The Art of Diagnosis (~ 18 min. podcast)

Does very severe PMS constitute a mental disorder? That's one of many questions facing psychiatrists as they work to revise the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM, the definitive compendium of our psychic maladies. Because the DSM influences not just doctors and patients but medical research, insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, advertising and the culture at large, controversy surrounding its new edition abounds. Brooke looks at this powerful book

On the Media: This Week from NPR
December 26, 2008

Rosenbaum, Janet Elise (2009). Patient Teenagers? A Comparison of the Sexual Behavior of Virginity Pledgers and Matched Nonpledgers. Pediatrics, 123, pp. e110-e120. (Online)

ABSTRACT
Objective:  The US government spends more than $200 million annually on abstinence-promotion programs, including virginity pledges. This study compares the sexual activity of adolescent virginity pledgers with matched nonpledgers by using more robust methods than past research.

Subjects and Methods: The subjects for this study were National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health respondents, a nationally representative sample of middle and high school students who, when surveyed in 1995, had never had sex or taken a virginity pledge and who were >15 years of age (n = 3440). Adolescents who reported taking a virginity pledge on the 1996 survey (n = 289) were matched with nonpledgers (n = 645) by using exact and nearest-neighbor matching within propensity score calipers on factors including prepledge religiosity and attitudes toward sex and birth control. Pledgers and matched nonpledgers were compared 5 years after the pledge on self-reported sexual behaviors and positive test results for Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Trichomonas vaginalis, and safe sex outside of marriage by use of birth control and condoms in the past year and at last sex.

Results: Five years after the pledge, 82% of pledgers denied having ever pledged. Pledgers and matched nonpledgers did not differ in premarital sex, sexually transmitted diseases, and anal and oral sex variables. Pledgers had 0.1 fewer past-year partners but did not differ in lifetime sexual partners and age of first sex. Fewer pledgers than matched nonpledgers used birth control and condoms in the past year and birth control at last sex.

Conclusions: The sexual behavior of virginity pledgers does not differ from that of closely matched nonpledgers, and pledgers are less likely to protect themselves from pregnancy and disease before marriage. Virginity pledges may not affect sexual behavior but may decrease the likelihood of taking precautions during sex. Clinicians should provide birth control information to all adolescents, especially virginity pledgers.

Sexual abuse in childhood increases the risk of suicide in men by up to ten times, say researchers from the University of Bath. A recent study of Australian men has found that those who were sexually abused as children are more likely than women to contemplate taking their own lives. Whilst gender and mental health problems are the most important risk factors for contemplating suicide, it is increasingly acknowledged that traumatic experiences such as childhood sexual abuse may be a significant risk factor.

Dr Patrick O'Leary and Professor Nick Gould from the University's Department of Social & Policy Sciences conducted a series of surveys and face-to-face interviews with men in a study funded by the University of South Australia. The findings have been published online in the peer-reviewed British Journal of Social Work.

They found that men who were sexually abused as children were up to ten times more likely to have suicidal tendencies; many of these men had not been clinically diagnosed as depressed. Dr O'Leary said: "Childhood sexual abuse is an under-recognised problem in men - most of the studies exploring the link with suicide have been in women. "Men are particularly vulnerable because they don't like to talk to others about their problems. It's difficult for anyone to come to terms with traumatic experiences such as childhood sexual abuse, but for men the stigma is worse because they don't tend to confide in their friends as much.

"Many suffer feelings of failure and isolation and think that it is a sign of weakness to discuss their past abuse with others. Men also tend to visit their doctors less frequently, so those who are at risk of suicide often slip under the radar of the healthcare system. Men are particularly vulnerable to suicide and are three and a half times more likely than women to end their own lives, with more than 2,000 men dying as a result of suicide in the UK each year. However it is estimated that for every suicide, there are between 20 and 25 failed attempts. We carried out the study in Australia, which shares a similar 'stiff upper lip' culture that we see in the UK. We're planning to do our next study in the UK to see if there are any differences."

Dr O'Leary suggested that lives could be potentially saved if abuse victims are identified earlier. He explained: "The abuse that these men have suffered as children often sees them attempting to cope by suppressing the experience through substance abuse, alcohol abuse and obsessive behaviour, with many ending up in the criminal justice system. "Greater awareness in the healthcare and criminal justice systems will help identify those who are at risk and give them treatment before it is too late."

We've all experienced a "good cry"—whether following a breakup or just after a really stressful day, shedding some tears can often make us feel better and help us put things in perspective. But why is crying beneficial? And is there such a thing as a "bad cry"? University of South Florida psychologists Jonathan Rottenberg and Lauren M. Bylsma, along with their colleague Ad J.J.M. Vingerhoets of Tilburg University describe some of their recent findings about the psychology of crying in the December issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The psychologists analyzed the detailed accounts of more than 3000 recent crying experiences (which occurred outside of the laboratory) and found that the benefits of crying depend entirely on the what, where and when of a particular crying episode. The researchers found that the majority of respondents reported improvements in their mood following a bout of crying. However, one third of the survey participants reported no improvement in mood and a tenth felt worse after crying. The survey also revealed that criers who received social support during their crying episode were the most likely to report improvements in mood.

Research to date has not always produced a clear picture of the benefits of crying , in part because the results often seem to depend on how crying is studied. The authors note several challenges in accurately studying crying behavior in a laboratory setting. Volunteers who cry in a laboratory setting often do not describe their experiences as being cathartic or making them feel better. Rather, crying in a laboratory setting often results in the study participants feeling worse; this may be due to the stressful conditions of the study itself, such as being videotaped or watched by research assistants. This may produce negative emotions (such as embarrassment), which neutralize the positive benefits usually associated with crying.

However, these laboratory studies have provided interesting findings about the physical effects of crying. Criers do show calming effects such as slower breathing, but they also experience a lot of unpleasant stress and arousal, including increased heart rate and sweating. What is interesting is that bodily calming usually lasts longer than the unpleasant arousal. The calming effects may occur later and overcome the stress reaction, which would account for why people tend to remember mostly the pleasant side of crying.

Research has shown that the effects of crying also depend on who is shedding the tears. For example, individuals with anxiety or mood disorders are least likely to experience the positive effects of crying. In addition, the researchers report that people who lack insight into their emotional lives (a condition known as alexithymia) actually feel worse after crying. The authors suggest that for these individuals, their lack of emotional insight may prevent the kind of cognitive change required for a sad experience to be transformed into something positive.

“In psychiatry no one knows the causes of anything, so classification can be driven by all sorts of factors” — political, social and financial. “What you have in the end,” Mr. Shorter [a historian of psychiatry] said, “is this process of sorting the deck of symptoms into syndromes, and the outcome all depends on how the cards fall.”

The DSM-V is expected to fall into place in 2011-2012.

The article, Psychiatrists Revise the Book of Human Troubles, can be found at the New York Times online

Chimpanzees recognize their pals by using some of the same brain regions that switch on when humans register a familiar face, according to a report published online on December 18th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. The study—the first to examine brain activity in chimpanzees after they attempt to match fellow chimps' faces—offers new insight into the origin of face recognition in humans, the researchers said.

"We can learn about human origins by studying our closest relatives," said Lisa Parr, a researcher at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University. "We can discover what aspects of human cognition are really unique and which are present in other animals."

Earlier studies had shown that chimpanzees, like humans, are adept at recognizing their peers. "We knew [from behavioral studies] that chimps and humans process faces similarly," Parr said. "We wondered whether similar brain regions were responsible, and, for the most part, they seem to be."

In the study, the researchers examined brain activity (as reflected by blood sugar metabolism) in five chimpanzees by using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans. (Parr noted that the Yerkes National Primate Research Center is the only center of its kind to have on-site MRI, PET, and cyclotron facilities, making studies like Parr's possible.) The chimps were shown three faces, two of which were identical, while the third was of a different chimp. Subjects were then asked to indicate the faces that matched. In other trials, the chimpanzees did the same matching task with clip art images.

