The role of white matter hyperintensities and medial temporal lobe atrophy in age-related executive dysfunctioning

Various studies support an association between white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and deficits in executive function in nondemented ageing. Studies examining executive functions and WMH have generally adopted executive function as a phrase including various functions such as flexibility, inhibition, and working memory. However, these functions include distinctive cognitive processes and not all may be affected as a result of WMH. Furthermore, atrophy of the medial temporal lobe (MTA) is frequently observed in ageing. Nevertheless, in previous studies of nondemented ageing MTA was not considered when examining a relationship between white matter and executive function. The goal of the present study was to examine how WMH and MTA relate to a variety of executive functions, including flexibility, fluency, inhibition, planning, set shifting, and working memory. Strong correlations were observed between WMH and MTA and most of the executive functions. However, only MTA was related to flexibility and set shifting performance. Regression analysis furthermore showed that MTA was the strongest predictor of working memory, after which no further significant association with WMH was noted. Alternatively, both MTA and periventricular hyperintensities independently predicted inhibition performance. These findings emphasize the importance of MTA when examining age-related decline in executive functioning.     

White matter integrity and pictorial reasoning in high-functioning children with autism

The current study investigated the neurobiological role of white matter in visuospatial versus linguistic processing abilities in autism using diffusion tensor imaging. We examined differences in white matter integrity between high-functioning children with autism (HFA) and typically developing controls (CTRL), in relation to the groups’ response times (RT) on a pictorial reasoning task under three conditions: visuospatial, V, semantic, S, and V + S, a hybrid condition allowing language use to facilitate visuospatial transformations.     

How believing in affirmative action quotas affects White women’s self-image

Believing that affirmative action entails quotas may both help and hurt White women’s self-image - contingent on whether they perceive themselves as beneficiaries of affirmative action. Consistent with research on the affirmative action “stigma of incompetence” (Heilman, Block, & Lucas, 1992), White women who think of themselves as affirmative action beneficiaries may report a more negative self-image the more they believe that affirmative action entails quota procedures. Conversely, White women who do not think of themselves as beneficiaries of affirmative action may report a more positive self-image as a function of quota beliefs, consistent with research suggesting that non-beneficiaries can derive self-image benefits from maintaining the belief that affirmative action entails quotas (Unzueta, Lowery, & Knowles, 2008). Two studies provide evidence for the benefits of quota beliefs on White women’s self-image, but no support for the stigma of incompetence perspective. The lack of support for the stigma of incompetence perspective suggests that self-stigmatization may occur only under operationalizations of affirmative action that explicitly inform beneficiaries that they were selected on the basis of demographics and not merit. Absent such an operationalization, the affirmative action self-stigma may not emerge.     

The Complexity of Ethnic Identity Among Jewish American Emerging Adults

Jewish Americans may grapple with issues of ethnic identity differently than the larger White American group. Drawn from a large multisite sample (N = 8,501), 280 Jewish American (207 female, 73 male) emerging adults were compared with White American and ethnic minority samples on ethnic and U.S. identity. Jewish Americans rated themselves as significantly higher on measures of ethnic and U.S. identity compared with White Americans but not as highly as ethnic minorities. Ethnic identity search, affirmation, and resolution also predicted higher self-esteem for Jewish Americans, similar to the pattern for other ethnic groups. In addition, ethnic identity search and affirmation moderated the link between perceived discrimination and depressive symptoms among Jewish Americans.     

