The development of sustained attention in children: the effect of age and task load.

This study explored how children's sustained attention develops and the effect of manipulating task parameters on sustained attention. The sample comprised 57 children (5-12 years) who completed CogState and Score! (Test of Everyday Attention for Children). Novel variability and traditional indices indicated rapid development from 5-6 to 8-9 years on all measures and a developmental plateau from 8-9 to 11-12, with growth evident on some measures. Findings suggest that sustained attention improves to age 10, then plateaus with only minor improvements. Further, performance was generally poorer on high load tasks compared to low load, with the same developmental pattern uncovered.     

Types of union participators over time: Toward a person-centered and dynamic model of participation

Previous research on union participation has been disjointed, with no clear consensus on the definition and nature of participation. Additionally, few studies have examined how participation changes over time, with those that have finding mixed results regarding its stability. We propose that these mixed and inconsistent findings are due largely to past research focusing on overall levels of participation, ignoring differences in how individuals participate. To remedy this, we adopted a person-centered approach to identify different types of union participators. Using a large sample of union members, we conducted latent transition analysis and found six union participator classes: high participators, leadership participators, formal union promoters, informal union promoters, silent supporters, and non-participators. In addition, we examined how individuals changed membership across two time points (separated by 6 years), antecedents of class membership (role tenure and union commitment), and outcomes (freerider intentions and actual financial contributions to the union's political action fund). The six classes differed uniquely, in terms of the ways people participate, changes in how people participate over time, what predicted class membership, and how class membership impacts two outcomes. The current study demonstrates that person-centered approaches can both clarify previous conflicting findings within the participation literature and predict meaningful outcomes.     

Postnatal anoxia from CO2 for one minute produces sex-specific changes in contextual fear conditioning in adult rats.

In a split-litter design, equal numbers of male and female rats were exposed either to carbon dioxide for 1 min, or to the control condition on either postnatal Days 9-10 or 17-18. At 120 days of age half the numbers of rats in each condition were given subclinical dosages of lithium (1.5 mEq/kg) and pilocarpine (15 mg/kg) or saline. 40 days later all rats were tested in a conditioned fear paradigm. A four-way analysis of variance as a function of the variables anoxia, age at the time of anoxia sex, and subclinical seizure induction indicated a significant interaction between sex and anoxic history. Post hoc analysis showed that performance of male rats exposed to the anoxic condition did not differ from normal or anoxic female rats. The results suggest that only 1 min. of preweaning anoxia may produce permanent changes in contextual fear conditioning for male but not female rats.     

The Effects of Demographic Variables and Stereotype Threat on Black/White Differences in Cognitive Ability Test Performance

The present study examined whether a set of demographic variables and stereotype threat could explain African-American/White mean differences in cognitive ability test performance. African Americans and Whites were found to significantly differ in stereotype threat and educational attainment of participants' fathers (i.e., father education). In moderate support of our study hypothesis, stereotype threat and father education partially mediated race differences in cognitive ability test scores. Implications for study findings are discussed, and limitations of the study are noted.     

What are the odds? How demographic similarity affects the prevalence of perceived employment discrimination

Because research is needed to identify the conditions that facilitate or impede the prevalence of perceived workplace discrimination, the authors examined the effects of demographics and demographic similarity on the prevalence of sex- and race/ethnicity-based perceived workplace discrimination. Results from a national survey of 763 full-time, United States employees show perceived sex-based discrimination at work was more prevalent among female than male employees, and perceived race-based discrimination at work was more prevalent among Black and Hispanic than White employees. Additionally, perceived racial/ethnic discrimination was less prevalent among those with same-race/ethnicity supervisors. The effect of employee-coworker sex similarity on perceived sex discrimination was significant only for women, and the effects of supervisor-subordinate racial similarity on the prevalence of perceived racial discrimination varied between Black and White respondents, depending on employee-residential-community racial similarity.     

Enhanced neuronal excitability in rat CA1 pyramidal neurons following trace eyeblink conditioning acquisition is not due to alterations in I M

Previous work done by our laboratory has demonstrated a reduction of the post-burst afterhyperpolarization (AHP) and accommodation following trace eyeblink conditioning in rabbit CA1 pyramidal neurons. Our laboratory has also demonstrated a reduction in the AHP in rat CA1 pyramidal neurons following spatial learning. In the current study we have extended our findings in rabbits by showing a reduction in both the AHP and accommodation in F344 X BN rat CA1 pyramidal neurons following acquisition of trace eyeblink conditioning. A component current of the AHP, I(M), was evaluated with a specific blocker of this current, and showed no apparent contribution to the learning-related increase in neuronal excitability. Rather, a reduction in an isoproterenol-sensitive component of the AHP, presumably sI(AHP), was observed to underlie the learning-specific change.     

