Improving Health Care Utilization, Improving Chronic Disease Utilization, Health Status, and Adjustment in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cystic Fibrosis: A Preliminary Report

We conducted a randomized clinical trial of a 3-session written self-disclosure intervention for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Patients (n = 39) who were at least 15 years of age and diagnosed with CF participated in the intervention. Participants in the intervention arm were asked to write in the health care setting about an important emotionally distressing issue of personal significance for a 20-min period of time and two additional 20-min writing episodes at the patient's home, which were prompted by telephone calls. Patients in the control condition received standard care alone. Findings revealed that the intervention resulted in a reduction of the number of days patients spent in the hospital over a 3-month period. The intervention did not have an impact on physiological (Forced Expiratory Volume and Body Mass Index or subjective markers of health status. These findings extend those of Pennebaker's (cf., J. Smyth, 1998) demonstrating an effect of the written-self-disclosure intervention on health care utilization. These preliminary findings are promising and justify further investigation of the modified intervention in other chronic illness populations.     

Why Higher Working Memory Capacity May Help You Learn: Sampling,Search, and Degrees of Approximation

Algorithms for approximate Bayesian inference, such as those based on sampling (i.e., Monte Carlo methods), provide a natural source of models of how people may deal with uncertainty with limited cognitive resources. Here, we consider the idea that individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) may be usefully modeled in terms of the number of samples, or “particles,” available to perform inference. To test this idea, we focus on two recent experiments that report positive associations between WMC and two distinct aspects of categorization performance: the ability to learn novel categories, and the ability to switch between different categorization strategies (“knowledge restructuring”). In favor of the idea of modeling WMC as a number of particles, we show that a single model can reproduce both experimental results by varying the number of particles—increasing the number of particles leads to both faster category learning and improved strategy‐switching. Furthermore, when we fit the model to individual participants, we found a positive association between WMC and best‐fit number of particles for strategy switching. However, no association between WMC and best‐fit number of particles was found for category learning. These results are discussed in the context of the general challenge of disentangling the contributions of different potential sources of behavioral variability.     

Simultaneous switching of auditory transients For two-channel presentation

A modification of the Grason-Stadler Series 829 D&E Electronic Switches that enables simultaneous cross-channel presentation of auditory signals at the two ears is described.     

Spatial coding of auditory signals

Sequences of nine binary auditory signals (dots and dashes) were presented to 20 subjects in Experiment I. The subjects were instructed to internally organize the signals into two-dimensional arrays. Visual patterns (letters) could be recognized in these imaginary arrays in both upright and rotated orientations. In Experiment II, a group of nine subjects, which was instructed to use spatial imagery of this kind, reproduced significantly longer sequences of signals than nine control subjects. By means of internal spatial organization, experimental subjects were able to reproduce sequences up to 45 signals in length, whereas control subjects recalled near the chance level for portions of sequences longer than nine signals. Three levels of information processing were postulated to account for the results, with spatial organization occupying a mediating level between acoustic and verbal levels.     

On microprocessor-based computers

Economical microprocessor-based computers have been recently developed by Motorola and Control Logic, Inc. Apparently, in response to the price competition, DEC has introduced the PDP-8/A, incorporating the memory characteristics of the microprocessor-based computers. Relative to older minicomputers, the microprocessor-based systems and the PDP-8/A “miniprocessor” require more time to execute an experimentally useful task. However, their real-time operating characteristics would appear to be sufficient for on-line use in behavioral control and data acquisition. The PDP-8/A’s compatibility with older models of the PDP-8 series enables it to use previously developed software, but, for purposes of software development, the microprocessor systems offer a more powerful architecture and instruction set.