Maternal Personality and Distress as Predictors of Child Neglect

Previous studies suggest that maternal personality problems predict child neglect. However, these studies have not distinguished between the common and unique contributions of various maternal personality dimensions, nor have they compared the contribution of maternal personality with maternal emotional distress. The current study addresses these issues using data collected by James Gaudin and distributed by the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect at Cornell University. Information was extracted on 94 neglectful and 101 comparison mothers. Logistic regression analyses revealed that a composite score reflecting maternal empathic capacity inversely predicted child neglect, whereas maternal depressive symptoms and loneliness did not. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of distinguishing between common and unique contributions of maternal personality dimensions to clinical and social outcomes and in terms of the relative contribution of maternal personality and emotional distress to child neglect.     

A teleological account of Cartesian sensations?

Alison Simmons, in Simmons (1999), argues that Descartes in Meditation Six offered a teleological account of sensory representation. According to Simmons, Descartes’ view is that the biological function of sensations explains both why sensations represent what they do (i.e., their referential content) and why they represent their objects the way they do (i.e., their presentational content). Moreover, Simmons claims that her account has several advantages over other currently available interpretations of Cartesian sensations. In this paper, I argue that Simmons’ teleological account cannot be sustained for both theoretical and textual reasons and that it does not have the advantages it is claimed to have.     

Corticotropin-Releasing Factor and the Psychobiology of Early-Life Stress

ABSTRACT— Trauma and neglect during childhood are increasingly appreciated as factors in the etiology of adult mood and anxiety disorders. Much has been learned about the role of stress biology in the persisting effects of early adverse experience on adult psychopathology. Here we present an overview of developmental trauma in the psychobiology of depression and anxiety. We emphasize the role of corticotropin-releasing factor in the pathophysiology of these disorders, focusing on the transduction of early life trauma into adult psychopathology.     

Crossmodal change blindness between vision and touch

Change blindness is the name given to people's inability to detect changes introduced between two consecutively-presented scenes when they are separated by a distractor that masks the transients that are typically associated with change. Change blindness has been reported within vision, audition, and touch, but has never before been investigated when successive patterns are presented to different sensory modalities. In the study reported here, we investigated change detection performance when the two to-be-compared stimulus patterns were presented in the same sensory modality (i.e., both visual or both tactile) and when one stimulus pattern was tactile while the other was presented visually or vice versa. The two to-be-compared patterns were presented consecutively, separated by an empty interval, or else separated by a masked interval. In the latter case, the masked interval could either be tactile or visual. The first experiment investigated visual-tactile and tactile-visual change detection performance. The results showed that in the absence of masking, participants detected changes in position accurately, despite the fact that the two to-be-compared displays were presented in different sensory modalities. Furthermore, when a mask was presented between the two to-be-compared displays, crossmodal change blindness was elicited no matter whether the mask was visual or tactile. The results of two further experiments showed that performance was better overall in the unimodal (visual or tactile) conditions than in the crossmodal conditions. These results suggest that certain of the processes underlying change blindness are multisensory in nature. We discuss these findings in relation to recent claims regarding the crossmodal nature of spatial attention.     

Representation recovers information

Early agreement within cognitive science on the topic of representation has now given way to a combination of positions. Some question the significance of representation in cognition. Others continue to argue in favor, but the case has not been demonstrated in any formal way. The present paper sets out a framework in which the value of representation use can be mathematically measured, albeit in a broadly sensory context rather than a specifically cognitive one. Key to the approach is the use of Bayesian networks for modeling the distal dimension of sensory processes. More relevant to cognitive science is the theoretical result obtained, which is that a certain type of representational architecture is necessary for achievement of sensory efficiency. While exhibiting few of the characteristics of traditional, symbolic encoding, this architecture corresponds quite closely to the forms of embedded representation now being explored in some embedded/embodied approaches. It becomes meaningful to view that type of representation use as a form of information recovery. A formal basis then exists for viewing representation not so much as the substrate of reasoning and thought, but rather as a general medium for efficient, interpretive processing.     

