Understanding mortality and the life of the ancestors in rural madagascar

Across two studies, a wide age range of participants was interviewed about the nature of death. All participants were living in rural Madagascar in a community where ancestral beliefs and practices are widespread. In Study 1, children (8–17 years) and adults (19–71 years) were asked whether bodily and mental processes continue after death. The death in question was presented in the context of a narrative that focused either on the corpse or on the ancestral practices associated with the afterlife. Participants aged 8 years and older claimed that death brings an end to most bodily and mental processes. Nevertheless, particularly in the context of the religious narrative, they claimed that certain mental processes continue even after death. This assertion of an afterlife was more evident among adults than children, especially with respect to cognitive processes, such as knowing and remembering. In Study 2, 5- and 7-year-olds were asked similar questions in connection with the death of a bird and a person. Seven-year-olds consistently claimed that bodily and mental processes cease at death, whereas 5-year-olds were unsystematic in their replies. Together, the two studies replicate and extend findings obtained with Western children showing that, in the course of development, different conceptions of death are elaborated—a biological conception in which death terminates living processes and a religious conception in which death marks the beginning of a new form of spiritual existence.     

Global and local processing in Williams syndrome: drawing versus perceiving.

It has been hypothesized that a local processing bias underlies overall visuospatial impairments in Williams syndrome (WS). However, recent studies have challenged this hypothesis by providing evidence against a local processing bias at the perceptual level. The aim of the present study was to further examine drawing and perceptual skills in children with WS using closely matched-hierarchical stimuli. In the drawing task children with WS exhibited a local processing bias. However, no significant preferential bias was found in the perceptual task. This indicates that children with WS do not systematically present a preferential bias for local information. Taken together the findings of the present study suggest that perceptual processing deficits per se are unlikely to explain local processing biases in visuoconstructive tasks often described in people with WS.     

Gabaergic mechanisms of hypothalamic nuclei in the expression of conditioned fear

The amygdala, the dorsal periaqueductal gray (dPAG), and the medial hypothalamus have long been recognized to be a neural system responsible for the generation and elaboration of unconditioned fear in the brain. It is also well known that this neural substrate is under a tonic inhibitory control exerted by GABA mechanisms. However, whereas there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that the amygdala and dPAG are also able to integrate conditioned fear, it is still unclear, however, how the distinct hypothalamic nuclei participate in fear conditioning. In this work we aimed to examine the extent to which the gabaergic mechanisms of this brain region are involved in conditioned fear using the fear-potentiated startle (FPS). Muscimol, a GABA-A receptor agonist, and semicarbazide, an inhibitor of the GABA synthesizing enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), were used as an enhancer and inhibitor of the GABA mechanisms, respectively. Muscimol and semicarbazide were injected into the anterior hypothalamus (AHN), the dorsomedial part of the ventromedial nucleus (VMHDM), the dorsomedial (DMH) or the dorsal premammillary (PMD) nuclei of male Wistar rats before test sessions of the fear conditioning paradigm. The injections into the DMH and PMD did not produce any significant effects on FPS. On the other hand, muscimol injections into the AHN and VMHDM caused significant reduction in FPS. These results indicate that injections of muscimol and semicarbazide into the DMH and PMD fail to change the FPS, whereas the enhancement of the GABA transmission in the AHN and VMHDM produces a reduction of the conditioned fear responses. On the other hand, the inhibition of this transmission led to an increase of this conditioned response in the AHN. Thus, whereas DMH and PMD are known to be part of the caudal-most region of the medial hypothalamic defensive system, which integrates unconditioned fear, systems mediating conditioned fear select the AHN and VMHDM nuclei that belong to the rostral-most portion of the hypothalamic defense area. Thus, distinct subsets of neurons in the hypothalamus could mediate different aspects of the defensive responses.     

Recurrent criminal behavior and executive dysfunction

OBJECTIVE: To experimentally test the hypothesis that people who repeatedly participate in forms of non-violent crime exhibit an executive deficit detected in tests of high ecological validity, having changes in prefrontal functioning as neurophysiologic basis. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: A batteiy to assess executive dysfunction was administered--the Behavioural Assessment of the Dysexecutive Syndrome (BADS)--to an experimental group of 30 inmates convicted of crimes against property (mean age = 39.3, SD = 9.98), and a control group of 30 (mean age = 32.7, SD = 11.8), all male. RESULTS: The group of recurrent inmates performed significantly worse than the control group in their global scores on the battery, as well as in the majority of subscales. CONCLUSION: Without removing from consideration the fact that sample size was not very large and, primarily, alerting ourselves to the dangerous hypothesis of a "frontal criminogenesis," the authors interpret criminal recurrence and resistance to penal measures in terms of the scarcity of control that individuals from the experimental group have over their behavior and its respective consequences.     

