Tina Montreuil

The Bank of Standardized Stimuli (BOSS), a New Set of 480 Normative Photos of Objects to Be Used as Visual Stimuli in Cognitive Research

There are currently stimuli with published norms available to study several psychological aspects of language and visual cognitions. Norms represent valuable information that can be used as experimental variables or systematically controlled to limit their potential influence on another experimental manipulation. The present work proposes 480 photo stimuli that have been normalized for name, category, familiarity, visual complexity, object agreement, viewpoint agreement, and manipulability. Stimuli are also available in grayscale, blurred, scrambled, and line-drawn version. This set of objects, the Bank Of Standardized Stimuli (BOSS), was created specifically to meet the needs of scientists in cognition, vision and psycholinguistics who work with photo stimuli.

Case manager- and patient-rated alliance as a predictor of medication adherence in first-episode psychosis.

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between adherence to antipsychotic medication and working alliance (WA) ratings as reported separately by case manager (CM) and patient in first-episode psychosis (FEP) and to identify whether other factors previously related to adherence influence this relationship. Methods Adherence was evaluated every month in 81 participants who met criteria for a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, psychotic disorder (affective or nonaffective) and were treated in a specialized early intervention program. Adherence was measured, taking into account information from patient and clinician reports and pill counting. The WA, as assessed by both CM and patient, was assessed using the Working Alliance Inventory. Results The WA was stable during the course of the study as rated by both patient and CM. The “task” domain of WA was the subdomain most significantly correlated to adherence in cross-sectional analysis. The WA as measured by CM at study baseline was a significant predictor of the number of subsequent months with “good” adherence independently of other variables, including adherence at treatment onset (&bgr; = 0.011; P = 0.020; 95% confidence interval, 0.002–0.020). However, the WA as measured by patients was not similarly predictive of subsequent adherence (&bgr; = 0.003; P = 0.31; 95% confidence interval, −0.003 to 0.010). Conclusions The CM-rated WA is a significant predictor of future medication adherence in FEP, suggesting that good alliance can improve adherence in this population.

Social Cognitive Markers of Short-Term Clinical Outcome in First-Episode Psychosis

OBJECTIVE In psychotic disorders, impairments in cognition have been associated with both clinical and functional outcome, while deficits in social cognition have been associated with functional outcome. As an extension to a recent report on neurocognition and short-term clinical outcome in first-episode psychosis (FEP), the current study explored whether social cognitive deficits could also identify poor short-term clinical outcome among FEP patients. METHODS We defined the social-cognition domain based on the scores from the Hinting Task and the Four Factor Tests of Social Intelligence. Data were collected in 45 FEP patients and 26 healthy controls. The patients were divided into good- and poor-outcome groups based on clinical data at six months following initiation of treatment. Social cognition was compared among 27 poor-outcome, 18 good-outcome, and 26 healthy-control participants. RESULTS Outcome groups significantly differed in the social cognition domain (z-scores: poor outcome=-2.0 [SD=1.4]; good outcome=-1.0 [SD=1.0]; p=0.005), with both groups scoring significantly lower than the control group (p<0.003). Moreover, outcome groups differed significantly only on the Cartoon Predictions subtest (z-scores: poor outcome=-2.7 [SD=2.7]; good outcome=-0.7 [SD=1.8]; p=0.001) among the five subtests used. CONCLUSIONS Overall, social cognition appears to be compromised in all FEP patients compared to healthy controls. More interestingly, significant differences in social cognitive impairments exist between good and poor short-term clinical outcome groups, with the largest effect found in the Cartoon Predictions subtest.

The bank of standardized stimuli (BOSS): comparison between French and English norms

Throughout the last decades, numerous picture data sets have been developed, such as the Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) set, and have been normalized for variables such as name and familiarity; however, due to cultural and linguistic differences, norms can vary from one country to another. The effect due specifically to culture has already been demonstrated by comparing samples from different countries where the same language is spoken. On the other hand, it is still not clear how differences between languages may affect norms. The present study explores this issue by collecting and comparing norms on names and many other features from French Canadian speakers and English Canadian speakers living in Montreal, who thus live in similar cultural environments. Norms were collected for the photos of objects from the Bank of Standardized Stimuli (BOSS) by asking participants to name the objects, to categorize them, and to rate their familiarity, visual complexity, object agreement, viewpoint agreement, and manipulability. Names and ratings from the French speakers are available in Appendix A, available in the supplemental materials. The results show that most of the norms are comparable across linguistic groups and also that the ratings given are correlated across linguistic groups. The only significant group differences were found in viewpoint agreement and visual complexity. Overall, there was good concordance between the norms collected from French and English native speakers living in the same cultural setting.

North-American norms for name disagreement: pictorial stimuli naming discrepancies.

