Reproducibility of functional network metrics and network structure: A comparison of task-related BOLD, resting ASL with BOLD contrast, and resting cerebral blood flow

Network analysis is an emerging approach to functional connectivity in which the brain is construed as a graph and its connectivity and information processing estimated by mathematical characterizations of graphs. There has been little to no work examining the reproducibility of network metrics derived from different types of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data (e.g., resting vs. task related, or pulse sequences other than standard blood oxygen level dependent [BOLD] data) or of measures of network structure at levels other than summary statistics. Here, we take up these questions, comparing the reproducibility of graphs derived from resting arterial spin-labeling perfusion fMRI with those derived from BOLD scans collected while the participant was performing a task. We also examine the reproducibility of the anatomical connectivity implied by the graph by investigating test–retest consistency of the graphs’ edges. We compare two measures of graph-edge consistency both within versus between subjects and across data types. We find a dissociation in the reproducibility of network metrics, with metrics from resting data most reproducible at lower frequencies and metrics from task-related data most reproducible at higher frequencies; that same dissociation is not recapitulated, however, in network structure, for which the task-related data are most consistent at all frequencies. Implications for the practice of network analysis are discussed.     

The recognition of mental states from dynamic and static facial expressions

The ability to recognize mental states from facial expressions is essential for effective social interaction. However, previous investigations of mental state recognition have used only static faces so the benefit of dynamic information for recognizing mental states remains to be determined. Experiment 1 found that dynamic faces produced higher levels of recognition accuracy than static faces, suggesting that the additional information contained within dynamic faces can facilitate mental state recognition. Experiment 2 explored the facial regions that are important for providing dynamic information in mental state displays. This involved using a new technique to freeze motion in a particular facial region (eyes, nose, mouth) so that this region was static while the remainder of the face was naturally moving. Findings showed that dynamic information in the eyes and the mouth was important and the region of influence depended on the mental state. Processes involved in mental state recognition are discussed.     

Why won’t they participate? Barriers to participation in worksite health promotion programmes

Research suggests that worksite health promotion (WHP) programmes, and specifically health risk assessment (HRA) surveys and health education workshops, can be effective in enhancing employees’ health. However, 50–75% of employees choose not to participate when offered the opportunity to do so. The reasons for nonparticipation and the characteristics of nonparticipants have largely been overlooked. Building on premises of Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, we hypothesize that nonparticipation results from lack or loss of resources, or from the perceived low value of resources. These barriers to participation are expected to be related to employees’ characteristics and beliefs (termed implicit barriers) and reflected in employees’ self-reported reasons for nonparticipation (termed explicit barriers). We surveyed a large random sample of participants and nonparticipants in a WHP programme (n = 1926 employees), which included two steps: a HRA survey and a health education workshop. Participants completed an anonymous web-based questionnaire. Implicit and explicit barriers that reflect resource availability (e.g., age, health status) and valuation (e.g., low value of making a lifestyle change) were identified. The magnitude and nature of these barriers differed between the HRA survey and the workshop. We discuss how future research on WHP programmes can build on these findings and propose practical implications for reducing nonparticipation.     

Universities are not a good place for psychotherapy and counselling training

This paper outlines eight aspects of institutional practice in university teaching that are at odds with the ethos of therapy: the linearity of university training has consequences for conceptual and cultural issues that may be antithetical to genuine therapeutic practice; certain notions about what reality is and what counts as truth may be reinforced by university trainings; academic knowledge in universities is standardized so as to sabotage therapeutic work; the university privileges a cognitive account; the university trains therapists in ways that are antithetical to the ethos of therapy; universities keep alive hierarchies that sit uneasily with the project of therapy; university training encourages the therapist to develop an identity that is anathema to many traditions in therapy; and compartmentalization of ethics in university-based trainings would run against the ethics of therapy.     

Constructing and deconstructing psychotherapeutic discourse

This paper reviews recent work on the social construction of the self in counselling and psychotherapy, and argues that we need to attend to the ways in which the therapeutic self is fashioned (a) in relation to the ‘psy-complex' as the network of theories and practices concerned with psychological governance and self-reflection in modern Western culture and (b) in the context of ‘therapeutic domains' outside the clinic and academe, domains of discursive regulation and self-expression which then bear upon the activities of professional and lay counsellors. Therapeutic domains contain repertoires, templates and complexes within which counsellors and clients fabricate varieties of truth and story a core of experience into being. I then turn to describe and assess some of the various ways in which this kind of critical reflection on therapeutic discourse and counselling practice now already underpins the work of social constructionist ‘narrative' therapists. Some attention is given to the different pragmatic and deconstructionist approaches which make the discursive constitution of the problem into the problem, either by dissolving or by externalizing the account the client presents. Here I argue that the activities of social constructionist counsellors can be viewed as forms of deconstruction-in-process (a deconstruction of the discursive frames which have been constructed by the client), but that they should not be viewed as stepping outside the discursive conditions of possibility which ground their work. the psy-complex and therapeutic domains still function as relatively enduring structures which limit the degree to which we may construct and deconstruct psychotherapeutic discourse.     

