Effects of Alprazolam on Complex Human Functioning1

Benzodiazepines can reduce anxiety, can have favorable effects upon sleep, and may diminish problems that interfere with patients' quality of life. On the other hand, these drugs can generate transient anterograde amnesia and may diminish aspects of task performance. Research on the impact of alprazolam and other “tranquilizing” drugs has generally focused on tasks that remain below the complex efforts of managerial or professional personnel. Alprazolam-induced reduction of anxiety under challenging conditions might aid complex task performance, yet anterograde amnesia might interfere. In the present research, managers participated in validated complex simulation tasks. In a double-blind, dual crossover design, placebo, 0.5 mg, or 1.0 mg alprazolam was administered on 2 occasions during the task day. Drug treatment diminished performance on measures that require sequential actions but improved performance on measures less subject to short term memory but more determined by long-term style of functioning. Thus, depending on task requirements, positive or negative alteration of performance might occur.     

Future-Oriented Job Analysis: A Description of the Process and Its Organizational Implications

An application of a future-oriented job analysis (FOJA) procedure used to gain an understanding of newly formed entry-level positions in a large insurance organization is described. A brief review of the relevant literature is presented to serve as a foundation upon which to consider the current FOJA procedure. Specific assumptions, stages, and results of the current procedure are detailed. The benefits of this application of FOJA are also discussed.     

Hemispheric dissociation in judging semantic relations: complementarity for close and distant associates.

In two lateralized tachistoscopic experiments, we presented (i) pairs of nouns with close or distant semantic associations or (ii) pairs of nouns which were randomly matched and later rated by the subjects as to their semantic distance. In both experiments, words presented to the right visual field were more frequently judged as semantically close in meaning than words presented to the left visual field (LVF), whereas words presented to the LVF were more frequently judged as semantically distant. The results are discussed in relation to hemispheric language functions and current models of cerebral laterality.     

Reviews of current books

Pastoral Psychology -     

Targeting self-regulation and academic functioning among preschoolers with behavior problems: Are there incremental benefits to including cognitive training as part of a classroom curriculum?

The purpose of this study was to examine the additional benefit of an adaptive Cogmed working memory training (CWMT) to a social-emotional/self-regulation classroom curriculum for preschoolers with externalizing behavior problems (EBP). Participants for this study included 49 children (71% boys, M_age = 4.52) with at-risk or clinically elevated levels of EBP. Children participated in an 8-week summer treatment program for Pre-Kindergarteners (STP-PreK), where they were randomly assigned to either adaptive CWMT (n = 24), or nonadaptive CWMT (n = 25). Multiple repeated measures analyses were conducted to examine the impact of adaptive versus nonadaptive CWMT on pre and posttreatment parent-/teacher-reported behavioral functioning, parent-/teacher reported and child task performance of executive functioning, and standardized academic achievement measures. Repeated measures analyses found that children in both groups improved on all measures (d’s = .23-.86). However, there were no significant time X condition effects for parent or teacher-reported behavior, reported or observed executive functioning, or standardized academic measures. These findings suggest that CWMT does not appear to provide any incremental benefits to children’s executive functioning, behavior, or academics when implemented within a comprehensive behavioral modification intervention.