An insect brain organizes numbers on a left-to-right mental number line.

The "mental number line" (MNL) is a form of spatial numeric representation that associates small and large numbers with the left and right spaces, respectively. This spatio-numeric organization can be found in adult humans and has been related to cultural factors such as writing and reading habits. Yet, both human newborns and birds order numbers consistently with an MNL, thus raising the question of whether culture is a main explanation for MNL. Here, we explored the numeric sense of honey bees and show that after being trained to associate numbers with a sucrose reward, they order numbers not previously experienced from left to right according to their magnitude. Importantly, the location of a number on that scale varies with the reference number previously trained and does not depend on low-level cues present on numeric stimuli. We provide a series of neural explanations for this effect based on the extensive knowledge accumulated on the neural underpinnings of visual processing in honey bees and conclude that the MNL is a form of numeric representation that is evolutionarily conserved across nervous systems endowed with a sense of number, irrespective of their neural complexity.

How therapists' interpersonal behaviour is perceived by their patients and close others: A longitudinal and cross-situational study.

Due to their predictive abilities, therapist interpersonal behaviour is of great relevance for psychotherapy. However, there is a lack of knowledge about its stability inside but also outside of the therapy room within and between therapists. The current study investigates interpersonal behaviour of trainee therapists (N = 20) as perceived by four patients each suffering from generalized anxiety disorder and three closely related persons of every therapist (close others). Investigating repeated measures, four patients per therapist completed the Impact Message Inventory (IMI; Kiesler, 1987) three times over the course of their cognitive behavioural therapy. Furthermore, the IMI was completed by three close others at one assessment time. Therapist interpersonal behaviour was perceived as more friendly and less submissive when evaluated by close others compared to patients. Using a multilevel approach, our results indicate that therapists' interpersonal behaviour was perceived considerably stable across patients and over the course of treatment, and there is considerable uniformity of the IMI evaluations in respect to the particular subscales within and between therapists. Our results highlight the potential similarities of observer-based habitual therapists' interpersonal behaviour inside and outside of the therapy room.

Associations Between Marital Discord and Depressive Symptoms: A Cross-Cultural Analysis.

The objectives of this study were to investigate actor and partner effects of the association between marital discord and depressive symptoms in a sample of 4,779 couples from 11 European countries that were divided into three groups (i.e., Northern, Central, Southern Europe), and evaluate the potential gender and cross-cultural invariance of this association. Actor-partner interdependence models were used to analyze the cross-sectional associations between self-reported perceived marital conflict and depressive symptoms. Marital conflict was significantly and positively associated with self-reported depressive symptoms for husbands and wives (actor effects), as well as with partner-reported depressive symptoms (partner effects). Pooling across cultural groups, no significant difference in the magnitude of actor or partner effects based on gender was found. The magnitude of the actor effects varied across cultural groupings only for women: a significantly weaker association existed for women residing in Northern Europe relative to women in Central or Southern Europe. These results suggest that marital discord is a reliable correlate of depressive symptoms for European couples and that the magnitude of the positive association varies by culture for women. Should these results be replicated longitudinally, couple-based interventions may be indicated to reduce marital discord and prevent and treat depression in Europe.

