Search

Prior research suggests students can sometimes learn more effectively by explaining and correcting example problems that have been solved incorrectly, compared to problem-solving practice or studying correct solutions. It remains unclear, however, what role students' affect might play in the process of learning from erroneous examples. Specifically, it may be that students experience greater confusion and frustration while studying erroneous examples, but that their confusion and frustration lead to greater learning. We analyzed student log data from previously published research comparing erroneous example instruction of decimal number mathematics to problem-solving instruction in a computer-based intelligent tutoring system. We created and applied affect detectors for a combination of confusion and frustration ("confrustion") and compared the role of confrustion across conditions. As predicted, students in the erroneous example condition experienced greater confrustion while working through the instructional materials. However, contrary to predictions, confrustion was negatively correlated with posttest and delayed posttest performance across conditions, though less so for the erroneous example condition. Given that students in the erroneous example condition performed better on the delayed posttest than students in the problem-solving condition, it appears they learned more despite also experiencing greater confrustion rather than because of it. Results suggest that learning from erroneous examples may be an inherently more confusing and frustrating process than traditional problem solving. More generally, this research demonstrates that logging student actions at a step-by-step problem-solving level and analyzing those logs to infer affect can be a powerful way to investigate learning. • Confrustion negatively predicted posttest and delayed posttest performance. • Students experienced more confrustion when learning from erroneous examples. • Erroneous examples nevertheless supported better test performance. • Improves understanding of mechanisms underlying erroneous examples. • Suggests pathways for adaptive educational technology to improve affect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mindfulness practices enhance executive function skills and academic achievement, spurring interest in integrating mindfulness interventions into education. Embedding mindfulness practice into a digital math game may provide a low‐cost, scalable way to induce mindfulness and boost game‐based learning, yet this approach remains unexplored. Objectives: We investigated the learning benefits of integrating mindfulness exercises in a digital math learning game and examined how students' trait mindfulness might moderate the outcomes. Methods: Two classroom studies were conducted with 404 5th and 6th grade students from six public schools in the U.S. (nStudy 1 = 227, nStudy 2 = 177). The two randomized controlled experiments assigned students to one of the three conditions: passive control (playing the digital learning game Decimal Point), story‐enriched active control, or mindfulness‐enriched condition. Trait mindfulness, learning gains, and in‐game problem‐solving (including problem‐solving duration, error count and correctness after reminder) were assessed. Study 2 included a manipulation check to better understand the effects of the mindfulness intervention. Results: Findings showed no significant differences in learning gains, problem‐solving duration or error count among the conditions. Students' trait mindfulness did not moderate these outcomes. Mindfulness reminders in the mindfulness‐enriched game led to more correct answers after errors than jokes in the story‐enriched game. Study 2 revealed that we failed to induce higher state mindfulness through the mindfulness inductions. Conclusions: Mindfulness prompts could be especially beneficial for students experiencing frustration during gameplay, warranting more exploration for digital game‐based instruction. We highlight barriers and future directions for fostering mindfulness through computer‐based instruction in classrooms. Lay Description: What is currently known about this topic?: Researchers focus on digital games as productive learning environments for math, with potential for higher learning gains compared with traditional methods. However, results are mixed, and not all games lead to improved math outcomes.Executive function (EF) skills are crucial for math learning, and mindfulness‐based interventions show promise in enhancing EF skills in school‐aged students.Embedding mindfulness practice into a digital math game may provide a low‐cost, scalable way to induce mindfulness and, in turn, boost EF skills and game‐based learning, yet this approach remains unexplored What does this paper add?: This paper presents the results of two randomized control trials investigating the feasibility and benefits of incorporating mindfulness exercises into a digital math game designed for middle school students. Benefits are compared to those of a story‐enriched and regular version of the same digital math learning game.The paper also explores variations in the effects of the mindfulness‐enriched game based on students' initial trait mindfulness levels.We observe that listening to mindfulness inductions at the beginning of game sessions do not induce mindfulness, and therefore does not benefit math learning.We find that mindfulness prompts received after recurrent errors can be beneficial for students' problem solving. Implications of study findings for practitioners: Our study provides important information on how digital learning game designers should attempt to induce mindfulness in a digital game to promote learning.Digital learning game designers should consider incorporating mindfulness exercises into their games strategically. Presenting mindfulness inductions in audio format at the beginning of game sessions may not induce mindfulness or benefit math learning. Instead, designers should focus on integrating mindfulness prompts at moments when students encounter frustration within the learning game.Beyond embedding audio mindfulness exercises in the game, learning designers should also consider alternative technological and game features to induce mindfulness within a learning game. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Models of achievement goals suggest that different tasks and contexts influence the goals students adopt at a given time. However, many studies of achievement goals rely on measures assessed at the class level, analyze results with a variable-centered approach, and employ self-report questionnaires, which may reduce understanding of the contextual factors that arise as students interact with tasks. We compared a behavioral, task-level measure of middle school students' achievement goals to a self-reported, class-level measure and analyzed both measures' relations to task performance and quarterly grades using both variable-centered and person-centered approaches. Task-level goals predicted task performance but not quarterly grades, while class-level goals predicted grades but not task performance. The two measures of achievement goals were not related. This work demonstrates the importance of measuring goals at multiple levels and suggests opportunities for changing students' behaviors and achievement through motivation at the task level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern