Why do High IQ Societies Differ in Intellectual Achievement? The Role of Schizophrenia and Left-Handedness in Per Capita Scientific Publications and Nobel Prizes

Previous research has attempted to understand why countries with relatively favorable conditions and high estimated average IQs (such as Finland and Japan) have a relatively low per capita number of scientific Nobel prizes. In the present study, we examine whether there is a relationship between national schizophrenia and left-handedness prevalence, on the one hand, and per capita scientific and literary achievement, on the other hand, in countries with IQ estimates of at least 90. We found that per capita science and literature Nobel prizes and scientific publications are strongly negatively associated with schizophrenia and strongly positively correlated with left-handedness. There also was a very pronounced negative correlation between schizophrenia rate and left-handedness rate. These results suggest that genius can be regarded as a combination of very high IQ, aspects of high-functioning autism (specifically low empathy) plus relatively low impulse control, consistent with observations of intellectually outstanding individuals, and the fact that schizophrenia appears to constitute the opposite pole of these aspects of autism spectrum. We posit differences in androgen levels as a possible underlying explanation for these findings.     

Functional and connectivity changes during working memory in Huntington’s disease: 18 month longitudinal data from the IMAGE-HD study

Background

This study aimed to characterize, for the first time, 18 month longitudinal changes in both functional activation and functional connectivity during working memory in premanifest Huntington’s disease (pre-HD) and symptomatic HD (symp-HD).

Methods

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate longitudinal changes in neuronal activity during working memory performance via an N-BACK task (0-BACK and 1-BACK) in 27 pre-HD, 17 symp-HD, and 23 control participants. Whole-brain analysis of activation and region-of-interest analysis of functional connectivity was applied to longitudinal fMRI data collected at baseline and 18 months follow-up.

Results

Compared with controls, the pre-HD group showed significantly increased activation longitudinally during 1-BACK versus 0-BACK in the lateral and medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, primary motor, and temporal areas cortically, and caudate and putamen subcortically. Pre-HD far from onset, compared with controls, showed further longitudinal increases in the right and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Longitudinal increased activation in anterior cingulate and medial primary motor areas were associated with disease burden in the pre-HD group. Moreover, in pre-HD increased activation over time in primary motor and putamen regions were associated with average response time during 1-BACK performance. During 1-BACK, functional connectivity between the right DLPFC and posterior parietal, anterior cingulate, and caudate was significantly reduced over 18 months only in the pre-HD group.

Conclusions

Longitudinal reductions in connectivity over 18 months may represent an early signature of cortico-cortical and cortico-striatal functional disconnectivity in pre-HD, whereas the concomitant increased cortical and subcortical activation may reflect a compensatory response to the demands for cognitive resources required during task performance. Our findings demonstrate that functional imaging modalities have the potential to serve as sensitive methods for the assessment of cortical and subcortical responses to future treatment measures.     

A Review of Research-Based Interventions on Marriage Preparation

This review concentrates on three widely used marriage preparation inventories and a group of smaller, well-researched couple questionnaires used by an extensively researched marriage preparation program. The three inventories included are Facilitating Open Couples Communication Understanding and Study, Premarital Preparation and Relationship Enhancement, and Relationship Evaluation Questionnaire. The review describes the context in which the tools were developed, their similarities and differences and psychometric properties, and research regarding their relation to relationship outcomes. Further research is needed to determine the effect of using a pre-marriage inventory, alone or in conjunction with facilitated discussion and/or other marriage preparation activities, on long-term marital stability and satisfaction.     

On Shame – In Response to Dan Zahavi,Self and Other

Abstract

In chapter 14 of Zahavi’s recent book, Self and Other, the notion of shame is discussed. In feeling shame one experiences oneself as experienced by others. For Sartre, that experience in itself is sufficient for shame, as one experiences oneself as determined in the experience of others and hence as shamefully not self-determining. But Zahavi introduces an extra condition for shame, which is a ‘global decrease in self-esteem’. This paper questions the need for this condition and argues that seeing oneself as shameful in the eyes of others needs to be spelt out in a pragmatist way in terms of certain shame-involving practices rather than in a purely phenomenological way.     

The Impact of Evidence-Based Practices on Requests for Out-of-Home Placements in the Context of System Reform

Beginning in January 2001 and continuing through April 2008 New Jersey completed statewide implementation of the basic infrastructure of a system of care (SOC) for child and adolescent behavioral health services. In 2008, the state began to enhance its service infrastructure through a large scale implementation of two community-based treatment programs that have been recognized as evidence-based: multisystemic therapy (MST) and functional family therapy (FFT). Multiple evaluations for both therapies have assessed the efficacy of the interventions at the client level. Using interrupted time series analysis, we evaluated the impact of the addition of these new treatment options to New Jersey’s SOC on a system level outcome: statewide requests for out-of-home placements. Results indicate a significant reduction in requests for out-of-home placements associated with the implementation of MST and FFT and a net overall savings to the state.