Do Gaze Cues in Complex Scenes Capture and Direct the Attention of High Functioning Adolescents with ASD? Evidence from Eye-tracking

Visual fixation patterns whilst viewing complex photographic scenes containing one person were studied in 24 high-functioning adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and 24 matched typically developing adolescents. Over two different scene presentation durations both groups spent a large, strikingly similar proportion of their viewing time fixating the person’s face. However, time-course analyses revealed differences between groups in priorities of attention to the region of the face containing the eyes. It was also noted that although individuals with ASD were rapidly cued by the gaze direction of the person in the scene, this was not followed by an immediate increase in total fixation duration at the location of gaze, which was the case for typically developing individuals.     

Emotional Modulation of Perception in Asperger’s Syndrome

Using an attentional blink paradigm, we show that the typical enhancement of perception for emotionally arousing events is significantly reduced in Asperger's syndrome (AS) at short inter-target intervals. Control experiments demonstrate that this finding cannot be attributed to differences in the perceived arousal of the stimuli, or to a global impairment affecting any type of modulation of perceptual encoding. Because a functioning amygdala is critical for emotional modulation of the attentional blink, the findings support a role for the amygdala in the pathophysiology of AS. More specifically, they suggest there is a fundamental failure of the amygdala to modulate processing in cortex, a concept at the heart of some recent theories of amygdala involvement in the aetiology of autistic-spectrum disorders.     

Perception of patients’ unpredictability and beliefs on the causes and consequences of schizophrenia

Abstract.Background: The belief that mental disorders involve a high risk of unpredictable behaviours is a factor which influences negatively the social acceptance of the mentally ill. In this paper, we compare the beliefs about the causes and psychosocial consequences of schizophrenia expressed by 536 respondents who had the firm conviction that patients with schizophrenia are unpredictable and by 457 respondents who firmly believed that they are not.Methods: The survey was conducted in 30 Italian geographic areas, randomly selected taking into account their location and population density. The data were collected by the Questionnaire about Opinions on Mental Illness (QO).Results: Respondents who believed that patients with schizophrenia are unpredictable reported more frequently factors such as use of alcohol and drugs and frequenting bad company as being involved in the development of the disorder. In addition, this group showed more restrictive opinions about patients civil and affective rights. Low education was found to be significantly associated with perception of unpredictability in schizophrenia.Conclusions: These results suggest the need to: a) inform the general public on the main clinical characteristics of schizophrenia and on the risk of unpredictable behaviours in the acute phases of this mental disorder; b) carry out sensitisation campaigns against discrimination toward people with schizophrenia emphasising successful experiences of social integration.     

What’s New in the Treatment of Cocaine Addiction?

Cocaine dependence continues to be a significant public health problem in the United States. The number of regular cocaine users has not declined significantly in the United States since 1992. Although counseling remains the treatment of choice for cocaine dependence, many cocaine-dependent patients do not respond completely to standard drug counseling. Therefore, the development of new and more effective treatments for cocaine dependence is a research priority. Progress in the understanding of the neurobiology of cocaine dependence has led to the discovery of several promising medications that have already shown encouraging results in controlled clinical trials. Other promising compounds are just becoming available for clinical trials. The use of novel psychosocial techniques such as contingency management seems to increase the efficacy of several medications used to treat cocaine dependence. New medications and new psychosocial techniques are leading to significant improvements in the treatment of cocaine dependence.     

Atypical Categorical Perception in Autism: Autonomy of Discrimination?

A diminished top-down influence has been proposed in autism, to account for enhanced performance in low-level perceptual tasks. Applied to perceptual categorization, this hypothesis predicts a diminished influence of category on discrimination. In order to test this hypothesis, we compared categorical perception in 16 individuals with and 16 individuals without high-functioning autism. While participants with and without autism displayed a typical classification curve, there was no facilitation of discrimination near the category boundary in the autism group. The absence of influence of categorical knowledge on discrimination suggests an increased autonomy of low-level perceptual processes in autism, in the form of a reduced top-down influence from categories toward discrimination.     

