From poor performance to success under stress: Working memory, strategy selection, and mathematical problem solving under pressure.

Two experiments demonstrate how individual differences in working memory (WM) impact the strategies used to solve complex math problems and how consequential testing situations alter strategy use. In Experiment 1, individuals performed multistep math problems under low- or high-pressure conditions and reported their problem-solving strategies. Under low-pressure conditions, the higher individuals' WM, the more likely they were to use computationally demanding algorithms (vs. simpler shortcuts) to solve the problems, and the more accurate their math performance. Under high-pressure conditions, higher WM individuals used simpler (and less efficacious) problem-solving strategies, and their performance accuracy suffered. Experiment 2 turned the tables by using a math task for which a simpler strategy was optimal (produced accurate performance in few problem steps). Now, under low-pressure conditions, the lower individuals' WM, the better their performance (the more likely they relied on a simple, but accurate, problem strategy). And, under pressure, higher WM individuals performed optimally by using the simpler strategies lower WM individuals employed. WM availability influences how individuals approach math problems, with the nature of the task performed and the performance environment dictating skill success or failure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dual processing and organizational justice: The role of rational versus experiential processing in third-party reactions to workplace mistreatment.

The moral perspective of justice proposes that when confronted by another person's mistreatment, third parties can experience a deontic response, that is, an evolutionary-based emotional reaction that motivates them to engage in retribution toward the transgressor. In this article, we tested whether the third party's deontic reaction is less strong when a rational (vs. experiential) processing frame is primed. Further, we tested whether third parties high (vs. low) in moral identity are more resistant to the effects of processing frames. Results from a sample of 185 French managers revealed that following an injustice, managers primed to use rational processing reported lower retribution tendencies compared with managers primed to use experiential processing. Third parties high in moral identity, however, were less affected by the framing; they reported a high retribution response regardless of processing frame. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serotonergic functioning in depressed abused children: clinical and familial correlates

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to examine serotonergic functioning and concomitant clinical and familial correlates in depressed abused children. METHODS: L-5-Hydroxytryptophan (L-5-HTP) (0.8 mg/kg) was administered intravenously to 10 depressed abused (MDD-AB), 10 depressed nonabused (MDD-NA), and 10 normal control nonabused (NC-NA) children. The children in the two nonabused cohorts represent a small matched subset of children from a larger interlocking study of the psychobiology of depression. Blood samples for prolactin and cortisol were collected from 30 min before to 2.5 hours after L-5-HTP infusion. RESULTS: The MDD-AB children secreted significantly more prolactin post-L-5-HTP than the children in the other two groups. There were no differences in baseline prolactin or any of the cortisol measures. Total prolactin post-L-5-HTP was significantly correlated with clinical ratings of aggressive behavior (rho = .48). In addition, children with a family history positive for suicide attempt (MDD-AB: n = 7; MDD-NA: n = 5; NC-NA: n = 2) secreted significantly more prolactin post-L-5-HTP than children with no family history of suicide. CONCLUSIONS: Dysregulation in the serotonergic system in abused children appears to be related to both familial and experiential factors.     

Infantile colic as maternal reason of consulting a pediatrician: characteristics of mother and child

About 10-20% of infants under four months of age suffer from infantile colic (IC), an excessive screaming behaviour caused by multiple factors. WESSELS et al. (1954) definition is that babies in usually good health and nutritional condition are screaming/whining more than three hours daily, more than three days weekly for no apparent reasons. The question is whether/in what way daily routines of infants concerned differ from normal infants. Mothers of colicky infants (n = 25) and mothers in a control group (n = 25) record characteristics of the mother/child relationship, their assumptions why the child is screaming, care and attention they provide and babies' reactions. For seven days the mothers kept a diary about the babies' behaviour and worked on questionnaires concerning social support received, depressant effects and exhaustion. Interviews about the extent of care provided as well as personal thoughts and emotions were conducted. The "colic group" formed two subgroups: one fulfilling Wessels criteria (Wessel-Koliker; WK), the other more conforming with the "control group" babies though mothers complained about screaming (Non-Wessel-Koliker; NWK). "Colic group"-babies received more attention and care (compared to the "control group" babies), attempts to calm them down frequently failed and mothers in this group reacted less promptly to their babies' screaming. "NWK-group"-mothers strongly tend to attribute the babies' screaming to "meteorism" or "discontent". No differences existed between groups concerning social support, depressant effects and exhaustion. There is a risk that the colic may negatively influence the mother/child interaction beyond three months.     

Emotion Context Insensitivity in Major Depressive Disorder.

