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PubMed1996

Cross-cultural social and organizational psychology.

This review considers recent theoretical and empirical developments in cross-cultural studies within social and organizational psychology. It begins with a description of the importance and the difficulties of universalizing psychological science. It then continues with an examination of theoretical work on both the internal-proximal and the external-distal constraints that mediate culture's influence on behavior. Influences on social cognition are documented by describing research on self-concept, self-esteem, emotions, attribution processes, person perception, interpersonal attraction, and justice. Group processes are addressed in the areas of leadership, decision-making, and negotiation, and research in organizational psychology is examined with respect to work motivation and work behavior. The review concludes that considerable improvement is evident in recent cross-cultural research. However, future research must include a broader range of cultures and attend more closely to the levels at which cultural effects should be analyzed, and cultural samples must be unpackaged in more psychologically useful ways.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

Representation of medical concepts of the thyroid gland by physicians in anatomy and pathology.

An experimental study in cognitive psychology is described, concerning the categorization of medical concepts into specific classes, expressed by physicians specialized in anatomic pathology consultations of the thyroid gland. This study belongs to a medical computer science project, called ARISTOTLE, concerning Natural Language Processing of specialized medical reports in anatomic pathology of the thyroid gland. This research has been done for two reasons; first, to specify the characteristics of human expert categorization in an area of medical knowledge and, secondly, to validate the hierarchical organization of a prototype declarative knowledge base. In this experiment, physicians were asked to categorize 121 concepts into 10 proposed classes. These classes and concepts belong to expert knowledge represented in a conceptual graph that was constructed before the experiment. Results show variable semantic distances between concepts of a same class, and dynamic variations of these distances due to contextual representation.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed2001

Behavioural and cognitive interventions with or without other treatments for defaecation disorders in children.

BACKGROUND: Faecal soiling is a common and potentially distressing disorder of childhood. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of behavioural and/or cognitive interventions for the management of defaecation disorders in children. SEARCH STRATEGY: The following databases were searched: the Cochrane Incontinence Group Trials Register (March 2001), the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Issue 4, 2000), The Enuresis Resource and Information Centre Register of studies of encopresis and soiling, AMED (1985 to April 2000), PsycINFO (1887 to June 2000), Index to Theses - Great Britain and Ireland (October 2000), Dissertation Abstracts (November 2000), EMBASE (January 1998 to October 1999), SIGLE (January 1980 to December 1996), BIOSIS (January 1998 to March 1999), Science Citation Index (January 1998 to March 1999), ISTP (January 1982 to March 1999). Date of the most recent searches: March 2001. Bibliographies of trials retrieved were also searched and colleagues and experts in the field were contacted for information. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised and quasi-randomised trials of behavioural and/or cognitive interventions with or without other treatments for the management of defaecation disorders in children. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently selected studies from the literature. One reviewer assessed the methodological quality of eligible trials and extracted data. Data were combined in a meta-analysis when appropriate. MAIN RESULTS: Sixteen randomised trials with a total of 843 children met the inclusion criteria. Sample sizes were generally small. Interventions varied among trials and few outcomes were shared by trials addressing the same comparisons. The synthesis of data from eight trials showed higher rather than lower rates of persisting problem up to 12 months when biofeedback was added to conventional treatment (OR 1.34 CI 95% 0.92 to 1.94). In two trials significantly more encopretic children receiving behavioural intervention plus laxative therapy improved compared with those receiving behavioural intervention alone at both the 6-month (OR 0.51 CI 95% 0.29 to 0.89) and the 12-month follow-up (OR 0.52 CI 95% 0.30 to 0.93). Similarly in another trial the addition of behaviour modifications to laxative therapy was associated with a marked reduction in children's soiling episodes (OR 0.14 CI 95% 0.04 to 0.51). REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: There is no evidence that biofeedback training adds any benefit to conventional treatment in the management of encopresis and constipation in children. There is some evidence that behavioural intervention plus laxative therapy, rather than behavioural intervention or laxative therapy alone, improves continence in children with primary and secondary encopresis.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed2003

Working memory and fear conditioning.

