Meaning in life and adjustment to daily stressors

People perceive their life as meaningful when they find coherence in the environment. Given that meaning of life is tied to making sense of life events, people who lack meaning would be more threatened by stressful life events than those with a strong sense of meaning in life. Four studies demonstrated links between perceptions of life’s meaningfulness and perceived levels of stress. In Study 1, participants with lower levels of meaning in life reported greater stress than those who reported higher meaning in life. In Study 2 and Study 3, participants whose meaning in life had been threatened experienced greater stress than those whose meaning in life had been left intact. In Study 4, anticipation of future stress caused participants to rate themselves higher on the quest for meaning in life. These findings suggest that perceiving life as meaningful functions as a buffer against stressors.     

Working mechanisms of a web-based self-management intervention for cancer survivors: a randomised controlled trial

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether problem-solving skills and perceived personal control over cancer recovery mediated the intervention effects on depression and fatigue of a web-based computer-tailored intervention for cancer survivors – the Kanker Nazorg Wijzer (Cancer Aftercare Guide).

Design: Patients were recruited through 21 Dutch hospitals (November 2013–June 2014). The mediation model was tested in a randomised controlled trial with an intervention group (n = 231) and a waiting list control group (n = 231).

Main outcome measures: Hypothesised mediators problem-solving skills (SPSI-R) and personal control (IPQ-R) were measured at baseline and 3 months from baseline. Outcomes depression (HADS) and fatigue (CIS) were measured at baseline and 6 months from baseline.

Results: The intervention effects in decreasing depression and fatigue were mediated by personal control. Problem-solving skills did not mediate the intervention effects on depression and fatigue.

Conclusion: While personal control in the control group decreased in the first three months after baseline, levels of personal control within the intervention group were maintained. This effect partially explained the intervention effects on depression and fatigue. The results provide evidence for the relevance of addressing personal control in web-based interventions in order to improve psychosocial well-being in early cancer survivors.     

Issues in exercise,fitness, and subjective perceptions of fitness of physical education teachers

Several issues arise on reading the paper by Netz and Raviv. Their role in interpretation of the data and stimulating questions for further study is mentioned.     

Task demands and limb apraxia in stroke

The present study was designed to examine the frequency and severity of apraxia in patients with left- or right-hemisphere stroke in both pantomime and imitation conditions and to compare the frequency of apraxia in each stroke group across the three patterns of apraxia described in Roy's model (Roy, 1996). Ninety-nine stroke patients and 15 age-matched healthy adults performed eight transitive gestures to pantomime and to imitation. Gestural performance was quantified as accuracy on five performance dimensions; a composite score, an arithmetic combination of the five performance dimensions, was used as an index of the overall accuracy. Analyses revealed a comparable proportion of patients in each stroke group were classified as apraxic in the imitation condition, but a higher proportion of left stroke patients were apraxic in the pantomime condition. The severity of apraxia in each stroke group and the performance dimensions affected were, however, comparable. Analyses of the patterns of apraxia (pantomime alone, imitation alone or apraxia in both conditions) revealed a higher frequency of apraxia in both stroke groups for the pattern reflecting apraxia in both conditions, indicating that a disruption at the movement execution stage of gesture performance was most common.     

Ernst Mach and B. F. Skinner: Their similarities with two traditions for verbal behavior

Ernst Mach is most closely associated with a positivism that demanded a language of close contact with reality. Mach linked this view with the tradition of the quest for an ideal language in which meaning is a property of a word. Logical positivism and the S-R psychology of the early B. F. Skinner also participated in this ideal-language positivism. In addition, Mach showed an affinity with another tradition-a pragmatic-selectionist tradition-although that tradition and Mach's similarities with it were not as well developed. Mach showed no difficulty in jointly maintaining both of these traditions although they have been regarded as deeply incompatible. When the later Skinner adopted a pragmatic selectionism for his later views on verbal behavior, he rejected his earlier views that were aligned with S-R psychology as well as with logical positivism and its sympathizers. Nevertheless, some statements consistent with "meaning is a property of a word" remained for some time in Skinner's writing.     

The treatment of neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain is responsible for a significant amount of the morbidity associated with generalized and focal peripheral neuropathies. It is a consequence of alterations in neuronal function, chemistry, and structure that occur secondary to nerve injury. These manifestations of neuronal plasticity occur in the peripheral nerve, spinal cord, and brain. A variety of agents from diverse pharmacologic classes, the so-called adjuvant analgesics, have been used to treat neuropathic pain. These include antidepressants, first- and second-generation anticonvulsants, antiarrhythmic agents, topical agents, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonists, and opioid analgesics. The use of these adjuvant analgesics, either alone or in combination, should result in the alleviation of neuropathic pain in most patients. Recent advances in the understanding of pain mechanisms at multiple central nervous system levels should pave the way toward more effective treatment modalities.     

When does word meaning affect immediate serial recall in semantic dementia?

Patients with semantic dementia can show superior immediate recall of words that they still understand relatively well, as compared with more semantically degraded words, suggesting that conceptual knowledge makes a major contribution to phonological short-term memory. However, a number of studies have failed to show such a recall difference, challenging this view. We examined the effect of several methodological factors on the recall of known and degraded words in 4 patients with semantic dementia, in order to investigate possible reasons for this discrepancy. In general, our patients did exhibit poorer recall of the degraded words and made more phonological errors on these items. In addition, set size affected the magnitude of the recall advantage for known words. This finding suggests that semantic degradation influenced the rate of learning in the immediate recall task when the same items were presented repeatedly. The methods used to select known and degraded items also impacted on the recall difference. List length, however, did not affect the advantage for known words. The coherence of items in phonological short-term memory was affected by their semantic status, but not by the length of the material to be retained. The implications of these findings for the role of semantic and phonological representations in verbal short-term memory are discussed.     

Sex differences for selective forms of spatial memory

In the present study, a systematic comparison of sex differences for several tests of spatial memory was conducted. Clear evidence for more accurate male performance was obtained for precise metric positional information in a wayfinding task and in an object location memory task. In contrast, no sex difference characterized topological information processing (object-to-position assignment). Together, these findings provide further insight in the specificity of sex differences in spatial memory and in the functional architecture of spatial memory. Implications for the relevant evolutionary basis are discussed.