Early executive control and risk for overweight and obesity in elementary school

An emerging literature suggests that poor executive control (EC) may be associated with clinical weight problems, e.g., body mass index (BMI) for age percentile ≥85 in children. However, our understanding of the impact of EC on overweight and obesity in childhood is limited by the lack of longitudinal studies spanning critical developmental periods and assessing EC using comprehensive performance-based batteries. The current study addresses these limitations in a longitudinal examination of 212 children who completed an extensive laboratory-based EC task battery in preschool (age 4 years and 6 months) and were followed through elementary school (Grades 1 through 4) with objective measures of weight status. The logistic regression results indicate that poorer EC in preschool is associated with significantly greater risk for clinical weight problems (either overweight or obese status, as defined by BMI-for-age percentile ≥ 85) in elementary school, controlling for maternal education. EC in preschool was not significantly associated with risk for obese status, specifically (defined by BMI-for-age percentile ≥ 95), but the trend was in the expected direction. The results suggest that early executive abilities are relevant for children’s subsequent health status, with deficits in EC in the critical period of preschool conferring risk for later problems with weight. Based on these findings, early interventions to promote stronger EC may be a promising, yet currently overlooked, component in pediatric obesity prevention efforts.     

Working memory and attention in pediatric brain tumor patients treated with and without radiation therapy

Children are at risk for cognitive difficulties following the diagnosis and treatment of a brain tumor. Longitudinal studies have consistently demonstrated declines on measures of intellectual functioning, and recently it has been proposed that specific neurocognitive processes underlie these changes, including working memory, processing speed, and attention. However, a fine-grained examination of the affected neurocognitive processes is required to inform intervention efforts. Radiation therapy (RT) impacts white matter integrity, likely affecting those cognitive processes supported by distributed neural networks. This study examined working memory and attention in children during the early delayed stages of recovery following surgical resection and RT. The participants included 27 children diagnosed with pediatric brain tumor, treated with (n = 12) or without (n = 15) RT, who completed experimental and standardized measures of working memory and attention (n-back and digit span tasks). Children treated with radiation performed less well than those who did not receive radiation on the n-back measure, though performance at the 0-back level was considerably poorer than would be expected for both groups, perhaps suggesting difficulties with more basic processes such as vigilance. Along these lines, marginal differences were noted on digit span forward. The findings are discussed with respect to models of attention and working memory, and the interplay between the two.     

The association between attention control,anxiety, and depression: the indirect effects of repetitive negative thinking and mood recovery

Background and objectives: Attention control deficits and repetitive negative thinking (RNT; i.e., rumination) may be key factors in the development and persistence of depression and anxiety, although their role in symptom development remains poorly understood. This represents a gap in the literature, as interventions targeting attention control and associated RNT may enhance interventions and prevent costly relapse. The current study was designed to examine the serial indirect effects of transdiagnostic RNT and negative affect recovery following a lab-induced stressor on the association between attention control deficits and trait anxiety and depression.

Methods: Participants were N?=?583 university students who completed validated measures of RNT, anxiety, depression, and mood ratings pre- and post-stressor. Stress was induced using a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Test.

Results: Results of cross-sectional indirect effects models indicated that RNT and mood recovery explained the association between attention control deficits and trait anxiety and depression. Results from reversed models indicated that only the indirect effect of RNT was significant.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that RNT and mood recovery processes play an important role in explaining anxiety and depression symptoms. Additional work is needed to examine their role in symptom development and maintenance over time.     

Do different measures tap the same genetic influences? A multi‐method study of activity level in young twins

Activity level (AL) is a highly salient feature of child behaviour that has been linked to developmental outcome. Twin studies of parent‐rated, observer‐rated and mechanically assessed AL in childhood find that AL is genetically influenced. Few studies, however, consider whether different methods of assessing AL have a shared genetic etiology. Those that do, confound methods and situations. The present study examined whether actigraph and rater‐based (parent, observer) measures of AL tap the same genetic influences in a sample of 312 2‐year‐old twin pairs. Methods were studied within the same situation, thereby controlling for situational influences on AL. The genetic correlation between actigraph and parent‐rated AL in the home was .38, indicating modest genetic overlap between the two methods. In contrast, the correlation of genetic effects on actigraph and observer‐rated AL in the laboratory was .95, indicating that both laboratory‐based measures of AL are influenced by the same genetic effects.     