Los objetivos de este estudio fueron investigar los efectos en el actor y la pareja de la asociación entre el desacuerdo conyugal y los síntomas depresivos en una muestra de 4779 parejas de 11 países europeos que se dividieron en tres grupos (p. ej.: Europa septentrional, Europa Central y Europa meridional) y evaluar la posible invariancia intercultural y de género de esta asociación. Se utilizaron los modelos de interdependencia actor-pareja para analizar las asociaciones transversales entre el conflicto conyugal percibido y los síntomas depresivos autoinformados. El conflicto conyugal estuvo asociado considerable y positivamente con síntomas depresivos autoinformados para los esposos y las esposas (efectos en el actor), así como con síntomas depresivos informados por las parejas (efectos en la pareja). Al combinar los grupos culturales, no se encontró una diferencia significativa en la magnitud de los efectos en el actor o en la pareja sobre la base del género. La magnitud de los efectos en el actor varió entre grupos culturales solo en el caso de las mujeres: existió una asociación considerablemente más débil para las mujeres que viven en Europa septentrional respecto de las mujeres de Europa Central o Europa meridional. Estos resultados sugieren que los desacuerdos conyugales se correlacionan de manera fiable con los síntomas depresivos en las parejas europeas, y que la magnitud de la asociación positiva varía según la cultura en el caso de las mujeres. Si estos resultados se repitieran longitudinalmente, podrían indicarse intervenciones basadas en la pareja para disminuir el desacuerdo conyugal y prevenir y tratar la depresión en Europa.

Assessing interpersonal skills-A comparison of trainee therapists' and students' interpersonal skills assessed with two established assessments for interpersonal skills.

Therapist differences in psychotherapy outcomes have been consistently found. Therefore, therapists' characteristics such as interpersonal skills are of particular interest. Two assessments of interpersonal skills for the selection of trainees have recently been developed. To extend current knowledge, this study compares trainee therapist's and psychology student's interpersonal skills in both assessments simultaneously and also investigates the potential influence of clinical experience and age on interpersonal skills. Furthermore, the psychometric properties of these assessments are examined. A total of 19 trainee therapists and 17 undergraduate students (N = 36) participated in both assessments and provided information on their prior clinical experience. Trainee therapists had significantly better interpersonal skills than the students in both assessments. However, different indicators of clinical experience (e.g., years in practice, patients treated, and supervision) did not influence their performance in either assessment. The good psychometric properties of both assessments could be replicated. Conceptual and practical considerations on the assessment of interpersonal skills are discussed.

Perceived insufficient milk among primiparous, fully breastfeeding women: Is infant crying important?

Breastfeeding mothers often report perceived insufficient milk (PIM) believing their infant is crying too much, which leads to introducing formula and the early abandonment of breastfeeding. We sought to determine if infant crying was associated with reported PIM (yes/no) and number of problems associated with lactation (lactation problem score [LPS] 6-point Likert scale) before formula introduction. Primiparous breastfeeding mothers were recruited at birth and visited at 1, 2 and 4 weeks. Among those fully breastfeeding at 1 week (N = 230), infant crying variables based on maternal reports were not associated with PIM at 1 week, but LPS was. However, a mother's expectation that her infant would cry more than other infants was associated with increased odds of reporting PIM at 2 and 4 weeks, as were delayed onset of lactation and previous LPS. At 1 week, crying variables (frequency, difficulty in soothing) were associated with LPS along with percent weight change. Delayed onset of lactation, infant care style, number of breastfeeds and previous LPS were longitudinally associated with change in LPS from 1 to 2 weeks and 2 to 4 weeks. Our data suggest that reported infant crying is associated with PIM and LPS in the first 4 weeks of life. Guidance on what to expect in crying behaviour and the impact of infant care style may be beneficial in reducing PIM and LPS in the first month.

Postcoital Symptoms in a Convenience Sample of Men and Women.

