The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy bibliotherapy for enhancing the psychological health of Japanese college students living abroad

International students often experience significant psychological distress but empirically tested programs are few. Broadly distributed bibliotherapy may provide a cost-effective approach. About half of the Japanese international students in a western university in the United States (N = 70) were randomly assigned to a wait-list or to receive a Japanese translation of a broadly focused acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) self-help book. Although recruited without regard to health status, the sample was highly distressed with nearly 80% exceeding clinical cutoffs on one or more measures. After a 2-months period for the first treatment group to read the book and a 2-month follow up, wait-list participants also received the book. Students receiving the book showed significantly better general mental health at post and follow up. Moderately depressed or stressed, and severely anxious students showed improvement compared to those not receiving the book. These patterns were repeated when the wait-list participants finally received the book. Improvements in primary outcomes were related to how much was learned about an ACT model from the book. Follow-up outcomes were statistically mediated by changes in psychological flexibility, but not vice versa and were moderated by level of initial flexibility. Overall, the data suggest that ACT bibliotherapy improved the mental health and psychological flexibility of Japanese international students.     

Path analytic examination of a cognitive model of PTSD

Ehlers and Clark (2000) developed a cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom maintenance which implicated the role of posttraumatic cognitions and aspects of the trauma memory in maintaining symptoms via an increased sense of current threat. The aim of the current study was to empirically test a variant of this model using path analysis. Participants in the current study were 514 undergraduates at a midwestern university who reported experiencing at least one traumatic event. Path analyses examined various models of the possible relationships between one’s posttraumatic cognitions and the centrality of the traumatic event to the sense of self (considered an aspect of memory integration) in predicting current level of PTSD symptoms. Results indicate that both event centrality and posttraumatic cognitions are unique and independent predictors of current symptom level. Overall, the results of this study support aspects of Ehlers and Clark’s cognitive model of PTSD; cognitive appraisals of the self and centrality of the event were highly related to levels of distress. However, the current study suggests that overly integrated trauma memories may lead to greater distress and not poorly integrated ones as suggested by Ehlers and Clark.     

Developmental changes in infants’ visual short-term memory for location

To examine the development of visual short-term memory (VSTM) for location, we presented 6- to 12-month-old infants (N = 199) with two side-by-side stimulus streams. In each stream, arrays of colored circles continually appeared, disappeared, and reappeared. In the changing stream, the location of one or more items changed in each cycle; in the non-changing streams the locations did not change. Eight- and 12.5-month-old infants showed evidence of memory for multiple locations, whereas 6.5-month-old infants showed evidence of memory only for a single location, and only when that location was easily identified by salient landmarks. In the absence of such landmarks, 6.5-month-old infants showed evidence of memory for the overall configuration or shape. This developmental trajectory for spatial VSTM is similar to that previously observed for color VSTM. These results additionally show that infants’ ability to detect changes in location is dependent on their developing sensitivity to spatial reference frames.     

Diversity and General Student Scholarship Recipient Essays: 2010 National Society of Genetic Counselors Membership Committee

In an effort to increase the diversity of the membership of the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC), the Membership Committee provided two $500 scholarships to genetic counseling students planning to attend the NSGC AEC meeting in Dallas, Texas in October 2010. Requirements for applicants of both scholarships included enrollment in the fall of 2010, good standing at an accredited genetic counseling training program, and NSGC membership or plans to join in 2011. Students who are from communities underrepresented in the NSGC, including, but not limited to, those of minority cultural/ethnic backgrounds and those with disabilities were eligible to apply for the “Diversity” scholarship. Students from all backgrounds who have an interest in diversity issues were eligible to apply for the “General” scholarship. Applicants wrote essays 1000 words or less answering the following questions: How has your identity as a member of a group underrepresented in the genetic counseling profession affected your pursuit of this career? What do you feel is lacking in genetic counseling to address the issues of underrepresented groups? What strategies do you recommend for addressing these issues and/or increasing diversity? Why do you think diversity is an important issue for the field of genetic counseling? What strategies do you recommend to attract and retain students, especially those from underrepresented populations, into the field of genetic counseling? How do you envision contributing to these strategies? The essays by the award recipients elucidated interesting perspectives and ideas for increasing diversity in the genetic counseling profession.     

汉字记忆中错误联接的码相加效应

采用错误联接的实验范式考察汉字记忆中的码相加效应。实验1采用形码加义码,结果发现对义似形似组的特征诱字错误再认率显著高于义异形似组的。实验2采用形码加音码．结果发现对音似形似组的诱字的错误再认率显著高于音异形似组的。研究表明汉语记忆中的错误联接存在码相加效应。研究结果可用激活混淆来源理论解释。     

糖皮质激素治疗系统性红斑狼疮中“度”的把握

系统性红斑狼疮是一种与遗传、免疫、种族、环境等因素有关的侵犯多系统结缔组织的全身性自身免疫性疾病。该病多器官受累,症状重且复杂,病情反复缓解和发作,故本病的治疗是一个长期的过程,需要终身治疗。糖皮质激素在系统性红斑狼疮的治疗中为最关键的药物,糖皮质激素的剂量、合理运用及“度”的掌握是治疗疾病成败的关键。     

A causal model theory of the meaning of cause, enable, and prevent

The verbs cause , enable , and prevent express beliefs about the way the world works. We offer a theory of their meaning in terms of the structure of those beliefs expressed using qualitative properties of causal models, a graphical framework for representing causal structure. We propose that these verbs refer to a causal model relevant to a discourse and that "A causes B" expresses the belief that the causal model includes a link from A to B. "A enables/allows B" entails that the model includes a link from A to B, that A represents a category of events necessary for B, and that an alternative cause of B exists. "A prevents B" entails that the model includes a link from A to B and that A reduces the likelihood of B. This theory is able to account for the results of four experiments as well as a variety of existing data on human reasoning.     

Sudden Death and Gradual Decay in Visual Working Memory

ABSTRACT— General Douglas MacArthur remarked that "old soldiers never die; they just fade away." For decades, researchers have concluded that visual working memories, like old soldiers, fade away gradually, becoming progressively less precise as they are retained for longer periods of time. However, these conclusions were based on threshold-estimation procedures in which the complete termination of a memory could artifactually produce the appearance of lower precision. Here, we use a recall-based visual working memory paradigm that provides separate measures of the probability that a memory is available and the precision of the memory when it is available. Using this paradigm, we demonstrate that visual working memory representations may be retained for several seconds with little or no loss of precision, but that they may terminate suddenly and completely during this period.