Science Briefs

Time to Reboot: Engaging Youth in Preventive Behavior Change

by Marguerita Lightfoot

Marguerita Lightfoot received her doctorate in counseling psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles and is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine and co-Director of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS) at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research interests are in the areas of adolescents, health, and prevention. Her work in HIV-prevention has included developing interventions for runaway/homeless youth, juvenile justice involved adolescents, and youth living with HIV, among others. She is particularly interested in developing cost-effective interventions that are easily translatable with utility in community settings and utilizes new technologies to engage disenfranchised individuals in health promotion activities. She has also conducted psychotherapy with predominately African American and Latino adolescents, adults, and families infected and/or affected by HIV.

As I watched the vice-presidential debates from a hotel room, I was amused by the steady stream of commentary I received via text message from my twenty-something brother. Then it occurred to me that if I were home, my friends and I would have chosen to watch the debate together in someone’s home. It would have been a social event. However, it is clear that young people of my brother’s generation, adolescents to twenty-something, connect with each other in a very different way.

Young people are much more likely to jointly experience events, not in someone’s living room, but rather via text messages, My Space, Twitter, blogs, or instant messaging. In fact, recent marketing research indicates that 80% of youth own three or more personal media devices, 96% go online daily, and for 78% of youth, cell phones are the most popular method of remote communication (Event Marketing Institute, 2008). According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project (2008), 91% of persons aged 18 – 29 years use the internet at least occasionally, most parents (59%) of 12 – 17 year olds believe the internet is beneficial in the lives of their children, and 64% of online adolescents aged 12 to 17 years create online content (e.g., blog, post online photos; Lenhart and Madden, 2007). Only 7% of these parents believe the internet is a “bad thing.” If young people connect with each other, connect with the outside world, and obtain information via the internet, psychologists must consider how these emerging vehicles for interpersonal and social interaction can be utilized to promote the psychological well-being of youth. We can not limit our discussions to simply documenting the “risks” associated with these mediums; rather we must also consider how these mediums can be used to advance psychology, both scientifically and therapeutically.

Advances in computer technology and its increasing availability provide a rich learning and therapeutic aid for adolescents (Skinner, Biscope, Poland & Goldberg , 2003; Smith, Gertz, Alvarez & Lurie, 2000; Dede, 1986). Computer-assisted instruction has been used therapeutically with

phobic patients (Marks, Mataix-Cols, Kenwright, Cameron, Hirsch, & Gega, 2004; Newman, Consoli & Taylor, 1997; Bornas, Tortella-Feliu, Llabres & Fullana, 2001);

depressed patients (Osgood-Hynes, Greist, Marks, Baer, Heneman, Wenzel, Manzo, Parkin, Spierings, Dottl & Titse, 1998; Marks et al., 2003; Christensen, Griffiths, & Korten, 2002; Selmi, Klein, Griest, & Erdman, 1990);

overweight patients (Williamson, Martin, White, Newton, Walden, York-Crowe, Alfonso, Gordon & Ryan, 2005; Turnin, Bourgeois, Cathelineau, Leguerrier, Halimi, & Sandre-Banon, 2001; Rothert, Strecher, Doyle, Caplan, Joyce, Jimison, Karm, Mims, & Roth, 2006);

persons with obsessive-compulsive disorder (Greist et al., 2002);

patients with eating disorders (Bara-Carril, Williams, Pombo-Carril, Murray, Aubin, Harkin, Treasure, & Schmidt, 2004; Taylor, Winzelberg, & Celio, 2001; Andrewes, O’Connor, Mulder, McLennan, Weigall, & Sy, 1996);

and has increased patient's behavior management of diabetes (King, Estabrooks, Strycker, Toobert, Bull, & Glasgow, 2006; Glasgow, Toobert, Hampson, & Noell, 1997), and reduced adolescent substance use and violence (Schinke, Di Noia, & Glassman, 2004). As a result of these successes, computer-based interventions have been widely advocated in the fields of health education and prevention (Casazza & Ciccazzo, 2006; Goodman & Blake, 2005; Sampson & Kruboltz, 1991), yet there are few successful models of prevention of unhealthy behaviors for adolescents using computers and even fewer instances of evidenced-based programs being used in practice. The successful use of computers for treatment can be extended to use for prevention.

For youth who have been unsuccessful in mainstream programs, who respond poorly to didactic instruction, or experience difficulty in engaging or gaining insight in the therapeutic process, computers are a viable way to deliver prevention information and promote skill development. Because of the computer’s potential for enhancing intrinsic motivation, providing individualized feedback, and encouraging active engagement, computer-assisted instruction may offer certain advantages over traditional therapeutic strategies such as small groups. Further, in the settings in which youth are most exposed to psychosocial interventions—school-based settings—information is most commonly communicated by means of printed materials (e.g., books) and pamphlets. These materials are inexpensive and informative, but they lack intrinsic appeal and encourage passive learning; students often read these materials with a minimum of effort, involvement, and retention. Computer-based programs may enhance the attractiveness of such information, particularly for those youth who have not been successful in traditional educational settings.

