Cognitive Load and Prism Adaptation

Subjects wore goggles with prisms that laterally displaced the visual field (rightward by 11.4°) and with full view of the limb engaged in paced (2-s rate) sagittal pointing at either an implicit (“straight ahead of the nose”) target (Experiment 1) or an explicit (positioned leftward by 11.4°) target (in Experiment 2). In experimental conditions, subjects performed a secondary cognitive task (mental arithmetic) simultaneously during target pointing. In control conditions, no cognitive load was imposed. Aftereffect measures of adaptation to the prismatic displacement were not substantially different when problem solving was required, but terminal error of the exposure pointing task was reliably affected by cognitive load. These results are consistent with the hypothesis of separable mechanisms for adaptive coordination and adaptive alignment. Adaptive coordination may be mediated by strategically flexible coordinative linkage between sensory–motor systems (eye–head and hand—head), but spatial alignment seems to be mediated by adaptive encoders within coordinatively linked subsystems. If the coordination task involves predominately automatic processing, coordinative linkage can be frequent enough under cognitive load for substantial realignment to occur even though exposure performance (adaptive coordination) may be less than optimal.     

Transient and sustained cognitive control modulates task‐irrelevant process

In the cognitive conflict task, transient and sustained contexts modulate the congruency effect. Transient modulation is the effect of preceding trial types, while sustained modulation is the effect of context in an experimental block. The present study was conducted with two aims: The first was to reveal which processes, a task‐relevant one and a task‐irrelevant one, are changed by these contexts, and the second was to reveal the difference between the transient and the sustained modulations. The results of two experiments suggested that, although both transient and sustained modulations occurred during the task‐irrelevant process, these modulations may be different in nature. Transient modulation was caused by just an inhibition in using task‐irrelevant information, while sustained modulation showed a newly started use of task‐irrelevant information as a result of the participants' re‐adaptation to the context.     

Functional Anatomy of the Null Hypothesis and of Tests of It

The author compared simulations of the “true” null hypothesis (z) test, in which ò was known and fixed, with the t test, in which s, an estimate of ò, was calculated from the sample because the t test was used to emulate the “true” test. The true null hypothesis test bears exclusively on calculating the probability that a sample distance (mean) is larger than a specified value. The results showed that the value of t was sensitive to sampling fluctuations in both distance and standard error. Large values of t reflect small standard errors when n is small. The value of t achieves sensitivity primarily to distance only when the sample sizes are large. One cannot make a definitive statement about the probability or “significance” of a distance solely on the basis of the value of t.     

Effects of Movement Duration and Visual Feedback on Visual and Proprioceptive Components of Prism Adaptation

While looking through laterally displacing prisms, subjects pointed sagittally 80 times at an objectively straight-ahead target, completing a reciprocal out-and-back pointing movement every 1, 3, or 6 s. Visual feedback was available early in the pointing movement or only late at the end of movement. Aftereffect measures of adaptive shift (obtained after every 10 pointing trials) showed adaptive change only in limb position sense (i.e., proprioceptive adaptation) when movement duration was 1 s, regardless of visual feedback condition; but as movement duration increased, adaptive change in the eye position sense (i.e., visual adaptation) increased while proprioceptive adaptation decreased, especially for the late visual feedback condition. Regardless of visual feedback condition, proprioceptive adaptation showed the maximal rate of growth with the 1-s movement duration, whereas visual adaptation showed maximal growth with the 6-s movement duration. These results provide additional support for a model of adaptive spatial mapping in which the direction of strategically flexible coordination (guidance) between eye and limb (and consequently the locus of adaptive spatial mapping) is jointly determined by movement duration and timing of visual feedback. An additional effect of movement duration is to determine the rate of discordant inputs. Maximal growth of adaptation occurs when the input rate matches the response time of the spatial mapping function.     

