Why do people misunderstand stroke symptoms? How background knowledge affects causal attributions for ambiguous stroke symptoms.

Primary objective: People often misattribute stroke survivors' symptoms to other causes such as their personality, especially when the survivors are young. As a result, these stroke survivors experience feelings of resentment towards and from their acquaintances, and may struggle to retain employment. This study aimed to clarify how people's misattributions for stroke symptoms were affected by varying information about the stroke. Methods: Experiment 1 examined whether the stroke survivor's age (72, 32 or unstated) and the information about the person's stroke (no information, explicit stroke or implied stroke) influenced participants' causal attributions for the stroke survivor's four ambiguous symptoms, such as fatigue. Experiment 2 examined the effect of the rapidity (a week or a year) with which the symptoms appeared. Results: When the scenario explicitly referred to stroke, participants attributed the ambiguous symptoms more to stroke, whereas when it did not mention stroke, participants attributed these symptoms more to other factors. When stroke was merely implied by reference to unilateral paralysis, participants rated stroke the best explanation when the target person was 72 but not when he was 32. Experiment 2 showed that stating that the symptoms happened rapidly heightened attributions to stroke in the 72-year-old but not the 32-year-old. Conclusions: These findings show how different information about stroke survivors affect people's attributions for survivors' behaviour; this has important implications for accurate diagnosis and effective rehabilitation that targets these attributions.

Is remembering less specifically part of an avoidant coping style? Associations between memory specificity, avoidant coping, and stress.

Individuals higher on avoidant coping may remember fewer specific autobiographical memories and more nonspecific memories on the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) in order to protect themselves from the painful emotions accompanying some specific memories. Habitually remembering this way (overgeneral memory) may be a risk factor for depression. In Studies 1 and 2 (nondepressed samples), avoidant coping was associated with more specific memories and fewer overgeneral memories, at odds with the functional avoidance view. In Study 3 (depressed sample), there were no significant relationships between AMT indices and avoidant coping. Results are discussed in light of ironic process theory.

Attributions about persons with brain injury: the effects of knowledge and familiarity about brain injury.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To determine how visible markers of brain injury interact with people's knowledge about brain injury to influence people's attributions for undesirable behaviours of a person with brain injury. RESEARCH DESIGN, METHOD AND PROCEDURES: Scenarios in Experiment 1 (n = 98) and Experiment 2 (n = 148) described an adolescent pictured with or without a head scar, who showed four behavioural changes. Participants rated two causal attributions for each behaviour: brain injury and adolescence. Experiment 1 varied information that the adolescent had a brain injury and Experiment 2 assessed participants' familiarity with brain injury. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The presence of a head scar increased attributions to brain injury. In Experiment 1, participants not informed about the brain injury attributed the behaviours more to adolescence than to brain injury than informed participants. In Experiment 2, in the 'no scar' condition participants familiar with brain injury attributed the behaviours more to brain injury than those who were not. CONCLUSION: Markers of brain injury interact with people's knowledge about brain injury in shaping people's attributions for the behaviour of persons with brain injury. When people attribute sequelae of the brain injury to other causes, this may hinder appropriate treatment.

What components of perfectionism predict drive for thinness?

Perfectionism and drive for thinness have both been described as predictors of eating disorders, but the relationship between these two constructs over time requires further investigation, as does the an understanding of what components of perfectionism are important in this relationship. Using a longitudinal design, a population of 175 young adults was followed up over a 4 month period. Structural equation modelling indicated a unidirectional relationship between evaluative concerns and drive for thinness, with evaluative concerns, measured at Time 1 predicting an increase in drive for thinness at Time 2. This finding has potential implications for understanding psychological symptoms that precede eating disorder symptoms, and may help build models about prevention and treatment. As a first study to prospectively examine this relationship, further research is needed to assess the generalisability of the findings, and to explore additional variables that may mediate the relationship between evaluative concerns and drive for thinness.

Hemispheric specialization for emotional word processing is a function of SSRI responsiveness.

Vulnerability to depression and non-response to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are associated with specific neurophysiological characteristics including greater right hemisphere (RH) relative to left hemisphere (LH) activity. The present study investigated the relationship between hemispheric specialization and processing of emotional words using a divided visual field paradigm administered to never-depressed and previously-depressed individuals, who were subdivided into SSRI responders and non-responders. SSRI responders and never-depressed participants were similar in their left hemispheric lateralization for evaluating emotional words. In contrast, SSRI non-responders showed a relative shift towards RH processing of negative words, and a strong bias toward negative evaluation of words presented to the RH. The results are discussed within the context of a biological-cognitive model of vulnerability to depression.

Attributions for behaviours of persons with brain injury: the role of perceived severity and time since injury.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: The experiment determined first whether visible markers of brain injury shape judgements of severity of injury and time since injury; and secondly whether these two judgements predict attributions for undesirable actions performed by an adolescent with brain-injury. RESEARCH DESIGN: Scenarios presented a photograph of an adolescent, in one condition with a head scar and in a second condition with no scar. The adolescent was described as having suffered a brain injury and showing four behaviour changes, concerning sleep, anger, self-confidence and motivation. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: For each behaviour, students (n = 101) rated attributions to the brain injury and adolescence and estimated severity of injury and time since injury. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: With no scar, participants attributed the behaviours to adolescence more than brain injury, whereas with the scar they invoked both causes equally. With the scar they rated severity higher and time since injury shorter; severity predicted participants' attributions for the behaviours. CONCLUSIONS: Visible markers of injury such as scars are spurious indicators of severity but they shape judgements of severity and attributions for actions of persons with brain injury. These results inform more accurate diagnosis and treatment for actions resulting from brain injury.