In order to guide the development of such programs, principles of e-learning are useful. Gurak and Lannon (2003) argue that effective electronic communication is accessible (accurate, clear, complete, concrete, organized and visually effective), usable, and relevant. These e-learning principles are drawn from the disciplines of business/professional training, rhetoric, and educational psychology. As indicated in the final report from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (2003) on Consumer Health Informatics and Patient Decision Making, health informatics is defined as "the use of computers and telecommunications to help consumers obtain information, analyze their health care needs, and make decisions about their own health.” Consequently, relevant and salient computer programs have the potential to engage youth in therapeutic interventions, give youth the ability to guide their own process and progress, and provide tailored information and guidance.

A valid concern in using computer programs for therapeutic purposes with adolescents is that once given control of the computer in an unsupervised setting, the youth will “goof-off” or abuse the opportunity. However, previous work in self-efficacy skills training using computer-assisted interventions for youth in group homes, residential facilities, detention, runaway shelters, correctional facilities, Job Corp sites, adolescent substance rehabilitation centers, and community-based organizations have found that youth stay on-task. Furthermore, the vast majority of the youth in field tests exhibited behavior that indicated they took the computer simulation seriously and took advantage of the opportunity to practice their skills (Paperny, 1997; Thomas, Cahill, & Santilli, 1997). The youth remained on-task and negotiated the program as instructed. Similar to adults who expressed a preference for interactive computer programs to human advice on sensitive topics, most adolescents also reported feeling comfortable with a computer and preferred talking about sex with a computer more than with a person (Evans, Edmundson-Drane, & Harris, 2000; Paperny, Aono, & Lehman, 1990). This also suggests that youth appreciate the computer as a reusable means of gaining health information rather than as a “game” to try. For example, in an evaluation of a drug- and alcohol-use computerized intervention, the computer program was equally as effective as traditional interventions in improving students’ attitudes toward drug and alcohol use, and was rated as being more interesting than traditional interventions (Marsch & Bickel, 2004; Meier & Sampson, 1988). Furthermore, interactive computer programs could help disenfranchised youth learn skills to improve health and instill in these youth the self-efficacy to apply these new skills. Among youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, interactive modes potentially can bring a sense of confidence because youth can control their progress and learning (Diem & Katims, 2002).

In one example of a computer-based prevention program, we developed an interactive computerized intervention to reduce high risk sexual behaviors to prevent acquisition of sexually transmitted infections in delinquent adolescents. We adapted an efficacious, small-group, cognitive behavioral intervention (Project Light; National Institute of Mental Health, 1998) into an interactive computer program. A total of 133 adolescents aged 14 to 18 years from three continuation schools were recruited into the study and received the small-group intervention, the adapted computerized program, or no intervention. Participants completed baseline and three-month assessments and reported their sexual behavior (i.e., whether they had sex, number of sexual partners, and frequency of condom use). Participants were a mean age of 16 years (S.D. = 1.3), mostly male (55%), and of African American and Latino race/ethnicity (95%). Youth received intervention in school classrooms. The intervention targeted self-efficacy, behavioral skills, and cognitions that support engagement in healthy behaviors. Each session included a goal review, introduction of new material and related attitudinal and behavioral skills, goal setting, and group reinforcement and encouragement. The program included knowledge, identifying and managing triggers for behavior, problem-solving, interpersonal assertiveness, and maintenance of new behavioral routines. Small groups were conducted weekly and were facilitated by experienced counselors trained in cognitive behavioral therapy. The use of an intervention manual ensured consistent delivery and fidelity of the intervention. The computer program was made available in one classroom on laptop computers for youth to access during the school day. The interactive computer program was designed to be responsive and engaging to adolescents (see Figure 1). The content and process of the computer program was parallel to the small group condition.

Figure 1. Screen shot of the Project Light computer program

As shown in Table 1, the rates of attendance to the intervention suggest the utility of using computers to engage youth in preventive health behavior. Similar to many psychoeducational programs, only 7% of participants in the small group condition attended all of the sessions and 56% attended some of the sessions. Absence from school on the day a session was conducted was the most commonly cited reason participants missed a session. By contrast, 70% of participants who receive the computer program were able to complete all of the sessions and 21% completed some but not all of the sessions. Therefore, 91% of the participants received some or all of the computerized content while only 63% of those in the small group received the programmatic contact. Participants in the computer program condition were able to work at their own pace and access the program when convenient for them, significantly increasing their ability to complete the program. Further, as shown in Table 2, participants rated the computer program very highly. All participants who received the computer program indicated they found the program interesting and would recommend the program to a friend. Most participants also reported they liked completing the program (89%) and rated the program as better than other programs they had received (87%).

