The Efficacy of the General Aptitude Test Battery in Allocating Prisoners to Work and Trade Training Courses

Ninety trainees at Deerbolt Borstal, County Durham, were randomly assigned to four groups for placement on trade training courses and work. The first group was assigned on the basis of the General Aptitude Test Battery and a brief interview about their interests; the second group on the basis of the General Aptitude Test Battery; the third group on the interview about their interests; whilst the fourth group was assigned randomly to existing vacancies. A 16-week follow-up showed significant differences across the groups in terms of successfully completing placements, the General Aptitude Test Battery being the crucial factor in allocating individuals successfully. Ratings of trainee performance from supervisors taken after two weeks did not, however, show significant differences across the groups.     

Avoidance of eye gaze by adults who stutter

PurposeAdults who stutter are at significant risk of developing social phobia. Cognitive theorists argue that a critical factor maintaining social anxiety is avoidance of social information. This avoidance may impair access to positive feedback from social encounters that could disconfirm fears and negative beliefs. Adults who stutter are known to engage in avoidance behaviours, and may neglect positive social information. This study investigated the gaze behaviour of adults who stutter whilst giving a speech.Method16 adults who stutter and 16 matched controls delivered a 3-min speech to a television display of a pre-recorded lecture theatre audience. Participants were told the audience was watching them live from another room. Audience members were trained to display positive, negative and neutral expressions. Participant eye movement was recorded with an eye-tracker.ResultsThere was a significant difference between the stuttering and control participants for fixation duration and fixation count towards an audience display. In particular, the stuttering participants, compared to controls, looked for shorter time at positive audience members than at negative and neutral audience members and the background.ConclusionsAdults who stutter may neglect positive social cues within social situations that could serve to disconfirm negative beliefs and fears.Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (a) describe the nature of anxiety experienced by adults who stutter; (b) identify the most common anxiety condition among adults who stutter; (c) understand how information processing biases and the use of safety behaviours contribute to the maintenance of social anxiety; (d) describe how avoiding social information may contribute to the maintenance of social anxiety in people who stutter; and (e) describe the clinical implications of avoidance of social information in people who stutter.     

Rescue of synaptic plasticity and spatial learning deficits in the hippocampus of Homer1 knockout mice by recombinant Adeno-associated viral gene delivery of Homer1c

Homer1 belongs to a family of scaffolding proteins that interact with various post-synaptic density proteins including group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR1/5). Previous research in our laboratory implicates the Homer1c isoform in spatial learning. Homer1 knockout mice (H1-KO) display cognitive impairments, but their synaptic plasticity properties have not been described. Here, we investigated the role of Homer1 in long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampal CA1 region of H1-KO mice in vitro. We found that late-phase LTP elicited by high frequency stimulation (HFS) was impaired, and that the induction and maintenance of theta burst stimulation (TBS) LTP were reduced in H1-KO. To test the hypothesis that Homer1c was sufficient to rescue these LTP deficits, we delivered Homer1c to the hippocampus of H1-KO using recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV). We found that rAAV-Homer1c rescued HFS and TBS-LTP in H1-KO animals. Next, we tested whether the LTP rescue by Homer1c was occurring via mGluR1/5. A selective mGluR5 antagonist, but not an mGluR1 antagonist, blocked the Homer1c-induced recovery of late-LTP, suggesting that Homer1c mediates functional effects on plasticity via mGluR5. To investigate the role of Homer1c in spatial learning, we injected rAAV-Homer1c to the hippocampus of H1-KO. We found that rAAV-Homer1c significantly improved H1-KO performance in the Radial Arm Water Maze. These results point to a significant role for Homer1c in synaptic plasticity and learning.     

