The roles of dispositional optimism and pessimism in hiv disease progression

Relationships between dispositional optimism and pessimism and the course of HIV infection, determined by changes in viral load and CD4 counts, were studied in a longitudinal cohort of 412 patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Multiple regression analyses controlling for baseline levels of disease status, ethnicity, and depressive symptoms demonstrated that higher pessimism at baseline was associated with higher viral load at follow-up (average of 18 months later). Optimism at baseline had a curvilinear relationship with CD4 counts at follow-up. Moderate levels of optimism at baseline predicted the highest CD4 counts at follow-up. Although optimism and pessimism were associated with specific health behaviors (e.g., ART adherence, cigarette use, drug use, dietary practices), none of these behaviors mediated the optimism/pessimism effects. The biologic and behavioral mediators of associations of personality variables with the course of treated HIV infection deserve continued investigation.     

Predictors of semantic categorical flexibility in older adults

This study investigated the processes involved in the aging of semantic categorical flexibility. A previous study revealed the effects of aging on the flexible use of taxonomic relations. We aimed to explain our previous results regarding the performance of older adults; we carried out investigations into the respective roles of executive and conceptual factors in semantic categorical flexibility. Fifty older adults carried out a semantic categorical flexibility task alongside conceptual and executive measures. The results replicate our previous findings and indicate that the predictors of the maintenance of the use of taxonomic relations are conceptual and the predictors of the switching from thematic to taxonomic relations are executive.     

Adaptation of Neuromuscular Synergies During Intentional Constraints of Space-Time Relationships in Human Gait

Tight frequency-to-amplitude relationships are observed in spontaneous human steady gait. They can be modified, if required; that flexibility forms a fundamental basis of the intentional adaptive capabilities of locomotion. In the present experiments, the processes underlying that flexibility were investigated at both the level of joint kinematics and the level of neuromuscular synergies. Subjects (N = 4) walked at the same speed either with a preferred or a nonpreferred frequency-to-amplitude relationship (i.e., constrained, short steps at a high frequency [COS condition] or constrained, long steps at a low frequency [COL condition]); their swing and stance phases were separately analyzed. In the COS condition, increases in EMG activity were specifically required during the swing phase. In the COL condition, several muscles required increases in EMG activity during the stance phase, but decreases of the hamstring muscles were needed during the swing phase. Whereas, in preferred walking, modification of the frequency affects the EMG patterns globally (the gain increasing with the frequency in both the stance and swing phases), the present results show that changing the frequency in a constrained manner either affects the swing phase specifically or affects both phases, but in the opposite direction. That finding indicates mat a separate control is needed in both the swing and the stance phases.     

Muscular Fatigue and the Learning and Performance of a Motor Control Task

Four groups of 12 female college students performed a pursuit-rotor task during learning under one of four conditions of exercising the muscles of the limb used in the task: (a) no muscular exercise, (b) low-fatiguing, (c) medium-fatiguing, and (d) high-fatiguing muscular exercise. All four groups were tested 48 hr later on the same pursuit-rotor task with no exercise interpolated between the ten 20-sec trials. Differences in the performances among the four groups were not statistically significant on either the first or the second day alone or when the data of the two days were combined. The data appear to support the hypothesis of an inverted-U or inverted-J model relating performance (and learning) to muscular fatigue in motor-control tasks.     

Six Constructs to Define Rorschach M: A Response

The experimental validity of six constructs, conceptualized to account for Rorschach M, was suggested by (a) step-wise regression analysis on scores from task definitions of each construct and M scores for 45 female subjects, and (b) task correlations with their M scores. Fantasy, time estimation, and intelligence were significantly related to M. Inadequacies of task definitions or initial conceptualization were suggested by the correlational data.     

Level of emotional awareness in the general French population: Effects of gender,age, and education level

The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) developed by Lane et al. ( 1990 1990) measures the ability of a subject to discriminate his or her own emotional state and that of others. The scale is based on a cognitive‐developmental model in which emotional awareness increases in a similar fashion to intellectual functions. Because studies performed using North American and German populations have demonstrated an effect of age, gender, and level of education on the ability to differentiate emotional states, our study attempts to evaluate whether these factors have the same effects in a general French population. 750 volunteers (506 female, 244 male), who were recruited from three regions of France (Lille, Montpellier, Paris), completed the LEAS. The sample was divided into five age groups and three education levels. The results of the LEAS scores for self and others and the total score showed a difference in the level of emotional awareness for different age groups, by gender and education level. A higher emotional level was observed for younger age groups, suggesting that emotional awareness depends on the cultural context and generational societal teachings. Additionally, the level of emotional awareness was higher in women than in men and lower in individuals with less education. This result might be explained by an educational bias linked to gender and higher education whereby expressive ability is reinforced. In addition, given the high degree of variability in previously observed scores in the French population, we propose a standard based on our French sample.     

The autonomy of social reality: On the contribution of the theory of systems to the theory of society 1

Many contemporary schools of thought contend that the autonomy of the human world is an impossible and dangerous goal to aim at. It is shown that this is the result of the unwarranted identification of autonomy with self‐mastery. Autonomy has to be conceived of in terms of complexity and self‐transcendence (a bootstrapping). Among the paradigms that are thus revisited: Structuralism, Deconstruction, Methodological Individualism.     

Fear,excitement, and financial risk-taking

Can fear trigger risk-taking? In this paper, we assess whether fear can be reinterpreted as a state of excitement as a result of contextual cues and promote, rather than discourage, risk-taking. In a laboratory experiment, the participants' emotional states were induced (fear vs. control), followed by a purportedly unrelated financial task. The task was framed as either a stock market investment or an exciting casino game. Our results showed that incidental fear (vs. control) induced risk-averse behaviour when the task was framed as a stock investment decision. However, fear encouraged risk-taking when the very same task was framed as an exciting casino game. The impact of fear on risk-taking was partially mediated by the excitement felt during the financial task.     

Student Thinking Processes While Constructing Graphic Representations of Textbook Content: What Insights Do Think-Alouds Provide?

This study examined the thinking processes students engage in while constructing graphic representations of textbook content. Twenty-eight students who either used graphic representations in a routine manner during social studies instruction or learned to construct graphic representations based on the rhetorical patterns used to organize textbook content produced think-aloud responses while constructing graphic representations. Responses indicated that both groups of students needed to restate text while writing, but knowledge of rhetorical patterns appeared to facilitate students' ability to discriminate between main ideas and details, understand relationships between ideas, and, generally, engage the text more deeply. Implications for instruction are discussed.     

Have Recommended Book Lists Changed to Reflect Current Expectations for Informational Text in K-3 Classrooms?

Despite both longstanding and recent calls for more informational text in K-3 classrooms, research indicates that narrative text remains in the majority for read alouds, classroom libraries, and instruction, thus limiting children's opportunity to experience the demands of expository text. Because national associations' recommended book lists are frequently proposed to identify books, we analyzed current lists to determine whether they include a higher percentage of expository books than 10 years ago. Our findings show a continuing prevalence of narratives suggesting the need to carefully evaluate books on such lists if the goal is to increase students' experience with expository text.