Effect of MAO A deficiency on different kinds of aggression and social investigation in mice

Monoamine oxidase A (MAO A) degrades serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline, factors critically involved in the regulation of aggression. Different kinds of aggression were investigated in Tg8, a transgenic mouse strain lacking a functional MAO A gene. MAO A-deficient mice differ from wild-type C3H/HeJ (C3H) in terms of showing higher territorial, predatory and isolation-induced aggression. Tg8 demonstrated shorter latencies to cricket killing and to the first attack after 6 weeks isolation than C3H mice. In the resident-intruder paradigm, MAO A-lacking mice were more aggressive than C3H when tested as intruders. In contrast to C3H, attack in Tg8 mice did not depend on different aggressiveness of intruders of BALB/c, A/Sn and C3H strains. Tg8 mice displayed no increase in aggression but demonstrated reduced social investigation towards anesthetized, as well as towards juvenile BALB/c males. Thus, MAO A deficiency in Tg8 mice is accompanied by increased expression of different kinds of aggression, as well as by disruption of normal pattern of social interaction.     

Picture priming in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease

The present study investigated age invariance for naming pictures and whether implicit memory is spared in Alzheimer's disease (AD). During the study phase, young adults, AD patients, and older controls were shown outlines of familiar pictures. After a distracter task, implicit memory was assessed incidentally. The results showed similar visual priming for the three groups, although young adults responded faster than the two older groups. Moreover, the number of errors was smaller for studied than for non-studied pictures. This pattern of results was repeated across the three groups, although AD patients produced more errors than young adults and older controls, and there were no differences between these latter groups. These results confirmed previous visual and haptic findings showing unimpaired perceptual priming in normal aging and AD patients when implicit memory is assessed using identification tasks. These results are interpreted from a cognitive neuroscience perspective.     

An evaluation of estimation data collection to trial‐by trial data collection during discrete trial teaching

There are many data collection procedures used during discrete trial teaching including first‐trial data collection, probe data, trial‐by‐trial data collection, and estimation data. Continuous, or trial‐by‐trial data collection, consists of the interventionist collecting data on learner behavior on each trial. Estimation data consists of the interventionist estimating learner performance after a teaching session using a rating scale. The purpose of the present study was to compare trial‐by‐trial data collection to estimation data collection during discrete trial teaching to teach children expressive labels. The data collection procedures were examined in terms of accuracy of data collection, efficiency of teaching (i.e., number of trials delivered per session), and rate of child acquisition of targets. Results of the adapted alternating treatment design replicated across three participants and multiple targets found estimation data collection to be as accurate as trial‐by‐trial data collection in determining mastery of targets. Estimation data collected by the interventionist was also found to be accurate when compared to the actual trial‐by‐trial data collected after the study concluded.     

The interplay between psychological need satisfaction and psychological need frustration within a work context: A variable and person-oriented approach

A plethora of empirical data support a positive (or “brighter”) pathway to optimal human functioning as specified within Basic Psychological Needs Theory (Ryan and Deci in Psychol Inq 11(4):319–33, 2000). Yet, far less is known about the negative (or “darker”) pathway, a process evoking of human dysfunction and ill-being (cf. Vansteenkiste and Ryan in J Psychother Integr 23(3):263, 2013). Further, debate surrounds the independence and interplay between psychological need satisfaction and psychological need frustration and how these dynamic constructs are experienced within individuals. In this work, variable and person-oriented analyses were employed to: (i) investigate the relationships between the basic psychological needs and symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety as well as with life satisfaction; and (ii) identify different psychological need profiles and their relationship with psychological function. Participants (N?=?2236; M Age?=?42.16 years; SD?=?7.8) were UK-based operational firefighters who completed an online survey. Results of regression analyses showed a moderating effect of psychological need satisfaction on the relationship between need frustration and negative psychological symptoms. Latent profile analyses revealed five distinct basic psychological need profiles that carry implications for human psychological functioning. Some support for an asymmetrical relationship between need satisfaction and need frustration emerged (Vansteenkiste and Ryan in J Psychother Integr 23(3):263, 2013), yet, examples of above average need satisfaction and frustration scores were also observed. Worker profiles where psychological need frustration prevailed over need satisfaction had the poorest psychological health.

     

Correction to: Is it still worth it? Applying expectancy-value theory to investigate the intraindividual motivational process of forming intentions to drop out from university

Motivation and Emotion - An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.     

The Experience of Religion and Spirituality Among College Students Who Use Illicit Substances

Nine collegiate illicit substance users participated in a phenomenological study of their perceptions of religion, spirituality, and substance use. We identified three themes from the interviews: (a) development of substance-using behaviors, (b) journey with religion and spirituality, and (c) intersectionality of substance use and religious and spiritual journeys. The participants voiced a complex bidirectional relationship among use behaviors, religion, and spirituality that could be facilitative, adverse, or divergent. We provide implications and suggestions for future research.     

Reliance on God’s Help as a Measure of Intrinsic Religiosity in Healthy Elderly and Patients with Chronic Diseases. Correlations with Health-Related Quality of Life?

Within the context of coping, we analyze whether Reliance on God’s Help, as a measure of intrinsic religiosity, is associated specifically with SF-12’s health-related quality of life. Data of 5,248 individuals (63.1 ± 10.6 years; 14% chronic diseases, 16% cancer, 8% had experienced acute diseases, and 62% healthy elderly as a control group) were enrolled. Although about half of the individuals had a strong belief that God will help and prayed to become healthy again, Reliance on God’s Help was not generally associated with better physical or mental health-related quality of life. Just in distinct subgroups we found some marginal associations. Regression analyses confirmed that physical or mental health were not among the predictors of Reliance on God’s Help. Nevertheless, intrinsic religiosity was utilized by several individuals, particularly by patients with higher age and cancer. It should be regarded as a resource to cope (meaning-focused coping) rather than an independent contributor to health-related quality of life.     

Changing Drug Users’ Risk Environments: Peer Health Advocates as Multi-level Community Change Agents

Peer delivered, social oriented HIV prevention intervention designs are increasingly popular for addressing broader contexts of health risk beyond a focus on individual factors. Such interventions have the potential to affect multiple social levels of risk and change, including at the individual, network, and community levels, and reflect social ecological principles of interaction across social levels over time. The iterative and feedback dynamic generated by this multi-level effect increases the likelihood for sustained health improvement initiated by those trained to deliver the peer intervention. The Risk Avoidance Partnership (RAP), conducted with heroin and cocaine/crack users in Hartford, Connecticut, exemplified this intervention design and illustrated the multi-level effect on drug users’ risk and harm reduction at the individual level, the social network level, and the larger community level. Implications of the RAP program for designing effective prevention programs and for analyzing long-term change to reduce HIV transmission among high-risk groups are discussed from this ecological and multi-level intervention perspective.