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Maternal input addressed to children after an early hospitalization (EH) was longitudinally compared to maternal input directed to typically developing children (TD), at 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months ...

Backgrounds Infant-directed speech (IDS) is part of an interactive loop that plays an important role in infants’ cognitive and social development. The use of IDS is universal and is composed of linguistic and emotional components. However, whether the emotional component has similar acoustics characteristics has not been studied automatically. Methods We performed a cross-cultural study using automatic social signal processing techniques (SSP) to compare IDS across languages. Our speech corpus consisted of audio-recorded vocalizations from parents during interactions with their infant between the ages of 4 and 18 months. It included 6 databases of five languages: English, French, Hebrew (two databases: mothers/fathers), Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese. We used an automatic classifier that exploits the acoustic characteristics of speech and machine learning methods (Support Vector Machines, SVM) to distinguish emotional IDS and non-emotional IDS. Results Automated classification of emotional IDS was possible for all languages and speakers (father and mother). The uni-language condition (classifier trained and tested in the same language) produced moderate to excellent classification results, all of which were significantly different from chance (P Conclusion The automated classification of emotional and non-emotional components of IDS is possible based on the acoustic characteristics regardless of the language. The results found in the cross-over condition support the hypothesis that the emotional component shares similar acoustic characteristics across languages.

“Nudges” and criminal justice Criminal justice policy in the United States focuses on increasing negative consequences to deter undesired behavior. However, defendants often appear relatively insensitive to these changes in the severity of consequences. Fishbane et al. considered a different policy lever: improving the communication of information necessary to adhere to desired behavior (see the Perspective by Kohler-Hausmann). They found that redesigning a criminal summons form to highlight critical information and providing text message reminders increased the likelihood that defendants would show up to their appointed court date, thus eliminating a substantial percentage of arrest warrants for failing to appear in court. In follow-up experiments, the authors found that laypeople, but not experts, believe that such failures to appear are relatively intentional, and this belief reduces their support for interventions aimed at increasing awareness rather than punishment. These findings have implications for policies aimed at improving criminal justice outcomes. Science , this issue p. eabb6591 ; see also p. 658

The objective of the study was to examine the process of mother to infant trauma transmission among traumatized mothers in humanitarian contexts. We investigated the impact of mothers' post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms on the quality of the dyadic interaction by conducting a microanalysis of mother-infant interactions at specific moments when trauma was recalled, compared to more neutral moments. Twenty-four mother-infant dyadic interactions of traumatized mothers and children aged from 1.5 to 30 months Central Africa, Chad, and Cameroon were videotaped during three sequences: a neutral initial session (baseline) exploring mothers' representations of the infant and of their bonding; a second sequence, “the traumatic narration,” in which mothers were asked to talk about the difficult events they had experienced; and a third sequence focusing on a neutral subject. Three minutes of each sequence were coded through a specific grid for microanalysis [based on the scales developed at Bobigny Faculty of Medicine and the work of (1)], according to different communication modalities (touch, visual, and vocal), for both the mother and the child. Impact of traumatic event (IES-R), the level of depression and anxiety (HAD) were investigated in order to have a holistic understanding of the trauma transmission mechanism. The data analysis highlighted significant differences in mothers, children and their interaction during the “traumatic narration”: mothers touched and looked at the infant less, looked more absent and smiled less, and looked less at the interviewer; infants looked less at the interviewer, and sucked the breast more. The mother-child interaction “infant self-stimulation—mother looks absent” and “Infant sucks the breast—mother looks absent” occurred more often during the mothers' traumatic narrations. The “absence” of the mother during trauma recall seems to have repercussions on infants' behavior and interaction; infants show coping strategies that are discussed. We found no significant associations between interaction and infant gender and age, the severity of traumatic experience, mothers' depression and anxiety symptoms, and the country of residence. The results of the microanalysis of interaction can shed light on the fundamental role of intermodal exchanges between mother and infant in trauma transmission during mothers' trauma reactivation.

We explore how television broadcasting of unrelated criminal justice events affects sentencing. Exploiting as-good-as-random variation in news content before a verdict, we find that sentences are 3 months longer when the verdict is reached after coverage of crime. Sentences increase with media exposure to crime, not crime itself, and the effect tapers off quickly. Our results suggest that professional experience and expertise mitigate the effect of irrelevant external information. This paper highlights the influence of noise in the news cycle: media can temporarily influence decisions by changing what is top of the mind rather than signaling deeper changes in offending or societal concerns.