seasonal and inter-annual precipitation variability in Palau is linked to both meridional movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and changes in the Pacific Walker Circulation (PWC) associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. Thus, Palau's hydroclimate should be sensitive to mean shifts in the ITCZ and PWC on decadal to centennial time scales. Using compoundspecific hydrogen isotope ratios (d2H) of dinosterol in lake sediments, we generated a decadal-resolution proxy record of hydroclimatic variability in Palau spanning the past 800 yr. Results indicate a drying trend during the Little Ice Age in Palau, consistent with a southward displacement of the ITCZ. In addition to the secular drying trend, there are persistent large (~20‰) multi-decadal to centennial oscillations in the d2H record, the most recent of which indicates an abrupt shift to drier conditions in the mid-1970s that coincides with a decadal-scale negative shift in the Southern Oscillation Index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Attentional control (AC) is defined as the ability to voluntarily shift and disengage attention and is thought to moderate the relationship between preexisting risk factors for fear and the actual experience of fear.Design: This longitudinal study elaborates on current models of AC by examining whether AC moderates or mediates effects of an ecologically valid stressor (a college examination) and also whether AC is predictive of state-like fear over longer timescales than previously reported.Methods: Based on previous findings, we hypothesized that AC would moderate the relationship between trait anxiety and affective distress in response to the examination stressor. We also tested a competing mediational model based on AC theory. These models were tested in two separate samples (sample 1, N = 219; sample 2, N = 129; Total N = 348) at two time points, at the beginning of a college semester in a large undergraduate class and 5 minutes prior to a college examination.Results: Mediation but not moderation of anxiety by AC was supported in both samples using multiple dependent measures.Conclusions: We conclude that AC may be useful in predicting affective distress in naturalistic settings, particularly in cases where anxiety is anticipatory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although collaboration is often considered a beneficial learning strategy, research examining the claim suggests a much more complex picture. Critically, the question is not whether collaboration is beneficial to learning, but instead how and when collaboration improves outcomes. In this paper, we first discuss the mechanisms hypothesized to support and hinder group learning. We then review insights and illustrative findings from research in cognitive, social, and educational psychology. We conclude by proposing areas for future research to expand theories of collaboration while identifying important features for educators to consider when deciding when and how to include collaboration in instructional activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by high rates of comorbid internalizing and externalizing disorders. One mechanistic account of these comorbidities is that ASD is characterized by impaired emotion regulation (ER) that results in deficits modulating emotional responses. We assessed neural activation during cognitive reappraisal of faces in high functioning adults with ASD. Groups did not differ in looking time, pupilometry, or subjective ratings of faces during reappraisal. However, instructions to increase positive and negative emotional responses resulted in less increase in nucleus accumbens and amygdala activations (respectively) in the ASD group, and both regulation instructions resulted in less change in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation in the ASD group. Results suggest a potential mechanistic account of impaired ER in ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior studies have not tested whether an instructional intervention aimed at improving metacognitive skills results in changes to student metacognition, motivation, learning, and future learning in the classroom. We examined whether a 6-hr intervention designed to teach the declarative and procedural components of planning, monitoring, and evaluation could increase students' metacognition, motivation, learning, and preparation for future learning for middle school science. Forty-six eighth-grade students were randomly assigned to either a control group, which received extensive problem-solving practice, or an experimental group, which received more limited problem-solving practice along with metacognitive instruction and training. Results revealed that those who received the metacognitive instruction and training were less biased when making metacognitive judgments, p = .03, d = 0.65, endorsed higher levels of motivation after instruction (e.g., there was a large effect on task value, p = .006, d = 0.87), performed better on a conceptual physics test, p = .03. d = 0.64, and performed better on a novel self-guided learning activity, p = .007, d = 0.87. This study demonstrates that metacognitive instruction can lead to better self-regulated learning outcomes during adolescence, a period in which students' academic achievement and motivation often decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robust knowledge serves as a common instructional target in academic settings. Past research identifying characteristics of experts' knowledge across many domains can help clarify the features of robust knowledge as well as ways of assessing it. We review the expertise literature and identify three key features of robust knowledge (deep, connected, and coherent) and four means of assessing these features (perception, memory, problem solving, and transfer). Focusing on the domains of math and science learning, we examine how four instructional techniques-practice, worked examples, analogical comparison, and self-explanation-can promote key features of robust knowledge and how those features can be assessed. We conclude by discussing the implications of this framework for theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analogical reasoning has been hypothesized to critically depend upon working memory through correlational data , but less work has tested this relationship through experimental manipulation . An opportunity for examining the connection between working memory and analogical reasoning has emerged from the growing, although somewhat controversial, body of literature suggests complex working memory training can sometimes lead to working memory improvements that transfer to novel working memory tasks. This study investigated whether working memory improvements, if replicated, would increase analogical reasoning ability. We assessed participants’ performance on verbal and visual analogy tasks after a complex working memory training program incorporating verbal and spatial tasks , . Participants’ improvements on the working memory training tasks transferred to other short-term and working memory tasks, supporting the possibility of broad effects of working memory training. However, we found no effects on analogical reasoning. We propose several possible explanations for the lack of an impact of working memory improvements on analogical reasoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A central goal