Appraisals of Fear, Helplessness, and Perceived Life-Threat During Emergent Cardiac Surgery: Relationship to Pre-surgical Depression, Trauma History, and Posttraumatic Stress

Depression and posttraumatic stress (PTS) have been linked to medical/psychological outcomes following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. This study assessed pre-surgical trauma history, PTS, and depression; and peri-surgical appraisals of fear, helplessness, and perceived life-threat among 110 patients. All CABGs were emergent, rather than elective, surgeries. In hierarchical multiple regressions, total severity score for pre-surgical PTS predicted fear regarding the cardiac event and the CABG, and perceived life-threat regarding the cardiac event and the CABG. Pre-surgical depression predicted perceived helplessness regarding the cardiac event and the CABG, and contributed to prediction of perceived life-threat. Trauma history contributed to prediction of fear and perceived helplessness regarding surgery (but not regarding the cardiac event necessitating surgery). When posttraumatic stress disorder diagnosis (PTSD) was entered, rather than total severity of PTS, PTSD did not predict any appraisals, and depression showed stronger prediction of fear, helplessness, and perceived life-threat than did PTSD.     

The Role of Propulsive Muscles of the Shoulder During Quadrupedalism in Vervet Monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops)

In comparative anatomical studies of the shoulder, the humeral retractors are often grouped together as propulsive muscles, which are important in the propulsive stroke of the forelimb during quadrupedal locomotion. Electromyographic (EMG) analyses of these muscles in opossums, cats, and dogs in general have confirmed such conclusions. An EMG study of chimpanzee shoulder muscles during knuckle-walking found, however, that the humeral retractors are either inactive or perform a function unrelated to propulsion (Larson & Stern, 1987). This contrast in muscle recruitment patterns between chimpanzees and more “typical” mammalian quadrupeds was attributed to the derived morphology of the chimpanzee shoulder. The present study examines the activity patterns of the humeral retractors in the vervet monkey, a primate more closely resembling nonprimate mammals in its shoulder morphology. The results of this EMG analysis show that despite the significant differences in anatomy between chimpanzees and vervets, the two species display very similar muscle recruitment patterns during quadrupedalism, and there is evidence for this same pattern in other species of primates. These differences in muscle activity patterns between primates and nonprimate mammals may be related to changes in the neurological control of locomotion in primates due to the evolutionary development of manipulative abilities in the primate forelimb.     

A new look at time and eternity

In his Systematic Theology, Vol. III, Wolfhart Pannenberg argues that God as eternal comprehends the different moments of time simultaneously and orders them to constitute a whole or totality. The author contends that this approach to time and eternity might solve the logical tension between the classical notion of divine sovereignty and the common sense belief in creaturely spontaneity/human freedom. For, if the existence of the events constituting a temporal sequence is primarily due to the spontaneous decisions of creatures, and if their being ordered into a totality or meaningful whole is primarily due to the superordinate activity of God, then both God and creatures play indispensable but nevertheless distinct roles in the cosmic process.     

The interplay of attention and emotion: top-down attention modulates amygdala activation in psychopathy

Psychopathic behavior has long been attributed to a fundamental deficit in fear that arises from impaired amygdala function. Growing evidence has demonstrated that fear-potentiated startle (FPS) and other psychopathy-related deficits are moderated by focus of attention, but to date, no work on adult psychopathy has examined attentional modulation of the amygdala or concomitant recruitment of relevant attention-related circuitry. Consistent with previous FPS findings, here we report that psychopathy-related differences in amygdala activation appear and disappear as a function of goal-directed attention. Specifically, decreased amygdala activity was observed in psychopathic offenders only when attention was engaged in an alternative goal-relevant task prior to presenting threat-relevant information. Under this condition, psychopaths also exhibited greater activation in selective-attention regions of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) than did nonpsychopaths, and this increased LPFC activation mediated psychopathy’s association with decreased amygdala activation. In contrast, when explicitly attending to threat, amygdala activation did not differ in psychopaths and nonpsychopaths. This pattern of amygdala activation highlights the potential role of LPFC in mediating the failure of psychopathic individuals to process fear and other important information when it is peripheral to the primary focus of goal-directed attention.     

Maintenance of Parent-Implemented Discrete-Trial Instruction during Videoconferencing

Access to behavior-analytic professionals who can implement interventions like discrete-trial instruction (DTI) may be limited for families living in rural communities. We trained four rural parents of children with autism to implement DTI accurately with a confederate using in vivo behavioral skills training. The DTI skills that parents demonstrated with a confederate generalized to working with their children. We then assessed whether periodic supervision during videoconferencing maintained parents’ DTI skills following training. Parents accurately implemented untrained DTI programs with their children and maintained accurate implementation over several months of remote supervision occurring twice a week, weekly, and biweekly. Videoconferencing may be an effective way for individuals responsible for direct implementation to maintain contact with behavior analysts who are not locally accessible.     

Comorbidity of Pediatric Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety Disorders: Impact on Symptom Severity and Impairment

This study explored the impact of comorbidity on symptom severity and treatment outcome in a sample of 75 pediatric Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD) patients. Forty received cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT). Overall, 56% had a comorbid disorder. Results revealed that youth with comorbid disorders (anxiety or otherwise) endorsed significantly more anxiety symptoms than youth with OCD only. Youth with comorbidities instead of or in addition to anxiety exhibited more severe OCD symptoms than youth with OCD alone or an anxiety-only comorbidity. Youth in the comorbidities instead of or in addition to anxiety group had the poorest CBT response relative to the other groups. These results suggest that relative to those with OCD alone or with an anxiety disorder comorbidity, youth with comorbidities instead of or in addition to anxiety have a differing clinical presentation (e.g., more severe symptoms) and worse psychotherapy outcome.

Phonotactic probability influences speech production

Speakers are faster and more accurate at processing certain sound sequences within their language. Does this reflect the fact that these sequences are frequent or that they are phonetically less complex (e.g., easier to articulate)? It has been difficult to contrast these two factors given their high correlation in natural languages. In this study, participants were exposed to novel phonotactic constraints de-correlating complexity and frequency by subjecting the same phonological structure to varying degrees of probabilistic constraint. Participants' behavior was sensitive to variations in frequency, demonstrating that phonotactic probability influences speech production independent of phonetic complexity.     

The relation of self-efficacy and interests: a meta-analysis of 60 samples

This study empirically synthesizes and evaluates studies that have examined the relation between vocationally relevant domains of self-efficacy and interests. We conducted a meta-analytic review of 60 empirical independent samples (N=39,154) in which relations between self-efficacy and interests had been examined. Fifty-three of these samples (N=37,829) included parallel measures of the constructs. Relations between parallel measures of Holland’s RIASEC themes, the specific dimensions of art, math, science and math/science combined, and traditionally female and male occupations are also presented. Results demonstrated that self-efficacy and interests are independent constructs that correlate moderately. Differences by sex, measure, and age group are noted. Future directions for research regarding links between self-efficacy and interests are discussed.     

Sources of the discontinuity effect: Playing against a group versus being in a group

Intergroup relations tend to be more competitive than relations between individuals. This difference, called the “discontinuity effect,” has been demonstrated under a wide variety of conditions. Two separate explanations for the discontinuity effect were explored in our research. The first explanation is that something about playing against a group leads people to compete. The second explanation is that something about being in a group leads people to compete. The results supported both explanations, although the evidence more strongly favored the effect of being in a group. Distrust mediated both effects.