Previous studies of associative learning implicate higher-level cognitive processes in some forms of classical conditioning. An ongoing debate is concerned with the extent to which attention and awareness are necessary for trace but not delay eye-blink conditioning [Clark, R. E. & Squire, L. R. (1998) Science 280, 77-81; Lovibond, P. F. & Shanks, D. (2002) J. Exp. Psychol. Anim. Behav. Processes 28, 38-42]. In trace conditioning, a short interval is interposed between the termination of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the onset of the unconditioned stimulus (US). In delay conditioning, the CS and US overlap. We here investigate the extent to which human classical fear conditioning depends on working memory. Subjects had to carry out an n-back task, requiring tracking an item 1 or 2 back in a sequentially presented list of numbers, while simultaneously being tested for their ability to associate auditory cues with shocks under a variety of conditions (single-cue versus differential; delay versus trace; no task versus 0-, 1-, and 2-back). Differential delay conditioning proved to be more resilient than differential trace conditioning but does show a reduction due to task interference similar in slope to that found in trace conditioning. Explicit knowledge of the stimulus contingency facilitates but does not guarantee trace conditioning. Only the single-cue delay protocol shows conditioning during the more difficult working memory task. Our findings suggest that the larger the cognitive demands on the system, the less likely conditioning occurs. A postexperimental questionnaire showed a positive correlation between conditioning and awareness for differential trace conditioning extinction.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Neuroanatomical evidence for distinct cognitive and affective components of self.

This study examines whether the cognitive and affective components of self-reflection can be dissociated using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Using a simple paradigm in which subjects judged the personal relevance of personality characteristics that were either favorable (e.g., "honest") or unfavorable (e.g., "lazy", we found that distinct neural circuits in adjacent regions of the prefrontal cortex subserve cognitive and emotional aspects of self-reflection. The medial prefrontal cortex responded only to material that was self-descriptive, and this did not differ as a function of the valence of the trait. When material was judged to be self-relevant, the valence of the material was resolved in an adjacent region of ventral anterior cingulate. The nature of self is one of the most enduring questions in science, and researchers are now beginning to be able to decompose the neural operations that give rise to a unitary sense of self.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Sex differences in brain and behavior: emphasis on nicotine, nitric oxide and place learning.

Although males and females are unmistakably different, the recognition of sex as a key variable in science and medicine is considered a revolution in some circles. Sex differences transcend reproductive functions, are evident in the structural and functional organization of the brain, and are reflected in group differences in cognitive abilities and behavior. Males and females have different neural organizational patterns for information processing and different strategies in problem solving. Research on sex differences not only provides descriptive data, but also allows us to elucidate mechanisms that underlie our behavior. In this review, sex differences in the central actions of nicotine (an addictive substance) and nitric oxide, and performance on active avoidance and place learning tasks are discussed as examples, and biobehavioral approaches relating to these topics are presented.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Neuroethical responsibilities.

Neuroscience represents a dynamic area of biomedical research where neuroethical responsibilities for researchers are emerging. This paper is the companion piece to the French-language one also published in this issue of the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. It serves as a review of recent advances in neuroethics through the lens of three cases: (1) incidental finding of anomalies in neuroimaging research; (2) creation of neurotechnologies that can lead to cognitive enhancement, and (3) responsible communication of research results. We propose and discuss a multidimensional framework of neuroethical responsibilities to help tackle these issues. The framework reiterates the fundamental role of scientific integrity, puts in the foreground social responsibilities pertaining to the eventual use of neuroscience knowledge, and highlights self-reflection in research and training of researchers.

Cognition↗
PubMed2004

Where judgement fails: pitfalls in the selection process for medical personnel.

