L'objectif de la présente recherche consiste à étudier le rôle des structures dépressogènes et des événements de vie dans la rechute dépressive au sein d'une population âgée. L'échantillon est composé de 41 personnes, âgées en moyenne de 75 ans, qui vivent dans un centre pour soins de longue durée ou qui reçoivent des services offerts par un service de psychogériatrie. L'utilisation d'un devis de rémission a permis d'évaluer l'hypothèse de congruence auprès d'une population âgée qui était en rémission d'un épisode dépressif au cours d'un suivi de 6 mois. Les participant(e)s ont complété une fiche signalétique, l'Échelle de statut mental modifié (3MS), deux modules de l'Entrevue clinique structurée pour le DSM-IV, l'Échelle de dépression gériatrique, l'Échelle des attitudes dysfonctionnelles de 24 items et le Questionnaire des changements de vie récents. Les résultats des analyses ont indiqué que la congruence entre la structure de dépendance et l'impact subjectif de l'événement de vie sur le réseau social prédit la rechute dépressive. De même, la congruence entre la structure d'accomplissement et l'impact subjectif de l'événement de vie sur l'autonomie prédit la symptomatologie dépressive. La symptomatologie dépressive n'a pas été prédite par l'hypothèse de non congruence entre la structure d'accomplissement et l'impact subjectif de l'événement de vie dans le domaine social, mais de très peu. Ces résultats appuient le modèle de diathèse du stress dans la prédiction de la rechute dépressive au sein de la population âgée. Cette étude montre également que l'événement de vie doit être évalué en fonction des conséquences de l'événement pour l'individu dans son domaine de vulnérabilité et non pas seulement en fonction d'une catégorisation a priori. De plus, la présente étude souligne l'importance de la structure dépressogène d'accomplissement qui est peut-être activée par des menaces autant dans le domaine social que dans la sphère de l'accomplissement. Les implications cliniques et de la recherche sont abordées dans la discussion.

In 4 experiments, university students played video games in which one action or cause covaried with an outcome. Judgments on sufficient and necessary causes were observed. On the basis of the obtained judgments, different computational models, Cheng and Novick's (1990a, 1992) probabilistic contrast ($\Delta$P rule) and the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) model were evaluated. In Experiments 1 and 2, for the positive contingencies, the participants judged sufficient and necessary causes differently; they also showed judgment deviations from the real contingencies. The $\Delta$P rule could not account for these data. An alternative weighted $\Delta$P rule was proposed and, along with the Rescorla-Wagner model, it successfully explained these results. In Experiment 3, negative contingencies were included. The pattern of judgements among the negative sufficient and necessary causes mirrored that of the positive contingencies but did not reach statistical significance. The $\Delta$P rule could not account for the judgments in Experiment 3, the adjusted $\Delta$P rule did not either. However, the Rescorla-Wagner model accounted for the results very well. In Experiment 4, the predictive power of these different models was compared. In general, the Rescorla-Wagner model remains the best descriptive model for explaining and predicting the patterns of contingency judgments.

Eight dysphasics read two 29 word lists. Both lists consisted of long nouns of high: concreteness, imagery, and meaningfulness. Words on one list were all of a high frequency (100 or more occurrences per million). Words on the other list occurred only from one to ten times per million on the Thorndike-Lorge word frequency list. Rates of verbal perseveration, number of correct responses and response latencies were examined on the two lists. The only significant difference was found on the number of correct responses. Subjects made more errors on the low frequency list. This conforms with prior results noted in the literature. The lack of significant difference for response latencies was contrary to prior findings. These results may have been due to a higher number of "no responses" on the low frequency list, and the quickness with which misperceptions of words were given. Only two subjects perseverated at all on either list. The low abstraction of the words and the lack of switching from one level of word difficulty to another were possible explanations for the results. Subjects were given the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination and the Wide Range Achievement Test - Reading. The occurrence of perseveration on these tests was examined and classified. Two broad types of perseveration were noted (as well as 15 sub-categories). One type was of an intrusive nature whereby past responses interfered with or impinged on new responses, whether they be verbal or motor. The other was a form of modified responding which served an adaptive purpose. Correlations were calculated on the number of perseverative errors made on seven sub-tests of the Boston and the Wide Range Achievement Test - Reading. Significant positive correlations were found between three tests involving naming tasks. This was probably due to their similarity in nature. A significant negative correlation existed between the Wide Range Achievement Test - Reading and one of the naming tests. Perseveration tests have usually been found to have low positive correlations, sometimes reaching significance.

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