Memory for emotional stories in high and low depressed children

Cognitive theories of depression emphasise a vicious circle linking depressed mood and biased recall towards negative information. In line with this, depressed adults show selectively enhanced recall for negative information. This recall bias is held to be mediated by increased accessibility of negative self-referent schemas formed as a result of adverse early experiences. Given this, surprisingly few studies have examined depression-related recall biases from a developmental perspective. Clinically depressed children have been found to show enhanced recall of negative adjectives, particularly when self-referent, but to date there is no evidence for similar recall biases in non-clinically depressed groups. The current study addressed this by investigating high and low non-clinically depressed children's (aged 5-11 years) recall of emotional stories. High depressed children showed enhanced recall of negative stories, relative to positive stories, compared to the low depressed group. This did not vary with age group. We conclude that, when child-oriented materials are used, depression-related biases in recall towards negative information are observable even in a non-clinical sample of children from 5 years of age.     

Toward an operant model of power in organizations

The purpose of this paper is to suggest that behavior analysis can help to explain social power. In this approach, an individual's potential for influence is thought to be partially a function of his or her access to stimuli that can be used as consequences. This access can occur either through direct authority or indirectly through social networks and exchanges. Social power is also thought to be a function of an individual's skill in delivering the stimuli in ways that will have the most impact on behavior. A number of predictions about power based on an operant approach are offered.     

Schizophrenia-like syndrome inducing agent phencyclidine failed to impair memory for temporal order in rats

Although subchronic phencyclidine (PCP) administration is recognized as a probative method to model schizophrenia-like symptoms in animals, only a few sets of data support the hypothesis of a cognitive prefrontal cortex (PFc) dysfunction in PCP-treated monkeys and rodents. Two experiments were here conducted to further test the integrity of prefrontal function in two versions of a memory for temporal order (MTO) task administered to rats. Original versions of this task elaborated by Kesner repeatedly yielded moderate to severe performance deficits in PFc lesioned rats. MTO assessment in an eight-arm radial maze consisted in a recency discrimination between two arms previously explored in the context of sequential forced choices. In Experiment 1, 16 naive Long-Evans rats were pre-trained on a variable version of the MTO task involving randomly re-mixed sequences until they reached a group criterion. Then, rats were treated daily for 21 days with PCP (10mg/kg) or saline vehicle and were tested on the same task approximately 20 h after an injection. The performance of the groups did not differ. In Experiment 2, 16 naive Long-Evans rats untrained prior to treatment received 27 daily injections of either PCP (10mg/kg) or saline vehicle and were tested, 20 h after each injection, on a constant version of the MTO task. This time, a fixed set of four sequences of successive arm entries was repeated within each daily session as well as across days. Again, prolonged PCP exposure failed to impair discrimination of temporal order despite the stability of sequential information over time. These negative results are not consistent with long-lasting hypofrontality, a major landmark of human schizophrenia, in the PCP rat model.     

Validation of the cognitive structure of the test of signs by structural equation modeling

Validation of the cognitive structure of the test of signs by structural equation modeling. The present work is aimed to carry out a validation study of the cognitive operations required for the correct solution of items of a math test which includes basic arithmetic operations between integer numbers. The validation of the hypothesized cognitive structure is made by means of structural equation modeling and triangulation methods. Results show strong and positive cognitive subordination relationships between some items but the structural equation model fit only provides a partial support for the proposed structure. However, the triangulation procedure provides further evidence of validity.     

Exploratory factor analysis and psychometric properties of the Valencia Scale on attitudes and beliefs toward hypnosis

Exploratory factor analysis and psychometric properties of the valencia scale on attitudes and beliefs toward hypnosis. Therapist version. This investigation examines the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Valencia Scale on Attitudes and Beliefs toward Hypnosis-Therapist version. Data from 775 professional psychologists belonging to the Spanish Association of Psychologists were used for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Retest included data from 426 participants who answered to the test. The EFA revealed eight factors (Fear, Memory, Help, Control, Collaboration, Interest, Magic and Marginal). Each factor showed good internal consistency and reliability, similar to the client version of this scale. ANOVA indicate that some variables (having scientific knowledge, having received practical information on hypnosis, to use hypnosis, and to show interest in receiving more theoretical and practical information on hypnosis), tend to reduce inadequate beliefs and negative attitudes toward hypnosis. Our results provide the basis for carrying out confirmatory factor analysis and studies of convergent validity on the scale, and of the sensitivity of the scale to change.     

