Salient features of Munsell colour space as a function of monolexemic naming and response latencies.

This study provides a replication of Boynton and Olson's (1990) work (Vision Research, 30, pp. 1311-1317), but using a more extensive model of colour space--Munsell as distinct from OSA-UCS. It involved 20 subjects in a total of 17,840 observations of 446 colours, in which monolexemic naming and response times were recorded. The results clearly differentiate between basic and non,basic colour categories using measures of consistency, consensus and response time. While the results are equivocal in distinguishing between the so-called "landmark" and "other basic colours", they are unequivocal in confirming the salience of the eleven basic colour categories initially proposed by Berlin and Kay [(1969) Basic colour terms: their universality and evolution, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press], and, in so doing, reinforce their perceptual significance and probable physiological basis. The results also reveal differences in non-basic colour naming that further confirm the special status of the basic colour categories and their role in categorical colour perception.

Preventive health psychology from a developmental perspective: an extension of protection motivation theory.

Theories of health psychology developed to explain adults' rational decision making were applied to 10-year-old children (n = 112), who had not reached the stage of formal operational thought; 15-year-olds (n = 67); and 20-year-olds (n = 93), extending the protection motivation theory developed by R. W. Rogers (1983). Among the adolescents and young adults, the threat appeals worked only if people believed they could cope effectively with the danger; if they believed they could not cope, higher levels of the threat resulted in decreased intentions to refrain from tobacco use. Although children elaborated and integrated the information about threat severity, personal vulnerability, and response efficacy, the fragility and malleability of the children's beliefs in self-efficacy demonstrated the importance of adding a developmental perspective to theories of preventive health psychology.

Differences between high and low coping children and between parent and staff behaviors during painful medical procedures.

Coded behaviors of pediatric oncology patients undergoing bone marrow aspirations and lumbar punctures, parents, and medical staff using the Child-Adult Medical Procedure Interaction Scale. Children were grouped into high and low coping groups for three analyses. Results indicated that adults with the high coping children engaged in more coping-promoting behaviors than adults with the low coping children. Further, high coping children were more likely to respond with coping to coping-promoting prompts. However, both groups of children were more likely to respond by coping following coping-promoting antecedents than following distress-promoting or adult neutral antecedents. Both groups were more likely to respond with distress following distress-promoting antecedents. When interacting with children, staff engaged in a higher proportions of giving control to the child and apologies than did parents. Also, children were more likely to display coping than distress following staff's and parents' nonprocedural talk (distraction).

Comparative effects of methylphenidate on ADD girls and ADD boys.

The effects of 0.3 mg/kg methylphenidate were compared for 12 ADD boys and 12 ADD girls participating in a summer treatment program for children with behavior and/or learning problems. Previous investigations have suggested that ADD girls may differ from ADD boys in some important respects. No information exists regarding whether the effects of the most common treatment for these children, methylphenidate, has comparable effects on boys and girls. The boys and girls were matched for age and IQ. The results revealed equivalent and beneficial effects of methylphenidate for both boys and girls. Methylphenidate therefore would appear to be as useful a treatment for ADD girls as for ADD boys.

Sustained release and standard methylphenidate effects on cognitive and social behavior in children with attention deficit disorder.

Two studies were conducted to investigate the relative effects of sustained release methylphenidate (Ritalin [SR-20]) and standard methylphenidate (Ritalin, 10 mg, administered twice daily). In the first study, 13 boys with attention deficit disorder participating in a summer treatment program went through a double-blind, within-subject trial of each form of methylphenidate and placebo. Measures of social and cognitive behavior were gathered in classroom and play settings. Although group analyses of the data showed that both drugs were effective and there were few differences between them, standard methylphenidate was superior to SR-20 on several important measures of disruptive behavior. Furthermore, analyses of individual responsivity showed clearly that most boys responded more positively to standard methylphenidate than to SR-20. The second study involved a partially overlapping group of nine boys with attention deficit disorder participating in the same summer treatment program. Also double-blind, within-subject, and placebo controlled, this study tracked the time courses of the two forms of methylphenidate. Both were shown to have similar time courses on the Abbreviated Conners Rating Scale and other measures, but SR-20 had a slower onset than did the standard drug form on a continuous performance task. Effects of SR-20 were still evident eight hours after ingestion.

Family concerns about hospitalizing a patient in a psychiatric research unit.

Family members involved in a patient's hospitalization on a psychiatric research unit have special concerns related to the choice of the unit and the conduct of the patient's treatment. Based on work with 350 families of patients on a research unit, the authors describe families' motivations for choosing the unit and the expectations and misconceptions they may develop during the patient's stay. Certain interventions are specifically directed to family members' concerns about research, including providing information and education, monitoring informed consent, and working through how the family's expectations of treatment match actual treatment outcome. Most families are able to conceptualize the research approach adequately and to use the supportive relationship with the unit's family advocate to deal with their ambivalence about the approach.

Relationship between estimated premorbid adjustment and CSF homovanillic acid and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid levels.

The authors completed ratings of premorbid sexual and social adjustment and assays of the CSF homovanillic acid (HVA), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), and probenecid concentrations in 108 psychiatric patients. Among the 30 patients diagnosed as schizophrenic, poor premorbid sexual adjustment was associated with higher accumulations of HVA in the CSF. No relationship between the estimated premorbid social adjustment and CSF HVA levels was observed. These findings suggest that 1) sexual and social premorbid adjustment are partially independent variables, and 2) one of the biological correlates of sexual adjustment in schizophrenic patients may be the functional maturity of central dopamine systems.

A follow-up neurobiological study: why volunteer?

There is usually great concern over the use of psychiatric patients for clinical research, as it raises the ethical and legal issues of human dignity and autonomy. In this paper the authors describe and evaluate a follow-up neurobiological study of patients who had been discharged from a psychiatric research ward at least ten months earlier. It is pointed out that such studies are rare and that the writers were provided with the unique opportunity to examine attitudinal and motivational dimensions involved in the patients' agreement to participate in the study.

Talking with children about mental illness in the family.

Children may experience extreme stress when a family member becomes mentally ill. Talking with them about mental illness and eliciting their feelings can help them adapt to stress and may in some cases prevent permanent emotional disturbance.