Genetic and environmental relationships between head circumference growth in the first year of life and sociocognitive development in the second year: a longitudinal twin study

Although growth in head circumference (HC) during infancy is known to predict later childhood outcomes, the mechanisms underlying this association with later sociocognitive abilities remain undetermined. Thus, using a sample of 241 pairs of normally developing Japanese twins, this study investigated the underpinnings of the association between HC growth (difference between HC at birth and at 10 months) and sociocognitive abilities at 19 months as measured by 10 items from the M-CHAT. Phenotypic correlations between HC at birth and sociocognitive abilities and between HC growth and sociocognitive abilities were marginal and not significant. However, multivariate genetic analyses using Cholesky decomposition revealed that genetic influences on HC growth and those on sociocognitive abilities were negatively associated. On the other hand, shared and nonshared environmental influences on HC growth were positively associated with influences on sociocognitive abilities. Genetic and environmental influences on HC at birth were not significantly associated with influences on sociocognitive abilities. These results help to clarify the role of brain growth during infancy in the subsequent development of sociocognitive abilities and highlight the importance of examining the different roles of genetic and environmental influences in studies of these areas.     

Can survival processing enhance story memory? Testing the generalizability of the adaptive memory framework

Research from the adaptive memory framework shows that thinking about words in terms of their survival value in an incidental learning task enhances their free recall relative to other semantic encoding strategies and intentional learning (Nairne, Pandeirada, & Thompson, 2008). We found similar results. When participants used incidental survival encoding for a list of words (e.g., "Will this object enhance my survival if I were stranded in the grasslands of a foreign land?"), they produced better free recall on a surprise test than did participants who intentionally tried to remember those words (Experiment 1). We also found this survival processing advantage when the words were presented within the context of a survival or neutral story (Experiment 2). However, this advantage did not extent to memory for a story's factual content, regardless of whether the participants were tested by cued recall (Experiment 3) or free recall (Experiments 4-5). Listening to a story for understanding under intentional or incidental learning conditions was just as good as survival processing for remembering story content. The functionalist approach to thinking about memory as an evolutionary adaptation designed to solve reproductive fitness problems provides a different theoretical framework for research, but it is not yet clear if survival processing has general applicability or is effective only for processing discrete stimuli in terms of fitness-relevant scenarios from our past.     

The unique contributions of the facilitation of procedural memory and working memory to individual differences in intelligence

Individual differences in working memory account for a substantial portion of individual differences in complex cognitive processes (e.g., comprehension) and fluid intelligence. However, a large portion of the variance in fluid intelligence and comprehension is unexplained. The current investigation was conducted to evaluate whether individual differences in the facilitation of procedural memory accounts for unique variance in intelligence not accounted for by working memory. To measure variability in the facilitation of procedural memory, we used a task that required participants to first classify exemplars of two categories; facilitation was then operationalized by subsequent improvements in the speed of classifying new exemplars from those categories (i.e., an operation-specific memory procedure). Three measures of each focal construct (facilitation in procedural memory, working memory, comprehension and fluid intelligence) were administered to 256 participants. We used structural equation modeling to examine the relationships among these latent variables. Working memory did account for variance in fluid intelligence and comprehension, but most important, individual differences in facilitation of procedural memory accounted for unique variance in fluid intelligence and comprehension.     

Overperceiving disease cues: the basic cognition of the behavioral immune system

The behavioral immune system is designed to promote the detection and avoidance of potential sources of disease. Whereas previous studies of the behavioral immune system have provided insight into the types of heuristic cues used to identify disease carriers, the present research provides an understanding of the basic psychological processes involved in the detection of those cues. Across 4 studies, feeling vulnerable to disease, whether that feeling stemmed from dispositional tendencies or situational primes, facilitated a disease overperception bias--a tendency to overperceive people in the environment displaying heuristic disease cues. This disease overperception bias was observed in the outcomes of 2 cognitive processes: categorization and memory. When concerned about disease, participants set a lenient threshold for categorizing targets as displaying heuristic disease cues (e.g., obesity, old age). Additionally, concerns about disease led participants to set a lenient threshold for reporting on a recognition task that they had previously seen individuals displaying those disease cues. The present research provides insight into the basic cognitive mechanisms underlying the operation of the behavioral immune system.     

