The Effect of Mindfulness-based Programs on Cognitive Function in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Neuropsychology Review - Mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) are increasingly utilized to improve mental health. Interest in the putative effects of MBPs on cognitive function is also growing. This...     

Experiential Activities in Family Therapy: Perceptions of Caregivers and Youth

Novel and creative therapeutic modalities have been developed in an effort to increase motivation in family therapy for adolescents and families. Many of these approaches incorporate experiential activities or “family play”, which provides a supplemental approach to traditional talk therapy. Incorporating experiential activities into family therapy sessions has been shown to increase engagement and enhance participation in therapy. Therefore, to understand how families view experiential activities within family therapy, we interviewed nineteen adolescents (age 12–17) and their parents/caregivers who were receiving family therapy augmented with experiential activities. We asked a series of open-ended questions to understand the families’ experiences concerning how they initially felt about participating in family therapy and their perceptions of the experiential activities. The activities involved experiential interactions and skill-building exercises that elicited active participation from all family members and encouraged further discussions. Topics of these activities focused on problem areas the family had identified, such as anger management, problem-solving, improving communication, substance use, expressing feelings, coping, etc. Results showed that most caregivers and youth found the experiential activities helpful in creating positive family interactions and developing communication skills. Caregivers and adolescents noted that the activities increased their desire to participate in family therapy sessions and they were more motivated to engage in the treatment process. Clinicians using the methods discussed in this intervention should be aware of the study’s limitations. Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed.     

ASSESSING PREFERENCE FOR SOCIAL INTERACTION IN CHILDREN DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM

In this study, preference for social interaction was investigated for three young children diagnosed with autism. The study consisted of conducting a multiple stimulus without replacement preference assessment to determine a hierarchy of preference for the interactions and conducting a reinforcer assessment. Results showed several types of social interaction functioned as reinforcers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does valence matter? Effects of negativity on children’s early understanding of the truth and lies

Early deceptive behavior often involves acts of wrongdoings on the part of children. As a result, it has often been assumed, although not tested directly, that children are better at identifying lies about wrongdoing than lies about other activities. We tested this assumption in two studies. In Study 1, 67 3- to 5-year-olds viewed vignettes in which a character truthfully or falsely claimed to have committed a good or bad act. Children were biased to label claims that the character had committed a good act as the truth and claims that the character had committed a bad act as lies. In Study 2, 51 4- to 6-year-olds viewed vignettes in which characters either admitted or denied committing a good or bad act. Children were better at identifying truth-tellers and liars when the acts were good. Results suggest that young children initially overgeneralize the concept of lie to include all negative acts and the concept of the truth to include all good acts and only gradually make a distinction between act valence and honesty. As a result, including wrongdoing in scenarios to test children's early understanding of the meaning of lying is likely to underestimate children's abilities.     

Extraversion and Behavioral Activation: Integrating the Components of Approach

This investigation evaluates the structure and correlates of lower order traits related to approach, specifically, facets of extraversion and behavioral activation system (BAS) sensitivity. A 3-factor structure of approach was derived in community and clinical samples: assertiveness, enthusiasm, and sensation seeking. All factors were positively associated with Openness/Intellect scores. Enthusiasm and assertiveness were both negatively associated with Neuroticism scores, but were distinguished by associations with Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Sensation seeking was negatively associated with Conscientiousness scores. The 3 factors demonstrated a unique profile of association with components of impulsivity. Enthusiasm and assertiveness were negatively related to psychopathological symptoms, whereas sensation seeking was largely independent of psychopathology. Results suggest that approach is associated with 3 subfactors, which differ in their pattern or magnitude of associations with other variables, thus underscoring the importance of distinguishing among them. Further, results support the construct validity of the Assertiveness and Enthusiasm aspect scales of the Big Five Aspect Scales to assess traits at this level of the personality hierarchy.     

Individuals with social phobia are biased to become aware of negative faces

To evaluate whether individuals with social phobia are biased to become aware of negative faces participants searched visual displays containing varying number of neutral face distractors for the location of positive and negative faces. Individuals with social phobia had shallower search slopes for locating negative compared to positive faces, suggesting that they are biased to become aware of negative faces more readily than they become aware of positive faces. A similar bias was found for individuals with panic disorder; but no such bias was found either for individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder or for control participants. The findings illustrate the importance of considering the characteristics of participants in the study of human attention.     

Active Reading Procedures for Moderating the Effects of Poor Highlighting

We investigated two active reading techniques intended to eliminate the negative effect on reading comprehension of preexisting, inappropriate highlighting. College students read passages in three highlighting conditions: no highlighting, appropriate highlighting, and inappropriate highlighting. In Experiment 1, 30 students read the passages while using a finger as if it were a highlighter. In Experiment 2, another 30 students used blue highlighters while reading the passages. The results showed that both using a finger as a highlighter and using a blue highlighter eliminated previously documented negative effects of preexisting, inappropriate highlighting. Further, metacomprehension was poor in the presence of inappropriate highlighting.