[Psychometric approach of metacognition: Pilot study in clinical population]. / Approche psychométrique de la métacognition : étude pilote en population clinique.

BACKGROUND: Metacognition describes the process of thinking about one's own thought processes. This concept was introduced by Flavell in 1979 and has since been widely developed in the cognitive approach to mood and anxiety disorders. As it happens, many recent studies have underlined the links between metacognition and anxio-depressive symptoms, pointing out the interest of assessing its various dimensions. The short form of the Metacognitions Questionnaire is a brief multidimensional measure of a range of metacognitive processes and metacognitive beliefs about worry and cognition relevant to the vulnerability to and the maintenance of emotional disorders. The aim of this study was twofold: firstly to adapt and validate a French version of the short form of the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30) and to assess its psychometric properties in a clinical sample, and secondly to investigate metacognitive predictors of anxiety and depression in this sample. METHOD: The sample included 55 clinical participants (24 men, 31 women, mean age=51.33±14.62) with DSM-IV-TR psychiatric disorders (major depression, bipolar disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder). Instrument reliability (internal consistency), construct validity (confirmatory factor analysis), and convergent validity were measured. The total score and the five subscale scores were also compared with previous results in non-clinical samples. RESULTS: Reliability analyses indicated that the French version of the MCQ-30 possessed satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach α=0.84), and confirmatory factor analysis supported the MCQ's original five-factor structure. Correlation with measurements of depression, anxiety and pathological worry demonstrated convergent validity (r=0.62, P<0.01 for anxiety; r=0.47, P<0.01 for rumination; r=0.33, P<0.05 for depression). Moreover, our clinical sample scored higher on the global scale when compared to previous non-clinical samples (mean score=71.85±13.57 while previous studies global scores ranged from 48.41±13.31 to 65.89±17.17). Consistent with others studies, negative beliefs about worry concerning uncontrollability and danger, as well as beliefs about the need to control thoughts were the strongest predictors of pathological worry (respectively r=0.68, P<0.01 and r=0.48, P<0.01) and depression (respectively r=0.45, P<0.01 and r=0.39, P<0.01), providing further support for the validity of the measure. CONCLUSION: These findings provide general support for the internal consistency of the French version of the MCQ-30, as well as its five-factor structure and its good concurrent validity in a clinical sample. They also confirm that this version is a valuable tool for the assessment of various dimensions of metacognition, in relation to the anxio-depressive symptomatology and the subsequent management of patients.

Efficacy and specificity of computer-assisted cognitive remediation in schizophrenia: a meta-analytical study.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive remediation is frequently based on computerized training methods that target different cognitive deficits. The aim of this article was to assess the efficacy of computer-assisted cognitive remediation (CACR) in schizophrenia and to determine whether CACR enables selective treatment of specific cognitive domains. METHOD: A meta-analysis was performed on 16 randomized controlled trials evaluating CACR. The effect sizes of differences between CACR and control groups were computed and classified according to the cognitive domain assessed. The possible influences of four potential moderator variables were examined: participants' age, treatment duration, weekly frequency, and control condition type. To test the domain-specific effect, the intended goal of each study was determined and the effect sizes were sorted accordingly. The effect sizes of the cognitive domains explicitly targeted by the interventions were then compared with those that were not. RESULTS: CACR enhanced general cognition with a mean effect size of 0.38 [confidence interval (CI) 0.20-0.55]. A significant medium effect size of 0.64 (CI 0.29-0.99) was found for Social Cognition. Improvements were also significant in Verbal Memory, Working Memory, Attention/Vigilance and Speed of Processing with small effect sizes. Cognitive domains that were specifically targeted by the interventions did not yield higher effects than those that were not. CONCLUSIONS: The results lend support to the efficacy of CACR with particular emphasis on Social Cognition. The difficulty in targeting specific domains suggests a 'non-specific' effect of CACR. These results are discussed in the light of the possible bias in remediation tasks due to computer interface design paradigms.

[Dimensional approach of emotion in psychiatry: validation of the Positive and Negative Emotionality scale (EPN-31)]. / Evaluation dimensionnelle des émotions en psychiatrie: validation du questionnaire Emotionnalité positive et négative à 31 items (EPN-31).

