Differences in feedback- and inhibition-related neural activity in adult ADHD

The objective of this study was to examine response inhibition- and feedback-related neural activity in adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using event-related functional MRI. Sixteen male adults with ADHD and 13 healthy/normal controls participated in this study and performed a modified Go/NoGo task. Behaviourally, attention and inhibition problems in the ADHD group were observed; no feedback-related differences between the groups were detected. The neuroimaging data showed that the ADHD group displayed more activation in the inferior frontal gyrus and putamen during response inhibition. During feedback-related processes, the ADHD group displayed less activation in the inferior frontal/orbitofrontal cortex, hippocampus/nucleus accumbens, and caudate nucleus, but more activity in the inferior frontal gyrus. These results indicate that at least two distinguishable underlying brain networks related to response inhibition and feedback are altered in adults with ADHD.     

HIV, Cognition and Women

Although the incidence of HIV in the United States is higher among men compared to women, the global proportion of women versus men who are infected has been approximately 50% since the late 1990s. Women have been under-represented in neuropsychological studies of HIV. A small number of studies have reported a significantly higher prevalence of neurocognitive impairment among HIV+ women compared to HIV− controls regardless of symptom status and with or without an AIDS diagnosis. Impairment was most evident on psychomotor tasks. The risk of neuropsychological impairment was increased among HIV+ women not on antiretroviral therapy. Age and depressive symptoms also increase neurocognitive risk. New neurocognitive studies of ovarian steroid hormones, PTSD and other psychiatric conditions are critical for addressing potential female-specific aspects of HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder. Such studies will also address questions regarding involvement of the hippocampus and verbal memory, which may be of particular significance among HIV+ women.

Long-term outcome of sex therapy

In a prospective investigation of the long-term outcome of 140 couples who had entered sex therapy 1–6 yrs earlier for a variety of sexual dysfunctions, successful follow-up, mostly by interview, was possible with at least one partner in 75% of cases. While recurrence of sexual difficulties was common, coping strategies were identified which often helped overcome relapses. Improvements in couples' general relationships resulting from treatment were usually sustained. Long-term outcome was excellent for vaginismus, good for erectile dysfunction, but often poor for premature ejaculation, and especially, for female impaired sexual interest. While the results of this study support the continued use of sex therapy for sexual dysfunction, they also emphasize the need for new therapeutic approaches for problems with poor outcome, especially female loss of sexual interest.     

The Trauma and Complicated Grief of Ambiguous Loss

Ambiguous loss is a newly identified type of loss that occurs when a loved one is physically present, but psychologically absent. Dementia is just one example. Because the lost person is here, but not here, grief is frozen, life is put on hold, and people are traumatized. With no official verification of death, no possibility of closure, and no rituals for support, there is no resolution of grief (Boss 1999). Clergy, especially pastoral counselors, can witness and provide comfort for such uncanny loss because people rely on them for support, not just from the clear loss of death, but from the ambiguous losses, catastrophic and ordinary, that inevitably will occur across the life course.     

The Effect of Self‐Identified Sexual Orientation on Helping Behavior in a British Sample: Are Lesbians and Gay Men Treated Differently?

In a British sample, the wrong-number technique was used to examine levels of helping behavior shown toward lesbians and gay men. A wrong-number telephone call, from either a man who self-identified as gay or heterosexual, or a woman who self-identified as either lesbian or heterosexual, was made to 232 men and women. The caller requested help by asking the respondent to relay a message to his or her partner by telephone. As predicted, lesbians and gay men were less likely to be given help than were their same-gender heterosexual counterparts. However, lesbians were given a similar amount of help as were heterosexual men. Male participants were less likely to give help to gay men than to lesbians, but female participants were no less likely to help lesbians than gay men. The results suggest that, although lesbians and gay men meet discrimination in everyday life, the level of discrimination may differ.     

Researching consumers in virtual worlds: a cyberspace odyssey

Following Belk's (1991) Consumer Behaviour Odyssey, the authors suggest the need for a new odyssey, one that focuses on consumers in virtual worlds. In this paper the authors discuss the relevance of virtual communities for marketers and how ethnographic research methods can be adapted to the online environment. The unique methodological problems, opportunities and ethical dilemmas for researchers are considered that online ethnography raises before an exploration of how discourse analysis can assist in the interpretation of data collected online. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Cognitive factors in panic disorder, agoraphobic avoidance and agoraphobia

There remains a lack of consensus regarding the possibility that especially high levels of panic-related cognitions characterise panic disorder with agoraphobia. We administered the Anxiety Sensitivity Index, the Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire and the Anxious Thoughts and Tendencies Scale as well as measures of agoraphobic avoidance to patients diagnosed with panic disorder with agoraphobia (n=75) and without agoraphobia (n=26). Patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia did not score significantly higher on any of the cognitive variables than did panic disorder patients without agoraphobia. However, most of the cognitive variables showed small to moderate-strength correlations with self-report measures of agoraphobic avoidance. Our findings suggest that anxiety sensitivity, catastrophising of the consequences of panic and a general anxiety-prone cognitive style, although to some extent associated with agoraphobic avoidance, do not discriminate panic disorder with agoraphobia from panic disorder without agoraphobia.     

The impact of body-part-naming training on the accuracy of imitative performances in 2- to 3-year-old children

A series of three experiments explored the relationship between 3-year-old children's ability to name target body parts and their untrained matching of target hand-to-body touches. Nine participants, 3 per experiment, were presented with repeated generalized imitation tests in a multiple-baseline procedure, interspersed with step-by-step training that enabled them to (i) tact the target locations on their own and the experimenter's bodies or (ii) respond accurately as listeners to the experimenter's tacts of the target locations. Prompts for on-task naming of target body parts were also provided later in the procedure. In Experiment 1, only tact training followed by listener probes were conducted; in Experiment 2, tacting was trained first and listener behavior second, whereas in Experiment 3 listener training preceded tact training. Both tact and listener training resulted in emergence of naming together with significant and large improvements in the children's matching performances; this was true for each child and across most target gestures. The present series of experiments provides evidence that naming--the most basic form of self-instructional behavior--may be one means of establishing untrained matching as measured in generalized imitation tests. This demonstration has a bearing on our interpretation of imitation reported in the behavior analytic, cognitive developmental, and comparative literature.     

The effect of an extinction cue on ABA-renewal: Does valence matter?

The present human fear conditioning study examined whether the valence of an extinction cue has a differential effect on attenuating renewal that is induced by removal of the extinction context. Additionally, the study aimed to assess whether such attenuating effect is based on a modulatory or safety-signal role of the cue. In acquisition, extinction, and test stages of the experiment, human participants received pairings of human faces, presented against a particular background color, with the presence or absence of an aversive auditory stimulus. Experimental groups differed in the valence of a cue that was presented during extinction, in whether or not extinction took place against a different background color than present during acquisition and testing, and in whether the extinction cue was present or absent at test. The conditioned response consisted of auditory-stimulus expectancy ratings. It was hypothesized that a positively valued extinction cue yields faster extinction, stronger attenuation of renewal, and better transfer of its inhibitory power to non-extinguished stimuli than a negatively valued cue. All three hypotheses were confirmed, suggesting that the positive, but not the negative, cue had become a safety signal. The results were discussed in the framework of extinction-based exposure treatments.