Academic self-handicapping as a mediator of the relation between imposterism and academic goal orientation: testing invariance by gender and underrepresented status.

Imposterism and academic self-handicapping (ASH) are related to negative outcomes in college students. We examined whether the relationship between imposterism and academic goal orientations is mediated by ASH across men and women and for students who are underrepresented on campus. Participants were 852 undergraduates (29.

Cognitive-perceptual and disorganized schizotypal traits are nonlinearly related to atypical semantic content on tasks of semantic fluency.

Language deficits emerge early in the course of schizophrenia, yet research findings in those at-risk for schizophrenia, such as those with schizotypy, are mixed. The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the relationship of language ability, measured via semantic fluency, to schizotypy, examining both linear and non-linear relations. Semantic fluency data from 295 individuals with varying amounts of schizotypal traits were analyzed utilizing traditional methods (i.

Risky decision-making and delusion proneness: An initial examination.

Delusion proneness is an individual-differences characteristic, existing on a continuum from no delusional thoughts to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Previous research found individuals high in delusion proneness request less information to make decisions, potentially making a decision without sufficient information (jumping to conclusions). The present study examined risky decision-making as a function of delusion proneness.

Effects of acute pain and pain-related fear on risky decision-making and effort during cognitive tests.

: The experience of acute pain and pain-related fear negatively impact cognition and behavior; however, little research has examined their impacts on risky decision-making and effort. The present study investigated the effects of acute pain and pain-related fear on risky decision-making and effort during cognitive tests. : Levels of pain-related fear were assessed.

Developmental Differences in Filtering Auditory and Visual Distractors During Visual Selective Attention.

The current experiment examined changes in visual selective attention in young children, older children, young adults, and older adults while participants were instructed to ignore auditory and visual distractors. The aims of the study were to: (a) determine if the Perceptual Load Hypothesis (PLH) (distraction greater under low perceptual load) could predict which irrelevant stimuli would disrupt visual selective attention, and (b) if auditory to visual shifts found in modality dominance research could be extended to selective attention tasks. Overall, distractibility decreased with age, with incompatible distractors having larger costs in young and older children than adults.

Meta-analysis of cognitive performance in fibromyalgia.

Introduction: Fibromyalgia is a condition with symptoms of pain, physical function difficulties, and emotional problems, but is also characterized by complaints of poor cognition (often called "FibroFog"). Over the last two decades, a number of studies have examined cognitive differences between individuals with and without fibromyalgia. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a quantitative synthesis of these differences across multiple cognitive domains.

Women's leadership in neuropsychology: historical perspectives, present trends, and future directions.

Objective: Although psychology has become a female-dominated field, this pattern of gender representation has not held true within the specialty of neuropsychology. In recent years more women have been pursuing careers in neuropsychology, and while the balance of male and female neuropsychologists as a whole has shifted, it is unclear whether the gender composition of leadership has also changed. Our goal was to survey various neuropsychological organizations, training programs, editorial boards, and organizations granting board certification to determine the current gender composition of leadership positions within neuropsychology.

Different patterns of modality dominance across development.

The present study sought to better understand how children, young adults, and older adults attend and respond to multisensory information. In Experiment 1, young adults were presented with two spoken words, two pictures, or two word-picture pairings and they had to determine if the two stimuli/pairings were exactly the same or different. Pairing the words and pictures together slowed down visual but not auditory response times and delayed the latency of first fixations, both of which are consistent with a proposed mechanism underlying auditory dominance.

An Initial Examination of Performance on Two Versions of the Iowa Gambling Task.

Objective: To examine differences between two versions of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT).

Method: A total of 282 undergraduate students completed one of two versions of the IGT: the original version from 1994 (n = 132), or the 2007 version available through Psychological Assessment Resources (PAR) (n = 150).

Results: PAR (2007 version) IGT participants decided more advantageously (i.

The vulnerability of self-reported disability measures to malingering: a simulated ADHD study.

Objective: Making diagnostic and accommodation decisions for potential Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in adults is difficult, as the assessor often relies more on self-reported symptoms and functional disability than in childhood evaluations. Malingering of ADHD occurs frequently in the educational setting and for a variety of reasons, including the potential benefits of access to stimulant medications and academic accommodations.

Method: The present study utilized a simulation design to examine the potential for malingering of self-reported functional disability on the World Health Organization Disability Schedule 2.

Test-Retest Reliability of Common Behavioral Decision Making Tasks.

Objective: To examine test-retest reliability of common behavioral decision making tasks.

Method: A total of 98 undergraduate students completed two administrations of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), Columbia Card Task (CCT), and Game of Dice Task (GDT), three weeks apart.

Results: The BART, CCT, and GDT showed moderately strong correlations across time.

The proceedings of the 15th professional conference on Williams Syndrome.

Williams Syndrome (WS) is a contiguous gene deletion disorder, caused by the deletion of approximately 26-28 genes from chromosome 7 (7q11.23). Individuals with WS have complex medical, developmental, and behavioral features, requiring multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Auditory stimuli automatically grab attention: Evidence from eye tracking and attentional manipulations.

Simultaneously presenting auditory and visual stimuli can hinder performance for one modality while the other dominates. For approximately 40 years, research with adults has primarily indicated visual dominance, while recent research with infants and young children has revealed auditory dominance. The current study further investigates modality dominance with adults, finding evidence for both auditory and visual dominance across 3 experiments.