What’s new in congenital myopathies?

The congenital myopathies are defined by distinctive morphologic abnormalities in skeletal muscle. Over the past decade there have been major advances in defining the genetic basis of the majority of congenital myopathy subtypes, with increasing availability of genetic and prenatal diagnosis. Identification of the disease genes, in combination with a reappraisal of muscle pathology and the development of tissue culture and animal models is now providing insights into disease pathogenesis and, for the first time, suggesting avenues for the development of specific therapies. This review highlights some of the major recent advances in each of these areas and demonstrates how a morphological classification of the congenital myopathies into subgroups remains useful for future research into gene discovery and understanding of disease mechanism.     

Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease: What’s in the Non-dopaminergic Pipeline?

Dopamine depletion resulting from degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons is the primary neurochemical basis of the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). While dopaminergic replacement strategies are effective in ameliorating these symptoms early in the disease process, more advanced stages of PD are associated with the development of treatment-related motor complications and dopamine-resistant symptoms. Other neurotransmitter and neuromodulator systems are expressed in the basal ganglia and contribute to the extrapyramidal refinement of motor function. Furthermore, neuropathological studies suggest that they are also affected by the neurodegenerative process. These non-dopaminergic systems provide potential targets for treatment of motor fluctuations, levodopa-induced dyskinesias, and difficulty with gait and balance. This review summarizes recent advances in the clinical development of novel pharmacological approaches for treatment of PD motor symptoms. Although the non-dopaminergic pipeline has been slow to yield new drugs, further development will likely result in improved treatments for PD symptoms that are induced by or resistant to dopamine replacement.     

Clinicians’ Perception of Patient Readiness for Treatment: An Emerging Theme in Implementation Science?

Despite a training program to help veterans administration (VA) clinicians implement evidence-based psychotherapies (EBPs) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), uptake has been limited. To understand clinicians’ implementation challenges, we performed thematic analysis of semi-structured telephone interviews guided by the Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services framework. Our sample included 22 psychotherapists in VA PTSD clinics in one region. We identified a theme not captured by our implementation framework: clinicians’ perceptions about their patients’ readiness for treatment. Clinician perception of patient readiness may be important to the uptake of EBPs and should be considered in mental health implementation work.     

Does Food Color Influence Taste and Flavor Perception in Humans?

In this paper, we review the empirical literature concerning the important question of whether or not food color influences taste and flavor perception in humans. Although a superficial reading of the literature on this topic would appear to give a somewhat mixed answer, we argue that this is, at least in part, due to the fact that many researchers have failed to distinguish between two qualitatively distinct research questions. The first concerns the role that food coloring plays in the perception of the intensity of a particular flavor (e.g., strawberry, banana, etc.) or taste attribute (e.g., sweetness, saltiness, etc.). The second concerns the role that food coloring plays in the perception of flavor identity. The empirical evidence regarding the first question is currently rather ambiguous. While some researchers have reported a significant crossmodal effect of changing the intensity of a food or drink’s coloring on people’s judgments of taste or flavor intensity, many others have failed to demonstrate any such effect. By contrast, the research findings concerning the second question clearly support the view that people’s judgments of flavor identity are often affected by the changing of a food or drink’s color (be it appropriate, inappropriate, or absent). We discuss the possible mechanisms underlying these crossmodal effects and suggest some of the key directions for future research in order to move our understanding in this area forward.     

Emotion Perception in Asperger’s Syndrome and High-functioning Autism: The Importance of Diagnostic Criteria and Cue Intensity

This study compared emotion perception accuracy between children with Asperger’s syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA). Thirty children were diagnosed with AS or HFA based on empirically supported diagnostic criteria and administered an emotion perception test consisting of facial expressions and tone of voice cues that varied in intensity. Participants with AS and the typically developing standardization sample of the emotion perception instrument had the same mean emotion perception accuracy, whereas participants with HFA performed significantly worse. Results also provided preliminary evidence for a difference in accuracy perceiving low-intensity tone of voice cues between participants with HFA and AS. Future research to build on these initial findings should include attention to tone of voice, underlying processing, and cue intensity.     