of the learning sciences is to discover principles that determine the optimal amount of instructional assistance to support robust learning (Koedinger & Aleven, 2007). We examined learning outcomes from providing and withholding stepwise instructional explanations as students studied worked examples and solved physics problems. We hypothesized that students would acquire more conceptual knowledge from withholding instructional explanations because they would be more likely to engage in constructive cognitive activities to understand the problem-solving steps, whereas providing instructional explanations might suppress such activities. Furthermore, we examined the roles of prior knowledge and student motivation in determining learning outcomes. Across three experiments, students in the withholding conditions showed greater conceptual learning than students in the providing conditions. Additionally, achievement goal orientations were more predictive of learning for the withholding conditions than the providing conditions. We discuss how the interactions between prior knowledge, motivation, and instruction can support learning and transfer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Attentional control (AC) is an individual difference variable indexing the ability to voluntarily focus attention and shift attention when desired. AC is thought to impact the experience of fear by facilitating the disengagement of attention from threat and promoting the deployment of attentional resources toward regulatory or coping strategies. Whereas previous research has focused on visual threat cues, in the current study we examined whether this model also applies to interoceptive threat by evaluating the extent to which individual differences in AC moderated the relationship between trait anxiety and self-reported fear in response to a single vital capacity inhalation of a 35% CO2, 65% balanced O2 gas mixture. The sample comprised a large nonclinical group of young adults (N =128). Results indicated that AC moderated the relationship between trait anxiety and fearful responding to the challenge. Findings suggest that AC plays a significant and clinically important role in modulating self-reported fear. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The aim of this study was to investigate reward circuitry responses in autism during reward anticipation and outcomes for monetary and social rewards. During monetary anticipation, participants with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) showed hypoactivation in right nucleus accumbens and hyperactivation in right hippocampus, whereas during monetary outcomes, participants with ASDs showed hyperactivation in left midfrontal and anterior cingulate gyrus. Groups did not differ in nucleus accumbens responses to faces. The ASD group demonstrated hyperactivation in bilateral amygdala during face anticipation that predicted social symptom severity and in bilateral insular cortex during face outcomes. These results add to the growing body of evidence that autism is characterized by altered functioning of reward circuitry. Additionally, atypical amygdala activation during the processing of social rewards may contribute to the development or expression of autistic features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the latent structure of various eating disorders has been explored in previous studies, no published studies have examined the latent structure of theoretically relevant variables that have been shown to cut across eating disorder diagnoses. The current study examined 3 such variables (dietary restraint, body dissatisfaction, and drive for thinness) among undergraduate women using the taxometric method. The 5 items from the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire's Dietary Restraint subscale were used as dietary restraint indicators, whereas items from the Eating Disorders Inventory Body Dissatisfaction and Drive for Thinness subscales were used as indicators of body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness, respectively. As hypothesized, MAXCOV (maximum covariance) and MAMBAC (mean above minus below a cut) analyses suggested that all 3 variables are dimensional; therefore, individuals with high levels of reported dietary restraint, body dissatisfaction, and drive for thinness appear to differ in degree, but not in kind, from those with lower levels. Implications for prevention, assessment, classification, and treatment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

n emerging literature suggests that memory enhancement may augment the effects of learning-based treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy. Release of stress hormones, such as cortisol, has been shown to enhance memory. In this report, we evaluated whether a cold pressor stressor (CPS), which reliably generates stress hormones, may also augment treatment for specific phobias. Spider phobics were randomly assigned to CPS or warm water bath following a standardized session of exposure therapy. Inconsistent with our hypothesis, the CPS condition showed no significant enhancement in fear reduction compared to the control condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The current study assessed the incremental prediction of anxiety sensitivity (AS) in both taxonic (categorical) and dimensional representations at various time points before and after a single vital capacity inhalation of a 35% CO2, 65% balanced O2 gas mixture. Participants were 128 young adults screened for a history of panic attacks. By controlling for traitwise factors including state anxiety and testing both categorical and continuous conceptualizations of the AS construct at various timepoints, the present report was able to evaluate the temporal and structural dynamics of AS in relation to fearful responding to the challenge. Relevant variables were evaluated in a hierarchical linear regression framework, and it was found that a continuous conceptualization of AS provided incremental predictive validity above and beyond trait anxiety immediately post-challenge, while a categorical representation of AS was equivalent to a continuous model of AS at post-challenge but outperformed a continuous model at follow-up. These data provide basic but important evidence suggesting that AS is uniquely associated with anxious responding to a 35% CO2 challenge, and that categorical representations of AS should be considered in biological challenge studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The current study examined the categorical versus continuous nature of child and adolescent depression among three samples of children and adolescents ranging from 5 to 19 years. Methods: Depression was measured using the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI). Indicators derived from the CDI were based on factor analytic research on the CDI and included indices of: 1) social withdrawal, 2) anhedonia, 3) incompetence/maladjustment and 4) negative self-esteem. Results: Taxometric procedures provided convergent support for the existence of a latent taxon across three independent samples. Internal and external consistency tests as well as Monte Carlo simulations supported the validity of the results. Conclusions: Multiple nonredundant procedures and samples were all consistently indicative of taxonicity in child depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Anxiety disorders and externalizing problems