The effects of aging on reaction time in a signal detection task

The effects of aging on response time are examined in 2 simple signal detection tasks with young and older subjects (age 60 years and older). Older subjects were generally slower than young subjects, and standard Brinley plot analyses of response times showed typical results: slopes greater than 1 and (mostly) negative intercepts. R. Ratcliff, D. Spieler, and G. McKoon (2000) showed that the slopes of Brinley plots measure the relative standard deviations of the distributions of response times for older versus young subjects. Applying R. Ratcliff's (1978) diffusion model to fit the response times, their distributions, and response accuracy, it was found that the larger spread in older subjects' response times and their slowness relative to young subjects comes from a 50-ms slowing of the nondecision components of response time and more from conservative settings of response criteria.     

Bias in conceptual priming

In recent years, Ratcliff, McKoon, and colleagues have argued that priming in perceptual implicit memory tests is the result of biases in information processing. Three experiments are presented that extend this framework to the conceptual implicit memory domain. Participants studied a list of words before receiving a set of general knowledge questions. For some questions, participants studied the correct answer; for others, they studied a similar but incorrect answer. Although study of a correct answer facilitated performance, study of the similar alternative hurt performance. Costs and benefits of previous study were observed in both production and forced-choice tasks. However, there was no benefit of previous study when participants studied both the correct answer and the similar but incorrect alternative. The pattern of results indicates that participants were biased to respond with previously studied words on the conceptual implicit memory test. This pattern is concordant with the biased information-processing approach to priming.     

Is personality disorder inherited? An overview of the evidence

Genetic factors appear to be of considerable importance in determining normal variation in personality. This is suggested by family, twin, and adoption studies as well as by indirect findings based on animal and psychophysiological studies. In contrast, there is consistent evidence that the contribution of shared family environment is minimal. Despite difficulties in defining personality disorder, it appears that many types of personality disorder, in particular schizotypal personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder/criminality, are also influenced genetically. The genetic transmission of normal personality traits and disorder is most easily explained by the contribution of multiple genes of small effect rather than by single-gene inheritance. Recent advances in molecular genetics have led to the localization of genes of minor effect for some traits. This raises the possibility of detecting a molecular basis of traits and disorders such as personality and personality disorder.Anita Thapar is supported by a Research Training Fellowship from the Medical Research Council.     

Investigating Friendship Difficulties in the Pathway from ADHD to Depressive Symptoms. Can Parent–Child Relationships Compensate?

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with friendship difficulties. This may partly account for the increasingly recognised association between ADHD and subsequent depression. Little is known about the types of friendship difficulties that could contribute to the association between ADHD and depressive symptoms and whether other relationships, such as parent–child relationships, can mitigate against potential adverse effects of friendship difficulties. In a representative UK school sample (n?=?1712), three main features of friendship (presence of friends, friendship quality and characteristics of the individual’s classroom friendship group) were assessed in a longitudinal study with two assessment waves (W1, W2) during the first year of secondary school (children aged 11-12 years). These friendship features (W1) were investigated as potential mediators of the prospective association between teacher-rated ADHD symptoms (W1) and self-rated depressive symptoms (W2) seven months later. Parent–child relationship quality (W1) was tested as a moderator of any indirect effects of ADHD on depression via friendship. ADHD symptoms were inversely associated with friendship presence, friendship quality and positive characteristics of classroom friendship groups. Depressive symptoms were inversely associated with presence and quality of friendships. Friendship quality had indirect effects in the association between ADHD and subsequent depressive symptoms. There was some evidence of moderated mediation, whereby indirect effects via friendship quality attenuated slightly as children reported warmer parent–child relationships. This highlights the importance of considering the quality of friendships and parent–child relationships in children with ADHD symptoms. Fostering good quality relationships may help disrupt the link between ADHD symptomology and subsequent depression risk.

