Does prism adaptation affect visual search in spatial neglect patients: A systematic review

Prism adaptation (PA) is a widely used intervention for (visuo‐)spatial neglect. PA‐induced improvements can be assessed by visual search tasks. It remains unclear which outcome measures are the most sensitive for the effects of PA in neglect. In this review, we aimed to evaluate PA effects on visual search measures. A systematic literature search was completed regarding PA intervention studies focusing on patients with neglect using visual search tasks. Information about study content and effectiveness was extracted. Out of 403 identified studies, 30 met the inclusion criteria. The quality of the studies was evaluated: Rankings were moderate‐to‐high for 7, and low for 23 studies. As feature search was only performed by five studies, low‐to‐moderate ranking, we were limited in drawing firm conclusions about the PA effect on feature search. All moderate‐to‐high‐ranking studies investigated cancellation by measuring only omissions or hits. These studies found an overall improvement after PA. Measuring perseverations and total task duration provides more specific information about visual search. The two (low ranking) studies that measured this found an improvement after PA on perseverations and duration (while accuracy improved for one study and remained the same for the other). This review suggests there is an overall effect of PA on visual search, although complex visual search tasks and specific visual search measures are lacking. Suggestions for search measures that give insight in subcomponents of visual search are provided for future studies, such as perseverations, search path intersections, search consistency and using a speed–accuracy trade‐off.     

Test-taking behaviors in a neurocognitive assessment: associations with school-age outcomes in a Finnish longitudinal follow-up

Test-taking behaviors (i.e., task focus, maintenance of attention, and cooperation) affect children's cognitive test performance, and, thus, it is critical to take test-taking behavior into account when drawing conclusions and making recommendations. Prior studies have evaluated test-taking behaviors at the end of the assessment; the present study focused on the fluctuation of cooperation and attention during a neuropsychological assessment. We examined the attention and cooperation of 5-year-old children in a test-taking situation; the associations between these aspects of their test-taking behavior and the children's concurrent neurocognitive test performance, IQ, and parent-rated behavior; and the associations with their IQ, behavioral outcomes, and academic achievement at 8 years of age. The data (for 76 boys and 63 girls) were drawn from the Jyv?skyl? Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia (Lyytinen et al., 2001, 2004). All the children were Caucasian and spoke Finnish as their native language. As a whole, the 5-year-old children showed high cooperation and attention, but a slight decrement in test-taking behavior toward the end of the session was rather common. Three subgroups of children with different levels of cooperation and attention were identified. Children in the subgroup with nonoptimal attention and cooperation showed decreasing neurocognitive test performance toward the end of the assessment session. They also showed more inattentive behavior 3 years later. The findings imply that the examiner's observations of waning attention and cooperation during the assessment session are highly relevant, as these provide stable and clinically meaningful information about the child's behavioral tendencies.     

Age-related differences in brain electrical activity during extended continuous face recognition in younger children, older children and adults

To examine the development of recognition memory in primary-school children, 36 healthy younger children (8-9 years old) and 36 healthy older children (11-12 years old) participated in an ERP study with an extended continuous face recognition task (Study 1). Each face of a series of 30 faces was shown randomly six times interspersed with distracter faces. The children were required to make old vs. new decisions. Older children responded faster than younger children, but younger children exhibited a steeper decrease in latencies across the five repetitions. Older children exhibited better accuracy for new faces, but there were no age differences in recognition accuracy for repeated faces. For the N2, N400 and late positive complex (LPC), we analyzed the old/new effects (repetition 1 vs. new presentation) and the extended repetition effects (repetitions 1 through 5). Compared to older children, younger children exhibited larger frontocentral N2 and N400 old/new effects. For extended face repetitions, negativity of the N2 and N400 decreased in a linear fashion in both age groups. For the LPC, an ERP component thought to reflect recollection, no significant old/new or extended repetition effects were found. Employing the same face recognition paradigm in 20 adults (Study 2), we found a significant N400 old/new effect at lateral frontal sites and a significant LPC repetition effect at parietal sites, with LPC amplitudes increasing linearly with the number of repetitions. This study clearly demonstrates differential developmental courses for the N400 and LPC pertaining to recognition memory for faces. It is concluded that face recognition in children is mediated by early and probably more automatic than conscious recognition processes. In adults, the LPC extended repetition effect indicates that adult face recognition memory is related to a conscious and graded recollection process rather than to an automatic recognition process.     

Attributional inference across cultures: similar automatic attributions and different controlled corrections

Five studies examined the automatic and controlled components of attributional inference in U.S. and East Asian (EA) samples. Studies 1 through 3 used variations of the "anxious woman" paradigm, manipulating the inferential goal (dispositional or situational) and the normative impact of situational constraint information (discounting or augmenting). In each study, U.S. and EA participants under cognitive load produced strong automatic attributions to the focus of their inferential goal (dispositional or situational). Compared with the U.S. cognitive load participants, U.S. no load participants corrected their attributions according to the normative rules of inference. In contrast, EA no load participants corrected in the direction of situational causality, even when the specific content of the situational information provided should have promoted stronger dispositional inferences. Studies 4 and 5 examined and ruled out alternative accounts. Results are discussed in terms of a situational causality heuristic present in EA individuals.     