The imaging studies revealed significant face-selective activity in brain regions known to make up the distributed cortical face-processing network in humans. Further study showed distinct patches of activity in a region known as the fusiform gyrus—the primary site of face-selective activity in humans—when chimps observed faces.

The researchers concluded that the brain regions that are active during facial recognition may represent part of a distributed neural system for face processing in chimpanzees, like that proposed in humans, in which the initial visual analysis of faces activates regions in the occipital and temporal lobes of the cerebral cortex (a portion of the brain involved in memory, attention, and perceptual awareness) followed by additional processing in the fusiform gyrus and other regions.

Parr emphasized, however, that there have been decades of research on face processing in the human brain. As the first such study in chimpanzees, the new findings raise more questions than they can answer, and follow-up studies are underway.

Adolescents with major depression who received cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) after responding to an antidepressant were less likely to experience a relapse or recurrence of symptoms compared to teens who did not receive CBT, according to a small, NIMH-funded pilot study published in the December 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Background
Studies have found that adults with depression who have responded to medication treatment are less likely to have a relapse if they receive CBT during the follow-up treatment phase, according to researchers Betsy Kennard, Psy.D., of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and colleagues. Scientists theorize that initial antidepressant treatment may help improve symptoms enough so that a patient becomes more receptive to CBT or other psychosocial component. Kennard and colleagues aimed to determine if a similar sequential treatment strategy would be effective with depressed adolescents.

In this pilot study, 46 depressed youths ages 11 to 18 who had responded to 12 weeks of treatment with the antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac) were randomly assigned to either six months of continued medication management (MM), or to medication management plus cognitive behavioral therapy (MM+CBT) designed to prevent relapse.

Results of the Study
Kennard and colleagues found that the youths who received only MM were significantly more likely to relapse than the youths who received MM+CBT. The researchers estimated that 37 percent of those in the MM group were likely to relapse, while 15 percent of those in the MM+CBT group were likely to relapse. Patients getting MM+CBT also reported higher rates of satisfaction compared to those getting MM only.

Significance
This pilot study demonstrates that, as in adult studies, introducing CBT in follow-up treatment after a patient responds to antidepressant treatment may be a promising strategy in preventing relapse among depressed adolescents.

What’s Next
The researchers currently are conducting a larger trial of MM+CBT to further evaluate the effectiveness of this treatment strategy in youths with depression.

Reference
Kennard B, et al. Cognitive-behavioral therapy to prevent relapse in pediatric responders to pharmacotherapy for major depressive disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 2008 Dec; 47(12):1395-1404

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Posted at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
5 December 2008

To Get Good Grades, Get Good Sleep.

You’d think that college students would be experts at sleeping.  But odd hours, parties, cramming for tests, personal problems, self-medication with drugs or alcohol and general  can wreck a student’s sleep habits. Which can be bad for the body and the mind.

60-Second Psych from Scientific American podcasts
8 December 2008

Whispering bats are shrieking

Annemarie Surlykke from the University of Southern Denmark is fascinated by echolocation. She really wants to know how it works. Surlykke equates the ultrasound cries that bats use for echolocation with the beam of light from a torch: you won't see much with the light from a small bulb but you could see several hundred metres with a powerful beam. Surlykke explains that it's the same with echolocating bats. Some have big powerful calls for perception over a long range, while others are said to whisper; which puzzled Surlykke. How could 'whispering' bats echolocate with puny 70decibel cries that barely carry at all? Teaming up with her long time collaborator Elizabeth Kalko from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and student Signe Brinkløv, Surlykke decided to measure the volume of a pair of whispering bat species' calls to find out how loud the whisperers are. They publish their discovery that whispering bats are really shrieking in The Journal of Experimental Biology on 12th December 2008 at http://jeb.biologists.org.

Travelling to the Smithsonian Research Institute's Barro Colorado Island in Panama, Surlykke decided to focus on two whispering members of the Phyllostomidae family: Artibeus jamaicensis and Macrophyllum macrophyllum. According to Surlykke, the Phyllostomidae family of bats are unique because of their remarkably diverse lifestyles and diets. Some feed on fast moving insects while others feast on fruit buried in trees, making them an ideal family to study to find out how echolocation works.

But measuring the volume of the bat's echolocation calls was extremely challenging. If Surlykke was going to get true volume measurements from hunting bats on the wing, she would have to be certain that the bats were facing head on and that she could measure their distance from the microphone that recorded the sound so that she could correct for the volume lost as the call travelled to the microphone. Setting up an array of four microphones, the team recorded 460 cries, which Surlykke eventually whittled down to 31 calls for M. macrophyllum and 19 for A. jamaicensis that she could use.

Correcting the volume measurements, Surlykke was delighted to find that far from whispering, the bats were shrieking. The tiny insectivore M. macrophyllum registered a top volume of 105decibel, while fruit feeding A. jamaicensis broke the record at 110decibel, a remarkable 100 times louder than a 70decibel bat whisper and almost twice as loud as A. jamaicensis.

Surlykke suspects that she can explain the differences in the animals' volumes by their different lifestyles. She explains that the relatively large A. jamaicensis feeds on fruit, which it probably locates through a combination of senses, including smell and short-range echolocation whispers. But the bats have to search over large areas to find fruiting trees, and Surlykke suspects that the bat uses its high volume, well-carrying shrieks for orientation in their complex forest environment.

However, tiny M. macrophyllum's lifestyle is completely different. They hunt for insects over water, scooping them up with their tail. Surlykke says that she suspected that M. macrophyllum would be louder because she couldn't see how the animals could locate moving insects with a low intensity echolocation call, but admits that she was amazed that they were so much louder and that they could also adjust the volume to match their prey.

Bluetooth device also blocks texting when key is in ignition

University of Utah researchers have developed an automobile ignition key that prevents teenagers from talking on cell phones or sending text messages while driving. The university has obtained provisional patents and licensed the invention – Key2SafeDriving – to a private company that hopes to see it on the market within six months at a cost of less than $50 per key plus a yet-undetermined monthly service fee.

"The key to safe driving is to avoid distraction," says Xuesong Zhou, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering who co-invented the system with Wally Curry, a University of Utah graduate now practicing medicine in Hays, Kan. "We want to provide a simple, cost-effective solution to improve driving safety." Zhou notes that "at any given time, about 6 percent of travelers on the road are talking on a cell phone while driving. Also at any given time, 10 percent of teenagers who are driving are talking or texting." Studies have shown drivers using cell phones are about four times more likely to get in a crash than other drivers. "As a parent, you want to improve driving safety for your teenagers," he says. "You also want to reduce your insurance costs for your teen drivers. Using our system you can prove that teen drivers are not talking while driving, which can significantly reduce the risk of getting into a car accident."

If things go as planned, the Key2SafeDriving system won't be sold directly to consumers by a manufacturer, but instead the technology may be licensed to cell phone service providers to include in their service plans, says Ronn Hartman, managing partner of Accendo LC. The Kaysville, Utah, company provides early stage business consulting and "seed funding." It has licensed the Key2SafeDriving technology from the University of Utah and is working to manufacture and commercialize it.

Hartman envisions gaining automobile and insurance industry backing so that Key2SafeDriving data on cell phone use (or non-use) while driving can be compiled into a "safety score" and sent monthly to insurance companies, which then would provide discounts to motorists with good scores. The score also could include data recorded via Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites on the driver's speeding, rapid braking or running of lights, which are calculated by comparing the driver's position with a database of maps, speed limits, stop lights and so on.

How Key2SafeDriving Works
The system includes a device that encloses a car key – one for each teen driver or family member. The device connects wirelessly with each key user's cell phone via either Bluetooth or RFID (radio-frequency identification) technologies. To turn on the engine, the driver must either slide the key out or push a button to release it. Then the device sends a signal to the driver's cell phone, placing it in "driving mode" and displaying a "stop" sign on the phone's display screen.