BACKGROUND: This paper reports the first validation study of the EPN-31 scale (Positive and Negative Emotionality scale, 31 items) in a French psychiatric sample. This questionnaire has been adapted by Rolland from an emotion inventory developed by Diener, and is also in accordance with Watson and Clark's tripartite model of affects. METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS: Respondents were asked to rate the frequency with which they had experienced each affect (31 basic emotional states) during the last month. The answer format was a 7-point scale, ranging from 1 "Not experienced at all" to 7 "Experienced this affect several times each day". Three main scores were calculated (positive affects, negative affects, and surprise affects), as well as six sub-scores (joy, tenderness, anger, fear, sadness, shame). Four hundred psychiatric patients were included in this study, and completed the EPN-31 scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) scale. The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale was rated, as well as DSM IV diagnostic criteria. We performed a principal component analysis, with Varimax orthogonal transformation, and explored the factorial structure of the questionnaire, the internal consistency of each dimension, and the correlations between EPN-31 scores and HAD scores. RESULTS: The factorial structure of the EPN-31 was well-defined as expected, with a three-factor (positive, negative and surprise affects) solution accounting for 58.2% of the variance of the questionnaire. No correlation was obtained between positive and negative affects EPN-31 scores (r=0.006). All alpha Cronbach coefficients were between 0.80 and 0.95 for main scores, and between 0.72 and 0.90 for sub-scores. GAF scores were significantly correlated with EPN-31 positive affects scores (r=0.21; p=0.001) and with EPN-31 negative affects scores (r=- 0.45; p=0.001). We obtained significant correlations between positive affects score and HAD depression score (r=- 0.45; p<0.001), and between negative affects score and HAD anxiety (r=0.56; p<0.001) and depression (r=0.45; p<0.001) scores. This pattern of correlation was in accordance with the Watson tripartite model of emotionality. Significantly higher EPN-31 positive affect mean scores were observed in females when compared to males (p<0.001). The third factor of the EPN-31 is less robust than the others and, the validity of the surprise score could hence be discussed. CONCLUSION: In all, this study confirmed the validity and the interest of the EPN-31 use in psychiatric patients. Various clinical and research applications can be considered, such as infra-symptomatic studies of emotions in affective disorders and during treatment protocols or definition of phenotypic markers in genetic or neuro-imagery studies.

[Validation of EHD self questionnaire in multiple sclerosis]. / Validation de l'Echelle d'Humeur Dépressive (EHD), version autoquestionnaire, dans la sclérose en plaques.

Depressive Mood Scale (EHD) aims at assessing the various depressive mood dimensions as "blunted affect" and "lack of emotional control". It is an 18 items hetero-evaluation scale. The aim of this study was the validation of an EHD self questionnaire version. Self questionnaire items were generated from genuine scale items. As in the former version, response format was a Lickert 5 point scale. This validation study was carried out on 77 Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. Mood disorders are frequent during the course of MS and might be triggered or worsened by immuno-modulation therapies. Principal Component Analysis (ACP) with Varimax rotation revealed a two factors structure. The first one, corresponding to a "blunted affect" dimension, explained 33.5% of the scale variance and was composed of 7 items. The second one, corresponding to a "lack of emotional control" dimension, explained 20% of total scale variance and was composed of 4 items. The questionnaire internal coherence coefficient (Cronbach alpha) was excellent (=0.87) and the two sub-scales ones were satisfactory [0.89 for "blunted affect" dimension and 0.71 for "lack of emotional control" dimension. The questionnaire's external validity was confirmed by a positive correlation between "lack of control" sub-score and state sub-score of the Stait-Trait Anger eXpression Inventory (STAXI)] (r=0.55, p<0.01). Moreover we found a positive correlation between the total EHD autoquestionnaire score and both sub-scores on the one hand, and the Beck Depression Inventory score on the second hand (EHD/BDI: r=0.76, p<0.01; "lack of emotional control"/BDI: r=0.68, p<0.01; "blunted affect"/BDI: r=0.63, p<0.01). Test-retest reliability was good with a positive correlation between all the initial scores and their retests, a week later. Secondarily, a structural equation modeling analysis confirmed the two-factors structure model suggested by ACP. Various indicators showed a good fit between theoretical variance-covariance matrix and the observed one (chi(2)=41.55, p=0.49, ddl=42, Goodness Fit Index GFI=0.91, Root Mean Square Residual RMSEA=0.00). Thus, we proposed a well validated self questionnaire that allows the assessment of "blunted affect" and "lack of emotional control". It should be challenging to correlate those dimensions with neuro-psycho-logical testing and neuro-imagery, in patients affected by CNS diseases. Moreover, the assessment of those dimensions during interferon treatment in MS could allow a more precise evaluation of the emotional changes potentially induced by immuno-modulatory treatments.

