Although HIV/AIDS is the 9th leading cause of death in African-American children, 80% of HIV-infected children in the U.S. live into school-age years. This study focuses on associations between HIV illness severity, family factors, and long-term cognitive functioning of these children. Participants included 42 perinatally HIV-infected children (mean age = 72.4 months), 93% of whom were African-American. Mean intellectual functioning was more than one standard deviation below the normative mean; whereas, overall language and attention functioning were generally not different from the normative sample. First, this study described changes in functioning over time and/or between genders. Analyses of variance were conducted for five outcome variables (i.e., full scale IQ, verbal IQ, performance IQ, expressive and receptive one word picture vocabulary test). Expressive language scores increased over time. For receptive language, males’ skills improved significantly over time, while the decline in females’ skills did not reach significance. Second, the associations between Time Two illness severity (i.e., viral load), and Time One familial variables (i.e., adult-to-child ratio in the home, number of caregivers lost to death, number of months since caregiver death), with outcome variables at Time Two (i.e., intellectual, language, and attentional/hyperactivity functioning) were examined. For intellectual and expressive language, only the respective Time One functioning independently contributed a significant amount to Time Two functioning. For receptive language, Time One receptive language and the adult-to-child ratio in the home significantly predicted Time Two functioning. As the number of adults per child increased, there was an improvement in receptive language functioning. For both measures of language, the interaction between Time Two illness severity and Time One months since caregiver death significantly predicted Time Two functioning. With no loss of caregiver, more ill children demonstrated better language abilities than less ill children. Across illness groups, children performed similarly after a recent caregiver death. With greater time since caregiver death, the less ill children performed better than their more ill peers. For attention/hyperactivity, no predictor variables were significant. Interventions that consider family factors, as well as medical information, as potential influences on future child functioning may aid in the battle against this chronic illness.

Four experiments, using both humans and monkeys as participants, were conducted to investigate the similarities and differences in human and nonhuman primate numerical cognition. In Experiment 1 it was determined that both humans and monkeys display a SNARC effect, with similar symbolic distance effects for both species. In addition, both species were found to respond faster to congruent stimulus pairs. In Experiment 2 both species were found accurately to recognize quantitative stimuli when presented for durations of 150 msec in a divided visual field paradigm. Performance for humans and monkeys for numerals and dot-patterns was almost identical in terms of accuracy and response times. In Experiment 3 participants were required to make relative numerousness judgments in a divided visual field paradigm. Both species responded faster and more accurately to stimuli presented to the right visual field. Species differences appeared, with monkeys performing equally well on both trial types whereas the humans performed better on numeral trials than on dot trials. In Experiment 4 repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was combined with the divided visual field paradigm. Accuracy was significantly disrupted for both species when compared to a no stimulation condition. A facilitation effect was also evident with both species exhibiting significant decreases in response time for all trials. Right-handed participants took longer to respond to stimuli presented to the left visual field. These findings add to the body of knowledge regarding both the similarities and differences of how quantitative stimuli are processed by humans and monkeys.

Following social defeat, male hamsters exhibit behavioral changes characterized by a breakdown of normal territorial aggression and an increase in submissive/defensive behaviors in the presence of a non-aggressive intruder (NAI). We have termed this phenomenon conditioned defeat (CD). By contrast, only a small subset of defeated females exhibit submissive/defensive behavior in the presence of a NAI. We hypothesized that fluctuations in gonadal hormones might contribute to differences in the display of submissive behavior in intact female hamsters. Following social defeat, proestrous females (higher endogenous estradiol) were more likely to display conditioned defeat compared with diestrous 1 (lower endogenous estradiol) females. This finding suggests that there is an estrous cycle-dependent fluctuation in the display of CD in female hamsters and suggests that increased estradiol might contribute to increased submissive behavior. We then demonstrated that ovariectomized females given estradiol prior to CD testing exhibited significantly higher submissive behavior in the presence of a NAI suggesting that estradiol increases the expression of CD in female hamsters. We have also shown that castrated males that were singly housed for four weeks displayed significantly more submissive behavior than did their intact counterparts. Interestingly, castrated and intact males that were singly housed for 10 days prior to behavioral testing displayed similar behavior during CD testing. Together these data suggest that androgens and isolation modulate the display of CD in male hamsters. Finally, we examined brain activation following CD testing in defeated males and females (in diestrus 1 and proestrus). Defeated male and proestrous females exhibited increased Fos activation in the dorsal lateral septum and hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus relative to defeated diestrous 1 females. Diestrous 1 females exhibited increased Fos expression in the lateral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis compared with both defeated groups. Collectively, these data suggest that gonadal hormones and duration of individual housing modulate the display of CD in female and male hamsters and that those animals which display CD exhibit differences in patterns of neuronal activation than do those that do not display CD.