Table 1. Intervention attendance

Table 2. Frequency of responses regarding computer program

The findings from this study have been reported elsewhere (Lightfoot et al., 2007). The computer program was comparable and sometimes better at reducing the sexual risk behaviors of the adolescents when compared to the small group program. Adolescents who received the computer program were significantly less likely to engage in sexual activity and reported significantly fewer sexual partners when compared to the control condition. Therefore, the computer program was better able to engage participants, facilitated higher rates of completion, and successfully encouraged preventive behavior change.

We have extended this work and designed a website for runaway and homeless youth that aims to prevent relapse to unhealthy behavior. First, runaway and homeless youth participated in a ten session cognitive behavioral small-group program when they received services from homeless shelters and drop-in centers. The small groups targeted the substance use and sexual risk behaviors of these youth. Once participants had completed 70% of the sessions, they were given access to the website, which reinforced the skills they learned while they were in the small groups and peer norms for maintaining healthier behaviors. A website intervention is particularly appropriate for runaway and homeless youth because, given their transience, they can not be expected to participate in long-term therapeutic interventions. Further, although homeless, we found in a previous study that upwards of 75% of youth indicated they had an email address and accessed the internet regularly. Participants in this study were followed longitudinally for 24 months. We were able to locate and assess 76% of participants at 24 months, aided significantly by connecting with participants through social networking sites such as My Space. The impact of the website on preventing relapse is currently being evaluated.

The current literature and our current studies support the need for engaging adolescents in programs that develop decision making, goal setting, and coping. These types of programs can be invaluable in assisting adolescents in making healthy choices. However, engaging adolescents in therapeutic programs is challenging and providing them with a full dose of treatment is difficult. However, a still underutilized strategy for engaging youth is the utilization of the communication mediums that adolescents employ. Our work indicates that computers are a viable way to deliver prevention information and promote skill development. While psychological science has established the dangers of these new media (e.g., Internet, video games), such as increased violence and addiction, we must also consider the potential strengths of these strategies and employ them appropriately. Our data suggests that this is not only possible, but sometimes preferable to adolescents.

References

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From the APA Science Student Council

The Science Student Council is a group of nine graduate students who spend a couple of weekends a year with the Science staff, advising on programs and activities that would benefit graduate students in psychological science. In this column, the students will present useful information that other graduate students need to know! Visit the Science Student Council page (www.apa.org/science/apasscweb.html) to learn more about the activities of the SSC.

Publishing Your Dissertation

by Jennifer Brielmaier

For doctoral students in psychological science, the dissertation is a culmination of years of graduate training. Dissertations usually involve original research that, if shared with others, will advance psychology as a science. All too often, however, dissertations go unpublished. After the long and difficult process of dissertation writing, the prospect of converting such a large body of work into a publishable manuscript (or two) can seem daunting. However, there are many reasons to indulge in this challenge. For instance, as highlighted in last month’s PSA column, publishing is a crucial component to a successful career in psychological science. What better place to start than your dissertation? In addition, being able to pare down your research findings and target them to a specific audience (i.e., the readers of a journal) is a skill that will be necessary throughout your research career. Below are a few tips to make the process of publishing your dissertation easier.

Write your dissertation with the goal of publication in mind.

An increasing number of schools are offering students the option of writing their dissertations as a series of journal articles. If you are early in your graduate studies and this option is available, consider taking advantage of this opportunity. If it is not, keep in mind that converting your dissertation into a manuscript (or two) will be an easier task if you set publication as the ultimate goal. For example, be sure to cite the most recent and relevant papers in your research area when writing your dissertation. This way, you don’t have to go searching for them when you begin to write the manuscript. It is also a good idea to keep potential journals and reviewers in mind.

Consult with your committee about which aspects of your dissertation are publishable.

When you are nearing completion of your dissertation, sit down with your dissertation committee to determine 1) whether your research findings are publishable, 2) which of your findings are most salient and therefore ought to be highlighted, and 3) which journals to target. Step 1 is especially important if your experiments did not turn out as planned or if you have obtained null results. In such cases you may be able to "salvage" your work by using your literature review as the basis for a review paper that generates ideas for future research, and submit it to journals that are open to this type of paper (e.g., Psychological Bulletin or Psychological Review). If you plan to submit more than one manuscript for publication, consult the APA Publication Manual for rules on what constitutes duplicate and fragmented publications. Multiple manuscripts should only be submitted if the information in each article is substantially different.

Think of the manuscript(s) as based on, not cut and pasted from, your dissertation.

