Post-concussive Signs and Symptoms in Preschool Children: A Systematic Review

Neuropsychology Review - Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is common in children aged?<?5 years, however, less is known about their experience of post-concussive signs...     

An Exploration of Families' Psychosocial Well-Being in a South African Context

The aim of this study was to explore and describe aspects that contribute to the psychosocial well-being of families from diverse cultures in a South African context by analysing data obtained through narratives, drawings and interviews with families. Participant families took part voluntarily in family interviews (N=36), written narratives (N=23) and drawings (N=14). These different methods of data collection provided rich data on family psychosocial well-being in a South African context with culturally diverse families, as well as on those aspects that influence family psychosocial well-being. The findings suggest that communication, mutual support, togetherness as a family and spirituality are the most prominent contributing factors, while financial difficulties and interpersonal conflicts or arguments are the most prominent hindering factors with regard to family psychosocial well-being in this group of participants.     

Obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms and correlates in community exercisers

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to examine the potential relationship between OCD symptoms and the constructs of depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and commitment to exercise in community-based exercisers.Design and methodA mixed-methods approach was utilized. A sample of 64 female and 21 male participants (M age = 52.1 years) completed a series of online or written questionnaires related to the noted variables, while a subset of 10 participants participated in a qualitative interview to explain their OCD symptoms and exercise behavior.ResultsPearson correlations indicated all psychological constructs were significantly correlated with each other (absolute r's ranged from .27 to .78, all p's < .001), while a canonical correlation analysis revealed one significant function (Wilk's λ = .360, R_c = .80, p < .001). Set 1 (OCD symptoms) explained 36% of the variance in Set 2 (anxiety, depression, self-esteem and commitment to exercise), while Set 2 explained 64% of the variance in Set 1. Four primary themes were established from the qualitative data, including: 1) being involved in sport or physical activity from a young age, 2) high benefits versus low consequences of regular participation in exercise, 3) involvement in detail-oriented jobs, and 4) easy adjustments to unplanned deviations from an exercise schedule.ConclusionsOverall, this research suggests that community-based exercisers with elevated OCD symptoms simply display a healthy attention to the frequency and detail of their physical activity, which facilitates them staying active across a variety of conditions.     

Dissociating veridicality,consistency, and confidence in autobiographical and event memories for the Columbia shuttle disaster

A total of 449 students were tested for their event memories and autobiographical memories of hearing about the Columbia shuttle disaster of 1st February 2003. Four different groups were tested 2, 18, 27, or 51 days after the event. All participants were then re-tested after 5 months (second session) and again after 1 year (third session) from the first interview. Dissociations between consistency and confidence and between event and autobiographical memories were found. Consistency and confidence in event memories, but not in autobiographical memories, were affected by time. In contrast, repeated testing selectively enhanced autobiographical memories, in accordance with the narrative and rehearsal hypothesis of Neisser and Harsh (1992). For event memories, veridicality was inversely correlated to consistency, which in turn was inversely correlated to confidence, and mainly based on omissions. As regards veridicality, the analyses showed an increase of false memories at long time delays. Results are discussed with reference to recent studies contrasting autobiographical and event memories.     

Planning and Problem Solving Skills Following Focal Frontal Brain Lesions in Childhood: Analysis Using the Tower of London

Problem solving skills were investigated in children with focal lesions using the Tower of London test (TOL; Shallice, 1982). The scoring procedure was elaborated from previous studies to delineate separate processes contributing to overall performance in children. Thirty-one children with focal frontal pathology, 18 children with focal pathology in other brain regions (extra-frontal), 17 children with generalized pathology and 38 healthy children participated in the study. Results suggest a distributed network for problem solving skills, particularly cognitive flexibility and goal setting skills. Within the frontal group, children with lesions involving the right pre-frontal cortex had greatest problems with self-regulation, with rule breaks most common among this group. As these skills develop relatively early in comparison to other aspects of executive function, right pre-frontal regions may play a particularly important role in the development of executive skills in childhood, with damage to these regions rendering children vulnerable to a range of cognitive and social deficits.     

Impairments of Attention Following Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury

Attentional deficits are commonly reported following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in adults, although the occurrence of such problems is less well documented in young children. This study aimed to investigate residual attentional abilities associated with TBI during childhood, by examining a number of aspects of attention including sustained, focussed, and divided attention, attentional shift, and response inhibition. Eighteen children with a history of TBI, aged between 8 and 14 years and 18 non-injured matched controls participated in the study. Results show that attentional skills may be differentially impaired after TBI, with children who have sustained moderate-to-severe TBI exhibiting significant deficits on the following attentional domains: sustain, focus, and response inhibition. These findings support the view that attentional impairments following pediatric TBI, while not global, may be more generalized than those reported for adult samples, perhaps reflecting the relative immaturity of attentional skills at the time of injury.     

Depression and heart rate variability in cardiac rehabilitation patients: exploring the roles of physical activity and fitness

Cardiac patients with depression have shown altered autonomic nervous system functioning, expressed as reduced heart rate variability. This may be associated with poorer physical fitness and less physical activity among depressed patients. These relationships were explored among patients enrolled in outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. 22 depressed and 22 nondepressed patients, matched for sex and age, were assessed at enrollment. The Beck Depression Inventory and structured interviews were used to measure depression. Patients completed ambulatory monitoring of ECG (i.e., Holter) and physical activity, as well as a treadmill stress test. Depression was associated with several measures of heart rate variability. Activity and fitness were lower among the depressed patients. Although exploratory, accounting for activity and fitness attenuated the relationship between depression and heart rate variability. This suggests that altered fitness and activity may help explain altered autonomic tone that characterizes patients with cardiovascular diseases who are psychologically depressed.     

Malleable conjoint partworths: How the breadth of response scales alters price sensitivity

In one laboratory study and one field study conducted with a large, representative sample of respondents, we show that seemingly innocuous questions that precede a conjoint task, such as demographic and usage-related screening questions can alter the price sensitivities recovered from the main conjoint task. The findings demonstrate that whether these prior questions use broad response categories (i.e., few scale points) or narrow response categories (i.e., many scale points) systematically influences consumers' price sensitivity in a CBC (Choice Based Conjoint) study. We suggest that this may occur because the narrow (vs. broad) response categories in the prior questions lead to consideration of a greater (vs. fewer) number of attributes during the key conjoint task. Since both groups of consumers readily consider the naturally salient price attribute, responding to previous questions with narrow (vs. broad) response categories leads to a greater (vs. fewer) number of non-price attributes being considered, and consequently, decrease the weight afforded to price and reduce price sensitivity.