Phonological,visual, and semantic coding strategies and children's short-term picture memory span

Three experiments addressed controversies in the previous literature on the development of phonological and other forms of short-term memory coding in children, using assessments of picture memory span that ruled out potentially confounding effects of verbal input and output. Picture materials were varied in terms of phonological similarity, visual similarity, semantic similarity, and word length. Older children (6/8-year-olds), but not younger children (4/5-year-olds), demonstrated robust and consistent phonological similarity and word length effects, indicating that they were using phonological coding strategies. This confirmed findings initially reported by Conrad (1971), but subsequently questioned by other authors. However, in contrast to some previous research, little evidence was found for a distinct visual coding stage at 4 years, casting doubt on assumptions that this is a developmental stage that consistently precedes phonological coding. There was some evidence for a dual visual and phonological coding stage prior to exclusive use of phonological coding at around 5–6 years. Evidence for semantic similarity effects was limited, suggesting that semantic coding is not a key method by which young children recall lists of pictures.     

Psychosocial Adaptation to Chronic Illness and Disability: A Preliminary Study of its Factorial Structure

This study examined the factorial structure of psychosocial adaptation to chronic illness and disability in a sample of 313 individuals who sustained spinal cord injury (SCI). Three models were examined. The first model tested the hypothesis that psychosocial adaptation is composed of a single, global factor, in which positive (adaptive) and negative (nonadaptive) reactions define two opposing poles of the same dimension. The second model tested the validity of two distinguishable factors, representing adaptive and nonadaptive dimensions. The third model examined the relationship between the 2-factor model and a third dimension, that of denial. The data from the instruments measuring psychosocial adaptation to trauma and disability (the Reactions to Impairment and Disability Inventory and the Purdue Posttraumatic Stress Disorder-Revised) were submitted to a series of confirmatory factor analyses, and the results from the goodness of fit tests and fit indices provided strong support to the validity of the latter two models. The findings indicated that the structure of adaptation to SCI can be best conceptualized as representing two, moderately linked but clearly distinguishable, factors and that the construct of denial of disability further elucidates our understanding of the structure of adaptation to loss of body integrity.

Development of the Lurian Approach: A Cultural Neurolinguistic Perspective

This article presents a discussion of the principle of extracortical organization of higher mental functions and its significance for the development of contemporary neuropsychology. The role of external factors (stimulus-mediator, symbol) in establishing functional connections between various brain systems is, in principle, universal. However, inasmuch as differing mediators and means, or significantly different details within them (direction of writing, orientation by maps or by the behavior of sea birds, etc.) may and in fact do develop in different cultures, neuropsychological analysis must take into account cross-cultural differences. Diagnostic tools must also be adapted to differing cultural contexts. The efficacy of this principle for the analysis of bilingual aphasia and of mental organization of speech, including the effect of acquisition of literacy in native language, is demonstrated. The importance of this principle for the development of new directions in applied neuropsychology is also discussed.     

Working memory and children's use of retrieval to solve addition problems

This study tested the hypothesis that children with high working memory capacities solve single-digit additions by direct retrieval of the answers from long-term memory more often than do children with low working memory capacities. Counting and reading letter span tasks were administered to groups of third-grade (mean age=107 months) and fourth-grade (mean age=118 months) children who were also asked to solve 40 single-digit additions. High working memory capacity was associated with more frequent use of retrieval and faster responses in solving additions. The effect of span on the use of retrieval increased with the size of the minimum addend. The relation between working memory measures and use and speed of retrieval did not depend on the numerical or verbal nature of the working memory task. Implications for developmental theories of cognitive arithmetic and theories of working memory are discussed.     

Effects of multiple exposures to D-cycloserine on extinction of conditioned fear in rats

Previous research has shown that an acute, post-training injection of D-cycloserine (DCS) facilitates extinction of conditioned fear in rats; however, the effects of multiple exposures to DCS in this situation are not known. In Experiment 1, rats were conditioned (light-shock pairings) and 24 h later given six extinction (light-alone) trials followed by an injection of DCS (15 mg/kg) or saline. The next day, all rats were tested for light-elicited freezing. In Experiment 2, the effect of DCS on extinction was tested in the same manner, except that rats were pre-exposed to DCS (0, 1, or 5 injections) just prior to conditioning. In Experiment 3, rats received five pre-exposures of DCS but conditioning occurred either 2 or 28 days after the last pre-exposure. The results showed that DCS facilitated extinction of conditioned freezing to the light CS when no drug pre-exposure had occurred, but pre-exposure to DCS just prior to conditioning disrupted the facilitation of extinction effect. When 28 days were interposed between pre-exposure and conditioning, the facilitatory effects of DCS on extinction were restored. These findings suggest that DCS has significant clinical value but that behavioral desensitization may occur with multiple exposures; however, desensitization is not permanent and is reduced by the passage of time.     