Dissertations can be a few hundred pages and invariably include details that are not appropriate for a 25- to 30-page manuscript. The main challenge is to convey your most important findings while omitting irrelevant information. This requires selectively rewriting portions of your dissertation rather than simply cutting and pasting certain pieces. For suggestions on length, selectivity, writing style and interpretation of data, consult the APA Guide to Preparing Manuscripts for Journal Publication (available online at http://www.apa.org/journals/authors/guide.html).

Try to submit the manuscript(s) before you move on to postdoctoral employment.

It is often easier to write manuscripts while the findings and pertinent literature are still fresh in one’s mind. When moving on to postdoctoral employment, however, many recent grads find themselves too busy with new research and other responsibilities to revisit their dissertations. If possible, negotiate your starting date with your postdoctoral employer so that you have time to get your manuscript(s) out the door for initial review before you begin. (This will be more feasible with a postdoctoral fellowship than with other appointments, such as a faculty position). Once you start your new job, it will be much easier to find the time to revise and resubmit your manuscript(s) than to start writing from scratch.

Put your time management skills to use.

No matter what your situation, use the time management skills you undoubtedly learned during graduate school to set a schedule for writing the manuscript(s). Devote a few minutes each day to manuscript writing, set deadlines, and inform others of your schedule so they can help keep you on track. Your new employer will likely take note of your dedication to publishing your research, making it a win-win situation.

Converting a dissertation into a publishable manuscript (or two) is challenging, but it can be done with some planning and hard work. Many psychological scientists have advanced the field and launched their careers by publishing their dissertation findings. As just one example, the famous developmental psychologist Mary (Salter) Ainsworth published her dissertation research, entitled "An Evaluation of Adjustment Based on the Concept of Security" (Salter, 1940), after earning her PhD in 1939. She went on to become one of the major contributors to attachment theory, and helped set the stage for psychological science research on infant-caregiver interactions. You can follow in Dr. Ainsworth's and others' footsteps by taking the approach that your dissertation is not truly “finished” until your work has been submitted for publication.

2008 APA Meritorious Research Service Commendations Awarded

by Suzanne Wandersman

Three psychologists have been selected to receive Meritorious Research Service Commendations for 2008.  These commendations, which are given by the Board of Scientific Affairs, recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to psychological science through their service as employees of the federal government or other organizations.

Psychologists at federal or non-federal research funding, regulatory or other agencies play a crucial role in the advancement of the discipline, through managing programs that fund psychological science, identifying new research opportunities and directions, formulating research policies, and promoting psychological research within their organizations. The Meritorious Research Service Commendations are a mechanism for honoring psychologists for their efforts and achievements in these areas.

The recipients for 2008 are:

Robert B. Huebner
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
Dr. Huebner is Deputy Director of the Division of Treatment and Recovery Research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Institutes of Health (NIH).  He is being recognized for promoting and supporting important psychological research in the areas of addictions and problem drinking, treatment and recovery, and the mechanisms of change responsible for the modification of drinking behaviors.  He has also been an outstanding advocate for the integration of psychology into the multidisciplinary research portfolios of health services, treatment, and prevention research at NIAAA and NIH.

Jack D. Maser
University of California, San Diego; formerly National Institute of Mental Health
Dr. Maser is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, at the University of California, San Diego.  He was employed at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health, for almost 25 years prior to joining the faculty at UCSD.  His last position at NIMH was Chief of the Clinical Review Branch in the Division of Extramural Activities.  He is being recognized for promoting and fostering the highest quality research in psychopathology, for creating conferences that brought diverse researchers together to share their interests and approaches, and for directing the field’s attention to issues in psychopathology that have increased our understanding of mental and behavioral disorders.  He has also shaped the research of many young investigators by providing invaluable advice and guidance.

Robert S. Ruskin
Consortium Research Fellows Program
Dr. Ruskin is Director of the Consortium Research Fellows Program of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area.  He is being recognized for his leadership and management of the Consortium Research Fellows Program, contributing to its outstanding growth over the last 22 years, and for his commitment to the professional development of the students who are part of the program.  He has forged a strong link between government psychological research institutes and graduate psychology programs through his vision, dedication, and executive skill. 

The recipients of the 2008 commendations will be honored at the December 2008 APA Board of Directors meeting.

Past recipients of the Meritorious Research Service Commendation were:

Nominations for the 2009 awards are being accepted now. For additional information, please see: http://www.apa.org/science/meritorious.html.

The 2008 APA Dissertation Research Award Recipients

by Nicolle Singer

Each year since 1988, the Science Directorate has made awards to promising graduate students to assist with the costs of their dissertation research. Please join us in congratulating these outstanding students and APA Dissertation Research Award recipients. For more information about this funding opportunity for advanced graduate students, visit www.apa.org/science/dissinfo.html.