This is the second of three papers that summarize the second symposium on Transition in Epilepsies held in Paris in June 2016. This paper addresses the outcome for some particularly challenging childhood-onset epileptic disorders with the goal of recommending the best approach to transition. We have grouped these disorders in five categories with a few examples for each. The first group includes disorders presenting in childhood that may have late- or adult-onset epilepsy (metabolic and mitochondrial disorders). The second group includes disorders with changing problems in adulthood (tuberous sclerosis complex, Rett syndrome, Dravet syndrome, and autism). A third group includes epilepsies that change with age (Childhood Absence Epilepsy, Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy, West Syndrome, and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome). A fourth group consists of epilepsies that vary in symptoms and severity depending on the age of onset (autoimmune encephalitis, Rasmussen's syndrome). A fifth group has epilepsy from structural causes that are less likely to evolve in adulthood. Finally we have included a discussion about the risk of later adulthood cerebrovascular disease and dementia following childhood-onset epilepsy. A detailed knowledge of each of these disorders should assist the process of transition to be certain that attention is paid to the most important age-related symptoms and concerns.

Suicide remains one of the leading causes of death among young people, and suicidal ideation and behavior are relatively common in healthy and clinical populations. Suicide risk in childhood and adolescence is often approached from the perspective of nosographic categories to which predictive variables for suicidal acts are often linked. The cascading effects resulting from altered clock genes in a pediatric population could participate in biological rhythm abnormalities and the emergence of suicide attempts through impaired regulation of circadian rhythms and emotional states with neurodevelopmental effects. Also, early trauma and stressful life events can alter the expression of clock genes and contribute to the emergence of suicide attempts. Alteration of clock genes might lead to desynchronized and abnormal circadian rhythms impairing in turn the synchronization between external and internal rhythms and therefore the adaptation of the individual to his/her internal and external environment with the development of psychiatric disorders associated with increased risk for suicide attempts.

In the previous issue of the journal, Singletary proposed an integrative model of autism spectrum disorder, based on a considerable amount of data from different fields of knowledge such as clinical psychiatry, psychoanalysis, experimental psychology, neurobiology, neuroanatomy, or psychopharmacology [Singletary, W.M. (2015). An integrative model of autism spectrum disorder: ASD as a neurobiological disorder of experienced environmental deprivation, early life stress and allostatic overload. Neuropsychoanalysis, 17(2), 81–119]. We will briefly discuss this paper, with comments on three points of debate: 1) the author’s central hypothesis that neurobiological factors lead to the experience of environmental deprivation in autism, which we propose to reformulate using the terms “dysperception” or “dyssynchrony”; 2) the limits of the author’s speculative argumentation; and 3) the specificities of the psychoanalytic process and the influence of neuroscientific knowledge on the psychotherapeutic technique. Sing...

International audience; Highlights. The kinematics of hand movements (spatial use, curvature, acceleration, and velocity) of infants with their mothers in an interactive setting are significantly associated with age in cohorts of typical and at-risk infantsdiffer significantly at 5-6 months of age, depending on the context: relating either with an object or a person.Environmental and developmental factors shape the developmental trajectories of hand movements in different cohorts: environment for infants with VIMs; stage of development for premature infants and those with West syndrome; and both factors for infants with orality disorders.The curvature of hand movements specifically reflects atypical development in infants with West syndrome when developmental age is considered. We aimed to discriminate between typical and atypical developmental trajectory patterns of at-risk infants in an interactive setting in this observational and longitudinal study, with the assumption that hand movements (HM) reflect preverbal communication and its disorders. We examined the developmental trajectories of HM in five cohorts of at-risk infants and one control cohort, followed from ages 2 to 10 months: 25 West syndrome (WS), 13 preterm birth (PB), 16 orality disorder (OD), 14 with visually impaired mothers (VIM), 7 early hospitalization (EH), and 19 typically developing infants (TD). Video-recorded data were collected in three different structured interactive contexts. Descriptors of the hand motion were used to examine the extent to which HM were associated with age and cohort. We obtained four principal results: (i) the kinematics of HM (spatial use, curvature, acceleration, and velocity) were significantly associated with age in all cohorts; (ii) HM significantly differed at 5-6 months of age in TD infants, depending on the context; (iii) environmental and developmental factors shaped the developmental trajectories of HM in different cohorts: environment for VIM, development for PB and WS, and both factors for OD and; (iv) the curvatures of HM showed atypical development in WS infants when developmental age was considered. These findings support the importance of using kinematics of HM to identify very early developmental disorders in an interactive context and would allow early prevention and intervention for at-risk infants.

