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Affective information processing and the assessment of anxiety.

A conceptualization of anxiety as comprising three loosely coupled response systems of overt behavior, verbal report, and physiological activation has proven useful in clinical and theoretical work. With this framework as a starting point, an information-processing approach to the study of emotion is described. Emotions are conceived as affective programs within the brain, with information coded as propositions organized into associative networks. Affective expression results when such a network is accessed and processed, which can occur when a sufficient number of propositions are activated by environment stimuli and/or internal associations. It is hypothesized that information about the expressive physiology is an integral component of the associative structure, and that processing of the network accordingly results in measurable psychophysiological response. Data from studies of emotional imagery, as well as other areas of research, are reviewed in support in these theories. The utility of this approach for the assessment of anxiety disorders is discussed, and results of clinical studies are presented to suggest that individual differences in accessing and processing emotional information may bear significant implications for prognosis and treatment selection. It is speculated that differences among the anxiety disorders could be interpreted in terms of the degree of cognitive organization of the network, leading to potential refinement of current diagnostic categories. In conclusion, cognitive psychology paradigms are discussed in terms of their application to the assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders.

Anxiety↗

The sociability of two-year-olds with their mothers and fathers.

Twenty-one two-year-olds were observed interacting with their parents in a laboratory playroom. Previously reported analyses had found that they displayes no preferencd for interaction with either parent. The present analysis found that there was a high degree of correlation between the sociability of the cild with his mother and his sociability with his father. Possible implications of this finding are discussed.

Adult↗

Effects of peer-mediated social initiations and prompting/reinforcement procedures on the social behavior of autistic children.

Peer-mediated social initiations and prompting/reinforcement procedures were evaluated (in training and generalization sessions) as interventions for increasing the positive social behavior of four autistic children. During baseline, the peer trainer made few social initiations and did not prompt or socially reinforce subjects. For two subjects, baseline was followed by social initiation intervention, and for the other two, baseline was followed by prompting and social reinforcement. Both interventions produced dramatic and comparable increases in positive social behavior in training sessions. Post-treatment responding was not observed for either intervention. When interventions terminated in a second baseline period, the subjects' behavior returned to the level observed during the initial baseline. The subjects were then exposed to the intervention procedure they had not yet experienced. Again, there were positive and comparable behavior changes in the treatment setting, but no increase in positive social behavior was observed during generalization assessment.

Autistic Disorder↗

The use of BRIAC for evaluating therapeutic effectiveness.

Forty-six children in eight different psychotherapeutic settings were evaluated at the beginning and at the end of a 12-month period by means of the Behavior Rating Instrument for Autistic Children (BRIAC). The younger children (3 to 6 years of age) were initially more severely disturbed and improved significantly more than the older children (7 to 9 years of age). The large, bleak, custodial residential center produced significantly less improvement in the children than did the other settings. However, among good programs--i.e., those which were sensitive to the behaviors and needs of the children and which were skillfully implemented by a dedicated and attentive staff--there was little evidence of differences in therapeutic effectiveness regardless of whether the therapy was behavior modification, education, psychoanalytically oriented relationship therapy, or activity therapy.

Age Factors↗

Language, communication, and the use of symbols in normal and autistic children.

The characteristics of language and other forms of communication in normal and autistic children are described. The main basis of comparison is the extent to which each group can comprehend and use spoken and nonspoken language and also develop inner language. It is suggested that the central problem in early childhood autism is an impairment of complex symbolic function affecting all forms of communication. This problem can occur on its own, but, in the majority of cases, it is associated with other impairments of the central nervous system. The relationship of early childhood autism to mental retardation and to normal intellectual function is discussed.

Association↗

Attitudinal and experiential correlates of anorgasmia.

Twenty-four orgasmic and 10 anorgasmic women, ages 21-40, provided continuous self-report measures of sexual arousal while viewing explicit videotape segments depicting a variety of sexual activities. They also completed several questionnaires designed to assess sexual attitudes, knowledge, and guilt. As compared to the orgasmic women, the anorgasmic women reported (i) greater discomfort in communicating with a partner regarding only those sexual activities involving direct clitoral stimulation, (ii) more negative attitudes toward masturbation, (iii) greater endorsement of sex myths, and (iv) greater sex guilt. Contrary to expectations, the groups failed to differ significantly on either the frequency of use of any of the sexual activities depicted or on arousal to viewing these activities. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are explored.

Adult↗

A new technique for handling sexually abusive calls to telephone crisis lines.

Sexually abusive calls interfere with the legitimate functions of crisis lines and have detrimental effects on crisis line workers. This paper describes a new approach to responding to such calls in a way that meets the needs of the crisis line and encourages callers to seek therapeutic treatment for their problem. The proposed response is based on principles of covert conditioning and Ericksonian suggestions. A script of the response is presented along with a description of the rationale and suggested precautions for use with callers.

Female↗

Lecture skills in medical education.

