Clinical Strategies for Integrating Medication Interventions Into Behavioral Treatment for Adolescent ADHD: The Medication Integration Protocol

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is prevalent among adolescents enrolled in behavioral health services but remains undertreated, and the first-line treatment option, stimulant medication, is underutilized. To address this gap, this article introduces the Medication Integration Protocol (MIP): ADHD Assessment and Medication Consult; ADHD Psychoeducation and Client Acceptance; ADHD Symptoms and Family Relations; ADHD Medication and Family Decision-Making; and Medication Management and Integration Planning. The article concludes by highlighting what behavior therapists should know about integrating medication interventions into primary care; managing medication priorities for adolescents with multiple diagnoses, including substance use problems; and the compatibility of MIP with everyday practice conditions.     

Numeracy as a Predictor of Adaptive Risky Decision Making

Numeracy or one's ability to appropriately process and use numerical information has been shown to be an important individual difference factor in decision making. The current study utilized a risky decision‐making task (called the “cups task”) in which choices are made to both earn and avoid losing hypothetical money. Critically, this design allowed investigators to examine numeracy‐related differences in adaptive decision‐making as measured by sensitivity to expected value (EV) differences over 54 paired‐choice trials—some in which it was advantageous to take a risk and some in which it was not. Results showed that in an undergraduate sample of 114 individuals, the less numerate took more risks and were less sensitive to varying EV levels than the more numerate, especially when it was disadvantageous to take a risk and when the choice involved a potential loss (rather than a gain). These results are consistent with a dual processing account in which the more numerate are much better than the less numerate at extracting the precise affective “gist” of the numerical information, which is then used to determine the goodness or badness of a particular choice. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Selecting the Right Tool For the Job

There are competing ethical concerns when it comes to designing any clinical research study. Clinical trials of possible treatments for Ebola virus are no exception. If anything, the competing ethical concerns are exacerbated in trying to find answers to a deadly, rapidly spreading, infectious disease. The primary goal of current research is to identify experimental therapies that can cure Ebola or cure it with reasonable probability in infected individuals. Pursuit of that goal must be methodologically sound, practical and consistent with prevailing norms governing human subjects research. Some maintain that only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a placebo or standard-of-care arm can meet these conditions. We maintain that there are alternative trial designs that can do so as well and that sometimes these are preferable to RCTs.     

Contrast and Assimilation Processes in Consumers' Evaluations of Dual Brands

This study extends the branding literature by examining the psychological processes by which consumers evaluate brand alliances. The theoretical basis for this study is the development of models of context effects in brand evaluations (Meyers-Levy & Sternthal 1993 and Levin & Levin 2000). Of particular interest is how dual branding (two restaurant brands with shared features) influences transfer of affect between brands. Although there was a contrast effect in both the separate and dual brand conditions, this contrast effect was significantly reduced in the dual brand condition. Marketing implications of forming brand alliances are discussed.     

Preadolescent Decision‐Making Competence Predicts Interpersonal Strengths and Difficulties: A 2‐Year Prospective Study

Recent research has demonstrated that decision‐making competence (DMC), a latent construct reflecting individual differences in rational thought, is predictive of real‐world decision outcomes at various stages of life. This construct has been shown to be associated with concurrent and retrospective accounts of health‐risking behavior, but its predictive validity has yet to be demonstrated. In the present study, we examine this issue using a 2‐year prospective, multiple‐informant design. Specifically, we tested the degree to which preadolescent DMC (PA‐DMC) obtained at ages 10–11 years (Time 1; N = 101) predicted both self‐reports and caregiver reports of emotional, behavioral, and peer‐related difficulties obtained 2 years later (Time 2; N = 76). Holding variables such as numeracy and inhibitory control constant, lower Time 1 PA‐DMC scores predicted greater reported Time 2 psychosocial difficulties (i.e. peer, conduct, emotional, and hyperactivity/inattention problems). Additionally, higher PA‐DMC scores were associated with greater self‐reported prosocial behaviors at Time 2. These results highlight the utility of testing individual differences in rational responding. We discuss the potential for improving children's decision‐making processes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

False predictions about the detectability of visual changes: the role of beliefs about attention,memory, and the continuity of attended objects in causing change blindness blindness

Recently, a number of experiments have emphasized the degree to which subjects fail to detect large changes in visual scenes. This finding, referred to as "change blindness," is often considered surprising because many people have the intuition that such changes should be easy to detect. documented this intuition by showing that the majority of subjects believe they would notice changes that are actually very rarely detected. Thus subjects exhibit a metacognitive error we refer to as "change blindness blindness." Here, we test whether CBB is caused by a misestimation of the perceptual experience associated with visual changes and show that it persists even when the pre- and postchange views are separated by long delays. In addition, subjects overestimate their change detection ability both when the relevant changes are illustrated by still pictures, and when they are illustrated using videos showing the changes occurring in real time. We conclude that CBB is a robust phenomenon that cannot be accounted for by failure to understand the specific perceptual experience associated with a change.     

Relationship of Prosody Perception to Personality and Aggression

One-hundred-fifteen participants (73 female, 42 male) were evaluated for prosody, or vocal emotion, perception, personality factors, relational aggression and physical aggression. The male participants reported higher levels of physical aggression, and the female participants reported greater Neuroticism, consistent with other data. For the male participants, better perception of prosody was related to both greater Extraversion and greater Conscientiousness, all involved in interpersonal functioning. These relationships were not found in the female participants, but there was a relationship between perception of prosody and relational aggression. Women who were better at perceiving the emotional status of others based on vocal cues were less relationally aggressive. Perhaps greater relational aggression reflects a poor adaptation to diminished ability to perceive emotional status.