Association of parental depression with psychiatric course from adolescence to young adulthood among formerly depressed individuals

The authors examined whether parental major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with course of depression and other psychopathology among formerly depressed adolescents as they enter adulthood. The sample consisted of 244 individuals (age 24) in a longitudinal study who had experienced MDD by 19. Maternal MDD was associated with MDD recurrence, chronicity and severity, anxiety disorders, and (among sons only) lower psychosocial functioning in offspring between the ages of 19 and 24. Paternal MDD was associated with lower functioning. Sons of depressed fathers had elevated suicidal ideation and attempt rates in young adulthood. Recurrent paternal MDD was associated with depression recurrence in daughters but not sons. The impact of parental MDD on offspring could not be attributed to characteristics of the offspring's depression prior to age 19.     

The operational validity of a video-based situational judgment test for medical college admissions: illustrating the importance of matching predictor and criterion construct domains

This study is part of a trend of examining noncognitive predictors, for example, a situational judgment test (SJT), as supplements to cognitive predictors for making college admission decisions. The authors examined criterion data over multiple academic years and universities. The criterion domain was broadly conceptualized, including both cognitive and interpersonal domains. The sample consisted of 7,197 candidates of the Medical and Dental Studies Admission Exam in Belgium. Results confirmed the importance of cognitive predictors. A video-based SJT was differentially valid for predicting overall grade point average for different curricula. The SJT showed incremental validity over cognitively oriented measures for curricula that included interpersonal courses, but not for other curricula. The SJT became more valid through the years. This demonstrates the importance of carefully specifying predictor- criterion linkages and of differentiating both predictor and criterion constructs.     

Online attentional-focus manipulations in a soccer-dribbling task: implications for the proceduralization of motor skills

A focus of attention on the step-by-step control of a skill has been shown to be detrimental to experts' performance but to have no significant effect on novices' performance (e.g., S. L. Beilock, T. H. Carr, C. MacMahon, & J. L. Starkes, 2002), contrary to the results of manipulations of the direction of attentional focus (e.g., G. Wulf, M. H?ss, & W. Prinz, 1998). In previous studies, researchers have not separated the focus of attention from the nature of the instruction provided or the skill level of the participants. In the present experiment, 10 skilled and 10 less skilled soccer players dribbled a ball after receiving instructions directing attention to an internal, skill-relevant feature (foot); an internal, skill-irrelevant feature (arm); or a skill-irrelevant task (word-monitoring). Performance was evaluated in relation to a no-attentional-focus control condition. For skilled performers, an internal focus on the arms and feet interfered with performance. For less skilled performers, an internal, yet skill-relevant, focus of attention (foot) did not degrade performance, whereas attention to the arms and word monitoring had a detrimental effect. No significant differences were observed across the three attentional manipulations when the skilled performers used the nondominant foot. The results generally supported the deautomization of skills hypothesis.     

Turning objects on their heads: the influence of the stored axis on object individuation

We used repetition blindness (RB) as a measure of object recognition and compared the pattern of RB obtained for objects with a well-established upright orientation (mono-oriented objects) and those without a usual upright orientation (polyoriented objects), when the critical objects were either in identical orientations or differed by 30 degrees, 60 degrees, 90 degrees, or 180 degrees. Overall, we found robust RB despite differences in orientation, consistent with the idea that object recognition, as indexed by RB, is largely independent of orientation. However, whereas for polyoriented objects RB was obtained in all orientation conditions, for mono-oriented objects there was no RB between upright and upside-down versions of the stimuli. These findings suggest that the usual orientation of an object-when it exists-is stored in memory and can facilitate orientation processing when the principal axis of a viewed object is aligned with the stored axis orientation. This, in turn, allows for more rapid and successful construction of distinct episodic representations of an object, thus alleviating RB.     

Effect of stimulant medication on lower extremity response time of boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been labeled as "inefficient movers"; however, little research has examined the effect of stimulant medication on lower extremity movements. 16 boys, 11 to 13 years old, with ADHD performed a lower-limb choice-response time task, both on and off medication. When nonmedicated, children had significantly slower reaction times to all three targets and significantly slower movement times for the contralateral and midline movements. For both conditions, children had significantly faster movement time when using the right leg than the left leg. These findings suggest that movement characteristics of children with ADHD are different under medicated and nonmedicated situations.     

