Discrimination of voice versus place contrasts in aphasia

A phoneme discrimination test based upon CCVC (consonant-consonant-vowel-consonant) syllables was administered to 36 aphasics, 91 brain-damaged subjects, and 42 normal controls, in normal listening conditions. Errors in the discrimination of voice and place contrasts were determined, and the scores (voice-minus-place errors) obtained by the four experimental groups were compared statistically. Aphasic patients, when compared with the other groups, show a greater difficulty in discriminating place than voice contrasts. Some implications of these findings are discussed.     

Relation between resilience and personality traits: The role of hopelessness and age

Resilience refers to the process by which individuals use the ability to cope with challenges to successfully adapt to adverse situations, inclining towards the future and hope. The main aim of this study was to analyze the relation between resilience, personality traits, and hopelessness. Furthermore, we conducted comparisons between two age groups: young and older adults. The sample comprised 439 Spanish participants (66.7% women; M = 43.73, SD = 26.41; age range = 18–98 years). The Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale, NEO-Five Factor Inventory, and Beck Hopelessness Scale were used to measure the main study variables. The results revealed a negative relation between resilience and neuroticism, and a positive association with the other personality traits. Additionally, levels of resilience were found to be negatively related to hopelessness. The group of older adults showed significantly lower resilience levels than the young adults, although age was not a significant predictor of resilience. Neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and hopelessness were the only predictors of resilience for the current study. This work contributes to the study of resilience and related factors, by attempting to understand the role of resilience and resistance to risk and how individuals tackle challenges over time, with important implications for mental health.     

Social cognition and real-life functioning in patient samples with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome with or without psychosis,compared to a large sample of patients with schizophrenia only and healthy controls

Patients with the 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (DS) show an increased risk of developing a psychotic illness lifetime. 22q11.2DS may represent a reliable model for studying the neurobiological underpinnings of schizophrenia. The study of social inference abilities in a genetic condition at high risk for psychosis, like 22q11.2DS, may shed light on the relationships between neurocognitive processes and patients' daily general functioning. The study sample consisted of 1736 participants, divided into four groups: 22q11.2DS patients with diagnosis of psychotic disorder (DEL SCZ, N = 20); 22q11.2DS subjects with no diagnosis of psychosis (DEL, N = 43); patients diagnosed with schizophrenia without 22q11.2DS (SCZ, N = 893); and healthy controls (HC, N = 780). Social cognition was assessed through The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) and general functioning through the Specific Levels of Functioning (SLoF) scale. We analysed data through regression analysis. The SCZ and DEL groups had similar levels of global functioning; they both had significantly lower SLoF Total scores than HC (p < .001); the DEL SCZ group showed significantly lower scores compared to the other groups (SCZ, p = .004; DEL, p = .003; HC, p < .001). A significant deficit in social cognition was observed in the three clinical groups. In the DEL SCZ and SCZ groups, TASIT scores significantly predicted global functioning (p < .05). Our findings of social cognition deficit in psychosis-prone patients point to the possible future adoption of rehabilitation programmes, like Social Skills Training and Cognitive Remediation, during premorbid stages of psychosis.     

Critical stages in mental development: Childhood breath holding spells (BHS)

The authors present the first part of a study on children with BHS (Breath Holding Spells) syndrome. These children were chosen in order to examine a “pathological” situation in infancy that was as close as possible to a “normal” one, and in which obvious somatic symptoms were associated with emotional states. Children with BHSS are not considered to have serious psychological disturbances, even if they are constantly referred to as intolerant of separation, stubborn, oppositional, or easy to temper tantrum. A reduced ability to tolerate frustration is evident in these children both from the patients' history and clinical observation. Parents usually relate BHS to situations in which the child is denied something or gets scolded. The children were observed during three sessions, both with and without the mother, according to a grid used at our Center. Patients are presented to illustrate certain recurrent features in play and interaction with mother. The data suggest that these children stagnate in an area of incomplete mental representation; something makes them oscillate between two states; in one of them, the mental representation of the object and of the bond with it is possible; in the other, the mental representation of the separation, which entails the recognition of the object, is felt as dangerous.     

Psychological well-being in adolescence: the contribution of interpersonal relations and experience of being alone

This study investigated the influence of loneliness and relationships with parents and friends on the psychological well-being or adolescent malaise. Data were collected via two questionnaires (LLCA-Marcoen, Goossens & Caes, 1987; TRI-Bracken, 1996) from a sample of 330 Italian adolescents, males and females, aged between 11 and 19. As hypothesized, results showed that a positive relationship with friends and parents promotes psychological well-being in adolescents and reduces malaise. In addition, the study showed that the adolescents were able to distinguish between different states of loneliness; on one hand they could recognize the pain of isolation and social refusal, and on the other, they could recognize the pleasant dimension of loneliness, according to the age and sex. Therefore loneliness can be a risk for the adolescent's well-being if it is caused by social refusal, but it can also be a developmental need (parallel to the need for attachment), and can promote psychological well-being when adolescents choose to be alone.     

Spatial coding and central patterns: is there something special about the eyes?

In this study we investigated in a Simon-like task whether task-irrelevant spatial information, delivered by centrally presented patterns, interfered with response selection in the same way as laterally presented stimuli. Second, we asked whether such interference was equal for different kinds of stimuli. Participants were required to respond to the colour of two framed squares, two arrows, or two schematic eyes by pressing one of two lateralized response keys. The results consistently show that the Simon effect occurs independently of the nature of the stimulus, as classically reported for lateralized stimuli. Response times were influenced by the direction and frame-relative position of the stimuli, being faster for responses corresponding to the direction indicated by the stimuli than for noncorresponding responses regardless of stimulus types. Contrary to findings with lateralized nondirectional stimuli, such an effect increased with increasing RTs indicating that for centrally presented patterns the extraction of spatial information is time consuming.     

Why do Managers Engage in Trustworthy Behavior? A Multilevel Cross‐Cultural Study in 18 Countries

Drawing on theories of generalized exchange and the norm of indirect reciprocity, we conceptualize subordinates’ organizational citizenship behavior directed toward the organization (OCBO) and directed toward peers (OCBI) as antecedents of managerial trustworthy behavior and examine how managers’ affective trust in subordinates mediates this relationship. We also investigate the extent to which this mediation is moderated by the level of collectivism in a society. Data were collected from 741 managers and 2,111 subordinates in 18 countries representing all major cultural regions of the world. We find support for our hypothesized moderated mediation in that managers’ affective trust in subordinates mediates the relationships between both subordinates’ OCBO and managerial trustworthy behavior, and subordinates’ OCBI and managerial trustworthy behavior across the different countries studied. Further, managers’ affective trust in subordinates only mediates the relationships between both types of citizenship behavior and managerial trustworthy behavior when collectivism is low to medium but not when it is high. Implications for research on cross‐cultural psychology, trust, and organizational citizenship behavior are discussed.     

Overgeneral Autobiographical Memories: Gender Differences in Depression

Considering the higher prevalence of depression in women than in men, the study of the variables that underlie this gender difference becomes important for both the prevention and the treatment of depression. This study explores gender differences in the relationship between depressive symptoms, rumination, repressive coping, and overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM) in a nonclinical population. There are 141 men and 148 women who completed the measures of depression, rumination, and repression, and the Autobiographical Memory Test to assess OGM. Women remembered a higher number of specific memories than men. Most importantly, results showed a different pattern of association between rumination, repression, depression, and OGM by gender. Depressive symptoms were associated with repressive coping and OGM in women. However, depressive symptomatology was related to repressive coping but not to OGM in men. These results suggest that the role of OGM in depression may be less important in men than in women. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.