Frances S. Chen
Stanford University
Individual Differences in Attention to Faces: Genetic Precursors and Consequences for Social Functioning

This project investigates social gaze processes like eye contact and their relationship to autism. A non-clinical sample of adults and infants will provide a combination of self-report, behavioral, and genetic data in order to help elucidate the relationship between personality, social gaze, and genes. This research will have implications for developmental health problems such as autism, social anxiety, and attachment disorders.

Frances reports that “it's a great honor to be recognized by the APA Science Directorate, and I'm very grateful to have funding that will allow me to genotype a set of subjects for my dissertation research.”

Nuwan Jayawickreme
University of Pennsylvania
The Development of a Culturally-Validated Measure of Psychological Distress in War-Affected Communities in North-Eastern Sri Lanka

This research centers on the impact of culture on the presentation of traumatic stress. In order to construct a culturally sensitive questionnaire, Nuwan has already analyzed data from interviews with individuals who live in war-affected North-Eastern Sri Lanka. The final stage of the dissertation involves constructing and then pilot-testing the questionnaire in a sample of war survivors. Following validation of the new measure, it will be distributed to Sri Lankan psychosocial agencies to use in their work.

The award funds will be used for incentives to study participants and to the coordinators who collect data in Sri Lanka, as well as to cover the cost of postage to mail survey packets to Columbo and then to deliver them to each site in the nearby war-torn region.

Brian Keane
University of California, Los Angeles
Beyond Phenomenological Connectedness: Functional Consequences of Filling-In During Contour Interpolation

This research investigates basic questions in object perception by studying the mechanisms by which people fill-in missing regions in objects that they see, and reasons for this interpolation. Using variations of a shape discrimination paradigm, this dissertation investigates interpolation regions of the mind to inform the processes that people use to represent objects in cluttered visual environments when most objects are partly obscured from view.

Brian reports that “the first thing I did after being notified of the award was that I shared the news with two people who have been very supportive over the last few years (although in very different ways): my fiancé and my academic advisor.” The award funds will be used for participant incentives.

Leisha J. Smith
University of Arizona
The Influence of Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia and Time of Day on Decision Making and Risk Taking

The relationship between time of day and decision making is examined in this innovative research. Sleep deprivation has widely been shown to lead to impaired decision making, however the relationship between sleep/wake rhythms and decision making has been less well-explored. This research explores the effect on decision making of factors such as time of day and measures of respiratory sinus arrhythmia, sleepiness, and mood. In this research, participants will complete sleep diaries and engage in computerized decision making tasks at regular intervals each day for a week.

Award funds will be used for participant payment, and results of the study can be applied to help people who must make decisions late at night such as on-call doctors and people suffering from insomnia.

Bernhard P. Staresina
New York University
Neural and Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying Episodic Memory Formation in Humans

This research investigates the formation of memories for everyday experiences from a behavioral neuroscience perspective. In order to identify the building blocks of episodic memory and to understand how they are assembled in the medial temporal lobe during memory formation, Bernard has conducted fMRI research and will continue that line of research by collecting data from a group of pre-surgical epilepsy patients using intracranial Electroencephalography (iEEG). This approach should allow elucidation of the progression of activation through different regions of the brain.

Bernard reports that “the final project of my dissertation involves iEEG in epilepsy patients, an extremely rare method that requires high mobility for data acquisition and strong computational power for data analysis. With the help of the APA support, I can afford the equipment needed to successfully conduct that project.”

Ayako Janet Tomiyama
University of California, Los Angeles
Dieting as a Chronic Stressor: An Experimental Manipulation

This dissertation project examines the impact of caloric restrictions (dieting) on stress levels. Specifically, it examines the differential impacts of calorie restriction/non-restriction compared to calorie monitoring/non-monitoring. Because half of women and a third of men in the US diet, and most diets are unsuccessful in the long-term, this research has broad implications.

Janet reports that “having this kind of support is so critical, particularly for interdisciplinary health psychology that requires so much in terms of research costs. Every dime of my award will go towards assay costs for salivary cortisol and salivary alpha amylase samples. I really, truly, appreciate APA's generosity.”

Additional recipients of APA Dissertation Research Awards in 2008, in alphabetical order, are:

Daniel Acheson, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Behavioral and Neural Mechanisms Underlying Language Production and Verbal Working Memory

Sunayana B. Banerjee, Cornell University
Neurochemical and Developmental Influences on Pair Formation and Stress Physiology Using a New Animal Model

Jessica L. Barnack, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Psychological Adjustment, Disclosure and Transmission Prevention Behaviors Among Women Living With Genital Herpes

Robin A. Barry, University of Iowa
Romantic Disengagement as a Developmental Process that Contributes to Marital Distress and Decline

Ethan H. Beckley, Oregon Health & Science University
Neuroanatomical and Behavioral Correlates of Progesterone Withdrawal

Whitney E. Botsford, George Mason University
Psychological Contracts of Mothers: Does Breach Explain Intent to Leave?

