Psychologists and alcoholic women

Alcoholism among women often has been treated using a model based on research with alcoholic men. Women react differently to alcohol than men both physiologically and psychologically and their drinking patterns are different from men's. Treatment facilities for alcoholism have not been as available for women as for men and treatment must be individualized for the differences between men and women problem drinkers and for the differences among alcoholic women.     

Teenage depression: a cultural-interpersonal-intrapsychic perspective

The "crossroads families" are caught between old value systems and American mainstream goals. Traditional family and sex-related roles and orientations conflict with those of the new social system. In turn, neither of the teenager's orientations--toward home or toward peer activity--is validated. In the clinical case presented, Anna, at adolescence, wants to relinquish many of her household chores and enter her social world more fully. She needs unconflictual support for such a move. If this does not take place, her autonomous movement represents an unconscious betrayal of her depleted and controlling mother as well as an abandonment of the parental coalition. This leaves her feeling resentful, guilty, and ultimately unlovable. Attitudes marked by helplessness and confusion are thus significant to the depressed affect that brings this teenager into family therapy. Teenagers of non-Hispanic background who enter family therapy reveal gross overlap with teenagers of the Hispanic "crossroads" family model. Here, the family gives mixed messages for homebound and intimate closeness as well as accomplishment in the societal mainstream. A primary difference between ethnic groups involves the freer expressions of anger and pain between husband and wife in the non-Hispanic families. This is not similar to the backgrounds of the more individuated Hispanic teenagers. While more open expressions of anger within the family do indicate higher levels of autonomy, the hostility that is expressed by the parents presents serious complications when this includes "triangulating" the child into the family tension. Here, as cited, the mother often uses her daughter as a confidant and ally at times of severe parental discord. This places additional strain on the child's conflict with separation. Importantly, the daughter experiences renewed rejection and betrayal when the mother "submits" to her spouse. These are significant family processes that heighten mixed messages around autonomy. Milagros, a depressed (more individuated) adolescent, is consistently entangled into her parent's abrasive relationship. Her interpersonal family struggles have become intrapsychic and, ultimately, transferential.     

Hair mineral analysis: biochemical imbalances and violent criminal behavior

Trace mineral analysis of human hair was utilized to determine whether violent and nonviolent criminals could be differentiated on the basis of concentrations of levels of major and trace minerals. 40 violent and 40 nonviolent inmates from a prison population were selected for study. 27 mineral levels were analyzed and a discriminant function analysis correctly classified 86% of the violent and 78% of the nonviolent inmates. The results lent support to the hypothesis that significantly different levels of trace minerals could be found between the two groups.     

Hypnotic susceptibility and its relationship to outcome in the behavioral treatment of asthma: some preliminary data

12 subjects from an experiment on relaxation therapy for asthma were given the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. Full scale hypnotic susceptibility scores were positively correlated, at a borderline significance, with improvement in the methacholine challenge test, a measure of asthma severity. Performance on the amnesia item of the Harvard Group Scale was correlated with improvement in self-reported symptoms of asthma.     

The psychophysics of the pursuit oculomotor system

When a fixation point moves under a row of identical targets at a speed of one target for each flash of a strobe, smooth apparent movement of the targets is seen (the "picket-fence illusion"). When the fixation point is removed, the eye continues to pursue the apparent target movement. Pursuit continues through small changes in target configuration, but is interrupted by a change to a very dissimilar target (such as 1 vs. x) in the middle of a row. This new method, the "pursuit-interruption method," showed that large differences in the number of pixels in a line did not interrupt tracking if the end points of the line were preserved. Pursuit interruption by changes in line orientation (such as /vs./) corresponded to the orientation bandwidth of orientation-sensitive cortical neurons. The maximum number of consecutive missing targets that does not interrupt pursuit depends on frequency of target presentation as well as on parameters of the pursuit system.     

Secondary enuresis in institutionalized conduct-disordered children

The incidence of secondary enuresis in 16 institutionalized conduct-disordered children was examined. In contrast to a control group of 16 noninstitutionalized conduct-disordered children, the former showed significantly more enuretic behaviour. Also, enuresis began within 6 mo. of the children's separation from their families, suggesting this problem is very likely related to the emotional trauma surrounding the change in living conditions. However, the small number of subjects limits further interpretation of the findings.     

A model of perceptual classification in children and adults

The developmental trend from overall-similarity to dimensional-identity classifications is explained by a quantitative model. I begin with the assumption that objects are represented in terms of constituent dimensions and that the representation of objects changes little with development. Given this assumption, the model has three major parts. First, the similarity between objects is a function of the combination of the constituent dimensional differences. I propose developmental change in the likelihood that dimensions are differentially weighted in the calculation of similarity. Second, the perceived similarities between objects are valued for the purpose of constructing classifications. I propose that similarities are valued more dichotomously with age, such that identity becomes increasingly special. Third, the valued similarities are used to choose the best classification of those possible. The model provides good qualitative fits to the extant data. Three experiments examining classifications in 2- to 8-year-olds and in adults support specific new claims of the model. The data and the model provide new insights about development, classification, and similarity.     

Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity and methylphenidate: The effects of dose and mastery level on children's learning performance

This investigation examined the relationship between methylphenidate (MPH) and the learning and recall of paired associations by children with attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH). Forty-five children with ADDH were randomly assigned to one of three groups (novel, partial mastery, and mastery learning) that varied in the amount of previous learning of paired associations and participated in a double-blind, placebo-control, repeated-measures-across-dose (crossover) design. Each child received four doses of MPH (5 mg, 10 mg, 15 mg, and 20 mg) and a placebo in a random, counterbalanced sequence. The results indicated that both the rate of acquisition and accuracy in learning paired associations were significantly, but differentially, affected by MPH dose and the degree of learning mastery. The implications of these results for psychopharmacological research and the monitoring of psychostimulant effects on children's learning performance in academic settings are discussed.The authors wish to acknowledge and express their sincere appreciation to the graduate and undergraduate student members of the Children's Learning Clinic.     

Altering memory through recall: The effects of cue-guided retrieval processing

Three experiments were designed to investigate the influence of initial recall on memory by assessing delayed recall after different immediate cued-recall tests. In all experiments, subjects performed semantic and phonemic encoding tasks on a word list. The subjects then received a cued-recall test that cued the target using the same word as the context word in the encoding task, a test that cued the target with a word from the same level at which the target was encoded, a test that cued the target with a cue from a different level at which the target was encoded, or no immediate-recall test. One day later, the subjects performed a final cued-recall test in which the type of cue (semantic or phonemic) was varied. Consistently, delayed recall was facilitated primarily when the cue on the immediate test was from the same level as the cue on the delayed test. This pattern of facilitation suggests that immediate cued-recall produces an elaboration of an existing memory representation that is closely tied to the type of cue used on the immediate test.