Role of Cerebellum in Motion Perception and Vestibulo-ocular Reflex—Similarities and Disparities

Vestibular velocity storage enhances the efficacy of the angular vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) during relatively low-frequency head rotations. This function is modulated by GABA-mediated inhibitory cerebellar projections. Velocity storage also exists in perceptual pathway and has similar functional principles as VOR. However, it is not known whether the neural substrate for perception and VOR overlap. We propose two possibilities. First, there is the same velocity storage for both VOR and perception; second, there are nonoverlapping neural networks: one might be involved in perception and the other for the VOR. We investigated these possibilities by measuring VOR and perceptual responses in healthy human subjects during whole-body, constant-velocity rotation steps about all three dimensions (yaw, pitch, and roll) before and after 10 mg of 4-aminopyridine (4-AP). 4-AP, a selective blocker of inward rectifier potassium conductance, can lead to increased synchronization and precision of Purkinje neuron discharge and possibly enhance the GABAergic action. Hence 4-AP could reduce the decay time constant of the perceived angular velocity and VOR. We found that 4-AP reduced the decay time constant, but the amount of reduction in the two processes, perception and VOR, was not the same, suggesting the possibility of nonoverlapping or partially overlapping neural substrates for VOR and perception. We also noted that, unlike the VOR, the perceived angular velocity gradually built up and plateau prior to decay. Hence, the perception pathway may have additional mechanism that changes the dynamics of perceived angular velocity beyond the velocity storage. 4-AP had no effects on the duration of build-up of perceived angular velocity, suggesting that the higher order processing of perception, beyond the velocity storage, might not occur under the influence of mechanism that could be influenced by 4-AP.     

From TADS and SOFTADS to TORDIA and Beyond: What’s New in the Treatment of Adolescent Depression?

Major depressive disorder in adolescents is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Major advances have been made in recent years in the treatment of adolescent depression, with promising outcomes. However, limitations of currently available treatments have prompted attempts to better understand pediatric depression from a broader perspective and to develop more effective treatment strategies in the future.     

What are the roles of perfectionism and responsibility in checking and cleaning compulsions?

Empirical findings revealed that an inflated sense of responsibility has a major impact on obsessive-compulsive symptomatology (OCS). Another cognitive variable, perfectionism, is also theoretically linked to OCS. The assumption about the insufficient but necessary role of perfectionism for OCS and the view of perfectionism as a manifestation of avoidance of serious consequences led us to explore the role of an important cognitive mediator (responsibility) in this relationship. The present study aimed to explore the mediational role of responsibility for the effects of perfectionism on checking and cleaning symptom profiles of OCS in a nonclinical population in Turkey. Findings of the present study suggested that responsibility appraisals mediate effects of self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism on checking and the effect of socially prescribed perfectionism on cleaning. There was a partial mediation for self-oriented perfectionism on cleaning. The findings are discussed within the scope of current literature and implications for clinical applications are suggested.     

Migraine and Stroke: What’s the Link? What to Do?

Migraine and stroke are common, disabling neurologic disorders, with a high socioeconomic burden. A link between them has been proposed years ago, and various theories have been proposed to explain this bidirectional relation. However, the precise causes remain unclear. We briefly summarize existing hypotheses of this correlation seeking for recommendations for stroke prevention in migraineurs, if any exist. Among the strongest suggested theories of migraine–stroke association are cortical spreading depression, endovascular dysfunction, vasoconstriction, neurogenic inflammation, hypercoagulability, increased prevalence of vascular risk factors, shared genetic defects, cervical artery dissection, and patent foramen ovale. There is no evidence that any preventive therapy in migraineurs should be used to decrease stroke risk, even in most predisposed subset of patients. However, a woman with migraine with aura should be encouraged to cease smoking and avoid taking oral contraceptives with high estrogen doses. We need further investigation to better understand the complexity of migraine–stroke association and to make firm recommendations for the future.