Tool use in neurodegenerative diseases: Planning or technical reasoning?

Recent works showed that tool use can be impaired in stroke patients because of either planning or technical reasoning deficits, but these two hypotheses have not yet been compared in the field of neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to address the relationships between real tool use, mechanical problem‐solving, and planning skills in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD, n = 32), semantic dementia (SD, n = 16), and corticobasal syndrome (CBS, n = 9). Patients were asked to select and use ten common tools, to solve three mechanical problems, and to complete the Tower of London test. Motor function and episodic memory were controlled using the Purdue Pegboard Test and the BEC96 questionnaire, respectively. A data‐transformation method was applied to avoid ceiling effects, and single‐case analysis was performed based on raw scores and completion time. All groups demonstrated either impaired or slowed tool use. Planning deficits were found only in the AD group. Mechanical problem‐solving deficits were observed only in the AD and CBS groups. Performance in the Tower of London test was the best predictor of tool use skills in the AD group, suggesting these patients had general rather than mechanical problem‐solving deficits. Episodic memory seemed to play little role in performance. Motor dysfunction tended to be associated with tool use skills in CBS patients, while tool use disorders are interpreted as a consequence of the semantic loss in SD in line with previous works. These findings may encourage caregivers to set up disease‐centred interventions.     

Information and Communication Technology in the Work of Catholic Priests

ABSTRACT

This article presents data gathered in a doctoral study, the aim of which was to identify information needs and behavior patterns of Croatian Catholic priests for pastoral work. Results of the research focus only on the role of information and communication technology and using electronic sources by the priests in the liturgy and caregiving role. The research was conducted using quantitative and qualitative methodology (print questionnaires and semi-structured interviews). A total of 327 respondents took part in the quantitative study and twenty respondents were interviewed. Although research results showed that many respondents are not very familiar with the information and communication technology, most of them still occasionally use computers for making documents and consult the Internet for finding religious information in pastoral work. Computers and the Internet to a larger degree are used by younger and well-educated priests who have the least experience regarding management of the parishes in major locations. Since the results indicated that parish priests mostly seek religious and secular information on the Internet, it is recommended that the Catholic Church in Croatia offer them increased electronic resources for pastoral work.     

Posttraumatic stress severity is associated with coping motives for alcohol use among in-patient and community recruited adolescents

Background and Objectives: A growing body of work suggests individuals with more severe post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are at higher risk for developing problematic alcohol use outcomes. Extending work from the adult literature, the present study was the first to examine the extent to which PTSS is related to drinking motives for alcohol use in both clinical and non-clinical samples of adolescents.

Design: Hierarchical regression analyses were used to predict coping motives for alcohol use from PTSS, above and beyond demographic variables, alcohol use frequency, and other alcohol use motives.

Methods: Trauma-exposed adolescents before entering treatment (Sample 1 n?=?41) and recruited from the local community (Sample 2 n?=?55) self-reported on PTSS and alcohol use motives.

Results: PTSS positively predicted coping motives for alcohol use after controlling for age, gender, and alcohol use frequency.

Conclusions: The current study highlights the need to consider both PTSS severity, as well as underlying cognitive mechanisms (e.g., motives), to better understand the etiology of problematic alcohol use among trauma-exposed youth. Future work focused on clarifying the trajectory of alcohol use motives and problems as a function of PTSS is needed.     

The Role of Functions of Aggression in Associations Between Behavioral Inhibition and Activation and Mental Health Outcomes

While the behavioral acitivation system (BAS) has been most consistently linked to externalizing behaviors, the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) has been more closely related to internalizing outcomes. Proactive and reactive aggression have demonstrated a similar pattern of association, with proactive aggression more closely linked to externalizing behavior and reactive aggression more consistently linked to internalizing symptoms. Despite theoretical links, few studies have examined associations between these constructs. Accordingly, the current study examined associations between the BAS and BIS and proactive and reactive aggression, and the role of proactive and reactive aggression in the link between the BAS and BIS and mental health outcomes. The BAS was associated with both proactive and reactive aggression, while the BIS was uniquely related to reactive aggression. Both proactive and reactive aggression appear to be playing a role in associations between the BAS and indicated mental health outcomes. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Motives and Consequences of Alcohol Use in People With Social Anxiety Disorder: A Daily Diary Study

People with social anxiety disorder (SAD) are at increased risk for alcohol-related problems. Most research exploring social anxiety and alcohol use has examined negative drinking consequences, with less consideration of positive consequences—namely positive social experiences—that may reinforce alcohol use. In this daily diary study, we examined how adults diagnosed with SAD (N = 26) and a psychologically healthy control group (N = 28) experienced positive drinking consequences in naturally occurring drinking episodes during the study period. For 14 consecutive days, participants answered questions about alcohol use, motives for drinking, and positive consequences of drinking. On days when participants drank, those with SAD were more likely than healthy controls to perceive a reduction in anxiety, but the two groups did not differ in their likelihood of experiencing positive social drinking consequences. For both groups, on days when they were more motivated to drink to enhance social experiences (affiliation motives) or cope with distress (coping motives), they were more likely to obtain positive consequences from drinking. Compared to controls, participants with SAD endorsed stronger trait and daily coping motives (anxiety-coping, social anxiety-coping, and depression-coping). Results are discussed in the context of reinforcement mechanisms that may maintain social anxiety and alcohol use.     