Angela W. Chiu, University of California, Los Angeles
Modular CBT for Youth Anxiety Disorders: A Partial Effectiveness Test in Schools

Elise M. Clerkin, University of Virginia
Training Implicit Social Anxiety Associations: An Experimental Intervention

Kristen M. Culbert, Michigan State University
Prenatal Testosterone and Risk for Disordered Eating during Puberty

Natalie D. Dautovich, University of Florida
The Mediation of the Relationship between Social Rhythmicity and Sleep by Light, Arousal, and Affect in Both Younger and Older Adults

Cirleen DeBlaere, University of Florida
Perceived Discrimination Experiences and Mental Health of Asian American Women

Ilana T. Z. Dew, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Cognitive and Neural Correlates of Implicit Relational Memory in Young and Older Adults

Caitlin M. Fausey, Stanford University
Integrated Causal Cognition: Contributions of Language to Causal Representation, Memory, Learning and Attribution

Lisa K. Fazio, Duke University
Understanding the Hypercorrection Effect: Why High Confidence Errors and More Likely to be Corrected

Kimberly P. Foley, West Virginia University
A Comparison of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy and Treatment as Usual with Families with a History of Co-Morbid Child Abuse and Neglect and Intimate Partner Violence

Diann E. Gaalema, Georgia Institute of Technology
Sexual Conditioning in the Dyeing Dart Frog

Kenneth W. Hailston, Georgia Institute of Technology
The Effects of Multiple Feature Priming on Identifying and Localizing Visual Targets

Eve Atchariya Isham, Claremont Graduate University
Causality and Perception of Time

Sarah E. Johnson, Northwestern University
Middle Class and Marginal? The Influence of Socioeconomic Status on Self-Regulation at an Elite University

Christine A. Limbers, Texas A&M University
An Internet-Based Problem-Solving Intervention to Improve Asthma Self-Management in Families of Children with Asthma

Diane E. Logan, University of Washington
Alcohol Interventions for Mandated Students (Project AIMS)

Rachel H. Lucas-Thompson, University of California, Irvine
Interparental Conflict and Adolescent Physiological Functioning, Health, and Adjustment

Kerry F. Milch, Columbia University
Perceived Closeness to Future Selves and Intertemporal Allocation Decisions

Amber M. Muelmann, University of Florida
Vulnerability for Self-Injurious Behavior: Neurobiological Mechanisms

Jennifer E. Murray, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Nicotine Competition with Light Control of Conditioned Responding

Elizabeth J. Parks-Stamm, New York University
Exclusion as Self-Protection: The Function of Subtypes for Ingroup Members

Heather M. Prayor-Patterson, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Communication Program to Activate Cancer Survivors

Angela M. Railey, George Mason University
The Role of ApoE Genotype, Metals, and Hypercholesterolemia in the Etiology of Alzheimer’s Disease

Chaitra Rao, Texas A&M University
Dissociating Morphological and Visual Form-Based Influences on Word Recognition: Evidence from Hindi and Urdu

Sarah D. Sahni, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Beyond Labels: How Semantic and Sound Density Affect Word Learning

Lori N. Scott, Pennsylvania State University
Stress and Mood Reactivity in Borderline Personality Disorder

Katherine E. Shannon, University of Washington
Neural Bases of ADHD: Linking Hypodopaminergic Function to Error Monitoring

Loan C. Vuong, Rice University
The Role of Inhibitory Control in Sentence Comprehension

Laura M. Widman, University of Tennessee
Inside the Minds of Sex Offenders: Illuminating the Role of Implicit Attitudes in Sexual Offending

Ellen H. Williams, University of Tennessee
How Does Personality Affect Social Interactions and the Complexity of Communicative Behavior?

Suzanne C. Wood, University of California, San Diego
Neural Correlate of Associative Memory Following Amphetamine Administration

Get a Head Start for Graduate School

by Amy Pitta

APA undergraduate summer programs are designed to give promising undergraduate students an opportunity to experience cutting-edge psychological methods through seminars and hands-on laboratory activities. These programs are a fun way for students to equip themselves with the skills essential to enter and succeed in graduate school, while meeting students from across the country with the same interests.

Summer Science Fellowships

The APA Science Directorate is pleased to announce that the Summer Science Fellowships (SSF) will return in 2009. An offshoot of the successful Summer Science Institute, SSF aims to immerse advanced undergraduate students in the science of psychology by exposing them to the excitement and promise of the best of psychological science. Our principal objective is to prepare these students for the rigors of graduate study in psychological science.

