A cross-sequential analysis of developmental differences in speed of visual information processing

Development of processing speed was examined in three backward masking studies. The first verified the central nature of backward masking for children aged 8 and 11 years and for adults. The second suggested that task requirements were equivalent for children similar to those in Study 1, and that age differences in performance were not attributable to nonprocessing variables. The main cross-sequential study estimated speed of processing in 80 children (approximately 6 years to 13 years) and young adults using an inspection time task. Target exposure duration was varied to establish the time required to achieve a high level of discriminative accuracy. Estimates of processing speed increased until about 11-13 years of age; beyond this, the trend was less obvious, and it is possible that inspection time asymptotes at around the onset of adolescence. Performance improvement after 1 year could not be explained as resulting from practice since improvement among controls over a period of 2 weeks was significantly less. Correlations between estimates of inspection time made up to 2 years apart found the measure to be reliable.     

Developmental changes in the attribution of dispositional features

It was hypothesized (1) that with age children would rely increasingly upon information about intention, rather than overt behavior, when attributing dispositional features to others; and (2) that, developmentally, “restricted” dispositional attributions (i.e., those that assume the operation of highly specific situation-response relationships) would precede “generalized” dispositional attributions (which assume the operation of a dispositional concept between broad classes of situations and responses). An experiment is reported that provides support for the first, though not the second, of these hypotheses.     

Boundary disturbance in borderline and psychotic states

This study examines evidence for boundary disturbances in depressive, borderline, and schizophrenic hospitalized inpatients. Certain thought disorder signs on the Rorschach are reconceptualized as indices of boundary formation, which is defined as the capacity to create particular distinctions along wome bipolar coordinate of experience where previously no distinction was possible, and which defines each cluster of experience through a maintenance of differential functioning. The borderline group scored significantly high on the indices of laxness and moderately severe inner-outer boundary formation. The schizophrenic group scored significantly higher on indices of self-other and somewhat higher on severe inner-outer boundary disturbance. Schizophrenics may be organized at a level of self-other boundary formation which subsumes inner-outer boundary formation, while the borderline group is organized at a level of inner-outer boundary formation.     

Antidepressant treatment of children: clinical relapse is unrelated to tricyclic plasma concentrations

Plasma concentrations of imipramine and amitriptyline and their desmethylated metabolites were measured in 20 children being treated for major depressive illness 2 wk. and 5 to 10 wk. after achieving drug dosages of 2.25 mg/kg body weight. At 2 wk. all children had exhibited clinical improvement, but by 10 wk. 4 of the 10 children treated with imipramine and 5 of the 10 children treated with amitriptyline had experienced clinical relapse of depressive symptoms. Tricyclic antidepressant plasma concentrations and ratios were comparable in the subgroups of children who maintained their clinical improvement and those who relapsed. There was no evidence of a systematic decline in plasma tricyclic antidepressant concentrations in those children who relapsed.     

Adaptation and vulnerability in high-risk adolescents: An examination of environmental mediators

The relationship of characteristics of the social environment to the adaptation of adolescents from high-risk predisposing environments was examined. Specifically, the degree to which adolescents' perceptions of various dimensions of their family and school environment as well as sources of social support related to differential levels of personal well-being and academic adjustment was explored. Multiple regression analyses revealed differences in the salience of the dimensions of the social environment as a function of the particular sphere of functioning under consideration. Implications of the findings for developing a model for understanding the relative vulnerability of individuals at risk as well as of the design of preventive interventions are discussed.