INTRODUCTION: Postcoital dysphoria (PCD) is a condition characterized by inexplicable feelings of tearfulness, sadness, and/or irritability. Previous research has mostly focused on these 3 symptoms, failing to explore other symptoms that can occur after sexual activity. AIM: The aim of the present study was to get a more in-depth understanding of postcoital symptom variety, to compare the type and frequency of these symptoms in men and women, and to explore the context in which they manifest. METHODS: A convenience sample of 223 women and 76 men filled in an online survey consisting of a list of 21 symptoms and a set of additional questions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The study outcomes were obtained using a study-specific questionnaire to assess postcoital symptoms, consisting of a list of 21 symptoms that form 4 domains and 2 additional questions that assess personal and interpersonal distress. RESULTS: Of all participants, 91.9% reported any postcoital symptom over the past 4 weeks and 94.3% ever since they had been sexually active. The most common symptoms in women were mood swings and sadness, whereas in men, it was unhappiness and low energy. Men and women differed in the frequency of postcoital symptoms experienced ever since being sexually active, with women reporting more sadness, mood swings, frustration, and worthlessness. For 73.5% of individuals, the postcoital symptoms were present after consensual sexual intercourse, for 41.9%, after general sexual activity, and for 46.6% also, after masturbation. Of all participants, 33.9% said that they only experienced the symptoms after orgasm. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Postcoital symptoms are clearly more varied than previously suggested and are not related to classic "dysphoria" only. Hence, we propose to cease calling the phenomenon "postcoital dysphoria" and suggest to simply use the term "postcoital symptoms." STRENGTH & LIMITATIONS: This is the first study ever to provide a more in-depth exploration of postcoital symptom variety. The sample was relatively small, and the representativeness and, therefore, generalizability of the results was limited, given that a convenience sample was used. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that postcoital symptoms are a multifaceted phenomenon which shows similar expression in men and women. The symptoms are clearly more varied not related to classic "dysphoria" only. Burri A, Hilpert P. Postcoital Symptoms in a Convenience Sample of Men and Women. J Sex Med 2020;17:556-559.

Pain Catastrophizing, Fear of Pain, and Depression and Their Association with Female Sexual Pain.

INTRODUCTION: Painful sexual intercourse or dyspareunia is a common complaint among women, affecting 12-21% of premenopausal women. Recent studies have begun to focus on the role of fear avoidance and pain catastrophizing (PC) in genital pain and have consistently highlighted the importance of psych-affective factors in sexual pain. AIM: To establish the importance of PC, fear of pain, and depression for the development and maintenance of female sexual pain. METHODS: This longitudinal study was conducted in the United Kingdom to assess sexual pain at 2 different time points, in 2009 and 2013, in a convenience sample of N = 979 British women. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Well-validated questionnaires including the Pain Catastrophizing Scale, the Pain Anxiety Symptom Scale, and the Female Sexual Function Index (recent and lifelong version) were applied. RESULTS: Multilevel modeling showed a strong increase of short-lived sexual pain over the 4 years (π01 = -0.33; P < .001). According to the moderation analyses, only depression influenced the change in short-lived pain over the 4 years (π11 = 0.46; P = .016). Similarly, only depression turned out to be independently associated with sexual pain when entered into the multiple regression model, as women reporting higher depression levels also reported more sexual pain (P < 0.05). CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Clinicians should be aware that the mechanisms influencing short-lived sexual pain and changes in sexual pain seem to be different from the more enduring psychological factors that lead to the development and maintenance of "chronic" sexual pain. STRENGTHS & LIMITATIONS: A very generic and unidimensional definition of sexual pain was used without information on pain frequency or intensity, and no information on the possible underlying (medical or psychological or both) causes was available. However, as far as we know this represents the first study to use repeated measures to assess how pain changes over a 4-year period and to explore the role of potential psychoaffective risk factors. CONCLUSION: Among the variables studied, symptoms of depression seemed to be the only independent predictor of lifelong sexual pain, overriding potential influences of pain catastrophizing or fear of pain. Burri A, Hilpert P, Williams F. Pain Catastrophizing, Fear of Pain, and Depression and Their Association with Female Sexual Pain. J Sex Med 2020;17:279-288.

What can be learned from couple research: Examining emotional co-regulation processes in face-to-face interactions.

