Conflict: run! Reduced Stroop interference with avoidance responses

Conflict has been hypothesized to be aversive, triggering avoidance behaviour (Botvinick, 2007). To test this hypothesis, a standard Stroop task was modified such that avoiding was part of the response set. More precisely, participants were asked to move a manikin towards or away from Stroop stimuli, depending on the colour of the words. Results showed that the type of response (approach versus avoidance) modulated the Stroop congruency effect. Specifically, the reaction time analysis revealed that the stimulus congruency effect disappeared with avoidance responses, contrary to approach responses where a stimulus congruency effect was present. Moreover, the error data showed a reduction of the general congruency effect when avoiding. These results suggest that in the face of conflict, avoidance is the predominant response.     

Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and structural invariance with age of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF)—French version

The parent and teacher forms of the French version of the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) were used to evaluate executive function in everyday life in a large sample of healthy children (N = 951) aged between 5 and 18.

Several psychometric methods were applied, with a view to providing clinicians with tools for score interpretation. The parent and teacher forms of the BRIEF were acceptably reliable. Demographic variables (such as age and gender) were found to influence the BRIEF scores. Confirmatory factor analysis was then used to test five competing models of the BRIEF's latent structure. Two of these models (a three-factor model and a two-factor model, both based on a nine-scale structure) had a good fit. However, structural invariance with age was only obtained with the two-factor model.

The French version of the BRIEF provides a useful measure of everyday executive function and can be recommended for use in clinical research and practice.     

Ishmael as Abraham's Sacrifice: Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Kathīr on the Intended Victim

This article examines how Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Kathīr shift the Islamic exegetical tradition towards accepting Ishmael as Abraham's intended sacrifice. Earlier exegetes, such as al-?abarī, maintained that Isaac was the intended sacrifice through a philological analysis of the qur'anic text. Contrary to expectations, Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Kathīr do not only use Prophetic reports (Hadith) to make their case but also employ biblical and philological arguments. The modern dominance of Ibn Taymiyya's qur'anic hermeneutic and the popularity of Ibn Kathīr's qur'anic exegesis have influenced Islamic orthodoxy to hold that Ishmael was the sacrificial son and to be more skeptical of biblical sources.     

Monitoring the effects of adult psychotherapy in routine practice in Switzerland: A feasibility trial

Background: Several studies have been published on the effects of psychotherapy in routine practice. Complementing traditional views summarised as ‘dose‐effect models’, Stiles et al. put forward data consistent with the responsive regulation model underlining the importance of the client's active participant role in defining length of treatment. One may ask what level of change reached by a patient is considered to be the ‘good enough level’ (GEL) and if it is related to the duration of psychotherapy. Aims: The main objective of the present feasibility trial was to monitor the patient's session‐by‐session evolution using a self‐report questionnaire in order to define the GEL, i.e. the number of sessions necessary for the patient to reach significant change. Method: A total of N=13 patients undergoing psychotherapy in routine practice participated in the study, completing the Outcome Questionnaire – 45.2 (OQ‐45), which assesses the symptom level, interpersonal relationships and social role after every psychotherapy session. The data was analysed using multi‐level analyses (HLMs). Results: High feasibility of fine‐grained assessment of effects of psychotherapy in routine practice in Switzerland was shown; response rates being acceptable; however, detailed analysis of the GEL was not feasible within the short study time‐frame. Conclusions: Reflections on the political context of monitoring in the specific case of routine psychiatric practice in Switzerland are discussed.     

Intrusive thoughts in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder and non-clinical participants: a comparison using the International Intrusive Thought Interview Schedule

The International Intrusive Thought Interview Schedule (IITIS) was used to assess and compare the unwanted intrusive thoughts (UITs) reported in a group of patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and a non-clinical group. Although all participants reported at least one type of intrusion, OCD patients experienced more intrusive thoughts than non-clinical participants, and this difference was statistically significant. In the OCD group, intrusive thoughts were more frequent, interfered more with daily life, were considered to be more important to get out of the mind, and were more difficult to stop than in non-clinical participants. The two groups did not differ significantly in terms of five appraisals of the most distressing intrusive thought. One appraisal (importance) was used far more by the OCD group than the non-clinical group. For three appraisals (intolerance of anxiety, need to control, and intolerance of uncertainty), the difference was smaller. Only two of the strategies for controlling the most upsetting intrusive thought (ritual and avoidance) were of value in differentiating between the two groups. The IITIS (an instrument used to assess intrusions in non-clinical samples) appears to be of value for the assessment of patients with OCD.     

How does information from low and high spatial frequencies interact during scene categorization?

