Motor and cognitive control in a normative sample of 7‐year‐olds

The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between cognitive and motor control by correlating individual performance on a variety of complex tasks in a normative sample of over 100 7‐year‐olds. While there are a few studies including children with specific developmental disorders (i.e. ADHD and DCD) showing that they share similar comorbid deficits, it is still unclear whether control processes share variance in normative samples. Results presented here reveal on the one hand that some aspects of cognitive and motor control are significantly interrelated, even when controlling for age. On the other hand, individuals’ ability to efficiently respond to the speed and accuracy demands of any of the included tasks appeared to constitute an important aspect of executive functioning.     

Age variation in the prevalence of DSM-IV disorders in cases of suicide of middle-aged and older persons in Sydney

Data concerning 127 persons aged 35 years or above who died by suicide (as determined in consecutive cases by a Sydney coroner) were analyzed. Psychological autopsy (PA) interviews were conducted in 52 cases, and details were compared with the 75 cases where data were available only from coroner's files (CF). Most characteristics of the two groups were similar, although more CF suicide victims were of Asian background and unable to speak English fluently. Consensus diagnoses were reached following detailed discussion about PA and CF cases. Logistic regression showed no significant difference between age-groups in the proportion diagnosed with major depression, which contrasts with the results of an earlier U.S. study.     

Perceived punishment and reward values of supervisor actions

The study investigated employee perceptions about the reward or punishment values inherent in a variety of supervisor actions. Actions viewed as most rewarding were generally actions that possessed (a) public visibility, (b) tangibility, (c) implied esteem, and (d) long-term implications. Actions viewed as punishing or aversive involved similar characteristics. Visibility appeared to be most strongly related to perceived severity. In contrast with suggestions in the literature (cf. León, 1981), substantial levels of agreement among raters were found for aversive as well as rewarding actions. Also reviewed are characteristics of leader actions that received mixed ratings from respondents.     

Are women always more interpersonally sensitive than men? Impact of goals and content domain

Two studies examined motivation and content domain as possible influences on sex differences in interpersonal sensitivity. Although much research has found women to excel on tasks measuring interpersonal sensitivity, most of the tasks have measured accuracy in female-relevant domains such as emotion. The present studies measured interpersonal sensitivity, defined as accurate recall of another person, for both female-relevant and male-relevant content domains and also included motivational manipulations intended to influence men and women differently. Study 1 measured accuracy of recalling information in a written vignette about a person, and Study 2 measured accuracy of recalling details about an interaction partner. Both studies supported hypotheses about domain specificity and gender-relevant motivation. However, even for male-stereotypic content and for tasks framed to favor men's motivation to perform well, men's accuracy never exceeded women's.     

Effects of multiple exposures to D-cycloserine on extinction of conditioned fear in rats

Previous research has shown that an acute, post-training injection of D-cycloserine (DCS) facilitates extinction of conditioned fear in rats; however, the effects of multiple exposures to DCS in this situation are not known. In Experiment 1, rats were conditioned (light-shock pairings) and 24 h later given six extinction (light-alone) trials followed by an injection of DCS (15 mg/kg) or saline. The next day, all rats were tested for light-elicited freezing. In Experiment 2, the effect of DCS on extinction was tested in the same manner, except that rats were pre-exposed to DCS (0, 1, or 5 injections) just prior to conditioning. In Experiment 3, rats received five pre-exposures of DCS but conditioning occurred either 2 or 28 days after the last pre-exposure. The results showed that DCS facilitated extinction of conditioned freezing to the light CS when no drug pre-exposure had occurred, but pre-exposure to DCS just prior to conditioning disrupted the facilitation of extinction effect. When 28 days were interposed between pre-exposure and conditioning, the facilitatory effects of DCS on extinction were restored. These findings suggest that DCS has significant clinical value but that behavioral desensitization may occur with multiple exposures; however, desensitization is not permanent and is reduced by the passage of time.     

Mood effects on emotion recognition

Mood affects memory and social judgments. However, findings are inconsistent with regard to how mood affects emotion recognition: For sad moods, general performance decrements in emotion recognition have been reported, as well as an emotion specific bias, such as better recognition of sad facial expressions compared to happy expressions (negative bias). Far less research has been conducted on the influence of happy moods on emotion recognition. We primed 93 participants with happy, sad, or neutral moods and had them perform an emotion recognition task. Results showed a negative bias for participants in sad moods and a positive bias for participants in happy moods. Sad and happy moods hampered the recognition of mood-incongruent expressions; the recognition of mood-congruent expressions was not affected by moods.     

Culturally Competent Family Interventions: Review and Case Illustrations

Family therapy is often the treatment of choice for culturally diverse clients. This article provides a critical review of culturally competent assessment and intervention strategies for use with ethnic minority families in the U.S. A culturally informed view of the definition of family health and dysfunction is presented, basic structure and goals of family therapy are delineated, and family therapy process and techniques are addressed. Clinical vignettes are provided to illustrate critical points.     

Proprioceptive impairment and postural orientation control in Parkinson's disease

Impairment of postural control is a common consequence of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Increasing evidences demonstrate that the pathophysiology of postural disorders in PD includes deficits in proprioceptive processing and integration. However, the nature of these deficits has not been thoroughly examined. We propose to establish a link between proprioceptive impairments and postural deficits in PD using two different experimental approaches manipulating proprioceptive information. In the first one, the subjects stood on a platform that tilted slowly with oscillatory angular movements in the frontal or sagittal planes. The amplitude and frequency of these movements were kept below the semicircular canal perception threshold. Subjects were asked to maintain vertical body posture with and without vision. The orientations of body segments were analyzed. In the second one, the postural control was tested using the tendon-vibration method, which is known to generate illusory movement sensations and postural reactions. Vibrations were applied to ankle muscles. The subject’s whole-body motor responses were analyzed from center of pressure displacements.In the first experiment, the parkinsonian patients (PP) were unable to maintain the vertical trunk orientation without vision. Their performances with vision improved, without fully reaching the level of control subjects (CS). In the second experiment, the postural reactions of the PP were similar to those of the CS at the beginning of the perturbation and increased drastically at the end of the perturbation’s period as compared to those of CS and could induce fall.These results will bring new concepts to the sensorimotor postural control, to the physiopathology of posture, equilibrium and falls in PD and to the role of basal ganglia pathways in proprioception integration. Nevertheless, in order to assess precisely the role played by sensorimotor integration deficits in postural impairments in PD, further studies establishing the links between clinical features and abnormalities are now required.     

Reflections

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -