Self-defeating personality and memories of parents' child-rearing behaviour

A group of 132 nonclinical volunteers was given the Self-defeating Personality Scale and a short version of the Egna Minnen Betr?ffande Uppfostran (EMBU) scale to explore correlations of scores for adults' self-defeating traits with memories of parents' child-rearing behaviours. For men, the recall of two rejecting parents and, for women, the memory of a nonsupportive father were significantly correlated with scores of self-defeating traits. The latter scores correlated positively with memories of both overinvolved mother and father for men, while no significant correlation was found among women.     

The effects of associative and semantic priming in the lexical decision task

Four lexical decision experiments were conducted to examine under which conditions automatic semantic priming effects can be obtained. Experiments 1 and 2 analyzed associative/semantic effects at several very short stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs), whereas Experiments 3 and 4 used a single-presentation paradigm at two response-stimulus intervals (RSIs). Experiment 1 tested associatively related pairs from three semantic categories (synonyms, antonyms, and category coordinates). The results showed reliable associative priming effects at all SOAs. In addition, the correlation between associative strength and magnitude of priming was significant only at the shortest SOA (66 ms). When prime-target pairs were semantically but not associatively related (Experiment 2), reliable priming effects were obtained at SOAs of 83 ms and longer. Using the single-presentation paradigm with a short RSI (200 ms, Experiment 3), the priming effect was equal in size for associative + semantic and for semantic-only pairs (a 21-ms effect). When the RSI was set much longer (1,750 ms, Experiment 4), only the associative + semantic pairs showed a reliable priming effect (23 ms). The results are interpreted in the context of models of semantic memory.     

Effects of fimbria lesions on trace two-way active avoidance acquisition and retention in rats

The fimbria-fornix (FF) is the main subcortical input to the hippocampus. It has been shown that FF lesions facilitate performance on a standard-delay two-way active avoidance task (AA2), thought to involve implicit memory. The hippocampal region is required for explicit or relational memory. It has been proposed that the hippocampus and related structures might associate events that are separated in space or time and detect elements shared in common by such discontiguous episodes. Therefore, FF lesions would be expected to impair performance on a trace paradigm, which introduces an interval between the CS (conditioned stimulus) and the US (unconditioned stimulus) and is generally considered a model of explicit memory. We predicted that FF lesions would impair memory in a trace AA2 procedure, while the same lesions would facilitate memory in a standard delay version of the task. To test this hypothesis, two experiments were carried out in 102 male Wistar rats. The first experiment characterized the trace paradigm using this kind of conditioning and demonstrated that control rats were able to acquire and retrieve (24 h and 11 days postacquisition) the association between the CS (tone) and the US (electric foot shock) when a trace interval (5, 10, or 20 s) was interposed between both stimuli. In the second experiment, we investigated the effects of FF electrolytic lesions on the same task using delay and trace (10-s trace interval) paradigms. Surprisingly, FF lesions facilitated the acquisition and the 24-h retention of the AA2 not only on the standard delay paradigm, but also with the trace paradigm. We suggest that facilitative effects could be a result of impairment in contextual learning.     

Personality and psychopathology of drug addicts in Puerto Rico

Drug abuse is one of the most pressing sociomedical problems of society. The purpose of this study was to examine the personality and psychopathology of addicts. 229 addicts in treatment programs scored high on Neuroticism and on the Lie Scale and low on Psychoticism and Extraversion on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire for Puerto Rico. An Addiction Scale, based on a factor analysis, showed a high component of Neuroticism items.     

Cross-cultural differences in female university students' attitudes toward homosexuals: a preliminary study

62 Caucasian, 61 Hispanic, and 44 Asian female undergraduates completed the Index of Homophobia by Hudson and Ricketts, seven items from the Attitudes Toward Lesbians and Gay Men Scale by Herek, and three questions on Affectional Orientation toward homosexuals from D'Augelli and Rose. Overall, familiarity with homosexuals as measured by self-reported number of homosexual friends correlated negatively with scores on the homophobia measures, but there were no significant differences among the groups' reported number of homosexual friends. Asian students scored significantly higher on the homophobia measures than Caucasian students. Both Asian and Hispanic students endorsed the statement significantly more often than Caucasian students that the university would be better if only heterosexuals attended. No significant differences in scores were found regarding attitudes toward lesbians versus gay men.     