Attention and Executive Function Deficits in Adolescent Sex Offenders

Thirty male adolescent sex offenders and 20 age-matched male adolescents completed an extensive battery of attention and executive function tests. Controls were obtained from adolescents from a socially and economically deprived background, typical of the offending group. The attention battery was based on Mirksy, Anthony, Duncan, Ahearn, and Kellam (1991) and the executive function battery on Kelly (2000a). Successful matching for IQ was not achieved and therefore ANCOVA comparisons were made between the groups, with IQ as the covariate. In attention a highly significant difference was found on the focus-execute factor and a significant difference on the shift factor. In executive function there was a highly significant difference only on the response speed factor. In all cases better abilities were demonstrated by the control group. The importance of thorough neuropsychological investigation in the clinical assessment of this forensic group is supported. The clinical implications of neuropsychological deficits in terms of risk assessment and clinical management are discussed.     

Measuring parent–infant interaction: the Parent−Infant Relational Assessment Tool (PIRAT)

The paper describes the genesis, construction and preliminary reliability testing of the Parent?Infant Relational Assessment Tool (PIRAT). PIRAT is a clinical assessment tool for the identification of risk in the early parent?infant relationship. The rationale was to design a flexible, reliable measure that would enable professionals working with infants and their caregivers to assess the parent?infant relationship as it appears in the consulting room, clinic or home environment and to pinpoint areas of concern at the earliest possible opportunity. The measure was developed in the Parent–Infant Project at the Anna Freud Centre and a subsequent study was undertaken to establish whether it could be successfully transferred to healthcare professionals for use in their workplace settings. A reliability study was conducted with a panel of health professionals, including midwives, health visitors, child protection social workers and clinical psychologists, using videotapes of their consultations in the home or clinic with mothers and infants of 0?2 years old. The results demonstrate good interrater reliability for the 10 participants in the study. Verbatim excerpts from the training sessions are included to elucidate the process of training and the ways in which participants engaged with and embedded the measure into their practice.     

Clinical commentary by David Trevatt,Clinical Manager of ‘Hear and Now’ Adolescent Counselling Service,Redbridge and Manager of Open Door's Parenting Teenagers Project,Haringey

Leading the charge to link intervention research with clinical practice is the development of process research, which involves a detailed analysis of specific therapeutic processes over the course of treatment. The delineation of interaction structures – repetitive patterns of interactions between patient and therapist over the course of treatment – can inform therapists of what may be expected from patients with particular patterns of symptoms or behaviours in their clinical practice and how interactions change over time. Using the Child Psychotherapy Q-Set, this study aims to compare the different interaction structures that emerged in the two-year psychotherapy of a six-year-old child conducted, for one year each, by two doctoral-student therapists in a university-based community mental health clinic. The study allows for exploration of the independent role of the therapist in the psychodynamic therapy of a child diagnosed with Asperger's disorder. The results suggest that four distinct interaction structures between child and therapist could be identified in this psychotherapy and that the interaction structures differed between the two therapists and also differed over time within each treatment. The implications of these findings for training and clinical practice are discussed.     

Associations between personality traits and psychological well-being across time in middle adulthood

Associations of personality traits with psychological well-being (PWB) were analyzed across ages 33–50 as part of an ongoing Finnish longitudinal study (initial N = 369). Bivariate latent growth curve analyses indicated that a low initial level of neuroticism (.75) and high extraversion (.55) correlated strongly with a high level of PWB. Moreover, a high level of conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness also correlated significantly with PWB. The change factor was significant only for openness: the higher the initial level of PWB, the higher the increase in openness from age 33–50. In comparison with emotional well-being, indicated by general life satisfaction, the associations of the personality traits with PWB were significantly stronger for neuroticism, extraversion, and openness.     

The adaptation of non‐western and Muslim immigrant adolescents in the Netherlands: An immigrant paradox?

van Geel, M. & Vedder, P. (2010). The adaptation of non‐western and Muslim immigrant adolescents in the Netherlands: An immigrant paradox? Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 398–402. This article addresses the possible existence of an immigrant paradox in a sample of immigrant adolescents attending vocational schools in the Netherlands. An immigrant paradox is the finding that first generation immigrants show a more positive pattern of adaptation than nationals despite poorer economic conditions. Second generation immigrants regress to the nationals in terms of adaptation. A sample of 152 first generation immigrant adolescents, 285 second generation immigrant adolescents and 406 national adolescents completed self‐reports about socio‐economic status, psychological problems, behavioral problems and self‐esteem. The results supported the existence of an immigrant paradox in this sample. This indicates that further assimilation among immigrant adolescents does not necessarily lead to increased well being.