Anterior medial temporal lobe activation during encoding of words: FMRI methods to optimize sensitivity

The existence of a rostrocaudal gradient of medial temporal lobe (MTL) activation during memory encoding has historically received support from positron emission tomography studies, but less so from functional MRI (FMRI) studies. More recently, FMRI studies have demonstrated that characteristics of the stimuli can affect the location of activation seen in the MTL when those stimuli are encoded. The current study tested the hypothesis that MTL activation during memory encoding is related to the modality of stimulus presentation. Subjects encoded auditorily or visually presented words in an FMRI novelty paradigm. Imaging and analysis parameters were optimized to minimize susceptibility artifact in the anterior MTL. Greater activation was observed in the anterior than posterior MTL for both modalities of stimulus presentation. The results indicate that anterior MTL activation occurred during encoding, independent of stimulus modality and provide support for the hypothesis that verbal-semantic memory processing occurs in anterior MTL. The authors suggest that technical factors are critical for observing the rostrocaudal gradient in MTL memory activation.     

Maternal teaching techniques and preschool children's ideational fluency

As a counterpart to research showing relationships between parental behaviors and attitudes and children's divergent thinking, this study investigated mothers’ teaching techniques and preschool children's ideational fluency, one aspect of creativity. Twenty mother‐child dyads were videotaped interacting in both a warm‐up and structured teaching session. Mothers’ teaching behaviors were assessed with the Maternal Teaching Observation Technique (MTOT) and children's ideational fluency was measured with the Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure (MSFM). Correlational analyses indicated relationships between children's divergent thinking and mothers’ use of verbal negative feedback (r = .51), physical control (r = ‐.40), and visual cues (r = ‐.44).     

Marx's commodity fetishism

Marx's work in the first chapters of Capital is sometimes taken to be ‘metaphysical’, since his remarks do not lend themselves to ‘scientific’ testing against quantitative data. I argue that Marx aimed to re‐present the economic theory of his day in order to reveal the characteristic presuppositions of capitalist society, and ‐ in the first instance ‐ to rid the theory of logical confusions. Though his distinctions are ingenious and his arguments consistent, the enterprise fails in certain respects, because he relies on Ricardian propositions about value and labour, and because his use of certain methods and distinctions of nineteenth‐century logic is no longer convincing. Hence he reaches conclusions about the meaning of value, and the nature of commodities and labour, that are wrong in principle. These conclusions were the logical basis for his most sweeping predictions about capitalist society.     

ASSOCIATION STRUCTURES OF MENTAL RETARDATES

Free word associations of low level retardates (I.Q., 48) and higher level (I.Q., 67) retardates were examined for evidence of normal adult word association structures (idiodynamic associative sets). Such structures were found in both groups. The low level group, however, evidenced a factor structure different from that typical of normal adults. From a semantic point of view, associations of the low level group were more “concrete” than those of the higher level group. From a syntactic point of view, the lower level group lagged well behind the higher level group on the so-called “syntactic-paradigmatic” shift.     

Construing a “Perfect Knight”: A Personal Construct Investigation of Mass Murder

We report three studies in which we examined the structure of interpersonal construct systems. We attempted to identify (a) the degree to which individuals' differentiation in the constructs they used to construe themselves paralleled the differentiation in the constructs they used to construe other and (b) the differences and similarities in the content of constructs used by subjects to construe themselves, liked peers, and disliked peers. In addition, we compared the content of the liked- and disliked-peer constructs with those used by employees construing co-workers in a previous study. Findings indicated that Ziller, Martell, and Morrison's (1977) checklist measure of self differentiation was weakly correlated in the first sample and uncorrelated in the second sample with Crockett's (1965) Role Category Questionnaire (RCQ), a measure of other differentiation. Differentiation scores from the other and self versions of the RCQ were moderately correlated. Content analyses revealed that self constructs were drawn largely from the same pool as those used in describing liked and disliked peers; they were more similar to the liked-peer constructs than the disliked-peer ones, but also drew heavily on the disliked-peer construct pool. Constructs used to describe liked and disliked peers were very similar to those used to describe co-workers but were clearly influenced by context. To account for the findings, we suggest that constructs become meaningful and thus prominent in a particular domain because of their usefulness for the particular construal tasks encountered in that domain.     

Effect of a behavioral self-regulation intervention on patient adherence in hemodialysis.

The present study examined the efficacy of a behavioral intervention designed to increase adherence to fluid-intake restrictions among hemodialysis patients. Twenty intervention-group patients were compared with 20 matched control patients on an indicator of fluid-intake adherence at 3 time points. The Group x Time interaction was significant, indicating that patients in the 2 groups exhibited a differential pattern of change in fluid-intake adherence across the follow-up period. The intervention and control groups did not differ significantly in terms of adherence at the initial postintervention period but did differ at the 8-week follow-up. The observed group differences were, in part, due to a trend toward increasingly better adherence in the intervention group and poorer adherence in the control group across the follow-up period.     

Cross-fertilization versus transmission: Recommendations for developing a bidirectional approach to psychotherapy dissemination research

Psychotherapy researchers are increasingly engaged in collaborations with clinical practitioners and mental health administrators. Each party brings its own perspectives, values, and agendas to bear in these encounters. Viable research—practice collaborations depend on understanding and negotiating some of the tensions in these relationships. In this article, we discuss the contexts that prevail for various participants in a psychotherapy dissemination study as well as the values, goals, costs, and benefits related to research participation. This article is a collaboration among the researchers, mental health administrators, therapists, and clients involved in an ongoing treatment dissemination study. Our recommendations for research—practice collaborations are based on our experiences and dialogues over the course of this study.