     

Evaluation and treatment of covert stereotypy

The treatment of behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement (e.g. stereotypy) can present a unique challenge if practitioners cannot control delivery of the maintaining reinforcer. Further, some individuals might engage in stereotypy only when care providers are absent. In the current evaluation, an adolescent boy's hand flapping was demonstrated to occur in the absence of social contingencies and care providers. To reduce the behavior, two treatment strategies were assessed. In the first approach, verbal reminders to refrain from hand flapping were delivered on time‐based schedules. In the second approach (differential reinforcement of other behavior, DRO), we provided access to a preferred item contingent on prespecified time lengths with no hand flapping when the participant was alone in a room. Results of the investigation indicated that the verbal reminders were unsuccessful, whereas the DRO program resulted in near‐zero levels of stereotypy. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parent–Child Relationships and ADHD Symptoms: A Longitudinal Analysis

Evidence both from psychological research and clinical intervention studies suggests that there are bidirectional influences between overt child behavior problems and parent–child relations. Very little research however, has considered the pattern of relations that exists between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and the parent–child relationship within a longitudinal context. Using a longitudinal community sample from the United Kingdom which included 194 school aged children (46% male and 54% female) and both parents, this study examined the relationship between child ADHD symptoms and displays of rejection in the parent–child relationship. These relationships were investigated separately for mothers and fathers using cross-lagged panel correlation and reciprocal effects analysis. Mothers and fathers reported on ADHD symptoms and children reported on their feelings of rejection in the mother–child and father–child relationships. Results suggested differences in the direction of effects linking mother– and father–child rejection and child ADHD symptoms; with ADHD symptoms affecting the mother–child relationship and the converse pattern of effects noted for fathers. Implications for future research focusing on the link between ADHD symptoms and parent–child relationships are discussed.     

分离遗传与环境对儿童发展的影响：介绍一个新颖的研究方法

本文介绍一个可以用于研究遗传与环境互动的新颖方法。此研究收集了上千个4~10岁儿童的数据。这些儿童的出生都借助于不同的辅助受孕技术（Assisted Reproductive Technologies）,包括试管婴儿、精子捐赠、卵子捐赠、胚胎捐赠及代孕技术。本项目通过妇科（助孕）医院收集被试的行为数据,包括家庭互动、养育方式、父母婚姻质量、家庭成员的心理健康及经济状况等。本文选择性地介绍一些分析的结果,以彰显这种设计在分离遗传和产前产后环境对儿童发展的贡献。首先,我们比较了“助孕”儿童与“自然孕”儿童在父母冲突、父母对子女敌意以及儿童抑郁症状之间关系的异同。其次,我们比较了这两组儿童在父母抑郁症状、家庭关系质量以及儿童抑郁症状之间关系的异同。再次,本文介绍了这一可分离遗传与环境因素的研究设计。最后,我们讨论了这一设计对发展心理病干预及预防的意义     

Aging and the revelation effect

Previous research by M. W. Prull, L. L. Light, M. E. Collett, and R. F. Kennison (1998) has shown that older adults are not susceptible to a memory illusion referred to as the revelation effect. The authors examined the robustness of Prull et al.'s findings by having participants solve a word fragment (Experiment 1) or an anagram (Experiment 2) prior to the recognition memory decision. In both experiments, younger and older adults showed a reliable revelation effect. These results simultaneously challenge both the conclusion that older adults are not vulnerable to the revelation effect and the conclusion that aging is associated with increasing susceptibility to memory illusions.     

Ipsilateral Loudness Adaptation Over Multiple Intensity Levels

Three mirror tracing experiments were conducted to investigate the connection between perception and motor behavior. In the first experiment, some subjects traced a hex-maze, other subjects traced a hex-maze after observing a model trace, others traced a hex-maze after reading instructions on mirror images, and others traced a hex-maze after having observed a model and heard the instructions. There were no significant differences between the groups' error scores, but their time scores differed significantly, although not always in the predicted direction. In Experiment 2, the subjects were to trace selected letters of the alphabet. Error scores for the second experiment did not differ much from those for the first experiment. In Experiment 3, the experimenter gave each subject commands for the correct directions of movement, using the subject's body as a frame of reference. There was little improvement in motor performance. These results suggest that the visual information presented in the mirror captured the subjects' attention and blocked their motor tracing program.