Assessment of Rorschach dependency measures in female inpatients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder

The psychometric properties and predictive validity of the Dependency Index (DI; Hilsenroth & Bornstein, 2002) and the Rorschach Oral Dependency Scale (ROD; Masling, Rabie, & Blondheim, 1967) were examined to determine if these implicit measures of dependency predict observable attachment-seeking behavior in 66 female inpatients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Results indicate that both scales produce excellent reliability estimates. The DI and ROD yield adequate base rates, and the distributions of scores approximate normal distributions. The DI was predictive of nursing staff observation of positive attachment/treatment compliance (r = .28, p = .02) but not excessive isolation. By contrast, the ROD predicted positive attachment/treatment compliance (r = .38, p = .002) and excessive isolation (r = -.35, p = .004). Texture responses predicted excessive isolation (r = -.25, p = .05). Discriminant validity was supported when neither dependency measure predicted hostile interactions or self-destructive behaviors. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the ROD demonstrated incremental validity over the DI and select Comprehensive System (Exner, 1993) variables associated with dependency.     

Assessment of Trichotillomania: A Psychometric Evaluation of Hair-Pulling Scales

Currently there is no gold standard treatment outcome measure for trichotillomania (TTM), a disorder characterized by repetitive hair pulling resulting in noticeable hair loss. The goal of the current study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of TTM measures of differing assessment methods: self-report, clinician-rated summary scales, and clinician-rated global severity scales. Data collected from 28 patients with TTM indicated mixed psychometric properties for current scales. Internal consistency was strong for self-report but not clinician-rated summary scales. One clinician-rated summary scale total and subjective ratings of hair loss demonstrated good interrater agreement. Although convergent validity was good within measurement type, self-report did not correlate with clinician-rated global severity scales, perhaps because of absence of hair loss severity assessment on the self-report measure. A multimethod assessment including one of each type of measure reviewed in this paper, along with self-monitoring and measures of hair loss severity, is recommended for a comprehensive best practice approach to TTM assessment.     

Kicking coordination captures differences between full-term and premature infants with white matter disorder

This study explores the relation of white matter disorder (WMD) to intralimb coordination patterns in premature infants with very low birth weight (VLBW). We specifically measured the temporal-spatial characteristics of intralimb coordination patterns of the legs. Three groups of infants were compared at one month corrected age (CA): 10 premature infants born VLBW and WMD (PTWMD), 10 premature infants born VLBW without WMD (PT) and 10 full term infants (FT). Using kinematic variables, we discriminate among VLBW infants with WMD from the two comparison groups. Infants born with WMD maintain patterns of tight coupling among leg joints (all flexion or all extension) while PT and FT term infants have begun to decouple leg joints by this age (combinations of flexion with extension). The coupling pattern is captured through joint correlations, discrete relative phase, and phase plane portraits. The PTWMD infants also demonstrate aberrant patterns of coordination evident through both temporal and spatial characteristics of the kicks. This is the first evidence that movement disorder associated with brain lesions can be identified and quantified with kinematic variables as early as one month of age.     

Accuracy of memories from childhood and adolescence related to growth and size

The ability of middle-aged adults to recall their body size and events occurring up to 40 years earlier was assessed. Ninety-one subjects recalled their relative height, weight, and fatness during childhood, early adolescence and late adolescence. Accuracy of these memories was compared with the accuracy of current reports. The ability to accurately date benchmarks of their maturation such as menarche and year of maximal growth in height was also examined. Accuracy of reports did not decline uniformly over time. In general, reports of childhood physical characteristics were at least as accurate as reports of current characteristics; that is, they did not differ significantly from current reports. Males were less accurate in their reports of relative height and fatness during early adolescence and childhood. This project has been funded at least in part with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service under contract number 53-3K06-5-10. The contents of this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.     

Effects of self-control training for elementary students with emotional and behavioral disorders

Progressive delay training (PDT) has been used to promote self-controlled choices (i.e., selecting a larger, later reward over a smaller, immediate reward) for people with a variety of developmental characteristics. However, the efficacy of PDT has not been evaluated in children with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), who often have co-occurring symptoms of impulsivity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of PDT with a rule-following requirement on the impulsive choices of 6 elementary students with EBD using a modified changing criterion design. Results indicated that PDT alone did not improve self-control, but a modified version of PDT with a rationale and rule for selecting the delayed reward promoted self-control for 3 participants. The remaining 3 participants continued to make impulsive choices despite further modifications to the PDT protocol. We discuss implications of our results and directions for future research on treating impulsivity in children with EBD.     

No escape from Allais: reply to Buchak

In Risk and Rationality, Lara Buchak advertised REU theory as able to recover the modal preferences in the Allais paradox. But we pointed out that REU theory only applies in the “grand world” setting, where it actually struggles with the modal Allais preferences. Buchak offers two replies. Here we enumerate technical and philosophical problems they face.