From “4Rs and 2Ss” to “Amaka Amasanyufu” (Happy Families): Adapting a U.S.-based Evidence-Based Intervention to the Uganda Context

In Uganda, one in five children presents mental health challenges, including disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs). DBDs can persist through adulthood and result in negative outcomes. Effective interventions for DBDs have been developed and tested in high-poverty communities in developed countries. Yet, most African countries, such as Uganda, lack such interventions. This paper describes the adaptation process of an evidence-based intervention of U.S. origin to optimize fit to context with intervention fidelity, as part of a randomized trial conducted with youth that exhibit behavioral challenges and their caregivers in 30 schools in Uganda. The process involved: initial meetings with headteachers and teachers to introduce the study and the main concepts of the intervention; initial manual review focusing on 4Rs and 2Ss content by the Uganda team; engagement of community stakeholders for additional feedback on content and cultural relevance; final revision of the manual; and collection of children’s drawings for the illustration of the manual. This paper describes both similarities and differences between the original and adapted intervention content and methods of delivery. The findings also highlight the importance of involving community stakeholders in the adaptation process.     

A partial matching theory of the mirror effect in immediate probed recognition

A set of experiments on immediate probed recognition of digit triples is reported in which the variables were list length (five, six, seven, or eight triples), the probability that a probe was old (.33, .5, or .67), and whether the digit triples were presented with an auditory component or articulatory suppression. Previous work had suggested that the false alarm (FA) rate in this paradigm was lower when auditory information was available than when it was not; this observation had led to the development of thepartial matching theory of immediate probed recognition, according to which FAs could arise not only as a result of unlucky guesses but also when new probes shared a first digit in common with a partially retained target triple. It was argued that partial memory representations were less likely following auditory presentation than following articulatory suppression. Partial matching theory is contrasted with therational response theory, according to which all FAs are unlucky guesses; partial matching theory gave a better account of the present experimental data than did rational response theory. However, a logical relationship between the two theories was suggested, a consequence of which was that rational response theory could be modified to include partial matching in such a way as to account for mirror effects, not only in unusually difficult immediate probed recognition tasks, but also in the more commonly studied mixed test list paradigm involving words of high or low frequency.     

Neural Computation and the Computational Theory of Cognition

We begin by distinguishing computationalism from a number of other theses that are sometimes conflated with it. We also distinguish between several important kinds of computation: computation in a generic sense, digital computation, and analog computation. Then, we defend a weak version of computationalism—neural processes are computations in the generic sense. After that, we reject on empirical grounds the common assimilation of neural computation to either analog or digital computation, concluding that neural computation is sui generis. Analog computation requires continuous signals; digital computation requires strings of digits. But current neuroscientific evidence indicates that typical neural signals, such as spike trains, are graded like continuous signals but are constituted by discrete functional elements (spikes); thus, typical neural signals are neither continuous signals nor strings of digits. It follows that neural computation is sui generis. Finally, we highlight three important consequences of a proper understanding of neural computation for the theory of cognition. First, understanding neural computation requires a specially designed mathematical theory (or theories) rather than the mathematical theories of analog or digital computation. Second, several popular views about neural computation turn out to be incorrect. Third, computational theories of cognition that rely on non‐neural notions of computation ought to be replaced or reinterpreted in terms of neural computation.     

Professional and non-professional drivers’ stress reactions and risky driving

The aim of the present study was to investigate stress reactions, speeding, number of penalties and accident involvement among different driver groups (taxi drivers, minibus drivers, heavy vehicle drivers, and non-professional drivers). A total number of 234 male drivers participated in the study. The participants were asked to complete the Driver Stress Inventory (DSI) together with a demographic information form. Five dimensions of the DSI were measured; aggression, dislike of driving, hazard monitoring, fatigue proneness, and thrill-seeking. After controlling the effects of age and annual mileage, the results of the ANCOVAs revealed differences between different driver groups in terms of both risky driving behaviours and stress reactions in traffic. Regression analyses indicated that aggression, dislike of driving, and hazard monitoring dimensions of the DSI were related to accident involvement after controlling for the effects of age, annual mileage and driver group. Dislike of driving and thrill-seeking dimensions of the DSI were related to speeding on in-city roads.     

Conflicting processes in the extinction of conditioned taste aversion: behavioral and molecular aspects of latency,apparent stagnation,and spontaneous recovery

The study of experimental extinction and of the spontaneous recovery of the extinguished memory could cast light on neurobiological mechanisms by which internal representations compete to control behavior. In this work, we use a combination of behavioral and molecular methods to dissect subprocesses of experimental extinction of conditioned taste aversion (CTA). Extinction of CTA becomes apparent only 90 min after the extinction trial. This latency is insensitive to muscarinic and β-adrenergic modulation and to protein synthesis inhibition in the insular cortex (IC). Immediately afterwards, however, the extinguishing trace becomes sensitive to β-adrenergic blockade and protein synthesis inhibition. The subsequent kinetics and magnitude of extinction depend on whether a spaced or massed extinction protocol is used. A massed protocol is highly effective in the short run, but results in apparent stagnation of extinction in the long-run, which conceals fast spontaneous recovery of the preextinguished trace. This recovery can be truncated by a β-adrenergic agonist or a cAMP analog in the insular cortex, suggesting that spontaneous overtaking of the behavioral control by the original association is regulated at least in part by β-adrenergic input, probably operating via the cAMP cascade, long after the offset of the conditioned stimulus. Hence, the performance of the subject in experimental extinction is the sum total of multiple, sometimes conflicting, time-dependent processes.