Influence of Deteriorating Ability of Emotional Comprehension on Interpersonal Behavior in Alzheimer-Type Dementia

This study investigated the relationship between the ability to recognize emotion and interpersonal behavior in dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). After examining the validity and reliability of the Emotion Recognition Test (ERT), an improved version of the tasks used by Shimokawa et al. (2000), 100 patients with DAT underwent evaluation for general cognition using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and emotion recognition using the ERT. Within a week of these tests being administered, ward staff rated the patients using the Interpersonal Behavior Checklist (IBC), composed of two behavior scales: indifference to interpersonal relationships and difficulties with patient treatment/management. After investigating the validity and reliability of the scales, the correlations between the MMSE, the ERT, and the two scales of the IBC were calculated. The results suggested that the MMSE did not correlate with either of the two behavior scales, while the ERT correlated significantly with both of the scales. The study results lead to the conclusion that deteriorating emotion recognition ability, rather than deterioration of general cognition, influences the indifferent and awkward interpersonal behaviors of DAT patients.     

Low target prevalence is a stubborn source of errors in visual search tasks

In visual search tasks, observers look for targets in displays containing distractors. Likelihood that targets will be missed varies with target prevalence, the frequency with which targets are presented across trials. Miss error rates are much higher at low target prevalence (1%-2%) than at high prevalence (50%). Unfortunately, low prevalence is characteristic of important search tasks such as airport security and medical screening where miss errors are dangerous. A series of experiments show this prevalence effect is very robust. In signal detection terms, the prevalence effect can be explained as a criterion shift and not a change in sensitivity. Several efforts to induce observers to adopt a better criterion fail. However, a regime of brief retraining periods with high prevalence and full feedback allows observers to hold a good criterion during periods of low prevalence with no feedback.     

Functional magnetic resonance imaging responses relate to differences in real-world social experience

Although neuroimaging techniques have proven powerful in assessing neural responses, little is known about whether scanner-based neural activity relates to real-world psychological experience. A joint functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)/experience-sampling study investigated whether individual differences in neurocognitive reactivity to scanner-based social rejection related to: (a) moment-to-moment feelings of social rejection during real-world social interactions ("momentary social distress") and (b) the extent to which these momentary feelings corresponded with end-of-day global assessments of social disconnection ("end-of-day social disconnection"). Individuals who showed greater activity in regions associated with affective and pain processing (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, periaqueductal gray) during scanner-based social rejection reported feeling greater momentary social distress during their daily social interactions. In contrast, individuals who showed greater activity in regions associated with memory and self-referential memory encoding (hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex) showed a stronger correspondence between momentary social distress and end-of-day social disconnection, such that greater momentary social distress was associated with greater end-of-day social disconnection. These findings complement previous work showing a dissociation between momentary and retrospective reports of affect and suggest that these processes rely on dissociable neural systems.     

Can the components of a cognitive model predict the severity of generalized anxiety disorder?

Over the past decade, a number of well-controlled studies have supported the validity of a cognitive model of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) that has four main components: intolerance of uncertainty, positive beliefs about worry, negative problem orientation, and cognitive avoidance. Although these studies have shown that the model components are associated with high levels of worry in nonclinical samples and with a diagnosis of GAD in clinical samples, they have not addressed the question of whether the model components can predict the severity of GAD. Accordingly, the present study sought to determine if the model components are related to diagnostic severity, worry severity, and somatic symptom severity in a sample of 84 patients with a primary diagnosis of GAD. All model components were related to GAD severity, although positive beliefs about worry and cognitive avoidance were only modestly associated with the severity of the disorder. Intolerance of uncertainty and negative problem orientation had more robust relationships with the severity of GAD (and with worry severity, in particular). When participants were divided into Mild, Moderate, and Severe GAD groups, intolerance of uncertainty and negative problem orientation distinguished the Moderate and Severe GAD groups from the Mild GAD group, even when age, gender, and depressive symptoms were statistically controlled. Overall, the results lend further support to the validity of the model and suggest that intolerance of uncertainty and negative problem orientation are related to the severity of GAD, independently of sociodemographic and associated clinical factors. The theoretical and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Responses of dairy heifers to the visual cliff formed by a herringbone milking pit: evidence of fear of heights in cows (Bos taurus)