Economic theories of punishment focus on determining the levels that provide maximal social material payoffs. In other words, these theories treat punishment as a public good. Several parameters are key to calculating optimal levels of punishment: total social costs, total social benefits, and the probability that offenders are apprehended. However, levels of punishment are often determined by aggregating individual decisions. Research in behavioral economics, psychology, and neuroscience shows that individuals appear to treat punishment as a private good (cold glow). This means that individual choices may not respond appropriately to the social parameters. We present a simple theory and show in a series of experiments that individually chosen punishment levels can be predictably too high or too low relative to those that maximize social material welfare. Our findings highlight the importance of the psychology of punishment for under-standing social outcomes and for designing social institutions.

West syndrome (WS) is a rare epileptic encephalopathy with early onset and a high risk of autistic outcome. The PréAut grid assesses this risk following WS onset by taking into account synchrony and emotion in interactions and by evaluating the baby's active desire to engage in pleasant interactions (especially the infant's early active behaviors that encourage being gazed at or kissed by the mother or to share joy with her). We followed a sample of 25 WS patients prospectively from disease onset and assessed whether the PréAut grid before 9 months, and the checklist for autism in toddlers (CHAT) at 18 and 24 months predicted autism or intellectual disability (ID) outcomes at 4 years. We found that the PréAut grid at 9 months (sensitivity = 0.83; specificity = 1) had similar prediction parameters as the CHAT at 18 months (sensitivity = 0.90; specificity = 0.83) and 24 months (sensitivity = 0.92; specificity = 1). WS patients with a positive PréAut screening at 9 months had a risk of having autism or ID at 4 years, which is 38 times that of children with a negative PréAut grid [OR = 38.6 (95 % CI 2.2-2961); p = 0.006]. We conclude that the PréAut grid could be a useful tool for the early detection of autism or ID risk in the context of WS. Further research is needed to assess the PréAut grid in other contexts (e.g. infants at high-risk for non-syndromic autism).

Introduction Autism features and various degrees of cognitive deficit are reported in patients with PCDH-19 mutations and epilepsy. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and, often, cognitive profile are usually assessed clinically. We studied autism phenotype and cognitive outcome in a series of patients using standardized tools for development and ASD. We aimed to describe the phenotype of ASD in this series and to understand whether ASD is strictly linked to intellectual disability (ID) or is present as a comorbidity. Methods Eight females aged 5 to 17 years old with PCDH-19 mutations and epilepsy were recruited. For ASD diagnosis, the Autism Diagnostic Interview — Revised (ADI-R) and the Autism Diagnosis Observation Schedule (ADOS) were administered. Patients underwent a neuropsychological examination with tests measuring global intellectual efficiency (WPPSI-III and WISC-IV), language, and executive and social cognition abilities. Parental adaptive behavioral questionnaires were also obtained (VABS, CBCL, and BRIEF). Results Six out of eight patients presented with ASD and ID. Two patients had neither ASD nor ID, and both had the latest age of onset for their epilepsy. All cognitive functions were deficient, but theory-of-mind abilities compared to other cognitive features were even impaired. Features of ASD lacked major repetitive and stereotyped behaviors and show some differences with the classical ASD features related to ID. Conclusion Our results show a large spectrum of ID and a very high rate of ASD in patients with epilepsy and PCDH-19 mutations. Autism spectrum disorder seems to be a genuine comorbidity, more than a consequence of ID. It highlights the importance of standardized psychiatric and cognitive evaluation in order to establish a tailored rehabilitation program.

This study focused on parents’ satisfaction with the special education and care services proposed to their child with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Data were collected in three regions of France, using a questionnaire designed for the purpose of this study. Among the 530 families contacted, 212 filled in the questionnaire (response rate = 40.8%). Results showed that parents were globally satisfied with providers’ involvement and motivation, but they felt they were not involved enough in their child’s individualized program, that communication with providers was insufficient and that the services lacked ASD’s specific tools and interventions. Among all families interviewed, parents of adolescents were the most unsatisfied and we hypothesized that this could be due to the specific issues regarding developmental changes and concern about the future at this period of life. Congruently with the literature, variables related to parental overall satisfaction were a regular communication with professionals, a specific, regularly updated individual program in which parents are associated, and specialized tools and interventions. The implications of these findings are discussed as well as future directions for clinicians to improve service delivery and allow the persons with ASD and their families to be more involved in the services.

