The Separation of ADHD Inattention and Hyperactivity-Impulsivity Symptoms: Pathways from Genetic Effects to Cognitive Impairments and Symptoms

Both shared and unique genetic risk factors underlie the two symptom domains of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. The developmental course and relationship to co-occurring disorders differs across the two symptom domains, highlighting the importance of their partially distinct etiologies. Familial cognitive impairment factors have been identified in ADHD, but whether they show specificity in relation to the two ADHD symptom domains remains poorly understood. We aimed to investigate whether different cognitive impairments are genetically linked to the ADHD symptom domains of inattention versus hyperactivity-impulsivity. We conducted multivariate genetic model fitting analyses on ADHD symptom scores and cognitive data, from go/no-go and fast tasks, collected on a population twin sample of 1,312 children aged 7–10. Reaction time variability (RTV) showed substantial genetic overlap with inattention, as observed in an additive genetic correlation of 0.64, compared to an additive genetic correlation of 0.31 with hyperactivity-impulsivity. Commission errors (CE) showed low additive genetic correlations with both hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention (genetic correlations of 0.17 and 0.11, respectively). The additive genetic correlation between RTV and CE was also low and non-significant at ?0.10, consistent with the etiological separation between the two indices of cognitive impairments. Overall, two key cognitive impairments phenotypically associated with ADHD symptoms, captured by RTV and CE, showed different genetic relationships to the two ADHD symptom domains. The findings extend a previous model of two familial cognitive impairment factors in combined subtype ADHD by separating pathways underlying inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms.     

Cheating,Reactions, and Performance in Remotely Proctored Testing: An Exploratory Experimental Study

Purpose

We sought to provide empirical insight and develop theory for a new organizational phenomenon: remote proctoring for Internet-based tests. We examined whether this technology is effective at decreasing cheating and whether it has unintended effects on test-taker reactions, performance, or selection procedures.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants (582) were randomly assigned to a webcam proctored or honor code condition and completed two (one searchable, one non-searchable) cognitive ability tests online. Complete data were collected from 295 participants. We indirectly determined levels of cheating by examining the pattern of test-score differences across the two conditions. We directly measured dropout rates, test performance, and participants’ perceived tension and invasion of privacy.

Findings

The use of remote proctoring was associated with more negative test-taker reactions and decreased cheating. Remote proctoring did not directly affect test performance or interact with individual differences to predict test performance or test-taker reactions.

Implications

Technological advances in selection should be accompanied by empirical evidence. Although remote proctoring may be effective at decreasing cheating, it may also have unintended effects on test-taker reactions. By outlining an initial classification of remote proctoring technology, we contribute to the theoretical understanding of technology-enhanced assessment, while providing timely insight into the practice of Internet-based testing.

Originality/value

We provide timely insight into the development and evaluation of remotely proctored tests. The current study utilizes a unique randomized experimental design in order to indirectly determine levels of cheating across two conditions. Following the results of the current study, we outline an integrative model for future research on remotely proctored tests.     

Wild robins (Petroica longipes) respond to human gaze

Gaze following and awareness of attentional cues are hallmarks of human and non-human social intelligence. Here, we show that the North Island robin (Petroica longipes), a food-hoarding songbird endemic to New Zealand, responds to human eyes. Robins were presented with six different conditions, in which two human experimenters altered the orientation or visibility of their body, head or eyes in relation to mealworm prey. One experimenter had visual access to the prey, and the second experimenter did not. Robins were then given the opportunity to ‘steal’ one of two mealworms presented by each experimenter. Robins responded by preferentially choosing the mealworm in front of the experimenter who could not see, in all conditions but one. Robins failed to discriminate between experimenters who were facing the mealworm and those who had their head turned 90° to the side. This may suggest that robins do not make decisions using the same eye visibility cues that primates and corvids evince, whether for ecological, experiential or evolutionary reasons.     

Geographies of Tolerance: Human Development,Heteronormativity, and Religion

In their work on the human development sequence, Inglehart and Welzel (Modernization, cultural change, and democracy: the human development sequence. Cambridge University Press, New York, 2005) argue that there is a “rising tide” of gender equality across various countries in the system. While the authors propose that the process that holds true for a rising tide in women’s rights is also true for other outgroups including minorities and homosexuals, they do not test their proposed relationship on feelings toward these groups. At the same time, studies on sexuality and tolerance suggest that religious beliefs and government institutions play a significant role in shaping societal attitudes about homosexuality, promulgating beliefs and policies that place homosexuality in a negative light. In the case of government institutions, sexuality may also be framed as a security issue, making homosexuality appear as a threat. The present work performs an empirical test of the mechanisms of the human development sequence on tolerance toward homosexuality, and compares this theory to rival hypotheses regarding the effects of religion and heteronormative policies. Empirical testing using hierarchical linear models shows mixed support for hypotheses drawn from work on the human development sequence, but indicates that religious belief and heteronormativity in government policies have a significant relationship to levels of tolerance.     

