Coparenting and Toddler's Interactive Styles in Family Coalitions

The current study examined the coparenting and toddler's interactive styles in family coalitions. According to structural family theory, boundaries between generations are clear in alliances, but disturbed in coalitions: the parents look to the child to regulate their conflictual relationship and the child attempts to meet this need. In a normative sample studied longitudinally during the Lausanne Trilogue Play situation (LTP, N=38), 15 coalition cases were detected. Styles of coparenting and of child's interactions were determined and compared in coalition and alliance cases at 18 months. Findings confirm the structural family model by showing the specific ways in which the coparenting and the toddler's interactive styles are associated in 3 different patterns of coalitions: binding, detouring, and triangulation. They illustrate how the child's triangular capacity, or her ability to simultaneously communicate with both parents, is used to regulate the parents' relationship. They suggest that the LTP observational paradigm is a promising assessment method of early family interactions. They point to the importance of assessing early the child's contribution to family coalitions.     

Stress administered prior to encoding impairs neutral but enhances emotional long-term episodic memories

Stressful events frequently comprise both neutral and emotionally arousing information, yet the impact of stress on emotional and neutral events is still not fully understood. The hippocampus and frontal cortex have dense concentrations of receptors for stress hormones, such as cortisol, which at high levels can impair performance on hippocampally dependent memory tasks. Yet, the same stress hormones can facilitate memory for emotional information, which involves interactions between the hippocampus and amygdala. Here, we induced psychosocial stress prior to encoding and examined its long-term effects on memory for emotional and neutral episodes. The stress manipulation disrupted long-term memory for a neutral episode, but facilitated long-term memory for an equivalent emotional episode compared with a control condition. The stress manipulation also increased salivary cortisol, catecholamines as indicated by the presence of alpha-amylase, heart rate, and subjectively reported stress. Stressed subjects reported more false memories than nonstressed control subjects, and these false memories correlated positively with cortisol levels, providing evidence for a relationship between stress and false memory formation. Our results demonstrate that stress, when administered prior to encoding, produces different patterns of long-term remembering for neutral and emotional episodes. These differences likely emerge from differential actions of stress hormones on memory-relevant regions of the brain.     

Interference between verbal concept formation and spatial mental rotation in female subjects

In this study the relation between spatial cognition and verbal intelligence abilities was examined in case of 52 women. Interference between mental rotation performance and verbal intelligence scores was found. Women with good verbal abilities have lower scores in mental rotation tasks than subjects with poorer verbal abilities. This finding is in accordance with some basic models of a dual-coding system. The spatial functions represented in mental rotation interfered with verbal-based concept formation and lexical knowledge in college women.     

Spatial learning in the rat: impairment induced by the thiol-proteinase inhibitor, leupeptin, and an analysis of [3H]glutamate receptor binding in relation to learning

Rats were given continuous intraventricular infusion of saline or the thiol-proteinase inhibitor leupeptin, via subcutaneously implanted osmotic minipumps, while being trained on a spatial learning water task using spaced trials. Leupeptin caused overnight forgetting during training, but performance eventually reached asymptote in both groups. A retention test conducted 48 h later to assess spatial memory revealed no significant group differences, but did cause, in saline-treated rats only, a disruption of subsequent retraining back to the correct spatial location. The groups showed no differences in Cl-dependent [3H]glutamate receptor binding to hippocampal or entorhinal cortex membranes subsequent to training. In a second experiment, normal rats trained on the same task also showed no differences in Cl-dependent [3H]glutamate binding relative to rats exposed to the water task but given random spatial position training and handled controls. The results are discussed in relation to the hypothesis of Lynch and Baudry (Science (1984) 224, 1057-1063) that a calcium-dependent thiol proteinase is involved in memory formation through its ability to modify glutamate receptor distribution and dendritic spine shape.     

