Using performance feedback to improve treatment integrity of classwide behavior plans: an investigation of observer reactivity

The current study replicated the positive effects of performance feedback on treatment integrity and extended previous work by examining reactivity using a multiple baseline design with alternating treatments for observer-present and observer-absent conditions on teachers' implementation of a classwide behavior plan. No differences were found between conditions, and treatment integrity improved across all teachers, suggesting that performance feedback, rather than observer reactivity, was responsible for reported behavior changes.     

Parent-child relationship, temperament, and physiological reactions to fear-inducing film clips: further evidence for differential susceptibility

Recent studies have supported the intriguing hypothesis that highly reactive infants are most susceptible to the effect of parenting. This study replicates and extends an earlier study on 4-year-olds concerning higher susceptibility of more fearful children to the quality of their relationships with their mothers, as shown by their physiological reactions to fear-inducing film clips. Two groups of children (4- and 7-year-olds) were shown the same fear-inducing and neutral film clips. During the film clips, their skin conductance and heart rate variability were measured. Both 4- and 7-year-olds responded to the fear-inducing film clips with increases in skin conductance and decreases in heart rate variability. A secure relationship affected the reactivity to fearful stimuli in temperamentally more fearful children but not in less fearful children irrespective of children's ages. Our findings add to the growing literature showing that children high in negative emotion are more susceptible to positive as well as negative rearing influences for better and for worse.     

Fear reactivity and effortful control in overt and relational bullying: a six-month longitudinal study

This study examined the roles of fear reactivity and emotional regulatory abilities in overt and relational bullying behaviors. Survey data were collected from 124 middle school students (mean age=10.3 years, 47% males, 61% Caucasian) and their teachers in the fall and spring of a school year. Surveys included teacher- and self-rated measures of students' overt and relational bullying along with self-reported fear reactivity and effortful control. Findings show that low levels of fear reactivity and effortful control predict higher future levels of overt bullying, but not relational bullying. These results suggest that despite high correlations between overt and relational bullying, these two forms of aggression develop through different processes. The findings from this investigation are discussed with respect to their implications for theory on the development of aggression as well as prevention and intervention programming for youth aggression.     

Mood trajectories following daily life events

Little is known about the magnitude and duration of mood responses to daily negative events as a function of gender, history of mood disorder, and current substance use. Using computerized ambulatory monitoring techniques, perceived negativity of minor daily events and state affect were prospectively examined every 3 h on average for a 7-day period. Event negativity was associated with depressed mood for 6–9 h following event occurrence, and was associated with happy mood for 3–6 h. Gender and substance use moderated the relationship between event negativity and mood states concurrently, and remained influential for approximately 3 h following the event. History of mood disorder did not moderate any within- or across-day relationships between event negativity and mood. No evidence was found for mood uplifts following daily events in either within- or across-day analyses. The findings are discussed relative to assessment timing in investigations of vulnerability-stress theories.     

Stress reactivity and coping in seasonal and nonseasonal depression

Stress, stress reactivity, and coping skill use were examined in individuals with seasonal depression, nonseasonal depression, and nondepressed controls. Although participants in the two depressed groups reported using more avoidance coping strategies than controls, only participants in the seasonal depressed group reported using more season-specific coping (i.e., light-related strategies) than participants in the nonseasonal depressed and control groups. Individuals in the seasonal depressed group also reporting using acceptance coping strategies less frequently than individuals in the control group. Only participants in the nonseasonal depressed group, however, exhibited greater psychophysiological arousal in reaction to a laboratory stressor (i.e., unsolvable anagram task) when compared to participants in the seasonal and nondepressed control groups. Participants in both depressed groups reported greater impact of negative life events during the past 6 months than did controls. Similarities and differences in the two types of depression may have implications for the conceptualization and treatment of seasonal depression.     