are both associated with substance use disorders. However, the nature of this relationship remains unclear. To examine whether presence of an anxiety disorder changes the association between externalizing problems (conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and substance use disorders, we analyzed data from the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication, which is based on a nationally representative sample of 9282 English-speaking adults. Presence of externalizing problems was associated with an increased odds for alcohol abuse (OR: 6.7, CI: 5.6–8.1), alcohol dependence (OR: 7.6, CI: 5.9–9.6), substance abuse (OR: 9.9, CI: 8.1–12.2), and substance dependence (OR: 13.1, CI: 9.6–17.8). Similarly, anxiety disorders were associated with increased odds for substance use disorders. The highest association was found between post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder (OR: 9.2, CI: 5.4–15.5). Individuals who met diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder and externalizing problems showed consistently and significantly lower odds for substance use problems than subjects with externalizing problems without a comorbid anxiety disorder. The results suggest that presence of any anxiety disorder reduces the association between externalizing problems and substance use disorders, possibly because the fear of bodily symptoms prevents individuals with externalizing problems from engaging in drug-seeking behaviors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There is a tendency to think of the impact of educational technology in a vacuum. However, it is likely that the instructional context in which educational technology is used affects student learning. For instance, outcomes may differ when using educational technology in a classroom versus at home, in a quiet versus noisy environment, or in a context where support is readily available versus not available. The COVID-19 pandemic provided an unexpected opportunity to explore this issue. Intending to explore how providing hints and feedback within a digital learning game (Decimal Point) impacts mathematics learning, we instead found ourselves exploring a new question: How did learning with the game differ between classrooms and at home? After two of five middle schools had participated in our classroom experiment, we switched to at-home use of the Internet-based game for the final three schools due to the pandemic. The different instructional settings led to significantly different completion rates, likely due to students in the classroom (N = 151) being monitored by experimenters and teachers (completion rate of 88.8%), while students at home (N = 126) were not monitored nor strictly required to finish (completion rate of 56.5%). In addition, the two versions of the game, one that provided students with on-request hints and error feedback (Hint condition) and one that did not (No-Hint condition), led to different classroom versus at-home results. On the delayed posttest, students in the No-Hint condition did significantly better in the classroom, while there was no significant difference between conditions at home. In addition, students in the Hint condition used significantly more hints in the classroom than they did at home. There was also a significant effect of gender in the classroom, with female students out-performing male students on the immediate posttest, but with no effect of gender remotely. We performed post-hoc analyses to better understand students' learning processes and gameplay behaviors. In summary, our study clearly illustrates how educational technology can be sensitive to instructional context, yet just cracks open the door to much more research on this topic. • Using technology in class versus at home makes a difference to behavior and learning. • Students complete online materials at a much higher rate in class than at home. • In class, no hints in a game led to significantly better learning than hints in a game. • Students used significantly more hints in class than at home. • Female students performed significantly better than male students in class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attentional bias toward negative social cues is thought to serve an etiological and/or maintaining role in social anxiety disorder (SAD). The current study tested whether training patients to disengage from negative social cues may ameliorate social anxiety in patients (N = 36) with a primary diagnosis of generalized SAD. Patients were randomly assigned to either an attention training condition (n = 18), in which patients completed a modified dot-probe task designed to facilitate attentional disengagement from disgusted faces, or a control dot-probe task condition (n = 18). As predicted, patients in the attention training condition exhibited significantly greater reductions in social anxiety and trait anxiety, compared with patients in the control condition. At termination, 72% of patients in the active treatment condition, relative to 11% of patients in the control condition, no longer met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) criteria for SAD. At 4-month follow-up, patients in the attention training condition continued to maintain their clinical improvement, and diagnostic differences across conditions were also maintained. Results support attention-based models of anxiety and suggest that attention training is a promising alternative or complementary intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Despite the fundamental nature of tonic immobility in anxiety responses, surprisingly little empirical research has focused on the “freeze” response in humans. The present report evaluated the frequency and predictors of a freeze response in the context of a biological challenge. A nonclinical sample (N=404) underwent a 20-s inhalation of 20% CO2/balance O2. Perceptions of immobility in the context of the challenge were reported in 13% of the sample, compared with 20% reporting a significant desire to flee. Subjective anxiety and panic during the challenge were associated with the freeze response, as were a number of anxiety symptom dimensions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The vast majority of biological challenge studies have focused on panic disorder though there is a small literature suggesting that patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) show comparable responding. The SAD literature is potentially confounded, however, by the fact that many patients with SAD experience panic attacks. These patients also show elevated negative affect and anxiety sensitivity, factors that are also associated with increased fear responding to challenge. By controlling for these factors, the present report was able to evaluate whether social anxiety symptoms were uniquely associated with fearful responding to a 35% CO2 challenge. A large nonclinical sample of young adults (N =120) screened for a history of panic attacks completed a 35% CO2 challenge. Those high (versus low) in social anxiety showed approximately 2.5 times greater risk for experiencing substantial increases in anxiety in response to the challenge. This significant association was maintained after controlling for anxiety sensitivity and general negative affect. These data provide novel evidence suggesting that social anxiety symptoms are uniquely associated with anxious responding to 35% CO2 challenge and this sensitivity appears to