My Glorious Opportunity: How My Dementia Has Been a Gift

This article is a personal reflection on the experience of living with dementia. Jennifer Bute is a former family practitioner who has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The article presents some basic principles for living well with dementia and offers some deep and personal reflections on what it means, how it can be understood theologically, and how all of us together can help one another to live well with dementia.     

An evaluation of progressively increasing intertrial intervals on the acquisition and generalization of three social skills

We evaluated the effects of different intertrial intervals (ITIs; time between programmed learning opportunities) on the acquisition and generalization of 2 preschoolers' social skills. Independent and generalized skills were observed only when the daily ITI was gradually increased from short to progressively longer intervals.     

Beyond good intentions: The role of proactive coping in achieving sustained behavioural change in the context of diabetes management

This study examines the effectiveness of a brief self-management intervention to support patients recently diagnosed with type-2 diabetes to achieve sustained improvements in their self-care behaviours. Based on proactive coping, the intervention emphasizes the crucial role of anticipation and planning in maintaining self-care behaviours. In a randomised controlled trial among recent screen-detected patients, participants who received the intervention were compared with usual-care controls, examining changes in proximal outcomes (intentions, self-efficacy and proactive coping), self-care behaviour (diet, physical activity and medication) and weight over time (0, 3 and 12 months). Subsequently, the contribution of proactive coping in predicting maintenance of behavioural change was analysed using stepwise hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for baseline self-care behaviour, patient characteristics, and intentions and self-efficacy as measured after the course. The intervention was effective in improving proximal outcomes and behaviour with regard to diet and physical activity, resulting in significant weight loss at 12 months. Furthermore, proactive coping was a better predictor of long-term self-management than either intentions or self-efficacy. Proactive coping thus offers new insights into behavioural maintenance theory and can be used to develop effective self-management interventions.     

Executive function in preschool children prenatally exposed to methadone or buprenorphine

Although an increasing number of children are born with prenatal methadone or buprenorphine exposure, little is still known about the potential long-term effects of these opioids. The aim of this study was to investigate executive function (EF) in children of women in opioid maintenance therapy (OMT). A total of 66 children (aged 48–57 months) participated in the study, 35 of which had histories of prenatal methadone or buprenorphine exposure. EF was measured using a battery of neuropsychological tests and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function—Preschool Version (BRIEF-P). Results showed that children of women in OMT perform lower on tasks of short-term memory and inhibition compared to nonexposed children, which was mainly associated with lower maternal education and employment rate. The OMT group scored significantly lower on all EF tasks compared to the nonexposed group, although scores fell within the average range on all measures. The development of these children should be monitored to assess for the possible problem behaviors and to promote optimal outcomes.     

Mind-wandering and negative mood: Does one thing really lead to another?

Mind-wandering is closely connected with negative mood. Whether negative mood is a cause or consequence of mind-wandering remains an important, unresolved, issue. We sought to clarify the direction of this relationship by measuring mood before and after mind-wandering. We also measured the affective content, time-orientation and relevance of mind-wandering to current concerns to explore whether the link between mind-wandering and negative mood might be explained by these characteristics. A novel experience-sampling technique with smartphone application prompted participants to answer questions about mind-wandering and mood across 7 days. While sadness tended to precede mind-wandering, mind-wandering itself was not associated with later mood and only predicted feeling worse if its content was negative. We also found prior sadness predicted retrospective mind-wandering, and prior negative mood predicted mind-wandering to current concerns. Our findings provide new insight into how mood and mind-wandering relate but suggest mind-wandering is not inherently detrimental to well-being.     

The Problem of the Condition of Arousal of the Pure Sensation of Cutaneous Pain

In order to develop scales representing curiosity-arousing components of pictures (slides) of either common objects or random shapes, a total of 56 college student Ss rated both sets of material on nine dimensions. Factor analyses indicated that the nine dimensions could be reduced to two factors. In order to test the ability of these factors to predict memorial performance and exploratory behavior, an additional 80 undergraduates were then tested for recognition or free looking time (FLT) of either object or random shape slides. Separate regression equations, using FLT and recognition performance as criterion measures, were computed. The present results not only indicate stability in visual exploratory scaling plus redundancy among various attributes of visual stimuli, but also suggest that behavior can be considered as elicited by two separate attributes of visual stimuli.     

Perception of one's own and others' ability by preschool Japanese children

This study examined the perception of one's own and others' ability in preschool Japanese boys and girls. In Study 1, 70 Japanese boys and girls aged 4–6 years rated their own and their close friend's ability on their favorite outdoor and indoor activities. In Study 2, 65 Japanese children aged 5 and 6 years rated their own and their close friend's ability and guessed that of a nonfriend (a mere acquaintance child in the preschool) on their most and least favorite outdoor and indoor activities. The major findings were as follows: (a) the perception of preschool children's own ability correlates with that of their close friend's ability; (b) ability perception was influenced by preference for the activity and by gender; and (c) no difference was found between ratings for a close friend and a nonfriend according to activities preferences, which differed from the ability perception by preadolescent children.     

Computer Technology Review

No abstract available for this article.     

Exploring gender differences in body image,eating pathology,and sexual harassment

This study examines the relationship between body image (weight/shape concerns), eating pathology, and sexual harassment among men and women (N = 2446). Hierarchical regressions controlling for depression revealed main effects of gender such that women reported greater weight/shape concerns, eating pathology, dietary restraint, eating concerns, and binge eating compared to men. Main effects for sexual harassment indicated that as harassment increased, participants reported increased weight/shape concerns, eating pathology, dietary restraint, eating concerns, binge eating, and compensatory behaviors. There were small but significant interactions between gender and harassment for eating pathology total score (which included each of the domains listed above), weight/shape concerns, dietary restraint, and eating concerns such that the relationship between increased harassment and increased pathology was stronger for women compared to men. The largest interaction was found for compensatory behaviors, such that while women and men's scores both increased as harassment increased, the relationship was stronger for men.     

言语工作记忆的保持对时间知觉的影响*

采用工作记忆和时间判断的双任务范式,探讨了言语工作记忆的保持过程对时间知觉的影响。研究中操作记忆负荷和任务之间的时间间隔(ISI:记忆刺激消失到时间判断任务开始之间的时间间隔)。结果发现,记忆负荷越大,知觉到的时间越短,韦伯比例越低,反应时间越长;ISI越短,知觉到的时间变短,反应时间越长,这表明知觉时间和反应决策是一致的,不存在累加时间和反应判断之间的trade-off。但是记忆负荷和ISI的交互作用不显著。结果表明记忆负荷和ISI以不同的方式影响时间判断,言语工作记忆的保持和时间加工共享工作记忆资源。