While in driving mode, teen drivers cannot use their cell phones to talk or send text messages, except for calling 911 or other numbers pre-approved by the parents – most likely the parents' own cell numbers. Incoming calls and texts are automatically answered with a message saying, "I am driving now. I will call you later when I arrive at the destination safely." When the engine is turned off, the driver slides the key back into the device, which sends a "car stopped" signal to the cell phone, returning it to normal communication mode. The device can't be "tricked" by turning the phone off and on again because the phone will receive the "driving mode" signal whenever the car key is extended.

Adult drivers cannot text or use a handheld cell phone, but the Key2SafeDriving system does allow them to talk using a hands-free cell phone – even though studies by University of Utah psychologists indicate hands-free phones are just as distracting as handheld phones. Curry agrees that driving while talking on any cell phone "is not safe," but he says the inventors have to face the practical issue of whether adults would buy a product to completely block their cell phone use while driving. Limiting some cell calls by adults "is a step in the right direction," he says. Zhou says the goal for adults is to improve safety by encouraging them to reduce the time they spend talking while driving. The encouragement could come in the form of insurance discounts by insurers, who would receive monthly scores from Key2SafeDriving showing how well an adult driver avoided talking while driving.

An Invention is Born
The new invention began with Curry, a Salt Lake City native who graduated from the University of Utah with an accounting degree and premedical training in 1993. He returned from the Medical College of Wisconsin for his surgical residency in urology at University Hospital during 1998-2003. He now is a urologist in Hays, Kan.

His concern with driving-while-talking began because, as a doctor, "the hospital is calling me all the time on my cell phone when I'm driving." One day while driving home, he saw a teenage girl texting while driving, making him worry about his 12- and 14-year-old daughters, who are approaching driving age. "I thought, this is crazy, there has got to be something to stop this, because not only is she putting people at risk, but so was I," Curry says. "It struck me pretty hard that something should be done."

Curry's initial idea was a GPS system to detect a moving cell phone and disable it when it moved at driving speeds. Meanwhile, someone else developed a similar system based on the same idea. But it cannot distinguish if the cell phone user is driving a car or is a passenger in a moving car, bus or train – a problem overcome by Key2SafeDriving.

In early 2008, Curry called Larry Reaveley, a civil engineering professor at the University of Utah, who suggested Curry contact Zhou, a specialist in "intelligent" transportation systems. Zhou and Curry then came up with the idea of blocking cell phone usage via a vehicle ignition key. Zhou, a native of Liuzhou, China, joined the University of Utah faculty in early 2007. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Maryland in 2004. He has worked for a California company that sold a product that provides traffic information to motorists using GPS satellites.

A short video about Key2SafeDriving may be viewed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEIMUsnvucE
Video credit: Ana Antunes, University of Utah

The video and additional information about Key2SafeDriving are available at:
http://www.Key2SafeDriving.net

Have you grown weary of reading the same favorite dinosaur or bug book over and over again to the youngsters in your life? Are you ready to shake up the regular line-up of bedtime stories? In time for holiday shopping, The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has announced 19 finalists in the annual science book awards, which include science books for young children up to young adults.

In its fifth year, the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books is intended to promote science literacy. The list of 19 finalists in the 2009 competition appeared in the 5 December issue of the journal Science. Librarians selected the finalists from over 100 entries across the four award categories. Scientists will help choose a winner in each category. The winning entries will be announced 1 January 2009 and honored during a ceremony at the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago. Winners will receive $1,500 and a plaque.

Carolyn Phelan, a librarian at Northbrook Public Library in Northbrook, Ill., served as a judge for the children's science picture books category. Since she began her career as a children's librarian 30 years ago, Phelan has noticed that she now gets more requests for science books for younger children. The quality of the science books has also improved greatly during that time, she said. "There are better illustrations than in the past, more remarkable photos, more use of color. All of this makes the books more attractive to young children," Phelan said.

Engaging design is important for books intended for older children, too. "We look for books that are engaging, appealing and written with a layout that would appeal to teens," said Maren Ostergard, who has judged the young adult category since the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize began five years ago. "The books have to hold interest right off the bat or teens won't commit to the whole story," she said. Size also matters: can the book fit in a backpack? Is it too heavy to carry around? These are things that can also make a difference when marketing books to teenagers, Ostergard said.

Ostergard is an early literacy and outreach librarian in King County Library System in Seattle. She talks to school groups, provides library materials and resources to children in after school care and is "always trying to find good science books." Finding science books for young adults "takes some looking," Ostergard said. "They hear about fiction from their peers and the media, but I may be the only one who markets quality non-fiction to them. It's important to find good science and tell teens about it, because they don't get it otherwise."

The list of finalists is sent to libraries to encourage librarians to put the science books on display. "It's another way to get the word out about good science books," said AAAS' Malcomson.

Children's Science Picture Books (links to amazon.com/prices also amazon.com)

• Eggs. Marilyn Singer, illustrated by Emma Stevenson. Holiday House, New York, 2008. 32 pp. $11.53
  Eggs provide a shelter in which a developing animal can breathe, be nourished with food and drink, and grow. They are laid by birds, invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and even some mammals. Singer presents examples of their innumerable shapes, sizes, colors, and patterns. She also discusses how burial, brooding, and nests protect eggs, and she describes varieties of hatching. Stevenson's detailed gouache paintings convey the eggs' allure.
  
  
• Sisters and Brothers: Sibling Relationships in the Animal World. Steve Jenkins (illustrator) and Robin Page. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2008. 32 pp. $10.88
  Animals and families always fascinate children, but the facts about siblings that fill this book will also engage adults. For example, young shrews line up holding each others' tails, with the mother leading the way. Female termites lay 30,000 eggs a day, whereas giant anteaters are always single offspring. Nile crocodiles cooperate even before they hatch, but hyena cubs can fight to the death. The authors' collages are sure to appeal to young readers.
  
  
• Spiders. Nic Bishop. Scholastic, New York, 2007. 48 pp. $12.23
  Spider enthusiasts and arachnophobes alike will be drawn to the amazing, up-close photographs in this informative introduction to these eight-legged predators. The concise, well-written text offers numerous interesting facts about spiders. For example, they were among the earliest terrestrial predators, having arisen more than 350 million years ago. And although "silk is the secret of spider success," many of the more than 38,000 species do not use webs. Fishing spiders dart over the water's surface, and some jumping spiders can leap 20 times their body length to pounce on prey.
  
  
• Wings. Sneed B. Collard III, illustrated by Robin Brickman. Charlesbridge, Watertown, MA, 2008. 32 pp. $13.73. Paper, $7.95
  Insects, birds, and bats all move through the air on wings. Collard introduces the diversity of these appendages and their uses. Wings can be covered with scales, feathers, or bare skin. They allow peregrines to twist and turn in a dive, leaf-nosed bats to lazily flap over the ground, milkweed bugs to move short distances among patches, and Arctic terns to migrate between the polar regions. They help animals chase, catch, flee, and mate. To illustrate this variety, Brickman sculpted painted paper into colorful collages.
  
  
• The Wolves Are Back. Jean Craighead George, illustrated by Wendell Minor. Dutton Juvenile, New York, 2008. 32 pp. $16.95
  The wolves of Yellowstone were once shot until they were eliminated. However, with changed values and the yearning to again hear howls in the wild, wolves were reintroduced to the national park in 1995. As the wolves multiplied, wildflowers reappeared (wolves chased away the mountain sheep that had eaten them) and birds returned (wolves hunted bison and elk that had trampled young aspen needed for perches and grasses needed for food). By following along as a wolf pup wanders the Lamar Valley, readers learn how wolves are even important to halting riverbank erosion. George's simple text and landscape artist Minor's beautiful illustrations convey the importance of maintaining all parts of ecosystems.
  

Middle Grades Science Books

• Cold Light: Creatures, Discoveries, and Inventions that Glow. Anita Sitarski. Boyds Mills Press, Honesdale, PA, 2007. 48 pp. $11.53
  This book's theme is make light not heat. Sitarski offers an information-packed but reader friendly account of chemical and biological sources of luminescence along with important discoveries from 1602 through to today's light-emitting diodes. Of course there are photos of fireflies and jellyfish, but the intriguing images also include a glowing chicken and art by Montana State University students who covered the walls of a darkened gallery with dishes containing luminescent marine bacteria.
  
