Is body checking in the eating disorders more closely related to diagnosis or to symptom presentation?

Body checking behaviours and cognitions are seen as underlying the core pathology of eating disorders-the over-evaluation of eating, shape and weight. While it has been demonstrated that levels of behaviours and cognitions differentiate eating-disordered women from non-eating-disordered women, little is known with regard to how these findings relate to diagnostic group. This study aimed to determine whether body checking cognitions and behaviours are best understood with regard to diagnostic category or symptom presentation. Eighty-four eating-disordered women (with diagnoses of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder or other Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified) completed measures of body checking behaviours and cognitions and eating psychopathology. Results showed that different aspects of body checking were more closely associated with diagnosis and with symptom presentation. Anorexia nervosa and binge-eating-disorder patients had particularly low levels of body checking behaviours and some related cognitions. However, the belief that body checking allows one to be accurate in knowing one's weight was associated with binging and vomiting behaviours, rather than diagnosis. Future directions for research include understanding the links between body checking phenomena and neurological features. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Sensorimotor alignment effects in the learning environment and in novel environments

Four experiments investigated the conditions contributing to sensorimotor alignment effects (i.e., the advantage for spatial judgments from imagined perspectives aligned with the body). Through virtual reality technology, participants learned object locations around a room (learning room) and made spatial judgments from imagined perspectives aligned or misaligned with their actual facing direction. Sensorimotor alignment effects were found when testing occurred in the learning room but not after walking 3 m into a neighboring (novel) room. Sensorimotor alignment effects returned after returning to the learning room or after providing participants with egocentric imagery instructions in the novel room. Additionally, visual and spatial similarities between the test and learning environments were independently sufficient to cause sensorimotor alignment effects. Memory alignment effects, independent from sensorimotor alignment effects, occurred in all testing conditions. Results are interpreted in the context of two-system spatial memory theories positing separate representations to account for sensorimotor and memory alignment effects.     

Modeling dynamic resource utilization in populations with unique constraints: preadolescents with and without Down syndrome

In this study we used a damped inverted pendulum and spring with an escapement function model to compare the global levels of stiffness and forcing used by 12 preadolescents with Down syndrome (DS) and 12 with typical development (TD). Participants walked overground at their self-selected speed and on a treadmill at speeds slower and faster than overground. Children with DS, who are characterized as hypotonic with reduced capacity for producing muscle force, exhibited significantly higher levels of stiffness and forcing (angular impulse) when walking on the treadmill and higher forcing but not stiffness overground, than children with TD. Both groups adapted to imposed speed increases similarly by increasing their global stiffness and angular impulse. We propose children with DS increased stiffness in order to overcome their hypotonia and joint laxity, thus, optimizing on stability, rather than metabolic efficiency. Higher angular impulse values for children with DS may reflect higher energy cost associated with increasing stiffness and their inherent biomechanical and physiological characteristics that reduce efficiency. We conclude that the inverted pendulum and spring with escapement function model is a useful tool for uncovering solutions to movement problems-solutions that reflect the dynamic resources of the individual and ones that are discovered, rather than prescribed.     

Judgments of exocentric direction in large-scale space

Judgments of exocentric direction are quite common, especially when judging where others are looking or pointing. To investigate these judgments in large-scale space, observers were shown two targets in a large open field and were asked to judge the exocentric direction specified by the targets. The targets ranged in egocentric distance from 5 to 20 m with target-to-target angular separations of 45 degrees, 90 degrees, and 135 degrees. Observers judged exocentric direction using two methods: (i) by judging which point on a distant fence appeared collinear with the two targets, and (ii) by orienting their body in a direction parallel with the perceived line segment. In the collinearity task, observers had to imagine the line connecting the targets and then extrapolate this imagined line out to the fence. Observers indicated the perceived point of collinearity on a handheld 360 degrees panoramic cylinder representing their vista. The two judgment methods gave similar results except for a constant bias associated with the body-pointing response. Aside from this bias, the results of these two methods agree with other existing research indicating an effect of relative egocentric distance to the targets on judgment error--line segments are perceived as being rotated in depth. Additionally, verbal estimates of egocentric and exocentric distance suggest that perceived distance is not the cause for the systematic errors in judging exocentric direction.     

