Differential cerebral involvement in perceiving Chinese characters: levels of processing approach

Three experiments were designed to determine the accuracy and latency with which right-handed Chinese university students (12 females and 12 males) recognized Chinese characters in the left and right visual half-fields (VHFs). The experiments varied in the "depth" of processing required. Experiment 1 was a lexical decision task in which the configuration of the stimulus (a real Chinese character or the mirror image of a real character) determined whether the grapheme was an actual character. Experiment 2 required phonological processing; i.e., subjects had to decide whether a character (or a foil) matched the sound of an orally presented Chinese character. Experiment 3 required semantic processing; i.e., subjects had to decide if a character (or a foil) belonged to a particular semantic category. In each experiment, single characters were presented unilaterally for 150 msec. There was a significant right VHF superiority for accuracy scores for Experiments 2 and 3 but not for Experiment 1. None of the experiments yielded significant visual asymmetries in reaction time. The results do not support previous claims of orthography-specific laterality, but instead show that laterality effects for morphemic stimuli vary with the orthographic, phonological, and semantic processing demands of the task.     

Response latency of gerbils and hamsters to nuts flavoured with bitter-tasting substances

The unconditioned reactions of Mongolian gerbils to peanuts rolled in sucrose octa-acetate (SOA) or denatomium benzoate (Bitrex) were studied in Experiment 1. Although SOA evokes as high a bitterness rating among humans as quinine salts, the gerbils' latency to ingest a nut flavoured with the former was similar to that to an unflavoured nut. Their oral latency to a nut that was flavoured with Bitrex was longer than to either an unflavoured one or one flavoured with SOA. However, the fact that they ingested a nut flavoured with the “most bitter substance known to man” within 70 sec after contact is surprising. Experiment 2 dealt with the effects of a peanut that was either unflavoured or flavoured with SOA or quinine and then paired with a LiCl injection. The oral latency of these gerbils to a nut conveying such flavours was assessed for six days after this conditioning. A nut flavoured with quinine acquired aversive properties but not ones that were flavoured with SOA or were unflavoured. Similar results were observed in Experiment 3, when hamsters were tested under comparable conditions. The theoretical implications of these results are discussed.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Group CBT for Parents of ADHD Children

Improvements in parenting skills do not necessarily lead to improvements in child and parent outcomes for children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Cognitive factors such as parental cognitions and parenting self-efficacy may influence such outcomes. Clinical research on the effects of cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) on parental cognitions, parenting self-efficacy and mental health in Chinese parents of children with ADHD is lacking. This quasi-experimental study intended to assess the effects of a culturally attuned group CBT treatment on the mental health and quality of life of Chinese parents aged 26–58 years, with children with ADHD in Hong Kong. Participants in the experimental group received group CBT and standard treatment and their counterparts in the control group received standard treatment. Primary outcome variables of mental health and quality of life and process variables including parenting stress, parenting efficacy and dysfunctional attitudes were measured at baseline, post-treatment and 3-month follow-up. Data were analysed using 2?×?3 ANCOVAs, Cohen’s d statistics and multiple mediation analyses. Group by time interactions were found for most outcome variables. Effect size statistics indicated that group CBT had small to moderate effects on most outcome variables at post-treatment and follow-up assessments. The effect of CBT on mental health was mediated by the reduction in parenting stress and the effect of CBT on quality of life was mediated by the reductions in parenting stress and dysfunctional attitudes. Given its potential benefit, it is worth considering incorporating this group CBT programme into interventions for Chinese parents with ADHD children.     

Perceptions of ADHD Among Diagnosed Children and Their Parents: A Systematic Review Using the Common-Sense Model of Illness Representations

Research on children and parents’ experiences of ADHD has grown in recent years, attracting attention to their subjective perception of ADHD as a disorder. Theoretical accounts of illness perception suggest that it is multi-dimensional, consisting of at least five core constructs (see the common-sense model of illness representations or CSM: Leventhal et al., in: Rachman (ed) Medical psychology, Pergamon, New York, vol 2, pp 7–30, 1980, in: Baum, Taylor, Singer (eds) Handbook of psychology and health: social psychological aspects of health, Earlbaum, Hillsdale, vol 4, pp 219–252, 1984). We suggest that the application of CSM in children/adolescents with ADHD and their parents may play an important role in understanding their coping behavior, treatment adherence, and emotional well-being. A systematic search identified 101 eligible studies that investigated the perception of ADHD among diagnosed children/adolescents and their parents. In general, these studies support the existence of the multiple facets of illness representations proposed by the CSM in both diagnosed youngsters and parents indicating substantial variability among both parents and youngsters on each of these facets. The comprehensive assessment of the representations of ADHD indicates imbalance attention to the different representations of ADHD in the literature; disproportional research attention has been paid to the perceived effectiveness of treatment (i.e., treatment control dimension) compared to other illness representations (e.g., timeline, consequence, and coherence), despite research showing their relevance to treatment adherence among other implications. The review identifies the limitation of existing relevant research, needed foci for future studies, specific testable hypotheses, and potential clinical implications of the multifaceted representations of ADHD among youngsters and carers alike.     

Assessment as Intervention: A Pilot Study of Short-Term Dyadic Treatment

Assessment, as an intervention, is a hallmark of infant mental health that has not been evaluated for treatment effectiveness. A comprehensive assessment framework was standardized as a short-term intervention model and evaluated for treatment effects based on dynamic systems theory of change. The transdisciplinary interaction-based assessment model embeds nondidactic developmental guidance interpretations in the context of eliciting child functional capacities while engaging the caregiver in direct co-observation and reflection to challenge inflexibility in parents’ representations. The findings of this pilot project, with a community sample of Spanish- and English-speaking families, suggest this assessment as intervention model has the potential to promote an active process of change in parents’ representations toward a “disorderly,” or unstable state, possibly both in perceptions of self as caregiver and in representations of the child. Clinically, this disorderly state would be seen as an opportunity that could perpetuate the change process, recognizing disorderliness of representation as an opening, as emerging permeability of representations. Results indicate that this caregiver-clinician collaborative process is associated with caregiver reports of decreased distress, increased empathy for child’s difficulties, and changes in caregiver representations. A subset of families, caregivers who hold immutable views of their children, are less responsive to the developmental guidance approach and may require different or more long-term treatment.