Lateral asymmetry in phonological processing: relating behavioral measures to neuroimaged structures

Recent neuroimaging studies have revealed neuroanatomical centers of activation that appear to be linked specifically to phonological processes. Furthermore, there is evidence that these centers of activation are more likely to be bilaterally represented in women than in men. However, behavioral evidence of such hemispheric asymmetries or of related sex differences is somewhat inconsistent. Two experiments were carried out to determine whether behavioral correlates of the neuroimaging findings could be demonstrated. The first experiment employed a rhyme-matching task used in a recent neuroimaging study, in which two nonsense words were projected successively to the left or right sides of the visual field. The results indicated that the left hemisphere was superior for this task. An analysis of gender effects, however, revealed that the asymmetry was restricted to men. The second experiment employed a lateralized pseudohomophone detection task that was designed to determine whether the results of the first experiment could be confirmed in the context of a phonological task with a simpler structure. This experiment broadly supported the findings of the first experiment. The results support the specialization of the left hemisphere for phonological processing, and the existence of gender differences with respect to these processes.     

Assault victimization and suicidal ideation or behavior within a national sample of U.S. adults

Data from a nationally representative sample of 5,238 U.S. adults were used to examine the extent to which physical assault victimization was associated with suicidal ideation or behavior (SIB). The results from multivariable logistic regression analyses indicate that physical assault victimization was positively associated with SIB after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and alcohol use (OR = 3.6; 95% CI = 2.4-5.5). Those who were injured during the most recent physical assault (OR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.2-6.0) and those who were assaulted by a relative (OR = 3.4; 95% CI= 1.0-11.0) or intimate partner (OR = 7.7; 95% CI = 2.7-22.5) were significantly more like to report SIB than victims who were not injured or were assaulted by a stranger. Also, those who were victimized but not injured (OR = 5.6; 95% CI = 3.8-8.2) and those who were victimized by a stranger (OR = 2.9; 95% CI = 1.4-6.0) were more likely to report SIB than non-victims. These results highlight the need for legal, medical, mental health, and social service providers to address the co-occurrence of violent victimization and suicidal ideation, particularly, but not exclusively, victimization by family members and intimates.     

Pharmacogenetics: ethical issues and policy options

Pharmacogenetics offers the prospect of an era of safer and more effective drugs, as well as more individualized use of drug therapies. Before the benefits of pharmacogenetics can be realized, the ethical issues that arise in research and clinical application of pharmacogenetic technologies must be addressed. The ethical issues raised by pharmacogenetics can be addressed under six headings: (1) regulatory oversight, (2) confidentiality and privacy, (3) informed consent, (4) availability of drugs, (5) access, and (6) clinicians' changing responsibilities in the era of pharmacogenetic medicine. We analyze each of these categories of ethical issues and provide policy approaches for addressing them.     

Family Processes and Treatment Outcome in the MTA: Negative/Ineffective Parenting Practices in Relation to Multimodal Treatment

To elucidate processes underlying therapeutic change in a large-scale randomized clinical trial, we examined whether alterations in self-reported parenting practices were associated with the effects of behavioral, medication, or combination treatments on teacher-reported outcomes (disruptive behavior, social skills, internalizing symptoms) in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants were 579 children with Combined-type ADHD, aged 7–9.9 years, in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA). We uncovered 2 second-order factors of parenting practices, entitled Positive Involvement and Negative/Ineffective Discipline. Although Positive Involvement was not associated with amelioration of the school-based outcome measures, reductions in Negative/Ineffective Discipline mediated improvement in children's social skills at school. For families showing the greatest reductions in Negative/Ineffective Discipline, effects of combined medication plus behavioral treatment were pronounced in relation to regular community care. Furthermore, only in combination treatment (and not in behavioral treatment alone) was decreased Negative/Ineffective Discipline associated with reduction in children's disruptive behavior at school. Here, children in families receiving combination treatment who showed the greatest reductions in Negative/Ineffective Discipline had teacher-reported disruptive behavior that was essentially normalized. Overall, the success of combination treatment for important school-related outcomes appears related to reductions in negative and ineffective parenting practices at home; we discuss problems in interpreting the temporal sequencing of such process-outcome linkages and the means by which multimodal treatment may be mediated by psychosocial processes related to parenting.     

Parenting and Family Stress Treatment Outcomes in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): An Empirical Analysis in the MTA Study

Parenting and family stress treatment outcomes in the MTA study were examined. Male and female (579), 7–9-year-old children with combined type Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), were recruited at six sites around the United States and Canada, and randomly assigned to one of four groups: intensive, multi-faceted behavior therapy program alone (Beh); carefully titrated and monitored medication management strategy alone (MedMgt); a well-integrated combination of the two (Comb); or a community comparison group (CC). Treatment occurred over 14 months, and assessments were taken at baseline, 3, 9, and 14 months. Parenting behavior and family stress were assessed using parent-report and child-report inventories. Results showed that Beh alone, MedMgt alone, and Comb produced significantly greater decreases in a parent-rated measure of negative parenting, Negative/Ineffective Discipline, than did standard community treatment. The three MTA treatments did not differ significantly from each other on this domain. No differences were noted among the four groups on positive parenting or on family stress variables. Results are discussed in terms of the theoretical and empirically documented importance of negative parenting in the symptoms, comorbidities and long-term outcomes of ADHD.     