The present study tested 3 competing views of how depression alters emotional reactivity: positive attenuation (reduced positive), negative potentiation (increased negative), and emotion context insensitivity (ECI; reduced positive and negative). Normative and idiographic stimuli that elicited happy, sad, and neutral states were presented to currently depressed, formerly depressed, and healthy control individuals while experiential, behavioral, and autonomic responses were measured. Currently depressed individuals reported less sadness reactivity and less happiness experience across all conditions than did the other participants, and they exhibited a more dysphoric response to idiographic than to normative stimuli. Overall, data provide partial support for the positive attenuation and ECI views. Depression may produce mood-state-dependent changes in emotional reactivity that are most pronounced in emotion experience reports. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributions and behavior in functional and dysfunctional marriages

The study examined whether spouses' attributions for partner behavior are related to their own behavior by assessing their attributions and observing the problem-solving discussions of couples in which (a) neither spouse was depressed or maritally distressed, (b) the wife was depressed and both spouses were maritally distressed, and (c) the wife was not depressed and both spouses were maritally distressed. To the extent they made maladaptive attributions, wives displayed less positive behavior and more negative behavior. Husbands' attributions and behavior were unrelated, and associations between attributions and behavior were not moderated by marital distress and depression. These results highlight the need to clarify how partner behavior contributes to the attributions spouses make and to reexamine interventions designed to modify attributions in marital therapy.     

Depressed versus nondepressed young adult tobacco users: Differences in coping style, weight concerns and exercise level.

Undergraduates age 18 to 24 years (n=656) completed questionnaires assessing tobacco use, depressive symptoms, coping responses, weight concerns, and exercise. The majority of participants were female (72%), White/non-Hispanic (95%), and in the 1st or 2nd year of college (80%). Current tobacco users (n=236) had a higher frequency of depression (40%) than never tobacco users (32%; p=.05). Tobacco users classified as depressed (Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale [CES-D] score a 16) reported greater weight concerns and more frequent maladaptive coping in response to negative mood than tobacco users classified as nondepressed (CES-D score     

Childhood depression, stressors and parental depression

The relationship between depression and stressors and the relationship between depression in children and depression in their parents were investigated. Depressed children aged 7-11 years (n = 20) were compared with clinical non-depressed children (n = 88) and normal children (n = 55). Children, mothers and fathers in the three groups were tested. Measures included the Children's Depression Inventory, Recent Life Events Scale, Stressor Scale and Beck Depression Inventory. The findings showed that children and mothers in the depressed group reported more stressors than other children and other mothers while fathers of children in the depressed group did not report more stressors. The findings also showed that mothers of depressed children were more depressed than mothers of normal children while there were no differences between the scores of fathers in the three groups.     

Health effects of emotional disclosure in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

This study examined the effects of emotional disclosure of stressful events on the pain, physical and affective dysfunction, and joint condition of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Patients were randomly assigned to talk privately about stressful events (disclosure group, n?=?36) or about trivial topics (control group, n?=?36) for 4 consecutive days. Disclosure resulted in immediate increases in negative mood. At 2 weeks the 2 groups did not differ on any health measure, but at 3 months disclosure patients had less affective disturbance and better physical functioning in daily activities. There was no main effect of disclosure on pain or joint condition, but among the disclosure patients, those who experienced larger increases in negative mood after talking demonstrated improvements in the condition of their joints. This study concludes that, among RA patients, verbal disclosure and emotional processing of stressful life events induces an immediate negative mood followed by improved psychological functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Processing of ambiguous and unambiguous feedback by depressed and nondepressed college students: Schematic biases and their implications for depressive realism.

Explored schematic processing as a mechanism for predicting (a) when depressed Ss would be negative relative to nondepressed Ss and (b) when depressed and nondepressed Ss would show biased or unbiased (i.e., "realistic") processing. Depressed and nondepressed Ss performed multiple trials of a task under conditions in which the 2 groups held either equivalent or different schemas regarding this task. Ss received either an unambiguous or objectively normed ambiguous feedback cue on each trial. In full support of schematic processing, depressed Ss showed negative encoding relative to nondepressed Ss only when their schemas were more negative, and both depressed and nondepressed Ss showed positively biased, negatively biased, and unbiased encoding depending on the relative feedback cue-to-schema match. Depressed and nondepressed Ss' response latencies to unambiguous feedback also supported the occurrence of schematic processing. We discuss the methodological, treatment, and "realism" implications of these findings and suggest a more precise formulation of Beck's schema theory of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A stress-coping profile of opioid dependent individuals entering naltrexone treatment: A comparison with healthy controls.