  
• George Washington Carver. Tonya Bolden. Abrams Books for Young Readers (Abrams), New York, in association with the Field Museum, Chicago, 2008. 40 pp. $15.16
  Peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans (and the products made from them) were key interests of horticulturist, educator, and inventor Carver. The ex-slave's research and teaching, which stressed scientific farming and soil conservation, helped improve agriculture in the South. Bolden's eloquent telling of Carter's life and accomplishments is enhanced with quotes from him and his contemporaries. The historical photos; evocative artifacts; and Carter's own drawings, paintings, and scientific illustrations will help entice young readers.
  
  
• How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming. Lynne Cheery and Gary Braasch. Dawn, Nevada City, CA, 2008. 66 pp. $12.89
  The authors survey a wide range of indications that Earth's climate is changing. These clues include the earlier spring arrivals of migrating birds, earlier blooming by wildflowers and Washington, D.C.'s cherry trees, melting glaciers and icecaps, microfossils from cores of mud from the ocean floor, and bubbles of ancient air retrieved from cores of glacial ice. In his earlier Earth Under Fire, photojournalist Braasch visited climate researchers in the field to document their discoveries. Here he and Cherry (a seasoned author of environmental books for children) also spotlight citizen science and (especially) data that can be, and is, collected by children.
  
  
• Life on Earth - and Beyond: An Astrobiologist's Quest. Pamela S. Turner. Charlesbridge, Watertown, MA, 2008. 112 pp. $15.56. Paper, $10.16
  Turner approaches astrobiology through the experiences of Chris McKay. Most chapters resemble a travelogue, as she describes his traipsing around the world. He visits Antarctica's Dry Valleys, the Atacama and Sahara deserts, permafrost-covered tundra in Siberia, and the bottom of an Antarctic lake permanently capped by ice. Weaving the underlying science into her narrative, she explains how studying microbes from these extreme environments helps us understand whether life can exist in similar situations on Mars or other planet.
  
  
• What's Eating You? Parasites - the Inside Story. Nicola Davies, illustrated by Neal Layton. Candlewick, Cambridge, MA, 2007. 60 pp. $10.39
  This account of animals that live on or in other animals is more likely to delight than disgust. Zoologist Davies explains the advantages parasites find in being small and able to change body form during their lives. He describes the challenges they face in moving among hosts-a point reinforced in a playable "two-host tapeworm game." He also discusses parasites' amazing life cycles, their effects on hosts (including some benefits and examples of "mind control"), and some of the ways the hosts fight back. Layton's clever drawings complement the informative text.
  

Young Adult Science Books

• Dinosaur: The Most Complete, Up-to-Date Encyclopedia for Dinosaur Lovers of All Ages. Thomas R. Holtz Jr., illustrated by Luis V. Rey. Random House, New York, 2007. 432 pp. $23.09
  Anyone with even a passing interest in dinosaurs should not miss this journey into their diverse and truly weird world. Holtz and his colleagues fill the book with fascinating details ranging from discoveries of new species (e.g., a sauropod, Amphicoelias, with a mass of 18 elephants) to old favorites (e.g., Tyrannosaurus rex, which may have lived and hunted in packs). They cover major and minor groups, predator-prey relations, social interactions within species, habitats and habits, and evolutionary trends. With its conversational tone and Rey's engaging illustrations, the book should appeal to young adults and a general audience alike.
  
  
• The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell. Rachel Herz. Morrow, New York, 2007. 288 pp. $9.99
  Far from a prissy survey of perfumes and odor-it starts with the suicide of a rock singer who had lost his sense of smell-this book explores how and why smell is such a central component of our lives. Explaining basic neurobiological principles in clear language, Herz intermixes them with stories and personal accounts of her research and experiences. She describes olfactory technologies, such as the development of electronic noses, which are already beginning to be used in the food industry and might even help diagnose diseases. She also dreams of a gel that would boost olfactory receptor function and restore sensation to older individuals. Her account will stimulate readers' interests in psychology and neuroscience.
  
  
• The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret. Seth Shulman. Norton, New York, 2008. 256 pp. $16.47. Paper, $10.17
  Who invented the telephone? Most people would answer Alexander Graham Bell-recall "Mr. Watson, come here!" In this well-researched and well-written account, Shulman argues that Bell furtively copied crucial aspects of his device from a patent application by Elisha Gray. The author weaves science, intrigue, and romance into a fast-paced narrative. He lays his evidence out clearly while carrying readers through the steps he took to build his thought-provoking case.
  
  
• Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys But Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life. Sandra Aarnodt and Sam Wang. Bloomsbury, New York, 2008. 240 pp. $16.47. Paper, $10.20
  The neuroscientist authors offer a highly accessible and richly informative "user's guide" to our brains. They cover a broad range of topics, offering up-to-date information directed to answering questions of the curious public. They supplement their charming narrative with frequent and quite extensive sidebars that debunk myths, focus on specific issues, and offer practical tips. Eschewing didactical lecturing, their friendly and informal writing effectively engages the reader in a comfortable, interesting, and informative dialog.

Hands-On Science/Activity Books

• Animal Tracks and Signs. Jinny Johnson. National Geographic, Washington, DC, 2008. 192 pp. $16.47
  Whether they inhabit backyards, local fields or woods, or wilderness parklands, most animals can be hard to sight. But they do leave clues to their activities: tracks, nests, feeding remains, and dung. Johnson gives pointers on how to notice, record, and interpret such signs. In addition, she includes basic facts about the animals themselves. Mammals garner the most attention, while amphibians, reptiles, birds, insects, and other invertebrates are discussed in shorter sections. Although the book's global scope limits its coverage to some 400 selected examples, the information can often also be applied to closely related species. This enticing introduction should lead nature enthusiasts to seek additional details in field guides with a more restricted focus.
  
  
• The Brook Book. Jim Arnosky. Dutton Children's, New York, 2008. 32 pp. $12.47
  Budding naturalists who have access to any narrow, shallow stream will find this an inviting guide to the variety of observations they can make. It begins with appropriately simple explanations of the sources and fates of the water in a brook. There are plenty of activities to satisfy young explorers, including sketching flowers, collecting smooth stones, examining aquatic insects, watching birds, and looking for animal tracks. Parents will appreciate the emphasis on safety, while children should be attracted by Aronsky's alluring text and charming illustrations.
  
  
• Sound Projects with a Music Lab You Can Build. Robert Gardner. Enslow, Berkeley Heights, NJ, 2008. 128 pp. $31.93
  Gardner lays out hands-on experiments that explore such topics as how sounds form and travel; properties of standing waves and harmonics; and aspects of string, wind, and percussion instruments. He adroitly balances open-ended questions and necessary background information thus enticing students to actually investigate phenomena to obtain answers. Many of the 35 experiments offer intriguing ideas for elementary or middle school science fairs. The book will reward self-motivated students who are seeking challenges in problem solving.
  
  
• True Green Kids: 100 Things You Can Do to Save the Planet. Kim McKay and Jenny Bonnin. National Geographic , Washington, DC, 2008. 144 pp. $27.90. Paper, $10.85
  Youngsters who wish to join the green movement will enjoy this book. The 100 activities range from the obvious (use cloth bags, turn down your heat) to the creative and fun (set up a local carbon trading card system, help organize a trash-free lunch day at school). Each is described on a single page, which makes the book perfect for browsing. For those who want to do still more, the authors suggest ways to learn about jobs that will help our environment.
  
  
• The Ultimate Guide to Your Microscope. Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone. Sterling, New York, 2008. 144 pp. Paper, $9.95
  Most students find their introduction to microscopes boring. They are shown a diagram of parts and given a couple exercises that demonstrate the instruments' capabilities. The authors offer a lively alternative. After covering the basics and how to make various types of slides, they describe 41 projects involving easy-to-obtain objects such as pet hair, dead bugs, food molds, and clover. Their instructions, discussions of what is likely to be seen, and color photomicrographs should inspire readers to explore the tiny facets of our world.

