The Missouri Developmental Disability Resource Center: A Web site responding to the critical need for information of parents with a child with a disability

One of the greatest problems for parents who have a child with a developmental disability is a lack of access to information. Parents have a critical need to learn the specifics of their child’s disability, the best treatment practices, and how the broader service delivery system works (Bradley, 1992; Rinck, Calkins, Green, & Stadler, 1986). The Missouri Developmental Disabilities Resource Center Web site [http://www.moddrc.com] was created as an innovative method of meeting the information needs of this underserved population. Challenges to the adoption of this innovative model are highlighted, and some options for addressing these issues are discussed.     

Patterns of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Among United States Air Force Combat Search and Rescue Personnel

U.S. Air Force (USAF) combat search and rescue (CSAR) aircrew and special duty rescue personnel are specially trained airmen with high levels of direct exposure to combat-related medical trauma. The purpose of this study was to explore the prevalence rate of CSAR military personnel meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fifth edition; DSM–5) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom criteria. USAF CSAR aircrew (n = 128) and rescue personnel (n = 300) across multiple units participated in the study by completing a demographics survey and the PTSD checklist based on DSM–5. Fourteen participants endorsed a pattern of symptoms of moderate to extreme level of severity meeting PTSD diagnostic criteria. Recommendations are provided for line and medical leadership to optimize health and performance among CSAR personnel.     

Implicit interpretation biases affect emotional vulnerability: a training study

Cognitive theories of emotion propose that the interpretation of emotion-eliciting situations crucially shapes affective responses. Implicit or automatic biases in these interpretations may hinder emotion regulation and thereby increase risk for the onset and maintenance of psychological disorders. In this study, participants were randomly assigned to a positive or negative interpretation bias training using ambiguous social scenarios. After the completion of the training, a stress task was administered and changes in positive and negative affect and self-esteem were assessed. The results demonstrate that the interpretation bias training was successful in that participants exhibited a tendency to interpret novel scenarios in accordance with their training condition. Importantly, the positive training condition also had a protective effect on self-esteem. Participants in this condition did not exhibit a decrease in self-esteem after the stress task, whereas participants in the negative condition did. These results demonstrate that implicit cognitive biases can be trained and that this training affects self-esteem. Implications of these findings for research on psychopathology and emotion regulation are discussed.     

Imitation of hierarchical action structure by young children

To provide the first systematic test of whether young children will spontaneously perceive and imitate hierarchical structure in complex actions, a task was devised in which a set of 16 elements can be modelled through either of two different, hierarchically organized strategies. Three-year-old children showed a strong and significant tendency to copy whichever of the two hierarchical approaches they witnessed an adult perform. Responses to an element absent in demonstrations, but present at test, showed that children did not merely copy the chain of events they had witnessed, but acquired hierarchically structured rules to which the new element was assimilated. Consistent with this finding, children did not copy specific sequences of actions at lower hierarchical levels.     

The perception of emotion from body movement in point-light displays of interpersonal dialogue

We examined whether it is possible to identify the emotional content of behaviour from point-light displays where pairs of actors are engaged in interpersonal communication. These actors displayed a series of emotions, which included sadness, anger, joy, disgust, fear, and romantic love. In experiment 1, subjects viewed brief clips of these point-light displays presented the right way up and upside down. In experiment 2, the importance of the interaction between the two figures in the recognition of emotion was examined. Subjects were shown upright versions of (i) the original pairs (dyads), (ii) a single actor (monad), and (iii) a dyad comprising a single actor and his/her mirror image (reflected dyad). In each experiment, the subjects rated the emotional content of the displays by moving a slider along a horizontal scale. All of the emotions received a rating for every clip. In experiment 1, when the displays were upright, the correct emotions were identified in each case except disgust; but, when the displays were inverted, performance was significantly diminished for some emotions. In experiment 2, the recognition of love and joy was impaired by the absence of the acting partner, and the recognition of sadness, joy, and fear was impaired in the non-veridical (mirror image) displays. These findings both support and extend previous research by showing that biological motion is sufficient for the perception of emotion, although inversion affects performance. Moreover, emotion perception from biological motion can be affected by the veridical or non-veridical social context within the displays.     