Mirror Neuron System and Mentalizing System connect during online social interaction

Two sets of brain areas are repeatedly reported in neuroimaging studies on social cognition: the Mirror Neuron System and the Mentalizing System. The Mirror System is involved in goal understanding and has been associated with several emotional and cognitive functions central to social interaction, ranging from empathy to gestural communication and imitation. The Mentalizing System is recruited in tasks requiring cognitive processes such as self-reference and understanding of other’s intentions. Although theoretical accounts for an interaction between the two systems have been proposed, little is known about their synergy during social exchanges. In order to explore this question, we have recorded brain activity by means of functional MRI during live social exchanges based on reciprocal imitation of hand gestures. Here, we investigate, using the method of psychophysiological interaction, the changes in functional connectivity of the Mirror System due to the conditions of interest (being imitated, imitating) compared with passive observation of hand gestures. We report a strong coupling between the Mirror System and the Mentalizing System during the imitative exchanges. Our findings suggest a complementary role of the two networks during social encounters. The Mirror System would engage in the preparation of own actions and the simulation of other’s actions, while the Mentalizing System would engage in the anticipation of the other’s intention and thus would participate to the co-regulation of reciprocal actions. Beyond a specific effect of imitation, the design used offers the opportunity to tackle the role of role-switching in an interpersonal account of social cognition.     

Impact of Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

We examined the impact of the implementation of Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) across the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's national network of crisis hotlines. Data were derived from 1,507 monitored calls from 1,410 suicidal individuals to 17 Lifeline centers in 2008–2009. Callers were significantly more likely to feel less depressed, less suicidal, less overwhelmed, and more hopeful by the end of calls handled by ASIST‐trained counselors. Few significant changes in ASIST‐trained counselors' interventions emerged; however, improvements in callers' outcomes were linked to ASIST‐related counselor interventions, including exploring reasons for living and informal support contacts. ASIST training did not yield more comprehensive suicide risk assessments.     

Mental Disorders,Comorbidity, and Pre‐enlistment Suicidal Behavior Among New Soldiers in the U.S. Army: Results from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS)

We examined the associations between mental disorders and suicidal behavior (ideation, plans, and attempts) among new soldiers using data from the New Soldier Study (NSS) component of the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS; N = 38,507). Most new soldiers with a pre‐enlistment history of suicide attempt reported a prior mental disorder (59.0%). Each disorder examined was associated with increased odds of suicidal behavior (ORs = 2.6–8.6). Only PTSD and disorders characterized by irritability and impulsive/aggressive behavior (i.e., bipolar disorder, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder) predicted unplanned attempts among ideators. Mental disorders are important predictors of pre‐enlistment suicidal behavior among new soldiers and should figure prominently in suicide screening and prevention efforts.     

Adolescents' Attitudes About the Role of Mental Illness in Suicide,and Their Association with Suicide Risk

We examined teenagers' attitudes about the role of mental illness in suicidal behavior and the relationship between these attitudes and suicide risk. Serious suicidal ideation or behavior and associated risk factors (gender, depression, substance problems, and first‐hand experience with a suicidal peer) were assessed in 2,419 students at six New York high schools. Less than one fifth of students thought that mental illness was a major contributor to suicide. Suicidal adolescents and those at risk were less likely than their nonsuicidal and low‐risk counterparts to associate suicide with mental illness. Our findings contribute to the debate over whether accepting attitudes toward suicide increase suicide risk.     

Self‐Harm and Conventional Gender Roles in Women

A total of thirty‐two women admitted to a general hospital for medical treatment after self‐harming completed measures of conventional positive and negative masculinity and femininity. Comparisons were made with two control groups with no self‐harm history; 33 women receiving psychiatric outpatient treatment and a nonclinical sample of 206 women. Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that those with lower scores on Instrumentality and Unmitigated Agency (positive and negative masculinity) and higher scores on Insecurity (negative femininity) had greater odds of self‐harming. Relationships were weaker after accounting for generalized self‐efficacy. Results are discussed in relation to previous findings and suggestions for prevention are made.     

Reasons for Attempting Suicide among a Community Sample of Adolescents

The motives of suicide attempts among a community sample of 99 U.S. high school students were explored. Participants completed an in‐depth computer‐assisted self interview about their most recent attempts as well as additional psychosocial measures. Results indicated that nearly 75% of the adolescents engaged in suicide attempts for reasons other than killing themselves and that depressive symptoms and premeditation prior to the attempt were significantly associated with increased risk for engaging in the attempts with death as a clear motive. Linking motive for an attempt (death, interpersonal communication, emotion regulation) and treatment approach may improve prevention of subsequent attempts and completed suicides.