Psychometric properties of the Dominic interactive assessment: a computerized self-report for children

The reliability and validity of the Dominic Interactive (DI) assessment were evaluated. The DI is a computerized self-report measure for children, which assesses symptom presence for seven DSM-IV diagnoses. The participants were 322 children (169 cocaine exposed, 153 non-cocaine exposed) who were recruited at birth for a prospective longitudinal study. At 6 years of age, measures of self-report, parent report, and observational data were collected. Moderate to excellent internal consistencies on the DI were found for the total sample as well as for subsamples based on cocaine status and gender. Concurrent validity correlations between DI scales and the Child Behavior Checklist, Affect in Play Scale, a modified Conners's Teachers Rating Scale, and the Parenting Stress Index were examined. Significant relationships among scales were more apt to be among comparisons that assessed externalizing behaviors. Overall, low correlations were obtained, which are comparable to other studies that evaluate agreement between child and parent report of behaviors.     

Measuring stress responses in postpartum mothers: perspectives from studies in human and animal populations

Reduced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) responses to stress during the last week of pregnancy and lactation have been consistently observed in rat studies. Several contributing factors have been proposed for this phenomenon in lactation, including the suckling stimulus from the pups, hormones (oxytocin and prolactin) and opioids, a decrease in the ability of noradrenaline to potentiate hypothalamic responses and changes in pituitary responsiveness to ACTH secretagogues (AVP and CRF). In contrast to this vast literature using the rat model, only few studies have addressed this issue in the human population. The consensus is that women engaging in breastfeeding activities exhibit reduced anxiety, although the reductions in neuroendocrine and autonomic responses to stressors are variable, in part because of the different nature of the stressors used. Further work is required to investigate how additional factors, such as maternal parity or emotional salience of the stressor can affect stress responsiveness in postpartum women. Here, we review first the findings regarding stress responsiveness during lactation in both rat and human studies, and then discuss potential research avenues and methodological issues that could be the lead to future research protocols in human subjects. Knowing the reciprocal relationship in the mother-infant dyad, it is clear that investigation of the mechanisms regulating stress responses and mental health in postpartum mothers can only be beneficial to the development of the infant.     

Psychometric testing and applications of the Body Attitudes Questionnaire translated into Portuguese

Although many body attitudes scales have been developed, none have been translated into Portuguese. This study aimed to translate the Ben-Tovim and Walker Body Attitudes Questionnaire and assess validity and reliability for a Brazilian sample. Women with (n = 39) and without (n = 57) eating disorders completed the scale, to assess discriminant validity. Convergent validity was assessed by the correlations between the scores and a measure of body dissatisfaction. The questionnaire was applied twice to controls after 1 mo. to evaluate reliability. Eating-disordered women had significantly higher mean scores on Feeling Fat, Disparagement, Salience and Lower Body Fatness, and lower scores on Attractiveness. No mean difference on Strength and Fitness was found. Most subscales were significantly correlated with the body-dissatisfaction measure. Test-retest coefficients ranged from .57 to .85. The translated version of the Body Attitudes Questionnaire seems to be a valid and reliable measure of body attitudes.     

Sequential compatibility effects and cognitive control: does conflict really matter?

Although it is widely accepted that control mechanisms are necessary for human behavior to be adapted, very little is known about how such mechanisms are recruited. A suggestion to fill the gap was put forward by M. M. Botvinick, T. S. Braver, C. S. Carter, D. M. Barch, and J. D. Cohen (2001), who proposed the conflict-loop theory. This theory has been successful in accounting for the reduction of compatibility effects after an incompatible trial: The level of conflict being, on average, higher during an incompatible trial, more control occurs after such a trial. The authors have tested this prediction by sorting the trials on the basis of amount of conflict (quantified by the electromyographic activity) they presented. A reduction of the compatibility effect was observed after incompatible trials, but it was independent of the level of conflict on previous trials, suggesting that the conflict does not trigger changes in executive control. Consequences for the conflict monitoring model are discussed.     

Temporal processing and phonological impairment in dyslexia: effect of phoneme lengthening on order judgment of two consonants

The evidence of supporting phonological deficit as a cause of developmental dyslexia has been accumulating rapidly over the past 2 decades, yet the exact mechanisms underlying this deficit remain controversial. Some authors assume that a temporal processing deficit is the source of the phonological disorder observed in dyslexic children. Others maintain that the phonological deficit in dyslexia is basically linguistic, not acoustic, in nature. Three experiments were conducted and tested the impact of the temporal alteration and the impact of complex syllabic structure on consonant order judgments. Thirteen phonological dyslexics (age 10-13) and 10 controls matched for chronologial age were compared on a Temporal Order Judgment (TOJ) task using the succession of two consonants (/p/ /s/) within a cluster. In order to test the possible relevance of the temporal deficit hypothesis, the task also included two additional conditions where either the two stimuli were artificially slowed or two phonological structures were opposed (CCV and CVCV). As expected, the TOJ performance was significantly poorer in dyslexics than in controls. Moreover, in the "slowed speech" condition dyslexics' performance improved to reach the normal controls' level, whereas manipulating the phonological structure complexity provided no significant improvement. Finally dyslexics' performances, especially on the slowed condition, were found correlated with several tests of phonological processing. These results lend support to the general temporal deficit theory of dyslexia.