precede the development of panic attacks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Discomfort intolerance, defined as an individual difference in the capacity to tolerate unpleasant bodily sensations, is a construct recently posited as a risk factor for panic and anxiety psychopathology. The present report used a biological challenge procedure to evaluate whether discomfort intolerance predicts fearful responding beyond the effects of trait anxiety and a well-established psychological vulnerability factor (i.e., anxiety sensitivity). Nonclinical community participants (N=44) with no history of panic attacks or any Axis I condition completed a 35% CO2 challenge. Results are consistent with our hypothesis suggesting that discomfort intolerance incrementally predicts increased subjective reactivity to the challenge. Moreover, there was some suggestion that discomfort intolerance interacted synergistically with anxiety sensitivity to increase anxiety-related symptoms. These findings add to a small but growing literature suggesting that discomfort intolerance may play a role in the development of anxiety problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Three studies investigated the link between dispositional anxiety and the tendency to engage in risk-avoidant decision-making. Findings suggest that dispositional anxiety is associated with a pronounced bias toward making risk-avoidant choices. Individual differences in trait anxiety, worry, and social anxiety were each associated with risk-avoidance on a behavioral risk-taking task (Studies 1 and 2). Compared with other clinical patients (e.g., mood disorders) and non-clinical controls, anxiety disordered patients exhibited substantially greater risk-aversion (Study 3). Findings suggest that the relationship with risk-avoidance is specific to anxiety, and is not merely concomitant to the experience of negative affect. This research has implications for understanding the links between individual differences in affective processing and basic decision-making processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Conflicts between upland shifting cultivation, upland commercial crops, and lowland irrigated agriculture cause water resource tension in the Mae Chaem watershed in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In this paper, we assess hydrologic regimes of the Mae Chaem River with landuse change. Three plausible future forest-to-crop expansion scenarios and a scenario of crop-to-forest reversal were developed based on the landcover transition from 1989 to 2000, with emphasis on influences of elevation bands and irrigation diversion. Basin hydrologic responses were simulated using the Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM). Meteorological data from six weather stations inside and adjacent to the Mae Chaem watershed during the period 1993–2000 were the climate inputs. Computed stream flow was compared to observed discharge at Ban Mae Mu gauge on Mae Mu river, Ban Mae Suk gauge on Mae Suk river, and at Kaeng Ob Luang, located downstream from the district town in Mae Chaem. With current assumptions, expansion of highland crop fields led to slightly higher regulated annual and wet-season water yields compared to similar expansion in the lowland–midland zone. Actual downstream water availability was sensitive to irrigation diversion. This modeling approach can be a useful tool for water allocation for small watersheds undergoing rapid commercialization, because it alerts land managers to the potential range of water supply in wet and dry seasons, and provides information on spatial distribution of basin hydrologic components. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Safety-relevant parameters are hypothesized to be important to the maintenance of pathological anxiety. The authors examined the effects of safety information and safety cues on anxious responding to a repeated 35% CO2 challenge in 31 patients with panic disorder. Patients were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) safety information, (b) safety information plus a safety cue, or (c) no safety information. In the safety information group, patients received accurate information regarding the benign effects of the CO2 challenge. In the combined group, patients also received a safety cue that is salient for many patients with panic disorder (i.e., access to an anxiolytic pill during the challenge). The experimental manipulations did not differentially affect anxious responding following an initial challenge. However, after access to the anxiolytic was removed and the challenge procedure was repeated, those in the safety information alone condition showed lower subjective anxiety compared to those in the combined safety information/safety cue group. Findings suggest that safety information facilitates extinction of anxiety but only in the absence of safety cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The construct of discomfort intolerance (proposed as an individual difference in the ability to tolerate uncomfortable sensations) is introduced and psychometric properties of a measure of this trait are provided. The Discomfort Intolerance Scale (DIS), a self-report measure of discomfort intolerance, was evaluated using a variety of samples (total N approximately 1700), including patients with panic disorder, clinical controls, and nonclinical community members. Factor analyses suggest the DIS contains two factors, including a factor indexing the ability to tolerate discomfort and pain (Factor 1: α =.91), and a factor, which appears to measure avoidance of physical discomfort (Factor 2: α =.72). Cross-time reliability shows good stability across 12 weeks (Factor 1=.63, Factor 2=.66). Convergent and discriminant validity coefficients indicated that the DIS performed as expected against established measures of psychopathology. The DIS appears to be a sound measure of a broad individual difference variable tapping the ability to tolerate a variety of uncomfortable sensations and may be relevant to the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Children and adults with autism spectrum disorder are less accurate in facial emotion recognition, which is thought to contribute to impairment in social functioning. Although many interventions have been developed to improve facial emotion recognition, there is no consensus on how to best measure facial emotion recognition in people with autism spectrum disorder. This lack of agreement has led to wide variability in how facial emotion recognition is measured and, subsequently, inconsistent findings related to impact of intervention targeting facial emotion recognition impairment. The purpose of this review is to synthesize the extant research on measurement of facial emotion recognition in the context of treatment. We conducted an electronic database search to identify relevant, peer-reviewed articles published between January 1998 and November 2019 to identify studies evaluating change in facial emotion recognition in autism spectrum disorder. Sixty-five studies met inclusion criteria, utilizing a total of 36 different assessment measures for facial emotion recognition in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Only six of the measures were used in multiple studies conducted by different investigative teams. The outcomes of the studies are reported and summarized with the goal of informing future research. Children and adults