A crucial component of successful counseling and psychotherapy is the dyadic emotion co-regulation process between patient and therapist that unfolds moment to moment during therapy sessions. The major reason for the disappointing progress in understanding this process is the lack of appropriate methods to assess subjectively experienced emotions continuously during therapy sessions without disturbing the natural flow of the interaction. The resulting inability has forced the field to focus on patients' overall emotion ratings at the end of each session with limited predictive value of the dyadic interplay between patient and therapist's emotional states within each session. The current tutorial demonstrates how couple research-confronted with a comparable problem-has overcome this issue by (i) developing a video-based retrospective self-report assessment method for individuals' continuous state emotions without undermining the dyadic interaction and (ii) using a validated statistical tool to analyze the dynamical process during a dyadic interaction. We show how to assess emotion data continuously, and how to unravel self-regulation and co-regulation processes using a Latent Differential Equation Modeling approach. Finally, we discuss how this approach can be applied in counseling psychology and psychotherapy to test basic theoretical assumptions about the co-creation of emotions despite the conceptual differences between couple dyads and therapist-patient dyads. The present method aims to inspire future research activities examining systematic real-time processes between patients and therapists. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Coregulation of therapist and client emotion during psychotherapy.

OBJECTIVE: Close interpersonal relationships are fundamental to emotion regulation. Clinical theory suggests that one role of therapists in psychotherapy is to help clients regulate emotions, however, if and how clients and therapists serve to regulate each other's emotions has not been empirically tested. Emotion coregulation - the bidirectional emotional linkage of two people that promotes emotional stability - is a specific, temporal process that provides a framework for testing the way in which therapists' and clients' emotions may be related on a moment to moment basis in clinically relevant ways. METHOD: Utilizing 227 audio recordings from a relationally oriented treatment (Motivational Interviewing), we estimated continuous values of vocally encoded emotional arousal via mean fundamental frequency. We used dynamic systems models to examine emotional coregulation, and tested the hypothesis that each individual's emotional arousal would be significantly associated with fluctuations in the other's emotional state over the course of a psychotherapy session. RESULTS: Results indicated that when clients became more emotionally labile over the course of the session, therapists became less so. When changes in therapist arousal increased, the client's tendency to become more aroused during session slowed. Alternatively, when changes in client arousal increased, the therapist's tendency to become less aroused slowed.

Daily and long-term consequences of support seeking in Chinese couples: Between-person differences and within-person processes.

It is widely accepted that support-seeking behaviour is culture-specific, such that Asians are less likely to seek support when stressed compared with Westerners. However, mounting evidence is based on the vignette methodology or the cross-sectional survey and utilised students sample. Little is known about how such behaviour manifests in real life and incurs relational consequences. Moreover, psychological theories predict both differences in support-seeking behaviour between persons and the variability of such behaviour within persons. The current study aims to explore between-and within-person associations between support seeking and relationship satisfaction in Chinese couples. Eighty-four Chinese couples reported their daily stressors, support seeking behaviour, and relationship satisfaction every evening for 7 days and overall relationship satisfaction before the diary study and 1 year later. We found that support seeking matters in Asian couples: On days when couples sought more support, they would be more satisfied with their relationship. Notably, no negative associations between couples' own support seeking and partners' relationship satisfaction were found. This study advances our understanding of general and temporal support-seeking processes in Asian couples in the course of everyday life and over time. Results entail important theoretical and practical implications.

Investigating the impact of early alliance on predicting subjective change at posttreatment: An evidence-based souvenir of overlooked clinical perspectives.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 66(5) of Journal of Counseling Psychology (see record 2019-58882-002). In the article, a portion, +γ40ERit, was omitted in the Model 3 formula. The corrected formula is presented in the erratum. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Despite meta-analytic evidence showing that alliance is associated with posttreatment outcomes, several open questions still remain regarding this relation. First, we investigate whether (or not) the progressive aggregation of early alliance assessments increases the alliance-outcome relation across 2 distress and 4 subjective change measures. Second, we investigate whether the alliance-outcome relations using subjective change measures are independent from intake distress and early response. Third, we explore whether the progressive aggregation of the alliance on outcomes becomes particularly apparent between or within therapists again investigating these six outcome measures. Data were drawn from N = 430 patients treated by N = 151 therapists. Patient ratings of early alliance were assessed after Session 1 to 6. For outcome, 2 commonly used distress measures at intake and at posttreatment and 4 measures of retrospectively evaluated subjective change at posttreatment are integrated into a series of multilevel models. The proportion of variance in outcome predicted by alliance scores varied considerably depending on the number of alliance assessments which were aggregated, as well as on the type of outcome assessment (distress vs. subjective change measures) explaining up to 15% of outcome variance. Improvements in the strength of prediction with aggregated alliance assessments were most pronounced for subjective change measures for between-therapist components of the alliance. Examining associations with subjective change measures provides an additional, patient-centered perspective of the relation between early alliance and treatment outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Global Study of Social Odor Awareness.