Background: Stress is known to increase addiction vulnerability and risk of relapse to substance use. Purpose & Method: We compared opioid dependent individuals entering naltrexone treatment (n = 57) with healthy controls (n = 75) on measures of stress, coping, and social support and examined the relative contribution of group membership, coping, and social support to stress within the sample. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) and covariance (ANCOVA), and stepwise multiple regression were conducted. Results: Compared with controls, opioid dependent subjects reported greater stress, less use of adaptive coping, but comparable use of maladaptive/avoidant coping. No group differences were found with respect to social support. Perceived stress was predicted by group membership, low social support, and greater use of maladaptive/avoidant coping, and the prediction by social support and maladaptive/avoidant coping did not differ by group. Conclusion: Opioid dependent individuals entering naltrexone treatment experience higher levels of stress and report less use of adaptive coping strategies when compared with controls. Group membership, maladaptive/avoidant coping, and social support independently contribute to perceived stress. Findings suggest that novel treatment approaches that decrease maladaptive/avoidant coping and improve social support are important aspects of decreasing stress during early recovery from opioid addiction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Guilt in depressed outpatients.

This study was designed to determine whether normal control subjects (n?=?17) and depressed outpatients (n?=?72) differed with respect to the extent and conditions under which they reported dysfunctional guilt. Depressed outpatients reported significantly more guilt than normal control subjects in most types of situations. A family history of depression was related to a higher overall level of guilt in patients. Course and severity of depression and endogenous subtype did not relate to the amount of guilt reported by the patients. This study provides clinical norms on the Situational Guilt Scale (SGS) of E. T. Klass (see record 1988-15740-001) for a sample of unipolar, nonpsychotic outpatients with major depressive disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Updating positive and negative stimuli in working memory in depression.

Difficulties in the ability to update stimuli in working memory (WM) may underlie the problems with regulating emotions that lead to the development and perpetuation of mood disorders such as depression. To examine the ability to update affective material in WM, the authors had diagnosed depressed and never-disordered control participants perform an emotion 2-back task in which participants were presented with a series of happy, sad, and neutral faces and were asked to indicate whether the current face had the same (match-set) or different (break-set or no-set) emotional expression as that presented 2 faces earlier. Participants also performed a 0-back task with the same emotional stimuli to serve as a control for perceptual processing. After transforming reaction times to control for baseline group differences, depressed and nondepressed participants exhibited biases in updating emotional content that reflects the tendency to keep negative information and positive information, respectively, active in WM. Compared with controls, depressed participants were both slower to disengage from sad stimuli and faster to disengage from happy facial expressions. In contrast, nondepressed controls took longer to disengage from happy stimuli than from neutral or sad stimuli. These group differences in reaction times may reflect both protective and maladaptive biases in WM that underlie the ability to effectively regulate negative affect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional expression and physical heath: Revising traumatic memories or fostering self-regulation?

Health benefits derived from personal trauma disclosure are well established. This study examined whether disclosing emotions generated by imaginative immersion in a novel traumatic event would similarly enhance health and adjustment. College women, preselected for trauma presence, were randomly assigned to write about real traumas, imaginary traumas, or trivial events. Yoked real-trauma and imaginary-trauma participants wrote about real-trauma participants' experiences. Imaginary-trauma participants were significantly less depressed than real-trauma participants at immediate posttest, but they were similarly angry, fearful, and happy. Compared with control group participants, both trauma groups made significantly fewer illness visits at 1-month follow-up: however, real-trauma participants reported more fatigue and avoidance than did the other groups. Imaginary-trauma group effects could reflect catharsis, emotional regulation, or construction of resilient possible selves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relinquishment of control and the Type A behavior pattern: The role of performance evaluation.

Investigated the role of information processing in the control relinquishment decisions of individuals with Type A (coronary prone) and Type B (noncoronary prone) personalities. Pairs of undergraduates (N?=?147) who had previously completed the Jenkins Activity Survey worked independently on a task and received feedback indicating that their partner had performed at a comparable or superior level. On a 2nd task, Ss combined their efforts and made decisions concerning who would work on different parts of that task. One-third of the Ss made this decision before completing an evaluation of the initial performances. Another third completed the evaluation without knowing that they would subsequently make a control decision. The final third of the Ss completed their evaluations knowing that a control decision would follow. Results indicate that when the evaluations were completed last, or when the evaluations were completed first but without knowledge of the impending decision, Type A's relinquished less control to a superior partner than did Type B's. When evaluations were completed with knowledge of an impending control decision, Type A's and B's did not differ in their decisions. Results suggest that under certain conditions, Type A's use an automatic or mindless decision style with potentially maladaptive consequences. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social-environmental factors in unipolar depression: Comparisons of depressed patients and nondepressed controls.

