Anxiety sensitivity taxonicity across gender among youth

The present investigation comparatively evaluated the latent class structure and parameters of anxiety sensitivity (AS) among female and male youth using the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index. Participants were 4462 adolescents (2189 females) in grades 7-12 (M(age)=15.6 years). Consistent with prediction, taxometric analyses indicated the latent structure of AS was taxonic in both males and females, demonstrating the taxonic latent structure of AS is similarly observed across gender. Also consistent with prediction, the base rate of the AS taxon differed between genders -- higher for females (12%) compared to males (7%). These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the study of AS and panic vulnerability among youth.     

Risk-factor research and prevention programs for anxiety disorders: a translational research framework

The aim of the present essay is to discuss the interconnection between risk-factor research and prevention program development for panic-spectrum psychopathology. We argue that prevention of panic-spectrum psychopathology specifically, and anxiety disorders more generally, is likely to be best advanced through active, systematic translation of basic, risk-factor research. After operationalizing key terminology, we present some exemplar risk-factor candidates for panic-spectrum psychopathology, summarize research related to their role as risk-factors for panic problems, and link this discussion to risk-factor nomenclature. We then present a translational framework for extrapolating extant knowledge on these and other potential risk-factors for panic-spectrum psychopathology with respect to the development of preventative interventions. The proposed translational framework is intended to describe a forward-feeding process by which risk-factor research could be used by clinical researchers to inform prevention programs; and reciprocally, how such prevention knowledge could be most effectively utilized to drive new, clinically focused risk-factor research.     

Illusory Conjunctions of Color and Motion With Shape Following Bilateral Parietal Lesions

The primate visual system responds to shapes, colors, and various other features more strongly in some brain areas than others. However, it remains unclear how these features are bound together so that an object with all its attributes is perceived. A patient (R.M.) with bilateral parietal-occipital lesions has been shown previously to miscombine the shape and color of items, making errors known as illusory conjunctions (ICs). In this study, we examined the effects of a third feature (motion) on this patient's IC rates. R.M. was presented with two letters that moved in different ways. He often reported seeing the shape of one of the letters with the other letter's motion. His performance on the same task with three features shows that correctly combining two features did not necessarily lead to correctly binding the third. These data support modularity of feature representations in the human brain and provide supporting evidence that spatial representations associated with the parietal lobe are necessary for normal feature integration.     

Pervasiveness of framing effects among physicians and medical students

Researchers have been documenting the influence of framing upon decision making for more than two decades; decisions appear to change in response to superficial changes in the presentation of possible outcomes. Several studies of medical decision making have revealed; for instance, that clinical decisions differ when options are presented as gains (survival rates) rather than losses (mortality rates). However, most studies of framing effects in the medical domain have utilized a very limited number of clinical problems that have not allowed an adequate test of the prevalence of the phenomena. To extend previous studies, we presented three groups of subjects (experienced internists, residents, and third-year medical students) with booklets containing twelve hypothetical medical cases. Half of the subjects received gain versions and half received loss versions of the same cases. Chi-square analyses revealed that framing did not influence any of the decisions of medical students and influenced the decisions of residents and experienced physicians on only two of the clinical problems (the same two problems). It appears that the prevalence of framing effects in the clinical domain may be limited.     

Nausea in bulimic women in response to a palatable food

Nausea in response to an appetizing food stimulus was assessed in bulimic women and healthy control subjects. Nausea was assessed via subjects' self-report and changes in levels of plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP), a hormonal correlate of nausea. Converging evidence was obtained indicating that bulimic women experienced nausea in response to the sight, smell, or taste of the palatable food stimulus. The possibility that the observed nausea is a learned response that may contribute to the bulimic binge/purge pattern is discussed.