Monitor on Psychology - January 2012 - (Page 17)

Brief In believed Jack’s crying was appropriate had higher self-esteem. In contrast, players who believed Jack’s crying was inappropriate — yet felt they would likely cry in Jack’s situation — had lower self-esteem (Psychology of Men & Masculinity, October). n IQ fluctuates throughout the teenage years, finds research from University College London, countering the longheld belief that intelligence as measured by IQ is stable throughout one’s life. In a brain-imaging study of 33 teens in early and late adolescence, scientists found that verbal and non-verbal IQ rises and falls, with corresponding changes in grey matter in speech and movement-related regions of the brain (Nature, Oct. 19). n People born without a corpus callosum — the condition called agenesis of the corpus callosum (AgCC) — still show remarkably normal communication across the gap between the two halves of their brains, according to a team of neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology. Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to demonstrate that synchronized activity between the left and right brain survives even radical rewiring of the nerve connections between the two hemispheres. The authors say these findings highlight the brain’s remarkable plasticity and ability to compensate (The Journal of Neuroscience, Oct. 19). n Contrary to the view that an increase in secreted beta-amyloid peptides is the main trigger for developing Alzheimer’s disease, new research Changes in the brain’s grey matter during the teenage years lead to IQ fluctuations. suggests that it’s the neurons’ inability to secrete beta-amyloid that actually sets the disease’s development in motion, according to scientists at Lund University in Sweden. The study shows an increase in unwanted intracellular beta-amyloid occurring early on in Alzheimer’s disease in mice, caused by a loss of normal function to secrete beta-amyloid. When the synapses can no longer hold the increasing amounts of the this toxin, researchers say, the membrane breaks, releasing the waste outside the cells and leading to the formation of plaques, the longtime hallmark biomarker of the disease (Journal of Neuroscience, Oct. 26). n College students and psychiatric patients are nearly three times more likely than the general public to experience episodes of sleep paralysis, a sensation in which a person feels as if his body is paralyzed. In a review study, researchers analyzed data from 35 studies and found that more than 28 percent of college students and nearly 32 percent of psychiatric patients had at least one episode of sleep paralysis, while the general population reported a rate of less than 8 percent. Given these prevalence rates, the researchers say, sleep paralysis should be assessed more regularly among these two populations to determine its effect on individual functioning and better articulate its relation to psychiatric and other medical conditions (Sleep Medicine Reviews, October). —A. NovotNEY For direct links to these articles, click on the journal names. J a n u a ry 2 0 1 2 • M o n i t o r o n p s y c h o l o g y 17 Creatas images http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/men-12-4-297.pdf http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/men-12-4-297.pdf http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v479/n7371/full/nature10514.html http://www.smrv-journal.com/article/S1087-0792(11)00009-8/abstract http://www.smrv-journal.com/article/S1087-0792(11)00009-8/abstract http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/42/15154.full.pdf http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/43/15384.abstract http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/42/15154.full.pdf

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Monitor on Psychology - January 2012

Monitor on Psychology - January 2012
Letters
President’s Column
Contents
Contents
From the CEO
Apa’s Statement on the Dsm-5 Development Process
Girl Scouts Badge Promotes Positive Psychology
Early Investments Pay Off for Poor Children, Study Finds
Apa Meets With Chinese Psychological Society to Further Interaction and Exchange
Unique Opportunity for Psychologists to Travel to Cuba
In Brief
Government Relations Update
On Your Behalf
Psychology’s Growing Library of Podcasts
Standing Up for Psychology
Judicial Notebook
Random Sample
Time Capsule
Questionnaire
Science Watch
Beyond Psychotherapy
Perspective on Practice
Yes, Recovery Is Possible
Inequity to Equity
Making E-Learning Work
New Standards for High School Psychology
A Trailblazer Moves On
Psychologist Profile
Plan Now for Psychology’s Regional Meetings
New Journal Editors
Apa News
Division Spotlight
American Psychological Foundation
Personalities

Monitor on Psychology - January 2012