Patients’ Attitudes Towards Disclosure of Genetic Test Results to Family Members: The Impact of Patients’ Sociodemographic Background and Counseling Experience

Many factors predict the intention to disclose genetic information to relatives. The article examines the impact of patients’ socio-demographic factors on their intention to disclose genetic testing results to their relatives. Data were collected in eight genetic clinics in Israel. Patients were requested to fill in a questionnaire after counseling. A convenience sample of 564 participants who visited these clinics was collected for a response rate of 85 %. Of them, 282 participants came for susceptibility testing for hereditary cancers (cancer group), and 282 for genetic screening tests (prenatal group). In the cancer group, being secular and having more years of education correlated positively with the intention to disclose test results to relatives. In the prenatal group, being married and female correlated positively with the intention to disclose. In the cancer group, being religious and with less years of education correlated positively with the view that the clinician should deliver the results to the family. In the prenatal group, being male and unmarried correlated positively with this belief. In both groups, being of young age correlated with the perception that genetic information is private. Varied sociodemographic factors affect the intention to inform family members. Thus, knowing the social background of patients will shed light on people’s attitudes to genetic information and will help clinicians provide effective counseling in discussions with patients about the implications of test results for relatives.     

Visual routines for extracting magnitude relations

Linking relations described in text with relations in visualizations is often difficult. We used eye tracking to measure the optimal way to extract such relations in graphs, college students, and young children (6- and 8-year-olds). Participants compared relational statements (“Are there more blueberries than oranges?”) with simple graphs, and two systematic patterns emerged: eye movements that followed the verbal order of the question (inspecting the “blueberry” value first) versus those that followed a left-first bias (regardless of the left value’s identity). Question-order patterns led substantially to faster responses and increased in prevalence with age, whereas the left-first pattern led to far slower responses and was the dominant strategy for younger children. We argue that the optimal way to verify a verbally expressed relation’s consistency with visualization is for the eyes to mimic the verbal ordering but that this strategy requires executive control and coordination with language.     

Sedentary antlion larvae (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae) use vibrational cues to modify their foraging strategies

Learning abilities are exhibited by many animals, including insects. However, sedentary species are typically believed to have low capacities and requirements for learning. Despite this view, recent studies show that even such inconspicuous organisms as larval antlions, which employ an ambush predation strategy, are capable of learning, although their learning abilities are rather simple, i.e., limited to the association of vibrational cues with the arrival of prey. This study demonstrates, for the first time, that antlion larvae can use vibrational cues for complex modifications of their foraging strategies. Specifically, antlion larvae rapidly learn to differentiate between the vibrational cues associated with prey of different sizes, and they save resources by ignoring smaller prey in favour of larger, more energetically profitable prey. Moreover, antlion larvae can learn to associate vibrational cues with the loss of their prey, and they respond by burying their victims under the sand more often and more rapidly than do individuals with no opportunities to form such associations. These findings provide not only new insights into the cognitive abilities of animals but also support for the optimal foraging strategy concept, suggesting the importance of maximizing fitness output by balancing the costs and benefits of alternative foraging strategies.     

Zur Prävalenz von Depersonalisation und Derealisation in der stationären Psychotherapie

Depersonalization (DP) and derealization (DR) remain poorly recognized in clinical routine. Active exploration through structured interviews is strongly recommended, because patients rarely describe spontaneously their experiences with DP/DR. 143 psychosomatic, first-admission inpatients were interviewed about the 1-month prevalence of DP/DR using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV dissociative disorders. Additionally, the German questionnaires of the Cambridge Depersonalization Scale, the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the SCL-90-R and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems were used. In the sample we found a prevalence of 23.1% (N=33) for depersonalization-derealization syndrom (ICD-10 F48.1) and 7% (N=10) for secondary pathological DP/DR. A total percentage of 62.9% reported DP/DR to some degree or other. There was a noticeably high co-occurrence of anxiety disorders in patients with pathological DP/DR. Patients with pathological DP/DR were generally more impaired, suffered many more interpersonal problems and were particularly characterized by introversion. Considering the high prevalence of this phenomenon, more attention should be paid to DP/DR in routine diagnostic procedures, treatment and research.     

The Feeling of Not Knowing It All

How do consumers assess their mastery of knowledge they have learned? We explore this question by investigating a common knowledge consumption situation: encountering opportunities for further learning. We argue and show that such opportunities can trigger a feeling‐of‐not‐knowing‐it‐all (FONKIA), which lowers consumers’ confidence in their mastery of the knowledge they already possess. Specifically, listing optional follow‐up readings at the conclusion of a course lowered students’ confidence in their mastery of the course material they had already learned (Study 1). Encountering an optional learning opportunity increased the FONKIA, which mediated the decreased confidence (Studies 2 and 3). We also document two moderators consistent with our conceptualization. First, participants primed with mastery (vs. instrumental) motivation were more negatively impacted when they encountered optional learning opportunities. Second, the more related the optional opportunities were to the target topic, the lower participants’ confidence in their mastery of what they had already learned. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings, such as encouraging further learning or harming teaching evaluations.     

