Integrating early parent-infant psychosocial support into neighborhood health clinics: An ecological intervention

A program of early psychosocial support for low-income parents and infants was established at an inner-city family health center. Such a program meets many of the criteria of successful early psychological intervention by (1) beginning during the prenatal period and extending through the first 3 years of life, (2) providing professional and peer support to the parent-infant system, (3) responding to the social as well as psychological needs of low-income parents, and (4) embedding preventive intervention into an accessible neighborhood setting.     

The challenge of measuring immigrant origin and immigration-related ethnicity in Europe

Different European nation-states use the most diverse statistical constructions of foreign origin or ethnic minority populations. Several countries traditionally even shun from producing such data. This makes international comparison a very difficult endeavour. Anyone wanting to perform comparative research on immigrants or (immigrant origin) ethnic minorities in Europe is unavoidably confronted with the most diverse types of national statistical data and has to opt for ad hoc solutions. Attempts at international comparison can thus be very tricky due to data characteristics. It is important that researchers are aware of these problems and do not simply accept data (especially in comparisons) at face value. In this article we embark on a comparative explorative study of the way in which immigrant background and immigration related ethnicity is taken stock of by national statistical institutes in a set of European nation-states.     

Computational models for the combination of advice and individual learning

Decision making often takes place in social environments where other actors influence individuals' decisions. The present article examines how advice affects individual learning. Five social learning models combining advice and individual learning-four based on reinforcement learning and one on Bayesian learning-and one individual learning model are tested against each other. In two experiments, some participants received good or bad advice prior to a repeated multioption choice task. Receivers of advice adhered to the advice, so that good advice improved performance. The social learning models described the observed learning processes better than the individual learning model. Of the models tested, the best social learning model assumes that outcomes from recommended options are more positively evaluated than outcomes from nonrecommended options. This model correctly predicted that receivers first adhere to advice, then explore other options, and finally return to the recommended option. The model also predicted accurately that good advice has a stronger impact on learning than bad advice. One-time advice can have a long-lasting influence on learning by changing the subjective evaluation of outcomes of recommended options.     

Arguing about tobacco and its effects on social representations

This study analysed the influence of social debate (group discussion) on previously held antagonistic social representations about tobacco. In the first phase of our study, we contacted 130 subjects in order to know what type of social representations they held. Two representations were found: a ‘psychopathological’ representation and a ‘critical’ one. After obtaining these results, and in a second phase, we randomly divided 100 subjects into 10 discussion groups, whilst another 30 subjects were assigned to the control condition (non-discussion group). The group discussion (social debate) led to a convergence of previously held representations. Debate emerged as a mechanism which could reduce the distance between groups who hold previously opposing representations.     

Infants of depressed mothers show less “depressed” behavior with their nursery teachers

This study investigated whether infants' “depressed” behavior (i.e., less positive affect and lower activity levels) noted during their interactions with their depressed mothers generalized to their interactions with their nondepressed nursery teachers. Field et al. (1988) reported that infants of depressed mothers also show “depressed behavior” when interacting with nondepressed female adults, suggesting that the infants develop a generalized “depressed mood style” of interaction. However, in that study the adults were also strangers to the infants, confounding the results. In the present study, eighteen 3-month-old infants interacted with their depressed mothers and also with their nondepressed familiar teachers in 3-minute episodes. The infants' behavior ratings improved when they interacted with their familiar teachers compared to their interactions with their mothers. The infants' low activity levels and negative affect were specific to their interactions with their depressed mothers. Thus, the data suggest that the infants respond differentially to depressed and nondepressed adults who are familiar.     

Searching for Evidence of Transfer between Drug Facilitators

Four autoshaping experiments with pigeons examined the transfer of facilitation between drug stimuli. In Experiment 1 the presence and absence of methadone or phencyclidine signaled which of two keylight CSs were followed by grain (US). A different keylight CS was reinforced in the absence of the drugs. The drugs facilitated responding to the CS with which they were trained but did not facilitate responding to the CS reinforced in the presence of the other drug. Thus, transfer of facilitation across drug stimuli was not obtained. In Experiment 2 one of the drug facilitators was replaced by a tone. No evidence of transfer of facilitative function was obtained between the tone and the remaining drug facilitator. In Experiment 3 transfer was again not found using a design similar to that used in Experiment 1 except that the drugs did not simultaneously signal nonreinforcement of a keylight CS. In Experiment 4 the procedures of Experiment 1 were employed except that drug facilitators were replaced by distinct visual stimuli surrounding the response key. Clear evidence of transfer between the visual facilitators was obtained. The lack of transfer of modulatory control by drug stimuli in Experiments 1-3, coupled with its occurrence in Experiment 4 and previous studies, suggests that stimulus control by drugs may differ in important ways from stimulus control by conventional stimuli.     

Delivering Parent-Teen Therapy for ADHD through Videoconferencing: a Preliminary Investigation

Adolescents with ADHD demonstrate notoriously poor treatment utilization. Barriers to access have been partially addressed through tailored therapy content and therapist delivery style; yet, additional challenges to engaging this population remain. To leverage modern technology in support of this aim, the current study investigates parent-teen therapy for ADHD delivered over a videoconferencing format. In this preliminary feasibility study, teens and parents (N = 20) received an empirically supported dyadic therapy that incorporates skills-based modules with motivational interviewing. The videoconferencing interface was deemed feasible with nearly all families completing treatment. Acceptable therapeutic alliance was reported and key mechanisms of change were engaged (i.e., adolescent motivation to meet goals, parent strategy implementation). Families reported high satisfaction, despite minor disturbances associated with delivering therapy via videoconferencing. Treatment integrity and fidelity were acceptable, though slightly reduced compared to clinic-based trials of the same protocol. Therapists perceived that videoconferencing enhanced treatment for 50% of families. Reductions in participant ADHD symptoms and organization, time management, and planning problems from baseline to post-treatment were noted by parents and teachers. However, open trial results of this study should be interpreted with caution due to their uncontrolled and preliminary nature.     

Children's understanding of posterior probability

Do young children have a basic intuition of posterior probability? Do they update their decisions and judgments in the light of new evidence? We hypothesized that they can do so extensionally, by considering and counting the various ways in which an event may or may not occur. The results reported in this paper showed that from the age of five, children's decisions under uncertainty (Study 1) and judgments about random outcomes (Study 2) are correctly affected by posterior information. From the same age, children correctly revise their decisions in situations in which they face a single, uncertain event, produced by an intentional agent (Study 3). The finding that young children have some understanding of posterior probability supports the theory of naive extensional reasoning, and contravenes some pessimistic views of probabilistic reasoning, in particular the evolutionary claim that the human mind cannot deal with single-case probability.     

Phoneme-based rehabilitation of anomia in aphasia

This study investigated the effects of phonologic treatment for anomia in aphasia. We proposed that if treatment were directed at the level of the phonologic processor, opportunities for naming via a phonological route, as opposed to a strictly whole word route, would be enhanced, thereby improving naming. The participants, ten people with anomia and aphasia due to left hemisphere stroke, received 96 h of phoneme based treatment in 12 weeks. To learn if treatment improved naming, a single-subject, repeated probe design with replication was employed. The primary outcome measure was confrontation naming. Secondary outcome measures included phonologic production, nonword repetition and discourse production. Results suggest a positive treatment effect (confrontation naming), improvements in phonologic production and nonword repetition, and generalization to discourse production. When tested 3 months after the completion of treatment the effects appeared to be maintained.