Kant’s,Hegel’s and Cousin’s Perceptions of China and Non-European Cultures: Racialism,Historicism and Universalism,and the Methodology of Comparative Philosophy

The aim of this paper is to discuss some assumptions of comparative philosophy by providing a critical analysis of Hegel’s perception of China and other non-European cultures in relation to Kant’s anthropological works. The main assumption of comparative philosophy is that the temporal-cognitive distance between Plato and Diderot is irrelevant compared to the geographic-cultural distance between Plato and Confucius or Diderot and Dai Zhen. This paper will demonstrate that this culturalist assumption is also a legacy of Hegel’s history of philosophy, whose anthropological basis and historicist framework needs to be deconstructed. Finally, this paper will make reference to Victor Cousin, the French philosopher who introduced German philosophy in France, to show how this thinker’s adaptation of Hegel’s history of philosophy allows us to propose a more inclusive conception of the value of non-European cultures’ intellectual productions and to elaborate, on this basis, a radically non-culturalist framework for comparative philosophy.     

Of texts and contexts: reflections upon the publication of The Jung-White Letters

In addition to his many other personae, Jung was a writer and an author, which means a creator, whose written works underlie and authorize a field of thought and clinical work, i.e., analytical psychology. Not widely recognized is that many of his authored texts were stimulated by important and intense personal relationships. Freud and Victor White loom large, the first standing behind major early analytical texts like Wandlungen und Symbole der Libido and Psychological Types, the second behind later texts on culture, religion, and Christian theology. The publication of The Jung-White Letters reveals the significance of his relationship with Victor White for the authoring of Answer to Job.     

Myelin breakdown mediates age-related slowing in cognitive processing speed in healthy elderly men

Background

To assess the hypothesis that in a sample of very healthy elderly men selected to minimize risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and cerebrovascular disease, myelin breakdown in late-myelinating regions mediates age-related slowing in cognitive processing speed (CPS).

Materials and methods

The prefrontal lobe white matter and the genu of the corpus callosum myelinate later in brain development (late-myelinating white matter; LMWM) and are more vulnerable to breakdown due to the effects of normal aging. An in vivo MRI biomarker of myelin integrity (transverse relaxation rates; R₂) of LMWM was obtained for 38 very healthy elderly adult men (mean age = 66.3 years; SD = 6.0; range = 55–76). To evaluate regional specificity, we also assessed a contrasting early-myelinating region (splenium of the corpus callosum; SWM), which primarily contains axons involved in visual processing. CPS was assessed using the Trail Making Test.

Results

LMWM R₂ and CPS measures were significantly correlated (r = .515, p = .0009), but no significant association between R₂ and CPS was detected in the splenium (p = .409). LMWM R₂, but not SWM R₂, was a significant mediator of the relationship between age and CPS (p = .037).

Conclusions

In this very healthy elderly sample, age-related slowing in CPS is mediated by myelin breakdown in highly vulnerable late-myelinating regions but not in the splenium.     

Expanding White Racial Identity Theory: A Qualitative Investigation of Whites Engaged in Antiracist Action

This article presents outcomes of a qualitative exploration of White racial identity. Ten participants whose characteristics were reflective of Helms's ( 1990 ) autonomy status defined their racial identities and related lifestyle choices. Findings are conceptualized within the framework of Helms's ( 1990 , 1995 ) theory of White racial identity development. Suggestions are intended to enhance White racial identity theory and provide empirical support for characteristics of Whites who are engaged in antiracist activities.     

Measuring Preschoolers' Inhibitory Control Using the Black/White Stroop

The Day/Night Stroop is a widely used measure of inhibitory control with preschoolers that requires them to respond ‘day’ to a picture of a moon and ‘night’ to a picture of a sun (Gerstadt, Hong, & Diamond, 1994). However, we argue that the nature of the relation between the stimuli and required responses requires more than inhibitory control. In the present study we compared 51 three‐ to five‐year‐olds' performance on the Day/Night and the Black/White Stroop alongside other measures of Executive Function and language. As predicted, we found that children make inhibitory errors on the Black/White, while they make both inhibitory and memory errors on the Day/Night. As a result, the Day/Night Stroop underestimates the inhibitory control abilities of some children. Further, we also found that performance on the Black/White task was strongly related to performance on another inhibitory control task, while performance on the Day/Night was not. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.