Differential trajectories of age-related changes in components of executive and memory processes

Several studies have demonstrated age-related declines in general executive function and memory. In this study, we examined cross-sectional and longitudinal age effects in more specific cognitive processes that constitute executive function and memory. We postulated that, whereas some components of executive and memory functions would show age differences and longitudinal declines, other specific abilities would be maintained or even improve with repeated testing. In a sample of individuals ≥55 years old from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, we found longitudinal declines in inhibition, manipulation, semantic retrieval, phonological retrieval, switching, and long-term memory over a maximum of 14 years follow-up. In contrast, abstraction, capacity, chunking, discrimination, and short-term memory were maintained or even improved longitudinally, probably due in part to repeated testing. Moreover, whereas several different abilities were correlated across participants' cross-sectional performance, longitudinal changes in performance showed more heterogeneous trajectories. Finally, compared with cross-sectional performance, longitudinal trajectories showed better distinction between participants with and those without later cognitive impairment. These results show that longitudinal cognitive aging of executive and memory functions is not a uniform process but a heterogeneous one and suggest that certain executive and memory functions remain stable despite age-related declines in other component processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Health worker attitudes toward peer workers in hepatitis C prevention

Attitudes toward people who inject drugs (PWID) and attitudes toward peer workers among a cross-section of 101 Australian hepatitis C health workers were assessed. A survey consisting of Likert-type questions and one open-ended question regarding training was used. Bivariate and regression analyses demonstrated that health workers' attitudes toward peer workers were associated with their attitudes toward PWID, independent of type of organization or time in the hepatitis C sector. Qualitative analysis revealed four training areas suggested by health workers for peer workers. Implications of these findings for staff and peer training are discussed and future research directions suggested.     

Taxometric Investigation of PTSD: data from two nationally representative samples

Current psychiatric nosology depicts posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a discrete diagnostic category. However, only one study has examined the latent structure of PTSD, and this study suggested that PTSD may be more accurately conceptualized as an extreme reaction to traumatic life events rather than a discrete clinical syndrome. To build on the existing literature base, the present research examined the latent structure of posttraumatic stress reactions by applying three taxometric procedures (MAXEIG, MAMBAC, and L-Mode) to data collected from large nationally representative samples of women (ns = 2684 and 3033) and adolescents (n = 3775). Results consistently provided evidence for a dimensional PTSD solution across samples and statistical procedures. These findings have important implications for the theory, assessment, and investigation of posttraumatic stress reactions.     

Rearing practices and impulsivity/hyperactivity symptoms in relation to inflated responsibility and obsessive‐compulsive symptoms

Smári, J., Rúrik Martinsson, D., & Einarsson, H. (2010). Rearing practices and impulsivity/hyperactivity symptoms in relation to inflated responsibility and obsessive‐compulsive symptoms. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 392–397. The aim of the study was to investigate potential precursors of inflated responsibility (responsibility attitudes) and obsessive‐compulsive (OCD) symptoms. It was argued that both parental overprotection and impulsivity, separately and in interaction with each other, contribute to inflated responsibility and OCD symptoms. In a large sample of young adults (N = 570), self‐report measures of OCD symptoms (OCI‐R), responsibility attitudes (RAS), anxiety/depression (HADS), rearing practices (EMBU), present and past impulsivity/hyperactivity symptoms (IMP/HY) were administered. Overprotection as well as IMP/HY were found to predict OCD symptoms as well as inflated responsibility. Finally, a significant interaction was found between IMP/HY and overprotection with regard to both OCD symptoms and inflated responsibility. This effect reflected that IMP/HY was more strongly related to OCD symptoms and responsibility in people who had not been overprotected than in people who had been. Conversely overprotection was related to OCD symptoms and responsibility in people low but not in people high in IMP/HY. The results seem to indicate that the inadequacy between offer and need for parental control may play a role in the development of OCD symptoms.     

Dealing with Big Numbers: Representation and Understanding of Magnitudes Outside of Human Experience

Being able to estimate quantity is important in everyday life and for success in the STEM disciplines. However, people have difficulty reasoning about magnitudes outside of human perception (e.g., nanoseconds, geologic time). This study examines patterns of estimation errors across temporal and spatial magnitudes at large scales. We evaluated the effectiveness of hierarchical alignment in improving estimations, and transfer across dimensions. The activity was successful in increasing accuracy for temporal and spatial magnitudes, and learning transferred to the estimation of numeric magnitudes associated with events and objects. However, there were also a number of informative differences in performance on temporal, spatial, and numeric magnitude measures, suggesting that participants possess different categorical information for these scales. Educational implications are discussed.     

Multiple channel exposure therapy for women with PTSD and comorbid panic attacks

Multiple channel exposure therapy (M-CET; Falsetti & Resnick, 2000) was developed to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with comorbid panic attacks and can be administered in a group format. In addition to being a cost-effective way to provide treatment, group treatment for those with PTSD has been proposed as potentially very beneficial for addressing feelings of shame related to the traumatic event as well as social isolation in general (Foy et al., 2000). Previous studies of M-CET indicate that it may be effective for the treatment of PTSD with comorbid panic attacks (Falsetti et al., 2001, 2003, 2005). The authors examine the relationship of PTSD and panic symptoms pre- and posttreatment and present 6-month follow-up data on the long-term effectiveness of M-CET.     

Does prior exposure to interpersonal violence increase risk of PTSD following subsequent exposure?

Research has generally found a “dose relationship” between potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and the likelihood of developing PTSD, with greater number of events associated with greater likelihood. Most of these studies have been cross-sectional, however. A recent prospective study (Breslau, Peterson, & Schultz, 2008) found that PTSD response to prior potentially traumatic event (PTE) exposure, rather than prior exposure itself, acts as a risk factor for PTSD in response to subsequent PTE; however, this analysis combined many different types of events, and the unique contribution of specific events (e.g., assault) that may be associated with differential risk of PTSD was indeterminable. The present study examined the effects of cumulative PTE exposure prospectively using a two-wave design in the National Survey of Adolescents (N = 1703). History of assault and witnessing serious violence were the focal PTEs examined. Wave I assault without PTSD was found to predict PTSD at Wave II following exposure to new assault or witnessed violence; however, among those without prior PTSD, Wave I witnessed violence did not increase risk of subsequent PTSD following exposure.