The coregulatory effects of emotionally focused therapy

This study examined the heart rate synchrony between a single couple in emotionally focused therapy (EFT) as a method of measuring coregulatory effects over the course of treatment. A clinician who is an EFT certified therapist, supervisor, and trainer administered all eight sessions in a private practice setting. Surrogate synchrony analysis assessed heart rate synchrony between partners, indicating that significant heart rate synchrony was more likely over time. Significant heart rate synchrony was more likely during sessions that focused on clients’ sharing attachment injuries, bonds, and longings with their partner compared to sessions more focused on cognitive processing of the relationship. Additionally, there were delays in heart rate synchrony that occurred between the couple, which may be indicative of the emotional processing speed of the empathic response of each partner. Understanding the physiological synchrony patterns between dyads in treatment could clarify the potential of coregulation in the therapeutic process.     

A Critical Test of the Waist-to-Hip-Ratio Hypothesis of Female Physical Attractiveness

Recent research has led to increasingly sophisticated conjectures as to the roles that genetic heritage, prior experience, and environmental context play in the production and maintenance of complex behaviors. The field of evolutionary psychology was born of such conjectures (Stanley, 1895) and now serves as a niche for a growing number of researchers (Buss, 1995; Kenrick, 1994). One of the more provocative lines of experimental research to emerge from this alembic derives from the linkage of evolutionary theories of human mate selection with definitions of physical attractiveness based on somatic characteristics that simultaneously signal attractiveness and predict reproductive potential (Buss, 1989). The waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) has been purportedly demonstrated to be a robust example of just such an invariant perceptual cue (e.g., Henss, 1995; Singh, 1993a). Here, we report that judgments of attractiveness and fecundity can be either unrelated or related, positively or negatively, to the WHR depending on waist size, hip size, and weight, and are thus inconsistent with the evolutionary argument that human physical attractiveness is fundamentally a sign of mate value.     

Group process in short-term outpatient therapy groups for schizophrenics

The short form of the group climate questionnaire (GCQ-S) was used to evaluate process in three 12-session therapy groups for outpatient schizophrenics. Results showed no difference on the Engaged dimension between the short-term schizophrenic groups and either a normative sample of outpatient neurotic groups or the first 26 sessions of a long-term outpatient schizophrenic group. However, the short-term groups scored significantly lower (p<.001) on the Avoiding and Conflict dimensions as compared with either long-term sample. The session-to-session GCQ-S dimension pattern did not support the presence of sequential group stages, but there was a tendency for the Engaged scores to increase and the Avoiding and Conflict scores to decrease as time went on.The authors gratefully acknowledge K. Roy MacKenzie, M.D., and Don Brown, M.D., for their helpful comments regarding this paper. Parts of this paper were presented in a poster session at the American Group Psychotherapy Association Annual Meeting in New York, February 8–12, 1988.     

A COMPARISON OF SENSORY INTEGRATIVE AND BEHAVIORAL THERAPIES AS TREATMENT FOR PEDIATRIC FEEDING DISORDERS

We compared the effects of escape extinction (EE) plus noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) with sensory integration therapy as treatment for the feeding problems of 2 children. Results indicated that EE plus NCR was more effective in increasing acceptance, decreasing inappropriate behavior, and increasing amount consumed relative to sensory integration for both children. The results are discussed in terms of the challenges of evaluating sensory‐integration‐based treatments, and the reasons why component analyses of multicomponent treatments like sensory integration are important.     

Spaced training enhances equine learning performance

Animal Cognition - This field experiment examined whether the well-documented benefit of spaced over massed training for humans and other animals generalizes to horses. Twenty-nine randomly...     

Use of Community-Based Participatory Research Methods in Adults' Health Assessment

Since adults 18 to 64 years of age represent the fastest growing population, we conducted a community assessment to assess health status, chronic disease prevalence, health behaviors, utilization of health screenings, and access to health care. A total of 450 adults completed a 56-item assessment on quality of life. Prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes were higher than Healthy People 2010 targets. Respondents reported poor health behaviors, such as a lack of physical activity. Data from this community assessment will be used for program development and to obtain funding.     

Efficacy of Two Mathematics Interventions for Enhancing Fluency with Elementary Students

An alternating treatments design was used to evaluate two curriculum-based mathematics interventions designed to enhance fluency with three elementary school students. Results indicate that both the Math to Mastery (MTM) intervention and the Cover, Copy, Compare (CCC) intervention were effective at increasing mathematics fluency, as measured by digits correct per min, for all students. However, MTM was more effective than CCC for two of the three students. Follow-up data taken 6 and 18 days following termination of the intervention phase indicated that all participants achieving mastery performance maintained mastery levels across both interventions.