A categorical and dimensional perspective on depression within a nonclinical sample of couples

The present study investigated the role of psychosocial variables that are indicators for depressive symptomatology within a couple. The variables chosen for this study were conflict communication, marital adjustment, attachment, attribution style, and personality traits--all potentially specific indicators. A global factor analysis on all our measures revealed that our individual and relational measures were stable findings. We wanted to compare a dimensional and categorical view of depression. First, we focused on the total nonclinical sample, considering depression on a continuum, and studying the selected characteristics along with the varying degree of depressive complaints. The results highlighted the importance of individual characteristics (neuroticism and life satisfaction) covarying with the level of depressive symptomatology in the nonclinical sample (n = 186 couples). Second, in addition to this correlational design, we compared the group of most depressed subjects and their partners with a control sample (n = 34). Both approaches pointed to the same conclusion: individual characteristics covaried with mild depression, whereas couple characteristics only came into the picture with a higher level of depressive complaints. The lowest levels of depressive complaints were associated with individual co-morbidity only, whereas increasing complaints went along with additional relational complaints. Implications for assessment and future research are discussed.     

Verifying simple arithmetic sums and products: Are the phonological loop and the central executive involved?

In two experiments, we investigated the role of the phonological loop and the central executive in the verification of the complete set of one-digit addition (Experiment 1) and multiplication (Experiment 2) problems. The focus of the present study was on the contradictory results concerning the contribution of the phonological loop in the verification of true problems (e.g., 8 + 4 = 12 or 4 x 6 = 24) reported until now. The results revealed that this slave system is not involved in verifying simple arithmetic problems, in contrast to the central executive. Furthermore, our results indicated that the split effect is due to the use of two different arithmetic strategies.     

Parental communication appears not to be an effective strategy to reduce smoking in a sample of Dutch adolescents

This longitudinal study examined the reciprocal effects of the frequency of parent–adolescent communication on tobacco-related issues (smoking-specific communication), and adolescents’ smoking. Participants were 428 Dutch older and younger siblings between 13 and 16 years old. Smoking-specific communication did not affect youth smoking in general; however, among younger, but not older, siblings, smoking-specific communication was associated with a higher likelihood of smoking over time. In addition, when adolescents already smoked parents started to talk more frequently about smoking-related issues with their older and younger adolescents later on. Neither the quality of smoking-specific communication, the quality of parent–adolescent relationship, nor parental smoking moderated these reciprocal effects. In conclusion, prevention campaigns encouraging parents to undertake smoking-specific communication might not be desirable.     

Learning and adult neurogenesis: survival with or without proliferation?

Recent high quality papers have renewed interest in the phenomenon of neurogenesis within the adult mammalian brain. Many studies now show that neurogenesis can be modulated by environmental factors including physical activity, stress, and learning. These findings have considerable implications for neuroscience in general, including the study of learning and memory, neural network plasticity, aging, neurodegeneration, and the recovery from brain injury. Although new light has been shed on this field, many contradictory findings have been reported. Here we propose two principle issues which underlie these inconsistencies, with particular focus on the interaction between learning and neurogenesis. The first issue relates to the basic methodology of measuring the generation of new brain cells, i.e., proliferation, as compared to survival of the newly made cells. Mostly, measures of neurogenesis reported are a combination of proliferation and survival, making it impossible to distinguish between these separate processes. The second aspect is in regards to the role of environmental factors which can affect both proliferation and survival independently. Especially the interaction between stress and learning is of importance since these might counteract each other in some circumstances. Reviewing the literature while taking these issues into account indicates that, in contrast to some findings, cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus as a result of learning cannot be ruled out yet. On the other hand, increased survival of granule cells in the dentate gyrus as a result of hippocampal-dependent learning has been clearly demonstrated. Moreover, this learning-induced survival of granule cells, which were born before the actual learning experience, might provide a molecular mechanism for the 'use it or lose it' principle.     

Conceptualizations of Fair Play: A Factorial Survey Study of Moral Judgments by Badminton Players

There is much discussion in sports on whether certain behavior should be considered Fair Play. This moral judgment on Fair Play is influenced by the conceptualization of the term Fair Play as either “respect for the rules” or “respect for the spirit of the game,” as well as by other determinants. To uncover the moral judgment of athletes and which conceptualization of Fair Play dominates in practice, a factorial survey approach is used. The act and the level of the match played a role in the judgment, as well as the gender of the athlete. Our results showed that both conceptualizations “respect for the rules” and “respect for the spirit of the game” were important in this judgment, with the spirit conceptualization being more dominant.     

The implicit association test as a general measure of similarity.

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is widely used as a measure of semantic similarity (i.e., associations in semantic memory). The results of previous research and of a new study show that IAT effects can, however, also be based on other types of similarity between stimuli. We therefore put forward the hypothesis that the IAT provides a general measure of similarity. Given that similarity is highly dynamic and context-dependent, our view that the IAT measures similarity is compatible with existing evidence showing that IAT effects are highly malleable. We provide further evidence for this in a new study in which the outcome of an IAT depended on whether the perceptual or functional characteristics of the stimuli were made salient.     

An interpersonal perspective on depression: the role of marital adjustment, conflict communication, attributions, and attachment within a clinical sample

Previous studies have focused on the difficulties in psychosocial functioning in depressed persons, underscoring the distress experienced by both spouses. We selected conflict communication, attribution, and attachment as important domains of depression in the context of marital adjustment, and we analyzed two hypotheses in one single study. First, we analyzed whether a clinical sample of couples with a depressed patient would differ significantly from a control group on these variables. Second, we explored to what degree these variables mediate/moderate the relationship between depressive symptoms and marital adjustment. The perspectives of both spouses were taken into account, as well as gender differences. In total, 69 clinical and 69 control couples were recruited, and a series of multivariate analyses of variance and regression analyses were conducted to test both hypotheses. Results indicated that both patients and their partners reported less marital adjustment associated with more negative perceptions on conflict communication, causal attributions, and insecure attachment. In addition, conflict communication and causal attributions were significant mediators of the association between depressive symptoms and marital adjustment for both depressed men and women, and causal attributions also moderated this link. Ambivalent attachment was a significant mediator only for the female identified patients. Several sex differences and clinical implications are discussed.