Neurocognitive functioning in patients with conversion disorder/functional neurological disorder

Neurocognitive symptoms are common in individuals with somatic symptom and related disorders (SSRD), but little is known about the specific impairments in neurocognitive domains in patients with conversion disorder (CD)/functional neurological disorder (FND). This study examines neurocognitive functioning in patients with CD/FND compared to patients with other SSRD. The sample consisted of 318 patients. Twenty-nine patients were diagnosed with CD/FND, mean age 42.4, standard deviation (SD) = 13.8 years, 79.3% women, and 289 patients had other SSRD (mean age 42.1, SD = 13.3, 60.2% women). Patients completed a neuropsychological test battery that addressed a broad range of neurocognitive domains, including information processing speed, attention and executive functioning. Patients with CD/FND had clinically significant neurocognitive deficits in all neurocognitive domains based on normative data comparison. Patients with CD/FND also performed significantly worse than patients with other SSRD on information processing speed (Digit Symbol Substitution Test (V = .115, p = .035), Stroop Color–Word Test (SCWT) card 1 (V = .190, p = .006), and SCWT card 2 (V = .244, p < .001). No CD/FND vs. other SSRD differences were observed in other neurocognitive domains. These findings indicate the patients with CD/FND perform worse on information processing speed tests compared to patients with other SSRD.     

Deficit in phonological processes: a characteristic of the neuropsychological profile of children with NF1

Learning disabilities are one of the most frequent complications of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) in children. Studies of the effects of the neurocognitive deficit on academic performance are relatively rare, owing to the small size of the populations concerned. However, research is needed to develop effective rehabilitation programs. In the present study, we explored the impact of a possible phonological deficit on the reading abilities of children with NF1. A multicenter, cross-sectional study was conducted in France on two groups of 75 children with or without NF1 aged 8–12 years, matched for age, sex, handedness, and reading level. All participants underwent a neuropsychological evaluation to assess their general cognitive level, reading skills, phonological processes, visuoperceptual abilities, and attentional capacity. Phonological skills were assessed by means of two phonological awareness tasks and one short-term memory task. In the group of children with NF1, 41% had reading difficulties. Phonological processes were impaired in this group, compared with the children without NF1. Similar differences were found for a phoneme deletion task after adjustment for reading difficulties, IQ level, and visuoperceptual abilities. Phonological awareness, but not phonological short-term memory, was impaired in children with NF1, and not just those whose reading was impaired. Results suggest that children with NF1 have a phonological awareness deficit, whatever their reading level. Identification of reduced phonological skills may warrant the implementation of a specific rehabilitation program before early reading difficulties emerge.     

Neuropsychological outcomes of pediatric demyelinating diseases: a review

Immune-mediated central nervous system (CNS) demyelinating diseases impact various areas of the brain, optic nerves, and/or spinal cord and can result in a wide range of neurologic symptoms including adverse cognitive outcomes. Neuropsychological outcomes in adult multiple sclerosis (MS) are well documented, while literature on such outcomes in pediatric cohorts is more limited. Furthermore, literature on neuropsychological outcomes in pediatric acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), neuromyelitis optica (NMO), and transverse myelitis (TM) is even more limited. This paper is the first to review what is known about neuropsychological outcomes associated with immune-mediated CNS demyelinating diseases, with a focus on pediatric MS, ADEM, NMO, and TM. Additionally, this review illuminates the need to clarify differences in neuropsychological sequelae between conditions, characterize longitudinal cognitive outcomes, and investigate neuropsychological outcomes in relation to clinical variables (e.g., age of onset, disease duration, number of relapses) and psychosocial variables (e.g., fatigue, emotional problems, behavioral functioning) to better understand neuropsychological outcomes associated with these conditions.     

Self-regulatory cognitions,social comparison,and perceived peers’ behaviors as predictors of nutrition and physical activity: a comparison among adolescents in Hungary,Poland, Turkey,and USA

This study investigated whether the effects of self-regulatory cognitions and social influence variables on healthy behaviors – nutrition and physical activity – vary across countries. Adolescents (N?=?2387) from Hungary, Poland, Turkey, and the USA participated in the study. Measures included self-efficacy, future orientation, social comparison orientation (SCO), perceived behaviors of peers, as well as age and gender. These variables were included in the path model as predictors of healthy behaviors. The role of a country as a moderator was also examined. Results showed that self-efficacy, SCO, and perceived behaviors of peers predicted both health-promoting behaviors in all four countries. Some differences were found regarding the role of future orientation and gender.     

