Suicidal ideation,parenting style,and family climate among Hong Kong adolescents

The prevalence of suicidal ideation and its relations with perceived parenting treatment and family climate was examined in 120 Hong Kong students aged 15–19 years. Fifty‐two per cent of the participants reported suicide ideation. Suicide ideation was found to be significantly associated with perceived authoritarian parenting, low parental warmth, high maternal over‐control, negative child‐rearing practices, and a negative family climate. A positive family climate may act as a buffer against developing suicide ideation in adolescents.     

Discrimination of vowel sounds of very short duration

An experiment was conducted to investigate the discrimination of six vowel sounds of 10 msec duration. Vowels of equal pitch and intensity level were generated by computer. Both phonetically trained (PT) and untrained (UPT) Ss were used. Rapid learning took place, and the PT Ss showed much better discrimination than the UPT Ss. Confusion matrices of the last four learning blocks indicated that /i/ and /u/ sounded very much alike when they were short. The pattern of the test scores was discussed with reference to pure tone perception.     

Constant errors occur in matched reproduction of angles even when likely biases are eliminated

The literature on the reproduction of visually perceived angles often seems to contain an explicit or implicit assumption that systematic errors are caused by misperception of the sizes of the angles. We argue that in the absence of procedural artifacts no consistent error should arise from purely perceptual causes. Accordingly, an experimental procedure was designed to eliminate or evaluate a number of artifacts that probably affected earlier experiments. A computer-controlled display generated both a standard angle and a variable one that could be adjusted by a subject to match the standard. The data analysis followed Cox’s (1970) procedure for the analysis of binary data to focus on the numbers of positive and negative errors rather than on their magnitudes and so eliminate the numerically distorting effects of asymmetrical error distributions. Nevertheless, the results showed what has usually been reported before: acute angles were matched with too large a comparison angle, and obtuse ones with too small an angle. Thus, there is a real effect to be explained, although the explanation must invoke response processes.     

Curvature is a basic feature for visual search tasks.

A curved target can be found efficiently among straight distractors in a visual search task. This could reflect the status of curvature as a basic feature for visual search. Alternatively, curvature could be detected as a locus of high variation in orientation. In a series of experiments it is shown that efficient search for curvature is possible even if local variation in orientation is eliminated as a cue. This suggests that curvature is part of the set of basic features for visual search and that this set is derived relatively late in the course of visual processing.     

An Examination of the Connections Between Eating Disorder Symptoms,Perceived Burdensomeness,Thwarted Belongingness,and Suicide Risk Among Undergraduate Students

Suicide attempts and premature mortality due to suicide are elevated in people with eating disorders. Informed by the interpersonal theory of suicide, two studies examined the role of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness in explaining the association between eating disorder symptoms and suicide risk. Results indicated that various eating disorder symptoms had an indirect effect on suicide risk through perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Targeting perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness may be useful for decreasing suicide risk among undergraduates with eating disorder symptoms.     

Pre-existing Perceptions of ADHD Predict Children’s Sociometrics Given to Classmates with ADHD

Considerable research documents that even young children possess stigma about mental illness, which may affect how they evaluate peers with mental health conditions. This study examined children’s pre-existing perceptions of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) behaviors as predictors of their subsequent sociometric judgments of classmates with ADHD in a 2-week summer day camp. Participants were previously unacquainted children ages 6.8–9.8 years (113 typically-developing and 24 with ADHD; 48.2% boys; 81% White). Children initially more inclined to interact with a hypothetical classmate with ADHD gave fewer “dislike” nominations to real-life classmates with ADHD at camp. Children who initially believed that ADHD symptoms were uncontrollable gave more “dislike” nominations and lower liking ratings to classmates with ADHD when those classmates displayed severe ADHD symptoms. For children who had ADHD, their attribution of uncontrollability for ADHD symptoms predicted fewer “like” nominations and more “dislike” nominations given to classmates with ADHD. Lastly, children who initially reported they would help a hypothetical classmate with ADHD gave higher liking ratings to classmates with ADHD. These results were found after statistical control of the actual level of ADHD behaviors displayed by the classmates with ADHD. In summary, other children’s pre-existing or stigmatizing perceptions of ADHD behaviors may contribute, in part, to the substantial peer rejection typically experienced by ADHD populations. Findings have implications for understanding peer problems in children with this common mental health condition.     

Pigeons play the percentages: computation of probability in a bird

The ability to compute probability, previously shown in nonverbal infants, apes, and monkeys, was examined in three experiments with pigeons. After responding to individually presented keys in an operant chamber that delivered reinforcement with varying probabilities, pigeons chose between these keys on probe trials. Pigeons strongly preferred a 75% reinforced key over a 25% reinforced key, even when the total number of reinforcers obtained on each key was equated. When both keys delivered 50% reinforcement, pigeons showed indifference between them, even though three times more reinforcers were obtained on one key than on the other. It is suggested that computation of probability may be common to many classes of animals and may be driven by the need to forage successfully for nutritional food items, mates, and areas with a low density of predators.     

Selective inactivation of adenosine A(2A) receptors in striatal neurons enhances working memory and reversal learning

The adenosine A(2A) receptor (A(2A)R) is highly enriched in the striatum where it is uniquely positioned to integrate dopaminergic, glutamatergic, and other signals to modulate cognition. Although previous studies support the hypothesis that A(2A)R inactivation can be pro-cognitive, analyses of A(2A)R's effects on cognitive functions have been restricted to a small subset of cognitive domains. Furthermore, the relative contribution of A(2A)Rs in distinct brain regions remains largely unknown. Here, we studied the regulation of multiple memory processes by brain region-specific populations of A(2A)Rs. Specifically, we evaluated the cognitive impacts of conditional A(2A)R deletion restricted to either the entire forebrain (i.e., cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and striatum, fb-A(2A)R KO) or to striatum alone (st-A(2A)R KO) in recognition memory, working memory, reference memory, and reversal learning. This comprehensive, comparative analysis showed for the first time that depletion of A(2A)R-dependent signaling in either the entire forebrain or striatum alone is associated with two specific phenotypes indicative of cognitive flexibility-enhanced working memory and enhanced reversal learning. These selective pro-cognitive phenotypes seemed largely attributed to inactivation of striatal A(2A)Rs as they were captured by A(2A)R deletion restricted to striatal neurons. Neither spatial reference memory acquisition nor spatial recognition memory were grossly affected, and no evidence for compensatory changes in striatal or cortical D(1), D(2), or A(1) receptor expression was found. This study provides the first direct demonstration that targeting striatal A(2A)Rs may be an effective, novel strategy to facilitate cognitive flexibility under normal and pathologic conditions.