A Level of Care Instrument for Children's Systems of Care: Construction, Reliability and Validity

The Child and Adolescent Level of Care System/Child and Adolescent Service Intensity Instrument (CALOCUS/ CASII) is designed to help determine the intensity of services needed for a child served in a mental health system of care. The instrument contains eight dimensions that are rated following a comprehensive clinical evaluation. The dimensions are risk of harm, functionality, co-morbidity (psychiatric, substance abuse, development disability and medical), environmental stressors, environmental supports, the child's resiliency, and the child and family's willingness to engage in treatment. An algorithm connects the ratings to a level of care recommendation. The instrument specifies six levels of care defined flexibly enough to consider whatever services are available. The results of psychometric testing using raters with a broad range of clinical experience and training from four different systems of care around the country are presented. The testing demonstrates excellent reliability when rating vignettes. Using children and adolescents in live system of care clinical settings, the CALOCUS/CASII demonstrates reasonable validity when compared with the Child Global Assessment Scale, and the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale.     

女大专生自主学习策略与学业等级关系研究

为了解女大专生的自主学习策略与学业等级关系,随机整群选取了学前03大专毕业班的147名女生进行了自主学习策略问卷调查。结果发现:女大专生自主学习策略水平处于一般中等水平,她们较多采用复述策略、规范策略;较少采用批判思考策略和计划策略。学业低分组女大专生在复述策略得分上显著高于高分组,在其它策略得分上均显著低于高分组。影响女大专生学业成绩的是批判策略、组织策略、复述策略、监控策略等因子共同影响的结果,但复述策略阻碍学业成绩提高和发展。     

早期双语儿童第二语言的词汇概念组织

该文通过两个实验考察早期双语儿童第二语言的词汇概念组织。实验1运用跨语言重复启动的范式,结果发现了跨语言重复启动效应,说明早期双语儿童可以直接通达概念意义,但是二语词汇语义通达的强度要弱于一语词汇语义通达的强度。在实验1的基础上,实验2运用图片命名的范式,结果发现了命名的语言效应,进一步说明早期双语儿童二语词汇与概念表征的联系要弱于一语词汇与概念表征的联系。总的实验结果表明,早期双语儿童在记忆表征中建立了二语词汇与概念表征的直接联系,其第二语言的词汇概念组织在本质上是机能性的。     

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF ESCAPE-MAINTAINED AGGRESSION CORRELATED WITH SLEEP DEPRIVATION

Functional analysis identified the consequences that maintained aggressive behavior and the relationship between those consequences and sleep deprivation for an individual with severe mental retardation. Results showed that aggression was maintained by negative reinforcement contingencies (escape from demand) and that aggression was more severe when sleep deprivation was present. A multicomponent intervention resulted in reductions of aggression for up to 7 months.     

Cocaine's effects on food-reinforced pecking in pigeons depend on food-deprivation level.

Four pigeons deprived to 80% of their laboratory free-feeding weights pecked keys under a multiple fixed-ratio 30 fixed-interval 5-min schedule of food presentation. Components alternated strictly with 15-s timeouts separating them; each was presented six times. When rates of pecking were stable, 2 pigeons' weights were reduced to 70%, and the other 2 pigeons' weights were increased to 82.5% to 85% of free-feeding levels. Cocaine (1.0, 3.0, 5.6, and 10.0 mg/kg and saline) was administered 5 min prior to sessions. When each dose had been tested twice, pigeons' weights were adjusted to the level that they had not yet experienced, and cocaine was tested again. Cocaine reduced response rates in a dose-dependent manner under the fixed-ratio schedule and under the fixed-interval schedule at high doses, and increased rates under the fixed-interval schedule at low low doses. Reductions in pecking rates occurred at lower doses under both schedules in 3 of 4 pigeons when they were less food deprived compared to when they were more food deprived. Low doses of cocaine increased low baseline rates of pecking in the initial portions of the fixed-interval schedules by a greater magnitude when pigeons were more food deprived. Thus, food-deprivation levels altered both the rate-decreasing and rate-increasing effects of cocaine. The implications of these results for the mechanisms by which food deprivation increases cocaine self-administration and for the dependence of cocaine's effects on the baseline strength of operant behavior are discussed.     