The lecture is the most common method of transmitting information in medical schools and continuing medical education. In recent years this educational method has received considerable criticism because of poor lecturers and poor learning. The major advantage of the lecture is the ability to teach pertinent up-to-date information in an efficient manner. The major limitation is the passivity of the method with the teacher speaking and the listener passively receiving the material with considerable opportunity to be bored. The effective techniques of lecturing are: 1) environment aids learning: 2) an introduction perks interest; 3) stating objectives helps audience to respond analytically; 4) outlining a lecture helps clear thinking; 5) non-verbal behavior increases learning; 6) use of voice shows interest and clarity; 7) content is understood if it fits objectives; 8) organized lecture fits the time available; 9) visual aids used should be clear and understandable; 10) a summary helps to retain what is learned; 11) closure should be upbeat and should restate objectives; 12) questions should be answered succinctly. The medical lecturer can improve his skills by studying them, rehearsing while being observed by colleagues and by performing a self-analysis of video-taped lectures.

Communication↗

Neurocognitive functioning in patients with first-episode schizophrenia : results of a prospective 5-year follow-up study.

To assess the course of neuropsychological (NP) impairment in schizophrenia, 71 patients with first episode (FE) schizophrenia and 71 healthy controls were given a comprehensive battery of NP tests at index assessment, after a 2-year and after a 5-year follow-up period. By means of the z-score standardization, summary scores for verbal intelligence (VBI), spatial organisation (SPT), verbal fluency (VBF), Verbal learning (VBL), semantic memory (SEM), visual memory (VIM), delay/retention rate (DEL), short-term memory (STM), visuomotor processing and attention (VSM) and abstraction/flexibility (ABS) were constructed. FE schizophrenia patients showed a worse performance compared to controls in all areas investigated, most pronounced in VSM, SEM and VBL. In the majority of cognitive domains, an improvement was found over the 5-year follow-up period without differences between the two groups. However, in VBF patients slightly deteriorated whilst controls improved and in memory functions patients improved less compared to controls. When controlling for relevant confounders, neither conventional nor atypical neuroleptics showed a deleterious influence on NP performance, except on VBF. Our data suggest that NP impairment is already present at the onset of the illness and remains stable over the early course of schizophrenia.

Adult↗

"Insightful" string-pulling in Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) is affected by vocal competence.

Four Grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus) were tested on their ability to obtain an item suspended from a string such that mutiple, repeated, coordinated beak-foot actions were required for success (e.g., Heinrich 1995). Those birds with little training in referential English requests (e.g. "I want X") succeeded, whereas birds who could request the suspended item failed to obtain the object but engaged in repeated requesting.

Animals↗

Lexical knowledge and lexical use in autism.

One aspect of autistic language that has been infrequently researched is vocabulary and the conceptual knowledge underpinning individual words or word types. In this descriptive study we investigate anomalous vocabulary use in a 70,000-word corpus of conversational autistic language and examine evidence that concept formation, and hence vocabulary, is abnormal in autism. Particular attention is paid to the expression of artifact and temporal concepts which some believe may develop abnormally in autism. Little evidence is found of anomalous use of artifact terms, though errors with temporal (and also spatial) expressions are relatively common. We discuss why this may be and consider several potential explanations for why underlying lexical knowledge in autism may not necessarily be reflected in lexical use.

Adult↗

Quantitative assessment of autism symptom-related traits in probands and parents: Broader Phenotype Autism Symptom Scale.

Autism susceptibility genes likely have effects on continuously distributed autism-related traits, yet few measures of such traits exist. The Broader Phenotype Autism Symptom Scale (BPASS), developed for use with affected children and family members, measures social motivation, social expressiveness, conversational skills, and flexibility. Based on 201 multiplex families, psychometric data on the BPASS are reported. Adequate inter-rater reliability and internal consistency were found. Parents had lower BPASS scores than affected children, after controlling for IQ. Parents and affected children showed overlapping distributions suggesting the BPASS captured variability in traits across groups. BPASS scores were not correlated with ethnicity or parent education; however, some domains were correlated with IQ. The BPASS holds promise as a quantitative phenotypic assessment for genetic studies.

Autistic Disorder↗

Development of lexical and sentence level context effects for dominant and subordinate word meanings of homonyms.

Nine-ten-and twelve-year-old children (N = 75) read aloud dominant, subordinate or ambiguous bias sentences (N = 120) that ended in a homonym (BALL). After the sentence (1,000 ms), children read aloud targets that were related to the dominant (BAT) or subordinate (DANCE) meaning of the homonym or control targets. Participants were also divided into three reading skill groups based on an independent measure of single word oral reading accuracy. There were three main developmental and reading skill findings. First, 9-year-olds and low skill readers showed lexical level facilitation in accuracy. Second, 9- and 10-year-olds or low and moderate skill readers showed lexical level facilitation in reaction time. Third, 12-year-olds or high skill readers showed sentence level facilitation in reaction time with high skill readers additionally showing sentence level inhibition in reaction time. These results show that lexical level context effects decreased and that sentence level context effects increased with development and skill. These results are discussed in terms of connectionist models of visual word recognition that incorporate distributed attractor principles.

Child↗