with autism spectrum disorder show difficulty recognizing facial emotions in others, which makes social interaction challenging. While there are many treatments developed to improve facial emotion recognition, there is no agreement on the best way to measure such abilities in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. The purpose of this review is to examine studies that were published between January 1998 and November 2019 and have measured change in facial emotion recognition to evaluate the effectiveness of different treatments. Our search yielded 65 studies, and within these studies, 36 different measures were used to evaluate facial emotion recognition in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Only six of these measures, however, were used in different studies and by different investigators. In this review, we summarize the different measures and outcomes of the studies, in order to identify promising assessment tools and inform future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the effects of collaboration (dyads vs. individuals) and category structure (coherent vs. incoherent) on learning and transfer. Working in dyads or individually, participants classified examples from either an abstract coherent category, the features of which are not fixed but relate in a meaningful way, or an incoherent category, the features of which do not relate meaningfully. All participants were then tested individually. We hypothesized that dyads would benefit more from classifying the coherent category structure because past work has shown that collaboration is more beneficial for tasks that build on shared prior knowledge and provide opportunities for explanation and abstraction. Results showed that dyads improved more than individuals during the classification task regardless of category coherence, but learning in a dyad improved inference-test performance only for participants who learned coherent categories. Although participants in the coherent categories performed better on a transfer test, there was no effect of collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the hypothesis that prompting students to self-assess their interest and understanding of science concepts and activities would increase their motivation in science classes. Students were randomly assigned to an experimental condition that wrote self-assessments of their competence and interest in science lessons or a control condition that wrote summaries of those same lessons. Writing activities were 10 min long and were given approximately once a week for eighteen weeks. Student motivation was assessed via self-report surveys for achievement goals and interest in science before and after the intervention. Students in the experimental condition showed higher endorsement of mastery goals and reported greater situational interest in science topics after the intervention compared to students who summarised the lessons. Increases in situational interest predicted higher individual interest in the domain. Results indicate an instructional practice requiring just 3 hours out of a semester of instruction was sufficient to achieve these effects on motivation in science classes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Attention to faces is a fundamental psychological process in humans, with atypical attention to faces noted across several clinical disorders. Although many clinical disorders onset in adolescence, there is a lack of well-validated stimulus sets containing adolescent faces available for experimental use. Further, the images comprising most available sets are not controlled for high- and lowlevel visual properties. Here, we present a cross-site validation of the National Institute of Mental Health Child Emotional Faces Picture Set (NIMH-ChEFS), comprised of 257 photographs of adolescent faces displaying angry, fearful, happy, sad, and neutral expressions. All of the direct facial images from the NIMH-ChEFS set were adjusted in terms of location of facial features and standardized for luminance, size, and smoothness. Although overall agreement between raters in this study and the original development-site raters was high (89.52%), this differed by group such that agreement was lower for adolescents relative to mental health professionals in the current study. These results suggest that future research using this face set or others of adolescent/child faces should base comparisons on similarly-aged validation data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Little is known about people with social anxiety disorder (SAD) who are not behaviorally inhibited. To advance knowledge on phenomenology, functional impairment, and treatment seeking, we investigated whether engaging in risk-prone behaviors accounts for heterogeneous outcomes in people with SAD. Using the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication (NCS-R) dataset, our analyses focused on people with current (N = 679) or lifetime (N = 1143) SAD diagnoses. Using latent class analysis on NCS-R risk-prone behavior items, results supported two SAD classes: (1) a pattern of behavioral inhibition and risk aversion and (2) an atypical pattern of high anger and aggression, and moderate/high sexual impulsivity and substance use problems. An atypical pattern of risk-prone behaviors was associated with greater functional impairment, less education and income, younger age, and particular psychiatric comorbidities. Results could not be subsumed by the severity, type, or number of social fears, or comorbid anxiety or mood disorders. Conclusions about the nature, course, and treatment of SAD may be compromised by not attending to heterogeneity in behavior patterns. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The phenomenon of compulsive hoarding, characterized by the acquisition of and failure to discard a large number of possessions, is increasingly recognized as a significant public health burden. Despite the magnitude of the impairment associated with this condition, empirical research is still in the nascent stages and many facets of the phenomenology, underlying vulnerability and risk factors for hoarding, are as of yet unknown. Method: The overall aim of the current investigation was to examine the association between hoarding behaviors and two potential vulnerability factors—anxiety sensitivity (AS) and distress tolerance (DT). In addition, we investigated the robustness of these associations as well as the interaction between the two hypothesized risk factors. Three studies (total N=745) involving independent nonclinical samples assessed hoarding, AS, DT, and relevant covariates using a range of measures. Resutlts: Findings revealed that AS and hoarding are significantly and robustly associated with one another beyond general depressive, anxiety, and nonhoarding obsessive–compulsive symptoms. Hoarding was also found to be associated with low DT. Consistent with prediction, AS and DT interacted such that DT may play a less important role among individuals with low AS. By contrast, low DT appears to increase vulnerability to hoarding symptoms among individuals high in AS. Results are discussed with regard to future research and treatment implications. Depression and Anxiety, 2009. Published 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Appropriately selecting patients with chronic pancreatitis associated with pancreas divisum (PD) for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)-based therapy versus surgery remains difficult. The objective of this study was to identify factors that predict success or failure of ERCP for treatment of chronic pancreatitis in PD.Methods: Patients undergoing ERCP for a diagnosis of PD and pancreatitis between 2008 and 2016 were identified and grouped according to whether they required one or two ERCPs or three or more ERCPs. Groups were compared along demographic, diagnostic, laboratory, ERCP-related, and outcome variables.Results: Patients requiring 1-2 ERCPs were less likely to have back pain on initial presentation (4 vs. 24%, p = 0.02) and less likely to have a dilated bile duct on imaging prior to their first ERCP (8 vs. 30%, p = 0.04) than those requiring 3+ ERCPs. Patients requiring 1-2 ERCPs were also less likely to eventually require operative intervention for treatment of their chronic pancreatitis than those requiring 3+ ERCPs (24 vs. 44%, p = 0.047). On multivariable analysis, a dilated bile duct (odds ratio (OR) = 6.