Retrieval failure, rehearsal deficiency, and short-term memory loss in the aphasic adult

Studies show that aphasic patients typically are grossly impaired in short-term memory performance. Since aphasics generally experience difficulty in word retrieval, it is conceivable that short-term memory loss is partially the result of verbal rehearsal deficiency which, in turn, is caused by the word retrieval problem. This paper reports an experiment in which five aphasic adults were nonverbally to recall individualized lists of pictures they could easily name and lists of pictures they could not name. Final items in the two lists were recalled with equal accuracy; this was expected in that the recency effect usually reflects sensory rather than verbal storage. Initial items were recalled with greater accuracy than middle-list items in the nameable sets but not in the unnameable sets. This primacy effect suggests the aphasics rehearsed the nameable pictures, but both lists were recalled so poorly that rehearsal deficit was considered responsible for no more than a fraction of the aphasics' reduction in short-term memory.     

Discriminative vocal conditioning in rhesus monkeys: Evidence for volitional control?

Both emotional and volitional systems are invoked in explaining the control of human vocalizations, but vocal behavior of nonhuman primates is often believed to be totally under emotional control. Monkeys' poor performance on conditioning tasks, especially discriminative conditioning of vocalization (DCV), has been cited as evidence against volitional control. In Experiment 1, rhesus monkeys failed a DCV task in which food was given for vocalizations emitted during an arbitrary visual stimulus, but in Experiment 2, monkeys showed clear discriminative performance when an otherwise comparable shock-avoidance DCV procedure was used. This evidence that monkeys possess some degree of volitional control has implications for the relation between animal vocalizations and the origin of human speech.     

Behavior analysis/modification for everyone

This paper presents a very brief overview of people's attempt to understand and change behavior and shows how behavior analysis is different from these views. The importance of everyone knowing and using behavioral principles in their everyday life is stressed and the opposition to a behavioral approach is discussed. The aims of the organization called Behavior Analysis/Modification in the Regular Classroom is presented and some steps that this organization is following in an attempt to help to disseminate the knowledge and use of behavioral principles in the schools is presented.     

Infant attachment in the Czech Republic: Categorical and dimensional findings from a post-communist country

Infant attachment remains virtually unexplored in former Eastern Bloc countries. The dimensional approach to infant attachment, which could ease common obstacles in cross-cultural attachment research, necessitates more empirical support. This study explores infant attachment in the Czech Republic, a post-communist country with a unique family policy, using both the categorical and the dimensional models. It also compares the Czech infant attachment distribution to infant attachment distributions in other countries and compares infant attachment distributions in European countries to the Baltimore study sample. In the Strange Situation Procedure, forty-nine (74 %) out of sixty-six mother-infant dyads (35 boys, M = 13.8, SD = 0.9) received the B classification. Despite the generous family policy and cultural emphasis on close mother-infant relationships, the Czech distribution of insecure categories did not differ from the Baltimore study sample. Out of other post-communist countries, only the infant attachment distribution in former East Germany differed from the Czech and the Baltimore study samples due to a lower proportion of type B and a higher proportion of type A infants. There were also more type A infants in the Italian sample. Interactive behavior scales accurately predicted attachment categories in 91 % of cases. Contact-maintenance and proximity-seeking scales substantially improve the assessment of insecure resistant behavior. Our findings support the universality and normativity of attachment and the utility of the dimensional approach.     

Behavioral and pharmacological treatments for tourette syndrome: A review

This article reviews the published treatment outcome research on pharmacological and behavioral treatments for Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (TS). Controlled group outcome studies of pharmacological treatments show about a 50–60% reduction in tics with haloperidol and pimozide and about a 20% reduction with clonidine. A controlled group outcome study and several within-subject design studies of behavioral treatments show about a 90% reduction in tics with habit reversal training. A large number of case studies generally confirm these results and also show benefits from other behavioral treatments such as relaxation training, self-monitoring, and contingency management. Clinical limitations of TS drugs are that they produce side effects in 50–85% of the patients and require continuous use, and long-term compliance with the medications is limited. The primary limitation of behavioral treatments is that they require a large initial time commitment. The methodological strengths of the controlled drug studies are the use of double-blind and group designs. For the behavioral studies, the strengths are rigorous recording and controlled within-subject designs.     

Adolescent Gender and Age Differences in Responsiveness to Functional Family Therapy

The current study contributes to a sparse literature on moderators of Functional Family Therapy (FFT) by examining whether responsiveness to FFT, measured by a broad range of outcomes, varies by adolescent gender, age, and their interaction. This study was informed by 687 families (n, adolescents = 581; n, caregivers = 933) and utilized a pre–post comparison design. Fixed-effects regressions with gender, age, and their interaction included as explanatory variables were conducted to calculate the average change in youth mental health, callous–unemotional traits, academic outcomes, substance use, and family functioning. Moderation analyses revealed that according to parent report, girls had significantly greater improvements in peer problems and family functioning, and boys benefited more in increased liking of school. There were differential effects by age, such that older youth had less beneficial mental health outcomes and a smaller decrease in frequency of hash use. The gender by age interaction was significant for adolescents’ report of mental health and family functioning outcomes, which suggests that girls benefit from FFT less than boys during early adolescence, but benefit more than boys in late adolescence. This finding adds to literature which has evidenced that family functioning is particularly important for girls by suggesting that FFT is important for improving older girls’ mental health and family functioning in particular. The study’s results expand the examination of outcomes of FFT to include academic outcomes, and provide insight into key factors that should be considered in addressing adolescent behavioral problems and family functioning.     

Self-efficacy and social behavior

Data regarding the relationship between self-efficacy and social behavior are limited, and questions remain about how to interpret the relationship of self-efficacy to phobic behavior in general. The current study includes data regarding the relationship between self-efficacy ratings and social behavior. The data also allow tests of an alternative hypothesis that self-efficacy ratings represent a general prediction regarding the likely outcome regarding a task. If this hypothesis is correct, the relationship of self-efficacy to behavior should be moderated by task familiarity. The study involved 124 socially anxious participants who gave at least partial data on a variety of measures, including three speaking tasks. In accordance with the alternative hypothesis, self-efficacy ratings best predicted behavior in reference to a familiar speaking task. Overall, self-efficacy showed only a moderate tendency to predict behavior.