TREATING SELF-INJURY: WATER MIST SPRAY VERSUS FACIAL SCREENING OR FORCED ARM EXERCISE

In three experiments, the effect of water mist spray on self-injurious and collateral behaviors was compared with either facial screening or forced arm exercise. Water mist spray was as effective as facial screening in suppressing face-slapping in Experiment 1. However, it was not as effective as facial screening for self-injurious finger-licking in Experiment 2 or forced arm exercise for excessive ear-rubbing in Experiment 3. These results suggest that while water mist spray is effective, it may be less so than alternative procedures. In Experiments 2 and 3 there was a consistent decrease in the occurrence of untreated maladaptive behaviors. In addition, there was a moderate increase in appropriate social interaction in Experiment 2 and a substantial increase in Experiment 3.     

Effects of perceived weight discrimination on willingness to adopt unhealthy behaviours: influence of genomic information

Objective: Weight-based discrimination negatively influences health, potentially via increased willingness to engage in unhealthful behaviours. This study examines whether the provision of genomic obesity information in a clinical context can lead to less willingness to engage in unhealthy eating and alcohol consumption through a mediated process including reduced perceptions of blame and discrimination.

Design: A total of 201 overweight or obese women aged 20–50 interacted with a virtual physician in a simulated clinical primary care environment, which included physician-delivered information that emphasised either genomic or behavioural underpinnings of weight and weight loss.

Main Outcome Measures: Perceived blame and weight discrimination from the doctor, and willingness to eat unhealthy foods and consume alcohol.

Results: Controlling for BMI and race, participants who received genomic information perceived less blame from the doctor than participants who received behavioural information. In a serial multiple mediation model, reduced perceived blame was associated with less perceived discrimination, and in turn, lower willingness to eat unhealthy foods and drink alcohol.

Conclusion: Providing patients with genomic information about weight and weight loss may positively influence interpersonal dynamics between patients and providers by reducing perceived blame and perceived discrimination. These improved dynamics, in turn, positively influence health cognitions.     

Synonym and antonym pairs in the detection of dichotically and monaurally presented targets: Competing monaural stimulation can generate a substantial right ear advantage

Aligned pairs of spoken words were presented, and the subject timed in detecting the presence or absence of a prespecified target. The target, if present, was paired with either its synonym or its antonym or an unrelated word. If the target was absent, mutually synonymous, antonymous or unrelated word pairs occured. In experiment 1, presentation of the word pairs was dichotic, and in experiment 2 the same stimuli were now systematically presented to a single ear (competing monaural stimulation). In both cases a strategy of divided attention was imposed with respect to the words. A powerful REA was obtained in the second experiment, demonstrating that this phenomenon does not depend upon occlusion of the ipsilateral by the contralateral auditory pathways (Kimura 1961), but that competition within ears is sufficient. Secondly, the nature of the effect (facilitatory or interfering) from a co-present synonym or antonym of the target depends markedly upon how the ears are stimulated, in partial contrast to and extending the results of Lewis (1970).     

Personality correlates of career choice in the Kibbutz: A comparison between career and noncareer women

The study compared Kibbutz career women (who studied beyond high school and worked in their profession) to Kibbutz noncareer women (who did not study beyond high school and worked in various nonprofessional jobs such as the laundry, the kitchen, and child care) on several personality characteristics. All subjects were nonorthodox Jewish women who were born and raised in the Kibbutz. The two groups completed a variety of self-report inventories, including the Bem Sex-Role Orientation Inventory, need for achievement inventory, two self-esteem scales that measured both the global self-esteem and various dimensions of self-esteem (academic, social, physical appearance, physical abilities, and self-regard) and Cattell's Clinical Analysis Questionnaire (CAQ), which is a short version of Cattell's 16 Personality Factors Test. The results showed that Kibbutz career women differed significantly from noncareer women on several personality characteristics. These women attributed to themselves more instrumental characteristics, were found to be more independent and emotionally stable, and had a higher need for achievement and a higher academic and social self-esteem. In addition, the division of household work was more egalitarian in the case of career women. The results are discussed in view of the fact that all of the career women were actually holding traditionally feminine positions such as teachers and social workers.     

Training and Mentoring of Chemists: A Study of Gender Disparity

This study was conducted to compare women’s and men’s retrospective perceptions of the mentoring they received during their training and career development in chemistry. Participants were 455 graduates (135 women) who received doctoral degrees from 11 top US chemistry programs over a 5-year period (1988–1992). In 2003, graduates completed surveys of undergraduate, graduate, post-doctoral, and initial employment experiences. In line with Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent et al., Journal of Vocational Behavior 45:79–122, 1994), which posits that perceptions of barriers can affect career decisions, results suggest that women perceived that they received less mentoring than men at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels of training, likely related to gender differences in eventual career success. Possible interventions at the individual and institutional levels are discussed.     

