Developmental stuttering and the role of the supplementary motor cortex

Developmental stuttering is a frequent neurodevelopmental disorder with a complex neurobiological basis. Robust neural markers of stuttering include imbalanced activity of speech and motor related brain regions, and their impaired structural connectivity. The dynamic interaction of cortical regions is regulated by the cortico-basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical system with the supplementary motor area constituting a crucial cortical site. The SMA integrates information from different neural circuits, and manages information about motor programs such as self-initiated movements, motor sequences, and motor learning. Abnormal functioning of SMA is increasingly reported in stuttering, and has been recently indicated as an additional “neural marker” of DS: anatomical and functional data have documented abnormal structure and activity of the SMA, especially in motor and speech networks. Its connectivity is often impaired, especially when considering networks of the left hemisphere. Compatibly, recent data suggest that, in DS, SMA is part of a poorly synchronized neural network, thus resulting in a likely substrate for the appearance of DS symptoms. However, as evident when considering neural models of stuttering, the role of SMA has not been fully clarified. Herein, the available evidence is reviewed, which highlights the role of the SMA in DS as a neural “hub”, receiving and conveying altered information, thus “gating” the release of correct or abnormal motor plans.     

Exploration of Mechanisms behind Changes after Participation in a Parenting Intervention: A Qualitative Study in a Low‐Resource Setting

Parenting interventions are effective for preventing psychological difficulties in children. However, their active ingredients have not been comprehensively explored. How do they work? What are the mechanisms operating behind changes? In 2012, a randomized controlled trial of a parenting intervention was conducted in low‐resource communities of Panama. Effects on child behavioral difficulties, parental stress, and parenting practices were large in the short and long term. This was an ideal opportunity to explore potential mechanisms operating behind effects found in this low‐resource setting. Twenty‐five parents were interviewed. Data were analyzed through an inductive semantic thematic analysis. Three themes emerged from the data: (a) psychological mechanisms behind changes, (b) behavioral changes in parent, and (c) changes in the children. Parents described that the intervention triggered changes in emotion regulation, self‐efficacy, and problem solving. Parents also reported behavioral changes such as praising their children more often, who in turn seemed more responsible and better at following instructions. The study offers participant‐driven insight into potential pathways of change after participation in this parenting intervention, pathways that are often overlooked in quantitative studies. Future studies should further explore these pathways, through mediator and moderator analyses, and determine how much is shared across interventions and across different cultural settings.     

Empowering public service workers to face bystander conflict: Enhancing resources through a training intervention

Public service employees work in occupations that are accompanied with high psychosocial risks. Police, firefighters, and paramedics are increasingly being confronted with argumentative, conflicting bystanders that frustrate them in executing their task. We developed a resource‐enhancement intervention and tested its usefulness for securing employees’ effective functioning and well‐being in bystander conflict. In a simulation‐based pre‐test post‐test control group design, paramedics in the intervention condition received training about how to increase their resources in terms of conflict management efficacy, perspective taking, task support, and emotional support. For those in the control condition, no such training was provided. Comparing pre‐ and post‐test measures (n = 81) of the participants in the intervention and control groups, we found evidence that the intervention successfully increased employees’ resources over time. Moreover, we found considerable support for a positive link between these resources and employees’ affective well‐being and job dedication. Thus, our study suggests that a resource‐enhancing intervention can serve as an important means to protect public service employees against the deleterious effects of bystander conflict.

Practitioner points

• A resource‐enhancing intervention can protect public service employees against the deleterious effects of bystander conflict.
• Resources related to dealing with a hindering bystander, as well as resources facilitating the continuation of the primary task, are positively associated with employees’ affective well‐being, job dedication, and job performance.

     

Reducing self‐control depletion effects through enhanced sensitivity to implementation: Evidence from fMRI and behavioral studies

Research suggests self-control relies on a limited set of resources that can be diminished by use. Recent theories posit that there are two stages of self-control: recognizing the need for control and implementing controlled responses. We conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment and an intervention experiment to investigate whether one or both stages were affected by the prior exercise of self-control. Results from both experiments indicated that only the implementation stage was affected. Further, we demonstrate that self-control can be increased by an intervention designed to boost implementation, as opposed to the recognition of the need to control one's responses.     