Lost sleep and cyberloafing: Evidence from the laboratory and a daylight saving time quasi-experiment

The Internet is a powerful tool that has changed the way people work. However, the ubiquity of the Internet has led to a new workplace threat to productivity-cyberloafing. Building on the ego depletion model of self-regulation, we examine how lost and low-quality sleep influence employee cyberloafing behaviors and how individual differences in conscientiousness moderate these effects. We also demonstrate that the shift to Daylight Saving Time (DST) results in a dramatic increase in cyberloafing behavior at the national level. We first tested the DST-cyberloafing relation through a national quasi-experiment, then directly tested the relation between sleep and cyberloafing in a closely controlled laboratory setting. We discuss the implications of our findings for theory, practice, and future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Bitter reproach or sweet revenge: cultural differences in response to racism

Culture has been shown to influence response styles. The authors conducted two studies to test the notion that African Americans would be more likely to respond to racism directly, whereas Asian Americans would be more likely to respond indirectly and therefore more subtly. Study 1 showed that Black women subjected to a racist comment from a confederate during an online interaction were more likely than Asian women to verbally reproach the perpetrator. These group differences were not present when the outcome measure was indirect responding--administration of good/bad jellybeans. Study 2 used an online format to demonstrate that Asian women were more likely than Black women to say they would not respond directly to a racist comment. This group difference in unwillingness to confront was significantly mediated by a goal of maintaining peace with their interaction partner. Implications of these findings for the study of discrimination, coping, and well-being are discussed.     

Learning Painting Styles: Spacing is Advantageous when it Promotes Discriminative Contrast

Repetitions that are distributed over time benefit long‐term retention more than when massed. Recent research has suggested that the advantage of spacing may extend to induction learning‐‐learners were better able to identify the artists of previously unseen paintings when, during training, artists' paintings were spaced (paintings by different artists were interleaved) rather than massed (a given artist's paintings were blocked and presented consecutively). Increasing temporal spacing between paintings while maintaining a presentation sequence that was blocked by artist produced test performance no better than massed presentation (both worse than interleaved presentation) (Experiment 1). Displaying paintings by different artists simultaneously produced test performance as good as interleaved presentation and better than massed presentation (Experiment 2). Our findings argue that spacing benefits perceptual induction learning not because of increased temporal spacing per se but rather because interleaving paintings by different artists enhances discriminative contrast between the artists' styles. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Early childhood trichotillomania: Initial considerations on phenomenology,treatment, and future directions

Historically, trichotillomania (TTM) in young children (0–3 years old) generally has been considered to be a benign habit that is clinically distinct from the TTM seen in older children and adults. However, early childhood TTM can be an impairing pathological disorder that merits formal intervention. The present article reviews the extant literature on TTM in young children, highlighting the limited available phenomenological data. We discuss a behavioral approach to conceptualization and treatment, highlighting core intervention strategies in three early childhood TTM cases seen in our clinic. We conclude by discussing areas in need of further empirical attention.     

“?rgerlich!?“ Neuronale Korrelate der Verhaltenshemmung auf emotionale Signale

Psychotherapeutic interventions for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) primarily aim at the three core symptom clusters of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, which are characteristic for this mental disorder. However, social and emotional difficulties are also very obvious. The ADHD patients experience conflicts with parents and partners, rejection by peers and less friendships, which negatively affects everyday life. Neuroscientific research points to a deficit in ADHD to recognize specific emotions displayed by another person. This dysfunction can be found in children as well as in adults afflicted with this disorder and is especially pronounced for anger. Additionally, the patients have problems to utilize facial anger expressions of others to regulate or inhibit their own behavior. New therapy components are needed in order to reduce this deficit. The possibilities for improving psychotherapy for ADHD by means of neuroscientific methods are discussed.     

Preface

The contributions in this part of the present issue mainly originate from the Carnap Lectures 2011 in Bochum where Prof. Tim Crane (Cambridge, UK) and Prof. Katalin Farkas (Budapest) presented keynote lectures under the heading ??The Boundaries of the Mental??. The full workshop program is available on our website: http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/philosophy/carnap2011/index.html