The development of children’s sympathy,moral emotion attributions,and moral reasoning in two cultures

The current study investigated the development of children’s sympathy, moral emotion attributions, and moral reasoning in two cultures: Chile and Switzerland. One hundred seventy-six children in two age groups (i.e., 6 and 9 years old) were asked to report their sympathy. Moral emotion attributions and moral reasoning were measured using two hypothetical moral transgressions (i.e., omitting a prosocial duty, stealing from another child). Younger Chilean children reported higher levels of sympathy than younger Swiss children. Across cultures, older children attributed more moral emotions than did younger children. Younger Swiss children used more moral reasoning following judgements about rule violations than did younger Chilean children. The findings are discussed from both a developmental and cross-cultural perspective.     

Reciprocal involvement in adolescent dating aggression: An Italian–Spanish study

This study aimed to: (1) analyse the association of different patterns of reciprocal involvement in dating aggression (reciprocal psychological and physical aggression; reciprocal psychological aggression; non-aggressive individuals) with different qualities of romantic relationship; and (2) compare results in two European countries, Italy and Spain. Participants were 304 adolescents (141 Italy, 163 Spain) with a current dating relationship. Results in both countries showed that adolescents involved in reciprocal psychological and physical aggression are more likely to have higher levels of couple conflict and power imbalance as compared to the reciprocal psychological aggressive group and to the non-aggressive individuals. Besides, adolescents involved in reciprocal psychological aggression are more likely to have lower levels of support as compared to the non-aggressive individuals. Discussion is focused on different patterns of reciprocal involvement differentiated in relation to level of aggression, conflict and power imbalance.     

Deferred imitation in 18-month-olds from two cultural contexts: The case of Cameroonian Nso farmer and German-middle class infants

Imitative learning has been described in naturalistic studies for different cultures, but lab-based research studying imitative learning across different cultural contexts is almost missing. Therefore, imitative learning was assessed with 18-month-old German middle-class and Cameroonian Nso farmer infants – representing two highly different eco-cultural contexts associated with different cultural models, the psychological autonomy and the hierarchical relatedness – by using the deferred imitation paradigm. Study 1 revealed that the infants from both cultural contexts performed a higher number of target actions in the deferred imitation than in the baseline phase. Moreover, it was found that German middle-class infants showed a higher mean imitation rate as they performed more target actions in the deferred imitation phase compared with Cameroonian Nso farmer infants. It was speculated that the opportunity to manipulate the test objects directly after the demonstration of the target actions could enhance the mean deferred imitation rate of the Cameroonian Nso farmer infants which was confirmed in Study 2. Possible explanations for the differences in the amount of imitated target actions of German middle-class and Cameroonian Nso farmer infants are discussed considering the object-related, dyadic setting of the imitation paradigm with respect to the different learning contexts underlying the different cultural models of learning.     

Adequate proverb interpretation is associated with performance on the Independent Living Scales

The purpose of this study was to examine proverb interpretation performance and functional independence in older adults. From the limited literature on proverb interpretation in aging and its conceptualization as an executive function, it was hypothesized that proverb interpretation would be related to functional independence similar to other executive functions. Tests of proverb interpretation, additional executive functions, and functional ability were administered to nondemented older adults. Results showed that proverb interpretation accounted for a significant amount of unique variance of functional ability scores. This supports including a measure of proverb interpretation to the assessment of older adults.     

Belief in a just world and organisational loyalty: Trust as an underlying mechanism

This research examined whether employees' personal belief in a just world (BJW) is associated with their organisational loyalty and whether this relationship is statistically mediated by organisational trust. To test these hypotheses, we conducted two studies with employees from China (study 1, N = 314) and Germany (study 2, N = 189). The results from both studies supported the proposed model. In addition, study 2 revealed that the relationship between BJW and organisational loyalty persisted when controlling for global personality traits. These suggest that managers and organisations may increase employees' loyalty by providing an environment that fosters their sense of justice and trust.     

Are social prediction errors universal? Predicting compliance with a direct request across cultures

Previous research conducted in the United States has demonstrated that help-seekers fail to appreciate the embarrassment and awkwardness (i.e., social costs) targets would experience by saying “no” to a request for help. Underestimation of such social costs leads help-seekers to underestimate the likelihood that others will comply with their requests. We hypothesized that this error would be attenuated in a collectivistic culture. We conducted a naturalistic help-seeking study in the U.S. and China and found that Chinese help-seekers were more accurate than American help-seekers at predicting compliance. A supplementary scenario study in which we measured individual differences in collectivistic and individualistic orientations within a single culture provided converging evidence for the association between collectivism and expectations of compliance. In both cases, the association between collectivism (culturally defined or measured) and predicted compliance was mediated by participants' ratings of the social costs of saying “no”.