[Episodic autobiographical memory in depression: a review]. / Mémoire autobiographique épisodique et dépression.

INTRODUCTION: Autobiographical memory and personal identity (self) are linked by a reciprocal relationship. Autobiographical memory is critical for both grounding and changing the self. Individuals' current self-views, beliefs, and goals influence their recollections of the past. According to Tulving, episodic memory is characterized by autonoetic consciousness, which is associated with a sense of the self in the past (emotions and goals) and mental reliving of an experience. Its close relationship with self and emotion strongly involves episodic autobiographical memory in the psychopathology of depression. However, due to methodological and conceptual issues, little attention has been paid to episodic autobiographical memory in depression. Since the seminal work of Williams et al. 15 years ago, there is now growing interest around this issue. LITERATURE FINDINGS: We reviewed the evidence for three major features of autobiographical memory functioning in depression: an increase in general memory retrieval (overgenerality), a mood-congruent memory effect and the high occurrence of intrusive memories of stressful events. Although it was first observed among suicidal patients, overgenerality is actually associated with both depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Overgenerality is not associated with anxious disorders other than post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or borderline personality disorder. Most of controlled studies carried out on autobiographical memory in depression rely on the Williams' Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT). When presented with positive and negative cue words and asked to retrieve specific personal events, depressed patients (unlike matched controls) are less specific in their memories. They tend to recall repeated events (categorical overgeneral memories) rather than single episodes (specific memories). Overgenerality in depression is: 1) more evident with positive than with negative events (mood-congruent memory effect); 2) related to avoidance of intrusive memories; 3) quite stable over time, ie, remaining after remission; and 4) related to short-term prognosis in depression. Although it is not clear whether overgenerality is a cause or an effect of depression, there is some evidence to suggest that overgenerality is a trait marker indicating vulnerability to persistent depression. Mood-congruent effect, a well-known effect in depression, has been addressed in both autobio-graphical and non-autobiographical memory. Depressed patients spontaneously recall more negative than positive memories. With the AMT, depressed patients take longer to respond to positive than to negative cues, whereas controls do the opposite. Depression is also associated with a high occurrence of spontaneous intrusive memories of stressful life events. Studies found intrusions and related avoidance, as measured by the Impact of Event Scale, to be positively correlated with overgenerality, whereas there was no direct link between performance on the Autobiographical Memory Test and stressful life events per se. Both Williams' mnemonic interlock model and Conway's self-memory system are useful models to address the complexity of findings regarding autobiographical memory and depression. DISCUSSION: According to Williams, repeated avoidance of stressful memories leads depressed patients to have an autobiographical memory functioning characterized by iterative retrievals of categorical overgeneral memories, producing an enduring overgeneral retrieval style. According to Conway, the recollection of autobiographical memories requires a retrieval process that provides access to sensory/perceptual event-specific knowledge (ie perceptions and feelings) via a personal semantic knowledge base (ie lifetime periods and generic events). This retrieval process (generative retrieval mode) relies on both executive functioning and current self-view, namely the working-self. Spontaneous memories, usually vivid, result from a direct retrieval mode in which event-specific knowledge is directly triggered. In line with this model, episodic autobiographical memory impairment in state depression may arise from the working self rather than from autobiographical knowledge. The mood-congruent effect may be explained by the current (depressed) self. The high occurrence of intrusive memories may be explained by lack of executive control during direct retrieval. Overgenerality may rely on the interaction of both executive dysfunction and current (depressed) self, within the working-self, during generative retrieval. Our review suggests that further evidence is needed to address the relationship between executive functioning, self and autobiographical memory in depression.

Directed forgetting in PTSD: a comparative study versus normal controls.

The most characteristic feature of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the reexperiencing syndrome. The patient's memory seems to be fixed on the traumatic event, which may be due to disturbance of the autobiographic memory. To retrieve memories, others have to be inhibited. These inhibition mechanisms have been studied using the Directed Forgetting Paradigm, which measures the capacity to forget recently processed information and to retain the relevant information. Our hypothesis is that during PTSD, the memory is saturated with traumatic memories, so that the patients are no longer able to use the inhibitory processes. Therefore, during a Directed Forgetting Task (DFT) in which words "to remember" and words "to forget" are given, PTSD patients cannot inhibit the words "to forget", and so recall more words than the controls. We studied 30 patients with PTSD and compared them with 30 healthy controls, using DFT. The results show that the patients remembered significantly fewer words overall, and fewer of the words "to remember" than the controls, both for immediate and final recall. Our results are in favor of a reduction in directed forgetting in patients suffering from PTSD, resulting in difficulty in inhibiting irrelevant information from the overall information. There seems to be a deficit in the inhibitory processes in the memory in PTSD.

The Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R): psychometric characteristics of the French version.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the psychometric characteristics of a modified version of the Cloninger's personality questionnaire, the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised (TCI-R). METHOD: A 482-subject sample, including clinical and non-clinical subjects, completed the TCI-R. We performed principal component analyses and explored the factorial structure of the questionnaire, and the internal consistency of each dimension. RESULTS: The factorial structure of the TCI-R was well defined as expected and similar to those shown with the TCI. Robust factors were obtained for Reward Dependence and Persistence in the TCI-R, even more clearly than in the original TCI. All dimensions obtained higher alpha Cronbach coefficients with the TCI-R than with the TCI. We obtained highly satisfying reliability coefficients in test-retest and TCI/TCI-R comparisons. CONCLUSION: The TCI-R seems to have similar psychometric and feasibility characteristics as those of the initial version, but with significant improvements in terms of factorial structure and internal consistency of most dimensions.

Lack of startle modulation by smoking cues in smokers.

RATIONALE: The startle reflex methodology has been used to study the effects of nicotine in humans and the motivational effects of smoking cues in smokers. However, no other studies investigate startle modulation by smoking cues in smokers compared to non-smokers. In the other studies, smoking deprivation was manipulated in smokers or smokers were not compared directly to non-smokers. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to examine the temporal course of information processing following the presentation of a smoking-related cue using the startle probe methodology in smokers compared to non-smokers. METHODS: Thirty-four smokers were selected on the basis of nicotinic dependence according to the DSM-IV, and compared to 34 non-smokers. During testing, subjects viewed neutral pictures and smoking related pictures displayed on a computer screen. Acoustic startle stimuli were delivered at various times after picture onset (60, 120 or 5000 ms) to examine inhibition by lead stimulus and the affective modulation of startle. RESULTS: The magnitude of startle reflex inhibition increased in smokers compared to non-smokers, at 60 and 120 ms. In all, there was no PicturexGroup interaction effect. CONCLUSION: We showed that smoking cues have no impact on the startle reflex of either group, even if, in line with previous results, prepulse inhibition was higher in smokers than non-smokers. These results suggest that smoking cues have no effect on the positive reinforcement of nicotine consumption, and that cognitive factors play a primary role in the development and maintenance of tobacco dependence.

Psychometric normalization of a hyperacusis questionnaire.

Clinical hyperacusis consists of a marked intolerance to ordinary environmental sounds, while hearing thresholds are quite often normal. Hyperacusis appears to be a subjective phenomenon, which is not easily defined or quantified by objective measurements. In order to create a tool suitable to quantify and evaluate various hyperacusis symptoms, a questionnaire screening several aspects of auditory symptomatology has been constructed. Two hundred and one subjects (who were either hyperacusic or not), randomly selected from the general population, were tested. A principal component analysis performed on the correlation matrix of the 14 items of the questionnaire isolated three dimensions: attentional, social, and emotional. The three dimensions had satisfactory internal consistency reliability. The mean +/- SD total score was 15 +/- 6.7 out of 42 (maximum of hyperacusis) and a score greater than 28 seems to represent a strong auditory hypersensitivity. This new psychometric tool should further be tested on hyperacusic patients to verify its relevance in pathology and define the involvement of the three dimensions statistically obtained on the hyperacusis symptomatology.

Cross-cultural assessment of childhood temperament. A confirmatory factor analysis of the French Emotionality Activity and Sociability (EAS) questionnaire.

The Emotionality Activity Sociability (EAS) questionnaire focuses on heritable individual differences in reactivity and behavior which are often referred to in developmental temperament research. Psychometric properties of the French version of EAS were examined in a sample of 197 school-children aged six to 12 years. Parents, teachers and children aged nine years and more completed parallel forms of the EAS questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the fit between the original factors and the data. Internal consistency of each subscale, inter-rater and external validity were also examined. Children-rated EAS showed the best indices of fit between the four hypothesized factors and the data, but internal consistency was generally lower than in adult-rated questionnaires. Shyness and sociability showed significant overlap in both parent and teacher-rated EAS. The low concordance between child and adult-ratings indicates that temperament evaluation and interpretation of items may be influenced by subjective and/or developmental factors. Results are discussed in the perspective of validity versus cross-cultural comparability of temperament measurement. The theoretical four-factor structure was not completely replicable in our sample.

