MOTOR PREPARATION,MOTOR EXECUTION,ATTENTION, AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS IN ATTENTION DEFICIT/HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (ADHD)

Attention and executive functions were investigated in medicated and unmedicated children with ADHD combined type using a novel selective reaching task. This task involved responding as rapidly as possible to a target while at times having to ignore a distractor. Results indicated that unmedicated children with ADHD showed slow and inaccurate responding. Slow responding reflected problems at the stage of movement preparation but not movement execution. An attentional impairment, rather than a motor planning problem per se, appeared to underlie the slow movement preparation. Inaccurate responding reflected problems with response inhibition and selective attention, impulsivity, set-shifting, and difficulties in maintaining vigilance. Although medicated children with ADHD did not show slow movement preparation, they did show some response inaccuracy, resulting especially from impulsive responding.These findings suggest that ADHD is characterized by slow motor preparation (but not motor execution), and deficits in selective attention, vigilance, and executive functions. Preliminary results suggest that stimulant medication may resolve some of these motor, attentional and executive function deficits.     

Getting a New Lease on Life

Abstract

A significant number of marriages today arc interchurch, that is, marriages in which each spouse belongs to a different Christian church or denomination. The limited research on interchurch couples suggests that they are more at risk for divorce than same-church couples. A qualitative study and a national telephone survey were conducted by the Center for Marriage and Family at Creighton University to better understand interchurch marriages. Based on findings from these studies, clinical implications for premarital counseling with interchurch couples are presented. The findings suggest not only how to work with interchurch couples, but how religion can potentially impact all couples regardless of their denominational affiliation.     

Shattered Dreams of Professional Competence

Abstract

This article reviews the frequency of suicide, compares and contrasts suicide prediction to suicide assessment and provides a succinct overview of suicide high risk factors that mental health practitioners should be aware. Finally, the article describes common symptoms experienced by mental health practitioners who survive their clients' suicides, and presents a Pre-suicide Preparation Plan that mental health practitioners can implement prior to a crisis to hopefully enable them for a less demanding post-suicide experience.     

Time for action versus action in time: time estimation differs between motor preparation and execution

Theories relating to time perception and motor performance predict very different temporal distortions depending on the synchronisation or succession of temporal processing and motor behaviour. However, our knowledge about the temporal difference between motor preparation and execution is still scarce. In order to expand on prior studies, two different time reproduction tasks were utilised to measure motor preparation and motor execution. We found that motor preparation of a planned action allows participants to complete the time reproduction task more accurately and, in short duration trials, less variably than for motor execution. Furthermore, under-reproduction was found in motor preparation compared to motor execution, which may be caused by increased temporal information processing. According to the attentional gate theory, more attention allocated to time processing and reduced motor distraction leads to less temporal distortion in the motor preparation. The findings are also important for designing to study consciousness, temporal and visual processing.     

The role of chance events in the school-to-work transition: The influence of demographic, personality and career development variables

Chance events are considered important in career development, yet little empirical research is available on their predictors and consequences. The present study investigated socio-demographic (gender, nationality, school-type), personality (openness, locus of control) and career development variables (career decidedness, career planning) in relation to perceived chance events with a retrospective (N = 229, eleventh grade), and 1-year longitudinal prospective study (N = 245, eighth/ninth grade) among Swiss adolescents. The results showed that the majority of both groups reported a significant influence of chance events on their transition from compulsory school to vocational education or high school. Importance of chance events related to socio-demographics and personality but not career preparation. Career preparation and chance events predicted subjective career success in terms of wish correspondence and overall satisfaction with transition outcome among the younger cohort. Implications include the necessity to integrate both thorough career preparation and chance events in theory and counseling practice.     

自我认知类型引导认知方式的实验研究

对自我的认知引导认知和行为。本研究用与自我有关的语义内容启动场独立型和场依存型自我认知,随即让被试做与场独立或场依存认知方式有关的认知作业,探讨自我认知类型是否引导认知方式,即启动场独立自我认知是否比启动场依存自我认知诱发更多场独立的认知方式;同样,启动场依存自我认知是否比启动场独立自我认知诱发更多的场依存的认知方式。结果是肯定的。     

初级运动区的fMRI实验研究

本实验采用功能磁共振为实验仪器,被试进行运动准备和运动执行两种作业活动,实验设计为延时序列运动任务。在对实验数据进行预处理,反卷积、标准化处理后,采用欧式距离公式进行聚类统计,统计结果显示,M1区不仅具有运动执行和运动准备的功能,还发现其他功能区域的激活,不是单纯的运动执行功能,这一区域与三种活动有关。     

Age-related differences in idea generation and selection for propositional language

Conceptual preparation mechanisms such as novel idea generation and selection from amongst competing alternatives are critical for language production and may contribute to age-related language deficits. This study investigated whether older adults show diminished idea generation and selection abilities, compared to younger adults. Twenty younger (18–35 years) and 20 older (60–80 years) adults completed two novel experimental tasks, an idea generation task and a selection task. Older participants were slower than younger participants overall on both tasks. Importantly, this difference was more pronounced for task conditions with greater demands on generation and selection. Older adults were also significantly reduced on a semantic, but not phonemic, word fluency task. Overall, the older group showed evidence of age-related decline specific to idea generation and selection ability. This has implications for the message formulation stage of propositional language decline in normal aging.     

Does limiting pre-movement time during practice eliminate the benefit of practicing while expecting to teach?

Past research has revealed practicing and studying a motor skill with the expectation of teaching it to another person increases the amount of time participants spend preparing for movement during practice trials of the skill. However, it is unknown whether the increased motor preparation time explains the benefit of expecting to teach on motor learning. To address this question, we had participants practice golf putting with the expectation of teaching the skill to another participant the following day or the expectation of being tested on the skill the following day. We limited the motor preparation time for half of the participants who expected to teach and half of the participants who expected to test, and allowed the remaining participants to take as much motor preparation time as they liked. All participants were tested on their putting the next day. We predicted that participants who expected to teach would exhibit superior posttest performance, but this benefit would be exclusive to those participants who also practiced with unlimited motor preparation. Although the current data did not support this hypothesis, we also conducted an exploratory analysis in which we aggregated data from two prior experiments. This cumulative analysis suggested that expecting to teach does indeed enhance motor learning, but not through motor preparation during practice.     

The Relationship Between Volunteers' Work Behaviors and Background and Preparation Variables

Increasingly, a large number of individuals provide volunteer services. Demographic information known about these individuals is also increasing. Although recent efforts have attempted to examine more closely the relationships between demographic and background variables and subsequent volunteer motivation and retention, few have studied how these variables impact actual work performed by volunteers. This study provides a model for how volunteers' demographic and background variables may be related to volunteers' perceptions of the frequency and importance of their work behaviors. Although it is possible that motivation also may be related to work behaviors, this study provides information ultimately leading to a more complete picture of the potential impact of demographic and background variables on work behaviors.