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01-36.0, p = 0.048) was independently associated with requiring 3+ ERCPs. Back pain (OR = 6.3, 95% CI = 0.73-54.2, p = 0.09) trended toward but did not reach statistical significance for being independently associated with requiring 3+ ERCPs.Conclusions: The success of endoscopic treatment of chronic pancreatitis in patients with PD is dependent on proper patient selection. Patients with a dilated bile duct and back pain upon presentation may not respond well to endoscopic treatment alone and are more likely to eventually require operative intervention. Consideration should be given to early operative intervention in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging technologies increase the needs on self efficient mobile robotic applications that bring a new concern of sustainable and continuous power supply for the robotic platforms. This paper covers the various techniques and technologies used to design a solar powered robot, exploring the currently available products, software and limitations to this application. The main aim is to integrate a fuzzy logic based charging system which allows the batteries to be charged from solar panels, wall outlet, and a deploy-able solar charging station. The goal of this paper is to summarize the tested methods and results to expedite future researchers in the correct direction. This pa- per will cover only up to the design of the DC-DC converter and simulation, as further work is still pending implementation on actual hardware. Simulations results are provided to evaluate the feasibility of the paper for future implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine race-ethnic differences in the lifetime prevalence rates of common anxiety disorders, we examined data from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Studies. The samples included 6870 White Americans, 4598 African Americans, 3615 Hispanic Americans, and 1628 Asian Americans. White Americans were more likely to be diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder than African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. African Americans more frequently met criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than White Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans. Asian Americans were also less likely to meet the diagnoses for generalized anxiety disorder and PTSD than Hispanic Americans, and were less likely to receive social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and PTSD diagnoses than White Americans. The results suggest that race and ethnicity need to be considered when assigning an anxiety disorder diagnosis. Possible reasons for the observed differences in prevalence rates between racial groups are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a well-researched risk factor for the development of anxiety psychopathology. AS is typically measured using the anxiety sensitivity index (ASI) but limitations have led to the creation of second generation measures of AS including the anxiety sensitivity profile (ASP). The ASP has not been used very extensively, however, and we believe this may be due to two important issues: (1) the ASP is lengthy, and (2) the predictive validity of the ASP is unexplored in relation to critical outcomes such as anxiety psychopathology. The purpose of the present report was to address these two issues. We evaluated whether an abbreviated form of the ASP was viable and also conducted tests of the scale''s predictive validity. Findings suggest that a 22-item version of the ASP (i.e., ASP-22) is comparable to the original 60-item ASP. Moreover, the ASP-22 was predictive of anxious responding to a CO2 challenge. In fact, the ASP-22 outperformed the ASI as a predictor of CO2 reactivity. Also, the ASP-22 was a significant longitudinal predictor of incidence of Axis I diagnoses. In regard to predictive validity, the ASP-22 was comparable to the original ASP. In summary, the ASP-22 appears to represent a viable measure of AS that may complement the ASI. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Despite clinical approval of erlotinib, most advanced lung cancer patients are primary non-responders. Initial responders invariably develop secondary resistance, which can be accounted for by T790M-EGFR mutation in half of the relapses. We show that MET is highly expressed in lung cancer, often concomitantly with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), including H1975 cell line. The erlotinib-resistant lung cancer cell line H1975, which expresses L858R/T790M-EGFR in-cis, was used to test for the effect of MET inhibition using the small molecule inhibitor SU11274. H1975 cells express wild-type MET, without genomic amplification (CNV=1.1). At 2 μM, SU11274 had significant in vitro pro-apoptotic effect in H1975 cells, 3.9-fold (P=0.0015) higher than erlotinib, but had no effect on the MET and EGFR-negative H520 cells. In vivo, SU11274 also induced significant tumour cytoreduction in H1975 murine xenografts in our bioluminescence molecular imaging assay. Using small-animal microPET/MRI, SU11274 treatment was found to induce an early tumour metabolic response in H1975 tumour xenografts. MET and EGFR pathways were found to exhibit collaborative signalling with receptor cross-activation, which had different patterns between wild type (A549) and L858R/T790M-EGFR (H1975). SU11274 plus erlotinib/CL-387,785 potentiated MET inhibition of downstream cell proliferative survival signalling. Knockdown studies in H1975 cells using siRNA against MET alone, EGFR alone, or both, confirmed the enhanced downstream inhibition with dual MET–EGFR signal path inhibition. Finally, in our time-lapse video-microscopy and in vivo multimodal molecular imaging studies, dual SU11274-erlotinib concurrent treatment effectively inhibited H1975 cells with enhanced abrogation of cytoskeletal functions and complete regression of the xenograft growth. Together, our results suggest that MET-based targeted inhibition using small-molecule MET inhibitor can be a potential treatment strategy for T790M-EGFR-mediated erlotinib-resistant non-small-cell lung cancer. Furthermore, optimised inhibition may be further achieved with MET inhibition in combination with erlotinib or an irreversible EGFR-TKI.British Journal of Cancer (2008) 99, 911–922. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6604559 www.bjcancer.com Published online 26 August 2008 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fear of arousal symptoms, often referred to as anxiety sensitivity (AS) appears to be associated with risk for anxiety pathology and other Axis I conditions. Findings from a longitudinal prevention program targeting AS are reported. Participants (n =404) scoring high on the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI) were randomly assigned to receive a brief intervention designed to reduce AS (Anxiety Sensitivity Amelioration Training (ASAT)) or a control condition. Participants were followed for up to 24 months. Findings indicate that ASAT produced greater reductions in ASI levels compared with the control condition. Moreover, reductions were specific to anxiety sensitivity relative to related cognitive risk factors for anxiety. ASAT also produced decreased subjective fear responding to a 20% CO2 challenge delivered postintervention. Data from the follow-up period show a lower incidence of Axis I diagnoses in the treated condition though the overall group difference was not statistically different at all follow-up intervals. Overall, findings are promising for the preventative efficacy of a brief, computer-based intervention designed to decrease anxiety sensitivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The rise in suicide by African Americans in the United States is directly attributable to the dramatic, nearly three-fold increase in suicide rates of African American males. Gibbs (1997) hypothesized high social support, religiosity, and southern residence are protective factors against suicidality for Black people. This hypothesis was tested among 5,125 participants from the National Comorbidity Survey; 299 were African American males. In this study we hypothesized that there would be significantly lower suicidality in the South, and social support and religiosity would mediate this relationship. Our results indicate that Southern region is indeed a significant predictor of suicidal symptoms in African American men, such that suicidal symptoms were lower in the South, but religiosity and social support did not account for this effect. Other potential mediators were also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined whether therapist access to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) predicted favorable treatment outcome, above and beyond other assessment measures. A manipulated assessment design was used, in which patients were randomly assigned either to a group in which therapists had access to their MMPI-2 data or to a group without therapist access to such information. Illness severity, improvement ratings, number of sessions attended, and premature termination were indicators of therapy outcome. Results indicated that therapist access to the MMPI-2 data did not add to the prediction of positive treatment outcome beyond that predicted by other measures in this setting. Findings from this initial study suggest that, compared with other resources, perhaps in clinical settings with an emphasis on diagnosis-based and evidence-based treatment, the MMPI-2 may not provide incrementally valid information. However, these effects warrant replication across different settings and samples. Guidelines for future studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

River floodplains are the dominant wetland habitat in the Amazon river basin, providing important habitation for aquatic flora and fauna, and playing a key role in sustaining regional fish production. The annual inundation pulse has been identified as the dominant environmental factor affecting aquatic biota on the floodplain, and the characteristics of this pulse, in terms of timing, duration and amplitude, vary spatially on the floodplain as a function of fluctuations in river stage height and topography. River floodplains are furthermore globally significant sources of methane (CH[sub 4]) and other trace gases essential to climate regulation. Refined information on wetland distributions and dynamics are currently needed to improve estimates of habitat availability and to calculate regional contributions of trace gases, especially CH[sub 4], to the troposphere. This paper describes how multitemporal time series of spaceborne L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from the Japanese Earth Resource Satellite 1 (JERS-1) were used to generate a model of the spatial and temporal variation of inundation on the floodplain of a typical black water river in the Central Brazilian Amazon and how this model was utilized, together with in situ measurements of river stage heights and CH4 fluxes, to model regional estimates of CH[sub 4] emissions. We also demonstrate how a JERS-1 SAR time series can be used to map the spatial variation of flood duration on the floodplain, a key factor controlling local variations in plant biodiversity. For both applications, the availability of adequate time series of satellite sensor data is the prime factor affecting the reliability and accuracy of the flood models and the spatial details of the flood duration map. The availability of in situ data, especially daily river height measurements, was also critical for the development of the flooding model and for the subsequent decoupling of the model from the satellite sensor data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Colonoscopy in the elderly has been considered by many to be risky because of mechanical bowel preparation and dehydration, electrolyte disturbances, conscious sedation, and hypoxic complications. We hypothesized that colonoscopy in octogenarians and older patients is a safe procedure.Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of 803 patients who underwent colonoscopy from January 1997 to October 1997 was performed. The patients were grouped by age: group A (17-49 years) had 166 patients (20%); group B (50-79 years) had 534 patients (67%); and group C (80 years and older) had 103 patients (13%). Results were considered significant at p value less than 0.05 unless otherwise noted.Results: Blood in the stool (84%) and history of colonic vascular disease (5.8%) were the most common indication in group C (84%). Colonoscopy was used in group A (18%) more often than in the other groups to rule out inflammatory bowel disease. History of colon polyps was a more common indication in group B (20%) than in the other groups. Group A had a significantly higher incidence of normal examinations (84%) and diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (14%). Group B had a higher incidence of polyps than the other groups. Group C had the highest incidence of vascular disease (15%). Diverticular disease and carcinoma were more common in groups B (37%) and C (52%). The amount of sedation in the groups did not significantly differ. Completion of the colonoscopy to the cecum or anastomotic sites did not differ among the groups (p > 0.05), nor did complication rates among groups (p > 0.05).Conclusions: Colonoscopy is safe in octogenarians and older patients. Age does not, by itself, confer an increased risk to the procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a case in which a mentally retarded man was administered ipecac resulting to an illness that resembled intestinal pseudo-obstruction at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Background on medical history; Signs and symptoms; Results of urinalysis and stool analysis; Discussion on the side effects of a single oral dose of ipecac.