Mental Computation and Language Breakdown: Clarifications, Extensions, and Responses

This paper is a response to commentaries on my target paper for Computational Intelligence, "Control and Cross-Domain Mental Computation: Evidence from Language Breakdown." In this response, I acknowledge certain errors in my initial construal of control and dismiss unwarranted criticisms. I then reexamine both control and certain language disorders in light of the explicitness of cross-domain communication and the visibility of representations to each other. In the end, I reassert the validity of the logic/control (visibility) distinction in mental computation and argue that the contrasts between Specific Language Impairment and Williams syndrome parallel this distinction.     

Dorothea Jameson and Leo Hurvich: Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.

Recognizes the receipt of the American Psychological Association's 1972 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award by Dorothea Jameson and Leo Hurvich. The award citation reads: "The research team of Dorothea Jameson and Leo Hurvich has significantly advanced our knowledge of color vision through a broadly based program of conceptually sophisticated and rigorously conducted experiments. Their research has provided basic data which are essential to theory and at the same time provide a quantitative framework for physiological investigations. Their very unusual scholarship, technical skill, untiring motivation, and contagious enthusiasm for scientific discovery have set new standards of excellence against which future experimenters and theorists will be judged." Biographies and listings of the awardees' scientific writings are included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrative Psychotherapy in Addictive Disorders.

In most countries, addictive disorders have increased considerably in the recent years, becoming a main problem of public health for governments. One approach toward the rehabilitation of people with addictive disorders is in Chile's Therapeutic Communities. In such communities, recovering addicts actively collaborate in the rehabilitation of people in treatment. The characteristics of the rehabilitation process are presented from the perspective of the supraparadigmatic integrative model proposed by R. Opazo (1997). The application of an integrative clinical evaluation record (Ficha de Evaluacion Clinica Integral) helps one to understand, through the different subsystems of the model, the presenting problems of persons entering rehabilitation, the etiological role of each subsystem, and the modification that takes place during treatment. Biological predisposing factors such as extraversion and neurological immaturity are resistant to treatment modification; however, alterations acquired during the addictive process, in all the subsystems of the model, are modifiable after 9 months of integrative psychotherapy. On the basis of the authors' observations and on the supraparadigmatic integrative model, an etiological approach of addictive disorders is suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child Psychopharmacology: How School Psychologists Can Contribute to Effective Outcomes.

Psychopharmacological treatments have been used with increased frequency to treat a variety of internalizing and externalizing disorders in children. Given the potential impact that medication has on children's school performance, school psychologists should be involved in helping physicians and families make effective decisions by assisting with (a) diagnostic decision-making and determining the need for medication; (b) evaluating medication effects and determining optimal dosage; and (c) integrating medical, psychosocial, and educational interventions. Potential barriers to the adoption of these roles are discussed as well as clinical, ethical, training, and legal implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facial distribution of subcutaneous fat in women

Transparency of the skin is an important keyword that is frequently used in questionnaires related to the female skin condition and skin consciousness, as well as an index for 'before and after' comparisons of the effect of cosmetics. However, the concept of 'transparency' has not been concretely defined. In the present study, we investigated the importance of 'transparent skin' and the relationship between transparency and other expressions for skin condition comparing the young with middle-aged and elderly women. Furthermore, we also analyzed the correlation between the subjective assessment score of transparency of panels made by evaluators and the skin physiological parameters of those panels, and compared the difference of their relationship when the young and middle-aged and elderly women were employed as evaluators. Regarding the consciousness of the young women, the importance of 'transparent skin' was ranked in the top position while 'skin roughness' was the chief worry of the middle-aged and elderly women. On the other hand, both age groups indicated that transparent skin is a complex concept composed of skin texture, color, and moisture. Analysis of the relationship between the subjective assessment and the skin physiological parameters showed that the uneven dispersion of b in the skin color (standard deviation), the water content of stratum corneum, and the skin surface configuration (depth of furrows, amount of furrows) closely correlated with the judgment of skin transparency in the young group, in contrast to the uneven dispersion of L and a in the skin color (standard deviation) in the middle-aged and elderly women. These results suggest that there may be no differences between the different age groups in the linguistic concept of transparency, while there may be differences in the physiological characteristics of skin that are utilized in making the judgment of transparency.     

Improved Treatment Outcome Associated With the Shift to Empirically Supported Treatments in a Graduate Training Clinic.