Modest candidates viewed as more likable but less competent

A new study in Psychology of Women Quarterly finds that women who present themselves as confident and ambitious in job interviews are viewed as highly competent but also lacking social skills. Women who present themselves as modest and cooperative, while well liked, are perceived as low on competence. By contrast, confident and ambitious male candidates are viewed as both competent and likable and therefore are more likely to be hired as a manager than either confident or modest women.

Julie E. Phelan, Corinne A. Moss-Racusin, and Laurie A. Rudman of Rutgers University taped both male and female applicants interviewing to be a computer lab manager. All applicants presented themselves as competent, but also as either confident and ambitious or modest and cooperative. Participants then evaluated the applicants' competence, social skills, and hirability.

Results show how disparate hiring criteria further discriminates against ambitious, competent women. When judging the ambitious women's hirability, a perceived lack of social skills formed the basis of the hiring decision, and the womens' high competence was relatively neglected. For ambitious men, however, perceived competence and interpersonal skills were weighed equally in the hiring decision. Women were doubly disadvantaged because even when female applicants adhered to stereotypic expectations by presenting themselves as modest, they were unlikely to be hired because evaluators emphasized their relatively low competence and discounted their (high) social skills.

According to this research, women who seek managerial roles face a double bind. In order to be viewed as sufficiently qualified for leadership, they must present themselves as confident and ambitious. But if they do so, they risk prejudice for acting "unfeminine," which can result in hiring discrimination. Thus, in performance settings where confidence and ambition are required to get ahead, men have a clear advantage.

Passenger reacts to traffic, unlike person at other end of cell conversation    
        
Drivers are far more distracted by talking on a cellular phone than by conversing with a passenger in an automobile, according to a new study by University of Utah psychologists Frank Drews, David Strayer and Monisha Pasupathi.

The study, which used a sophisticated driving simulator, found that when drivers talk on a cell phone, they drift out of their lanes and missed exits more frequently than drivers conversing with a passenger. The findings are being released Monday, Dec. 1 by the American Psychological Association and published in the Dec. 15, 2008, issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.

"The passenger adds a second set of eyes, and helps the driver navigate and reminds them where to go," says Strayer, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah and a co-author of the study. Previous studies by Strayer and Drews have found that hands-free cell phones are just as distracting as handheld models because the conversation is the biggest distraction. They also have shown that when young adults talk on cell phones while driving, their reaction times become as slow as reaction times for senior citizens, and that drivers talking on cell phones are as impaired as drivers with the 0.08 percent blood alcohol level that defines drunken driving in most states.

Strayer says he often is asked about the distraction caused by conversations with passengers versus people on the other end of a cell phone, "because in both cases you have a conversation." But "when you take a look at the data, it turns out that a driver conversing with a passenger is not as impaired a driver talking on a cell phone," he says. "You see bigger lane deviations for someone talking on a cell phone compared with a driver talking to a passenger. You also find when there is a passenger in the car, almost everyone takes the exit. But half the people talking on the cell phone fail to take the exit."

Drews concludes: "Friends don't talk to their driving friends on cell phones." Strayer adds: "The difference between a cell phone conversation and passenger conversation is due to the fact that the passenger is in the vehicle and knows what the traffic conditions are like, and they help the driver by reminding them of where to take an exit and pointing out hazards."

Relationship-contingent self-esteem can trigger depression and anxiety, eroding bonds

Romantic relationships establish special bonds between partners. Oftentimes, passionate rapport leads to permanent partnerships, and ultimately, the start of families. Sometimes, however, one or both partners place too much emotional weight on their relationship. As a result, men or women may tend to evaluate their self-worth solely based on the outcomes of their romantic interactions. This is what psychologists term as relationship-contingent self-esteem (RCSE), and, according to University of Houston researcher Chip Knee, it's an unhealthy factor in romantic relationships.

"Individuals with high levels of RCSE are very committed to their relationships, but they also find themselves at risk to become devastated when something goes wrong -- even a relatively minor event," said Knee, UH assistant professor of psychology and director of the university's Interpersonal Relations and Motivation Research Group. "An overwhelming amount of the wrong kind of commitment can actually undermine a relationship." Knee added that RCSE can trigger depression and anxieties during even the most minor or common relationship-based incidents, such as miscommunication, short spats over noncritical matters or a critique of one's personality or appearance. It also factors into one or more partners developing manic, obsessive (or needy) behaviors with regard to love.

RCSE might place one at risk for serious mood changes after break-ups, divorce or threats to one's relationship. Identifying it during the early stages of a relationship can prevent such negative outcomes or help partners recognize that they are incompatible.

Knee and a group of researchers observed the impact of RCSE among heterosexual college students in a series of studies. Their findings were presented in the paper "Relationship-Contingent Self-Esteem - The Ups and Downs of Romantic Relationships," published in the flagship Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Collaborating with Knee were Amber L. Bush of UH, Amy Canevello of the University of Michigan and Astrid Cook of Idiro Technologies.

Included in these studies was a 14-day diary procedure in which 198 participants recorded the most positive and negative events in their romantic relationships. Also documented in this daily diary were participants' feelings about themselves and their relationships.

"What we found with this particular study was that people with higher levels of RCSE felt worse about themselves during negative moments in their relationships," Knee said. "It's as if it doesn't matter why the negative occurrence happens or who was at fault. The partners with stronger RCSE still feel badly about themselves." Individuals with RCSE also are prone to react more emotionally to relationship-based situations, Knee added. Instead of taking a step back, analyzing a situation and determining how to best address it, those with RCSE respond immediately and impulsively. "When something happens in a relationship, these individuals don't separate themselves from it," he said. "They immediately feel personally connected to any negative circumstance in a relationship and become anxious, more depressed and hostile."

We are faced with uncertainty every day. Will our investments pay off? Will we get the promotions we are hoping for? When faced with the unknown, most people experience some degree of anxiety and discomfort. Exactly how much anxiety someone experiences during uncertain times depends on his or her personality profile. In particular, it is the personality trait of Neuroticism that predicts how distressed people will be when confronted with the unknown.

In a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, University of Toronto psychologists Jacob Hirsh and Michael Inzlicht examined whether neurotic individuals would react more strongly to clear negative information or to uncertainty. The researchers administered a computerized time-estimation task, in which the participants had to indicate when they thought one second had passed from the appearance of a symbol on the screen. The participants were then given clear positive, clear negative, or uncertain feedback (i.e., a question mark). All the while, the researchers measured the participants' brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG).

Hirsh and Inzlicht focused on the responses of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a brain area associated with error-monitoring and conflict-related anxiety, instrumental in regulating our behavior to environmental change. The results were clear: stronger responses were observed in this brain region in neurotic individuals when they were given uncertain feedback compared to when they were given unambiguous negative feedback.

In other words, neurotic individuals experience an immediate, uncomfortable response to uncertainty, even more so than when they are faced with clear negative information. This suggests that neurotic individuals would rather receive clear negative feedback than uncertain feedback, even though the outcome of the uncertain feedback could potentially be positive. "Uncertainty can be very stressful," says Hirsh, "and high levels of Neuroticism contribute to this dislike of the unknown." The results of this study have important implications for human behavior, as they suggest that some individuals, namely those high in Neuroticism, "prefer the devil they know over the devil they do not know."

Paul Boxer’s large-scale study shows conclusive link between media violence and real violence in adolescents.

You are what you watch, when it comes to violence in the media and its influence on violent behavior in young people, and a new paper, lead-authored by Rutgers University, Newark, researcher Paul Boxer, provides new evidence that violent media does indeed impact adolescent behavior.