青少年应激下皮质醇应答与风险决策相关性的性别差异

本研究旨在探讨中国青少年应激下皮质醇应答和风险决策相关性的性别差异。本研究以健康初中生为被试者, 采用特里尔社会应激测试(Trier Social Stress Test, TSST)诱发机体应激反应, 测试唾液皮质醇在应激前后不同时间段的水平, 并要求被试者在应激状态下完成气球模拟风险决策任务(Balloon Analogue Risk Task, BART)。结果发现, 男性在TSST诱导下皮质醇反应度显著高于女性, 男性中高皮质醇应答者BART表现为更高程度的冒险行为和更低的总奖励金额, 而女性中高皮质醇应答者BART表现为更高的总奖励金额。研究结果提示,中国青少年应激条件下皮质醇应答与风险决策之间的联系存在性别差异, 尤其在男性, 高皮质醇应答者更具有冒险行为。     

An Open Trial Targeting Food Cue Reactivity and Satiety Sensitivity in Overweight and Obese Binge Eaters

Data suggests that individuals who binge eat are more responsive to food cues in the environment and less sensitive to satiety cues. The aim of this open trial was to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and initial effectiveness of a novel treatment grounded in Schachter’s externality theory targeting food cue reactivity and satiety responsiveness with obese adults who binge eat. Treatment was provided in groups, and utilized appetite monitoring, cue-exposure treatment, in vivo exercises, self-monitoring, and coping skills. Twenty-eight overweight and obese adults who binge eat (82% female; mean age = 47.5 years [SD = 12.8]; BMI = 38.9 [SD = 10.3]; 79% White non-Hispanic) participated in a 4-month group-based treatment program. Assessments were conducted at baseline, posttreatment, and 3-month follow-up time points. Results indicated that this treatment was well accepted and had high retention at posttreatment. Initial effectiveness showed significant decreases in BMI, and improvements in loss of control and overeating episodes, food responsiveness, and power of food. The majority of results were maintained at the 3-month follow-up time point. This open trial provides preliminary evidence for the feasibility, acceptability, and initial effectiveness of this treatment on both eating disorder symptoms and weight in obese adults who binge eat. Because these data are preliminary, further treatment development and randomized controlled studies are needed.     

Preattentive processing of alcohol stimuli

An experiment was conducted to test the automatic analysis of briefly presented alcohol stimuli in alcohol-dependent individuals. Alcoholics and controls were exposed to four different conditions: two brief (30 ms) and two long (130 ms) exposure conditions, each containing alcoholic and non-alcoholic pictures. Heart rate (HR) interbeat intervals were recorded and phasic cardiac responses assessed. Alcoholics had a stronger initial HR deceleration after exposure to masked alcohol slides compared with masked control slides, indicating a preattentive analysis of alcohol stimuli. This initial HR deceleration in the masked condition suggests an automatic attentional focusing to degraded alcohol cues. No such attentional effect was found when the pictures were presented unmasked and were clearly perceived. The implication of these results for the understanding of relapse in addictive behavior is discussed.     

Preference for spatial cues in a non-storing songbird species

Male mammals typically outperform their conspecific females on spatial tasks. A sex difference in cues used to solve the task could underlie this performance difference as spatial ability is reliant on appropriate cue use. Although comparative studies of memory in food-storing and non-storing birds have examined species differences in cue preference, few studies have investigated differences in cue use within a species. In this study, we used a one-trial associative food-finding task to test for sex differences in cue use in the great tit, Parus major. Birds were trained to locate a food reward hidden in a well covered by a coloured cloth. To determine whether the colour of the cloth or the location of the well was learned during training, the birds were presented with three wells in the test phase: one in the original location, but covered by a cloth of a novel colour, a second in a new location covered with the original cloth and a third in a new location covered by a differently coloured cloth. Both sexes preferentially visited the well in the training location rather than either alternative. As great tits prefer colour cues over spatial cues in one-trial associative conditioning tasks, cue preference appears to be related to the task type rather than being species dependent.