An examination of the roles of trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder on emotion regulation strategies of Operation Iraqi Freedom,Operation Enduring Freedom,and Operation New Dawn veterans

Theories of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) implicate emotional processes, including difficulties utilizing adaptive emotion regulation strategies, as critical to the etiology and maintenance of PTSD. Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation New Dawn (OIF/OEF/OND) veterans report high levels of combat exposure and PTSD. We aimed to extend findings suggesting that emotion regulation difficulties are a function of PTSD, rather than combat trauma exposure or common comorbidities, to OIF/OEF/OND veterans, in order to inform models of PTSD risk and recovery that can be applied to returning veterans. We tested differences in emotion regulation, measured with the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, among trauma-exposed veterans with (n = 24) or without PTSD (n = 22) and healthy civilian comparison participants (n = 27) using multivariate analyses of covariance, adjusting for major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, and demographic variables (age, sex, and ethnicity). Veterans with PTSD reported more use of expressive suppression and more difficulties with emotion regulation than veterans without PTSD and healthy comparison participants. Groups did not differ on cognitive reappraisal. Findings suggest the key role of PTSD above and beyond trauma exposure, depression, and anxiety in specific aspects of emotion dysregulation among OIF/OEF/OND veterans. Interventions that help veterans expand and diversify their emotion regulation skills may serve as helpful adjunctive treatments for PTSD among OIF/OEF/OND veterans.     

注意缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)儿童的工作记忆:基础加工缺陷还是执行功能问题

为探索注意缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)儿童言语工作记忆缺陷的机制,研究采用了言语n-back任务比较了正常儿童与注意缺陷多动障碍儿童的工作记忆成绩。结果表明:在更新水平为0次时,ADHD儿童与正常儿童的成绩没有显著差异,但在更新水平为1次和2次时,ADHD儿童的记忆成绩均显著低于正常儿童,效应量指标(Cohen′d)分别达到了1.31和1.63;另外,在更新难度对记忆成绩的影响上,ADHD儿童表现出了更大的更新代价,效应量指标(Cohen′d)达到了1.54,处在很高的水平。结论认为ADHD儿童在记忆的基础性加工上并不存在明显缺陷,其更大的更新代价表明ADHD儿童在言语工作记忆的执行加工(更新操作)上的缺陷。     

Preventing the detrimental effect of posttraumatic stress in young children: The role of theory of mind in the aftermath of a natural disaster

We conducted a field study to test whether parents' negative reactions to a natural disaster affected children's reactions, together with the factors buffering this negative influence. Specifically, we examined whether parents' posttraumatic stress symptoms following an earthquake were associated with children's posttraumatic symptoms and their use of negative coping strategies. Theory of mind (ToM) was tested as the factor allowing children to reduce the detrimental effects of posttraumatic stress symptoms on negative coping. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of elementary school children and their parents in the aftermath of the earthquakes that struck Northern Italy in 2012. Results revealed that mothers' (but not fathers') posttraumatic stress symptoms were positively associated with children's posttraumatic stress symptoms, which acted as mediator on the use of negative coping strategies by children, but only among children with low ToM abilities. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of findings.     

The effects of co‐occurring ADHD symptoms on electrophysiological correlates of cognitive control in young people with Tourette syndrome

Efficient cognitive control is implicated in tic control in young people with Tourette syndrome (TS). Attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently co‐occurs with TS and is associated with impaired cognitive control. Young people with TS and ADHD (TS+ADHD) show poorer cognitive control performance than those with TS, but how co‐occurring ADHD affects underlying neural activity is unknown. We investigated this issue by examining behavioural and event‐related potential (ERP) correlates of cognitive control in young people with these conditions. Participants aged 9–17 with TS (n = 17), TS+ADHD (n = 17), ADHD (n = 11), and unaffected controls (n = 20) performed a visual Go/Nogo task during electroencephalography (EEG) recording. Behavioural performance measures (D‐prime, RT, reaction time variability, post‐error slowing) and ERP measures (N2, P3, error‐related negativity (ERN), error positivity (Pe)) were analysed in a 2 (TS‐yes, TS‐no) × 2 (ADHD‐yes, ADHD‐no) factorial analysis to investigate the effects of TS, ADHD, and their interaction. The results of these analyses showed that ADHD was associated with poorer performance and reduced amplitude of all ERPs, reflecting widespread cognitive control impairments. Tourette syndrome was associated with slowed RTs, which might reflect a compensatory slowing of motor output to facilitate tic control. There was no interaction between the TS and ADHD factors for any behavioural or ERP measure, indicating the impairing effects of ADHD on behaviour and electrophysiological markers of cognitive control were present in TS+ADHD and that RT slowing associated with TS was unaffected by co‐occurring ADHD symptoms.     

The objects of visuospatial short-term memory: Perceptual organization and change detection

We used a colour change-detection paradigm where participants were required to remember colours of six equally spaced circles. Items were superimposed on a background so as to perceptually group them within (a) an intact ring-shaped object, (b) a physically segmented but perceptually completed ring-shaped object, or (c) a corresponding background segmented into three arc-shaped objects. A nonpredictive cue at the location of one of the circles was followed by the memory items, which in turn were followed by a test display containing a probe indicating the circle to be judged same/different. Reaction times for correct responses revealed a same-object advantage; correct responses were faster to probes on the same object as the cue than to equidistant probes on a segmented object. This same-object advantage was identical for physically and perceptually completed objects, but was only evident in reaction times, and not in accuracy measures. Not only, therefore, is it important to consider object-level perceptual organization of stimulus elements when assessing the influence of a range of factors (e.g., number and complexity of elements) in visuospatial short-term memory, but a more detailed picture of the structure of information in memory may be revealed by measuring speed as well as accuracy.     

红光照明条件下VDT不同显示色的视觉效果比较

本研究以VDT上持续进行的视觉作业速度和眼的调节辐合时间作为指标,对红光照明条件下VDT显示的红、黄、绿、蓝、白五种字符色的视觉效果进行了比较.实验中,VDT背景光的主波长为630nm.结果表明,五种字符色在两项指标上均表现出显著差异;绿色显示的视觉效果最好,红色显示的效果最差,黄、白、蓝三色处于中间.     

图形负荷下的字音匹配加工

本研究采用图形负荷法研究汉字语音匹配加工,实验结果倾向支持两半球均势论,并认为右半球可能具有一定的语音加工能力.有关结论和解释还需进一步论证.