Current models of visual perception suggest that, during scene categorization, low spatial frequencies (LSF) are rapidly processed and activate plausible interpretations of visual input. This coarse analysis would be used to guide subsequent processing of high spatial frequencies (HSF). The present study aimed to further examine how information from LSF and HSF interact and influence each other during scene categorization. In a first experimental session, participants had to categorize LSF and HSF filtered scenes belonging to two different semantic categories (artificial vs. natural). In a second experimental session, we used hybrid scenes as stimuli made by combining LSF and HSF from two different scenes which were semantically similar or dissimilar. Half of the participants categorized LSF scenes in hybrids, and the other half categorized HSF scenes in hybrids. Stimuli were presented for 30 or 100?ms. Session 1 results showed better performance for LSF than HSF scene categorization. Session 2 scene categorization was faster when participants attended and categorized LSF than HSF scene in hybrids. The semantic interference of a semantically dissimilar HSF scene on LSF scene categorization was greater than the semantic interference of a semantically dissimilar LSF scene on HSF scene categorization, irrespective of exposure duration. These results suggest a LSF advantage for scene categorization, and highlight the prominent role of HSF information when there is uncertainty about the visual stimulus, in order to disentangle between alternative interpretations.     

Predictors and outcomes of joint trajectories of callous-unemotional traits and conduct problems in childhood

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with antisocial and delinquent behaviors in children and represent a potential risk factor for adult psychopathy. However, there is a paucity of longitudinal research that explores the development of these traits, their longitudinal association with conduct problems (CP), and their psychosocial predictors and outcomes. Using a large sample of children followed longitudinally from the Twins Early Development Study (N=9,578), we described the joint developmental trajectories of CU traits and CP during childhood (between ages 7 and 12) and examined the child- and family-level predictors (4 years old) and concomitant outcomes (12 years old) associated with the trajectories. The developmental trajectories were characterized with teachers' ratings of CU traits and CP from ages 7 to 12. Using general growth mixture modeling, we identified four trajectories of CU traits (stable high, increasing, decreasing, and stable low) and two trajectories of CP (high and low). Compared with the children who followed a low trajectory of CU traits and CP, those who followed a high trajectory of CU traits and CP had more negative child- and family-level predictors at 4 years (including CP, hyperactivity, negative parental discipline, and chaos in the home). Children with high or increasing levels of CU traits and concomitant high levels of CP presented the most negative outcomes at 12 years (including hyperactivity, peer problems, emotional problems, and negative parental feelings). Children with high CU traits and concomitant high levels of CP in childhood should be prioritized for targeted intervention.     

Close to me? The influence of affective closeness on space perception

Recent data show that psychosocial factors affect visual perception. We tested this hypothesis by investigating the relationship between affective closeness and the perception of apertures between two people. People feel discomfort when they are near someone they are not affectively close to. Therefore, we predict that they will be less likely to perceive that they can pass between two people not affectively close to them. Participants had to imagine passing through the aperture between two life-size classmate pictures. We found that the closer participants felt to their classmates, the more they felt able to pass between them. This provides the first evidence of a relationship between affective closeness and the perception of aperture between two people, suggesting that psychosocial factors constrain space perception.     

Distorted temporal consciousness and preserved knowing consciousness in confabulation: a case study

In this study we describe a patient, TA, who developed a chronic amnesic-confabulatory syndrome, following rupture of a right internal carotid siphon aneurysm. Our aim was to elucidate as fully as possible the nature of TA's impairment and to test the hypothesis of confabulation as reflecting a dysfunction of Temporal Consciousness, i.e., to become aware of something as part of a personal past, present or future. TA's confabulations were present in answers to questions tapping Temporal Consciousness, i.e., autobiographical episodic memory, orientation in time and place, and foresight of personal future. In contrast, confabulations were not observed in answers to questions tapping Knowing Consciousness, i.e., to become aware of something as a meaning or as an element of impersonal knowledge. In fact, he had normal access to semantic knowledge, including foresight of impersonal future. TA's brain MRI showed lesions involving the right hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, fornix, mammillary bodies, and thalamus. Moreover TA showed sub-cortical lesions involving the caudate and putamen nuclei bilaterally, a lesion site not commonly described in amnesic-confabulatory syndrome. We suggest that this pattern of results is better accounted for within the framework of the Memory, Consciousness and Temporality Theory and reflects a specific distortion of Temporal Consciousness.     

Transforming Social Regularities in a Multicomponent Community‐Based Intervention: A Case Study of Professionals’ Adaptability to Better Support Parents to Meet Their Children's Needs

This paper presents an in‐depth case study of the dynamic processes of mutual adjustment that occurred between two professional teams participating in a multicomponent community‐based intervention (CBI). Drawing on the concept of social regularities, we focus on patterns of social interaction within and across the two microsystems involved in delivering the intervention. Two research strategies, narrative analysis and structural network analysis, were used to reveal the social regularities linking the two microsystems. Results document strategies and actions undertaken by the professionals responsible for the intervention to modify intersetting social regularities to deal with a problem situation that arose during the course of one intervention cycle. The results illustrate how key social regularities were modified in order to resolve the problem situation and allow the intervention to continue to function smoothly. We propose that these changes represent a transition to a new state of the ecological intervention system. This transformation appeared to be the result of certain key intervening mechanisms: changing key role relationships, boundary spanning, and synergy. The transformation also appeared to be linked to positive setting‐level and individual‐level outcomes: confidence of key team members, joint planning, decision‐making and intervention activities, and the achievement of desired intervention objectives.