An expenses-paid, intensive summer training program, SSF places up to 12 talented students in the psychology laboratories of some of the most outstanding researchers in the Washington, DC area for up to 7 weeks. SSF gives students an opportunity to explore the intellectual, personal, and social processes of scientific inquiry and to experience psychological research through hands-on laboratory activities. SSF offers promising students the opportunity to equip themselves with the skills essential to success in graduate school, and gives students who plan to pursue advanced degrees in psychological science the opportunity to be mentored by nationally-known faculty.

Eligibility is strictly limited to rising college seniors. Students from underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply. Students will be provided with travel funds, a stipend for living expenses, and a summer salary. This should make the program financially feasible for most college students.

Visit http://www.apa.org/science/ssf.html for complete details about the program and the online application.

Advanced Statistical Training in Psychology

Advanced Statistical Training in Psychology (ASTP) is an intensive, 9-day seminar on statistics and research methods in a dynamic setting that emphasizes hands-on computer skills. Up to 20 students who plan to pursue a graduate degree in psychology are selected annually. Students are mentally stimulated with lectures, SPSS activities, hands-on activities, and discussions of graduate school. After a full day of t-tests, multiple regression, linear correlation, ANOVA, and repeated measures design, students have the opportunity to participate in blackjack workshops, juggling workshops, Charades, and other fun.

The ASTP targets students who are rising seniors and who are from traditionally underrepresented groups in psychology. The definition of underrepresented groups for this program is extremely broad, including students who are members of ethnic minority groups, first generation college students, and students who have had to overcome social or economic barriers on the road to academic excellence.

For more information and a link to the online application, please visit http://www.apa.org/science/astp.html.

NIMH Workgroup Releases Report on Training Next Generation of Researchers

by Elizabeth Hoffman

The National Advisory Mental Health Council (NAMHC) Workgroup on Research Training released a report, Investing in the Future, on November 1 that advises NIMH on opportunities for attaining a workforce by 2020 with knowledge and expertise that will enhance the research mission of the Institute. The NIMH mission is more narrowly defined than in years past with a greater focus on mental illness. As stated in its new Strategic Plan, NIMH’s objective is to “transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery and cure.”

NIMH Director, Dr. Tom Insel, charged the workgroup with advising the NAHMC on the Institute’s investment in research training and to offer specific recommendations about how NIMH “could better achieve its goals of recruiting, training, and retaining a workforce capable of integrating novel technologies and approaches across multiple levels of analysis in its NIMH-relevant research.”

In its report, the workgroup encourages the Institute to make changes to its portfolio in order to meet the needs of a new generation of health researchers. The report offers nine recommendations to help NIMH achieve its goal of recruiting and retaining an exceptional health research workforce.

One of the recommendations is to refocus current funding in order to make these funds available for other initiatives. As an example, the workgroup recommends that NIMH discontinue its support of professional associations for training interdisciplinary investigators (through the T32 mechanism) because analyses showed that the additional training and mentoring “did not provide any detectable added value” with respect to NIMH’s measured outcome - the proportion of trainees who applied for or received NIH funding. Funding from other federal agencies or private foundations was not included in the measured outcome. Several professional associations, including the American Psychological Association, the Society for Neuroscience, the American Sociological Association, and the Council for Social Work Education are already slated to lose their Minority Fellowship Programs, which are funded through the T32 grant mechanisms. The result is a diminished investment in the behavioral research pipeline at a time when mentorship and professional networking are critical. 

The workgroup’s other recommendations include targeting support to MD/PhD students; maintaining the NIMH budget for research training and career development at its current level; expanding support for systematic research training/education opportunities at NIMH-supported centers; implementing best practices for institutional training; assessing and monitoring programs; and strengthening dissemination and communication with the extramural research community.

To view the report, click here.

Ann Treisman is Winner of the 2009 Grawemeyer Award for Psychology

Each year, the Grawemeyer Foundation at the University of Louisville awards up to $1 million ($200,000 each) to leaders in five categories: music composition, ideas improving world order, psychology, education, and religion. Nominations in the category of Psychology are judged on the basis of originality, creativity, scientific merit, and breadth of impact on the field.

Earlier this month, Anne Treisman, the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Princeton University, was announced as the 2009 prize winner. Selected from among 28 nominations, Treisman has worked to help explain how our brains build meaningful images from the bits of information we see. In 1980 she proposed that attention consists of the brain quickly scanning features such as size, shape, color, and motion and relating them as a whole. Consequently, a wide array of study was prompted by and continues from this initial theory of feature integration.

