Long-term sensitization training primes Aplysia for further learning

Repetitive, unilateral stimulation of Aplysia induces long-term sensitization (LTS) of ipsilaterally elicited siphon-withdrawal responses. Whereas some morphological effects of training appear only on ipsilateral sensory neurons, others appear bilaterally. We tested the possibility that contralateral morphological modifications may have functional significance. Therefore, we examined whether LTS training primes subsequent sensitization. Twenty-four hours after LTS training the effects of brief shock treatment (BST) were examined. BST failed to sensitize animals that had previously received either 4-d control treatment or 4-d ipsilateral LTS training. In contrast, BST did sensitize animals that had previously received 4-d contralateral LTS training, suggesting the presence of a latent trace that primes the animal for further learning.     

Community health nurses' knowledge of, attitudes toward, and involvement with adolescent contraceptive services

A national sample of community health nurses were surveyed to assess their knowledge of, attitudes toward, and involvement with reproductive health services. Results indicated that slightly more than half of the nurses provided or administered contraceptive services to adolescents, although 73% worked in settings where contraceptive services were provided to adolescents. However, only 3.6% indicated that adolescents were their primary client population. The majority (64.3%) stated that they felt as prepared to work with adolescents as they did with adult clients. While 98% were aware that most adolescents are sexually active before seeking family planning services, a minority correctly answered questions about pregnancy and contraception among adolescents. Ninety-five percent agreed that contraceptives should be available to adolescents, and 90% agreed that parental consent should not be required for adolescents seeking contraceptive services. Yet only 21.5% were aware of the implications of the Adolescent Family Life Act.     

Naturalistic memory in learning-disabled and skilled readers

Three experiments compared learning-disabled and skilled readers' performance on naturalistic memory measures, as well as investigated the relationship between memory performance on everyday and laboratory tasks. In Experiment 1, the laboratory task (sentence span task) and everyday memory measures were correlated moderately for both ability groups. Compared to skilled readers, disabled readers performed poorly on the sentence span task, and were less likely than skilled readers to remember information related to common objects and consequential events. Disabled readers were also less likely to rely on external prompts to help them recall everyday information. Experiment 2 extended the previous findings to older subjects and found that the majority of significant correlations between the laboratory (word span task) and everyday memory tasks were isolated to disabled readers. When compared to chronological-age-matched subjects, disabled readers were inferior in recency performance on the laboratory (word span) and natural serial recall (e.g., recall of U.S. presidents) tasks. Experiment 3 showed that under conditions that facilitate item accessibility, ability group differences in recall were comparable. Taken together, the findings indicate that disabled readers' memory deficits are pervasive across naturalistic and laboratory measures at the younger age, but these deficits diminish for older students. Further, the deficits that occur at the older age are due to problems in accessing knowledge.     

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ): the Factor Structure and Scale Validation in U.S. Adolescents

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is one of the most commonly used instruments for screening psychopathology in children and adolescents. This study evaluated the hypothesized five-factor structure of the SDQ and examined its convergent validity against comprehensive clinical diagnostic assessments. Data were derived from the National Comorbidity Survey - Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A), a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents aged 13 to 18 years. Parents/parent surrogates (n=6,483) was asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire including the SDQ and DSM-IV comprehensive diagnostic information on the participating adolescents. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess the factor structure of the SDQ. The five-factor solution of the SDQ (including emotional, conduct, hyperactivity-inattention, peer relationship, and prosocial) provided a satisfactory fit to the data, and was invariant across sex, age, race/ethnicity and income subgroups. SDQ scores predicted a significantly increased probability of meeting criteria for a DSM-IV disorder, with better prediction for behavior disorders than for mood disorders. Decreasing the SDQ cutoffs to the 80th percentile significantly increased the sensitivity from 39% to 63% for the SDQ Total Difficulties Score, with an expected decrease in specificity from 93% to 87%. This work confirms the five-factor structure of the SDQ in an ethnically and sociodemogrpahically diverse community sample of adolescents. Our findings strengthen empirical evidence for the use of the parent-reported SDQ as a screening tool for DSM-IV behavioral and emotional disorders in adolescents identified in the general population.     

Master's Level Training in Industrial/Organizational Psychology: Does It Meet the SIOP Guidelines?

In order to assess the extent to which terminal master's level I/O programs were consistent with Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) guidelines, recent graduates of master's level I/O and related programs were surveyed. The survey focused on the competency areas emphasized in the SIOP (1994) guidelines: data collection and analysis competencies, core I/O competencies, and additional I/O competencies. Participants in the survey provided their perceptions of the coverage of the various competencies in graduate school as well as the importance of these competencies in their current jobs. The results of the survey show that current master's level programs are generally consistent with the guidelines. Both data collection/data analysis competencies and core I/O competencies were perceived as having been well covered. Further, these same competencies were for the most part seen as important in the participants' current jobs.     

Individual differences in the ability to focus and divide attention

This research deals with individual differences in the ability to focus and divide attention. Eighty-five subjects performed visual search and auditory detection tasks in three conditions: single channel, focused attention, and divided attention. Reaction time (RT) was fastest in the single channel condition, intermediate in the focused attention condition, and longest in the divided attention condition, and these effects were much stronger in the auditory than the visual task. Correlations among RTs in the three conditions were very high within modality (>.88), and lower between modalities (.5 to .6). The correlational data was well fit by a model that included separate factors for the visual and auditory tasks. Measures from the three attentional conditions within each modality loaded equally on these factors. The data provided no evidence for distinct abilities to divide or focus attention.     

Individual differences in long-term memory access

In a study of individual differences in long-term memory access, university undergraduates verified (1) whether an item was a member of a category, (2) whether two items belonged to the same category, and (3) whether two words had the same name. Reaction times from these tasks were correlated with verbal ability, as measured by performance on a standardized test of vocabulary and reading comprehension. A relationship was found between verbal ability and reaction time in the verification tasks. These results are contrasted with those of Hogaboam and Pellegrino (1978), who failed to find such a relationship. The results indicated that the various reaction time measures form a single factor that bears a moderate relationship to reading and vocabulary measures.     

The effect of parental modeling of anxious behaviors and cognitions in school-aged children: An experimental pilot study

The current study tested: (1) the impact of parental modeling of anxious behaviors and cognitions on child anxiety level, anxious cognitions, desired avoidance, and objective performance using an experimental paradigm; and (2) whether the impact of parental modeling of anxious behaviors and cognitions differed by parent gender. Twenty-five parents (a random selection of 12 male and 13 female parents) participated with one of their children (ages 8-12 years; 56.0% male; 76.0% Caucasian). All children experienced two test conditions: an anxious condition in which their parent was trained to act anxiously before a planned spelling test and a non-anxious condition in which their parent was trained to act in a relaxed and confident manner before a planned spelling test. Results showed that, regardless of parent gender, children endorsed higher anxiety levels, anxious cognitions, and desired avoidance of the spelling test in the anxious relative to the non-anxious condition. Parental modeling of anxiety did not affect child spelling performance. Significant interaction effects indicated that fathers had a stronger impact on child anxiety level and cognitions than did mothers. Results highlight the importance of parental modeling and the potential role of both mothers and fathers in prevention and treatment for child anxiety.