Neonatal Intensive-Care Unit Graduates Show Persistent Difficulties in an Intradimensional Shift Card Sort

Neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU) graduates, a group at risk for attention problems and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, performed an intradimensional shift card sort at 34, 42, 51, and 60 months to assess executive function and to examine effects of individual risk factors. In the “silly” game, children sorted cards (airplanes and dogs) so they were not the same as targets. In the “same” game, they did the opposite. Performance on the “silly” game was poor, especially when it was presented first. Success in following “silly” game rules improved with age and was significantly linked to maternal education and birth weight for gestational age, a measure of intrauterine stress. Degree of central nervous system injury differentiated children who completed the task from children who did not, and it also affected the need to repeat instructions in the “same” game. These results confirm an increased likelihood of impairments in executive function during preschool years in NICU graduates.     

COMMUNICATING WITH THE COMMUNITY ABOUT GRIEVING: A DESCRIPTION AND REVIEW OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF A BROKEN LEG ANALOGY OF GRIEVING

With loss permeating the lives of all people throughout the entire life span and its potential for serious long-term deleterious effects, providing effective care for those experiencing situations of loss would be an important element of any preventive community-based mental health promotion approach.The low use of mental health services by those confronted with loss, and the lack of such services in many areas, makes it imperative to enhance the competency of the broader community to provide appropriate care during times of loss. Contributory to such care is a sound knowledge of the literature concerning loss and grieving. The broken leg analogy of grief presented in this article integrates the traditional and emerging grief theories and empirical evidence into an analogy of grieving that can be easily communicated to the general community, is relevant to many losses, and yet upholds the differing positions concerning grieving held by various schools of psychiatric thought.     

Development of a Children's Version of the SCORE Index of Family Function and Change

The Systemic Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation (SCORE) Index of Family Function and Change is a recently developed outcome measure. It was designed to be acceptable to adults and children aged 12 and over. Thus far no research has been conducted using the SCORE in children under the age of 12. The aim of this study was to pilot a children's version of the SCORE. An existing 29‐item version of the SCORE was completed by a sample of seven children aged 8–10. Time was allowed for group discussion with the children. Feedback from this stage of the study was used to develop a draft version of the SCORE for children. An expert panel of clinicians and researchers were also consulted. A pilot version of the Child SCORE was administered to 80 children aged 7–10 in an inner London primary school. Thirty‐five children also completed the measure for a second time, 1 week later. Findings suggested that the Child SCORE was acceptable to children in the 8–11 age range. Values for internal reliability and test–retest reliability were good. The Child SCORE appears to be a promising instrument. Further research is required to confirm its acceptability to clinical populations, and to demonstrate sensitivity to change.     

The development of an institute for the caring professions

This paper was originally given in Durham in March 1988 at a conference of the Association for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the NHS, the Scottish Association of Analytical Psychotherapists and the Northern Association for Analytic Psychotherapy. It explores the processes of development of a single organisation, the Scottish Institute of Human Relations, since its inception twenty years ago. The three authors have worked together in different roles throughout this period, and they write from their separate subjective experiences as well as indicating areas of joint concern.

First, an overview of the history of the Institute is offered by the Director, with comment on some of the achievements and vicissitudes and the learning which resulted. Secondly, the Institute's responses to a particular group of users, the clergy, is described and illustrated. Finally, the change process is discussed, both theoretically and with reference to various aspects of the Institute's life, especially relationships within and between internal groupings and with the outside world.     

In the eye of the beholder: subjective and observer ratings of middle-class African American mother-adolescent interactions

Middle-class African American mothers and adolescents (n=81) participated in a dyadic interaction task in early adolescence (M=13.06 years, SD=1.27) and then again 2 years later (M=15.01 years, SD=1.27). Following the task, mothers and adolescents rated their own and their partner's support and involvement in the task; observers rated videotaped interactions for the same dimensions. African American mothers perceived adolescents' behavior in the interactions more positively than did observers, and both mothers and observers viewed mothers' behavior as more positive than adolescents' behavior. With observers' ratings controlled, early adolescents' more negative perceptions of their mothers' interactions led to less trust and communication with mothers 2 years later, but subjective understanding did not influence later ratings of conflict intensity.     

Different Anaphoric Expressions Are Investigated by Event-Related Brain Potentials

Event-related potentials were recorded to substantiate the claim of a distinct psycholinguistic status of (a) pronouns vs. proper names and (b) ellipses vs. proper names. In two studies 41 students read sentences in which the number of intervening words between the anaphor and its antecedent was either small or large. Comparing the far with the near distance condition revealed anaphor resolution specific effects: Ellipses triggered a potential shift with a short latency (approximately 120-200 ms) and with a fronto-central scalp distribution while pronouns and proper names triggered one with a longer latency (approximately 360-440 ms) and a parietal to right-occipital distribution. The early effect resembled the left-anterior negativity which has been related to syntax processing, while the latter resembled an N400 which is assumed to reflect semantic integration processes. These findings support the idea that ellipses and pronouns/proper names are processed by distinct mechanisms being implemented in distinct cortical cell assemblies.     

The relationship between perisylvian morphology and verbal short-term memory functioning in children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Although children with neurodevelopmental disorders frequently present with reduced short-term memory functioning, the relationship between perisylvian morphology and verbal short-term memory functioning has received limited attention. Thus, examining this relationship in children with neurodevelopmental disorders was the focus of this exploratory study. Results suggested leftward asymmetry in the temporal bank of the planum temporale is related to better coding and storage of semantic material. In contrast, parietal bank morphology is related to coding and storage of phonological material, and presence of an extra gyrus in the parietal region is associated with reduced phonological working memory. Data also supported a relationship between pars triangularis morphology and verbal short-term memory functioning, but this is not material-specific.     

Temporal patterns of negative and positive behavior among nursing home residents with Alzheimer's disease

Although clinical observations suggest a late-day peak in disruptive behavior in persons with dementia, results from studies of temporal patterns of behavior are equivocal. This study used direct observation methods and systematic time sampling to examine temporal patterns of negative and positive behavior in 177 residents of 2 long-term care facilities with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer's disease (AD). The authors found small statistically significant diurnal variation in both negative and positive behavior, characterized by a curvilinear pattern with a single peak. This pattern was unaffected by seasonal differences in length of day, severity of cognitive impairment, level of behavior, or sleep disturbances. Time when behavior peaked differed by type of behavior and by facility, and there was substantial heterogeneity in behavior patterns.     

Gender differences in judgments of multiple emotions from facial expressions

The authors tested gender differences in emotion judgments by utilizing a new judgment task (Studies 1 and 2) and presenting stimuli at the edge of conscious awareness (Study 2). Women were more accurate than men even under conditions of minimal stimulus information. Women's ratings were more variable across scales, and they rated correct target emotions higher than did men.