Attentional bias toward negative and positive pictorial stimuli and its relationship with distorted cognitions,empathy, and moral reasoning among men with intellectual disabilities who have committed crimes

The aims of this study were to examine: (a) whether men with intellectual disabilities who have a history of criminal offending attend to affective pictorial stimuli in a biased manner, and (b) whether there is a relationship between an affective attentional bias and offense‐supportive cognitions, empathy, and moral reasoning. Forty‐six men with intellectual disabilities who had a documented history of criminal offending, and 51 men who also had intellectual disabilities, but no such history, were recruited and asked to complete a computer‐based dot‐probe task using affective pictorial stimuli with randomization, along with measures of distorted cognitions, empathy, and moral reasoning. Those with a history of criminal offending endorsed significantly more offense‐supportive cognitions, had significantly lower general empathy, and more “mature” moral reasoning, as well as a significant attentional bias toward affective pictorial stimuli. Attentional bias significantly predicted offense‐supportive cognitions, and vice versa, having controlled for offense history, and Full‐Scale IQ, but this was not the case for empathy or moral reasoning. While the findings require replication, interventions that aim to modify attention bias with this population should be tested.     

Functional neuroimaging in neurology and psychiatry

How can functional neuroimaging be applied to clinical neurology and psychiatry? This article reviews selected contributions of functional neuroimaging to the clinical neurosciences. We review selected technical aspects of positron emission tomography, single photon emission tomography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging with a focus on the relative strengths and weaknesses of these techniques. Consumers of functional neuroimaging research are encouraged to consider the limitations of imaging techniques and theoretical pitfalls of cognitive task design when interpreting results of functional imaging studies. Then, we selectively review the contributions of functional neuroimaging to neurology and psychiatry, including the areas of epilepsy, stroke, chronic pain, schizophrenia, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Future directions of functional neuroimaging research are offered, with the emphasis that the best conclusions are informed by a convergence of research from functional neuroimaging, neurophysiological, and lesion studies.     

For better or for worse: Social influences on risk-taking

This study investigated changes in risk-taking propensity on a behavioral decision-making task as a function of varying social conditions with peers. In contrast to the effects of direct peer influence (pro-risk and anti-risk messages by peers), we included a socially ambiguous context (neutral messages by peers) and a no-peer control (participants alone) as comparison conditions. Using a counterbalanced mixed factorial design, college students (N = 187) completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task-Youth (BART-Y) twice during two consecutive sessions, including once alone and once with a confederate; the control group completed two sessions of the task alone. The findings showed that, in general, direct pro-risk messages led to the most robust and consistent changes in risk-taking. The findings are discussed in terms of the multidimensional and multidirectional nature of peer influence during the college years.     

The effect of Benson's relaxation response on the anxiety levels of Lebanese children under stress

The effect of Benson's relaxation techinque on the stress of fifth-grade Lebanese elementary students was investigated. The sample consisted of 62 students 10–12 years of age blocked by sex and randomly assigned to either the treatment group or a reading-activity control group. Subjects in the treatment group practiced relaxation each morning for 10 min over a 6-week period while the control group was taken to a separate room for a reading activity. Results indicated that the subjects in the treatment group scored lower on a general anxiety scale and also on a test anxiety scale than did the control group. Girls were also found to score higher on the general anxiety measure than did boys. Follow-up, 3 weeks after the treatment had been discontinued, revealed that the treatment effects had disappeared but not those related to sex differences for the general anxiety measure.     

Linking actors and models for water policy development in Egypt: Analyzing actors and their options

Policy development in the field of water resources management is traditionally supported by various analysis tools and planning models. Recent years have shown increasing attention for the social dimension of policy development, as this involves different actors interacting in an attempt to satisfy their interests. This requires information on the technical and financial aspects of policy options and information on the roles and interests of different actors. The use of the analysis of options technique is explored in this article, with the aim of incorporating such information in the development of a new water policy for Egypt. His main research interest is in the use of actor analysis to support decision making in the field of water resources management, and he has worked on actor analyses for water projects in Yemen, Egypt, and The Netherlands. He received his M.Sc. in Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management from Delft University of Technology in 1999. Nader El-Masry works as a water resources engineer for the National Water Resources Pan Project at the Ministry of Water resources and Irrigation in Egypt. In this position, he is involved in the development of a national water resources plan that should match Egypt’s water demands and supplies until the year 2017. He holds an M.Sc. in Water Resources and Environmental Management, from IHE, Delft, The Netherlands. Tarek Sadek has 12 years of experience in the field of hydrogeology, hydraulics, geomorphology, water resources management and environmental science. Currently, he is director of the National Water Resources Plan Project at the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation in Egypt. He holds a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of Cairo University (1988), an M.Sc. in Hydrology from the Department of Engineering Hydrology, University College Galway (UCG, 1992), Republic of Ireland, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Australia (1997).