The influence of medical and legal authorities on deaths facilitated by physicians.

This study investigated whether two widely publicized cases of deaths facilitated by physicians were followed by significant peaks in mortality. In March, 1991, Timothy Quill, MD, published a controversial editorial describing the physician-assisted suicide (PAS) of his 45-year-old, female leukemia patient. In a landmark decision in December 1990, the Missouri Supreme Court allowed removal of life support for Nancy Cruzan, a comatose accident victim. Correcting for trends and seasonal fluctuations, the authors examined: (1) U.S. leukemia mortality in the period centered on Quill's editorial, and (2) mortality from accident/coma combinations in the period centered on the Missouri Supreme Court's decision on Cruzan. Female leukemia deaths rose 11.3% above the expected rate (p < .01) just after Quill's article was published. The more closely the decedent matched Quill's patient, the greater the peak, with the largest peak (33.9%) evident for female leukemia patients in their 40s, who were long-term residents of smaller communities (p < .05). Five possible explanations for the findings were assessed, leading to the conclusion that Quill's editorial elicited an increase in mortality. The involvement of physicians in this increase is supported by analysis of the Cruzan case. This showed a mortality peak of 57% for accident/coma patients following the court decision.     

A REEXAMINATION OF SEX DIFFERENCES IN INTERPERSONAL VERBS

A study by Thompson, Hatchett, and Phillips (1981) found that males and females differed in their judgment of interpersonal verbs (IPVs). Females were said to give more extreme affect ratings and less extreme control ratings to IPVs than did males. The present study re–examined these findings utilizing multidimensional scaling techniques. Similarity/dissimilarity ratings of 105 combinations of 15 paired IPVs were made by 43 female and 39 male students. Analysis via COSPA yielded two dimensions of meaning underlying IPVs which were similar to those used by Thompson et al.: Affect and Control. Analyses of the data using three different approaches failed, however, to bear out Thompson et al.'s findings of sex differences in the judgment of IPVs.     

Neurocognitive Functioning in Depressed Young People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Depression is among the most common mental health problems for young people. In adults, depression is associated with neurocognitive deficits that reduce the effectiveness of treatment and impair educational and vocational functioning. Compared to adults, less is known about the neurocognitive functioning of young people with depression, and existing research has reported inconsistent findings. Method: This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized the literature on neurocognitive functioning in currently depressed youth aged 12–25 years in comparison to healthy controls. Results: Following a systematic review of the literature, 23 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Poorer performance in the domains of attention (SMD: .50, 95% CI: .18–.83, p?=?.002), verbal memory (SMD: .78, 95% CI: .50–1.0, p?<?.001), visual memory (SMD: .65, 95% CI: .30–.99, p?<?.001), verbal reasoning/knowledge (SMD: .46; 95% CI: .14–.79; p?<?0.001) and IQ (SMD: .32; 95% CI: .08–.56; p?=?0.01) were identified in depressed youth. Relative weaknesses in processing speed/reaction time and verbal learning were also evident, however, these findings disappeared when the quality of studies was controlled for. Moderator analysis showed a tendency for poorer set-shifting ability in younger depressed participants relative to controls (although non-significant; p?=?.05). Moderator analysis of medication status showed taking medication was associated with poorer attentional functioning compared to those not taking medication. Conclusion: The findings suggest that currently depressed young people display a range of neurocognitive weaknesses which may impact treatment engagement and outcome. The findings support the need to consider neurocognitive functioning when treating youth with depression.     

A Conceptual Framework for Understanding the Stigmatization of Children of Incarcerated Parents

Stigmatization is often listed as one of the adverse consequences of parental incarceration; yet, there is very little research on this phenomenon. We address this knowledge deficit by providing a conceptual model of stigmatization and describing how it may apply to children with parents in jail or prison. This model helps to explain why families conceal the fact that a child’s parent is incarcerated; the potentially protective function of social withdrawal; possible links between stigmatization and childhood emotional and behavioral problems; how fear of stigmatization may impede help seeking; and the possibility for research and advocacy to contribute to the stigmatization of children who experience parental incarceration. It also helps to define specific aspects of stigmatization requiring further study.     

Fechner, information, and shape perception

How do retinal images lead to perceived environmental objects? Vision involves a series of spatial and material transformations—from environmental objects to retinal images, to neurophysiological patterns, and finally to perceptual experience and action. A rationale for understanding functional relations among these physically different systems occurred to Gustav Fechner: Differences in sensation correspond to differences in physical stimulation. The concept of information is similar: Relationships in one system may correspond to, and thus represent, those in another. Criteria for identifying and evaluating information include (a)?resolution, or the precision of correspondence; (b)?uncertainty about which input (output) produced a given output (input); and (c)?invariance, or the preservation of correspondence under transformations of input and output. We apply this framework to psychophysical evidence to identify visual information for perceiving surfaces. The elementary spatial structure shared by objects and images is the second-order differential structure of local surface shape. Experiments have shown that human vision is directly sensitive to this higher-order spatial information from interimage disparities (stereopsis and motion parallax), boundary contours, texture, shading, and combined variables. Psychophysical evidence contradicts other common ideas about retinal information for spatial vision and object perception.     

Age,working memory,and the Tower of London task

The current study explores the role of three components of working memory in age differences in an executive task, the Tower of London (TOL). The TOL task is sensitive to frontal lobe damage, and is widely used to measure planning ability. Dual tasks were used to test the involvement of the phonological loop (articulatory suppression), visuospatial buffer (pattern tapping), and central executive (random generation) in age effects on the TOL. Older adults showed greater reliance than young on domain-specific verbal and spatial memory components in performing the TOL. In terms of executive function, qualitatively different interference patterns were seen in young and old participants. However, the validity of using random generation tasks to assess executive function in older populations can be questioned. For older participants, performing the TOL loads all components of working memory, whereas for the younger participants the TOL more specifically loads executive functioning.