Insights into a molecular switch that gates sensory neuron synapses during habituation in Aplysia

This review focuses on synaptic depression at sensory neuron-to-motor neuron synapses in the defensive withdrawal circuit of Aplysia as a model system for analysis of molecular mechanisms of sensory gating and habituation. We address the following topics:1. Of various possible mechanisms that might underlie depression at these sensory neuron-to-motor neuron synapses in Aplysia, historically the most widely-accepted explanation has been depletion of the readily releasable pool of vesicles. Depletion is also believed to account for synaptic depression at long interstimulus intervals in a variety of other systems.2. Multiple lines of evidence now indicate that vesicle depletion is not an important contributing mechanism to synaptic depression at Aplysia sensory neuron-to-motor neuron synapses. More generally, it appears that vesicle depletion does not contribute substantially to depression that occurs with those stimulus patterns that are typically used in studying behavioral habituation.3. Recent evidence suggests that at these sensory neuron-to-motor neuron synapses in Aplysia, synaptic depression is mediated by an activity-dependent, but release-independent, switching of individual release sites to a silent state. This switching off of release sites is initiated by Ca²⁺ influx during individual action potentials. We discuss signaling proteins that may be regulated by Ca²⁺ during the silencing of release sites that underlies synaptic depression.4. Bursts of 2–4 action potentials in presynaptic sensory neurons in Aplysia prevent the switching off of release sites via a mechanism called “burst-dependent protection” from synaptic depression.5. This molecular switch may explain the sensory gating that allows animals to discriminate which stimuli are innocuous and appropriate to ignore and which stimuli are more important and should continue to elicit responses.     

Implicit learning: A way to improve visual search in spatial neglect?

Studies have shown that neglect patients are able to use stimulus regularities to orient faster toward the neglected side, without necessarily being aware of that information, or at the very least without being able to verbalize their knowledge. In order to better control for the involvement of explicit processes, the present study sought to test neglect patients’ ability to detect more complex associations between stimuli using tasks similar to those used in implicit learning studies. Our results demonstrate that neglect patients had difficulties implicitly learning complex associations, contrary to what we found with controls. The possible influence of attentional and working memory impairments are discussed.     

A Review of Sensory Imagery for Consumer Psychology

This review of mental imagery research has the core objective of fostering more research on the topic of sensory imagery. The review is organized around a conceptual framework highlighting (a) how mental imagery is formed, (b) the elicitation and elaboration of mental imagery, (c) the multi-modal nature of sensory imagery, and (d) the consumer behavior consequences of mental imagery. This conceptual framework provides many new lenses through which researchers can view prior findings, and thereby motivates innovative new research ideas. Future research directions are provided in each section of the review, with additional unexplored opportunities presented in a final section.     

Child Protection and Psychology Education in Australian Universities

Child maltreatment is a significant problem in Australia. Psychologists in a wide range of occupations play an important role in the identification and prevention of child abuse and neglect, the provision of interventions to children and families, and the development and conduct of research in related areas. Psychology graduates must be adequately prepared to work in this field; however, little is known about the extent to which child abuse and neglect related contents are taught in current university curricula. A purpose‐developed curriculum‐mapping survey was used to examine Australian undergraduate, fourth year, and postgraduate Australian Psychology Accreditation Council‐accredited programmes available in 2008. Results showed that students in the majority of programmes were exposed to child protection‐related content; however, the extent of exposure was limited. Three postgraduate units specifically addressed the prevention, identification, and response to child abuse and neglect. Course coordinators reported that child maltreatment content was mostly integrated into general units throughout the programme, typically within developmental psychology units in the undergraduate curriculum and in ethics, research, or professional issues units in the fourth year and postgraduate programmes. Results suggest the need for child protection content to be included in minimum national standards and accreditation guidelines for universities.