This paper aims to develop the rational to support why and how we should link neuroscience and psychoanalysis. Many of these points are derived from child development and child psychiatry. Neuroscience investigates developmental questions in a different way than psychoanalysis, while psychoanalysis itself has shifted towards new developmental paradigms. The rapprochement between neuroscience and psychoanalysis allows a new understanding of some concepts, including embodiment of mind, consciousness and attachment. The "double reading" paradigm allows a better understanding of symptomatic configurations. Linking neuroscience and psychoanalysis may improve treatments and result in new experimental neuroscientific paradigms involving changing the research object, changing the state of the research object, and investigating the structural changes in the brain following psychotherapy. The last aim is to create an epistemology of the articulation between the theoretical frameworks through phenomenology, "complementarism" and neuropsychoanalysis. We argue that it is necessary for clinicians to be aware of the advancements in each field. This is not only an epistemological question; we assume that new findings in neuroscience will change the way psychoanalysts think and approach treatment of their patients. We hope the present research will contribute to change the way that neuroscientists think and will provide new options to their set of experimental paradigms.

This paper investigates how interactions in prison influence post-release behavior, establishing at a fine granularity level how prison might act as a "school of crime". Using a unique French administrative dataset of all prisoners incarcerated since January, 2008, which includes cell allocation, we study interactions in own and cellmates' post-release behavior, and in particular in type of crime committed upon release, depending on self and cellmates' motive of incarceration. In French short-term prisons (which we focus on), cellmates typically spend a large portion of a day in their cells, and normal cell sizes are quite small (generally less than 6 inmates at a time), allowing us define extensively who one interacts with during the length of incarceration. By using number of days of overlap as a measure of intensity of interaction, we find evidence of peer effects for skill-intensive offenses, in case of recidivism.

Objective The recent discovery of the involvement of PCDH-19 gene in epilepsy in female with intellectual deficit and its cognitive consequences opened the research field in this area. Seizure types and EEG aspects are reported in a few series. However, neuropsychological and behavioural studies are not detailed. We aimed to better explore those aspects. Methods We assessed the intellectual, language, executive and emotional aspects with standardized psychometric tools in patients with PCDH-19. In addition, we proposed a detailed psychiatric evaluation and parental questionnaires. Results We included seven patients aged from 6 to 17 years. The analysis of cognitive profiles reveals scores ranging from 35 to 84 IQ points with a mental retardation in 6/7. Based on estimated ages, language and theory of mind are low for age. Those cognitive disabilities are associated with autism in 3/7 and non specified autism spectrum disorders in 3/7. One patient present an untypical profile with no MR or autistic features. Conclusion This study shows the negative impact of PCDH-19 mutation on cognitive behavioural and psychiatric development in addition to the burden of seizures. A specific follow-up and rehabilitation focusing on these aspects is recommanded.

Small unisexed groups (triads) of either male of female Swiss strain mice attack lactating intruders introduced into their home-cages. Female residents are, however, generally much more aggressive towards such intruders than are males. Ovariectomy of female residents (on day 15 or day 50 of life) has little effect on such responses, but castration of male residents significantly increases their attack on lactating intruders to a level resembling that of females. The introduction of the lactating female into the home-cage of sham-operated or gonadectomized male or female residents also enhances intragroup fighting with males (irrespective of their endocrine status) being the more aggressive. Finally, the social status of the male alters the response towards lactating females. Dominants generally show higher levels of attack, an effect that can be augmented by castration.

Summary This paper aims to describe current questions concerning conversive disorders among children and adolescents. We first describe prevalence and clinical characteristics of these. Many unresolved questions remain. Why do patients show excess, or loss of function? Attachment theory offers a relevant framework to answer this question. Does neurobiology of conversion disorders shed light on conversive processes? Current neurobiological research paradigms focus on the symptom, trying to infer processes, instead of proposing paradigms that test theoretical hypotheses. The most convincing theoretical framework that has already proposed a coherent theory of conversion is a psychodynamic one, which has not yet been tested with neurobiological paradigms. The interest of studying child and adolescent conversive disorders is to provide a means to more deeply investigate the two challenges we face: theoretical, and clinical ones. It provides the opportunity to access a pathopsychological process at its roots, not yet hidden by many defensive, rationalizing attitudes, and to better explore environmental features. We propose a “complementarist” model, which allows the combination of different approaches (neural, cognitive, environmental, attachment, intra-psychic) and permits proposal of different levels of therapeutic targets and means.