Sounds, words, sentences: age-related changes across levels of language processing

Age-related changes in sensory, lexical, and sentence processing were examined and compared using event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded as young and elderly participants listened to natural speech for comprehension. Lexically associated and unassociated word pairs were embedded in meaningful or syntactically legal but meaningless sentences. Early, general sensory, and attention-related responses (N1, P2) were delayed by about 25 ms for older participants, but later components indexing semantic processing (N400) were not delayed. There were no differences in the size, timing, or distribution of lexical associative effects for the two groups. In contrast, message-level context effects were delayed by more than 200 ms in the elderly group. The results support models that posit age-related changes primarily in higher order language processes.     

Anger-Related Traits and Response to Interpersonal Conflict Among New York City Traffic Agents1

This study evaluates the psychosocial correlates of anger-related traits. Participants include New York City traffic enforcement agents (TEAs), who issue summonses for vehicular and parking violations and are frequently confronted by angry motorists. This sample of TEAs is 53% African American and 57% female. Participants completed surveys at 2 points, 4 months apart, which measured attitudinal, affective, and expressive components of hostility and anger, as well as dimensions of workplace psychosocial response. Results indicate that trait anger-in was positively associated with frequency of conflict, anger intensity, and burnout in cross-sectional analyses; and positively associated with frequency of conflict in prospective analyses. Trait anger was positively associated with an increase in burnout over a 4-month period. These findings provide support for the transactional model of hostility and health and have implications for worksite interventions promoting cardiovascular health.     

Developmental changes in associations between auditory-visual events

The goal of the present study was twofold: to examine the influence of two amodal properties, co-location and temporal synchrony, on infants' associating a sight with a sound, and to determine if the relative influence of these properties on crossmodal learning changes with age. During familiarization 2-, 4-, 6- and 8-month-olds were presented two toys and a sound, with sights and sounds varying with respect to co-location and temporal synchrony. Following each familiarization phase infants were given a paired preference test to assess their learning of sight-sound associations. Measures of preferential looking revealed age-related changes in the influence of co-location and temporal synchrony on infants' learning sight-sound associations. At all ages, infants could use temporal synchrony and co-location as a basis for associating an auditory with a visual event and, in the absence of temporal synchrony, co-location was sufficient to support crossmodal learning. However, when these cues conflicted there were developmental changes in the influence of these cues on infants' learning auditory-visual associations. At 2 and 4 months infants associated the sounds with the toy that moved in synchrony with the sound's rhythm despite extreme violation of co-location of this sight and sound. In contrast, 6- and 8-month-olds did not associate a specific toy with the sound when co-location and synchrony information conflicted. The findings highlight the unique and interactive effects of distinct amodal properties on infants' learning arbitrary crossmodal relations. Possible explanations for the age shift in performance are discussed.     

Cognitive variables related to suicidal contemplation in adolescents with implications for long-range prevention

In a series of studies with college and high school students (Total N=808) consistent and strong relationships were found between suicidal contemplation and the irrational beliefs considered by Rational-Emotive Theory & Therapy (RET) to underlie emotional distress. Suicidal contemplation was measured first by an item from the Beck Depression Inventory and subsequently by the Suicide Probability Scale. Irrational beliefs were measured by the Jones Irrational Beliefs Test and, in the third study, by the new Attitudes & Belief Scale-II as well. Groups formed on the basis of increasing indices of suicidal contemplation were found to be consistently, increasingly more irrational on both measures. Also groups created according to low, medium, and high levels of irrational beliefs (the B in RET) were found to be markedly different on C variables such as anxiety, depression, hopelessness, anger, psychosomoatic symptoms and suicidal contemplation. The findings were interpreted as strongly inferring a causational relationship from attitudes and beliefs to emotional distress and the contemplation of suicide. The implications of the findings for RET theory and for therapeutic and preventive strategies related to emotional distress and suicidal contemplation are clear. Other approaches to the explanation of suicide are cited and reference is made to a previous critical summary of them (Woods & Muller, 1988).Paul J. Woods, Ph.D., Co-Editor of this Journal, is a Fellow of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy in New York City, a Professor of Psychology at Hollins College, and a Licensed Psychologist in independent practice in Roanoke, Virginia.Ellen S. Silverman, R. N., C. & M.A. collaborated in Study III for a Master's thesis at Hollins College. She is currently in a Ph.D. program in psychology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University.Julia M. Gentilini, B. A. collaborated on Study I for an Honors' thesis in psychology at Hollins College.Deborah K. Cunningham, M. A. collaborated on Study II for a Master's thesis at Hollins College. She is currently in a Ph.D. program in psychology at the University of Memphis.Russell M. Grieger, Ph.D., Co-Editor of this Journal, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in independent practice in Charlottesville, Virginia, and a Fellow of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy in New York City.