Risk‐taking and the adolescent brain: who is at risk?

Relative to other ages, adolescence is described as a period of increased impulsive and risk-taking behavior that can lead to fatal outcomes (suicide, substance abuse, HIV, accidents, etc.). This study was designed to examine neural correlates of risk-taking behavior in adolescents, relative to children and adults, in order to predict who may be at greatest risk. Activity in reward-related neural circuitry in anticipation of a large monetary reward was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging, and anonymous self-report ratings of risky behavior, anticipation of risk and impulsivity were acquired in individuals between the ages of 7 and 29 years. There was a positive association between accumbens activity and the likelihood of engaging in risky behavior across development. This activity also varied as a function of individuals' ratings of anticipated positive or negative consequences of such behavior. Impulsivity ratings were not associated with accumbens activity, but rather with age. These findings suggest that during adolescence, some individuals may be especially prone to engage in risky behaviors due to developmental changes in concert with variability in a given individual's predisposition to engage in risky behavior, rather than to simple changes in impulsivity.     

Procedures for identifying evidence-based psychological treatments for older adults

The authors describe the methods used to identify evidence-based psychological treatments for older adults in this contribution to the special section. Coding teams were assembled to review the literature on several problems relevant to mental health and aging. These teams used the manual developed by the Committee on Science and Practice of the Society for Clinical Psychology (Division 12) of the American Psychological Association that provided definitions of key constructs used in coding. The authors provide an overview of the process followed by the review teams and of some of the issues that emerged to illustrate the steps involved in the coding procedure. Identifying evidence-based treatments is a fundamental aspect of promoting evidence-based practice with older adults; such practice is advocated by most health care disciplines, including psychology.     

Completeness Theorems via the Double Dual Functor

The aim of this paper is to apply properties of the double dual endofunctor on the category of bounded distributive lattices and some extensions thereof to obtain completeness of certain non-classical propositional logics in a unified way. In particular, we obtain completeness theorems for Moisil calculus, n-valued Łukasiewicz calculus and Nelson calculus. Furthermore we show some conservativeness results by these methods. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Leveraging Healthcare to Promote Responsive Parenting: Impacts of the Video Interaction Project on Parenting Stress

We sought to determine impacts of a pediatric primary care intervention, the Video Interaction Project, on 3-year trajectories of parenting stress related to parent–child interactions in low socioeconomic status families. A randomized controlled trial was conducted, with random assignment to one of two interventions Video Interaction Project (VIP); Building Blocks or control. As part of VIP, dyads attended one-on-one sessions with an interventionist who facilitated interactions in play and shared reading through review of videotaped parent–child interactions made on primary care visit days; learning materials and parenting pamphlets were also provided to facilitate parent–child interactions at home. Parenting stress related to parent–child interactions was assessed for VIP and Control groups at 6, 14, 24, and 36 months using the Parent–Child Dysfunctional Interaction subscale of the Parenting Stress Index—Short Form, with 378 dyads (84 %) assessed at least once. Group differences emerged at 6 months with VIP associated with lower parenting stress at three of four ages considered cross-sectionally and an 17.7 % reduction in parenting stress overall during the study period based on multi-level modeling. No age by group interaction was observed, indicating persistence of early VIP impacts. Results indicated that VIP, a preventive intervention targeting parent–child interactions, is associated with decreased parenting stress. Results therefore support the expansion of pediatric interventions such as VIP as part of a broad public health strategy to address poverty-related disparities in school-readiness.     

Flow experience and the mobilization of attentional resources

The present study attempts to better identify the neurophysiological changes occurring during flow experience and how this can be related to the mobilization of attentional resources. Self-reports of flow (using a flow feelings scale) and attention (using thought probes), autonomic activity (heart rate, heart rate variability, and breathing rate), and cerebral oxygenation (using near-infrared spectroscopy) in two regions of the frontoparietal attention network (right lateral frontal cortex and right inferior parietal lobe) were measured during the practice of two simple video games (Tetris and Pong) played at different difficulty conditions (easy, optimal, hard, or self-selected). Our results indicated that an optimal level of difficulty, compared with an easy or hard level of difficulty led to greater flow feelings and a higher concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin in the regions of the frontoparietal network. The self-selected, named autonomy condition did not lead to more flow feelings than the optimal condition; however, the autonomy condition led to greater sympathetic activity (reduced heart rate variability and greater breathing rate) and higher activation of the frontoparietal regions. Our study suggests that flow feelings are highly connected to the mobilization of attentional resources, and all the more in a condition that promotes individuals’ choice and autonomy.     

Memory abilities in Williams syndrome: Dissociation or developmental delay hypothesis?

Williams syndrome (WS) is a neurodevelopmental genetic disorder often described as being characterized by a dissociative cognitive architecture, in which profound impairments of visuo-spatial cognition contrast with relative preservation of linguistic, face recognition and auditory short-memory abilities. This asymmetric and dissociative cognition has been also proposed to characterize WS memory ability, with sparing of auditory short-term memory and impairment of spatial and long-term memory abilities. In this study, we explored the possibility of a double memory dissociation in WS (short- versus long-term memory; verbal versus visual memory). Thus, verbal memory abilities were assessed using California Verbal Learning Test and Digit Span and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure and Corsi Blocks was used to assess visual-spatial memory abilities. Overall, WS subjects were found to present a generalized significant impairment in verbal and visuo-spatial components either in short- or long-term memory. In sum, data from this study brings support for a developmental delay hypothesis, rather than a double dissociation within memory systems in WS.     

Language Measurement Equivalence of the Ethnic Identity Scale With Mexican American Early Adolescents

The current study considers methodological challenges in developmental research with linguistically diverse samples of young adolescents. By empirically examining the cross-language measurement equivalence of a measure assessing three components of ethnic identity development (i.e., exploration, resolution, and affirmation) among Mexican American adolescents, the study both assesses the cross-language measurement equivalence of a common measure of ethnic identity and provides an appropriate conceptual and analytical model for researchers needing to evaluate measurement scales translated into multiple languages. Participants are 678 Mexican-origin early adolescents and their mothers. Measures of exploration and resolution achieve the highest levels of equivalence across language versions. The measure of affirmation achieves high levels of equivalence. Results highlight potential ways to correct for any problems of nonequivalence across language versions of the affirmation measure. Suggestions are made for how researchers working with linguistically diverse samples can use the highlighted techniques to evaluate their own translated measures.