Meta‐Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials of Motivational Enhancement Therapy for Reducing Substance Use

The authors report the findings of a meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials comparing motivational enhancement therapy with no treatment and alternative treatments. Mean effect‐size data are reported. Implications and suggestions for counseling practice and future research are provided.     

Frames of reference in perceptual-motor learning: Evidence from a blind manual positioning task

Participants moved a joystick to bring a computer-displayed cursor to each of six on-screen target locations arrayed around the center of the screen. At the start of each trial, the stick rested vertically, with a cursor occupying the center of the screen. A target appeared at another location and as soon as the stick was moved away from its rest position the cursor disappeared until the participant pressed a trigger on the stick to indicate when s/he thought the stick-controlled cursor was at the target site. With training, participants improved on the blind positioning task, but when conditions changed their performance suffered. Changing the hand used in the task or the location of the stick caused approximately equal disruptions, but changing both hand and location was significantly more disruptive than changing just one feature. The results support the hypothesis that perceptual-motor learning entails coding of extrinsic (spatial coordinates) as well as intrinsic (postural or body movement) information. Received: 14 October 1999 / Accepted: 6 November 2000     

Older adults show a self-reference effect for narrative information

The self-reference effect (SRE), enhanced memory for information encoded through self-related processing, has been established in younger and older adults using single trait adjective words. We sought to examine the generality of this phenomenon by studying narrative information in these populations. Additionally, we investigated retrieval experience at recognition and whether valence of stimuli influences memory differently in young and older adults. Participants encoded trait adjectives and narratives in self-reference, semantic, or structural processing conditions, followed by tests of recall and recognition. Experiment 1 revealed an SRE for trait adjective recognition and narrative cued recall in both age groups, although the existence of an SRE for narrative recognition was unclear due to ceiling effects. Experiment 2 revealed an SRE on an adapted test of narrative recognition. Self-referential encoding was shown to enhance recollection for both trait adjectives and narrative material in Experiment 1, whereas similar estimates of recollection for self-reference and semantic conditions were found in Experiment 2. Valence effects were inconsistent but generally similar in young and older adults when they were found. Results demonstrate that the self-reference technique extends to narrative information in young and older adults and may provide a valuable intervention tool for those experiencing age-related memory decline.     

Trait Aggressiveness and Aggressive Behavior in the Context of Provocation and Inhibition

Aggressive behavior often occurs despite salient cues within the immediate environment that indicate aversive consequences will likely follow. Prior research has shown high trait aggressiveness to be related to sensitivity to situational provocation; however, little research has examined whether it is also related to insensitivity to situational inhibitors. This study examines the relationship between trait aggressiveness and aggressive behavior in a provocative context with, and without, an unambiguous inhibitory stimulus. Prior to experiencing provocation and being afforded the opportunity to retaliate, participants who varied in trait aggressiveness were explicitly given (or not given) an instruction that aggressive behavior might lead to aversive consequences and, thus, one should not behave aggressively. Findings revealed that without the instruction, those higher in trait aggressiveness exhibited steeper increases in aggressive responding as provocation increased. In the group that received the instruction, trait aggressiveness was unrelated to aggressive responding at all levels of provocation.     

PREGNANT WOMEN'S RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY MATERNAL BONDING: ASSOCIATIONS WITH MATERNAL–FETAL ATTACHMENT AND BIRTH CHOICES

Recollections of own maternal care measured by parental bonding were found to be important in the pregnant woman's construction of herself as a mother. Although these recollections were studied with regard to various variables, there is a dearth of studies associated with pregnancy and childbirth. In this cross‐sectional study, 341 pregnant women were recruited. Measures included a Sociodemographics–Obstetric History Questionnaire; the Childbirth Choices Questionnaire (H. Preis, M. Gozlan, U. Dan, & Y. Benyamini, 2018); the Parental Bonding Instrument (G. Parker, H. Tupling, & L.B. Brown, 1979); a question regarding the planned presence of the woman's mother at delivery; and the Maternal‐Fetal Attachment Scale (M.S. Cranley, 1981). Parental recollections of Care were associated with fewer natural birth choices (hence, a more “medicalized” delivery), lower maternal–fetal attachment, and a wish for the mother's mother to be present at the birth. Parental recollections of Encouragement of Behavioral Freedom in childhood were associated with more natural choices regarding childbirth. In addition, women with higher scores on the parental bonding Denial of Autonomy factor reported stronger maternal–fetal attachment. Thus, early recollections of experiences with caregivers as manifested in parental bonding may be a possible influence on the transition to motherhood, and working through possible difficulties associated with these recollections may improve adjustment to motherhood.     

Posture-based motion planning: applications to grasping.

This article describes a model of motion planning instantiated for grasping. According to the model, one of the most important aspects of motion planning is establishing a constraint hierarchy--a set of prioritized requirements defining the task to be performed. For grasping, constraints include avoiding collisions with to-be-grasped objects and minimizing movement-related effort. These and other constraints are combined with instance retrieval (recall of stored postures) and instance generation (generation of new postures and movements to them) to simulate flexible prehension. Dynamic deadline setting is used to regulate termination of instance generation, and performance of more than one movement at a time with a single effector is used to permit obstacle avoidance. Old and new data are accounted for with the model.     

Recall of parental behavior by acute depressives, remitted depressives, and nondepressives

The goal of this study was to determine whether depressives' recall of parental behavior is a stable characteristic that persists even during asymptomatic periods. Recall of parental behavior was measured in a large community sample that was followed for one year. Four groups of subjects were formed according to their depression status: depressed, remitted depressed who had a history of depression but were not depressed during the study, cases who became depressed during the follow-up period, and never-depressed subjects. The results were generally consistent with the hypothesis that recalling one's parents as having been rejecting and unloving is not a stable personality characteristic of depression-prone persons. The currently depressed subjects differed as expected from the nondepressed subjects; however, the remitted depressed, regardless of how many past episodes of depression they had, did not differ from the nondepressed controls in their recall of parental behavior. The comparison of controls and cases resulted in an unexpected and difficult-to-interpret Sex X Group interaction. The implication of these findings for cognitive theories of depression are discussed.     

Cognitive and personality factors in the delay of gratification of hemodialysis patients

On the basis of Mischel's (1984) social learning analysis of the process of delay of gratification in children and in line with Bandura's (1977) self-efficacy theory, we developed a model of delay of gratification in adults and tested it on dialysis patients who were continuously required to comply with a stringent regimen of fluid-intake to keep alive. We hypothesized that patients' self-evaluations of their past compliance and their efficacy expectations would be associated with their actual delay behavior. Underlying these process-regulating cognitions would be stable competencies, such as learned resourcefulness (i.e., one's self-control skills). Fifty-three dialysis patients self-evaluated their fluid intake compliance, their efficacy expectations, and their health beliefs. Resourcefulness was assessed by Rosenbaum's Self-Control Schedule. Actual fluid-intake compliance was reliably assessed by the mean body weight increase between dialyses during the 3-month period prior to the study and during two follow-up periods. The results supported the model. On the one hand, self-efficacy expectations were related to persistence with the fluid diet and on the other hand to subjects' self-evaluation of their past adherence behavior as well as to their resourcefulness. Although the path model suggested a causal pattern, the correlational nature of the study precluded any conclusions on cause-effect relationship.