Diverse patterns of vulnerability to visual illusions in children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Cognitive Processing - Research on how children with neurodevelopmental disorders perceive, process, and interpret visual illusions (VIs) has been extensively focused on children with autism...     

Laboratory measured behavioral impulsivity relates to suicide attempt history

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between laboratory behavioral measured impulsivity (using the Immediate and Delayed Memory Tasks) and suicidal attempt histories. Three groups of adults were recruited, those with either: no previous suicide attempts (Control, n = 20), only a single suicide attempt (Single, n = 20), or multiple suicidal attempts (Multiple, n = 10). As hypothesized, impulsive responses increased with the number of suicide attempts (Control < Single < Multiple). This study helps to demonstrate how laboratory behavioral measures of impulsivity can be used to discriminate groups based on suicidal histories among samples not currently exhibiting significant suicidal behaviors.     

The Interference of Introversion–Extraversion and Depressive Symptomatology with Reasoning Performance: A Behavioural Study

The objective of this study was to investigate the link between the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) scores and depressive symptomatology with reasoning performance induced by a task including valid and invalid Aristotelian syllogisms. The EPQ and the Zung Depressive Scale (ZDS) were completed by 48 healthy subjects (27 male, 21 female) aged 33.5 ± 9.0 years. Additionally, the subjects engaged into two reasoning tasks (valid vs. invalid syllogisms). Analysis showed that the judgment of invalid syllogisms is a more difficult task than of valid judgments (65.1% vs. 74.6% of correct judgments respectively, p < 0.01). In both conditions, the subjects’ degree of confidence is significantly higher when they make a correct judgment than when they make an incorrect judgment (83.8 ± 11.2 vs. 75.3 ± 17.3, p < 0.01). Subjects with extraversion as measured by EPQ and high sexual desire as rated by the relative ZDS subscale are more prone to make incorrect judgments in the valid syllogisms, while, at the same time, they are more confident in their responses. The effects of extraversion/introversion and sexual desire on the outcome measures of the valid condition are not commutative but additive. These findings indicate that extraversion/introversion and sexual desire variations may have a detrimental effect in the reasoning performance.     

Values,Knowledge and Solidarity: Neglected Convergences Between Émile Durkheim and Max Scheler

Within the purview of the sociology of knowledge Durkheim and Scheler appear among its important inaugurators theorizing the social foundations of knowledge, seemingly from mutually exclusive perspectives. Scheler’s phenomenology of values and community is often juxtaposed with Durkheim’s attempt to integrate values in reality, represented by the social configuration of organic solidarity. This essay argues that the affinity between Scheler and Durkheim deserves reexamination. Means employed for pursuing this aim include a reconsideration of how values mediate reality, but, above all, an attempt to show that both thinkers converge on their principal normative goal. This is no other than a global community of solidarity which both Scheler and Durkheim, albeit through different trails, visualize as the culmination of value-ethics. While Durkheim pursues this goal through a systematic exposition of the transition from mechanical to organic solidarity, late Scheler’s view of ‘the age of adjustment’ discloses a normative approach on modernity at odds with the then prevalent Kulturkritik. This ideal helps to rehabilitate Scheler and to approach the notions of sociality, the sociology of knowledge and the configuration of the ‘encompassing person’ through Durkheimian lenses. The essay concludes with a brief appraisal of theoretical gains drawn from this newly lit affinity.     

On the links between self-discrepancies, rumination, metacognitions, and symptoms of depression in undergraduates

The present study aimed to test the central components of Papageorgiou and Wells' (2003) non-clinical metacognitive model of rumination and depression that is grounded on the Self-Regulatory Executive Function (S-REF) model of emotional disorders [Wells, A., & Matthews, G. (1994). Attention and emotion: A clinical perspective. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum.]. A second aim of this study was to extend the non-clinical model with the concept of self-discrepancy in line with the S-REF model. Data of the current study were collected in a large sample of non-clinical Dutch undergraduates (N=196), who completed a battery of questionnaires including measures of rumination, positive and negative metacognitions, depressive symptoms, and self-discrepancy (i.e., actual-ideal, actual-ought, and actual-feared discrepancies). Hypothesized relationships among these variables were tested by means of structural equation modelling. Following some theoretically consistent modifications, the model was an adequate fit to the data. With respect to the second aim of the study, self-discrepancies were directly linked to symptoms of depression as well as indirectly via the cognitive processes involved in the metacognitive model of rumination and depression. Evidence was found for positive beliefs about rumination to partially mediate the relation between self-discrepancy and rumination. Clinical implications of the findings, including implementation of a metacognitive-focused cognitive therapy of depression, and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

A pilot randomized trial of metacognitive therapy vs applied relaxation in the treatment of adults with generalized anxiety disorder

Metacognitive Therapy (MCT) and Applied Relaxation (AR) were compared in a pilot treatment trial of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Twenty outpatients meeting criteria for DSM-IV-TR GAD were assessed before treatment, after treatment and at 6 m and 12 m follow-up. The patients were randomized and treated individually for 8-12 weekly sessions. There was no drop-out from MCT and 10% at 6 m follow-up from AR. At post-treatment and at both follow-up points MCT was superior to AR. Standardized recovery rates for MCT at post-treatment were 80% on measures of worry and trait-anxiety compared with 10% following AR. At 6 m follow-up recovery rates for MCT were 70% on both measures compared with 10% and 20% for AR. At 12 m follow-up recovery rates for MCT were 80% (worry) and 60% (trait-anxiety) compared with 10% and 20% following AR. The recovery rates for MCT are similar to those obtained in an earlier uncontrolled trial (Wells & King, 2006). The effect sizes and standardized recovery rates for MCT suggest that it is a highly effective treatment.     

Brief cognitive therapy for social phobia: a case series

Social phobia is a common and disabling anxiety disorder. The most effective psychological treatments for social phobia are cognitive therapy and exposure. However, the degree of improvement across these treatments is variable, and their implementation is costly and time-consuming. This study aimed to conduct a preliminary clinical evaluation of the effectiveness of a brief, new form of cognitive therapy based on a recent cognitive model of social phobia. Six consecutively referred patients with social phobia were treated using established single case series methodology. Brief cognitive therapy was effective with all patients demonstrating clinically significant improvements in all measures. Treatment gains were maintained at follow-up. The mean number of treatment sessions delivered was 5.5 and improvements compare favourably with previous treatment studies. Brief cognitive therapy for social phobia appears promising and it is potentially cost-effective. Future randomised and controlled evaluations of this brief treatment are warranted.