"Factor analyses of the family assessment device," by Ridenour, Daley, & Reich

Ridenour, Daley, and Reich conducted a series of factor analyses using the correlational matrix of the subscale scores of the Family Assessment Device (FAD), published in Family Process, December, 1999. They conclude that "the FAD subscales be reorganized from their current seven-subscale format" (p. 507). We propose that this suggestion for reorganization is premature and based on the inappropriate application of an "internal consistency" model of scale construction to the FAD. We further suggest that the most important criteria regarding an assessment instrument are those of reliability, validity, and clinical utility. In the absence of this kind of data regarding alternative organizations of the FAD, we believe that the original subscales remain the best choice.     

Attributional Style, Self-Esteem, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus: A Test of the Hopelessness and Self-Esteem Theories of Depression

Research on the hopelessness and self-esteem theories of depression (Abramson, Metalsky, & Alloy, 1989; Metalsky, Joiner, Hardin, & Abramson, 1993) suggests that HIV-infected persons with depressotypic attributional style (AS) and low self-esteem (SE) may be at risk for onset of a syndrome referred to as hopelessness depression (HD). In a prospective study conducted to test these theories, measures of anxiety and depression, AS, and SE were administered to 85 HIV+ and 43 HIV– men; symptoms were reassessed 6 months later. Results indicated that: (1) The interaction of AS, SE, and HIV status predicted change in HD symptoms, but not overall depression or anxiety symptoms; (2) HIV+ men with depressotypic AS and high SE had increased HD symptom levels while other men with high SE had decreased HD symptom levels; (3) HD symptoms remained stable over the 6-month interval among men with low SE; and (4) High SE predicted decreases in anxiety symptoms among HIV– men, but not among HIV+ men. Contrary to the study hypothesis, these findings suggest that among individuals with life-threatening illnesses such as HIV infection, those with depressotypic AS and high SE may be at highest risk for onset of HD.     

Simple arithmetic processing: the question of automaticity

In adult simple arithmetic performance, it is commonly held that retrieval of solutions occurs automatically from a network of stored facts in memory. However, such an account of performance necessarily predicts a uniform reaction time for solution retrieval and is therefore not consistent with the robust finding that reaction time increases with problem size and difficulty. Additionally, past research into arithmetic performance has relied on tasks that may have actually induced and measured attentional processing, thereby possibly confounding previous results and conclusions pertaining to automaticity. The present study therefore, attempted to more reliably assess the influence of automatic processing in arithmetic performance by utilizing a variant of the well-established semantic word-priming procedure with a target-naming task. The overall results revealed significant facilitation in naming times at SOAs of 240 and 1000 ms for congruent targets i.e., targets that represented the correct solutions to problems presented as primes (e.g., 6+8 and 14). Significant inhibition in comparison to a neutral condition (0+0 and 17) was also observed at 120 and 240 ms SOAs in naming incongruent targets (e.g., 6+8 and 17). Furthermore, response times were found to vary as a function of both arithmetic fluency and problem size. Differences in performance to addition and multiplication operations and implications for cognitive research and education are considered.     

Comparison of the efficacy of two name-learning techniques: expanding rehearsal and name-face imagery

Two name-learning techniques were compared: expanding rehearsal and name-face imagery. Participants studied name-face associations and were given a cued recall test in which they were presented with a face and were to recall the name. They were presented with either an expanding rehearsal schedule (expanding condition), a distinctive facial feature coupled with a word phonologically similar to the last name and an interactive image linking the name and facial feature (name-face imagery condition), or a no memory (control) strategy. The expanding rehearsal schedule led to superior name learning relative to the name-face imagery and control conditions after a 15-min (Experiment 1) or 48-hr (Experiment 2) retention interval. In Experiment 3, the retrieval practice explanation was tested but not supported; we argue that an encoding variability interpretation is consistent with the overall pattern of results. Applied implications are also discussed.     

Interfering neighbours: the impact of novel word learning on the identification of visually similar words

We assessed the impact of visual similarity on written word identification by having participants learn new words (e.g. BANARA) that were neighbours of familiar words that previously had no neighbours (e.g. BANANA). Repeated exposure to these new words made it more difficult to semantically categorize the familiar words. There was some evidence of interference following an initial training phase, and clear evidence of interference the following day (without any additional training); interference was larger still following more training on the second day. These findings lend support to models of reading that include lexical competition as a key process.