The research, to be published in February/2009 in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, shows that even when other factors are considered, such as academic skills, encounters with community violence, or emotional problems, “childhood and adolescent violent media preferences contributed significantly to the prediction of violence and general aggression” in the study subjects.  The study is available online at http://www.springerlink.com/content/4788773215243487/fulltext.html.

Boxer, an assistant professor of psychology at Rutgers University in Newark, has been involved since 2004 in research funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) into media violence and its relation to serious youth violence and criminal behavior.  Although a relationship between media violence and violent behavior has been acknowledged for some 40 years, much of the research was usually done in a laboratory setting rather than in the field, with very little emphasis on documenting links between media violence and actual engagement in serious violent and antisocial behavior, explains Boxer.

What’s more, many studies did not sufficiently address other influences on the children’s behaviors, such as exposure to violent or aggressive behavior at school or in the community, academic difficulties, and psychopathic tendencies or other emotional problems, according to Boxer.

Because violence is a “multiply determined behavior,” Boxer and the research team collected data on several risk factors for aggression, to examine whether violent media exposure has an impact on behavior even when those other influences are present. “Even in conjunction with other factors, our research shows that media violence does enhance violent behavior,” Boxer states.  “On average, adolescents who were not exposed to violent media are not as prone to violent behavior.”

Boxer was the lead author on the paper, the first paper produced through the CDC project. It reports the results of the research team’s extensive interviews of 820 adolescents from the state of Michigan – 430 high school students from rural, suburban and urban communities, and 390 juvenile delinquents held in county and state facilities.  The adolescents were about evenly split between male and female, minority and non-minority. Parents or guardians of 720 of the youths also were interviewed, as were teachers/staff of 717 of them.  Each subject was asked about favorites TV shows, movies and video/computer games, both as a child and as a teen, and questioned to determine if they had engaged in specific antisocial behaviors, such as throwing rocks or using a weapon.

Interviewers also investigated the youths’ exposures to aggression or violence, as well as other risk factors for aggressive behavior, such as emotional disorders or being victimized.  The parents, guardians, teachers and staff also were interviewed about the behaviors they had observed in their children or students.

After collecting the data, researchers analyzed findings by integrating “violent media exposure scores” into cumulative risk totals.  Their findings: high violent risk scores “added significantly to the prediction of both violence and general aggression.”  What’s more, “even for those lowest in other risk factors, a preference for violent media was predictive of violent behavior and general aggression,” according to the findings.

Boxer believes the study results can be used to assess, intervene and treat young people displaying aggressive behavior.  He also knows more detailed research is needed, such as analyzing the impact on behavior when violent interactive video games are banned.

Boxer is co-investigator on the CDC grant;  Principal Investigator is Dr. Rowell Huesmann, University of Michigan; the other co-investigator is Dr. Brad Bushman, University of Michigan.

Boxer and his team also are in the process of analyzing data collected through interviews with pre-school children and their parents to determine how violent media consumption impacts very young children. “Young children react to what they see and they mimic behavior,” but are unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy, or right and wrong, says Boxer.  By investigating the mechanisms that influence their development, researchers can try to learn how to intervene in potentially aggressive or anti-social behaviors, and effect change at a very young age, he notes.

Boxer’s research into media violence and its impact is only one aspect of his overall work, which “focuses on the impact of violence in all aspects of the social environment on child and adolescent development.” Boxer is currently working on research that emphasizes the role of family violence and community violence in children's aggressive behaviors. Boxer also is involved in federally funded research investigating the role of political violence in childhood adjustment, as part of a team directing research with children growing up in Israel and the Palestinian Territory.

Creates harmful environment that may affect health, well-being

Amendments that restrict civil marriage rights of same-sex couples – such as Proposition 8 that recently passed in California – have led to higher levels of stress and anxiety among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults, as well as among their families of origin, according to several new studies to be published by the American Psychological Association.

One quantitative and two qualitative studies on the impact of anti-GLBT legislation appear in a special issue of the Journal of Counseling Psychology, published by APA. That issue of the journal, to be published in January, will be titled: "Advances in Research with Sexual Minority People."

The quantitative study was based on an online survey of 1,552 lesbian, gay and bisexual adults from all 50 states and the District of Columbia examining "minority stress," or the chronic social stress that minorities experience as a result of social stigmatization. Participants were grouped into those living in the seven states with an amendment on the ballot in November 2006 that did pass; those living in the 18 states with an amendment that passed before 2006; and those in the 23 states (plus D.C.) with no amendment. (Those living in Alabama, where an amendment passed in June 2006, were excluded because of the timing, as were those living in Arizona, where an amendment was defeated.)

The survey results documented increased minority stress, as well as more general psychological distress, among LGB individuals following the passage of a marriage amendment in 2006, compared to LGB people in states without an amendment on the 2006 ballot. The researchers, led by Sharon Scales Rostosky, Ph.D., at the University of Kentucky, found that those participants living in states that passed a measure in 2006 reported increased exposure to negative media messages and negative conversations. "The results of this study demonstrate that living in a state that has just passed a marriage amendment is associated with higher levels of psychological stress for lesbian, gay and bisexual citizens," Rostosky said. "And this stress is not due to other pre-existing conditions or factors; it is a direct result of the negative images and messages associated with the ballot campaign and the passage of the amendment."

The qualitative studies, while much smaller in scope, give voice to some of the people directly affected by anti-gay marriage amendments. The first study, "Balancing Dangers: GLBT Experience in a Time of Anti-GLBT Legislation," focused on 13 GLBT people living in Memphis, Tenn., who were interviewed at length about their experiences during the 2006 ballot campaign. The researchers, led by Heidi M. Levitt, Ph.D., at the University of Memphis, grouped the respondents' reactions into eight major themes, or "clusters." These included, for example: "Initiatives lead to constant painful reminders that I'm seen as less than human by our government and public laws," and "The irrationality of anti-GLBT initiatives and movements is baffling, painful and scary: We are not who they say we are."

Participants reported feeling not just alienated from their communities, but fearful that they would lose their children, that they would become victims of anti-gay violence or that they would need to move to a more accepting community. Some of these anxieties were mitigated by social support. For instance, one interviewee said he became "petrified …of being raped or roughed up or killed, you know, for doing nothing, basically. I worry about being picked out as a gay guy because my mannerisms are not entirely masculine." Another said the marriage amendment supporters were using the Bible "like a brick on us. They are beating us with it." Social support from religious institutions, families, GLBT friends and heterosexual allies led most of the participants "to greater feelings of safety, happiness and strength," the researchers wrote.

And in the third study, 10 family members of GLBT people living in Memphis were interviewed regarding how anti-GLBT initiatives and movements had affected their family. Their responses were also grouped into clusters of similar themes. "Some participants identified so deeply with their family member's experience that they felt equally attacked by these movements and policies," the researchers wrote. "They considered themselves members of the GLBT community and experienced rejection by others for being a GLBT family member."

"Typically, we tend to think of anti-GLBT policies such as marriage bans and Proposition 8 as affecting only GLBT people. However, our research suggests that others in addition to GLBT people are also impacted by this legislation and sometimes quite negatively. For example, we learned that some family members experienced a form of secondary minority stress. Although many participants displayed resiliency and effective coping with this stress, some experienced strong negative consequences to their mental and physical health," said Jennifer Arm, M.S.

Brent Mallinckrodt, Ph.D., editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology, said the three articles provide empirical evidence of the harmful psychological and emotional effects of such measures. "This information is especially timely, as we see the emotionally charged reactions from GLBT people in the wake of the Proposition 8 passage in California," he said. "Psychologists serving GLBT clients and their families need to be aware of the real impact of these political forces on the everyday lives of the people most directly affected."

Maybe you have an 85-year-old grandfather who still whips through the newspaper crossword puzzle every morning or a 94-year-old aunt who never forgets a name or a face. They don't seem to suffer the ravages of memory that beset most people as they age. Researchers at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine wondered if the brains of the elderly with still laser sharp memory -- called "super aged" -- were somehow different than everyone else's. So, instead of the usual approach in which scientists explore what goes wrong in a brain when older people lose their memory, they investigated what goes right in an aging brain that stays nimble.