Preventing The Oil “Resource Curse” In Ghana: Lessons From Nigeria

Ghana joined the list of oil-producing countries with the export of its first oil from the Jubilee oilfield in January 2011. President John Atta Mills's statement drawing attention to the potential paradigm shift as well as risks that the discovery of oil and gas imposes not only speaks to the complexity of extractive-industry-engendered development, but it also makes it imperative that the country learns from other countries’ successes and failures. In this article, we use the “resource curse” thesis to examine the emerging dynamics and complexities in Ghana's oil industry, with the attempt to draw both correlations with and lessons from the Nigerian case. The article highlights five key lessons in Nigeria's management of its oil–gas resources related to the legal-regulatory framework, development of the oil-producing areas, Corporate Social Responsibility, management of oil revenues, and oil–civil society nexus that Ghana should give serious thoughts to in order to leverage its new found oil wealth and avert the “resource curse.”     

2001年～2010年新疆13个地州市卫生资源配置公平性分析

基于洛伦兹曲线和基尼系数视角,对2001年～2010年新疆13个地州市卫生资源配置公平性进行分析,发现新疆13个地州市卫生技术人员和医生的配置大多数年份处于不公平状态,而病床的配置大多数年份处于比较公平状态,建议从卫生投入、政策倾斜及卫生人员培训等角度协调新疆卫生资源的配置.     

潜在冲突情境下7岁儿童的资源获得行为

采用实验室观察, 对7岁儿童(中国160人, 加拿大133人)在潜在冲突情境下的资源获得行为进行考察, 旨在比较中西文化背景下, 儿童资源获得行为上的差异及其背后的文化意义。结果表明：中国儿童的求助成人和给予行为显著多于加拿大儿童; 加拿大儿童的资源获得失败和为自己获得资源的频率显著高于中国儿童。果敢行为和轮流规则都是有效的资源获得方式; 请求行为则是无效的。求助成人是中国男孩获得资源的一种有效方式; 对加拿大儿童来说, 则是无效的。     

Chasing Our Tails: Psychological, Institutional and Societal Paradoxes in Natural Resource Management, Sustainability, and Climate Change in Australia

Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) have been guiding frameworks in Australia for a number of decades. Recently, NRM and ESD have become central to climate change mitigation. In this paper, we explore the psychological paradoxes that function within climate change settings, with particular attention devoted to the way that research and development reinforces these paradoxes by advocating for participatory forms of inquiry. Paradox emerges in NRM at psychological, institutional, and organisational levels. Paradoxes are also features of different forms of democracy such as neoliberal and participatory democracy. Although NRM, ESD and climate change are often conceptualised as distinct issue domains, these policy areas are fundamentally interconnected in both theory and in practice. This interconnection between these policy and research settings, reflections on paradox, and the experience of incorporating community psychology into the paradoxical settings of NRM and climate change are captured in this paper.     

Professional commitment: Does it buffer or intensify job demands?

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether professional commitment can be seen as a moderator in the relationship between job demands and emotional exhaustion among Norwegian nurses. Inspired by the job demands‐resources model, this study explores whether having a strong commitment to the nursing profession can be seen as a resource that buffers the effect of job demands on emotional exhaustion or, conversely, intensifies the impact of job demands. A survey that comprised Norwegian nurses who had graduated three years previously (N = 388) was conducted. Multiple regression was performed to test the hypothesis. The results provide support to a buffering effect; thus, individuals with a higher degree of professional commitment conveyed a weaker association between job demands and emotional exhaustion compared with nurses with a lower degree of commitment. Developing a better understanding of the potential buffering effect of professional commitment is of great interest. The present study is the first to utilize professional commitment as a resource within the job demands‐resources framework.     

High involvement HR systems and innovative work behaviour: the mediating role of psychological empowerment,and the moderating roles of manager and co-worker support

Employees’ innovative work behaviour can help firms’ competitiveness. Existing research focuses on several factors, including HR policies, psychological empowerment as well as manager and co-worker support, to explain innovative work behaviour. However, much of this literature analyses just one of these, neglecting how they interact and limiting our understanding of the causes of innovative work behaviour. Synthesizing this work, we develop a novel and holistic framework that examines 1) how high-involvement HR systems are linked via the mediating role of psychological empowerment to innovative work behaviour and 2) how both manager and co-worker support moderate this relationship. Analysing software companies in Pakistan, we use hierarchical linear modelling to assess this framework. We draw on a unique dataset that captures HR policies at the organizational level as well as management and co-worker support, and supervisors’ assessments of individuals’ innovative work behaviour at the individual level. We analyse specific groups of HR practices. Psychological empowerment mediates the relationship between high-involvement HR systems and employees’ innovative work behaviour. Manager and co-worker support moderate the relationship between psychological empowerment and innovative work behaviour. Motivation-enhancing HR practices have a direct effect on innovative work behaviour, whereas ability- and opportunity-enhancing ones are mediated by psychological empowerment.