Characteristic patterns of verbal memory function in patients with Huntington's disease

Various aspects of verbal memory in patients with Huntington's disease (HD) were studied using the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). We tested if the level and interplay between 5 parameters of different memory mechanisms and processes were sufficiently specific to allow acceptable discrimination between patients with HD, patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and patients without known CNS disease or injury. The HD-patients were characterized by a deficit in acquisition, elevated rates of recall errors and increased use of a passive learning strategy. Preserved aspects were shown in retention over time, interference effects and recognition relative to recall. Employing multivariate classification and validation techniques, the 5 CVLT-features demonstrated good separability between the HD-patients and the control patients. Qualitative similarities between subgroups were suggested, but more disease-specific data seemed necessary in further studies. A number of findings suggested a defect in the active organization of items to be encoded and recalled in HD. Similar findings in the PD-group might indicate that this trait is common in several types of 'subcortical dementia'.     

Social problem solving in unsafe situations: Implications for sexual abuse education programs

Examined the impact of two subject variables (age and gender) and two contextual factors (antagonist age and nature of the social dilemma) on children's social problem solving (SPS). Preschoolers (N=62) were individually presented with four stories that varied the antagonist age (peer vs. adult) and social dilemma (nonsexual vs. sexual). Responses were coded for three SPS variables: number of alternative solutions, solution content, and planfulness. Younger preschoolers were less competent problem solvers in all types of unsafe situations, and, compared to girls, some aspects of boys' problem solving were compromised in sexual encounters. Results also suggest that the nature of the social dilemma, but not the age of the antagonist, affects perschoolers' SPS. Children generated fewer alternative solutions and fewer effective strategies to the sexual encounters compared to the nonsexual dilemmas. Findings are discussed in relation to research on children's SPS and child sexual abuse prevention efforts.     

Establishing equivalence–equivalence analogical relations via tact and listener training

We investigated the role of verbal behavior on the emergence of analogy-type responding as measured via equivalence–equivalence relations. In Experiment 1, 8 college students learned to label arbitrary stimuli as, “vek,” “zog,” and “paf”, and in Experiment 2, 8 additional participants learned to select these stimuli when hearing their names in an auditory–visual matching-to-sample (MTS) task. Experimenters tested for the emergence of relational tacts (i.e., “same” and “different”) and equivalence–equivalence relations (analogy tests) via visual–visual MTS. Half of the participants were exposed to a think-aloud procedure. Even though they all passed analogy tests while tacting stimuli relationally, only participants exposed to tact training (Experiment 1) did so without the need for remediation. The results of these experiments confirm that individual discriminative and relational control of stimuli established through verbal behavior training is sufficient to produce equivalence–equivalence analogical responding, advancing the analysis of complex cognitive (problem-solving) phenomena.     

Differential cognitive substrates of verbal episodic memory performance in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia and Alzheimer’s disease

Performance on neuropsychological measures of verbal memory requires cognitive abilities beyond memory. We examined the contribution of semantic knowledge in verbal episodic memory for semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) or Alzheimer’s disease (AD). 415 AD and 68 svPPA participants completed measures of episodic memory (visual and verbal) and semantic knowledge. A double dissociation existed visual recall predicted verbal recognition in AD, whereas semantic knowledge contributed to verbal recognition in svPPA.     

情绪的动机强度与工作记忆任务类型的协调性对自我控制任务的影响

考察趋近动机强度不同的积极情绪和回避动机强度不同的消极情绪与工作记忆的协调性对自我控制任务的影响。结果发现,与高趋近动机的积极情绪、高回避动机的消极情绪以及中性情绪相比,在低趋近动机的积极情绪下完成言语工作记忆以及在低回避动机的消极情绪下完成空间工作记忆,工作记忆成绩提高,而Stroop分数降低,这表明情绪与工作记忆的协调性受到情绪动机强度的影响。     

Presidential Address: Going Public: The Art and Science of Researching Domestic Violence and Religion

Going public with our research is both an “art” and a “science.” It involves elements of “vulnerability” and elements of “resiliency,” two key themes that have emerged in my program of research on domestic violence and religion. I harness the concepts of vulnerability and resiliency to argue that public engagement involves the scholar in an ongoing negotiation between the science and the art of disseminating his or her research results. The article concludes with references to our web‐based resources ( http://www.theraveproject.org ) and the way we have used stained glass to tell the story of research results.     

Teaching children with autism to explain how: A case for problem solving?

Few studies have applied Skinner's (1953) conceptualization of problem solving to teach socially significant behaviors to individuals with developmental disabilities. The current study used a multiple probe design across behavior (sets) to evaluate the effects of problem‐solving strategy training (PSST) on the target behavior of explaining how to complete familiar activities. During baseline, none of the three participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) could respond to the problems presented to them (i.e., explain how to do the activities). Tact training of the actions in each activity alone was ineffective; however, all participants demonstrated independent explaining‐how following PSST. Further, following PSST with Set 1, tact training alone was sufficient for at least one scenario in sets 2 and 3 for all 3 participants. Results have implications for generative responding for individuals with ASD and further the discussion regarding the role of problem solving in complex verbal behavior.     

A demonstration of higher‐order response class development in children

We evaluated a procedure for teaching two children, one typically developing and one with autism, a higher‐order generalized operant response class of unscrambling sight words. The procedures were efficacious in teaching the participants to unscramble words appearing in isolation and in the context of a sentence, with 98% of the presented discriminative stimuli novel to the participants.     

The Use of Relational‐Cultural Theory in Counseling Clients Who Have Traumatic Stress Disorders

Counseling scholarship has increasingly demonstrated the utility of relational‐cultural theory (RCT) in promoting the relationship‐building and growth‐fostering connections many clients require to manage problems in living. The authors applied RCT to counseling clients with traumatic stress disorders rooted in traumas of an interpersonal nature (e.g., child abuse, interpersonal partner violence, sexual assault). An overview of traumatic stress disorders and RCT, as well as the ways in which RCT can inform trauma conceptualization and treatment approaches with victims, is provided.     

The impact of contextual information and a secondary task on anticipation performance: An interpretation using cognitive load theory

When performing under severe time constraints, sports performers use kinematic and contextual information to facilitate anticipation. We examined the relative importance of these two information sources and their impact on cognitive load and anticipation performance. Cognitive load theory predicts that adding more information sources to a task will increase cognitive load in less‐skilled but not skilled performers. Skilled and less‐skilled cricket batters anticipated deliveries from bowlers on a life‐size screen under 4 conditions that manipulated access to contextual information and included a secondary task. The presence of context enhanced anticipation accuracy for both skilled and less‐skilled groups, without affecting cognitive load. Skilled performers used sequencing and game‐related contextual information in addition to kinematic information to facilitate anticipation, whereas both groups reported using information pertaining to opponent positioning. Findings highlight the importance of context in anticipation and suggest that the addition of context may not necessarily negatively impact cognitive load.