Pictorial stimuli are commonly used by scientists to explore central processes; including memory, attention, and language. Pictures that have been collected and put into sets for these purposes often contain visual ambiguities that lead to name disagreement amongst subjects. In the present work, we propose new norms which reflect these sources of name disagreement, and we apply this method to two sets of pictures: the Snodgrass and Vanderwart (S&V) set and the Bank of Standardized Stimuli (BOSS). Naming responses of the presented pictures were classified within response categories based on whether they were correct, incorrect, or equivocal. To characterize the naming strategy where an alternative name was being used, responses were further divided into different sub-categories that reflected various sources of name disagreement. Naming strategies were also compared across the two sets of stimuli. Results showed that the pictures of the S&V set and the BOSS were more likely to elicit alternative specific and equivocal names, respectively. It was also found that the use of incorrect names was not significantly different across stimulus sets but that errors were more likely caused by visual ambiguity in the S&V set and by a misuse of names in the BOSS. Norms for name disagreement presented in this paper are useful for subsequent research for their categorization and elucidation of name disagreement that occurs when choosing visual stimuli from one or both stimulus sets. The sources of disagreement should be examined carefully as they help to provide an explanation of errors and inconsistencies of many concepts during picture naming tasks.

Attribution bias and social anxiety in schizophrenia

Studies on attribution biases in schizophrenia have produced mixed results, whereas such biases have been more consistently reported in people with anxiety disorders. Anxiety comorbidities are frequent in schizophrenia, in particular social anxiety disorder, which could influence their patterns of attribution biases. The objective of the present study was thus to determine if individuals with schizophrenia and a comorbid social anxiety disorder (SZ+) show distinct attribution biases as compared with individuals with schizophrenia without social anxiety (SZ−) and healthy controls. Attribution biases were assessed with the Internal, Personal, and Situational Attributions Questionnaire in 41 individual with schizophrenia and 41 healthy controls. Results revealed the lack of the normal externalizing bias in SZ+, whereas SZ− did not significantly differ from healthy controls on this dimension. The personalizing bias was not influenced by social anxiety but was in contrast linked with delusions, with a greater personalizing bias in individuals with current delusions. Future studies on attribution biases in schizophrenia should carefully document symptom presentation, including social anxiety.

Anxiety symptoms severity and short-term clinical outcome in first-episode psychosis

In psychotic disorders, a limited number of studies have documented the presence of symptoms of anxiety, especially in first‐episode psychosis (FEP). There is a growing interest in better understanding how these symptoms may affect the severity of psychotic symptoms and clinical outcome. This study examined the association between symptoms of anxiety, as measured by the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and short‐term clinical outcome. We first examined the potential association between anxiety symptom severity among FEP patients and remission. A secondary objective explored the relation between the PANSS single item subscale ‘anxiety’ item and the total score value of the HARS.

Manualized Group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Social Anxiety in At-Risk Mental State and First Episode Psychosis: A Pilot Study of Feasibility and Outcomes

ABSTRACT Social anxiety has received scant attention in studies of schizophrenia and related psychoses. However, some data suggest it may be an obstacle to vocational and functional outcome. This pilot study investigated the feasibility of a group-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBGT) to reduce social anxiety in those at risk for developing psychosis or in the early phase. Twenty-nine patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) or at ultra high risk for developing psychosis or often referred to as at-risk mental state (ARMS) with comorbid social anxiety attended a CBGT intervention weekly for 14 weeks in 90-minute sessions. Baseline, post-treatment, and follow-up ratings of social anxiety were measured using the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, the Social Phobia Inventory, and the Brief Social Phobia Scale. Psychotic symptoms and general psychopathology were also measured before and after the intervention. Results suggest that the proposed CBGT is feasible and beneficial for socially anxious patients at risk, or with experience of, psychosis. Participants significantly improved on three outcome measures of social anxiety after completing this intervention (all p’s < .002). Participants who completed treatment also showed a significant reduction on measures of depression and negative symptoms. Future research should examine the relative efficacy of this brief manualized CBGT intervention for the treatment of social anxiety and psychotic symptoms in a larger randomized controlled trial.

La Psychologie Scolaire au Québec Français-School Psychology in French Quebec

Psychology and more importantly, school psychology has undergone many changes in French Quebec since the last special issue was published on the subject matter, close to two decades ago. Quebec is a “breeding ground” for psychologists as more than two thirds of Canada’s psychology professionals practice in this province alone. Since the mid 2000’s, a doctoral degree is now required for licensing and registration to the professional order, the Order of Psychologists of Quebec (OPQ). Although this field has since evolved, other aspects of the profession remain unchanged. For one, professional shortages and recruitment challenges (i.e. unrealistic student to psychologist ratios) represent a major obstacle to service provision. Hence, the primary duty of psychologists working in schools remains to perform psychoeducational assessments for coding purposes. Much work and advocacy is still needed to further the practice of school psychology in Quebec. Professional practice, training and, future perspectives of school psychology are further discussed in the current paper.