Olfaction plays an important role in human social communication, including multiple domains in which people often rely on their sense of smell in the social context. The importance of the sense of smell and its role can however vary inter-individually and culturally. Despite the growing body of literature on differences in olfactory performance or hedonic preferences across the globe, the aspects of a given culture as well as culturally universal individual differences affecting odor awareness in human social life remain unknown. Here, we conducted a large-scale analysis of data collected from 10 794 participants from 52 study sites from 44 countries all over the world. The aim of our research was to explore the potential individual and country-level correlates of odor awareness in the social context. The results show that the individual characteristics were more strongly related than country-level factors to self-reported odor awareness in different social contexts. A model including individual-level predictors (gender, age, material situation, education, and preferred social distance) provided a relatively good fit to the data, but adding country-level predictors (Human Development Index, population density, and average temperature) did not improve model parameters. Although there were some cross-cultural differences in social odor awareness, the main differentiating role was played by the individual differences. This suggests that people living in different cultures and different climate conditions may still share some similar patterns of odor awareness if they share other individual-level characteristics.

How to customize a bona fide psychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder? A two-arms, patient blinded, ABAB crossed-therapist randomized clinical implementation trial design [IMPLEMENT 2.0].

BACKGROUND: Bona fide psychotherapy approaches are effective treatments for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) compared to no-treatment conditions. Treatment manuals and protocols allow a relatively high degree of freedom for the way therapists implement these overall treatment packages and there is a systematic lack of knowledge on how therapists should customize these treatments. The present study experimentally examines two implementation strategies of customizing a bona fide psychotherapy approach based on a 16 session time-limited cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) protocol and their relation to the post-session and ultimate treatment outcomes. METHODS: This trial contrasts two different implementation strategies of how to customize the in-session structure of a manual-based CBT-protocol for GAD. The patients will be randomly assigned to two implementation conditions: (1) a systematic focus on subtle changes lasting from 7 to 20 min at the check-in phase of every psychotherapy session and (2) a state-of-the-art (SOTA) check-in phase lasting several minutes mainly focused on the session goals. Potential therapist effects will be examined based on an ABAB crossed-therapist design. Treatment outcomes will be assessed at the following times: post-session outcomes, treatment outcome at post assessment and 6- as well as 12-month follow-up. DISCUSSION: The proposed randomized clinical implementation trial addresses the clinically relevant question of how to customize a bona fide psychotherapy protocol experimentally contrasting two implementation strategies. Through the development and testing of the proposed implementation design, this trial has the potential to inform therapists about efficacious implementation strategies of how to customize a manual-based treatment protocol in respect to the timing of the in-session structure. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov ( NCT03079336 ) at March 14, 2017.

Childhood trauma and resilience in old age: applying a context model of resilience to a sample of former indentured child laborers.