The difference between playing games with and without the computer: a preliminary view

The authors address the question of whether associations between video games and cognitive and metacognitive variables depend either on the features of the computer or on the content of the game that the computer allows one to play. An experiment to separate these two kinds of effects was carried out by using a traditional version and a computer-supported version of Pegopolis, a solitaire game. The two versions were exactly the same except that they were played by moving pieces either on a real board or on a virtual computer-presented board. The performance levels and strategies followed during the game by the 40 undergraduates who took part in the experiment were not significantly different in the real and virtual conditions. None of the participants transferred playing strategies or practice from one version of the game to the other. Scores were not affected by gender or by the studies pursued by participants, the habit of playing games in the traditional manner or playing video games, or intelligence. Retrospective reports did not support differences in the subjective experience between the two versions. Results showed that video games, when they do not make much use of the computer's special features, produce effects because of the situations they simulate rather than because of features of the computer itself.     

Lightness depends on immediately prior experience

The lightness hangover illusion is an unusually robust, long-lasting, prior-experience-based lightness effect. The effect occurs in the Mondrian world, a miniature chamber with interior walls covered with dark gray to black patches. The lightest patch in this scene, physically dark gray, looks white. When real whites and light grays are added to the scene, all the patches darken, but at an unusually slow rate. For several seconds, the white patches look self-luminous and the other patches continue to look very light. The luminosity fades and the other patches darken only after 2 min. We tested three possible explanations for this illusion: retinal adaptation, lightness persistence, and anchor persistence. The results clearly support anchor persistence, which is caused by the presence of steady patches, surfaces that retain their luminance values across scenes. The data also show that the size of the illusion varies directly with the number of these steady patches.     

Mood changes after maximal exercise testing in subjects with symptoms of exercise dependence

Considering exercise has positive and negative reinforcing properties, the mood states of sedentary, nonexercise-dependent and exercise-dependent volunteers were compared after maximal exercise testing. Mood status was evaluated by the Beck Depression Inventory, Trait-State Anxiety Inventory, and Profile of Mood States (POMS). No differences were detected before the test or after it, indicating little possibility of positive reinforcement. However, a significant reduction in the POMS Tension-Anxiety scores was observed in both exerciser groups (greater in the exercise-dependent group) but not in the sedentary group. Only in the exercise-dependent group were significant reductions in Anger and Total Mood Disorders scores observed compared with their pre-exercise scores. These data suggest that exercising has stronger negative reinforcement properties for exercise-dependent volunteers and is a factor which could increase the odds of their becoming dependent on exercise.     

Interventions for Family Members and Carers of Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder: A Systematic Review

Carers of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) experience high levels of distress. Several studies have been carried out on interventions designed to decrease their burden. However, the evidence from these studies has not been summarized. The objective of this work is to explore the clinical utility of interventions developed for family members of patients with BPD. A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines (registration number CRD42018107318), including psychological interventions focused on relatives of patients with BPD. The following databases were used: PsycINFO, PubMed, EBSCOhost, and Web of Science. Two independent researchers reviewed the studies to determine whether the eligibility criteria were met. A total of 2,303 abstracts were identified. After duplicates had been removed, 1,746 studies were screened. Finally, 433 full‐text articles were reviewed, yielding 11 studies that satisfied the inclusion criteria. Results show that these interventions with different clinical formats and settings are effective. The quality of the included studies varies, and the empirical support for these programs is still preliminary. The results help to establish a general framework for interventions specifically developed for family members of patients with BPD, but additional efforts should be made to improve the methodological quality of this field of research and more solidly determine the utility of these interventions. Given the paucity of data so far, this information may open up new lines of research to improve the effectiveness of future programs for carers of patients with BPD and help to reduce their burden.     

Economic Impact of Third-Wave Cognitive Behavioral Therapies: A Systematic Review and Quality Assessment of Economic Evaluations in Randomized Controlled Trials

The term third-wave cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) encompasses new forms of CBT that both extend and innovate within CBT. Most third-wave therapies have been subject to randomized controlled trials (RCTs) focused on clinical effectiveness; however, the number and quality of economic evaluations in these RCTs has been unknown and may be few. Evidence about efficiency of these therapies may help support decisions on efficient allocation of resources in health policies. The main aim of this study was to systematically review the economic impact of third-wave therapies in the treatment of patients with physical or mental conditions. We conducted a systematic literature search in PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and CINALH to identify economic evaluations of third-wave therapies. Quality and Risk of Bias (RoB) assessment of economic evaluations was also made using the Drummond 35-item checklist and the Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias, respectively. Eleven RCTs were included in this systematic review. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and extended Behaviour Activation (eBA) showed acceptable cost-effectiveness and cost-utility ratios. No study employed a time horizon of more than 3 years. Quality and RoB assessments highlight some limitations that temper the findings. There is some evidence that MBCT, MBSR, ACT, DBT, and eBA are efficient from a societal or a third-party payer perspective. No economic analysis was found for many third-wave therapies. Therefore, more economic evaluations with high methodological quality are needed.