The Relation of Lifetime Cognitive Activity and Lifetime Access to Resources to Late-life Cognitive Function in Older African Americans

ABSTRACT

Research in older Caucasians has demonstrated that cognitive activity is related to cognitive function in late adulthood. Knowledge of this association is limited in older minority populations. We examined the relation of cognitive activity and access to cognitive resources, with cognitive function in a group of 108 older African Americans. We constructed two scales to measure the frequency of cognitive activity and the presence of resources that promote cognitive activity during early and late life. Both measures had high internal consistency and the cognitive activity scale had adequate temporal stability over a 4-week interval. In analyses that controlled for age and education, more frequent lifetime cognitive activity was related to current cognitive function, but lifetime cognitive resources only approached significance. The results suggest that both measures are psychometrically sound in a minority population and that lifetime cognitive activity may contribute to current cognitive function in African Americans.     

That Could Be Me (or Not): Senseless Violence and the Role of Deservingness,Victim Ethnicity,Person Identification,and Position Identification1

Building on just‐world theory, the current study examined variables contributing to the labeling of violent incidents as senseless. In a 2 × 2 (Blame Opportunities x Victim Ethnicity) design, Dutch participants (N= 78) were provided with a written hypothetical situation depicting a violent incident. Consistent with predictions, the violence was evaluated to be less deserved and more senseless (and the desired penalty for the offender was stronger) when participants had no opportunity to blame the victim than when they did have an opportunity to blame the victim. Likewise, an act of violence committed against a victim belonging to an ethnic minority (allochthonous victim) was perceived to be more deserved and less senseless (and the desired penalty for the offender was smaller) than a similar violent act directed against a native (autochthonous) victim. Findings designate that the just‐world theory offers a promising approach to investigate factors determining the labeling of violent incidents as senseless by outside, uninvolved observers.     

On Revising Fuzzy Belief Bases

We look at the problem of revising fuzzy belief bases, i.e., belief base revision in which both formulas in the base as well as revision-input formulas can come attached with varying degrees. Working within a very general framework for fuzzy logic which is able to capture certain types of uncertainty calculi as well as truth-functional fuzzy logics, we show how the idea of rational change from “crisp” base revision, as embodied by the idea of partial meet (base) revision, can be faithfully extended to revising fuzzy belief bases. We present and axiomatise an operation of partial meet fuzzy base revision and illustrate how the operation works in several important special instances of the framework. We also axiomatise the related operation of partial meet fuzzy base contraction.This paper is an extended version of a paper presented at the Nineteenth Conference on Uncertainty in Arti.cial Intelligence (UAI’03).     

HIV-related stigma in African and Afro-Caribbean communities in the Netherlands: manifestations, consequences and coping

HIV-related stigma in African and Afro-Caribbean diaspora communities in the Netherlands was investigated. Interviews with HIV-positive and HIV-negative community members demonstrated that HIV-related stigma manifests as social distance, physical distance, words and silence. The psychological consequences of HIV-related stigma among those diagnosed with HIV reported were emotional pain, sadness, loneliness, anger, frustration and internalised stigma. The social consequences included decreased social network size, limited social support and social isolation, and resulted from not only enacted stigma but also self-imposed social withdrawal. Also, poor treatment adherence was a health-related consequence. People living with HIV employed both problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies to mitigate the negative consequences of stigma. Problem-focused coping strategies included selective disclosure, disengagement, affiliating with similar others, seeking social support and, to a lesser extent, activism. Emotion-focused strategies included distraction, positive reappraisal, religious coping, external attributions, disidentification and acceptance. HIV-related stigma clearly permeates African and Afro-Caribbean communities in the Netherlands, and should be targeted for intervention.     

The influence of playing a non-reward game on motor ability and executive function in Parkinson's disease

The aim of this study is to evaluate the acute effect of playing games on executive function and motor ability in Parkinson's disease (PD). Consecutive cases with PD were studied with the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), Mini-Mental State examination (MMSE), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Stroop test, finger tapping and 14-meter walk test. After randomization, patients performed a game of dominoes and were tested before and after experiment being further categorized as control, winners or non-winners. Forty patients, 27 male (67.5%), aged 48 to 84 years (63.2 ± 8.5), Hoehn & Yahr I to III were included. Twenty-eight (70%) presented depressive symptoms (BDI > 10). Groups (Control N = 13; Winners = 14 and Non-winners = 13) were not different regarding age, disease duration, age at onset, BMI, MMSE scores, depressive symptoms, levodopa dose, and previous practice of games. Winners presented significantly better results on executive function (Stroop test, p = 0.002) and on motor activity (Finger tapping, p = 0.01). Non-winners showed a trend of better performance in the 14-meter-walk test. This study shows that the practice of a non-reward game acutely improved memory and motor skills in PD. Our results suggest a role for the reward system in the modulation of the dopaminergic function of the basal ganglia in these patients.     

Childhood Characteristics of Adolescent Inpatients with Early-Onset and Adolescent-Onset Disruptive Behavior

Childhood characteristics are associated with life-course-persistent antisocial behavior in epidemiological studies in general population samples. The present study examines this association in an inpatient sample. The purpose is to identify easily measurable childhood characteristics that may guide choice of treatment for adolescent psychiatric inpatients with severe disruptive behavior. Patients (N?=?203) were divided into two groups with either early-onset (EO) or adolescent-onset (AO) disruptive behavior, based on ages at which professional care was used for disruptive behavior, referral to special education, and criminal offences. Both groups differed on several childhood characteristics. No gender differences in these characteristics were found. Logistic regression analysis indicated that individuals with grade retention in primary school, childhood impulsive behavior, and a history of physical abuse, had the highest probability of being member of the EO group. These characteristics are reasonably easy to identify, likely apply to other clinical samples as well, and may help clinicians to target their treatment.     

The Structure of Idealization in Biological Theories: The Case of the Wright-Fisher Model

In this paper we present a new framework of idealization in biology. We characterize idealizations as a network of counterfactual and hypothetical conditionals that can exhibit different ??degrees of contingency??. We use this idea to say that, in departing more or less from the actual world, idealizations can serve numerous epistemic, methodological or heuristic purposes within scientific research. We defend that, in part, this structure explains why idealizations, despite being deformations of reality, are so successful in scientific practice. For illustrative purposes, we provide an example from population genetics, the Wright-Fisher Model.     

The Rubber Hand Illusion: two's a company, but three's a crowd

On the one hand, it is often assumed that the Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) is constrained by a structural body model so that one cannot implement supernumerary limbs. On the other hand, several recent studies reported illusory duplication of the right hand in subjects exposed to two adjacent rubber hands. The present study tested whether spatial constraints may affect the possibility of inducing the sense of ownership to two rubber hands located side by side to the left of the subject's hand. We found that only the closest rubber hand appeared both objectively (proprioceptive drift) and subjectively (ownership rating) embodied. Crucially, synchronous touch of a second, but farther, rubber hand disrupted the objective measure of the RHI, but not the subjective one. We concluded that, in order to elicit a genuine RHI for multiple rubber hands, the two rubber hands must be at the same distance from the subject's hand/body.