Introduction to the Special Series: Clinical Applications of the Inhibitory Learning Model

Exposure therapies (ETs) are treatments of choice for a number of mental health disorders, particularly anxiety and associated conditions, and problems due to avoidance. Exposure has received broad empirical support as a primary intervention. Recent efforts have focused on improving the efficacy and acceptability of exposure-based treatments. As proposed by Craske etal. (2014), strategies to improve ETs based on the inhibitory learning model have shown notable promise. However, surveys suggest that clinicians continue to avoid ETs, or implement them in a manner that interrupts their efficacy. In this special series, articles focus on specific inhibitory learning strategies in exposure, and their adaptation to multiple patient populations. The aim of the special series is to critically assess the research support for inhibitory learning approaches to exposure, and provide guidance for clinicians to implement these strategies in everyday practice.     

Models of misbelief: Integrating motivational and deficit theories of delusions

The impact of our desires and preferences upon our ordinary, everyday beliefs is well-documented [Gilovich, T. (1991). How we know what isn’t so: The fallibility of human reason in everyday life. New York: The Free Press.]. The influence of such motivational factors on delusions, which are instances of pathological misbelief, has tended however to be neglected by certain prevailing models of delusion formation and maintenance. This paper explores a distinction between two general classes of theoretical explanation for delusions; the motivational and the deficit. Motivational approaches view delusions as extreme instances of self-deception; as defensive attempts to relieve pain and distress. Deficit approaches, in contrast, view delusions as the consequence of defects in the normal functioning of belief mechanisms, underpinned by neuroanatomical or neurophysiological abnormalities. It is argued that although there are good reasons to be sceptical of motivational theories (particularly in their more floridly psychodynamic manifestations), recent experiments confirm that motives are important causal forces where delusions are concerned. It is therefore concluded that the most comprehensive account of delusions will involve a theoretical unification of both motivational and deficit approaches.     

Behavioral avoidance tests and disgust in contamination fears: distinctions from trait anxiety

Much of the existing literature examining the role of disgust is limited to specific phobia. Recent research has begun to examine the role of disgust in contamination fear, a subtype of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Through the use of behavioral avoidance tasks (BATs), the current study was designed to examine the role of disgust in people with contamination fears, with attention to distinguishing high and low trait anxiety. From a large screening of undergraduate students, three groups were formed based on their level of contamination fear and level of trait anxiety: contamination fearful ( n = 12 ), high-trait anxiety ( n = 11 ), and low trait anxiety ( n = 15 ). Subjects were asked to engage in six different BATs corresponding to six domains of disgust (food, animals, body products, body envelope violations, death, and sympathetic magic). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant differences between the contamination fearful group and the high trait anxiety group on the animal and sympathetic magic BATs. Significant differences on the food, animal, body envelope violations, and death BATs were also found between the contamination fearful group and the low-trait anxious group. The findings modestly support the importance of disgust in contamination fears. Implications for the study of disgust in contamination fear are provided.     

Family-level impact of the CHAMP Family Program: a community collaborative effort to support urban families and reduce youth HIV risk exposure

This article presents family-level results from an ongoing study examining the impact of the CHAMP (Chicago HIV prevention and Adolescent Mental health Project) Family Program, a family-based HIV preventative intervention meant to reduce the amount of time spent in situations of sexual possibility and delay initiation of sexual activity for urban youth in the 4th and 5th grades living in neighborhoods with high rates of HIV infection. The CHAMP Family Program has been developed, delivered, and overseen by a collaborative partnership, consisting of community parents, school staff, community-based agency representatives, and university-based researchers. Design of the program was informed by input from this collaborative partnership, child developmental theory of sexual risk, and empirical data gathered from the targeted community. This article presents findings that suggest CHAMP Family Program impact on family communication, family decision-making, and family-level influences hypothesized to be related to later adolescent HIV risk. Implications for future family-based HIV prevention research are discussed here.