Preserved organization of semantic attributes in Alzheimer's disease

This study investigated whether Alzheimer's disease (AD) disrupts the basic organization of the semantic attributes of concepts. Young and normal older subjects and AD patients were presented with a target concept followed by a stimulus word and were to decide whether the stimulus was related to the target. On those trials where it was, the stimulus was either a high-, medium-, or low-dominance attribute of the target. The higher the normative dominance, the more important the attribute to concept meaning. In all 3 subject groups, decision time varied as a function of dominance. The higher the dominance, the faster the decision. Attribute dominance affected the performance of AD patients more than that of normal subjects. These results suggest that AD patients retain their knowledge of the relative importance that the different attributes of a concept have for concept meaning.     

Counseling Implications of Genetic Research: A Dialogue With Thomas Bouchard

Thomas Bouchard is a leading researcher of identical twins reared apart. In this interview he describes the major themes in the Minnesota twin research. Although the genetic influence is central, he also pleads for the impact of environmental factors in optimal human development. Included in the interview are the surprises he has experienced, his current focus, and his plans for the future research.     

Retrospective assessment of marital adjustment and depression during the first 2 years of spousal bereavement

Two hundred twelve bereaved elders rated marital adjustment using items drawn from the Locke and Wallace (1959) Marital Adjustment Test and completed the Beck Depression Inventory 2 months, 12 months, and 30 months after the loss of their spouses. Their responses were compared with those of 162 nonbereaved individuals of comparable age who were tested at the same times. More positive ratings of marital adjustment were made by bereaved subjects than by nonbereaved subjects. Among nonbereaved elders, more severe ratings of depression were associated with lower ratings of marital adjustment. In the bereaved sample, however, the opposite was found: More severe ratings of depression were associated with higher ratings of marital adjustment. This pattern of results changed only slightly over the 2.5-year course of bereavement and was not influenced by gender. These results are discussed in terms of cognitive processes (e.g., idealization) that influence retrospective assessments of marital adjustment during bereavement.     

A Comparison of Cognitive-Behavioral and Process-Oriented Group Counseling for General Anger Reduction

Two counseled groups—one using anger reduction for cognitive-relaxation coping skills and the other using time-limited, anger-focused, process-oriented group counseling—were compared to an uncounseled control group. Both forms of counseling led to significant reductions on a number of trait, state, and person-specific measures of anger as well as nontargeted general anxiety. Effects were maintained at 5-week and 15-month follow-ups. At no point did counseling conditions differ significantly from one another, suggesting process groups are effective for general anger reduction and as effective as one of the best researched options in the field. Limitations of this conclusion are outlined along with needed research.     

The detection of malingering in neuropsychological assessment

Although malingering, or the manipulation of data by the patient, is a problem commonly faced by neuropsychologists, there has been little systematic investigation of this problem. This paper reviews the literature on the detection of malingering in assessment instruments commonly used by clinical neuropsychologists. Criticism of previous research is discussed, and suggestions are made both for future research and for clinical practice.     

Acoustic classification of alarm calls by vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) and humans (Homo sapiens): I. Natural calls

A 2-choice, operant-conditioning-based classification procedure was developed in which vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) categorized species-typical snake and eagle alarm calls recorded from individually identified free-ranging animals. After preliminary training with a pair of calls from a single animal, 2 vervets were tested with novel exemplars produced by a variety of callers. Experiment 1 combined testing with continued training in routine classification of 14 new calls. In Experiment 2, the subjects were tested with 48 novel calls in rapid succession. Human (Homo sapiens) control subjects participated in the first study without extended preliminary training. Monkey and human subjects both showed immediate transfer to classification of unfamiliar alarm calls, despite variations both in voice characteristics and reproduction quality.     

Hand preference and performance on unimanual and bimanual tasks in capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)

Patterns of manual preference and the extent to which preference provided a benefit in performance (movement time) were evaluated in 7 young adult capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Directions of preference were inconsistent within individual animals across home-cage activities, unimanual, and bimanual experimental tasks. Preferences were more strongly expressed in the experimental tasks than in the home cage. A left bias in the population for prehension, predicted by recent theories, was not evident in any setting. Movement time was moderately negatively correlated with degree of preference within experimental tasks. The benefit to performance conferred by lateral preference was not dependent on whether the right or left hand was preferred. Lateralization of prehension appears to be a flexible process in these monkeys, which can result in quickly realized benefits in some conditions.