Executive functions in adolescence: inferences from brain and behavior

Despite the advances in understanding cognitive improvements in executive function in adolescence, much less is known about the influence of affective and social modulators on executive function and the biological underpinnings of these functions and sensitivities. Here, recent behavioral and neuroscientific studies are summarized that have used different approaches (cognition, emotion, individual differences and training) in the study of adolescent executive functions. The combination of these different approaches gives new insight into this complex transitional phase in life, and marks adolescence as not only a period of vulnerabilities, but also great opportunities in terms of training possibilities and interventions.     

Social psychophysics: Using psychophysics to answer “social” questions with PsychoPro

Complex social stimuli (like faces) can be studied using a methodology typically reserved for studying lights, tones, and colors: psychophysics. Given that psychophysics examines how humans detect and respond to stimuli in their environment, we can extend that to the study of how humans detect social stimuli in the environment. Using psychophysical methodology to answer “social” questions provides another dimension of experimental manipulation and control to the diverse array of methodologies already used by social psychologists. In this article, we review psychophysical methodology, provide a rationale for social psychophysics, describe an easy-touse software program called PsychoPro, for collecting psychophysical data, and present data collected using this program to examine racial thresholds that provide evidence for a cognitive gating mechanism for racial information that impacts face processing (MacLin & MacLin, 2007, in press; MacLin, MacLin, & Peterson, 2008).     

Internet Addiction: Diagnosis and Treatment Considerations

Internet addiction is a new and often unrecognized clinical disorder that can cause relational, occupational, and social problems. Pathological gambling is compared to problematic internet use because of overlapping diagnostic criteria. As computers are used with great frequency, detection and diagnosis of internet addiction is often difficult. Symptoms of a possible problem may be masked by legitimate use of the internet. Clinicians may overlook asking questions about computer use. To help clinicians identify internet addiction in practice, this paper provides an overview of the problem and the various subtypes that have been identified. The paper reviews conceptualizations of internet addiction, various forms that the disorder takes, and treatment considerations for working with this emergent client population.     

Group status, perceptions of threat, and support for social inequality

Members of high-status groups have been shown to favor social inequality, but little research has investigated the boundary conditions of this phenomenon. In the present article we suggest that perceived intergroup threat moderates the relationship between group status and support for social inequality (i.e., social dominance orientation), especially among highly identified group members. In Study 1, Democrats and Republicans rated their party’s relative status and were later exposed to a leading US. Presidential candidate from the opposing party (high threat) or their own party (low threat). In Study 2, university students were made to believe that their school had high or low status and were then presented with threatening or non-threatening information about a rival institution. The results of both studies supported the prediction that status only increases preferences for group-based inequality under conditions of high threat and high ingroup identification.     

Subjective and Objective Risks of Carrying a BRCA1/2 Mutation in Individuals of Ashkenazi Jewish Descent

This repeated measures study examines (1) the change in subjective risk of mutations pre- to postcounseling, (2) the accuracy of BRCAPRO estimates of mutations, and (3) the discrepancy between subjective risk and BRCAPRO estimates of mutations before and after genetic counseling. Ninety-nine Ashkenazi Jewish individuals pursued testing for BRCA1/2 mutations. Most had a personal cancer history (N = 51; family only: N = 48); and received uninformative negative results (N = 66; positives: N = 23; informative negative: N = 10). The coping strategy of defensive pessimism predicts that individuals will believe the worst case scenario to better cope with a potential negative outcome. Consistent with this, most felt they would have a mutation, if not mutations in both genes. The BRCAPRO model appeared to overestimate risk of having a mutation in this sample (p < .001). BRCAPRO overestimates notwithstanding, genetic counseling increased accuracy of subjective risk (p < .01). Individuals with a family-only cancer history had the least accurate estimates of risk (p < .05) and may need further intervention to either manage anxiety or improve knowledge.     

Do You See What I See? Effects of Group Consciousness on African American Women's Attributions to Prejudice

This study examined the effects of three types of group consciousness among African American women ( ethnic , feminist , and womanist ) on prejudice attributions and appraised personal significance ( centrality ) of a negative intergroup event. African American female college students  ( N = 123)  imagined themselves in an audiotaped scenario in which they overheard two European American male classmates make negative evaluations of them. The scenario provided no cause for the negative evaluations and no references to race or gender. Multiple regression analyses revealed that higher ethnic and womanist consciousness were related to increased prejudice attributions and greater centrality appraisals  ( p  <.05)  , while feminism had no effect. Results suggest that womanist consciousness may be more relevant than traditional feminist consciousness in predicting African American women's perceptions of prejudice.