Application of piecewise hierarchical linear growth modeling to the study of continuity in behavioral development of baboons (Papio hamadryas)

In behavioral science, developmental discontinuities are thought to arise when the association between an outcome measure and the underlying process changes over time. Sudden changes in behavior across time are often taken to indicate that a reorganization in the outcome-process relationship may have occurred. The authors proposed in this article the use of piecewise hierarchical linear growth modeling as a statistical methodology to search for discontinuities in behavioral development and illustrated its possibilities by applying 2-piece hierarchical linear models to the study of developmental trajectories of baboon (Papio hamadryas) mothers' behavior during their infants' 1st year of life. The authors provided empirical evidence that piecewise growth modeling can be used to determine whether abrupt changes in development trajectories are tied to changes in the underlying process.     

Body-based senses enhance knowledge of directions in large-scale environments

Previous research has shown that inertial cues resulting from passive transport through a large environment do not necessarily facilitate acquiring knowledge about its layout. Here we examine whether the additional body-based cues that result from active movement facilitate the acquisition of spatial knowledge. Three groups of participants learned locations along an 840-m route. One group walked the route during learning, allowing access to body-based cues (i.e., vestibular, proprioceptive, and efferent information). Another group learned by sitting in the laboratory, watching videos made from the first group. A third group watched a specially made video that minimized potentially confusing head-on-trunk rotations of the viewpoint. All groups were tested on their knowledge of directions in the environment as well as on its configural properties. Having access to body-based information reduced pointing error by a small but significant amount. Regardless of the sensory information available during learning, participants exhibited strikingly common biases.     

When left means right: an explanation of the left cradling bias in terms of right hemisphere specializations

Previous research has indicated that 70-85% of women and girls show a bias to hold infants, or dolls, to the left side of their body. This bias is not matched in males (e.g. deChateau, Holmberg & Winberg, 1978; Todd, 1995). This study tests an explanation of cradling preferences in terms of hemispheric specialization for the perception of facial emotional expression. Thirty-two right-handed participants were given a behavioural test of lateralization and a cradling task. Females, but not males, who cradled a doll on the left side were found to have significantly higher laterality quotients than right cradlers. Results indicate that women cradle on the side of the body that is contralateral to the hemisphere dominant for face and emotion processing and suggest a possible explanation of gender differences in the incidence of cradling.     

Comparison of several shortened versions of the EMBU: exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses

The aim of the present study was to analyze the psychometric properties of different versions of the EMBU (Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran – My memories of upbringing) in a non-clinical sample of adolescents. The factor structure of the questionnaire was studied by means of more adequate exploratory and confirmatory factor procedures in order to ascertain which version achieves a better fit to data. The 64-item version of the EMBU was administered to a non-clinical sample of 832 adolescents. Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analyses were carried out for successive versions of 64, 37, 24 and 23 items. The theoretical four-factor structure of the 64-item version is not replicated in a factor analysis through principal axis extraction with direct oblimin rotation. The "Favoring Subject" factor was not found. 37 items present loadings equal to or larger than 0.30 for the "Rejection", "Emotional Warmth" and "Overprotection" factors. A re-analysis of these items shows a clear three-factor structure. When Arrindell et al .'s (1999 ) 23-item version was analysed, the three expected factors were also found. Confirmatory factor analyses allow us to reduce the 36-item version to a shorter one of 24 items. This last version achieves the best fit to data, including the 23-item version. The new 24-item version improves the construct validity of the EMBU and presents similar reliability coefficients.     

Do parents and adolescents differ in their perceptions of rearing styles? Analysis of the EMBU versions for parents and adolescents

In the present study, memories of rearing styles between parents, mother and father, and their son/daughters were explored through the EMBU versions for parents (EMBU-P) and adolescents (EMBU-A). Results show that parents differ in three of the four scales of the EMBU: Emotional Warmth, Control Attempts, and Favoring Subject. Also, mothers score higher on Emotional Warmth, and Control Attempts, but less on Favoring Subject. When parents and adolescents were compared in the common items to both versions, no substantial differences were found, except for the Favoring Subject scale. The sex of the adolescent seems not to play a relevant role in the observed differences. A revision of specialized literature suggested that differences in the fathers' and mothers' perceptions of their rearing styles could be related to differences in personality and marital satisfaction. These hypothetical relationships should be investigated in a parallel study.     

Teaching the Candidate in Case Seminar

There has been insufficient focus on the impact and usefulness of the case seminar for teaching in psychoanalytic institutes. In order to better understand case seminar, questionnaires were submitted to candidates, graduates, and faculty in two psychoanalytic teaching institutes. The responses indicate that the case seminar format should be standardized; level of experience of candidates should be similar; professors should examine suitability of the case beforehand; and candidates need to be prepared for the group process. Findings are useful in improving the teaching of psychoanalysis and encouraging the creative use of the candidate's self in psychoanalytic training.