Now they have a preliminary answer. Scientists examined the brains of five deceased people considered super aged because of their high performance on memory tests when they were more than 80 years old and compared them to the brains of elderly, non-demented individuals. Researchers found the super aged brains had many fewer fiber-like tangles than the brains of those who had aged normally. The tangles consist of a protein called tau that accumulates inside brain cells and is thought to eventually kill the cells. Tangles are found in moderate numbers in the brains of elderly and increase substantially in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients.

"This new finding in super aged brains is very exciting," said Changiz Geula, principal investigator of the study and a research professor of neurology at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center at Northwestern's Feinberg School. "It was always assumed that the accumulation of these tangles is a progressive phenomenon through the aging process. But we are seeing that some individuals are immune to tangle formation and that the presence of these tangles seems to influence cognitive performance." Individuals who have few tangles perform at superior levels, while those who have more tangles appear to be normal for their age, Geula noted. Geula will present his findings Sunday, November 16, at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

The number of plaques in the brains of the super aged was similar to that in the brains of the normally aging group. The plaque is an aggregation of protein called amyloid that becomes deposited outside the brain cell and disrupts communication between neurons. Like tangles, plaques also are found in modest numbers in the brains of aged individuals and show a dramatic increase in number in Alzheimer's disease. Geula said the lower number of tangles in the super aged appears to be the critical difference in maintaining memory skills.

Some of the super aged in the study performed memory tasks at the level of people who were about 50 years old. For example, after being told a story, they were able to remember it immediately after and still accurately recall its details 30 minutes later. They also remembered a list of 15 words and recalled these words equally well when tested after 30 minutes.

Geula said new research will focus on what makes cells in super aged brains more resistant to tangle formation. "We want to see what protects the brains of these individuals against the ravages that cause memory loss," he said. " Understanding the specific genetic and molecular characteristics of the brains that makes them resistant, someday may lead to the ability to protect average brains from memory loss. "

Geula's research is part of a larger super aging study at Northwestern's Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center (CNADC). The study's goal is to identify high functioning individuals over 80 and investigate what factors are important to maintain this ability into old age. A number of super aged individuals have been identified and are being followed up annually with tests of cognitive abilities. Recruitment continues for the study.

A neural link between intelligence and self-control

If you had a choice between receiving $1,000 right now or $4,000 ten years from now, which would you pick? Psychologists use the term "delay discounting" to describe our inability to resist the temptation of a smaller immediate reward in lieu of receiving a larger reward at a later date. Discounting future rewards too much is a form of impulsivity, and an important way in which we can neglect to exert self-control.

Previous research suggests that higher intelligence is related to better self-control, but the reasons for this link are unknown. Psychologists Noah A. Shamosh and Jeremy R. Gray, from Yale University, and their colleagues, were interested in testing the idea that certain brain regions supporting short-term memory play a critical role in this relationship. "It has been known for some time that intelligence and self-control are related, but we didn't know why. Our study implicates the function of a specific brain structure, the anterior prefrontal cortex, which is one of the last brain structures to fully mature," said Dr. Shamosh.

In this study, 103 healthy adults were presented with a delay discounting task to assess self-control: a series of hypothetical choices where they had to choose between two financial rewards, a smaller one which they would receive immediately or another, larger reward which would be received at a later time. The participants then underwent a variety of tests of intelligence and short term memory. On another day, subjects' brain activity was measured using fMRI, while they performed additional short-term memory tasks.

The results show that participants with the greatest activation in the brain region known as the anterior prefrontal cortex also scored the highest on intelligence tests and exhibited the best self-control during the financial reward test. This was the only brain region to show this relation. The results appear in the September issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Previous studies have shown that the anterior prefrontal cortex plays a role in integrating a variety of information. The authors suggest that greater activity in the anterior prefrontal cortex helps people not only to manage complex problems, resulting in higher intelligence, but also aids in dealing with simultaneous goals, leading to better self-control.

Knowledge of the neural mechanisms underlying the relationship between short term memory, intelligence and delay discounting may result in improved techniques of increasing self-control. This is particularly applicable in regulating behavior related to gambling and substance abuse. "Understanding the factors that support better self-control is relevant to a host of important behaviors, ranging from saving for retirement to maintaining physical and mental health," the authors conclude.

Adverse experiences early in life can lead to minor childhood behavior problems, which can grow into serious acts of teen violence, according to new research. This "cascading effect" of repeated negative incidents and behaviors is the focus of an article in the November/December edition of the journal Child Development.

Using a novel approach that went beyond simply identifying risk factors, a research team led by a Duke University psychologist measured how violent behavior develops across the life span, from early childhood through adolescence. The researchers tracked 754 children from preschool through adulthood and documented that children who have social and academic problems in elementary school are more likely to have parents who withdraw from them over time. That opens the door for them to make friends with adolescents exhibiting deviant behaviors and, ultimately, leads them to engage in serious and sometimes costly acts of violence. The developmental path toward violent outcomes was largely the same for boys and girls, said Kenneth A. Dodge, the lead author of the study and director of the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.

Dodge and his colleagues in the Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group also found that the cascade could be traced back to children born with biological risks or born into economically disadvantaged environments, both of which make consistent parenting a challenge. They determined biological risk by assessing the temperaments of the children in infancy, based on mothers' reports; those at risk were irritable, easily startled and difficult to calm. These children are more likely to exhibit minor social and cognitive problems upon entering school. From there, the behavior problems begin to "cascade," he said.

"The findings indicate that these trajectories are not inevitable, but can be deflected at each subsequent era in development, through interactions with peers, school, and parents along the way," said Dodge, who is the William McDougall Professor of Public Policy and a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke. "Successful early intervention could redirect paths of antisocial development to prevent serious violent behavior in adolescence," Dodge said. Fortunately, successful interventions, such as parent training and social cognitive skills training for children, are available, he said.

Temple sociologist identifies patterns of suicide in Las Vegas

Every day 85 Americans die by suicide and hundreds of thousands more make attempts every year. The vast majority of recent studies on suicide have focused on identifying psychiatric risk factors. However, a new study by Temple University Sociology Professor Matt Wray, published online this month in Social Science and Medicine, explores time and place as factors in suicide by closely analyzing the patterns of suicide in a single geographic area—Las Vegas—over a 30 year period.

For his study, "Leaving Las Vegas: Exposure to Las Vegas and Risk of Suicide," Wray and his colleagues from Harvard University set out to determine whether or not there was hard data to support the anecdotal evidence that the risk of suicide in Las Vegas is higher than elsewhere in the country. To do so, Wray compared statistical patterns of suicide in Las Vegas to the rest of the nation.

The results showed:

• residents of Las Vegas face a suicide risk that is significantly higher than the risk faced by residents elsewhere
• people who die while visiting Las Vegas are twice as likely to die by suicide than are people who die visiting someplace else
• visitors to Las Vegas face an even higher suicide risk than residents of Las Vegas

Also noteworthy, according to Wray, is the finding that if you live in Las Vegas, but travel away from home, your risk for suicide decreases. "So, one conclusion we might draw from this fact is that something about the place is toxic or 'suicidogenic,' and that there is something about reduced exposure to Las Vegas that is beneficial," said Wray.

According to Wray, there a couple of scenarios that may explain the reasons for this geographical suicide cluster, but these need further research. "One would be 'gambler's despair'—someone visits Las Vegas, bets his house away and decides to end it all. Another would be that those predisposed to suicide disproportionately choose Las Vegas to reside in or visit. And, finally, there may be a 'contagion' effect where people are emulating the suicides of others, with Las Vegas acting as a suicide magnet, much like the Golden Gate bridge. Some people may be going there intent on self-destruction."

What about Las Vegas as a place may be contributing to these higher rates of suicide? Problem gambling is just one piece of the puzzle, explained Wray. "Las Vegas is also one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the U.S., a pattern of growth that may amplify social isolation, fragmentation and low social cohesion, all of which have long been identified as correlates of suicide," he said.