The ability of cows (Bos taurus) to perceive depth has never been experimentally investigated. If cows can perceive depth, the milking pit in commercial milking facilities may be fear provoking for dairy cows, as past research has shown that most land-dwelling species possess an instinctive fear of heights. In the current study, 12 dairy heifers (1-year-old cows) were exposed to a milking pit (depth-exposed group) and 13 heifers (control group) were exposed to a standard change in the environment while they moved through a milking facility over a 5-day treatment period. Heifers in the depth-exposed group showed a higher heart rate (p < .05) and stopped more often (p < .05) than did those in the control group; persistence of heart rate but not of behavioral responses on repeated exposures indicated that some habituation to the depth stimulus had occurred. Depth exposure had no effect on cortisol concentrations or on ease of handling. These results indicate that heifers responded differently to a change in depth than they did to a standard change in the environment and provide evidence of both depth perception and acute fear of heights in cows.     

Abracadabra Tongue: Poetry Magic

The author has known that poetry is magic since she was a child. However when she sat down to write about it she went blank, confronted by the taboo against magic in our rationalistic culture. In the way of Jungian magic she is helped by dream figures. The Muslim Solomon takes her on a flying carpet journey which reveals the magic of poetic influence: how Hafiz influenced Goethe influenced Lorca influenced her, which is how Persian mysticism found its way into her poetry. She tells the story of her development as a poet, how she learned fermentation magic—the difficult and often painful process required by poetic vision and revision in which grapes must be crushed, favorite phrases and metaphors must be ruthlessly smashed. The Queen of Sheba, another dream figure, shows up to tell her version of the story of her relationship with Solomon. She reveals the dark, fierce, and lusty lineage of her “old black magic” and how it has made its way into the author's poetry.     

The relationship between intrinsic motivation and academic achievement for first generation Latino college students

Hispanic students are pursuing higher education more than in previous years and they often represent their family as the first member to attend college (Strage in Coll Stud J 33:198–205, 1999). Past educational research has studied the influence of intrinsic motivation on academic achievement in various ethnically diverse elementary, middle school and high school student populations (Areepattamannil in Soc Psychol Educ 15:367–386, 2012; Crumpton and Gregory in J Educ Psychol 104:42–53, 2011; Lepper et al. in J Educ Psychol 92:184–196, 2005). Despite the fact that many studies using college student samples have also shown the positive role of intrinsic motivation with achievement outcomes (Harackiewicz et al. in Educ Psychol 33:1–21, 1998; Simons et al. in Br J Educ Psychol 74:343–360, 2004; Vallerand and Bissonnette in J Pers 60:599–620, 1992), few studies focus on Latino samples. We expect that intrinsic motivation may play an important role in the academic achievement of Latino students, particularly first generation college students. The current review will examine self-determination theory, including intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, as well as relevant research pertaining to the connection between intrinsic motivation and academic achievement. The relationship between intrinsic motivation and academic achievement for first generation Latino college students will be examined along with ways to increase intrinsic motivation and academic achievement in turn. Implications for future research will be discussed.     

The You Turn

This introductory paper sets out a framework for approaching some of the claims about the second person made by the papers collected in the special edition of Philosophical Explorations on The Second Person (2014, 17:3). It does so by putting centre stage the notion of a ‘bipolar second person relation’, and examining ways of giving it substance suggested by the authors of these papers. In particular, it focuses on claims made (and denied) in these papers (a) about the existence and/or nature of second person thought, second person reasons for action and second person reasons for belief and (b) about possible connections among thought-theoretical, ethical and epistemological issues and debates in this area.     

The Impact of Insecure Attachment on Mothering: A New Mother’s Story

This article describes the treatment of a first-time mother and her daughter. The mother’s impoverished primary relationships and the fragility of her early attachments contribute to her challenges with motherhood. Through parent-infant treatment she is gradually developing the capacity to reflect upon her experience and beginning to make discoveries about her attitudes toward herself and others. My work with Leslie has deepened my appreciation for Daniel Stern’s notion of “the motherhood constellation” and for the power of insecure attachment to destabilize the parent and consequently the parent-child relationship. During the treatment, I used the Newborn Behavioral Observations system as an adjunct to therapy to help demonstrate to this distressed new mother her infant’s competencies. Later, I also used the Adult Attachment Interview to enhance her curiosity about her own childhood, and in particular her relationship to her mother and the impact of that relationship on her own mothering.