Are Older Adults’ Difficulties on Emotion Recognition and Theory of Mind Tasks Due to a Decline in General Cognitive Ability?

Older adults have both worse general cognition and worse social cognition. A frequent suggestion is that worse social cognition is due to worse general cognition. However, previous studies have often provided contradictory evidence. The current study examined this issue with a more extensive battery of tasks for both forms of cognition. We gave 47 young and 40 older adults three tasks to assess general cognition (processing speed, working memory, fluid intelligence) and three tasks to assess their social cognition (emotion and theory-of-mind). Older adults did worse on all tasks and there were correlations between general and social cognition. Although working memory and fluid intelligence were unique predictors of performance on the Emotion Photos task and the Eyes task, Age Group was a unique predictor on all three social cognitiaon tasks. Thus, there were relations between the two forms of cognition but older adults continued to do worse than young adults even after accounting for general cognition. We argue that this pattern of results is due to some overlap in brain areas mediating general and social cognition, but also independence, and with a differential rate of decline in brain areas dedicated to general cognition versus social cognition.

Personal relative deprivation and pro-environmental intentions

Personal relative deprivation (PRD; the belief that one is worse off than other people who are similar to oneself) is associated with a reduced willingness to delay gratification, lower prosociality, and increased materialism. These results suggest that PRD may play a role in shaping people’s willingness to act to protect the natural environment. We report 3 studies that investigate a possible link between PRD and pro-environmental intentions (ENV). Study 1 was an exploratory study using a US sample; Studies 2 and 3 were pre-registered replications using UK and US samples, respectively. In each study, participants self-reported PRD and ENV; they also indicated their subjective social status (where they come on a national “ladder” of social class) and reported their income, education, age, and gender/sex. All three studies found a negative correlation between PRD and ENV. However, multiple regression analyses in which ENV was regressed on PRD and all other variables simultaneously indicated that the unique effect of PRD was small and, for Studies 2 and 3, the 95% confidence intervals included zero. No other variable emerged as a clear unique predictor across all three studies. The data suggest that PRD may be associated with reduced intention to act pro-environmentally, but the causal status of this association, and its relationship to other demographic and social-status variables, remains a topic for further research.

Common and distinct predictors of non-symbolic and symbolic ordinal number processing across the early primary school years

What are the cognitive mechanisms supporting non-symbolic and symbolic order processing? Preliminary evidence suggests that non-symbolic and symbolic order processing are partly distinct constructs. The precise mechanisms supporting these skills, however, are still unclear. Moreover, predictive patterns may undergo dynamic developmental changes during the first years of formal schooling. This study investigates the contribution of theoretically relevant constructs (non-symbolic and symbolic magnitude comparison, counting and storage and manipulation components of verbal and visuo-spatial working memory) to performance and developmental change in non-symbolic and symbolic numerical order processing. We followed 157 children longitudinally from Grade 1 to 3. In the order judgement tasks, children decided whether or not triplets of dots or digits were arranged in numerically ascending order. Non-symbolic magnitude comparison and visuo-spatial manipulation were significant predictors of initial performance in both non-symbolic and symbolic ordering. In line with our expectations, counting skills contributed additional variance to the prediction of symbolic, but not of non-symbolic ordering. Developmental change in ordering performance from Grade 1 to 2 was predicted by symbolic comparison skills and visuo-spatial manipulation. None of the predictors explained variance in developmental change from Grade 2 to 3. Taken together, the present results provide robust evidence for a general involvement of pair-wise magnitude comparison and visuo-spatial manipulation in numerical ordering, irrespective of the number format. Importantly, counting-based mechanisms appear to be a unique predictor of symbolic ordering. We thus conclude that there is only a partial overlap of the cognitive mechanisms underlying non-symbolic and symbolic order processing.

Physical Activity Behaviors and COVID-19 Symptoms

Statistical modeling indicated that COVID-19 would have afflicted more than 60% of the US population. Social distancing, self-quarantine, and widespread shutdowns were imposed. The push to stay at home and the decreased availability of exercise facilities have potentially reduced physical activity (PA). The purpose of this observational, correlational study was to determine if there is a relationship between PA level and symptoms of COVID-19. Subjects were asked to complete a single Survey Monkey questionnaire. The survey asked demographic questions, PA behaviors, and questions relating to COVID-19 symptoms. Chi-square analysis was run to determine frequency differences within the PA group and specific COVID-19 symptoms. Hierarchical regression analysis was run to determine if PA was a unique predictor of the number COVID-19 symptoms experienced. Sixty male and 85 female (n = 145) subjects completed this study.

A New Integrative Model For The Co-Occurrence of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Behaviours and Eating Disorder Symptoms

Objective: The high co-occurrence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviours and eating disorder (ED) symptoms suggests these conditions share common aetiological processes. We assessed whether insecure attachment and maladaptive schemas were related to NSSI and ED symptoms through affect dysregulation, impulsivity, self-esteem, and body dissatisfaction. Method:123 ED patients and 531 individuals from the community completed an online survey, which included measures assessing the variables of interest. Results: The model was a good fit for the ED group, however only a revised model reached an acceptable fit for the community sample. In the community group, impulsivity was a shared predictor for NSSI and bulimic symptoms, whereas affect dysregulation was a unique predictor for NSSI in both the ED and community groups. No other variables were shared by NSSI and ED symptoms in the two groups. Both attachment and maladaptive schemas were implicated in the pathways leading to ED and NSSI symptoms in the clinical ED and the community sample. The variance explained for NSSI and drive for thinness were highest for the clinical ED sample (29% and 57% respectively). Conclusion: Common factors may underlie NSSI and ED symptoms, however, these factors may become more specific and less prevalent as a function of disorder severity.

