Mental verb input for promoting children's theory of mind: A training study

An experimental study investigated the effect of the type of mental verb input (i.e., input with think, know, and remember) on preschoolers’ theory of mind development. Preschoolers (n = 72) heard 128 mental verb utterances presented in video format across four sessions over two weeks. The training conditions differed only in the way the mental verbs were presented: the form (statement or question), the referent (first person or other person), and the interaction style (overheard or interactive). Children who overheard the characters discussing the mental states of someone else, either in statement or question form, significantly improved in their false belief understanding. These experimental findings demonstrate mental verb utterances about other people, even when not directed to the child, scaffold children's attention to differing perspectives, thus more efficiently promoting some aspects of their ToM development.     

From goal motivation to goal progress: the mediating role of coping in the Self-Concordance Model

The present studies examined the mediating role of self-regulatory mechanisms in the relationship between goal motivation and goal progress in the Self-Concordance Model. First, a systematic review, using meta-analytical path analysis, supported the mediating role of effort and action planning in the positive association between autonomous goal motivation and goal progress. Second, results from two additional empirical studies, using structural equation modeling, lent credence to the mediating role of coping in the relationship between goal motivation and goal progress of university students. Autonomous goal motivation was positively associated with task-oriented coping, which predicted greater goal progress during midterm exams (Study 1, N=702) and at the end of the semester in a different sample (Study 2, N=167). Controlled goal motivation was associated with greater disengagement-oriented coping (Study 1 and Study 2) and lesser use of task-oriented coping (Study 2), which reduced goal progress. These results held up after controlling for perceived stress (Study 2). Our findings highlight the importance of coping in the "inception-to-attainment" goal process because autonomous goal motivation indirectly rather than directly predicts goal progress of university students through their usage of task-oriented coping.     

Associations Between Positive Development in Late Adolescence and Social, Health, and Behavioral Outcomes in Young Adulthood

Little is known about positive development across the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. The purpose of this paper was to use longitudinal data from a large community sample, the Australian Temperament Project, to investigate prospective associations between positive development at age 19?C20?years and changes in social, health, and behavioral outcomes at 23?C24?years. Data from 890 young adults (61.7% women) were analyzed using path analysis. Emotional health, physical well-being, friendship quality, reduced antisocial behavior, and positive development in young adulthood were predicted by higher levels of positive development in late adolescence, after controlling for baseline levels of respective outcomes, gender, and family socioeconomic status. Parent relationship quality and alcohol use were not significantly predicted. Based on these findings, interventions promoting positive development during adolescence should be investigated as a potential means of yielding positive social, health, and behavioral consequences well into young adulthood.     

Inhibition of mTOR by rapamycin in the amygdala or hippocampus impairs formation and reconsolidation of inhibitory avoidance memory

Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a central regulator of protein synthesis in neurons, has been implicated in synaptic plasticity and memory. Here we show that mTOR inhibition by rapamycin in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) or dorsal hippocampus (DH) impairs both formation and reconsolidation of memory for inhibitory avoidance (IA) in rats. Male Wistar rats received bilateral infusions of vehicle or rapamycin into the BLA or DH before or after IA training or retrieval. Memory retention was tested at different time points after drug infusion. Rapamycin impaired long-term IA retention when given before or immediately after training or retrieval into the BLA. When infused into the DH, rapamycin produced memory impairment when given before training or immediately after retrieval. The impairing effects of post-retrieval rapamycin required memory retrieval and were not reversed by a reminder shock. The results provide the first evidence that mTOR in the BLA and DH might play a role in IA memory reconsolidation.     

Reductionism, Brain Imaging, and Social Identity Commentary on “Biological Indeterminacy”

The practice of reductionism in science and philosophy includes attempts to essentialize human persons, which can lead to serious social problems. Reductionism is not necessary, as comparative philosophers and alternative-thinking scientists have shown.     

Bursting with anxiety: adult social referencing in an interpersonal balloon analogue risk task (BART)

This study developed an interpersonal modification of the balloon analogue risk task (BART) to assess effects of a friend's real-time facial expressions on coparticipants' risk-taking. Twenty pairs of male friends and 20 pairs of female friends completed two counterbalanced versions of BART, one framed in terms of monetary gain, and the other framed in terms of avoiding loss. Each pair included a player who performed the task across both trials and a reference person in a separate cubicle connected via a soundless video link. In the suppression condition, reference persons were told to minimize facial expressions of anxiety as balloons inflated. In the expression condition, they were told to freely express anxiety. As predicted, players took greater risks and burst more balloons in the suppression condition, but only under the gain frame. Players' BART scores across both frames were also significantly negatively correlated with reference persons' scores on a questionnaire measure of dispositional expressivity (BEQ), confirming that other people's expressions can moderate one's own risk-taking.     

Exploring the effect of therapists' treatment practices on client attendance in community-based care for children

Sustained treatment attendance has been reported to be poor in publicly funded community-based clinic settings serving children and families. Several child and family characteristics have been shown to predict attendance in community-based care, but virtually no research has been conducted to examine how experiences in care, including psychotherapists' within-session practices, influence client attendance. The goal of this exploratory study was to examine how observed practice within sessions, in particular the extent to which therapists delivered elements consistent with evidence-based practices, impacts total number of sessions attended, while accounting for an array of other potential predictors. Participants include 181 children ages 4-13 and their parents entering a new episode of care for disruptive behavior problems in publicly funded clinics. Data sources include administrative billing records on treatment attendance; coded videotaped treatment sessions; and self-reports from children, parents, and therapists. Results indicate that parent education, service funding source, parent alliance with therapist, and therapist experience predicted number of sessions attended; intensity of evidence-based treatment techniques delivered to children was marginally associated with attendance (p = .059). Implications for improving engagement in community-based care are discussed.