Efforts toward treatments against aging of organophosphorus-inhibited acetylcholinesterase.

Aging is a dealkylation reaction of organophosphorus (OP)-inhibited acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Despite many studies to date, aged AChE cannot be reactivated directly by traditional pyridinium oximes. This review summarizes strategies that are potentially valuable in the treatment against aging in OP poisoning.

Associations Between Original and a Reduced Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe), Cognition, and Activities of Daily Living in a Large Neurologic Sample.

A recent confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) indicated that the basic structure of the FrSBe subscales held after removal of 8 weak items. In a replication of previous studies using the original FrSBe, the present study explored associations between a reduced version of the FrSBe, cognition, and activities of daily living (ADLs) in a large mixed outpatient neurologic sample. Consistent with previous findings with the original FrSBe, significant associations existed between reduced FrSBe scores and the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-Second Edition.

Evolution and function of the upper molar talon and its dietary implications in microbats.

The evolution of mammalian molars has been marked by transitions representing significant changes in shape and function. One such transition is the addition and elaboration of the talon, the distolingual region of the ancestral tribosphenic upper molar of therian mammals and some extinct relatives. This study uses suborder Microchiroptera as a case study to explore the adaptive implications of the expansion of the talon on the tribosphenic molar, specifically focusing on the talon's role in the compression and shear of food during breakdown.

Feasibility of use of probabilistic reversal learning and serial reaction time tasks in clinical trials of Parkinson's disease.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using two computer-administered neuropsychological tasks in a clinical trial involving participants with Parkinson's disease without dementia. The tasks, probabilistic reversal learning (PRL) and serial reaction time (SRT), target dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (SRT) and ventral striatal-orbitofrontal (PRL) functioning respectively.

Methods: Participants were 53 adults with idiopathic Parkinson's disease who completed both the SRT and PRL tasks at baseline in a clinical trial.

The assessment of risky decision making: a factor analysis of performance on the Iowa Gambling Task, Balloon Analogue Risk Task, and Columbia Card Task.

Researchers and clinicians frequently use behavioral measures to assess decision making. The most common task that is marketed to clinicians is the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), thought to assess risky decision making. How does performance on the IGT relate to performance on other common measures of decision making? The present study sought to examine relationships between the IGT, the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), and the Columbia Card Task (CCT).

Utility of the cognitive difficulties scale and association with objective test performance.

Subjective memory complaints (SMCs) are commonly noted in memory disorder clinic patients. The present study sought to examine the presence of SMCs on the Cognitive Difficulties Scale (CDS) in older adults and to examine the relationship between CDS scores and current cognitive ability. Participants were 50 adults diagnosed with possible/probable Alzheimer's disease (AD), 100 with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 84 cognitively healthy controls (HCs).

Risky decision making in smoking and nonsmoking college students: examination of Iowa Gambling Task performance by deck type selections.

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is used to assess risky decision making in clinical and nonclinical populations. Recent studies have begun to assess performance on the IGT not by number of advantageous and disadvantageous selections, but rather by the pattern of performance on each of the four individual decks (A, B, C, and D). The present study sought to further examine deck selection patterns among smoking and nonsmoking college students, as mixed results have been found on the IGT in nicotine and as a function of substance satiation level.

Seeing the forest through the trees: improving decision making on the Iowa gambling task by shifting focus from short- to long-term outcomes.

Introduction: The present study sought to examine two methods by which to improve decision making on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT): inducing a negative mood and providing additional learning trials.

Method: In the first study, 194 undergraduate students [74 male; M age = 19.44 (SD = 3.

The contribution of apathy and increased learning trials to risky decision-making in Parkinson's disease.

Impairments in executive functioning are commonly found in Parkinson's disease (PD); however, the research into risky decision making has been mixed. The present study sought to investigate three potential hypotheses: difficulty learning the task probabilities, levodopa equivalent dose (LED), and the presence of apathy. Twenty-four individuals with idiopathic PD and 13 healthy controls completed the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale to assess current apathy, the Iowa Gambling Task, and the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART).

Verbal expressive personality testing with older adults: 25+ years later.

This review builds on those conducted over 25 years ago by Panek and Hayslip in examining the literature dealing with the use of verbal expressive techniques with older adults. Such findings based on the Rorschach Ink Blot Test, Holtzman Inkblot Technique, Hand Test, Sentence Completion methods, and the Thematic Apperception Test and kindred thematic apperceptive techniques are presented and evaluated regarding the evidence for age differences, differential diagnosis, extraneous individual differences in performance, and adequacy of normative data. Although available evidence appears to warrant the continued use of verbal expressive techniques with older adults, more adequately designed studies are necessary to fully support the potential of these assessment tools for decision making with this population: assisting in diagnosis, recommending the appropriateness of various living arrangements, facilitating supportive care choices, and aiding in treatment planning.

Beyond words: comprehension and production of pragmatic prosody in adults and children.

Prosody includes suprasegmental components of speech, such as intonation and rate, which add meaning beyond the words being spoken. Sensitivity to pragmatic prosody could improve communication within conversations. These studies investigated adults' and preschoolers' sensitivity to pragmatic prosody.