A conceptual and psychometric framework for distinguishing categories and dimensions

An important, sometimes controversial feature of all psychological phenomena is whether they are categorical or dimensional. A conceptual and psychometric framework is described for distinguishing whether the latent structure behind manifest categories (e.g., psychiatric diagnoses, attitude groups, or stages of development) is category-like or dimension-like. Being dimension-like requires (a) within-category heterogeneity and (b) between-category quantitative differences. Being category-like requires (a) within-category homogeneity and (b) between-category qualitative differences. The relation between this classification and abrupt versus smooth differences is discussed. Hybrid structures are possible. Being category-like is itself a matter of degree; the authors offer a formalized framework to determine this degree. Empirical applications to personality disorders, attitudes toward capital punishment, and stages of cognitive development illustrate the approach.     

Psychopathy in Children and Adolescents: The Need for a Developmental Perspective

The current paper introduces the special issue on research attempting to extend the construct of psychopathy to child and adolescent samples. Past special sections and reviews have typically focused on the implications of this research for forensic research and practice. The current special issue focuses on topics relevant for integrating this research within the broader literature on childhood psychopathology. Papers included in this special issue focus on the structure of psychopathic traits in youth, the relation of these traits to other important psychopathological and personality constructs in children and adolescents, and the utility of these traits for identifying a distinct subgroup of antisocial youth who differ on important cognitive processes and on the severity and stability of their problem behavior. These empirical works are followed by commentary provided by two prominent scholars who outline the potential importance of the construct for advancing our understanding of childhood psychopathology. In addition, these scholars provide a discussion of important directions for future research.     

Psychophysical isolation of the modality responsible for detecting multimodal stimuli: a chemosensory example

Multiple sense modalities can be stimulated conjointly by a physically complex item, such as a predator, and also by a physically solitary stimulus that acts on multiple receptor classes. As a prime example of this latter group, l-menthol from mint stimulates taste, smell, and several somatosensory submodalities. In 6 experiments that used a variety of psychometric techniques, the authors experimentally isolated the modality by which l-menthol is detected in the upper airways (the nose and mouth). Interestingly, absolute detection in both the nasal and oral cavities was based on olfaction and not stinging, cooling, or taste. These experiments illustrate how the sensory modality responsible for detecting a multimodal or multisensory stimulus can be psychophysically isolated.     

The meaning of "natural": process more important than content

The meaning of the desirable attribute "natural" was explored in two samples, American college students and adults in the Philadelphia jury pool. Participants rated the naturalness of a variety of "natural" entities, before and after they were transformed by operations such as freezing, adding or removing components, mixing with other natural or unnatural entities, domestication, and genetic engineering. Results support four hypotheses. First, the principle of contagion accounts for many aspects of the reduction of naturalness by contact with unnatural entities. Second, chemical transformations reduce naturalness much more than physical transformations do. Third, the history of an entity's processing is more important in determining its naturalness than is the nature of the entity's contents. Fourth, mixing like natural entities (e.g., water from different sources) does not markedly reduce naturalness. The insertion of a gene from another species, the process used in producing genetically modified organisms, produces the biggest drop in naturalness; domestication, a human-accomplished activity that changes genotype and phenotype in major ways, is considered much less damaging to naturalness.     

A Review of Self-Management Interventions Targeting Academic Outcomes for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

The purpose of this review was to report on the effectiveness and focus of academic self-management interventions for children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders. Twenty-two studies published in 20 articles and involving 78 participants met inclusionary criteria. The overall mean effect size (ES) across those studies was 1.80 (range –0.46 to 3.00), indicating effects were generally large in magnitude and educationally meaningful. Self-monitoring interventions were the predominant type of self-management technique used by researchers. The mean ES for intervention types were self-evaluation (1.13), self-monitoring (1.90), strategy instruction techniques (1.75), self-instruction techniques (2.71), and multiple-component interventions (2.11). Interventions targeted improvement in math calculation skills more than any other area. The mean ES by academic area were math interventions (1.97), writing (1.13), reading (2.28), and social studies (2.66). There was evidence to support a claim of the generalization and maintenance of findings. Implications, limitations, and areas for future research are discussed.