Despite the critical importance of maintaining a valid and transparent selection process that serves the values held by all stakeholders involved in medical education (i.e., students, faculty, society), there continue to be problems with the current state of available admissions protocols. Some problems derive from inertia induced by inaccurate intuitions pertaining to the nature of admissions protocols and the underlying qualities being measured. Others arise from the lack of reliable and valid admissions protocols to capture the non-cognitive qualities of candidates. Still other issues arise from the problem of rumor-based perceptions regarding the qualities for which selection protocols select. Three articles in this issue of Advances in Health Sciences Education present evidence pertaining to the selection of medical personnel. This commentary represents an attempt to bind together these unique perspectives on the admissions process while also casting light on other ways in which human judgment can fail in this domain in the hope that it might help steer decision-makers away from these pitfalls.

Decision Making↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Early understanding of the division of cognitive labor.

Two studies with 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds (N = 104) examined whether young children can differentiate expertise in the minds of others. Study 1 revealed that all children in the sample could correctly attribute observable knowledge to familiar experts (i.e., a doctor and a car mechanic). Further, 4- and 5-year-olds could correctly attribute knowledge of underlying scientific principles to the appropriate experts. In contrast, Study 2 demonstrated that 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds have difficulty making attributions of knowledge of scientific principles to unfamiliar experts. A computational analysis in Study 3 indicated that 4- and 5-year-olds' successes on the first two studies could not be attributed to the way in which words co-occur in discourse. Overall, these studies showed that young children have a sense of the division of cognitive labor, albeit fragile.

Child Development↗
PubMed2006

An evaluation of dementia screening in the primary care setting.

PURPOSE: To evaluate current screening methods for dementia to determine the most accurate and efficient tools for use in primary care. DATA SOURCES: Search included the following: Medline, CINAHL, BIOSIS, PsycINFO, ISI Web of Science, and Health & Psychosocial Instruments (1840-2005). The following search terms were used: screen, screening, tools, Mini Mental, MMSE, clock drawing, subjective memory, assessment, diagnosis, primary care, outpatient, community based, ambulatory care, dementia, cognitive impairment, and memory impairment. There was no limit to publication year. Articles excluded were those not published in English and those which used screening tools as part of diagnostic evaluation. The search revealed 581 relevant articles, which were narrowed to 20. CONCLUSIONS: The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) has high sensitivity and specificity in outpatients older than 65 years when age- and education-specific cutoffs are used. The clock drawing test has lower sensitivity and specificity when used alone; however, in combination with the MMSE, its sensitivity is higher than that of the MMSE while specificity is slightly lower. Subjective memory complaints contribute diagnostic information; however, objective memory performance is a stronger predictor of future dementia. All measures are subject to influence by age, education, and other physical factors. The body of evidence regarding dementia screening methods has increased in recent years. The studies have been well conducted, of large sample size, in various geographic locations and populations, and by numerous investigators. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Dementing illnesses will become a common presentation in primary care. Currently, routine screening is not conducted although acceptable instruments, such as the MMSE, are available. Additional research on routine screening in primary care to bolster the current evidence, use of nurses as evaluators of cognition, and utilization of specialists is needed.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

All our patients need to know about intensified diabetes management they learned in fourth grade.

It may be feasible for some patients using simplified meal-planning approaches and short-acting insulin regimens to use an insulin pump instead of 2 daily injections of 70/30 insulin. Although this approach may not be possible for everyone, the methods discussed in this article open the door for some individuals whose main stumbling blocks are calculating insulin dosing and grams of CHO. In our practice, we have seen repeatedly that simplified approaches for counting CHO intake and calculating insulin dose can work successfully even with intensive insulin management. It is our challenge as diabetes health professionals to continually search for creative ways to help our patients simplify their daily diabetes management tasks. In many cases, the patient is more likely to commit to healthful changes when the meal plan is simpler and more visual. It is not possible, however, to make patients proficient in CHO counting and insulin dosing in one visit. Referral to a registered dietitian who specializes in diabetes allows a tailored plan to be developed with each individual based on health parameters, treatment goals, lifestyle, and cognitive skills.

Blood Glucose↗
PubMed2002

[Neurobiological aspects of psychotherapy theory and practice].