OBJECTIVES: Psychological resilience has been rarely investigated in elderly populations. We applied a more comprehensive model of trauma-specific coping and resilience, which included Ungar's context model and included decentral factors of resilience (i.e., environments that provide resources to build resilience). METHOD: We assessed resilience in a cohort of former Swiss indentured child laborers (N = 74; 59% males) at two time points; first at the mean age of 80 years and then again 20 months later. At each time point, the following measures of resilience were assessed: resilience indicators of life satisfaction and lack of depression. In addition, resilience predictors of trauma exposure, perceived social support, dysfunctional disclosure of traumatic experiences, social acknowledgment as a victim, and self-efficacy; and decentral resilience factors of education, income, number of children, and physical health were measured. RESULTS: Using path-analysis, we found that life satisfaction and lack of depression were predicted by dysfunctional disclosure, social support, and self-efficacy at various significance levels. Change scores of resilience were predicted by higher trauma exposure, social acknowledgment as a victim, and an interaction between the two. The model for decentral factors also fitted, with physical health and income predicting the resilience indicators. CONCLUSION: Applying this comprehensive resilience model in a sample of older adults revealed meaningful findings in predicting resilience at a single time point and over time. Atypical coping strategies, such as perceived social acknowledgment as a victim and disclosure, may be particularly important for former victims who have suffered institutional abuse.

Longitudinal evaluation of sexual function in a cohort of pre- and postmenopausal women.

INTRODUCTION: Aspects of women's sexual functioning that have received relatively little attention are its stability and how changes in the different sexual response domains influence each other over time. AIM: The aim of this study was to describe the changes and to evaluate the stability of self-reported sexual functioning over a 4-year period in a population sample of British women. METHODS: A 4-year follow-up study on N = 507 women, including 178 pre- and 329 postmenopausal women, was conducted. The validated Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) was applied. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: A multigroup path analytical model was used to examine autoregressive effects (the effect of a domain on itself at a later point in time) and cross-lag effects (one variable affecting another variable at a later point in time) across all FSFI domains of sexual functioning between pre- and postmenopausal women. RESULTS: Overall, the proportion of postmenopausal women suffering from a sexual dysfunction at measurement point 1 (T1) was higher compared with premenopausal women (pre: 34.3% vs. post: 14.5%). However, both groups showed a comparable number of women developing a sexual problem (pre: 22.2% vs. post: 23.2%) or improving their sexual functioning (7.4% vs. 7.6%) after the 4 years. Furthermore, path model analyses revealed that each domain at T1 significantly predicted its level 4 years later (ßs ranging from 0.33 for arousal to 0.57 for lubrication), with the exception of sexual satisfaction. In terms of cross-lag effects, the changes in all domains except for pain were predicted either by levels of desire, arousal, or orgasm at T1 (ßs ranging from 0.18 to 0.36) in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Women's sexual functioning was moderately stable across the 4 years. The main predictors of changes in sexual functioning and satisfaction were desire and arousal, highlighting their role as possible key players in women's sexual health.

Emotion dynamic patterns between intimate relationship partners predict their separation two years later: A machine learning approach.

Contemporary emotion theories predict that how partners' emotions are coupled together across an interaction can inform on how well the relationship functions. However, few studies have compared how individual (i.e., mean, variability) and dyadic aspects of emotions (i.e., coupling) during interactions predict future relationship separation. In this exploratory study, we utilized machine learning methods to evaluate whether emotions during a positive and a negative interaction from 101 couples (N = 202 participants) predict relationship stability two years later (17 breakups). Although the negative interaction was not predictive, the positive was: Intra-individual variability of emotions as well as the coupling between partners' emotions predicted relationship separation. The present findings demonstrate that utilizing machine learning methods enables us to improve our theoretical understanding of complex patterns.

Associations Between Vocal Arousal and Dyadic Coping During Couple Interactions After a Stress Induction.

It is well known that although relationship external stressors can harm couples, dyadic coping behavior can buffer the negative effects of stress. Thus far, however, less is known about how vocally encoded stress (i.e., f0) might affect the stress-coping process in couples during an interaction. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to compare two different stress hypotheses (i.e., paraverbal communication stress hypothesis and emotional resonance hypothesis). We observed 187 mixed-gender couples (N = 374 participants) interacting naturally after an experimental stress induction (Trier Social Stress Test), for which couples were randomly allocated into three groups (women stressed, men stressed, and both stressed). Results of a multi-group actor-partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) show that either the paraverbal communication stress hypothesis or the emotional resonance hypothesis could be confirmed, depending on whether the man, the woman, or both partners were stressed.