Balance Performance During Perturbed Standing Is Not Associated With Muscle Strength and Power in Young Adults

The authors investigate the ways in which varied postural responses to translating platform perturbations are associated with the variables of strength and power. Twenty-four physically active and 27 sedentary young adults were exposed to a set of postural perturbations at varied velocities (10 and 20 cm/s) and the respective accelerations (6.4 and 6.9 m/s²), constant distance (6 cm), and 4 directions of platform motion (forward, backward, left-lateral, and right-lateral). They also performed maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVC) and chair rising/chair jumping tests. The analysis of variance revealed significant interaction effect for peak center of pressure displacement, direction by velocity: F_3,129 = 24.43, p = .002; and direction by acceleration: F_3,129 = 34.18, p = .001. There were no significant correlations between peak center of pressure displacements and peak force and peak rate of force development measured during MVC in either standing (r = .27–57) or sitting positions (r = .12–51) and peak power during chair jumping (r = .47–.59) in all participants. As such, only a small proportion of variance was explained (9–39%, 3–23%, and 23–41%, respectively). In conclusion, interaction effects indicate that the composition of stimuli strongly influences compensatory responses and this effect is more pronounced in sedentary than in physically active young adults. Nevertheless, the dynamic balance is not associated with muscle strength and power in either group.     

Life With a Partner with ADHD: The Moderating Role of Intimacy

Adult attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) manifests itself through a variety of symptoms, some of which affect not only occupational and recreational activities but also intimate relationships. Previous findings have focused on the effects of adult ADHD on intimacy and relationships from the ADHD diagnosed person’s point of view. However, spouses of people with ADHD are a neglected population with regard to the effects that ADHD has on their romantic relationships. Our aim was to assess the effects of being married to a spouse with ADHD on marital relationships, and the moderating role of intimacy. We compared healthy spouses of people with ADHD to healthy spouses of healthy adults (M?=?38.23, SD?=?4.78) in their degree of self-reported intimacy and marital satisfaction. Our findings indicate that spouses of individuals with ADHD report significantly lower intimacy and lower marital satisfaction compared to spouses of individuals without ADHD. Moreover, our findings indicate that spousal reports about their degree of intimacy mediate the relationships between their spouses’ ADHD and their marital satisfaction. Results are discussed in relation to the broad implications that adult ADHD has for romantic intimacy. Our research addresses healthy partners married to a spouse with ADHD, suggesting that living with a partner with ADHD behaviors is challenging. ADHD symptoms negatively affect various qualities in the person experiencing them, but of equal importance is the damage occurring to his or her spouse. Implications for future research and recommendations for clinical work are suggested.     

"Motherhood starts in prison": the experience of motherhood among women in prison

This study aims to explore the way in which women prisoners in Israel experience motherhood in prison and construct their motherhood after being released. In-depth interviews were conducted with 9 women, and the data were analyzed according to the phenomenological approach. The qualitative methodology generated 5 main themes: (a) motherhood in prison as a motive for survival; (b) the sense of failure experienced by mothers in prison; (c) coping versus avoidance in the mother-child relationship during imprisonment; (d) motherhood in prison as a motive for change; and (e) the transition from questioning the right to be a mother to redeeming motherhood. The 5 themes were organized into a model that depicts the process of becoming a mother in prison and the move toward mending the experience of motherhood. The findings indicate that side by side with the traumatic experiences of prison are other aspects that allow for growth and rehabilitation. The discussion focuses on 2 main issues that evolved from the findings: the reasons for the change in motherhood that occurs during imprisonment and the aspects of prison that enable this change.     

They heard a cry: psychosocial resources moderate perception of others' distress

Two studies tested whether psychosocial resources affect perception of another's distress. Participants' had their resources depleted, left unchanged, or boosted by elaborately recalling either someone who had betrayed them, a neutral person, or a close and trusted other, respectively. Participants then listened to disturbing baby cries, and rated how much distress the cries conveyed. As predicted, participants who recalled a betrayal subsequently heard the cries as conveying more distress than did other participants (Study 1). However, recalling a betrayal did not amplify cry ratings if, prior to cry rating, betrayal‐related thoughts and feelings were disclosed (Study 2). The moderating effect of disclosure on cry ratings indicates that boosting resources (disclosure) can counteract the effects of resource depletion (betrayal). Results in both studies remained significant even after controlling for mood. This research is the first to show that social contexts, and emotional disclosure, each affects perception of others' distress. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Violation of the transitivity axiom may explain why, in empirical studies, a significant number of subjects violate GARP

Most papers using experimental data find that a significant number of agents are not utility function maximizers. Using three experimental datasets, we provide empirical evidence that these violations of utility function maximizing behavior are simply generated by a violation of the preference transitivity axiom. Moreover, we find that 97% of agents’ behavior is consistent with maximization of a generalized utility function called a variable intervals function (which corresponds to a numerical representation of complete-acyclic preferences).