Psychological processes of learning may lead to biological changes in brain synapses, as was shown by Eric Kandel, Nobel laureate for 2000. Factors connected with learning (for instance, psychotherapeutic procedures) can modify the expression of genes occurring in brain cells. Current neurobiological research make it possible to explain some theoretical concepts and mechanisms of action of psychotherapy on the ground of basic medical sciences. Experimental and clinical studies point to a prominent role for early untoward life experiences in brain development and vulnerability for psychiatric disturbances. Neuroimaging studies demonstrated the existence of unconscious processes in both cognitive and emotional functions. In several studies, changes in brain function or in the biology of whole organism were measured, under the influence of psychotherapy. It was found that in such illnesses as depression or obsessive-compulsive disorder, similar changes in brain functions, as measured with neuroimaging methods, were observed either after pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy. The attempts have been also made to interpret psychotherapeutic mechanisms in the light of current concepts of memory processes, functioning of brain circuits or neurobiological theories of character and temperament.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMed1996

[Experience with pupil tropicamide test in Alzheimer's disease].

Scinto et al (Science 1994; 266: 1051-4) observed that a single drop of 0.01% tropicamide elicited more than a 13% pupil dilatation in 19 individuals with probable or possible Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 3 cognitive abnormal elderly without dementia, but not in 30 out of 32 normal elderly and 3 out of 4 patients suffering from other dementias. It could be an easy and bloodless test to help in diagnosing AD. We have administered the same test to 10 patients with probable AD (NINCDS-ADRDA criteria) and twenty 40-90 year-old control subjects (10 of whom were sons or daughters of AD patients and 10 without a family history of dementia). The researcher does not know which group the subject belongs to. He administers a single drop of 0.01% tropicamide in eye and one drop of 0.45% normal saline solution in the other (without knowing the contents of either vial) and measures the pupil diameter by means of a Goldmann pupilometer in basal condition and 10, 15, 25, 30, 35, 45, and 55 minutes after. The results show that it is necessary to measure the pupils at least between the minutes 25 and 55 to detect tha maximum pupil dilation in every case. The cutoff point to consider the result positive must be located between 43 and 50%. If we establish the cutoff point in 50% of pupil dilation, 90% of AD patients and 35% of control subjects show a positive response. There was not a statistically significant difference between both control groups. Our results from this test show a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 65%. The positive responses of some control subjects may express a weak specificity, or perhaps they mean that we have a marker of the pre-clinical stage of the disease before us.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Reminiscence therapy for dementia.

