Early information processing biases in social anxiety

Considerable controversy persists regarding the nature of threat-related attention biases in social anxiety. Previous studies have not considered how variations in the temporal and energetic dimensions of affective stimulus delivery interact with anxiety-related individual differences to predict biased attention. We administered a visual dot-probe task, using faces that varied in affective intensity (mild, moderate, strong) and presentation rate (100, 500, 1,250 ms) to a selected sample. The high, compared to the low, socially anxious group showed vigilance towards angry faces and emotionally ambiguous faces more generally during rapid (100 ms) presentations. By 1,250 ms, there was only a non-specific motor slowing associated with angry faces in the high socially anxious group. Findings suggest the importance of considering both chronometric and energetic dimensions of affective stimuli when examining anxiety-related attention biases. Future studies should consider using designs that more closely replicate aspects of real-world interaction to study processing biases in socially anxious populations.     

An Investigation of Teachers' Concerns About Vocabulary and the Representation of These Concerns in Content Literacy Methodology Textbooks

The purpose of this study was twofold: to (a) find out what questions currently practicing middle grade teachers have about vocabulary instruction and (b) determine what current undergraduate content area textbooks include that provide answers to these vocabulary questions. As researchers and practitioners directly responsible for teaching preservice middle grades teachers, this was a beginning step in examining whether our own teacher preparation programs are meeting the needs of new teachers as they encounter the demands of teaching vocabulary in their content areas. Teacher concerns about vocabulary instruction were determined by a survey instrument administered to 390 middle school teachers to ascertain questions they have about teaching vocabulary. A content analysis of the three leading content area textbooks was then undertaken to determine to what degree the top five concerns of middle grades teachers were addressed in these texts. Though direct information on how to teach vocabulary was provided, the researchers found that twice as much information was presented indirectly, embedded under subheadings where it was mentioned. In other words, only half the time did the texts explain how to teach the principles advocated.     

Frontal brain electrical activity (EEG) distinguishes valence and intensity of musical emotions

Using recent regional brain activation/emotion models as a theoretical framework, we examined whether the pattern of regional EEG activity distinguished emotions induced by musical excerpts which were known to vary in affective valence (i.e., positive vs. negative) and intensity (i.e., intense vs. calm) in a group of undergraduates. We found that the pattern of asymmetrical frontal EEG activity distinguished valence of the musical excerpts. Subjects exhibited greater relative left frontal EEG activity to joy and happy musical excerpts and greater relative right frontal EEG activity to fear and sad musical excerpts. We also found that, although the pattern of frontal EEG asymmetry did not distinguish the intensity of the emotions, the pattern of overall frontal EEG activity did, with the amount of frontal activity decreasing from fear to joy to happy to sad excerpts. These data appear to be the first to distinguish valence and intensity of musical emotions on frontal electrocortical measures.     

COMPREHENSION MONITORING IN GOOD AND POOR READERS: EVIDENCE FROM VERBAL AND PERFORMANCE MEASURES

The present study examined the ability of second grade good and poor readers to monitor their comprehension of inconsistent texts. Comprehension monitoring was assessed by both a performance measure (underlining inconsistencies) as well as verbal measures (ratings of passage comprehensibility and liking). Because poor readers equate adequate comprehension with accurate decoding, while good reader equate adequate comprehension with accurately deriving the meaning of a text, it was expected that performance and verbal measures of comprehension monitoring would be related for good but not for poor readers. As predicted, self‐reports of comprehension and liking were highly related to the performance measure of error detection for good readers but not for poor readers. The implications of these results for assessing comprehension monitoring ability are discussed.     

Differential brain shrinkage over 6 months shows limited association with cognitive practice

The brain shrinks with age, but the timing of this process and the extent of its malleability are unclear. We measured changes in regional brain volumes in younger (age 20–31) and older (age 65–80) adults twice over a 6 months period, and examined the association between changes in volume, history of hypertension, and cognitive training. Between two MRI scans, 49 participants underwent intensive practice in three cognitive domains for 100 consecutive days, whereas 23 control group members performed no laboratory cognitive tasks. Regional volumes of seven brain structures were measured manually and adjusted for intracranial volume. We observed significant mean shrinkage in the lateral prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, the caudate nucleus, and the cerebellum, but no reliable mean change of the prefrontal white matter, orbital-frontal cortex, and the primary visual cortex. Individual differences in change were reliable in all regions. History of hypertension was associated with greater cerebellar shrinkage. The cerebellum was the only region in which significantly reduced shrinkage was apparent in the experimental group after completion of cognitive training. Thus, in healthy adults, differential brain shrinkage can be observed in a narrow time window, vascular risk may aggravate it, and intensive cognitive activity may have a limited effect on it.     

