Progressive and imaginal relaxation training for elderly persons with subjective anxiety.

Elders exposed to either progressive or imaginal relaxation procedures reported significant relaxation effects and showed improvement on measures of personal functioning. The results of the Physical Assessment Scale of the Relaxation Inventory indicated that relaxation responses were acquired within and across sessions. Large, consistent changes in relaxation occurred in all 4 sessions. The Symptom Checklist-90—Revised, which measures self-reported personal adjustment, showed significant positive changes following relaxation training and at 1-mo follow-up. Elders who imagined muscle tension release profited as much as those engaged in actual muscle tension-release activities. This finding is of importance for older adults who may experience physical limitations that contraindicate muscle-tension-release procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The cosmic worm

Sometimes scientists would like to put their heads into interesting parts of their data sets and look around, but they are hampered by the “outside looking in” aspect of workstation-based visualization. At the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, we are attempting to break some of the visualization barriers with a distributed computing and visualization environment developed using the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) virtual reality theater. In particular, we are trying to provide physicists and astrophysicists at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) a new vehicle for scientific discovery     

Cholinergic mediation of spatial memory in the preweanling rat: Application of the radial arm maze paradigm.

In 2 experiments with 70 Sprague-Dawley rats, Ss were trained and tested in the maze from 16 to 25 days of age. Results show that Ss that received training performed significantly better than those naive to the task and better than chance, which suggests an early capacity for this type of learning. To distinguish between the working and the reference memory components of the task, a modification of the basic radial arm maze paradigm was used. Ss trained from 16 days received drug injections of saline, methscopolamine bromide, scopolamine hydrobromide, or arecoline hydrobromide prior to testing at 25 days. Results indicate that central cholinergic antagonism severely impaired working memory while sparing reference memory. This finding is consistent with a role for acetylcholine in adult learning and memory, specifically in working memory. Findings document that (a) the radial-arm-maze paradigm can be used effectively for the developmental study of learning and memory in the rat and (b) cholinergic system(s) mediates working memory at an early age. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patients' information needs and decision-making processes: What can be learned from genetic counselees?

This field study investigated the information needs and decision-making strategies of 161 genetic counselees interviewed just prior to counseling. Patients were interested mostly in information about the outcomes and consequences of the alternative options at their disposal and about measures to defuse the risks. They wanted mainly information stated with certainty and were less interested in probability information. There was no difference in the search for information between the alternative eventually chosen and the one not chosen. There was a difference, however, among types of decisions and the interest in the various categories of information. These findings were interpreted within the theoretical model of decision making in natural risky situations (O. Huber, 1997). Practical implications for shared medical decision making are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental perception of emotional expressiveness in children with autism.

Parents' perceptions of their children's emotional expressiveness, and possible bases for these perceptions, were investigated in a study comparing older, nonretarded autistic and normal children and in another study comparing young autistic, mentally retarded, and normal children. Both groups of autistic children were perceived as showing more negative emotion and less positive emotion than comparison children. In the younger sample, parental perceptions correlated with the children's attention and responsiveness to others' displays of emotion in 2 laboratory situations. Findings contradict the view that autism involves the "absence of emotional reaction." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strengthening behavioral interventions for weight loss: A randomized trial of food provision and monetary incentives.

Behavioral treatments for obesity seek to modify eating and exercise behaviors by a change in their antecedents and consequences. More direct modification of antecedents and consequences by (1) the provision of food to patients and (2) the provision of financial rewards for weight loss was hypothesized to improve treatment outcomes. 202 men and women were randomly assigned to no treatment, standard behavioral treatment (SBT), SBT plus food provision, SBT plus incentives, or SBT plus food provision and incentives. The major finding was that food provision significantly enhanced weight loss. Weight losses with SBT averaged 7.7, 4.5, and 4.1 kg at 6, 12, and 18 mo, respectively, compared with 10.1, 9.1, and 6.4 kg, respectively, at the same intervals with the addition of food. Food provision also enhanced attendance, completion of food records, quality of diet, and nutrition knowledge. The authors conclude that the provision of food to weight-loss patients is a promising methodology that deserves further exploration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social support and long-term recovery from coronary artery surgery: Effects on patients and spouses.

Using a longitudinal design, the effect of social support on recovery from coronary bypass surgery was examined in 155 patients and 103 of their spouses. Perception of the availability of 5 types of social support was relatively stable from preoperation to 1 yr after surgery and was significantly related to emotional and functional outcomes. Of the 5 types of support measured, only esteem support was significantly and consistently related to outcomes for patients and spouses. This relationship was strongest within-time, and across-time relationships effects were weaker. Spouse's perception of support was related to patient outcomes, controlling for patient perceptions of support. Results suggest that perception of esteem support may be the most salient type of support related to feelings of well-being during and after an acute health-care event. In addition, perception of social support may be characterized by stable individual differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral and physiological correlates of children's reactions to others in distress.

Examined the behavioral and physiological correlates of children's reactions to others in distress and the relation of these to dispositional helpfulness. 37 3rd graders and 29 6th graders watched a film about a distressed child. Facial expressions, heart rate variability (HRV), and skin conductance (SC) were recorded during the film. An index of dispositional helpfulness was obtained from children's mothers. High HRV was predictive of children's sympathetic rather than distressed reactions. For boys, sympathetic responsiveness positively predicted dispositional helpfulness; for girls, SC was inversely related to dispositional helpfulness. It was concluded that children who are able to regulate their vicariously induced emotional responsiveness are relatively likely to experience sympathy and relatively unlikely to experience personal distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)