BACKGROUND: Reminiscence Therapy (RT) involves the discussion of past activities, events and experiences with another person or group of people, usually with the aid of tangible prompts such as photographs, household and other familiar items from the past, music and archive sound recordings. Reminiscence groups typically involve group meetings in which participants are encouraged to talk about past events at least once a week. Life review typically involves individual sessions, in which the person is guided chronologically through life experiences, encouraged to evaluate them, and may produce a life story book. Family care-givers are increasingly involved in reminiscence therapy. Reminiscence therapy is one of the most popular psychosocial interventions in dementia care, and is highly rated by staff and participants. There is some evidence to suggest it is effective in improving mood in older people without dementia. Its effects on mood, cognition and well-being in dementia are less well understood. OBJECTIVES: The objective of the review is to assess the effects of reminiscence therapy for older people with dementia and their care-givers. SEARCH STRATEGY: The trials were identified from a search of the Specialised Register of the Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group on 4 May 2004 using the term "reminiscence". The CDCIG Specialized Register contains records from all major health care databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycLIT, CINAHL) and many ongoing trials databases and is regularly updated. We contacted specialists in the field and also searched relevant Internet sites. We hand-searched Aging and Mental Health, the Gerontologist, Journal of Gerontology, Current Opinion in Psychiatry, Current Research in Britain: Social Sciences, British Psychological Society conference proceedings and Reminiscence database. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials and quasi-randomized trials of reminiscence therapy for dementia. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. MAIN RESULTS: Five trials are included in the review, but only four trials with a total of 144 participants had extractable data. The results were statistically significant for cognition (at follow-up), mood (at follow-up) and on a measure of general behavioural function (at the end of the intervention period). The improvement on cognition was evident in comparison with both no treatment and social contact control conditions. Care-giver strain showed a significant decrease for care-givers participating in groups with their relative with dementia, and staff knowledge of group members' backgrounds improved significantly. No harmful effects were identified on the outcome measures reported. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Whilst four suitable randomized controlled trials looking at reminiscence therapy for dementia were found, several were very small studies, or were of relatively low quality, and each examined different types of reminiscence work. Although there are a number of promising indications, in view of the limited number and quality of studies, the variation in types of reminiscence work reported and the variation in results between studies, the review highlights the urgent need for more and better designed trials so that more robust conclusions may be drawn.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Impact of diet-related cancer prevention messages written with cognitive and affective arguments on message characteristics, stage of change, and self-efficacy.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if participants reading messages matched to a preferred style of message argument respond more favorably than participants reading unmatched messages. DESIGN: Randomized trial using telephone and in-person surveys and cognitive response interviews. SETTING: University campus. PARTICIPANTS: Of 125 initially interested, a convenience sample of 100 university employees completed the study (female: 88%, white: 94%, mean age: 43.7). INTERVENTION(S): Participants read 2 print messages written with cognitive (COG) (fact based) or affective (AFF) (story based) arguments. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): 7-point Likert scale ratings of message appeal, understandability, persuasiveness, and relevance according to classification into 1 of 4 message groups: COG-AFF (mismatched to affective), AFF-COG (mismatched to cognitive), COG-COG (matched cognitive), and AFF-AFF (matched affective). ANALYSIS: 1-way analysis of variance (P < or = .05) and systematic review of qualitative interviews. RESULTS: The COG-AFF group consistently gave the lowest ratings to the affective messages and the AFF-COG group generally gave high scores compared with other message groups. Participants also expressed a desire for more factual information. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: A combination of cognitive and affective arguments may be appealing to subjects with an affective preference but disliked by individuals who prefer only a fact-based approach. Argument format may be an important message design consideration.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Impure epistemology and the search for the nervous agent: a case study in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century neurophysics.

In this contribution, I argue for epistemological impurity as the key to the historical reconstruction of the proto-biological sciences of the eighteenth century. The traditional approaches to the more or less complex and more or less stratified past of science either focus on the ideal content of that which has in the meantime been recognized as standard biological knowledge (transmitted from generation to generation by textbooks) or otherwise try to uncover the implicit cognitive principles at work in order to reveal their shortcomings (as measured against today's accepted criteria = epistemological presentism). A closer look at the breakdown of the classical models of mechanistic explanation and the detailed analysis of the new empirico-experimental research in the neurophysiology of the eighteenth century shows, however, that eclectic procedures of various kinds have dominated the field. This eclecticism (the principle of epistemological impurity) supported, and was in turn supported by, what has recently become known as "thinking with one's hand." The paper illustrates this specific kind of thinking (and experimental acting) with reference to the case of Nicolas Le Cat's microphysics of nervous activity.

Biophysics↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Neural integration at the mesoscopic level: the advent of some ideas in the last half century.

History seen by a professional historian, based only on the documented record, always incomplete and liable to bias, can be unreliable. Modern history seen by a protagonist must surely be among the most unreliable. Yet, I must try, in a limited scope, to show the human drama as well as the flood on which we are floating, unable to dump the baggage of past biases. Our points of view, priorities, and positions on all the controversial issues and even the well established, noncontroversial ones, are not as rational as we would like to think but are strongly conditioned by where we came from. I wil depend on selected vignettes of the way things looked when I was a student, a young postdoctoral fellow and an Assistant Professor, to compare with the way they look now, in each of half a dozen mesoscopic domains--those in between the most basic subcellular or molecular and the higher levels of learning and cognition. The half dozen constitute, of course, anything but a representative fraction of neuroscience. But they add up to a nontrivial segment of the big picture with respect to the integrative aspects of our science. Most of the fronts that grew into today's popular branches are not represented, but a small set of particular interest and probability of further surprises.

History, 20th Century↗