Convergent cortical representation of semantic processing in bilinguals

This study examined whether semantic processes in two languages (English and Spanish) are mediated by a common neural system in fluent bilinguals who acquired their second language years after acquiring their first language. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed while bilingual participants made semantic and nonsemantic decisions about words in Spanish and English. There was greater activation for semantic relative to nonsemantic decisions in left and right frontal regions, with greater left frontal activation. The locations of activations were similar for both languages, and no differences were found when semantic decisions for English and Spanish words were compared directly. These results demonstrate a shared frontal lobe system for semantic analysis of the languages and are consistent with cognitive research on bilingualism indicating that the two languages of a bilingual person access a common semantic system.     

Vietnamese Amerasians: Predictors of Distress and Self-Destructive Behavior

There have been few empirical studies of Vietnamese Amerasians, children fathered by United States servicemen and civilians during the Vietnam War. In this study, the authors investigated pre- and postmigration variables that predict psychological distress and self-destructive behavior. The sample (N = 169) was selected from 10 cities throughout the United States. Multivariate regression analyses were used to determine the predictors of distress. Results revealed that observing traumatic events rather than actually experiencing trauma was a significant predictor of psychological distress. Participants with frequent cognitions about loss of significant people, places, or both were more likely to report psychological distress and self-destructive behavior. Implications for research and practice are discussed in relationship to cross-cultural counseling with at-risk populations, including individuals from inner cities and war-stricken environments.     

A multi-dimensional model for treating families that have survived mother assault

This paper offers a multidimensional family systems approach to treating children and their mothers in families who have survived violence and are in father-absent families. The model incorporates theoretical and clinical ideas from the child witness-to-violence field, the field of traumatic stress, and from feminist thinking. Three areas of intervention are detailed.The authors gratefully acknowledge the suggestions of the reviewers.     

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF REINFORCEMENT AND PRACTICE FOR ENHANCING THE CREATIVE WRITING OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN1

Reinforcement (team points) and practice were applied to the written work of 16 fifth graders on three operationally defined components of creative writing, fluency, flexibility, and originality.4 These three components were assessed via five response measures. Fluency was defined as the number of different ideas each student listed in an idea list prepared prior to writing an essay. Flexibility was measured in two ways, idea list flexibility and story flexibility. Idea list flexibility was defined as the number of different kinds of ideas which appeared in each day's list whereas story flexibility was defined as the number of different approaches to the topic that the child used in the story itself. Originality was also measured in two ways, idea list originality and story originality. Idea list originality was defined by the statistical infrequency of ideas in the children's lists of ideas. Story originality was determined by blind, subjective ratings of stories conducted by independent raters. All of the measures of creative responding were demonstrated to be under experimental control. The procedures also raised students' scores on Torrance's Tests of Thinking Creatively With Words on three variables, fluency, flexibility, and originality. Adoption for classroom use seems straightforward.     

Psychological trauma associated with AIDS and HIV infection in women

The growing numbers of women faced with HIV infection and AIDS has specific counselling implications. This paper analyses the psychological needs of all women patients seen by the psychology department (n = 33) over the past 12 months. The mean age was 32.3 years. Psychological crisis was high. Four women reported rapes (three accounting for their HIV infection). Two women had suicide attempts (one on two occasions), Death experiences were notable, including multiple bereavement. Conjidentiality was problematic for many of the women. Problems were reported around pre- and post-test counselling which was absent for three women, and often surrounded the diagnosis of a loved one (child, husband or partner). Most women were first seen as in-patients (when disease progression was extensive) or when their partners or children were in-patients. Despite offers of out-patients follow-up, only four HIV + ve women attended, three of which were irregular. A group of ten women were only seen indirectly when provision of care wasgiven to their children. A consistent group were seen with worries about HIV (either due to sexual contact with a known HZV+ ve or at risk individual) or to unfounded concerns often reflecting underlying psychological problems. This paper explores the counselling challenges of AIDS and HIV for women.     

Cultural and linguistic influence on neural bases of 'Theory of Mind': an fMRI study with Japanese bilinguals

Theory of mind (ToM)-our ability to predict behaviors of others in terms of their underlying intentions-has been thought to be universal and invariant across different cultures. However, several ToM studies conducted outside the Anglo-American cultural or linguistic boundaries have obtained mixed results. To examine the influence of culture/language on neural bases of ToM, we studied 16 American English-speaking monolinguals and 16 Japanese-English bilinguals with second-order false-belief story tasks, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Several neural correlates of ToM including medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were recruited by both cultural/linguistic groups. However, some other brain areas including inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) were employed in a culture/language-specific manner, during the ToM tasks. These results suggest that the ways in which adults understand ToM are not entirely universal.     

Dynamic illusion effects in a reaching task: evidence for separate visual representations in the planning and control of reaching.

The effects of an orientation illusion on perception and 2 different actions were investigated. An 8-cm x 2-cm cylindrical bar was placed in front of participants at various orientations. A background grating was used to induce an orientation illusion. In a perception task, the illusion affected participants' ability to align the bar with their sagittal planes. In one reaching task, a similar effect of the illusion was found on the choice between 2 possible grasping postures. In a second reaching task involving a single grasping posture, the orientation illusion affected the orientation of the hand at the beginning of the reach but not near its end. The authors argue that reaching trajectories are planned and initiated through a context-dependent representation but are corrected on-line through a context-independent representation. The relation of this model to a more general dichotomy between perception and action is discussed.     

Counsellors' experiences of working with suicidal clients: An exploratory study

Counselling is increasingly available in a wide variety of contexts, including mental health and psychiatric services. As a consequence, counsellors increasingly work with clients who present with suicidal ideation, expressing either suicidal thought and/or intent in the counselling session. This paper describes an exploratory study that examined the experience of counsellors when working with suicidal clients. The paper considers counsellors' behavioural, cognitive and emotional responses to such suicidal expression, both on a personal and professional level. The research employed semi‐structured interviews. A constant comparative method was used in analysing the transcribed interview text. Results suggest that counsellors experience a range of responses when their clients express suicidal thought, including fear, anxiety, anger and professional impotence. The interviewees also expressed self‐doubts about their professional competence. In addition, they identified the threat of litigation for negligent practice and the lack of confidence in appropriate risk assessment approaches as significant causes for concern. The implications for further research, and practice, are discussed.     

What is in a word? No versus Yes differentially engage the lateral orbitofrontal cortex

The words "No" and "Yes" are involved in conditioning to prohibit or encourage behavior, respectively. The authors, therefore, hypothesized that these words would be attributed to endogenous valence, activating neuronal circuits involved with valence and emotional control. Functional MRI (fMRI) at 4 Tesla was used to record regional brain activity while participants were exposed to emphatic vocalizations of the words. Results showed that No and Yes were associated with opposite brain-behavior responses; while No was negatively valenced, produced slower response times, and evoked a negative signal in the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), Yes was positively valenced, produced faster response times, and evoked a positive signal in a contiguous region of the OFC. Attribution of negative valence to No and trait anger control were associated with increased responsivity of the OFC to No. Inasmuch as sensitivity to the prohibitive command No develops during childhood through interaction with primary caregivers as the first social objects, our findings may implicate the lateral OFC in the neurobiology of emotion regulation and subsequent social development.