The implicit sequence learning deficit in patients with Parkinson's disease: a matter of impaired sequence integration?

Despite the wealth of research investigating the serial reaction time (SRT) learning abilities of people with Parkinson's disease (PD), the role of the basal ganglia in implicit sequence learning remains largely unclear. The present research sought to examine the ability of people with PD to implicitly learn simultaneously operating sequences and integrate patterned information from each sequence dimension. Using a version of the SRT which reduced motor demands, the present experiment investigated the implicit learning of a spatial sequence, a stimulus-response sequence, and an integrated spatial/stimulus-response sequence, all of which are usually confounded in the standard SRT task. Whereas both PD and control groups demonstrated robust learning for the individual spatial and response sequences, only control participants evidenced learning for the integrated sequence. Further, unlike implicit learning for the spatial and object sequences, impaired integrated sequence acquisition was specifically related to the severity of patients' PD symptomatology. The implicit learning deficits of PD patients are discussed with regard to the role played by the basal ganglia in integrative sequence learning in the SRT.

When artificial grammar acquisition in Parkinson's disease is impaired: the case of learning via trial-by-trial feedback.

Although there is strong evidence that human category learning is mediated by qualitatively distinct systems, the neural substrates of procedural category learning remain largely unclear. The present research sought to investigate the role of the basal ganglia in the acquisition of categorical knowledge via an examination of the ability of people with Parkinson's disease (PD) to learn an artificial grammar (AG) system in a format akin to habit learning tasks such as probabilistic classification learning. Eighteen nondemented patients with PD were compared with 22 matched controls on a task modified so that participants' grammar learning depended on making use of feedback provided on each trial. Results showed that patients with PD exhibited abnormal AG learning, with the deficit more pronounced early in the task. Impaired categorisation performance in patients was not related to declarative knowledge obtained during the test and was independent of frontal functioning. The findings presented here indicate that prior inconsistencies across category learning tasks in PD performance may be explained, at least in part, by whether the task necessitates the formation of associations between stimulus cues and categorical responses, and support the hypothesis that the basal ganglia play a specific role in procedural learning in complex feedback-based categorisation tasks.

Impaired higher order implicit sequence learning on the verbal version of the serial reaction time task in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Although neuroimaging studies have strongly implicated basal ganglia involvement in implicit sequence learning, serial reaction time (SRT) studies with Parkinson's disease (PD) patients have yielded mixed results. The present research sought to examine the ability of people with PD to implicitly learn sequences with different sequential structures and to objectively assess explicit knowledge. A version of the SRT task that reduces motor demands was used to compare 19 patients with PD but not dementia and 37 matched controls. PD patients showed less implicit sequence-specific learning for both sequences and reduced response time improvement over sequential trials for the more complex sequence. A closer examination revealed that the deficit involved higher order sequential associations as well as the learning of pairwise information.

Anxiety and depression: why and how to measure their separate effects.

It is well recognized that depression and anxiety are closely associated, but nonetheless, they may be associated with distinct causes and consequences. For example, anxiety and depression are associated with different effects on information processing. This paper argues that experiments should not study anxiety or depression in isolation, but should measure both variables. It is argued that this methodological step is both important and commonly overlooked. Even when both depression and anxiety are measured, methodological difficulties can confuse their effects. Common difficulties in choice of measures and in participant selection criteria are discussed, and recommendations are made for overcoming them. The argument is made drawing from illustrations within the experimental cognitive literature, but conclusions and recommendations are equally applicable outside this area.

Dissociating sequence learning performance in Parkinson's disease: Visuomotor sequence acquisition and pattern judgment on a serial reaction time task.

In this study, the sequence learning performance of 16 non-demented patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) was compared with 18 age-matched healthy controls on a verbal version of the serial reaction time (SRT) task intended to encapsulate both visuomotor- and judgment-linked learning processes. Visuomotor sequence performance in PD patients was closely related to baseline response speed, with robust learning demonstrated by patients who responded with comparable speed to controls but severely impaired performance in patients who responded slowly. In contrast, both fast- and slow-responding PD patients were able to successfully categorise patterns according to their sequential status, a performance that was linked to declarative memory for the sequence. The findings highlight the important role of event timing in SRT performance and are in accord with the hypothesis that, despite the important role played by the basal ganglia in motor sequence learning, basal ganglionic dysfunction may not substantially impair sequence order learning so much as the translation of sequence knowledge into rapid motor performance for some PD patients. Intact pattern judgment on the SRT experiment suggests that the integrity of the neostriatum is not essential for learning judgment-linked categorical information about sequences of temporal stimulus movement.

Visible markers of brain injury influence attributions for adolescents' behaviour.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Experiments investigated whether attributions for a brain-injured person's behaviours were affected by markers of injury. People misattribute behaviours that result from brain injury to personality or life stages (e.g. adolescence), particularly when there are no visible markers of the injury. RESEARCH DESIGN: Scenarios presented a photograph of an adolescent boy, who either wore or did not wear a head bandage. The boy was described as suffering a brain injury and showing four changes in his behaviour, relating to sleep, anger, self-confidence and motivation. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: For each behaviour, students (n=100) rated attributions to the brain injury and adolescence. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: When there was no bandage, participants attributed the behaviours to adolescence more than brain injury, whereas with the head bandage they invoked both causes equally. CONCLUSIONS: When actions resulting from brain injury are attributed to causes other than the injury, this misattribution hinders accurate diagnosis and treatment. Data on effects of injury and individual levels of pre-morbid behaviours lead to accurate attributions.