Why people fail to bike the talk: Car dependence as a barrier to cycling

Antecedent conditions of cycling have been extensively studied, yet barriers that prevent individuals from choosing bicycle transportation are less known. The present study, conducted on a sample of individuals who were both cyclists and drivers (N = 280), investigated whether dependence on car transportation significantly reduces cycling frequency. It also assessed the predictive validity of a larger set of cycling determinants that included moral, objective environmental, demographic and car-related variables. Responses were analyzed using a structural equation modeling approach. Results show that moral considerations do little to predict cycling frequency and that car-related factors such as perceived behavioral control to reduce car use (β = 0.28) and car use habits (β = -0.27) have the strongest predictive power. Objective environmental factors such as temperature (β = -0.13) and altitude (β = -0.15) or demographic factors such as gender (β = 0.19) were also significant predictors of cycling frequency. The present study highlights a new perspective of understanding cycling behavior and pleads for the inclusion of car-related factors in its future conceptualizations and interventions to encourage it.     

Driving distraction at night: The impact of cell phone use on driving behaviors among young drivers

Currently, young drivers are more likely than other drivers to use cell phones while driving at night, which has become a major cause of road crashes. However, limited attention has been given to distracted nighttime driving. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the interaction effect of cell phone use and time of day (daytime and nighttime) on young drivers’ car-following performance. Forty-three young drivers engaged in a driving simulator experiment with a within-subject design that included three distractions (no distraction, talking and texting on a cell phone) and two times of day. This paper applied non-parametric tests to analyze the data and obtained the following results: (1) the standard deviation of lane position (SDLP) did not significantly differ at either time of day under no distraction, but it was significantly higher at night on straight roads and large-radius curves after introducing distractions. In addition, participants drove faster and gave less headway on small-radius curves under both distractions at night; (2) texting significantly increased the SDLP, while there was less lateral variation during the talking tasks than under no distraction on simple road sections; and (3) compared with the experienced drivers, the novice drivers drove faster during the talking tasks on small-radius curves, but there was no significant difference between groups during the texting tasks. These findings provide both theoretical and practical implications for related policy makers to enhance traffic safety.     

Exploring the usage of supervised driving automation in naturalistic conditions

This study reports usage of supervised automation and driver attention from longitudinal naturalistic driving observations. Automation inexperienced drivers were provided with instrumented vehicles with adaptive cruise control (ACC) and lane keeping (LK) features (SAE level 2). Data was collected comparing one month of driving without support to two months where drivers were instructed to use automation as desired.On highways, level 2 automation was used respectively 63% and 57% of the time by Tesla and BMW users, with peak usage during slow stop-and-go traffic (0–30 km/h) and higher speeds (>80 km/h). On roads with speed limits below 70 km/h, automation was used less than 8%, and use on urban roads was incidental rather than habitual. Automation usage increased with time in trip, but no clear time of day effects were found. Head pose data could not classify driver attention, and we recommend gaze tracking in future studies. Head pose deviation was selected as alternative indicator for monitoring activity. Comparing among forms of automation usage on the highway, head heading deviation was smallest during ACC use, but did not differ between automation and baseline manual driving. Head heading deviation during manual driving was smaller in the baseline than the experimental phase, which suggests that motives for manual highway driving may be attention related. Automation usage did not change much over the first 12 weeks of the experimental condition, and there were no longitudinal changes in head pose deviation.     

Is all high-risk behaviour premeditated? A qualitative exploratory approach to the self-regulation of habitual and risky driving behaviours

The majority of research surrounding the intervention of risky driving behaviours has operated on the notion that offending behaviour is intentional, leading to a defined theoretical approach on deterrence. This study aimed to investigate the motivations, regulatory behaviours and resisting beliefs that contribute to the occurrence of risky driving behaviours, from the perspective that some behaviour may be unintentional and habitual by nature. An online sample of Australian drivers (N = 46) were recruited to complete a qualitative phone interview regarding their perceptions of risky driving behaviours. Thematic analysis revealed that firstly, speeding and the use of technology while driving (i.e., distraction) were the most commonly reported risky driving habits. Speeding in particular appeared to be both habitual and unintentional, whereas phone use while driving was attributable to addiction, impulses and attitudes. Factors such as drivers’ mentality, the automaticity of the behaviour, and social norms were perceived to make habitual behaviours more difficult to change, whilst personal experiences with legal and physical consequences were perceived to increase risk perceptions and promote behavioural change. Participants also reported using cognitive reframing strategies and behaviours to increase and maintain awareness of the behaviours. Overall, this study has highlighted the resistant and multi-dimensional nature of risky driving habits, as well as the situational factors that preclude them. Based on the findings, future research may benefit by focusing efforts to understanding how habituality fits in the broader deterrence literature, and how such behaviours can be best intervened.