Multisensory integration for spatial orientation in trait anxiety subjects: absence of visual dependence.

Studies suggest a greater reliance on visual information for maintaining balance in anxious subjects. Nevertheless, links between this supposed preferred visual processing and spatial orientation have not yet been evaluated. Two groups of subjects differing in their level of trait anxiety were formed. Equipped with a head-mounted visual display, they learned a virtual corridor using passive translation but active rotation, both with normal and with two different conflicting sensory conditions. After two visual navigation trials in the corridor, they were blindfolded and asked to reproduce the same trajectory from memory. In addition, subjects drew a map of the remembered corridor. Anxious subjects were comparable to non-anxious subjects when asked to reproduce the trajectory from memory, but exhibited a deficit when drawing a map of the corridor they were in. The results do not support the hypothesis that anxious subjects use preferentially one type of sensory cue over another for spatial orientation, but instead manifest difficulties in constructing more global representations of space.

Early emotional disturbances during nicotine patch therapy in subjects with and without a history of depression.

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to compare development of emotional symptomatology during smoking cessation with transdermal nicotine patches in subjects with and without a history of depression. METHODS: Twenty-five subjects, 14 with a history of depression and 11 without such a history, were evaluated before beginning of cessation, on day 8, day 30, day 90 and day 120. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: On day 120, ten subjects have maintained abstinence: 71.4% of subjects with and 45.5% of subjects without a history of depression relapsed. Both groups presented variable emotional symptomatology and there was no significant differences between subjects with and without a past depression. On the other hand, none of the symptoms which emerged during cessation predicted the issue of cessation. However, some symptoms appearing before beginning of cessation were related to subsequent relapse: lack of pleasure seeking and tiredness. Subsequent relapsers also tended to be more tense on baseline. These early symptoms can not be considered as withdrawal symptoms, they may reflect less confidence in success. It is also suggested that development of anhedonia represents an adaptative strategy to prepare for the withdrawal suffering.

Transfer of learning across durations and ears in auditory frequency discrimination.

Frequency-discrimination thresholds (FDTs) for 1-kHz tone pips with durations of 40, 100, and 200 msec were measured in the left and right ears of 10 normal-hearing listeners, before and after six 2-h frequency-discrimination training sessions involving, exclusively, the 200-msec duration and the right ear. In the trained ear, highly significant improvements in FDTs were observed at all durations. Further inspection of the data suggested complete generalization between 200 and 100 msec, but not at 40 msec. Posttraining FDTs were not found to differ between the two ears for the two untrained durations, but proved significantly smaller in the right (trained) than in the left (untrained) ear at the trained (200-msec) duration only. A control experiment involving 10 additional subjects allowed us to establish the absence of intrinsic differences in pretraining FDTs between the right and left ears. Overall, these findings indicate that frequency-discrimination learning generalizes widely across stimulus durations and across ears, but that part of the improvement is specific to the range of durations and to the ear used in training.

Modulation of visual event-related potentials by emotional olfactory stimuli.

The objective of the present study was to determine whether an olfactory prime could modulate behavior and visual event-related potentials (ERPs) obtained in response to a visual stimulation representing female faces. More specifically, we tested the hypothesis that a pleasant odor could have effects on face perception: behavioral effects on subjective emotional estimation of faces, and on associated response times, and electrophysiological effects on the N400 and late positive complex or LPC. Experiments were performed in which subjects had to decide whether the presented face was pleasant or not, while visual ERPs were recorded. Faces were always primed with either a pleasant odor or a neutral olfactory stimulus (pure air). In order to test the effect of subject's awareness, participants were not informed that an odor would be presented in the experimental sessions. Responses were significantly shorter for unpleasant faces. However, no behavioral effects of the pleasant odor on response time or on evaluation of face pleasantness were observed. Late ERPs evoked by faces were modulated by the presence of a pleasant odor, even when subjects were neither warned nor aware of the presence of the odor: in a frontal site and after the diffusion of the odor, the LPC (appearing 550 ms after the presentation of the visual stimulus) evoked by unpleasant faces was significantly more positive than the LPC evoked by pleasant faces. This effect could reflect an enhanced alert reaction to unpleasant faces are preceded by an (incongrous) pleasant odor.

