Violence: incidence and frequency of physical and psychological assaults affecting mental health providers in Georgia

Threats to the physical safety and psychological well-being of mental health professionals present serious problems, according to 1,131 licensed mental health professionals in the state of Georgia. The professionals included clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. From a total of 6,431 surveys sent out, 1,131 (18%) were returned. The results revealed 2.696 separate accounts of 14,120 acts of physical or psychological assaults committed by 8,292 perpetrators. The results also showed that 61% of the respondents had been victimized in violent acts of a psychological or physical nature and that 29% had feared for their lives at least once during their professional careers. These data are consistent with other research that indicates that 6 out of 10 professionals will be assaulted during their professional careers.     

The word frequency effect for recognition memory and the elevated-attention hypothesis

Empirical tests were conducted on the elevated-attention hypothesis that low-frequency (LF) words are better recognized than high-frequency (HF) words because LF words attract more attention than do HF words (e.g., Glanzer & Adams, 1990). The elevated-attention hypothesis predicts that the hit rate advantage for LF words should be reduced by increases in attentional strain at study. We first tested this prediction in two experiments by varying the amount of experimenter-controlled study time (on the basis of the assumption that a decrease in study time would reduce the amount of resources available for studying a word). The elevated-attention hypothesis was confirmed, but only when words were studied for relatively short durations. This finding led us to formulate an early-phase elevated-attention hypothesis that proposes that more attentional resources are allocated to LF words than to HF words only during the early phase of encoding (which produces the LF hit rate advantage in subsequent recognition) and that the allocation of attentional resources during the late phase of encoding is not greater for LF words than for HF words. An additional empirical test of this revised hypothesis was conducted: Experimenter-controlled study time and the composition of the to-be-remembered pairs of words were varied orthogonally. The results confirmed the early-phase elevated-attention hypothesis.     

Comorbidity between and within childhood externalizing and internalizing disorders: reflections and directions

The term and concept of lcomorbidity has been mired in controversy, although there is little question that the existence of covariation among psychiatric diagnoses poses significant challenges to current models of psychiatric classification and diagnosis. The papers in this Special Section underscore a number of important issues relevant to the comorbidity between and within childhood externalizing and internalizing disorders, and illustrate both methodological and substantive reasons for such comorbidity. Weiss, Susser, and Catron's distinction among common, broad-band specific, and narrow-band specific features provides a helpful framework for understanding the comorbidity of childhood externalizing and internalizing disorders (B, Weiss, K. Susser, & T. Catron, 1998). Hierarchical models of psychopathology help to dissolve the distinction between splitters and lumpers and point to variables that may elucidate the etiology of externalizing and internalizing disorders.     

Aging and maintaining intentions over delays: do it or lose it

When execution of retrieved intentions must be briefly delayed, older adults display deficits in performing those intentions (G. O. Einstein, M. A. McDaniel, M. Manzi, B. Cochran, & M. Baker, 2000). This initial finding was extended by showing age-related deficits with 5-s unfilled delays, with instructions to rehearse during the delay, and with divided attention during initial retrieval of the intention. Performance increased with a break at the end of the delay period, such that when combined with full attention (during retrieval), older adults' performance approached that of younger adults. These results suggest that age compromises maintenance of information in awareness. Consequently, when forced to delay execution of retrieved intentions, older adults may rely more on plan reformulation and subsequent retrieval of the intention from long-term memory at the end of the delay.     

Treatment utility of psychological assessment

This article focuses on treatment utility. A definition of treatment utility was provided by S. C. Hayes, R. O. Nelson, and R. B. Jarrett (1987): "We propose to use the phrase the treatment utility of assessment to refer to the degree to which assessment is shown to contribute to beneficial treatment outcome" (p. 963). Various methodologies to examine the treatment utility of assessment are summarized. Treatment utility studies using various assessment procedures (i.e., diagnosis and functional analysis) and various disorders (i.e., unipolar depression, social or interpersonal problems, and phobic disorders) are described. Suggestions are made as to when elaborated assessment and/or treatment utility studies are needed. Limitations on the generalizability of results of any particular treatment utility study are presented. Despite progress, for most assessment procedures and devices, the treatment utility question remains; What is the degree to which assessment is shown to contribute to beneficial treatment outcome?     