To date, the effect of planning ability on adaptive functioning has not been extensively examined in children treated for brain tumors. Findings indicate that individuals with brain tumors are more likely to experience poor planning ability (Boyd & Sautter, 1993) and that children with even mild neurological complications demonstrate impairments in adaptive functioning (Fletcher et al., 1990). The purpose of this study is to assess spatial planning and to examine its utility in predicting adaptive and cognitive functional impairment in children diagnosed and treated for brain tumors. Forty children diagnosed with a brain tumor (mean age at diagnosis 8.6 years) were administered the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) task, the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS), and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition (SB:IV) at an average of one year post diagnosis (post acute) and again at two years post diagnosis (long term). The results of this investigation did not support the use of spatial planning skills as a predictor of adaptive functioning at one year or two years post diagnosis. However, spatial planning skill was an important predictor of cognitive functioning, accounting for a significant amount of variance at both one year and two years post diagnosis. These results were not expected and therefore further analyses were performed in order to better understand the data and results. Additional analyses suggest that it is spatial skill and not spatial planning that predicts adaptive functioning. Further research should continue to ask questions that will impact how we understand executive, adaptive, and cognitive functioning outcomes in children diagnosed with brain tumors.

Introduction: South Africa has an HIV-infection rate of 5 million people. Between 1995 and 2005, South Africa is expected to have the highest number of AIDS-related deaths on the African continent, a total of 2.7 million. Many infected individuals are women. However, there is very little research conducted with South African women examining the relationship between HIV-infection and psychological distress. Research conducted in the United States indicates that HIV-infection is associated with increased rates of depression and anxiety. This research project aims to explore the relationship between HIV-infection and psychological functioning in the unique socio-political context of South Africa. In addition, the aim is to begin identifying potential factors that moderate this relationship. Method: A group of HIV-infected Black South African women (N = 104) and a community control sample (N = 144) were recruited from both urban and rural areas in the Gautang Province. These women participated in a one-on-one verbally administered interview assessing for psychological distress and various material, personal, family, and social resource factors. Results: HIV-infection was associated with higher rates of depression, but not anxiety. In addition, women with HIV-infection reported more malnutrition risk, emotion-focused coping, stressful life events, powerlessness in relationships with male partners, HIV-stigma, and healthcare satisfaction, than the non-infected women. Variables that were directly associated with depression and anxiety included nutrition, stressful life events, powerlessness in relationships, family social support, and community agency access. HIV-stigma was also directly associated with depression. Furthermore, health-care access, emotion-focused coping, and family social support moderated the relationship between HIV-status and depression, and stressful life events moderated the relationship between HIV-status and anxiety. Discussion: This research study provides further evidence for the relationship between HIV-status and psychological distress among Black South African women. It also identified potential protective factors that could be directly addressed through community-based interventions in order to enhance the psychological functioning of these women.

Extensive evidence suggests that glucose has both positive and negative effects on memory and these effects likely involve an influence on the brain. For instance, direct infusions of glucose into the septum (MS) or hippocampus can enhance or impair memory. The present set of experiments attempted to determine the different conditions that dissociate the memory-enhancing and -impairing effects of glucose in rats. Specifically, these experiments examined the effects of glucose in spontaneous alternation, a measure of spatial working memory and shock avoidance, an index of emontional long-term memory. The results showed that the memory-impairing effects of MS infusions of glucose are not concentration-dependent. These data also indicated that the memory-impairing effects of MS glucose elevations are specific to gamma-aminobutyric acid GABA receptor activation but do not depend on increases in MS GABA synthesis or release. Importantly, we showed that the memory-impairing interaction between MS glucose and GABA agonists does not generalize to the hippocampus, suggesting the memory-modulating effects of glucose are brain region-dependent. We showed further that these brain region-dependent effects of glucose are not due to difference in basal extracellular glucose levels. Moreover, these findings showed that the memory-enhancing effects of hippocampus glucose override the memory-impairing interaction between MS glucose and GABA. These findings are important because they are the first to show that the memory-modulating effects of glucose are both neurotransmitter- and brain region-dependent. Furthermore, these findings provide preliminary evidence suggesting that the memory-impairing effects of MS glucose may involve compromised hippocampal function. These data also suggest the memory-impairing effects of MS co-infusions of glucose with GABA agonists likely involve an influence on the GABAergic SH projection. Finally, these findings demonstrate the mnemonic and neurochemical consequences of glucose in the MS and hippocampus, two brain regions affected by normal aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes.