Neurofunctional correlates of personality traits in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: An fMRI study

Extraversion and Neuroticism are two fundamental dimensions of human personality that influence cognitive functioning in healthy subjects. Little is known about personality changes that may occur in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) nor about, in particular, their neurofunctional basis. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of personality characteristics on brain activity in patients with MS. Eighteen patients with clinically definite relapsing-remitting MS without any evidence of psychiatric or cognitive disorders and thirteen healthy controls matched for age, gender and education were investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the execution of an “n-back” task. No differences were detected on the behavioral tests between the two groups, although the MS patients had lower total IQ and showed a trend towards higher Extraversion and Neuroticism scores than did the controls. fMRI analyses demonstrated that Extraversion scores were positively associated with brain activity in the fronto-parietal network including the superior parietal lobule and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in both groups during the high load condition of the n-back task. Given the overlapping neural systems found in the two groups, we suggest that the neural activity associated with specific personality dimension is a neurophysiological characteristic preserved in patients with MS at an early stage in the course of their disease.     

Optimism, Pessimism, and Motivation: Relations to Adjustment

The present work reviews the literature examining connections involving the key constructs of optimism and pessimism with motivation and adjustment. We review historical and conceptual models of optimism and pessimism. We then examine how these central constructs have been linked to both adaptive and maladaptive motivational processes and outcomes in the empirical literature. How cultural factors may impact the function of optimism and pessimism is also discussed. We end with a brief discussion of emerging issues that would be useful to examine in future research on optimism and pessimism.     

Helping Others Shows Differential Benefits on Health and Well-being for Male and Female Teens

Objectives Adults who engage in altruistic social interest behaviors experience better mental health and have lower mortality rates than non-altruistic adults. The present study investigated the relationship between altruism and health and well-being in teens, and demographic and lifestyle variables. Methods A cross-sectional survey was implemented with a national sample of teens recruited through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Measures included the PedsQL, the Ryff Psychological Well-Being Scale, and a new self-report scale of Altruism (subscales: Receiving/ Providing Emotional Support, Family Helping Behavior, General Helping Behavior, and Helping Orientation). Results Data were collected from 457 teens (M age = 15.6, sd 1.2). Psychometric analyses revealed that a five-factor model fit the altruism data well. Multivariate regression revealed no association between providing emotional support and psychosocial health. There were, however, many associations between altruism and well-being, and differential associations by gender. Family helping was the most salient aspect of altruism for males, showing associations with positive social relations, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. For females, General Helping Behavior was associated with positive social relations, and Helping Orientation was associated with better purpose in life. Family Helping was associated with better physical health in females, but not for males. The only correlates of altruism were higher age, more physical activity, and engaging in positive religious coping. Conclusions Altruism is positively associated with health for females and with well-being for both males and females. Different gender-specific interventions to guide teens in doing more altruistic activities may have to be designed to capitalize on these different associations.

Insight into illness and adherence to psychotropic medications are separately associated with violence severity in a forensic sample

Violence towards others by a minority of psychotic individuals is a significant public health concern. The severity of this other-directed violence (ODV) in the community may be influenced by insight into illness and adherence to psychotropic medications; however, few studies have tested these associations. Sixty male psychotic inpatients, legally detained at a forensic unit in New York City, were assessed with semi-structured interviews, supplemented with information from hospital and official records, family members and the treating clinician. Results indicated that in this unique sample of detained persons with psychotic disorders; (1) increase in the severity of community violence is associated with medication non-adherence, all dimensions of poor insight into illness, and several previously reported covariates such as substance use comorbidity; (2) no relationship was found between insight and adherence in this particular sample; (3) multivariate analyses showed that select covariates, along with medication adherence, and select insight domains predicted a total of 73% of the magnitude of ODV behavior in this sample. Overall, medication non-adherence explained a large amount of how violently participants behaved toward others. Since non-adherence was independent of poor insight, it may be more worthwhile for clinicians to develop treatment strategies to target medication adherence without directly addressing an elusive target such as insight into illness. Treatment addressing medication adherence needs to concomitantly target substance use behaviors since the latter was responsible for a substantial increase in ODV.     

Social Control in Marital Relationships: Effect of One's Partner on Health Behaviors1

The present study examined the role that health‐related social control plays in promoting health‐enhancing behavioral reactions among married couples. Health‐related social control refers to interactions entailing influence and regulation of health practices. A sample of 109 couples answered questions about their social control interactions during structured phone interviews. Analyses maintaining the couple as the unit of analysis indicated that spouses' reports of more frequent social control overall and the use of positive, bilateral, and direct social control tactics predicted their partners' reports of health‐enhancing behavioral reactions.     

Anti-Semitism the World Over in the Twenty-first Century

The article reports the numbers and types of anti-Semitic incidents, attacks, media reports, and public opinion against Jews in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Western and Eastern European countries, the Middle East, and Australia. It also reports responses to these actions by police and local and national government officials. The period for which the data are reported is from 2000 to mid-2007. For each country, the size of the Jewish community is reported. What is manifestly clear from the data presented is that anti-Semitism is on the rise in most countries of the world. The data show a dramatic increase in anti-Semitism in Western Europe notably, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, and The Netherlands. Of those countries, France has the worse record.