Amygdalar Volume in Borderline Personality Disorder With and Without Comorbid Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A Meta-analysis

IntroductionFour studies have found a smaller amygdalar volume in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) relative to controls, whereas four other studies have found similar amygdalar volume in BPD patients relative to controls. This study aims to compare amygdalar volumes of BPD patients with controls, and also to compare BPD patients with and without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with controls in order to determine whether PTSD can explain the heterogeneity of findings.MethodSystematic review and meta-analysis of magnetic resonance imaging studies that measured amygdalar volumes in BPD patients and healthy controls.FindingsA significant reduction of amygdalar volumes in BPD patients was confirmed (p < .001). However, data from the studies that discriminated BPD patients with and without PTSD indicated that amygdalar volumes were significantly smaller in BPD patients without PTSD relative to controls (left: p = .02; right: p = .05), but not in BPD patients with PTSD relative to controls (left: p = .08; right: p = .20).ConclusionThis meta-analysis suggests that amygdalar volumes are reduced in patients with BPD. This pattern is confirmed in BPD patients without PTSD, but not in BPD patients with PTSD, raising the possibility that reduced amygdalar volume in BPD patients cannot be explained by comorbid PTSD.     

Direct‐Supervision and Remote‐Supervision Jails: A Comparative Study of Psychosocial Factors1

The direct‐supervision style correctional facility has been offered as a design that provides a better atmosphere for staff and inmates. Prior research has shown minor support in favor of the general environment created by direct‐supervision facilities. However, the claims of benefits associated with direct supervision far outweigh the number of empirical research studies on the design. This research examined corrections officers' and inmates' feelings of boredom, perceived control, aggression, attitudes toward each other, and stress in a direct‐supervision style facility and a remote‐supervision style facility. Results from 164 inmates and 82 correctional officers showed that staff in the direct‐supervision facility reported elevated levels of perceived control, less anger and hostility, and less boredom.     

Kant and Kantians on “the Normative Question”

After decades of vigorous debate, many contemporary philosophers in the Kantian tradition continue to believe, or at least hope, that morality can be given a firm grounding by showing that rational agents cannot consistently reject moral requirements. In the present paper, I do not take a stand on the possibility of bringing out the alleged inconsistency. Instead I argue that, even if a successful argument could be given for this inconsistency, this would not provide an adequate answer to “the normative question” (i.e., “why should I be moral?”). My defense of this claim emerges from a defense of a claim about Kant, namely, that he did not attempt to answer the normative question in this way. After carefully articulating Kant’s answer to the normative question, I argue that his answer to this question contains a lesson about why we should not embrace the approach that is popular among many contemporary Kantians.     

Intracerebral scopolamine administration attenuates Pavlovian heart rate conditioning in the rabbit

Scopolamine hydrobromide was injected into the a) septum, b) dorsal hippocampus, or c) lateral ventricles of conscious rabbits via bilateral chronic indwelling cannulas. The cardiac orienting reflex (OR) and heart rate (HR) classical conditioning were assessed. A fourth group of animals received injections of the vehicle solution into these same brain areas and were otherwise similarly trained. Scopolamine had no effect on the cardiac OR produced by unreinforced tone stimuli. The OR consisted of pronounced bradycardia that habituated over successive trials in all groups. The HR change during classical conditioning also consisted of bradycardia. However, these conditional HR changes were attenuated by scopolamine injected into the septum and lateral ventricles, but were not affected by injections into the dorsal hippocampus. These results suggest that centrally applied scopolamine may affect a central nervous system associative process, and not a mechanism directly involved in primary bradycardia.     

Kinetic output: A conceptual, dimensional and empirical analysis

A dimensional analysis permitted behavioral frequency, duration and available time to be collapsed into a singular dimensionless expression called Kinetic output (K(o)). An empirical analysis across several behaviors in some human subjects showed that the derived index of behavioral output, K(o), was more likely to exhibit less variability than rate or duration measures of the behavior. As a reduction in variability is synonymous with finding an increased order, the results tentatively support the notion that behavior may exhibit conformity at a previously undetected level. One major implication of the K(o) formulation is that divergent frequency and duration performances are interpretable as reflecting alternate forms of the same equivalence.     

Lingual vibrotactile screening: an investigation of normal sensitivity based on multiple threshold determinations

This report describes a standardized training and sensory screening procedure which was used to obtain 7 separate lingual vibrotactile thresholds for each of 5 normal subjects during a 30-day interval. Baseline observations of lingual sensitivity were highly consistent and occurred within a narrow range of contractor displacements. The authors conclude that the screening method provides a quick and reliable clinical tool for general diagnostic use and discuss directions for continued research applications.     

Predictors of organizational commitment: The study of part-time army reservists

A predictive model built upon a multiple role conflict/felt responsibility conceptual framework and containing six previously untested predictors and nine previously tested organizational-related predictors of organizational commitment was investigated. The sample consisted of two battalions of U.S. Army Reserve members. Stepwise multiple regression analysis utilizing a double cross-validation design on each battalion was the data analytic technique. Increased job satisfaction and stronger intent to stay consistently entered each equation as the first and second predictors, respectively. Group cohesion also appeared in more than one equation. The variance explained across the four cross-validated samples averaged .46 and the results were very stable. The importance of the investigation of commitment for this part-time, voluntary organization was discussed, as were future research directions regarding organizational commitment.     

Effects of massed practice and cue-controlled relaxation on tic frequency in Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome

The effects of massed practice (MP) and cue-controlled relaxation on tic frequency were assessed in three single-case studies. Measures of tic frequency, subjective tension and fatigue, and physiological arousal were obtained throughout treatment.MP failed to produce any reduction in tic frequency in the three Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome patients studied. Cue-controlled relaxation resulted in a moderate decrease in tic frequency in only one patient.Tic frequency was related to physiological arousal, as assessed by skin conductance response frequency. No evidence was obtained in support of the suggestion that ticquers demonstrate a deficit in their habituation to sensory stimulation.     

Power spectral density analysis of lateral human standing sway

A number of investigators have used power spectral density (PSD) analysis to try to identify and quantify various sensory systems which are involved in upright standing. Using PSD analysis, over a frequency range from 0.02-2.5 Hz, the present study examined two trials of lateral sway in each of 80 men. The results showed that little change occurred in PSD values between the first and second trials. Exponential curves were fit to the averaged trials data of each subject. The values of the parameter estimates obtained from the curve-fitting were regressed on the values of various direct, and derived anthropometric variables to try to explain the variance of the parameter estimates in terms of the anthropometrics. The subject's center of gravity location accounted for no more than 15.8% of the parameter variance, whereas the remaining anthropometrics explained even less. The overall averaged data suggest that three functions (related to visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive processes) may underlie the sway pattern over this frequency range. PSD curves of individuals with a history of high-level athletic activity clearly differed from those of sedentary subjects.     

Effects of stimulus control and deprivation upon discriminative responding

Discriminative responding in pigeons was studied under multiple variable-interval extinction schedules in which extinction was correlated with either a tone or a white keylight. The two procedures resulted in weak and strong stimulus control, respectively. In the first experiment, there was no interaction between schedule components when stimulus control was strong and reinforcement was omitted under the previously reinforced component. However, there was marked induction between components when stimulus control was weak and responding was extinguished under the previously reinforced component. In the second experiment, hours of food deprivation was varied under two levels of stimulus control. Deprivation mainly influenced response rates under the extinction stimulus, with greater absolute rate increases occurring the lower the existing level of stimulus control. Increases in responding during the extinction stimulus were four times as great from 24 to 72 hours of deprivation as from 24 to 48 hours under conditions of both high and low stimulus control.