Body image across the adult life span: stability and change

By far, the majority of studies investigating body image in adults have drawn samples from college populations within a very narrow age range. The purpose of the present paper is to review empirical research on the body image of adults older than the typical college student. There are marked changes in appearance across the adult life span, especially for women, which lead to the expectation of concomitant changes in body image. In fact, the review found that body dissatisfaction was remarkably stable across the adult life span for women, at least until they are quite elderly. In contrast, the importance of body shape, weight and appearance decreased as women aged, underscoring an important distinction between evaluation and importance of the body. However, there are many large gaps and limitations in the current literature that will need to be addressed before a more complete understanding of the development of body image across the adult life span is achieved.     

Der menschliche Kontext von Psychotherapien

Zusammenfassung  In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein allgemeiner konzeptueller Rahmen vorgestellt, der die Analyse der Struktur und der Funktionen solcher komplexen Systeme, wie das menschliche Interaktionsverhalten und die Interaktionserfahrung—z. B. in der Psychotherapie—, ermöglicht. Auf der Grundlage der Handlungstheorie von Parsons und Shils (1951) wird durch systematische paarweise Kontrastierungen, durch Kombinationen der resultierenden Begriffe und durch die Betrachtung der Schnittstellen bzw. Grenzzonen ein Netzwerk von miteinander zusammenhängenden Konzepten gewonnen. Schritt für Schritt wird aus den Ausgangskonstrukten des sozialen, kulturellen, Persönlichkeits- und organismischen Systems ein flexibles Netzwerk von empirischen Konzepten abgeleitet. Mit Hilfe des so entstandenen konzeptuellen Rahmens werden die Wechselwirkungen zwischen scheinbar divergenten Aspekten der Psychotherapie aufgezeigt und die Vielfalt der Kriterien illustriert, die in Verbindung mit dem Generischen Modell der Psychotherapie (Orlinsky u. Howard 1987) zur Untersuchung der Auswirkung von therapeutischen Prozessen auf die Lebensführung und die Persönlichkeit von Patienten verwendet werden können.

Psychosozialer Versorgungsbedarf bei Arbeitnehmern

Zusammenfassung  Untersuchungen zu Häufigkeit, Verlauf und Ursachen psychischer Erkrankungen bei Arbeitnehmern sind rar. Die Gründe hierfür liegen sowohl auf Seiten der Arbeitsmedizin, die psychosoziale Aspekte wenig berücksichtigt, als auch bei der Psychotherapie, die zu wenig auf die Arbeitssituation eingeht. Die wenigen aussagekräftigen Untersuchungen legen bei Arbeitnehmern eine ähnlich hohe Prävalenz und Behandlungsbedürftigkeit nahe wie in der Allgemeinbevölkerung. Von den Folgen einer störungsinadäquaten Therapie psychischer Erkrankungen sind Arbeitnehmer in besonderem Maße betroffen, da die Erkrankungen nicht nur zu erheblichem persönlichem Leid führen, sondern durch Chronifizierung zu enormen Kosten in der medizinischen Versorgung beitragen. Außerdem sind sie durch krankheitsbedingte Fehlzeiten und (Früh-)Berentungen auch die Ursache weit reichender Produktionsausfälle in der Wirtschaft. Obwohl eine Reihe von Maßnahmen der betrieblichen Gesundheitsförderung zur Besserung der psychischen Befindlichkeit von Arbeitnehmern verfügbar sind, werden sie gegenwärtig noch zu selten eingesetzt und noch weniger evaluiert.

Time and resource limits on working memory: cross-age consistency in counting span performance

This longitudinal study separated resource demand effects from those of retention interval in a counting span task among 100 children tested in grade 2 and again in grades 3 and 4. A last card large counting span condition had an equivalent memory load to a last card small, but the last card large required holding the count over a longer retention interval. In all three waves of assessment, the last card large condition was found to be less accurate than the last card small. A model predicting reading comprehension showed that age was a significant predictor when entered first accounting for 26% of the variance, but counting span accounted for a further 22% of the variance. Span at Wave 1 accounted for significant unique variance at Wave 2 and at Wave 3. Results were similar for math calculation with age accounting for 31% of the variance and counting span accounting for a further 34% of the variance. Span at Wave 1 explained unique variance in math at Wave 2 and at Wave 3.