Drawing what lies ahead: False intentions are more abstractly depicted than true intentions

The aim of this study was to examine how people mentally represent and depict true and false statements about claimed future actions—so‐called true and false intentions. On the basis of construal level theory, which proposes that subjectively unlikely events are more abstractly represented than likely ones, we hypothesized that false intentions should be represented at a more abstract level than true intentions. Fifty‐six hand drawings, produced by participants to describe mental images accompanying either true or false intentions, were rated on level of abstractness by a second set of participants (N = 117) blind to the veracity of the intentions. As predicted, drawings of false intentions were rated as more abstract than drawings of true intentions. This result advances the use of drawing‐based deception detection techniques to the field of true and false intentions and highlights the potential for abstractness as a novel cue to deceit.     

Sleep deprivation and hallucinations. A qualitative study of military personnel

Much anecdotal evidence suggests that sleep deprivation not only impairs performance, but also brings about other extraordinary effects like hallucinations. However, knowledge about how sleep deprivation may trigger hallucinations is limited. To qualitatively describe hallucinatory experiences during sleep deprivation 12 male military officers from the Norwegian Armed Forces who all had experienced at least one sleep loss-induced hallucinatory experience were recruited. Data were collected and analyzed by semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. This resulted in the identification of three distinct main themes: (1) Modalities, (2) circumstances/triggers and (3) reactions to hallucinations. Hallucinations were experienced in several modalities (visual, auditory and multi-modality), although visual hallucinations seemed to dominate. Typical reported circumstances/triggers were sleep loss, physical exhaustion, time-of-day, low calorie intake, mental exhaustion and lack of external stimuli (low sensory and social input, boring situations, and monotonous activity). Negative emotions were dominant during the hallucinatory episodes. Often some reasoning and checking on behalf of the officers were necessary to differentiate between real percepts and hallucinations. In some cases the hallucinations caused erroneous actions. Retrospectively, most officers viewed their hallucinatory experiences in light of positive emotions and several emphasized having learned something from them. The results are discussed in relation to the existing literature and suggestions for future studies are outlined.     

Treatment seeking for posttraumatic stress in Israel Defense Forces veterans deployed in the Second Lebanon War (2006) and “Operation Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip (2009): a comparative study

Background and objectives: The goal of the study was to determine the long-term prevalence of combat-related treatment seeking and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Israel’s veterans deployed to the Second Lebanon War (2006) and “Operation Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip (2009).

Methods: The prevalence of treatment seeking and DSM-IV-TR diagnoses among Israel Defense Force (IDF) veterans was assessed using seven and five year’s surveillance and records. The whereabouts and combat exposure of veterans during the war was determined based on the IDF’s Operations Directorate records.

Results: Overall prevalence of treatment seeking was 1.32% and 0.38% in the Second Lebanon War and “Operation Cast Lead”, respectively. The prevalence of treatment-seeking veterans from the Second Lebanon War and in “Operation Cast Lead” was significantly higher in soldiers deployed to high combat-exposure zones (2.19% and 3.1%, respectively), relative to low combat-exposure zones (0.24% and 0.06%, respectively), and relative to soldiers deployed elsewhere (0.26% and 0.02%, respectively). PTSD prevalence was similar among treatment-seeking veterans deployed in high combat-exposure zones in both combats.

Conclusions: There is a gap of anywhere between 3% and 11% between treatment seeking by IDF veterans following war deployment and the actual prevalence of PTSD in this soldier population.     

No Evidence That Sleep Deprivation Effects and the Vigilance Decrement Are Functionally Equivalent: Comment on Veksler and Gunzelmann (2017)

Veksler and Gunzelmann (2017) make an extraordinary claim, which is that sleep deprivation effects and the vigilance decrement are functionally equivalent. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, which is missing from Veksler and Gunzelmann's study. Their behavioral data offer only weak theoretical constraint, and to the extent their modeling exercise supports any position, it is that these two performance impairments involve functionally distinct underlying mechanisms.     

目标概念的辨析及其对决策的影响

目标对决策的影响过程包含了明晰目标的决策过程和在目标的动机作用下完成后续决策任务的过程。目标是个体期望实现的多个未来结果相互之间竞争动机作用的结果。依据对未来结果的渴望性和可行性等特征的认知, 个体抉择出某个未来结果作为自己的目标, 使其具有了动机作用。在明晰目标的过程中, 解释水平、自我控制的人格特质和成功经验都会产生重要影响。在明确了目标以后, 目标通过改变个体对有利于目标实现的决策备择方案的态度和选择性注意来影响个体的决策。未来研究可以从目标的意识程度对决策负面结果的影响, 对决策的心理过程进行直接测量等角度来探讨目标对决策的影响。