Are coping resources related to humoral reaction induced by academic stress? An analysis of specific salivary antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus and cytomegalovirus

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether coping resources mediated the changes in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) specific salivary antibodies caused by academic stress. Fifty-four first-year female students of nursing and physiotherapy completed pencil and paper written questionnaires and concurrently donated saliva samples. The instrument included the short version of the Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale, measures of social support, current health, health practices, the scale of psychological distress, and state anxiety questionnaire. Data and saliva samples were collected one month after the beginning of the first semester, during term examinations period and a month into the second semester. Statistically significant changes in the level of specific salivary EBV and HCMV antibodies were observed between the four study points. State anxiety and psychological distress were significantly associated with HCMV-specific salivary antibody level increase during examinations and its decrease after the stress was over. Coping resources, however, were not associated with changes in any of the antibodies studied.     

Representing properties locally

Theories of knowledge such as feature lists, semantic networks, and localist neural nets typically use a single global symbol to represent a property that occurs in multiple concepts. Thus, a global symbol represents mane across HORSE, PONY, and LION. Alternatively, perceptual theories of knowledge, as well as distributed representational systems, assume that properties take different local forms in different concepts. Thus, different local forms of mane exist for HORSE, PONY, and LION, each capturing the specific form that mane takes in its respective concept. Three experiments used the property verification task to assess whether properties are represented globally or locally (e.g., Does a PONY have mane?). If a single global form represents a property, then verifying it in any concept should increase its accessibility and speed its verification later in any other concept. Verifying mane for PONY should benefit as much from having verified mane for LION earlier as from verifying mane for HORSE. If properties are represented locally, however, verifying a property should only benefit from verifying a similar form earlier. Verifying mane for PONY should only benefit from verifying mane for HORSE, not from verifying mane for LION. Findings from three experiments strongly supported local property representation and ruled out the interpretation that object similarity was responsible (e.g., the greater overall similarity between HORSE and PONY than between LION and PONY). The findings further suggest that property representation and verification are complicated phenomena, grounded in sensory-motor simulations.     

Brain areas sensitive to coherent visual motion

Detection of coherent motion versus noise is widely used as a measure of global visual-motion processing. To localise the human brain mechanisms involved in this performance, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to compare brain activation during viewing of coherently moving random dots with that during viewing spatially and temporally comparable dynamic noise. Rates of reversal of coherent motion and coherent-motion velocities (5 versus 20 deg s-1) were also compared. Differences in local activation between conditions were analysed by statistical parametric mapping. Greater activation by coherent motion compared to noise was found in V5 and putative V3A, but not in V1. In addition there were foci of activation on the occipital ventral surface, the intraparietal sulcus, and superior temporal sulcus. Thus, coherent-motion information has distinctive effects in a number of extrastriate visual brain areas. The rate of motion reversal showed only weak effects in motion-sensitive areas. V1 was better activated by noise than by coherent motion, possibly reflecting activation of neurons with a wider range of motion selectivities. This activation was at a more anterior location in the comparison of noise with the faster velocity, suggesting that 20 deg s-1 is beyond the velocity range of the V1 representation of central visual field. These results support the use of motion-coherence tests for extrastriate as opposed to V1 function. However, sensitivity to motion coherence is not confined to V5, and may extend beyond the classically defined dorsal stream.     

Two- and three-factor solutions of the WAIS-III

The third edition of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale manual reports four-factor solutions for the WAIS-III, and subsequent research has validated four-factor solutions for a variety of samples. These four factors consistently correspond to the four Factor Indexes that are yielded by the WAIS-III. However, the WAIS-III still provides Verbal and Performance IQs, in addition to the Indexes, making it desirable to examine two-factor solutions as well. In addition, because the Wechsler literature includes much interpretation of three-factor solutions, these solutions were likewise examined. Principal factor analysis followed by Varimax and Oblimin rotations of two and three factors were performed on data for the total WAIS-III sample ages 16 to 89 years (N=2,450). The two-factor solutions were viewed as a construct validation of Wechsler's two separate IQs, although the Working Memory subtests tended to load higher on the Performance scale than on their intended scale (Verbal); three-factor solutions were interpreted within the context of Horn's expanded fluid-crystallized theory and research on working memory. Both the two- and three-factor Varimax-rotated solutions were related to similar factor analyses conducted previously for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III. Coefficients of congruence between like-named factors consistently exceeded .90, and usually .98, across different Wechsler batteries.