Learning a foreign language: Effects of tact and listener instruction on the emergence of bidirectional intraverbals

We evaluated the effects of tact and listener instruction on the emergence of bidirectional intraverbal relations with 6 typically developing Brazilian children, using an adapted alternating treatment design with pretest and posttest probes. In listener instruction, participants selected pictures that corresponded to spoken foreign-language words. For tact instruction, children had to vocalize foreign words in the presence of the corresponding pictures. After meeting mastery criteria, bidirectional intraverbal tests assessed vocalizations in Portuguese (native language) following the presentation of the equivalent words in English (foreign language) and vice versa. Tact instruction consistently produced higher levels of emergent intraverbal responding compared to listener instruction, confirming results from previous studies.     

Sadness and happiness are amplified in solitary listening to music

Previous studies have shown that music is a powerful means to convey affective states, but it remains unclear whether and how social context shape the intensity and quality of emotions perceived in music. Using a within-subject design, we studied this question in two experimental settings, i.e. when subjects were alone versus in company of others without direct social interaction or feedback. Non-vocal musical excerpts of the emotional qualities happiness or sadness were rated on arousal and valence dimensions. We found evidence for an amplification of perceived emotion in the solitary listening condition, i.e. happy music was rated as happier and more arousing when nobody else was around and, in an analogous manner, sad music was perceived as sadder. This difference might be explained by a shift of attention in the presence of others. The observed interaction of perceived emotion and social context did not differ for stimuli of different cultural origin.     

Neuropsychological Impact of Trauma-Related Mental Illnesses: A Systematic Review of Clinically Meaningful Results

Neuropsychology Review - A trauma history is present in approximately 90% of adults in the United States. Comparatively, lifetime post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prevalence...     

Making of Victim a Patient: Sexually Abused Children and the Consequences of Unprofessional Help

The disclosure of sexual abuse by a child not only disturbs the mental peace of the family members but influences their attitudes towards the victim as well. This article explores how the diverse types of attitudes of the family members towards the victim and un-fulfillment of role expectation of a victim from his/her family members make him/her a patient. An attempt has also been made to analyse how the reluctance of parents to take any professional help impedes the recovery of the child along with the strategy a child adopts to cope with this traumatic event of his/her life. The child wants love and support from his/her close relatives, besides expecting protection from them. In such circumstances even a little negligence from any of the family members or their unsupportive and unpractical attitudes towards the victim, makes him/her a silent sufferer. A sense of helplessness develops in her/him and later on this sense of helplessness makes him/her a patient of depression.     

Evaluating the Acute Contributions of Dopaminergic Replacement to Gait With Obstacles in Parkinson's Disease

The influence of dopaminergic replacement (DR) on gait in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) is well documented. However, little is known about the acute effects of dopamine on more complex locomotor tasks that require visual guidance to avoid obstacles during gait. The authors investigated the influence of DR on locomotor behavior in a task where movement planning and control might be challenged by the height of the obstacle. The PD group included patients diagnosed with idiopathic PD (n = 12), as well as healthy controls (n = 12). Patients walked and stepped over obstacles of different heights before (OFF) and after (ON) levodopa intake. Spatial adjustments were not modulated by DR, but the step time to perform these anticipatory gait adjustments was longer only in PD-OFF (compared with healthy controls) when approaching the highest obstacle, but not PD-ON. During the crossing phase, trail limb toe clearance of PD patients was shorter than healthy controls only during the OFF state. ON-OFF comparisons were significantly different only for the time to reach the lead foot clearance over the highest obstacle. In summary, DR partially improved movement slowness but did not directly affect movement amplitude of lower limb regulation in this gait task.     

Amnesic effect of GMP depends on its conversion to guanosine

Extracellular guanine-based purines, namely the nucleotides GTP, GDP, GMP and the nucleoside guanosine, exert important neuroprotective and neuromodulator roles in the central nervous system, which may be related to inhibition of the glutamatergic neurotransmission activity. In this study, we investigated GMP effects on mice inhibitory avoidance performance and the dependence on its conversion to guanosine for such effect, by using the ecto-5'-nucleotidase specific inhibitor AOPCP. We also investigated if this conversion occurs in the central nervous system or peripherally, and if guanosine and GMP affect nociception by the tail-flick test. I.p. GMP or guanosine (7.5 mg/kg) or i.c.v. GMP (480 nmol) pretraining administration was amnesic for the inhibitory avoidance task. I.c.v. AOPCP (1 nmol) administration completely reversed the amnesic effect of i.c.v. GMP, but not of i.p. GMP, indicating that peripheral conversion of GMP to guanosine is probably relevant to this effect. AOPCP alone did not interfere with the performance. Furthermore, tail-flick measurement was unaffected by i.p. GMP and guanosine, suggesting that the amnesic effect of both purines was not due to some antinociceptive effect against the footshock used in the task. All these data together, in accordance to those previously observed in studies involving glutamate uptake and seizures reinforce the idea that guanosine is the specific extracellular guanine-based purines effector and indicate that its conversion occurs not only in the central nervous system but also peripherally.     

Learning from within: Therapists' actions in daily clinical practice

The integration of theories and techniques is part of family therapists' daily practice, raising the need to understand which resources are used in this professional's clinical actions. Our aim is to reflect on the use of theoretical and technical resources by family therapists in their daily practice. We developed an inquiry process inspired by collaborative action research and social constructionism. Couple and family therapy sessions were conducted by two family therapists, and we developed subsequent dialogs with them focused on describing theoretical and technical inspirations for their actions. Next, we named four categories of actions in this process: exploratory actions, actions for the construction of relational visions, actions for the construction of communication, and actions for family orientation. The therapists-participants referred to many theoretical and technical resources that inspired their practice. For them, the choice of using one or another resource was based on the demands of the interactive moment, which involves their relational and embodied responses to what was experienced in the sessions. We argue that epistemological coherence is not something that guides the therapist's practice a priori, but something that can be achieved by talking about and reflecting on their actions. This article can contribute to clinical practice and training in family therapy by presenting an interesting reflexive process that can be useful to enhance practice in couple and family therapy (FAPESP, Process n. 2015/21316–1).     

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Structure of Adult ADHD Symptoms

Previous research has examined the factor structure of ADHD symptoms in adults using confirmatory factor analysis and there is mixed support for two-factor, three-factor, or more complex bifactor models. The current study re-examines these factor structures on the basis of not only overall model fit, but also criteria such as chi-square difference tests, invariance, reliability, and validity. Three datasets were pooled to form a total sample of 430 adults (50% female). Participants completed questionnaires assessing their ADHD symptoms, education, psychopathology, and parenting (the latter as validity variables). Although the bifactor models demonstrated the best fit, the reliability and construct replicability of specific factors in these models was poor. The three-factor model had good fit and demonstrated good reliability, validity, construct replicability, and some invariance across gender and dataset. Our results replicate previous studies that find superior fit for bifactor models. However, the superior statistical fit may reflect only the increased complexity of these models. The more parsimonious three-factor model may demonstrate stronger validity and clinical utility.