Revoking a leader's “license to fail”: downgrading evaluations of prototypical in‐group leaders following an intergroup failure

Drawing on the social identity theory of leadership, we examined how leadership as an identity function alters perceptions and evaluations of in‐ and out‐group political leaders over time. Participants responded to two online questionnaires, before and after the 2012 U.S. Presidential election between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney. We assessed respondents' strength of party identification, perceptions of each candidate's prototypicality, and evaluations of each candidate. Results supported the hypothesis: after his loss, Romney was presumably perceived as less prototypical of the Republican Party among strong identifiers, who symbolically revoked Romney's “license to fail.” Weakly identified Republicans were unaffected by his defeat, granting him a “license to fail.” Unexpectedly, Democrats and Republicans following his electoral success evaluated Obama more harshly.     

Profiles of Rater Dis/Agreement within Universal Screening in Predicting Distal Outcomes

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment - The success of a comprehensive and integrated school mental health system is dependent on data to inform decision-making. Universal screening...     

Online Victimization,Womanism, and Body Esteem among Young Black Women: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Digital media use represents a central part of young adults’ daily life, within which social interactions increasingly center on visual content. While visual content, such as representations of self, may facilitate positive social interactivity, it may also increase susceptibility to harmful social interactions, such as appearance-related online victimization. Black women’s bodies are often the target of gendered racial microaggressions and sexual victimization which can contribute to body image concerns. Still, the online victimization–body esteem link among Black women remains unexamined. This study used structural equation modeling to examine the associations between four categories of online victimization (i.e., general online victimization, online individual racial victimization, online vicarious racial victimization, online sexual victimization) and body esteem. We further examined whether womanism, an identity-based factor, moderated the relationship between online victimization and body esteem. A sample of 1,595 young Black women completed an online survey. Results showed that online sexual victimization was significantly negatively associated with body esteem and that high levels of womanism buffered the harmful impact of general online victimization on body esteem. Future research is needed to examine Black women’s and gender expansive people’s experiences with online gendered racial victimization along with other forms of online intersectional oppression.

     

The interaction between duration, velocity and repetitive auditory stimulation

Repetitive auditory stimulation (with click trains) and visual velocity signals both have intriguing effects on the subjective passage of time. Previous studies have established that prior presentation of auditory clicks increases the subjective duration of subsequent sensory input, and that faster moving stimuli are also judged to have been presented for longer (the time dilation effect). However, the effect of clicks on velocity estimation is unknown, and the nature of the time dilation effect remains ambiguous. Here were present a series of five experiments to explore these phenomena in more detail. Participants viewed a rightward moving grating which traveled at velocities ranging from 5 to 15°/s and which lasted for durations of 500 to 1500 ms. Gratings were preceded by clicks, silence or white noise. It was found that both clicks and higher velocities increased subjective duration. It was also found that the time dilation effect was a constant proportion of stimulus duration. This implies that faster velocity increases the rate of the pacemaker component of the internal clock. Conversely, clicks increased subjective velocity, but the magnitude of this effect was not proportional to actual velocity. Through considerations of these results, we conclude that clicks independently affect velocity and duration representations.     

Challenge me! Communicating in multicultural classrooms

The current study investigated the value of Socratic classroom communication (e.g., critical debate and challenging each other on content matters) among students from various cultures (clustered into Western Europeans, Eastern Europeans and Non-Europeans) and from members of faculty at an international university in Germany. Students from Western cultures where Socratic communication had been valued in the school systems reported a greater ease of engaging in the respective communication style than did Eastern European and Non-European students. Furthermore, we assessed how strongly the faculty valued the respective kinds of behavior. The results show that overall students underestimated the extent to which Socratic communication behavior was esteemed by members of faculty. In addition, faculty members perceived themselves to be more explicit about their pedagogical principles than they were perceived by students. Finally, the easier it was for students to show Socratic classroom communication, the more academically satisfied they were and the better their grades. The results are discussed with regard to practical implications and the internationalization of universities.     

Implicit affective evaluation of visual symmetry

Symmetry and beauty are strongly linked, but is the positive response to visual symmetry automatic? We used the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure the valence of visual regularities in the absence of overt judgments. In our first experiment, participants classified dot patterns as random or having an axis of reflection, and words as positive or negative. When the same button was used to report reflection and positive words, responses were faster than when the same button was used to report reflection and negative words. We take this association to indicate an implicit preference for reflectional patterns. In subsequent experiments, a reflected pattern was preferred to a rotation or translation, and a rotational pattern was preferred to random patterns. In some cases these results were not in agreement with verbally reported preferences, but implicit preferences were always predicted by the speed at which patterns could be identified. We conclude that the IAT can unearth an automatic affective response produced by perceptual fluency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).