Perceived teasing experiences in body dysmorphic disorder

Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) are excessively concerned about imagined or slight defects in their appearance (e.g., asymmetrical facial features). Cognitive-behavioral models of BDD propose that several factors, including dysfunctional appearance-related beliefs and life experiences, such as teasing, contribute to the avoidance behaviors or rituals (e.g., mirror checking, grooming) characteristic of BDD. Previous research has demonstrated an association between perceived teasing and body dissatisfaction. In the current study, we examined whether individuals with BDD (n = 16) report to have been teased more often than do mentally healthy controls (n = 17). The group comprising individuals with BDD reported more appearance- and competency-related teasing than did control participants. This study provides preliminary evidence for the association between perceived teasing and BDD.     

Developmental changes in neural activity to familiar words and gestures

Infants younger than 20 months of age interpret both words and symbolic gestures as object names. Later in development words and gestures take on divergent communicative functions. Here, we examined patterns of brain activity to words and gestures in typically developing infants at 18 and 26 months of age. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during a match/mismatch task. At 18 months, an N400 mismatch effect was observed for pictures preceded by both words and gestures. At 26 months the N400 effect was limited to words. The results provide the first neurobiological evidence showing developmental changes in semantic processing of gestures.     

Discrimination, dispositions, and cardiovascular responses to stress.

OBJECTIVE: Recent research suggests that past exposure to discrimination may influence perceptions of, and physiological responses to, new challenges. The authors examined how race and trait levels of hostility and optimism interact with past exposure to discrimination to predict physiological reactivity and recovery during an anger recall task. DESIGN: A community sample of 165 normotensive Black and White adults participated in an anger recall task while having their cardiovascular function monitored. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Blood pressure and heart rate indicators of physiological reactivity and recovery. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Participants had higher reactivity and slower recovery to the anger recall task when they had high past discrimination, low cynicism, or high optimism. The pattern of effects was similar for both racial groups, but Blacks had more acute reactivity and slower recovery than Whites. These results are consistent with the perspective of discrimination as a chronic stressor that is related to acute stress responses, particularly for Blacks.     

Effects of Self-Monitoring on the On-Task Behavior and Written Language Performance of Elementary Students with Learning Disabilities

The present study was conducted to determine the effects of self-monitoring and a changing criterion with public posting phase on student on-task behavior and written language performance. Four elementary school boys participated and were enrolled in an urban-based, elementary-level resource room for students with learning disabilities. Self-monitoring procedures for on-task behavior included the students listening to a tone recorded at 60-s intervals and responding to the question, “Am I on-task?” Written language performance involved the students writing for a 10-min. session and counting and graphing the number of words written. During baseline conditions, student on-task behavior and written language performance were collected. During the self-monitoring conditions, the students monitored their on-task behavior and written language performance simultaneously. In the changing criterion with public posting condition, the students received their goal for the day's session prior to writing, wrote, and recorded whether they met their goal. While the results show a functional relationship between self-monitoring and on-task behavior, the data for the relationship between self-monitoring and written language performance were less compelling. A greater increase occurred when the changing criterion with public posting condition was introduced. Results suggest that self-monitoring changed on-task behavior; however, further research needs to be conducted to determine the conditions that would produce comparable effects for written language performance. Several implications for students and teachers and parent training were discussed.     

A test of two methods of arithmetic fluency training and implications for educational practice

Children are exposed to multiple training tasks that are intended to support acquisition of basic arithmetic skills. Surprisingly, there is a scarcity of experimental research that directly compares the efficacy of those tasks, raising the possibility that children may be spending critical instructional time on tasks that are not effective. We conducted an experiment with 1st through 6th grade children comparing two arithmetic training tasks that are widely used: answer production training and fact triangle training. Results show that answer production training produces substantial fluency gains, whereas fact triangle training does not. Further, we show that, despite theoretical considerations that suggest otherwise, fact triangle training does not produce more flexibly applicable learning. Implications for memory representation, arithmetic fluency training, and broader educational strategy are discussed.     

Divine Relations as a Basis of Subjective Social Status During Later-Life: Direct and Moderating Effects

Early social theorists, including W.E.B Du Bois, recognized the importance of religion and its links to inequality, particularly in how religious vocabularies are attuned to frictions with inimical concrete social and political realities. We apply these ideas to research on the intersection of religious beliefs and economic deprivation, examining how beliefs in divine relations not only structure subjective social status (SSS), but also the association between financial stress and SSS. Analyses of data from the Caregiving, Aging, and Financial Experiences Study—a national study of Canadian older adults (N = 4010)—show that financial strain is associated with lower SSS, but better divine relations (higher support from a divine power and lower troubled relationships with a higher power) benefit SSS. Divine support also attenuates the association between financial strain and SSS. This research suggests a Du Bosian “double consciousness,” in which relations with a divine power serve as a basis for individual conceptualizations of social status that run counter to predominant narratives based on economic standing. We suggest directions for future research to explore the nuances of SSS within the religious context informed by a Du Boisian mode of inquiry.     

Neuroticism and Depression in Children: The Role of Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies

This study's general objective was to analyze whether different types of cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS), namely adaptive strategies—specifically positive refocusing and positive reappraisal—and maladaptive strategies—self-blame, catastrophizing, and rumination—mediated the neuroticism-depression relationship in children 9–12 years old, and whether gender and school transition moderated the relationships proposed. A self-reporting measure was administered to 315 children to evaluate said variables. The resulting data were analyzed using structural equations. The study verified that maladaptive CERS partially mediated neuroticism's relationship with depression, while adaptive CERS, though negatively associated with depression, did not show a mediating effect on this relationship. The results provide evidence of the mediating function of maladaptive CERS on the neuroticism-depression relationship. Gender and school transition did not moderate the relationships proposed. Because, by their very nature, these strategies are modifiable, these results constitute an important finding that can be transferred to the design and content of child mental health prevention and promotion programs.     

Autonomic and subjective responsivity to emotional images in people with dissociative seizures

People with dissociative seizures (DS) report a range of difficulties in emotional functioning and exhibit altered responding to emotional facial expressions in experimental tasks. We extended this research by investigating subjective and autonomic reactivity (ratings of emotional valence, arousal and skin conductance responses [SCRs]) to general emotional images in 39 people with DS relative to 42 healthy control participants, whilst controlling for anxiety, depression, cognitive functioning and, where relevant, medication use. It was predicted that greater subjective negativity and arousal and increased SCRs in response to the affective pictures would be observed in the DS group. The DS group as a whole did not differ from controls in their subjective responses of valence and arousal. However, SCR amplitudes were greater in ‘autonomic responders’ with DS relative to ‘autonomic responders’ in the control group. A positive correlation was also observed between SCRs for highly arousing negative pictures and self‐reported ictal autonomic arousal, in DS ‘autonomic responders’. In the DS subgroup of autonomic ‘non‐responders’, differences in subjective responses were observed for some conditions, compared to control ‘non‐responders’. The findings indicate unaffected subjective responses to emotional images in people with DS overall. However, within the group of people with DS, there may be subgroups characterized by differences in emotional responding. One subgroup (i.e., ‘autonomic responders’) exhibit heightened autonomic responses but intact subjective emotional experience, whilst another subgroup (i.e., ‘autonomic non‐responders’) seem to experience greater subjective negativity and arousal for some emotional stimuli, despite less frequent autonomic reactions. The current results suggest that therapeutic interventions targeting awareness and regulation of physiological arousal and subjective emotional experience could be of value in some people with this disorder.