The study also found that suicide risk in Las Vegas has declined over the 30 year period in the study, while the risks in the rest of the country have begun to climb slightly. Additionally, the data showed that for residents, the protective benefit of leaving Las Vegas, while still significant, has begun to decline. In response to these findings, some would argue that Las Vegas is becoming more like the All-American city, having become a very normal place to live in and finally making good on older marketing campaigns that have depicted it as a family-oriented vacation destination. "But, it is equally possible that the converse is true," said Wray. "Maybe it's actually a sign that the rest of the country is becoming more like Las Vegas—with increased social isolation, sprawling growth, and casino-style gambling now in every state and many metropolitan regions," he said.

Lack of sleep, excessive computer screen time, stress and more hurt college students' GPAs

Lack of sleep, excessive television/computer screen time, stress, gambling, alcohol and tobacco use and other health-related issues are taking a toll on college students' academic performance, according to a study released by the University of Minnesota Boynton Health Service. "Our study shows that there is a direct link between college students' health and their academic achievement. This is the first time that anything like this has been published where Grade Point Average is linked to all these behaviors," said Dr. Ed Ehlinger, the director and chief health officer of the University of Minnesota Boynton Health Service. [view a video about the study]

Today's report, "Health and Academic Performance: Minnesota Undergraduate Students," is part of one of the most comprehensive studies of college students' health in the nation. About 24,000 students from 14 Minnesota colleges and universities were randomly selected to participate in this study and 9,931 completed the 2007 College Student Health Survey Report. The results only include undergraduate students from two-year and four-year institutions. All five University of Minnesota campuses were included in the survey.

In the results, 69.9 percent of college students reported they were stressed and 32.9 percent of those students said that stress was hurting their academic performance. In fact, the mean GPA for students saying stress impacted their academics was 3.12, compared with the 3.23 mean GPA for students who didn't believe it was affecting their academics. "While this may seem like a small difference in GPA, when you are looking at over 9,000 students the impact of this difference is huge," Ehlinger said. Twenty percent of students reported that sleep difficulties impacted their academics. In fact, those students who reported getting fewer nights of adequate sleep had a mean GPA of 3.08 compared with a 3.27 mean GPA for those who do not report sleep deficiencies. "The more days students get adequate sleep -- the better GPAs they attain," Ehlinger said. "There is a direct link between the two."

When it comes to excessive television and computer use (not including academic use), 30.4 percent of students surveyed reported excessive screen time. Thirteen percent of those with the issue reported that it impacted their studies; these students had a lower mean GPA of 3.04 compared with a mean GPA of 3.27 for those who said the problem did not impact them. "Turning off the computer or TV and going to sleep is one of the best things our students can do to improve their grades," Ehlinger said.

Students who reported that they had smoked during the past 30 days had a 3.12 mean GPA compared with a 3.28 mean GPA for students who reported not smoking. The study revealed surprising information for students who even smoke infrequently. "Even students who smoked once or twice in a month had lower GPAs than those who didn't smoke," Ehlinger said. "Using tobacco to calm down or 'to be social' is lowering students' grades."

Ehlinger hopes that this study's results will spur college students to change behavior and for colleges to pay more attention to the health of their students. "We hope this information helps students make wise decisions," Ehlinger said. "If you're investing a lot of time and money in your education, do you really want to waste your investment on behaviors that interfere with your academic success?"

The report also includes information on mental health, health insurance, physical activity levels, financial issues, drug use, injury, sexual assault and alcohol use. Members of the public, along with students and health officials, should pay attention to the results of this report, because the health of college students is important to society, Ehlinger said. "College students are so important for our economic development -- the development of our society," Ehlinger said. "One way to protect that investment in our future is to help them stay healthy."

Psychologists from the University of Toronto have developed a personality inventory that can predict who will excel in academic and creative domains, even when respondents are trying hard to fake their answers.

Study authors note that personality questionnaires have a long history of predicting real-world performance, but have been plagued by the problem of biased responding. "It's very common for people to try and make themselves look better than they actually are on these questionnaires, especially if they know they are being evaluated," said Jordan B. Peterson, psychology professor at the University of Toronto and co-author of the paper. "This sort of faking can distort the predictive validity of these tests, with significant negative economic consequences. We wanted to develop a measure that could predict real-world performance even in the absence of completely honest responding."

The research findings demonstrate that traditional personality inventories fail to predict performance outcomes when respondents have strong incentive to fake their scores. The new measure, by contrast, retained its ability to predict success, even when respondents were consciously trying to make themselves look good. "Personality remains an important factor in predicting performance," said Jacob Hirsh, lead author of the paper and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto. "Trait conscientiousness has consistently emerged as a major predictor of academic success and workplace performance, while trait openness is a good predictor of creative achievement."

Using formulas derived by Frank Schmidt (Iowa U) and John Hunter of (Michigan State), the studies' authors were able to estimate the potential productivity gain associated with using the new measure in a workplace setting. "Because people differ widely in their individual abilities," notes Hirsh, "even a small degree of accuracy in testing can produce significant economic gains." In the present study, the tests were accurate beyond that small degree. In fact, Schmidt and Hunter's formulas indicate that the use of the bias-resistant test over currently available personality assessment methods could result in a productivity gain of 23 per cent per hired employee, when response faking is an issue ($17,000/year per $75,000 of salary). "Potential gains of this magnitude should not be ignored," said Hirsh. "It is very important that the right people be chosen for any competitive position. This questionnaire is a step in the right direction."

The study findings are published in the October edition of the Journal of Research in Personality.

Essential Research Findings in Counselling and Psychotherapy: The Facts are Friendly

The perception that therapists and their techniques play the most significant role in influencing the outcome of treatment is challenged in a new research review, launched today at the Annual Conference of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy in Telford.

The book, Essential Research Findings in Counselling and Psychotherapy: The Facts are Friendly, written by Professor Mick Cooper of the University of Strathclyde, concludes that the most important factor in successful therapy is a client, or patient, who is motivated and engaged and who is able to use therapy to build on his or her strengths. Professor Cooper also finds that a strong relationship between therapist and client is one of the best indicators of a positive therapeutic outcome, and is far more significant than a therapist's particular techniques and approach.

The review is published at a time when the government has recently committed £173 million a year to be spent on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) as part of its Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme. Professor Cooper, of Strathclyde's Faculty of Education, said: "Many clients will benefit from CBT but there is a danger in putting too much emphasis on the type of therapy that a therapist provides, rather than the therapist's ability to relate to his or her client in caring and understanding ways, and the needs and preferences of individual clients. "Rather than moving towards a therapeutic 'monoculture', we need to be able to provide people with a range of therapies and therapists, so that they can choose the one that best suits them and build on their particular strengths." This finding is supported by the work of eminent American psychologist Barry Duncan and colleagues. They wrote in 2004 that "clients, not therapists, make therapy work."

The book, which is the first reader-friendly summary of research findings in the field, also offers advice to people who are considering seeing a therapist, on their choice of practitioner and the best type of therapy available to them. Professor Cooper said: "Think about choosing a therapist who can help you build on your strengths - for instance, if you are good at understanding why you do the things you do, a therapist who can help you develop these reflective skills may be more use to you than a therapist who wants to focus mainly on your behaviour or emotions. "Ask potential therapists what thoughts they might have on why you are facing the difficulties you are and what they think might help. If these are radically different from your own understandings, it may be more difficult to establish a good working relationship. "Ask yourself whether you like your therapist and feel respected by them – the quality of your relationship, early on in therapy, will be one of the best indicators of eventual outcomes, so don't put up with a bad relationship. Remember that probably the best predictor of the outcomes of therapy will be the extent to which you actively involve yourself in the process."

Professor Cooper also suggested that people experiencing a specific psychological disorder, such as a phobia, may wish to consult the website of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) to find out which kind of therapy has the strongest evidence base for their problem. If, however, a particular therapy is not on the list, it is almost certainly because it has yet to be tested, rather than because it has been proven to be ineffective.