Research from the U.S. suggests that maternal HIV-infection negatively impacts children's psychosocial functioning and that resources (e.g., the parent-child relationship) positively influence their adjustment to maternal HIV-infection. Although HIV-infection in South Africa is most prevalent among Black South African women, there is limited research examining its impact on their children. In addition, as these children are exposed to numerous socio-cultural stressors beyond those associated with HIV-infection, they are at particular risk for psychosocial difficulties. This study had two aims: 1) to evaluate whether maternal HIV-infection confers risk for psychosocial difficulties (i.e., internalizing and externalizing behaviors) among Black South African children; and, 2) to examine potential protective resources for children of HIV-infected mothers that could ideally be addressed through appropriate community-level interventions. Three categories of resources were considered: material (familial economic stability); maternal (maternal psychological functioning; maternal social support); and, caregiving (the parent-child relationship; quality of the caregiver - co-caregiver relationship). Participants included women who self-identified as HIV-infected or non-infected and who were the biological mother of a child aged 11-16. Results indicated that there were no psychosocial adjustment differences between the two groups of children. The lack of differences suggests that in the context of the constellation of stressors Black South African children face, maternal HIV-infection may not serve as a unique stressor for psychosocial adjustment difficulties. However, the lack of differences should not be construed to mean that a child whose mother is HIV-infected is not affected his/her mother's diagnosis. Maternal HIV-infection is a complex phenomenon that warrants further study among Black South African children. The results did not illuminate any resources that were particularly salient to the children of HIV-infected mothers; rather, variables salient to all children were identified, notably economic stability, maternal depression, family social support, the parent-child relationship, and conflict in the mother- co-caregiver relationship. Given the overall risk present in the lives of Black South African children beyond maternal HIV-infection, it appears important to address the needs of all children. This study provides important information about individual and family-level variables that could be emphasized in family interventions with the population as a whole.

Public speaking anxiety is a common experience in both community and clinical populations and can have a negative impact on quality of life. Although contemporary treatments have been found to be effective, there is a lack of cultural relevance in existing theories and treatments. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of stereotypes, a culturally relevant variable, on public speaking performance and anxiety for African Americans and Asian Americans. Participants (N=97) were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions where they either received feedback that was stereotype confirming or non-stereotype confirming. Analyses of variance procedures were utilized to determine whether stereotype confirming feedback would have a negative impact on public speaking performance and anxiety during a speech performance task. Overall, stereotype confirming feedback was not found to have a negative impact on the participants’ public speaking performance or anxiety as measured by self-report and observer ratings. In particular, participants who received stereotype confirming feedback reported less prediction of poor performance in public speaking situations compared to those who received non-stereotype confirming feedback. However, there was a significant positive relation between the participants’ concerns for confirming negative stereotypes and self-report measures of public speaking anxiety. African American participants also reported fewer negative self-statements associated with public speaking compared to Asian American participants. These results encourage future studies to further examine the relation between stereotypes and public speaking anxiety.

According to previous research, internalizing and externalizing problems tend to be comorbid or co-occur at different ages in development (Angold, Costello, & Erkanli, 1999). The question that this dissertation addresses is how and why internalizing and externalizing problems, two disorders that represent separate forms of psychopathology, co-occur in children. This is an important question for the developmental psychopathology perspective because an appreciation of the concept of co-occurrence is essential for explaining the development and taxonomy of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, and for understanding the etiology and course of these symptoms (Achenbach, 1990). Attempts to explain co-occurrence have proposed that co-occurring psychopathology might represent distinct, meaningful syndromes (Angold & Costello, 1992; O’Connor et al., 1998), and in support of this idea, evidence of the existence of pure and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems has been found (Keiley et al., 2003). However, no previous study has identified heterogeneous developmental patterns of pure or combined internalizing and externalizing problems within a dynamic framework by taking trajectories of change into account. This dissertation uses data from the NICHD study of Early Child Care to explore the co-occurrence between internalizing and externalizing problems from age 2 to 12 with the use of Latent Class Growth Analysis. The sample included 1232 children (52% male). Different groups of children exhibiting low/normative, pure internalizing, pure externalizing, and co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems across the 10 year period were identified. The higher risk groups deviated from the low/normative group in terms of antecedents, SES risk, medical risk, difficult temperament, and home environment. Moreover, children who exhibited pure moderate externalizing problems, and children who exhibited chronic externalizing problems, with and without co-occurring internalizing problems, engaged in more risky behaviors and were more likely to have friends who also engaged in risky behaviors. Furthermore, the pure chronic externalizing group and the groups scoring high on internalizing problems, with and without co-occurring externalizing problems, were more asocial with peers. Finally, children exhibiting chronic co-occurring externalizing and internalizing problems were more excluded by peers in comparison to the rest of the sample’s population.

Multiple domains of deficit have been proposed to account for the apparent reading failure of children with a reading disability. Deficits in both phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming are consistently linked with the development of a reading disability in young school age children. Less research, however, has sought to connect these two reading related processes to global theories of deficit, such as temporal processing deficits, in the explanation of reading fluency difficulties. This study sought to explore the relationship between aspects of temporal processing, as indexed through measures of motor fluency and control, and measures of reading related processes, phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming, to word reading fluency. Using structural equation modeling, measures of patterned motor movement were found to be negatively and significantly related to measures of phonological awareness. Measures of oral and repetitive movement were found to be positively and significantly related to measures of patterned movement. Finally, phonological awareness was found to be a significant predictor of word reading fluency both independently and through rapid automatized naming. No direct relationship between measures of motor control and fluency and word reading fluency was found. These findings suggest that temporal processing, as indexed by measures of motor fluency and control, are moderately predictive of the facility with which a child with a reading disability can access, manipulate, and reproduce phonetically based information. Implications for the inclusion of motor based measures in the assessment of children with reading disabilities and future directions for research are discussed.