Posttraumatic Growth and Subjective Well-Being among Caregivers of Chronic Patients: A Preliminary Study

This preliminary study focused on positive phenomena among Israeli family caregivers (spouse, adult child, or parent) of patients with chronic illness hospitalized in a medical rehabilitation hospital. We investigated these caregivers’ posttraumatic growth (PTG) and subjective well-being (positive and negative emotions, life satisfaction), and their associations with the demographic and illness characteristics of the caregivers and patients, respectively. Participants included 74 adult primary caregivers: 28 were the patient’s spouse; 21 were the patient’s child; and 25 were the patient’s parent. Caregivers completed four self-report questionnaires. No significant association emerged between caregivers’ PTG and their negative affect or life satisfaction. Nevertheless, caregivers’ positive affect correlated with their PTG and also predicted it. Moreover, different patterns emerged for the caregiver subgroups (spouse, adult child, or parent): Patients’ children reported lower negative affect and greater life satisfaction than patients’ parents or spouses. Various explanations were discussed, alongside implications for giving recognition and assistance from the medical system to patients’ caregivers.     

Correlates of colorectal cancer screening compliance and stage of adoption among siblings of individuals with early onset colorectal cancer.

Concepts from the health belief, transtheoretical, and dual process models were used to examine how siblings of individuals diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) before age 56 made decisions about CRC screening. Siblings (N = 504) were assessed for CRC screening practices and intentions, pros, cons, processes-of-change, perceived risk of CRC, perceived severity of CRC, preventability of CRC, cancer-related distress, and sibling relationship closeness. Physician and family recommendation and knowledge were also assessed. Fifty-seven percent of participants (n = 287) were compliant with CRC screening. Logistic regression indicated that perceived pros and cons, perceived risk, commitment to screening, health care avoidance, and sibling closeness were associated with screening compliance. Physician and family recommendation were also strong correlates. A similar set of factors was associated with stage of adoption of CRC screening.     

Encoding and output order processes in short-term order recall of distinctive items.

Adults recalled the order of the letters in one of two four-letter segments following a distractor task. They knew in advance the identity of the letters in each segment. A letter was made distinctive by replacing it with a red dash. This unusual form of distinctiveness generally had negative effects on recall of both the segment containing the missing letter and the absent letter within the segment. Encoding and output processes were manipulated by varying precue information and recall order instructions, respectively. Informing participants in advance whether or not a trial would contain a distinctive (i.e., missing) letter depressed recall. Constraining output order eliminated the disadvantage for the absent letter. The results are discussed in terms of encoding and output order processes in short-term recall of order information.     

Heart Rate Changes Accompanying Jaw Movement Pavlovian Conditioning in Rabbits: Concomitant Blood Pressure Adjustments and Effects of Peripheral Autonomic Blockade

Two experiments were conducted to ascertain the cardiovascular accompaniments of differential Pavlovian jaw movement (JM) conditioning. The first examined the blood pressure (BP) changes that accompany the tachycardiac conditioned responses (CRs) associated with JM conditioning. The BP response in all instances consisted of a depressor response that was greater to the reinforced CS+ than CS-, although the magnitude of the CR was quite small. The second experiment determined the effects of peripheral autonomic antagonists on the cardiac accelerations associated with JM conditioning. It was found that the peripheral vagal antagonist methyl scopolamine completely abolished responses to both CS+ and CS-, whereas atenolol, a beta adrenergic antagonist, augmented the response, compared to saline control injections. The JM responses were also affected by the autonomic blockades, with minimal responding occurring in the scopolamine group but slightly more JM CRs in the atenolol group, compared to saline control animals. These results suggest that the major cardiovascular response to an appetitive stimulus, which evokes JM conditioning, consists of cardiac accelerations with the BP depressor responses playing a minimal, if any, role. Moreover, these conditioned cardiac increases appear to be due solely to the release of vagal inhibition.