Examined the role of stress and coping factors in depression by comparing a group of 409 Ss (over age 18) entering psychiatric treatment for unipolar depression with a sociodemographically matched group of 409 nondepressed Ss. In addition to reporting significantly more stressful events than controls, depressed Ss also experienced more severe life strains associated with their own and their family members' physical illness, their family relationships, and their home and work situations. Depressed Ss were less likely to use problem-solving and more likely to use emotion-focused coping responses and had fewer and less supportive relationships with friends, family members, and co-workers. These group differences were consistent for both depressed women and men. Findings indicate the value of expanding the consideration of psychosocial factors in depression to include individuals' chronic strains and acute stressors as well as their coping responses and social resources. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressed people are not less motivated by personal goals but are more pessimistic about attaining them.

Despite its theoretical importance, personal goal motivation has rarely been examined in clinical depression. Here we investigate whether clinically depressed persons (n = 23) differ from never-depressed persons (n = 26) on number of freely generated approach and avoidance goals, appraisals of these goals, and reasons why these goals would and would not be achieved. Participants listed approach and avoidance goals separately and generated explanations for why they would (pro) and would not (con) achieve their most important approach and avoidance goals, before rating the importance, likelihood, and perceived control of goal outcomes. Counter to hypothesis, depressed persons did not differ from never-depressed controls on number of approach or avoidance goals, or on the perceived importance of these goals. However, compared to never-depressed controls, depressed individuals gave lower likelihood judgments for desirable approach goal outcomes, tended to give higher likelihood judgments for undesirable to-be-avoided goal outcomes, and gave lower ratings of their control over goal outcomes. Furthermore, although controls generated significantly more pro than con reasons for goal achievement, depressed participants did not. These results suggest that depressed persons do not lack valued goals but are more pessimistic about their likelihood, controllability, and reasons for successful goal attainment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Doing the right thing at the right time? The interaction of stages and processes of change in successful smoking cessation

Research on the transtheoretical model has provided substantial support for both stages of change and processes of change (coping strategies influencing successful behavior change). This study examined whether timing of process use (using particular change processes during one stage and not during others) influences quit success. Hypothesized patterns of optimal process use were those marked by more use of experiential processes and less use of behavioral processes during contemplation and preparation and by the reverse pattern during action. Participants (N = 388) began in contemplation or preparation and took action during a 4-6 week period. Multivariate analyses of covariance examined the relationship between patterns of process use and success in staying quit both at 1-month follow-up and 5-6 months later. For the most part, results supported the hypothesis that successful stage transitions involve doing the right thing at the right time: engaging in experiential process activities during contemplation and preparation stages and shifting to behavioral process activities during action.     

Adolescents' reasoning about exclusion from social groups.

Ninth- and 11th-grade students (N=379) were surveyed regarding their evaluations of excluding someone from a social group solely on the basis of his or her social reference group membership. Individuals evaluated exclusion in ambiguous and nonambiguous situations. Judgments and reasoning about exclusion were compared with judgments and reasoning about a more prototypically moral situation (denial of resources). Overall, participants evaluated exclusion as less wrong than denial of resources and used fewer moral and more conventional reasons to justify their judgments. Participants relied more on their group knowledge or stereotypes in evaluating ambiguous situations and more on their personal knowledge in evaluating nonambiguous situations. Age- and gender-related differences in evaluations, reasoning, and use of stereotypes were also found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social competence and depression: The role of illusory self-perceptions.

Attempted to evaluate the role in clinical depression of 2 personal variables: social competencies (as perceived by others) and their encoding or self-perception by the individual. Both self-ratings and ratings from observers were obtained for 71 depressed, 59 psychiatric control, and 73 normal control individuals following a group interaction at different times in the course of treatment. As expected, the depressed Ss initially rated themselves and were rated by others as less socially competent than the 2 control groups, and their self-perceptions improved with treatment. Surprisingly, the depressed were more realistic in their self-perceptions than the controls. Specifically, the controls perceived themselves more positively than others saw them, whereas the depressed saw themselves as they were seen. This realism of the depressed tended to decrease in the course of treatment. The theoretical implications of a possibly illusory flow for appropriate affect and self-regulation are discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)