The Dopamine Receptor D4 Gene (<Emphasis Type="Italic">DRD4</Emphasis>) Moderates Family Environmental Effects on ADHD

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prime candidate for exploration of gene-by-environment interaction (i.e., G x E), particularly in relation to dopamine system genes, due to strong evidence that dopamine systems are dysregulated in the disorder. Using a G x E design, we examined whether the DRD4 promoter 120-bp tandem repeat polymorphism, previously associated with ADHD, moderated the effects of inconsistent parenting and marital conflict on ADHD or Oppositional-Defiant Disorder (ODD). Participants were 548 children with ADHD and non-ADHD comparison children and their parents. Homozygosity for the DRD4 promoter 120-bp tandem repeat insertion allele increased vulnerability for ADHD and ODD only in the presence of inconsistent parenting and appeared to increase susceptibility to the influence of increased child self-blame for marital conflict on ADHD inattention. DRD4 genotypes may interact with these proximal family environmental risk factors by increasing the individual’s responsivity to environmental contingencies.     

Television Use,Sexual Behavior,and Relationship Status at Last Oral Sex and Vaginal Intercourse

The current longitudinal study explores the relationship between adolescent television use at time 1 and sexual experience and relationship status (i.e., committed/romantic versus casual) 1 year later. The sample (N = 824) comprised youth aged 14–18. Multinomial logistic regressions predicting group membership from television exposure variables were conducted controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and prior sexual behavior. Results indicate that sexually inexperienced youth watched more television overall than sexually experienced youth, but less adult, premium and music television on cable networks. Premium cable exposure predicted group membership among sexually active youth. Youth who watched more premium cable at time 1 were more likely to be in casual relationship at last intercourse than a committed one. A more complete understanding of media effects on adolescent sexual relationships can help guide policy development, media education/literacy efforts, and contribute to the design of interventions to reduce the negative consequences associated with adolescent sexual behavior.     

The influence of levels of processing on recall from working memory and delayed recall tasks

Recent research in working memory has highlighted the similarities involved in retrieval from complex span tasks and episodic memory tasks, suggesting that these tasks are influenced by similar memory processes. In the present article, the authors manipulated the level of processing engaged when studying to-be-remembered words during a reading span task (Experiment 1) and an operation span task (Experiment 2) in order to assess the role of retrieval from secondary memory during complex span tasks. Immediate recall from both span tasks was greater for items studied under deep processing instructions compared with items studied under shallow processing instructions regardless of trial length. Recall was better for deep than for shallow levels of processing on delayed recall tests as well. These data are consistent with the primary-secondary memory framework, which suggests that to-be-remembered items are displaced from primary memory (i.e., the focus of attention) during the processing phases of complex span tasks and therefore must be retrieved from secondary memory.     

Subjective memory loss in age-associated memory impairment: Family history and neuropsychological correlates

Abstract

Empiricist and rationalist approaches to data-quality control in meta-analyses are discussed, and a compromise approach advocated by Strube and Hartmann (1983) for theoretically driven meta-analyses is applied to Laver and Burke's (1993) data sets. When older adults' response times (RTs) and semantic priming effects (SPEs) are regressed on young adults' RTs and SPEs, the slopes of the regression lines are approximately 1.5 as long as the age difference is held constant and performance is reasonably accurate. Both increases and decreases in RTs following unrelated and related primes, relative to RTs following baseline primes, were analyzed. The results, like those regarding RTs and SPEs, support the hypothesis that, compared with young adults who are 50 years younger, older adults take approximately 50% longer to process lexical information     

The Use of Priority Information in Performance Feedback

To provide the most value to an organization, individuals must focus efforts on those outputs that have maximum value to the organization. However, the realities of the workplace are that information about performance and how individuals can add value to an organization is complex; that is, determining which activities to focus on is a fairly complex task because such information is nonlinear, whereby the importance of a certain activity may change depending on the level of performance at any given time. This article empirically examines whether providing complex, nonlinear feedback that reflects the complexities of the real world will result in a change in work outputs that reflect these nonlinearities. This article assesses whether employees can and do use complex feedback that reflects the complexity of the real world in the intended ways. In addition, this article examines whether individuals use feedback that includes priority information beyond feedback that reports on simple relative importance. Data were analyzed from 9 work units for time periods averaging a little over a year. Results indicate that, as predicted, when individuals have access to both complex, nonlinear priority information and simple, linear relative importance information, individuals can and do use the complex data in the intended way.     

Demand Transitions and Sustained Attention

A recent report by the National Research Council (Huey & Wickens, 1993) has identified transitions in task demand as an important dimension for study in vigilance research. This experiment tested the possibility that the effects of such transitions follow a relatively simple psychophysical rule—they are characterized by contrast effects. Transitions in task demand were achieved by shifting subjects from single-task to dual-task monitoring and vice versa. These transitions produced changes in subjects' sensing and decision-making functions that were far more intricate than simple contrast effects. The demand transition issue offers a complex research challenge on both basic and applied levels and warrants further investigation.     

Neuropsychological executive functioning in children at elevated risk for alcoholism: findings in early adolescence

One component of individual risk for alcoholism may involve cognitive vulnerabilities prodromal to alcoholism onset. This prospective study of 198 boys followed between 3 and 14 years of age evaluated neurocognitive functioning across three groups who varied in familial risk for future alcoholism. Measures of intelligence, reward-response, and a battery of neuropsychological executive and cognitive inhibitory measures were used. Executive functioning weaknesses were greater in families with alcoholism but no antisocial comorbidity. IQ and reward-response weaknesses were associated with familial antisocial alcoholism. Executive function effects were clearest for response inhibition, response speed, and symbol-digit modalities. Results suggest that executive deficits are not part of the highest risk, antisocial pathway to alcoholism but that some executive function weaknesses may contribute to a secondary risk pathway.     

Measurement of newcomer socialization: Construct validation of a multidimensional scale

A construct validation approach was taken to develop a primary measure of newcomer socialization that addresses shortcomings with a prior scale (Chao, Kelly, Wolf, Klein, & Gardner, 1994). Three separate groups of subject matter experts reviewed items to ensure the content validity of the Newcomer Socialization Questionnaire (NSQ). Studies 1 and 2 examined the NSQ’s psychometric properties using employed students and organizational newcomers as participants, respectively. Results illustrate scale reliability, factor structure, convergent and discriminant validity, and correlations with criterion variables. The NSQ measures three dimensions or domains of newcomer socialization: the organization, the group and the job/task. In addition, both factual knowledge and knowledge of expected role behaviors are assessed within each domain. Thus, the NSQ provides a useful measurement tool for researchers and practitioners interested in examining direct outcomes of being socialized.     

Neurobiological dimensional models of personality: a review of the models of Cloninger, Depue, and Siever

Neurobiological dimensional models of personality aim to account for the structure of personality traits and disorders through links to neurotransmitter systems. Three such models are reviewed: those of Cloninger, Depue, and Siever. While these proposals have heuristic value, none of them has obtained strong empirical support. Our current understanding of neurobiology is insufficient to develop a model of personality on this basis. At this point, dimensions of personality should be derived from factor analysis rather than from neurobiological theories.