There has been an increase in recent years in the use of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) for a variety of mental disorders. This study was an investigation of the impact of standardized use of ESTs in an outpatient community clinic. Clients treated prior to and those treated after the implementation of this policy were compared. The results indicate significant group differences, with the improvement ratings of the group receiving ESTs surpassing those of the group receiving unsupported treatment. Support for the use of ESTs indicates that patients may be best served if therapists rely primarily on these treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adapted motivational interviewing for women with binge eating disorder: A randomized controlled trial.

In this randomized controlled trial, 108 women with binge-eating disorder (BED) recruited from the community were assigned to either an adapted motivational interviewing (AMI) group (1 individual AMI session + self-help handbook) or control group (handbook only). They were phoned 4, 8, and 16 weeks following the initial session to assess binge eating and associated symptoms (depression, self-esteem, quality of life). Postintervention, the AMI group participants were more confident than those in the control group in their ability to change binge eating. Although both groups reported improved binge eating, mood, self-esteem, and general quality of life 16 weeks following the intervention, the AMI group improved to a greater extent. A greater proportion of women in the AMI group abstained from binge eating (27.8% vs. 11.1%) and no longer met the binge frequency criterion of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) for BED (87.0% vs. 57.4%). AMI may constitute a brief, effective intervention for BED and associated symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognition and emotion: From order to disorder, second edition.

Reviews the book, Cognition and emotion: From order to disorder, second edition by Mick Power and Tim Dalgleish (see record 2007-10431-000). In this book, the authors provide a detailed analysis of emotion with an explicit focus on differences and similarities between "disordered" emotion and normative emotional experience. What sets this text apart from other books on cognition and emotion is its attempt to describe the philosophical and historical underpinnings of work on emotion. Another unique feature of this text is that the authors go beyond just describing the various theories of emotion by comparing and contrasting the arguments advanced by the theories and highlighting the strengths and limitations of each theory. This book is divided into two parts: Part 1 is a review of the major theories of emotion, and Part 2 consists of reviews of research on five basic emotions, as well as illustrations of how the SPAARS framework can be used to explain normative and nonnormative variants of these emotions. Power and Dalgleish suggest that readers can choose either to read the book in its entirety or to focus on the sections that are of interest. Overall, this second edition of Cognition and Emotion is a readable and engaging book. This book is not a primer; as noted earlier, some parts of it are conceptually heavy. For this reason, the most appropriate audience for this book is advanced graduate students who already have some background in research on basic emotion or psychopathology and who are looking to enhance their knowledge base. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is running away right? The behavioral activation-behavioral inhibition model of anterior asymmetry.

The measurement of anterior electroencephalograph (EEG) asymmetries has become an important standard paradigm for the investigation of affective states and traits. Findings in this area are typically interpreted within the motivational direction model, which suggests a lateralization of approach and withdrawal motivational systems to the left and right anterior region, respectively. However, efforts to compare this widely adopted model with an alternative account-which relates the left anterior region to behavioral activation independent of the direction of behavior (approach or withdrawal) and the right anterior region to goal conflict-induced behavioral inhibition-are rare and inconclusive. Therefore, the authors measured the EEG in a sample of 93 young men during emotional imagery designed to provide a critical test between the 2 models. The results (e.g., a correlation between left anterior activation and withdrawal motivation) favor the alternative model on the basis of the concepts of behavioral activation and behavioral inhibition. In addition, the present study also supports an association of right parietal activation with physiological arousal and the conceptualization of parietal EEG asymmetry as a mediator of emotion-related physiological arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further validation of the IDAS: Evidence of convergent, discriminant, criterion, and incremental validity.

The authors explicated the validity of the Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS; D. Watson et al., 2007) in 2 samples (306 college students and 605 psychiatric patients). The IDAS scales showed strong convergent validity in relation to parallel interview-based scores on the Clinician Rating version of the IDAS; the mean convergent correlations were .51 and .62 in the student and patient samples, respectively. With the exception of the Well-Being Scale, the scales also consistently demonstrated significant discriminant validity. Furthermore, the scales displayed substantial criterion validity in relation to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) mood and anxiety disorder diagnoses in the patient sample. The authors identified particularly clear and strong associations between (a) major depression and the IDAS General Depression, Dysphoria and Well-Being scales, (b) panic disorder and IDAS Panic, (c) posttraumatic stress disorder and IDAS Traumatic Intrusions, and (d) social phobia and IDAS Social Anxiety. Finally, in logistic regression analyses, the IDAS scales showed significant incremental validity in predicting several DSM-IV diagnoses when compared against the Beck Depression Inventory-II (A. T. Beck, R. A. Steer, & G. K. Brown, 1996) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (A. T. Beck & R. A. Steer, 1990). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)