Impact of Meeting Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Benchmarks on Spoken Language

This study compared preschool spoken language outcomes for children with hearing loss who met the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) guidelines to those who did not, as well as compared outcomes for those who met the current EHDI guidelines to those who met the earlier benchmarks. Finally, the predictive role of meeting each component of the guidelines was evaluated relative to language outcomes. Children who met the EHDI guidelines had higher language scores than those who did not; however, there was no difference between children who met the current guidelines and those who met the earlier benchmarks. Entering early intervention by 6 months of age was the only unique predictor of spoken language outcomes. The findings suggest that EHDI programs should target increasing the number of children with hearing loss who meet the current 1-3-6 benchmarks with a particular focus on enrollment in early intervention by 6 months.

To What Extent is Collocation Knowledge Associated with Oral Proficiency? A Corpus-Based Approach to Word Association

This study examined the relationship between second language (L2) learners’ collocation knowledge and oral proficiency. A new approach to measuring collocation was adopted by eliciting responses through a word association task and using corpus-based measures (absolute frequency count, t-score, MI score) to analyze the degree to which stimulus words and responses were collocated. Oral proficiency was measured using human judgements and objective measures of fluency (articulation rate, silent pause ratio, filled pause ratio) and lexical richness (diversity, frequency, range). Forty Japanese university students completed a word association task and a spontaneous speaking task (picture narrative). Results indicated that speakers who used more low-frequency collocations in the word association task (i.e., lower collocation frequency scores) spoke faster with fewer silent pauses and were perceived to be more fluent. Speakers who provided more strongly associated collocations (as measured by MI) used more sophisticated lexical items and were perceived to be lexically proficient. Collocation knowledge remained as a unique predictor after the influence of learners’ vocabulary size (i.e., knowledge of single-word items) was considered. These findings support the key role that collocation plays in oral proficiency and provide important insights into understanding L2 speech development from the perspective of phraseological competence.

Poor insight in obsessive-compulsive disorder: examining the role of cognitive, metacognitive, and neuropsychological variables

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive and neuropsychological constructs that are conceptually related to poor insight in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The relationship between dimensions of insight (Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale; BABS) and cognitive (magical thinking, paranoia/suspiciousness), metacognitive (metacognition, decentering, cognitive flexibility), and neuroopsychological indices of cognitive flexiblity were examined. Participants with OCD (N = 80) referred for treatment at an outpatient anxiety disorders clinic completed a clinical interview, a brief battery of neuropsychological measures, and a computer-administered questionnaire package assessing the variables of interest. Lower metacognition (i.e., Beck Cognitive Insight Scale [BCIS], composite score) was significantly associated with poorer insight (BABS total; ρ = -.38), and Metacognitions Questionnaire-30 cognitive self-consciousness subscale was negatively correlated with insight regarding a psychiatric source for one’s symptoms (ρ = -.24). Stroop interference was the only neuropsychological variable associated with BABS total score (ρ = -.23), but was not a unique predictor of insight in a regression with BCIS composite scores predicting insight. Nearly all of the variance in insight was accounted for by BCIS composite scores (R = .43, R2 = .18), indicating that metacognition, but not cognitive flexibility, contributes most strongly to clinical insight. Finally, insight decreased when OCD symptoms were activated for both the good and poor insight groups, F(1,78) = 119.29, p < .001, partial η2 = .61, and did not significantly vary as a function of insight group status, F(1, 78) = 3.24, p = .08, partial η2 = .04. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

Poor insight in obsessive-compulsive disorder: examining the role of cognitive, metacognitive, and neuropsychological variables

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive and neuropsychological constructs that are conceptually related to poor insight in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The relationship between dimensions of insight (Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale; BABS) and cognitive (magical thinking, paranoia/suspiciousness), metacognitive (metacognition, decentering, cognitive flexibility), and neuroopsychological indices of cognitive flexiblity were examined. Participants with OCD (N = 80) referred for treatment at an outpatient anxiety disorders clinic completed a clinical interview, a brief battery of neuropsychological measures, and a computer-administered questionnaire package assessing the variables of interest. Lower metacognition (i.e., Beck Cognitive Insight Scale [BCIS], composite score) was significantly associated with poorer insight (BABS total; ρ = -.38), and Metacognitions Questionnaire-30 cognitive self-consciousness subscale was negatively correlated with insight regarding a psychiatric source for one’s symptoms (ρ = -.24). Stroop interference was the only neuropsychological variable associated with BABS total score (ρ = -.23), but was not a unique predictor of insight in a regression with BCIS composite scores predicting insight. Nearly all of the variance in insight was accounted for by BCIS composite scores (R = .43, R2 = .18), indicating that metacognition, but not cognitive flexibility, contributes most strongly to clinical insight. Finally, insight decreased when OCD symptoms were activated for both the good and poor insight groups, F(1,78) = 119.29, p < .001, partial η2 = .61, and did not significantly vary as a function of insight group status, F(1, 78) = 3.24, p = .08, partial η2 = .04. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.