Normal executive attention but abnormal orienting attention in individuals with sluggish cognitive tempo

Background/objective: Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) is an attentional disorder characterized by the symptoms of slowness in behavior or thinking, a lack of en.ergy, difficulty initiating and sustaining effort, daydreaming, and drowsiness. The aim of the present study was to investigate the distinctive attentional characteristics of SCT as compared to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Method: A total of 110 adults were recruited and divided into four groups: SCT+ADHD, SCT, ADHD, and healthy controls. The Revised version of Attention Networks Test was used to investigate each group’s attentional profile. Results: The results revealed that the two SCT groups (SCT+ADHD and SCT) showed a significantly weaker orienting network due to the problems of engaging and disengaging attention than the other two groups. Additionally, the two ADHD groups (SCT+ADHD and ADHD) showed a significantly weaker executive control network than the other two groups. Conclusions: The findings demonstrate an attentional distinction between the SCT and the ADHD groups with a greater dysfunction in the orienting network in the SCT group as compared to the ADHD group. Furthermore, a greater executive control dysfunction was observed in the ADHD group as compared to the SCT group.     

Action planning and position sense in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

The present study examined action planning and position sense in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). Participants performed two action planning tasks, the sword task and the bar grasping task, and an active elbow matching task to examine position sense. Thirty children were included in the DCD group (aged 6–10 years) and age-matched to 90 controls. The DCD group had a MABC-2 total score ⩽5th percentile, the control group a total score ⩾25th percentile. Results from the sword-task showed that children with DCD planned less for end-state comfort. On the bar grasping task no significant differences in planning for end-state comfort between the DCD and control group were found. There was also no significant difference in the position sense error between the groups. The present study shows that children with DCD plan less for end-state comfort, but that this result is task-dependent and becomes apparent when more precision is needed at the end of the task. In that respect, the sword-task appeared to be a more sensitive task to assess action planning abilities, than the bar grasping task. The action planning deficit in children with DCD cannot be explained by an impaired position sense during active movements.     

Moral mires and the grip of the group: Morality as internalized group norms

I argue that morality is a set of internalized group norms. It is a reliable guide in a complex social world where group status and membership are not guaranteed by birth, but have to be asserted and maintained continuously. Morality is acquired through the process of socialization when children learn in their experience with peers, from observation of adults, and by instructional stories, such as fairy tales. Failure to internalize group norms results in a clinical condition of Psychopathy, or Antisocial Personality Disorder. Research into Antisocial Personality Disorder suggests that likely pathways of group norm internalization are states of arousal associated with social situations.     

Family Impact of Tourette's Syndrome

Tourette's syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by vocal and motor tics. TS is also associated with several behavior disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, conduct disorder, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. We examined the impact of Tourette's syndrome with and without comorbid psychiatric disorders on the family. TS complicated by comorbid disorders had a greater impact on the family than uncomplicated TS. Tourette's symptom severity was significantly correlated with the level of impact on the family and with the number of comorbid disorders. TS is a disorder with effects that extend beyond motor and vocal tics.     

The Effects of Warned Versus Unwarned Time-Out Procedures on Child Noncompliance

Mothers of twenty-four noncompliant, clinic-referred, preschool children were trained to use either a warned or unwarned time-out procedure in a clinic analog setting to suppress child noncompliance to commands. Warnings respecified the command to be followed and labeled the time-out procedures were equally effective at increasing child compliance. However, warned time-out procedures were associated with fewer actual time-outs than unwarned time-out procedures. The potential benefits of warned time-out procedures are discussed and future research needs are indicated.     

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the ugliest of them all? The psychopathology of mirror gazing in body dysmorphic disorder

Patients with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) may spend many hours in front of a mirror but little is known about the psychopathology or the factors that maintain the behaviour. A self-report mirror gazing questionnaire was used to elicit beliefs and behaviours in front of a mirror. Two groups were compared, which consisted of 55 controls and 52 BDD patients. Results: Prior to gazing, BDD patients are driven by the hope that they will look different; the desire to know exactly how they look; a belief that they will feel worse if they resist gazing and the desire to camouflage themselves. They were more likely to focus their attention on an internal impression or feeling (rather than their external reflection in the mirror) and on specific parts of their appearance. They were also more likely to practise showing the best face to pull in public or to use “mental cosmetic surgery” to change their body image than controls. BDD patients invariably felt worse after mirror gazing and were more likely to use ambiguous surfaces such as the backs of CDs or cutlery for a reflection. Conclusion: Mirror gazing in BDD consists of a series of complex safety behaviours. It does not follow a simple model of anxiety reduction that occurs in the compulsive checking of obsessive–compulsive disorder. The implications for treatment are discussed.     

Posttraumatic stress disorder: A sensitization reaction

This article discusses past research bearing on the question of the etiology of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It argues that PTSD can be adequately accounted for by a process of emotional sensitization and that this is a more parsimonious explanation than the two-factor learning theory of Mowrer, now postulated by several writers. In brief, the etiology and subsequent development of PTSD is viewed as the result of the sensitization of fear/anxiety which is linked to a variety of to be conditional stimuli by both backward and forward association: these become conditional stimuli (CSi) once paired with the instigating circumstances. It is furthermore assumed that PTSD will not occur in the absence of a genetic susceptibility that may vary from zero to absolute certainty. Thus far, our evidence is limited to a sensitivity to loud sounds, but it is highly probable that touch and other sensory systems are involved (not necessarily in parallel). The fact that abuse often leads to behavioral disorders, including sexually seductive behaviors in children sexually abused, requires a recognition that emotional reactions other than fear may be sensitized. Fear in combination with pleasure or pleasure alone coupled with a loss of self-esteem may explain these acting-out behaviors.