Temporal dynamics of interference in Simon and Eriksen tasks considered within the context of a dual-process model

Behavioral and brain potential measures were employed to compare interference in Eriksen and Simon tasks. Assuming a dual-process model of interference elicited in speeded response tasks, we hypothesized that only lateralized stimuli in the Simon task induce fast S–R priming via direct unconditional processes, while Eriksen interference effects are induced later via indirect conditional processes. Delays to responses for incongruent trials were indeed larger in the Eriksen than in the Simon task. Only lateralized stimuli in the Simon task elicited early S–R priming, maximal at parietal areas. Incongruent flankers in the Eriksen task elicited interference later, visible as a lateralized N2. Eriksen interference also elicited an additional component (N350), which accounted for the larger behavioral interference effects in the Eriksen task. The findings suggest that interference and its resolution involve different processes for Simon and Eriksen tasks.     

SHS-Related Pediatric Sick Visits are Linked to Maternal Depressive Symptoms Among Low-Income African American Smokers: Opportunity for Intervention in Pediatrics

Maternal smoking and depressive symptoms are independently linked to poor child health outcomes. However, little is known about factors that may predict maternal depressive symptoms among low-income, African American maternal smokers—an understudied population with children known to have increased morbidity and mortality risks. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that secondhand smoke exposure (SHSe)-related pediatric sick visits are associated with significant maternal depressive symptoms among low-income, African American maternal smokers in the context of other depression-related factors. Prior to randomization in a behavioral counseling trial to reduce child SHSe, 307 maternal smokers in Philadelphia completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) and questionnaires measuring stressful events, nicotine dependence, social support, child health and demographics. CES-D was dichotomized at the clinical cutoff to differentiate mothers with significant versus low depressive symptoms. Results from direct entry logistic regression demonstrated that maternal smokers reporting more than one SHSe-related sick visit (OR 1.38, p < .001), greater perceived life stress (OR 1.05, p < .001) and less social support (OR 0.82, p < .001) within the last 3 months were more likely to report significant depressive symptoms than mothers with fewer clinic visits, less stress, and greater social support. These results suggest opportunities for future hypothesis-driven evaluation, and exploration of intervention strategies in pediatric primary care. Maternal depression, smoking and child illness may present as a reciprocally-determined phenomenon that points to the potential utility of treating one chronic maternal condition to facilitate change in the other chronic condition, regardless of which primary presenting problem is addressed. Future longitudinal research could attempt to confirm this hypothesis.     

Factors Associated with Perceived Cognitive Problems in Children and Adolescents with Congenital Heart Disease

The objective of the present study was to assess demographic and disease-specific factors associated with perceived cognitive problems in children and adolescents with heart disease. 246 children with congenital heart disease ages 8–18 years and their parents completed the Cognitive Problems Scale of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory Cardiac Module. The 5-item Cognitive Problems Scale assesses school-related cognitive problems including attention and memory from the perspective of the child and parent. Multiple linear regression analysis was conducted with demographic variables and disease-specific factors entered as independent variables and perceived cognitive problems as the dependent variable. Socioeconomic status (SES) and cardiac disease severity were significantly associated with parent proxy-reported cognitive problems (p < .05). None of the demographic or disease-specific variables were significantly associated with child self-reported cognitive problems. In conclusion, our data suggest that assessment of perceived cognitive problems in children and adolescents with greater disease severity and from lower SES homes may facilitate early identification of children who need formal evaluation and interventions to address cognitive impairments.     

Why are moving faces easier to recognize?

Previous work has suggested that seeing a famous face move aids the recognition of identity, especially when viewing conditions are degraded (Knight & Johnston, ; Lander, Christie, & Bruce, ). Experiment 1 investigated whether the beneficial effects of motion are related to a particular type of facial motion (expressing, talking, or rigid motion). Results showed a significant beneficial effect of both expressive and talking movements, but no advantage for rigid motion, compared with a single static image. Experiment 2 investigated whether the advantage for motion is uniform across identity. Participants rated moving famous faces for distinctiveness of motion. The famous faces (moving and static freeze frame) were then used as stimuli in a recognition task. The advantage for face motion was significant only when the motion displayed was distinctive. Results suggest that a reason why moving faces are easier to recognize is because some familiar faces have characteristic motion patterns, which act as an additional cue to identity.