Infusion of protein synthesis inhibitors in the entorhinal cortex blocks consolidation but not reconsolidation of object recognition memory

Memory consolidation and reconsolidation require the induction of protein synthesis in some areas of the brain. Here, we show that infusion of the protein synthesis inhibitors anisomycin, emetine and cycloheximide in the entorhinal cortex immediately but not 180 min or 360 min after training in an object recognition learning task hinders long-term memory retention without affecting short-term memory or behavioral performance. Inhibition of protein synthesis in the entorhinal cortex after memory reactivation involving either a combination of familiar and novel objects or two familiar objects does not affect retention. Our data suggest that protein synthesis in the entorhinal cortex is necessary early after training for consolidation of object recognition memory. However, inhibition of protein synthesis in this cortical region after memory retrieval does not seem to affect the stability of the recognition trace.     

Traversing the Ineffable: Commentary on Sharon Farber’s “Becoming a Telepathic Tuning Fork”

In this commentary I attempt to refine our definition of telepathy, questioning whether phenomena such as projective identification, dissociative processes, unconscious affective communication, and implicit relational knowing warrant equal classification. Should projective processes be distinguished from “telepathic” transmissions? I propose a continuum of mutual receptivity along which sensory and non-sensory-based forms of human empathic responsiveness might be positioned. This continuum will extend all the way to telepathic communications that defy material-based, Newtonian models of mind, since they occur between patient and therapist while situated in separate geographical locations.     

The Cognitive Status of Older Adults: Do Reduced Time Constraints Enhance Sequence Learning?

Abstract

Research has indicated that older adults perform movement sequences more slowly than young adults. The purpose of the present experiment was to compare movement sequence learning in young and older adults when the time to perform the sequence was extended, and how the elderly’s cognitive status (Montreal Cognitive Assessment [MoCA]) interacted with sequence learning. The task was to minimize the difference between a target sequence pattern and the sequence produced by elbow extension-flexion movements. On Day 1, participants (28 young adults; 28 older adults) practiced the sequence under two time windows: 1300?ms or 2000?ms. On Day 2, retention performance and the cognitive status were assessed. The results demonstrated that young adults performed superior compared to older adults. Additional time to perform the sequence did not improve retention performance for the older adults. The correlation between the error score and the MoCA score of r = –.38 (p < .05) in older adults indicated that a better cognitive status was associated with performance advantages in sequence learning.     

A comparison of depressed patients with and without borderline personality disorder: implications for interpreting studies of the validity of the bipolar spectrum

The nosological status of borderline personality disorder as it relates to the bipolar disorder spectrum has been controversial. Studies have supported, in part, the validity of the bipolar spectrum by demonstrating that these patients, compared to patients with nonbipolar depression, are characterized by earlier age of onset of depression, recurrent depressive episodes, comorbid anxiety and substance use disorders and increased suicidality. However, all of these factors have likewise been found to distinguish depressed patients with and without borderline personality disorder. A family history of bipolar disorder is one of the few disorder specific validators. In the present study from the Rhode Island Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services (MIDAS) project, we compared the demographic and clinical characteristics of depressed patients with and without borderline personality disorder. We hypothesized that many of the factors used to validate the bipolar spectrum will also distinguish depressed patients with and without borderline personality disorder except, however, a family history of bipolar disorder. Two thousand nine hundred psychiatric outpatients at Rhode Island Hospital were evaluated with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) and Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (SIDP-IV). Family history information regarding first-degree relatives was obtained from the patient using the Family History Research Diagnostic Criteria. One hundred and one patients with borderline personality disorder plus major depressive disorder were compared to 947 patients with major depressive disorder alone on the prevalence of bipolar disorder validators. Compared to depressed patients without borderline personality disorder, depressed patients with borderline personality disorder had a younger age of onset, more depressive episodes, a greater likelihood of experiencing atypical symptoms and had a higher prevalence of comorbid anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, and number of previous suicide attempts. The depressed patients with borderline personality disorder did not significantly differ from the patients without borderline personality disorder on morbid risk for bipolar disorder in first degree relatives. In addition, patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder had a significantly higher morbid risk of bipolar disorder in first degree relatives than the borderline personality disorder group. The findings indicate that many factors used to validate the bipolar spectrum are not disorder specific. These results raise questions about studies of the validity of the broad bipolar spectrum that do not assess borderline personality disorder. Our results do not support inclusion of borderline personality disorder as part of the bipolar spectrum.