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External sources of information influence human actions. However, psychological traits (PTs), considered internal variables, also play a crucial role in decision making. PTs are stable across time and contexts and define the set of behavioral repertoires that individuals express. Here, we explored how multiple metrics of adaptive behavior under uncertainty related to several PTs. Participants solved a reversal‐learning task with volatile contingencies, from which we characterized a detailed behavioral profile based on their response sequences. We then tested the relationship between this multimetric behavioral profile and scores obtained from self‐report psychological questionnaires. The PT measurements were based on the Hierarchical Taxonomy Of Psychopathology (HiTOP) model. By using multiple linear regression models (MLRMs), we found that the learning curves predicted important differences in the PTs and task response times. We confirmed the significance of these relationships by using random permutations of the predictors of the MLRM. Therefore, the behavioral profile configurations predicted the PTs and served as a "fingerprint" to identify participants with a high certainty level. We discuss briefly how this characterization and approach could contribute to better nosological classifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The presence of phenotypic behavioral correlations and their connection to fitness consequences of organisms have received considerable debate within the literature. Yet, little work has been carried out to connect any behavioral correlates found within a set of laboratory studies to natural behavior observed under complex environmental conditions. To help fill this gap, individual crayfish, collected from the same local population, completed five different behavioral assays in a laboratory setting in a random order. These data were used to reveal any possible correlations for behavioral scores across all of the laboratory tests. Subsequently, these same individuals were placed into the field and video recorded for 24 hr. A separate set of field behaviors, related to the laboratory assays, were quantified from the field videos. The normalized laboratory and field behaviors were used in three stepwise statistical analyses. First, normalized data were loaded into a PCA to generate a priori hypotheses on potential behavioral correlates. These hypotheses were subsequently tested using general multiple linear regression. Finally, structural equation modeling was performed to elucidate any behavioral modules from the laboratory assays that correlated with behavioral patterns present from the fieldwork. Three laboratory‐based behavioral modules were connected to three separate field assays: exploration–avoidance, bold–shy, and aggressiveness. Yet, some behaviors exhibited in the laboratory assays were uncorrelated with any behaviors found in the field and vice versa. Results from this study provide evidence that although many different behavioral correlates may exist within laboratory settings, these same modules may not translate directly into predicting behavior under natural settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the 2012 National Society of Genetic Counselors Presidential Address, which was given by Brenda Finucane, the president of the National Society of Genetic Counselors. In the speech Finucane reflects on professional identity in the field of genetic counseling and on her reaction to being elected as president of the society.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and its earlier nosologic classifications have been extensively investigated since the 1960s, with PubMed listings alone exceeding 13,000 entries. Strides have been made in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in individuals with intellectual function in the normal range, as described in companion reviews in this special issue. In contrast, comparatively little is known about ADHD in intellectual developmental disabilities (IDD) despite the possibility that ADHD is statistically overrepresented among individuals with IDD (Pearson et al. 1997 Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in mental retardation: nature of attention deficits. In: Burack J, Enns J, editors. Attention, development, and psychopathology. New York: Guilford Press. p 205-229; Pearson et al. 2000 Am. J. Ment. Retard. 105:236-251). Here, we provide a review of diagnostic controversies in ADHD with IDD, and discuss several topics that are currently attracting research efforts in the field. These include behavioral phenotyping and attempts to come to grips with problems of behavioral and etiological heterogeneity. Additionally, we consider issues relating to methodologically sound assessment of attention disorders and evidence-based intervention procedures that may clarify and/or ameliorate attention deficits in individuals with IDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of the recent advances in education-related research in Down syndrome, the characterization of the Down syndrome behavioral phenotype has become a potentially critical tool for shaping education and intervention in this population. This article briefly reviews the literature on brain–behavior connections in Down syndrome and identifies aspects of the Down syndrome behavioral phenotype that are potentially relevant to educators. Potential challenges to etiologically informed educational planning are discussed. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MRDD Research Reviews 2007;13:262–271. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the communication and language phenotypes associated with three genetic disorders: Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, and fragile X syndrome. It is argued that there is empirical evidence that these disorders predispose children to specific profiles of strength and weakness in some areas of speech, language, and communication, and that intervention planning for children with each syndrome may take an approach informed by these profiles. Issues related to within-group variability, shared outcomes among syndromes, and the need for empirical validation for syndrome-specific recommendations are discussed. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MRDD Research Reviews 2007; 13:47–57. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The goal of this study is to gauge the consistency of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) latent class models that are generated by different informants such as adolescents and parents. The consistency of adolescent-derived latent classes from two different samples was assessed and these results were then compared to the class structure generated by parent-report ADHD information. Methods: Self-reported DSM-IV Criterion A ADHD symptoms of 497 adolescent males from a population-based twin study in the state of Missouri (USA) were subjected to principal components and latent class analysis, and findings were compared to previous results obtained from identical analyses using an adolescent sample from Porto Alegre, Brazil ( N= 483). Results: The bi-dimensional structure of self-reported ADHD symptoms was similar for both male adolescent groups, but explained less than 40% of the symptom variance in either sample. Two factors, one with loadings on inattention symptoms only and the other with loadings on hyperactive-impulsive symptoms only, were identified in the Missouri sample. Specific ADHD latent classes did not replicate well across the Missouri and Brazilian samples, and both groups were characterized by the presence of several combined symptom classes but few inattentive or hyperactive-impulsive classes. Conclusions: While adolescent-report information across two different cultures can at least in part reproduce the two-factor structure of ADHD, results from latent class analysis suggest that adolescent reporting on their own symptoms is markedly different from the type of information parents provide about ADHD symptoms in their offspring. The current findings indicate that if male adolescents endorse any ADHD symptoms there is a tendency for them to report combined type problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Whether there is an unusual degree of unevenness in the cognitive abilities of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and whether different cognitive profiles among children with ASD might index etiologically significant subgroups are questions of continued debate in autism research. Method: The Differential Ability Scales (DAS) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) were used to examine profiles of verbal and nonverbal abilities and their relationship to autistic symptomatology in 120 relatively high-functioning children with ADI-confirmed diagnoses of autism. Results: Discrepancies between verbal and nonverbal ability scores occurred at a significantly higher rate than in the DAS normative sample (30%) in both a younger group of 73 children (56%) with a mean age of 5;5 and an older group of 47 children (62%) with a mean age of 8;11. Discrepancies were mainly in favor of nonverbal ability in the younger group, but occurred equally in favor of verbal and nonverbal abilities in the older group. Comparison of the two age groups suggested a growing dissociation between verbal and nonverbal (and particularly visual processing) skills with age. In the older group, children with discrepantly higher nonverbal abilities demonstrated significantly greater impairment in social functioning, as measured on the ADOS, independent of absolute level of verbal and overall ability. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate a high rate of uneven cognitive development in children with ASD. Indications of a dissociation between verbal and visual-perceptual skills among the older children, and the specific association of discrepantly high nonverbal skills with increased social symptoms suggest that the nonverbal > verbal profile may index an etiologically significant subtype of autism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with developmental disabilities express a number of unique behavioral patterns that have both phylogenetic and ontogenetic origins. Researchers have identified distinct behavioral phenotypes among developmental disabilities expressed as language development, cognitive profiles, adaptive behavior, and self-injury/aggression. In this article, we discuss evidence for the presence of polysomnographic phenotypes in developmental disabilities. Researchers using behavioral and/or electrophysiological measures have identified differences in sleep architecture among people with autism, Down syndrome, and fragile X syndrome. In general, the greater the level of mental retardation, the less time spent in rapid eye movement sleep. The presence of autism or Down syndrome is associated with fewer and briefer bouts of rapid eye movement sleep, and total sleep time. Autism is also associated with greater levels of undifferentiated sleep. These findings for autism and Down syndrome contrast with fragile X syndrome whose sleep architecture anomalies appear to be a function of mental retardation level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: This three-part study examines previous clinical impressions that people with Prader-Willi syndrome have unusual jigsaw puzzle and word search skills. Results: Children with Prader-Willi syndrome showed relative strengths on standardized visual-spatial tasks (Object Assembly, Triangles, VMI) in that their scores were significantly higher than age- and IQ-matched peers with mixed mental retardation, but below those of age-matched normal children with average IQs. In striking contrast, children with Prader-Willi syndrome scored on par with normal peers on word searches, and they far outperformed them on the jigsaw puzzles, placing more than twice as many pieces as the typically-developing group. Within Prader-Willi syndrome, puzzle proficiency was not predicted by age, IQ, gender, degree of obesity, or obsessive-compulsive symptoms, but by genetic subtypes of this disorder. Conclusions: Findings are discussed in relation to splinter skills in autism, and to cases with autism and chromosome 15 anomalies that include the Prader-Willi region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances are reviewed in understanding the heightened prevalence of psychopathology and maladaptive behavior among children with intellectual disability. Researchers have traditionally emphasized measurement and prevalence issues, using either psychiatric assessments or rating scales to identify the prevalence of various problems in children with intellectual disability. Yet the time is ripe to shift directions, and identify more precisely why children are at increased risk for psychopathology to begin with. Although several 'biopsycho-social' hypotheses are reviewed, a particularly promising line of work links psychopathology to genetic intellectual disability syndromes. Psychiatric vulnerabilities in several syndromes are reviewed, as are the advantages of phenotypic work for understanding psychopathology among children with intellectual disability more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]