A weekly-diary study of students' schoolwork motivation and parental support.

BACKGROUND: Parental support plays an important role in children's schoolwork motivation and may have been even more important during the first UK COVID-19 pandemic lockdown because all schoolwork was completed at home. When examining the effect of parental support on children's schoolwork motivation, research has typically focused on comparing families with each other (i.e., difference between families). In reality, however, the effect unfolds as a transactional, bidirectional process between parents and children over time (i.e., a within family process). This research trend can result in imprecise conclusions about the association between parental support and schoolwork motivation. OBJECTIVES: We examined bidirectional effects of parental schoolwork support and children's schoolwork motivation at both the between-family and within-family level. METHODS: This study reports findings from a weekly-diary study conducted during the first UK COVID-19 school lockdown. Cross-lagged within and between multilevel modelling was used to analyse data from UK secondary school students (N = 98) in Years 7-9. RESULTS: Between-family results show no evidence of association between motivation and parental support. Within-family results indicate that higher motivation (assessed as higher expectations of success) predicted more support from parents. However, in contrast with predictions, weekly levels of parental support did not predict children's weekly fluctuations in motivation. CONCLUSIONS: Within-family results were not consistent with between-family results. This study is novel in showing that child-driven effects appear to be important in eliciting parental support within families over time.

Deliberate control over facial expressions in motherhood. Evidence from a Stroop-like task.

The deliberate control of facial expressions is an important ability in human interactions, in particular for mothers with prelinguistic infants. Because research on this topic is still scarce, we investigated the control over facial expressions in a Stroop-like paradigm. Mothers of 2-6 months old infants and nullipara women produced smiles and frowns in response to verbal commands written on distractor faces of adults or infants showing expressions of happiness or anger/distress. Analyses of video recordings with a machine classifier for facial expression revealed pronounced effects of congruency between the expressions required by the participants and those displayed by the face stimuli on the onset latencies of the deliberate facial expressions. With adult distractor faces this Stroop effect was similar whether participants smiled or frowned. With infant distractor faces mothers and non-mothers showed indistinguishable Stroop effects on smile responses; however, for frown responses, the Stroop effect in mothers was smaller than in non-mothers. We suggest that for frown responses in mothers when facing infants, the effect of mimicry or stimulus response compatibility, leading to the Stroop effect, is offset by a caregiving response or empathy.

Taking Care Triple P for Foster Parents With Young Children in Foster Care: Results of a 1-Year Randomized Trial.

Young children with a history of maltreatment or neglect in foster families often confront their caregivers with particularly challenging behaviors. This may lead to more parenting stress, an increased risk for the child in foster care to experience further maltreatment, and placement disruptions. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to investigate the efficacy of a parent group training tailored to the special needs of foster families. We hypothesized significant short- and long-term improvements regarding foster parents' parenting competencies, child mental health problems, and related outcomes. Eighty-one families with 87 children in foster care aged 2 to 7 years participated in the trial. For the intervention study, 44 randomly selected families (54%) were offered to participate in the parent group training. Intervention and control group families were reassessed three times over a period of 1 year. Contrary to our expectations, we found no advantages of the intervention group compared with the usual care control group on any outcome measure. Instead, we found some significant changes in both groups across time. Placement into foster care is associated with some favorable outcomes for children in foster care. Additional support for foster families beyond the services delivered in the youth welfare system to foster parents was not associated with more favorable outcomes. The present intervention is likely associated with a low risk of harm but also with a high likelihood of a lack of significant benefits for foster parents and their young children going beyond feeling satisfied about the delivered services. Participating foster families showed favorable baseline results on parenting measures which may have impeded intervention effects to unfold on these proximal variables.