Balance control and posture in anxious mice improved by SSRI treatment.

A task requiring dynamic postural stabilisation during locomotion in a conflicting visual vestibular environment (rotating beam), has been devised to assess anxiety-related balance impairments and postural changes in mice. The model, already validated with acutely administered diazepam, was used to assess the action of two chronically administered selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), fluoxetine and paroxetine. On three behavioural measures (imbalance, elevation of trunk and angle of tail), observed in anxious BALB/cByJ mice, both compounds had the same diazepam-like effects: reduction in number of imbalances, higher elevation of trunk and increase in tail angle. These data suggest, for the first time, that SSRIs should be useful in the treatment of anxiety-induced balance impairments.

Clinical and neurochemical effect of acute tryptophan depletion in unaffected relatives of patients with bipolar affective disorder.

BACKGROUND: The lowering of mood induced by an acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) has been proposed as a candidate endophenotype for the vulnerability to manic-depressive illness. This study tests this hypothesis in relatives of probands from well-characterized multiplex families affected with bipolar affective disorder (BAD). METHODS: In a double-blind, crossover design, 20 unaffected relatives (URs) and 19 control subjects received either a 100-g amino acid (AA) drink devoid of tryptophan or a placebo, respectively. Clinical and biochemical effects of ATD were compared between unaffected relatives of BAD probands and age- and sex-matched control subjects. RESULTS: At 5 hours after AA drink ingestion, relative to the placebo, ATD resulted in 74% and 84% decreases in total plasma tryptophan concentrations in control subjects and relatives of patients with BAD, respectively. Unlike control subjects unaffected relatives experienced a lowering of mood during ATD but not with the placebo. Furthermore, URs tended to show increased impulsivity in the ATD condition. Measurements obtained before ingestion of the AA drink indicated that, relative to control subjects URs exhibited lower serotonin platelet concentrations, lower affinity, and fewer binding sites of the serotonin transporter for imipramine; these differences were unaffected by ATD. CONCLUSION: These results replicate and extend previous findings suggesting that URs of patients with BAD are more susceptible to low tryptophan availability. This finding may bear significance in the purported role of serotonergic mechanisms in the vulnerability to depressive syndrome and/or illness.

Gender and activation level in smokers.

Studies on the enhancing effects of nicotine on performance are usually pharmacological challenges using deprived male smokers. However, gender may be a factor that influences nicotine/smoking effects upon information processing. We investigated gender differences in contingent negative variation (CNV) amplitude in non-deprived dependent smokers performing a go-no go reaction time paradigm. Female smokers did not differ from female non-smokers in both early and late CNV, whereas male smokers presented greater early and late CNV compared to male non-smokers and an alteration in inhibiting processes responsible for CNV development in the no go condition. Consistent with the evidence of gender differences in nicotine/smoking sensitivity, these preliminary results emphasize the need for taking into account gender in psychophysiological research of nicotine/smoking effects.

A study of posttraumatic disorders in children who experienced an industrial disaster in the Briey region.

OBJECTIVES: To study posttraumatic disorders in children who were directly and indirectly involved in an industrial disaster; to assess the respective impact of traumatism exposure, parental disorders and sociodemographic variables on the posttraumatic disorders of the children. METHODS: The children were assessed with self-administered questionnaires (STAIC, CDI, IES) and questionnaires filled in by parents (CPRS, CBCL). Parents were assessed with the GHQ-28. Forty-three exposed children were compared with 44 children who were exposed to the same risk (indirectly exposed group) and with a control group of 50 unexposed children. RESULTS: The exposed group obtained significantly higher anxiety and trauma-related scores than the control group and the threatened group, as well as higher scores of behavioural symptoms and of parental disorders. Indirectly exposed children did not have higher rates of symptoms than control children. The younger exposed children exhibited the highest psychopathological scores. Low sociodemographic status was associated with more disorders. There were no differences on questionnaire scores between girls and boys. Children's disorders correlated with disorders in both parents; but this only accounted for part of the variance, a finding which supports the hypothesis of a direct impact of the trauma on the child, irrespective of parental clinical status, SES of the family, children's age and gender. CONCLUSIONS: Children's and parent's disorders interact in a complex fashion which needs further study.