Today, scientists use this concept to address a broad range of real-world applications such as improving weapons detection at security checkpoints, aiding in the design of stimulating classrooms for children, and even improving our ability to tell pills apart. In addition, work by Treisman and her colleagues has had a positive impact on our understanding of certain medical conditions such as Balints’ Syndrome, which renders people unable to distinguish more than one object at a time.

Treisman has received many awards in the past, among them the American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution in 1990. She has also served on the editorial boards for several journals including the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.

Currently, her research interests include visual perception of objects and the role of attention, integration of information in perception of moving and changing objects, perceptual learning, visual memory for objects and events, and the coding of shape and motion.

Click here for more information about the Grawemeyer Awards, including recipient bios, past recipients, and information regarding the nomination process.

Announcements

Applications Due in January for APA Executive Branch Science Fellowship

Have you always wanted to get some experience working at the intersection of science and government? Are you looking to spend a sabbatical exploring the world of psychology and public policy? Come live for a year in Washington, DC as the 2009-2010 APA Executive Branch Science Fellow, sponsored by APA’s Science Directorate. This year’s Fellow is placed at the National Science Foundation (NSF), where she is putting her cognitive and developmental science expertise to work in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate. Previous Fellows have been assigned to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, various institutes at NIH, the Department of Defense, and NSF. Applications for the 2009-2010 Fellowship may be found on our website and applications are due January 9, 2009. For more information, please contact Dr. Heather Kelly of the Science Government Relations Office.

2009 Advanced Training Institutes Announced

The APA Science Directorate is pleased to sponsor four Advanced Training Institutes (ATIs) in the summer of 2009. These intensive training programs are hosted each summer at prominent research institutions across the country. ATIs expose advanced graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, new and established faculty, and other researchers to state-of-the-art research methods and analytic techniques. Complete information about these exciting programs can be viewed at: http://www.apa.org/science/ati.html.

• Non-Linear Methods for Psychological Science
  June 8-12, Univ. of Cincinnati

• Research Methods with Diverse Racial & Ethnic Groups
  June 22-26, Michigan State Univ.

• Structural Equation Modeling in Longitudinal Research
  June 29-July 3, Univ. of Virginia

• Exploratory Data Mining in Psychological Research
  July 20-24, Univ. of Southern California

You are invited to apply for these training opportunities. Keep in mind that application deadlines begin in March. Applications are available at http://www.apa.org/science/ati.html and must be submitted electronically through each program’s webpage. Tuition for all ATIs is substantially lower than other similar programs due to a subsidy from APA’s Science Directorate. For more information, contact APA’s Science Directorate via email or phone: (202) 336-6000.

2009 APA Convention Student Travel Awards

The Science Directorate announces its 22nd annual APA Student Travel Award competition. Each year, the Directorate provides $300 grants to as many as 100 psychology graduate students, to facilitate travel to the Annual APA Convention to present their research. In addition, 7 students who apply for a Travel Award will each receive an Ungerleider/Zimbardo Travel Scholarship of $300 from the American Psychological Foundation (APF), bringing to 107 the total number of students who receive a grant of $300 to help support their attendance at Convention.

Selection for the award is based on the quality of the submitted information as well as the student’s geographic location. Up to three students from each department of psychology may submit applications. If more than three students from a department wish to apply for these funds, the department must perform an initial screening and forward only three applications.

The deadline for applications is April 1, 2009, for travel to the 117th annual APA Convention, taking place August 6-9 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. All applicants must have their paper, poster, or symposium accepted by an APA division prior to applying for the award.

For more information about this grant opportunity, visit http://www.apa.org/science/travinfo.html or email the Science Directorate.

Research Funding Opportunities from NSF and NIH

Funding announcements for interdisciplinary research and training that are appropriate for psychological scientists have recently been issued by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and various components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH):

National Science Foundation
     Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (NSF 09-511)

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Closed Loop Technologies: Clinical and Behavioral Approaches to Improve Type 1 Diabetes Outcomes
          R01 (RFA-DK-08-012), R21 (RFA-DK-08-013)

You can receive automatic notification of new funding opportunities and policies by signing up at the NSF and NIH websites.

Conference Announcement and Call for Posters: The Current Status and Future for Research and Applications on Cognitive Fatigue

May 7-9, 2009
Georgia Tech Global Learning Center
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

A conference to be held at the Georgia Tech Global Learning Center brings together 15 experts in the field of cognitive fatigue to provide multidisciplinary perspectives. Speakers at this conference will represent basic and applied researchers across the domains of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, organizational and industrial psychology, human factors and ergonomics, clinical, and applied differential psychology. Applications under discussion will include education, industrial/organizational, military, and non-work domains. The conference will also feature a poster session and a panel discussion of a future research agenda for the field.

Conference details, registration materials, and a call for poster submissions can be found at: http://www.psychology.gatech.edu/fatigue/. Contact Phillip L. Ackerman for more information.