health care centers (MHCs) which implemented and sustained CBT for CFS during the course of the study. Ten therapists, who all received the same training in CBT for CFS, and 103 patients with CFS were included.ResultsRandom effects modeling revealed a significant difference in mean post-treatment fatigue between therapists. The effect of the therapist accounted for 21% of the total variance in post-treatment fatigue in our sample. This effect could be explained by the therapists’ attitude toward working with evidence-based treatment manuals as well as by the MHC where CBT for CFS was delivered.ConclusionThe context in which CBT for CFS is delivered may play an important role in the accomplishment of established therapy effects outside specialized treatment settings. Due to the small sample size of MHCs and the different implementation scenarios in which they were engaged, our findings should be interpreted as preliminary results which are in need for replication.