A discourse analysis of power in relation to PSYCHLOPS (Psychological outcome profiles) in the context of CBT for psychosis

Aims: Outcome measures (OMs) and routine change measurement have developed dramatically in psychological therapies over the last two decades and some therapists have expressed concerns that this, depending on how it is handled by the parties involved, can markedly affect the therapy. However, little research has investigated this. It therefore seemed timely to explore discourses of OMs drawn upon by both parties in the therapy room. Method: PSYCHLOPS (Psychological Outcome Profiles) is a client‐centred measure which offered an opportunity to explore how therapists and clients receiving CBT for psychosis talked about OMs. A useful contrast was provided by the CORE‐OM (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation‐Outcome Measure). The discourses drawn upon by clients (n=4) and therapists (n=4) were analysed, informed by a Foucaultian framework. Results: OMs were constructed as empowering or disempowering of clients, as being able to do therapeutic work of engagement and containment, and as part of the apparatus of service power, positioning therapists as relatively powerless to question their use. Discussion: It is suggested that client‐centred measures like PSYCHLOPS, although partly aligned with a recovery framework, may become part of top‐down state and service power, and there is a need for more research into the different ways in which OMs are used in therapy and the impacts on therapists, clients and their relationships.     

Spiritual Needs and Practices of Counselor Education Students

This study examined the self‐reported value of spirituality, types of spiritual practices, and values of 69 counselor education students. It also examined counseling students’ ideas for how to increase their comfort with incorporating spirituality into counseling practice. Implications for implementing spirituality training in counselor education programs are addressed.     

Resolving the theory of planned behaviour's 'expectancy-value muddle' using dimensional salience

The theory of planned behaviour is one of the most widely used models of decision-making in the health literature. Unfortunately, the primary method for assessing the theory's belief-based expectancy-value models results in statistically uninterpretable findings, giving rise to what has become known as the 'expectancy-value muddle'. Moreover, existing methods for resolving this muddle are associated with various conceptual or practical limitations. This study addresses these issues by identifying and evaluating a parsimonious method for resolving the expectancy-value muddle. Three hundred and nine Australian residents aged 18-24 years rated the expectancy and value of 18 beliefs about posthumous organ donation. Participants also nominated their five most salient beliefs using a dimensional salience approach. Salient beliefs were perceived as being more likely to eventuate than non-salient beliefs, indicating that salient beliefs could be used to signify the expectancy component. The expectancy-value term was therefore represented by summing the value ratings of salient beliefs, an approach that predicted attitude (adjusted R2?=?0.21) and intention (adjusted R2?=?0.21). These findings suggest that the dimensional salience approach is a useful method for overcoming the expectancy-value muddle in applied research settings.     

Late Preterm Birth: A Review of Medical and Neuropsychological Childhood Outcomes

Late preterm (LP) birth (34 0/7 - 36 6/7 weeks?? gestation) accounts for nearly three-fourths of all preterm births, making this population a sizeable public health concern. The immature fetal development associated with LP delivery increases the risk of mortality and short-term medical complications. Which combination of maternal, fetal, or neonatal risk factors may be most critical has only recently begun to be addressed, and whether LP birth??s disruptive impact on brain development will exert adverse effects on neuropsychological functioning in childhood and adolescence has been understudied. Early data have shown a graded response, with LP children often functioning better than very preterm children but worse than term children, and with subtle intellectual and neuropsychological deficits in LP children compared with healthy children born at term gestational age. Further characterization of the neuropsychological profile is required and would be best accomplished through prospective longitudinal studies. Moreover, since moderate and LP births result in disparate medical and psychological outcomes, the common methodology of combining these participants into a single research cohort to assess risk and outcome should be reconsidered. The rapidly growing LP outcomes literature reinforces a critical principle: fetal development occurs along a dynamic maturational continuum from conception to birth, with each successive gestational day likely to improve overall outcome.     

Assessment of Intelligence in the Preschool Period

Intelligence testing has a long and revered history in psychological measurement in childhood. Yet, the years between infancy and early childhood have been understudied with respect to emergent intellectual and cognitive functioning. Factor analytic models of intelligence that have demonstrated applicability when testing older children and adults often appear inadequate in the preschool period. As more is learned about brain development in typically developing children during these crucial years the distinctive relationships between neural system development and intellectual functioning are being revealed more completely. The aim of this paper was to provide a brief historical background as a foundation for discussion of intelligence testing, review what is known about the dynamic course of brain development during the preschool years, acknowledge limitations specific to intelligence testing in young children, and provide support for maintaining a comprehensive neuropsychological perspective that considers the wider range of variables that influence intellectual functioning in the preschool period.