PSICONLINE NEWS n.164 - 24.8.2003

• Bere poco alcool non migliora le attività cognitive
• Study shows babies determine shapes, objects at early age
• SEVERITY OF ADHD IN CHILDREN INCREASES RISK OF DRUG USE IN ADOLESCENCE
• MALE ATHLETES ALSO SUFFER FROM BODY IMAGE PROBLEMS

Bere poco alcool non migliora le attività cognitive
Un bicchiere di vino al giorno fa bene, migliorando le capacita' cognitive? E' un bluff, un'indagine di Dean Krahn, della Universita' del Wisconsin ha svelato la verita', le uniche differenze in quanto a capacita' cognitive si devono a differenze individuali che sono gia' presenti in giovane eta' e che non si sviluppano quindi con l'abitudine al bicchierino quotidiano.
Quanto pubblicato su Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research smentirebbe dunque il vecchio luogo comune che bere moderatamente alcol faccia bene alle attivita' cognitive.
Per dimostrarlo Krahn ed altri esperti hanno condotto uno studio senza precedenti costruendo un data base poi chiamato 'Wisconsin Longitudinal Study'. In questo database hanno inserito i dati di 10 mila persone, uomini e donne, seguiti a partire dal 1957 quando erano neodiplomati alle scuole superiori, individui poi ricontattati a piu' riprese.
Da giovani i partecipanti avevano sostenuto un test d'intelligenza i cui risultati, cio' che e' stato provvidenziale per gli scienziati secondo quanto riferito da Krahn, erano conservati ed accessibili. A quell'eta', precisa l'esperto, i volontari erano abbastanza giovani da poter considerare scarso il loro consumo di alcol. All'eta' di 57 anni, cioe' nel 1992, il campione e' stato sottoposto ad un nuovo test di intelligenza e ad un questionario per svelare le loro abitudini relativamente al consumo di alcol.

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Study shows babies determine shapes, objects at early age
They might not normally merit a second glance, but those everyday objects around the house are constantly undergoing intense scrutiny, categorization and classification by babies trying to make sense of a world only months new to them.
There is a lot going on in the heads of babies - probably more than most people think, says Texas A&M University psychologist Teresa Wilcox, who studies the way babies think about and interact with their physical world. She's examining how and when babies begin learning about objects they encounter.
According to her research, there's a clear hierarchy in the kinds of information babies use to "individuate" objects. Object individuation, she says, refers to a baby's ability to recognize an object based on a mental picture the baby forms using the object's characteristics and features. As babies build these mental pictures, they tend to pay attention to certain features more than others, depending on the age of the baby.

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SEVERITY OF ADHD IN CHILDREN INCREASES RISK OF DRUG USE IN ADOLESCENCE
Children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more at risk for using illicit drugs, having problems with alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and using marijuana in their adolescence than children without ADHD, say researchers who report their findings on childhood predictors of later substance use in the August issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association (APA). Furthermore, childhood ADHD is linked to earlier first use of cigarettes, earlier progression to daily smoking and earlier use of illicit drugs.
According to the study, those children with the most severe attention problems in childhood were most at risk for alcohol and marijuana problems and cigarette smoking by their teens. Those children with ADHD with other behavior problems, such as defying parents and fighting, were also at risk for illicit drug use, but severity of attention problems was a better predictor for drinking, tobacco, and marijuana outcomes. This could be, say the researchers, because problems with paying attention in childhood have an immediate effect on school learning and social relationships, which may set the stage for other problems later on that include drug use and abuse.

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MALE ATHLETES ALSO SUFFER FROM BODY IMAGE PROBLEMS
While eating disorders among athletes are often seen as a problem mainly for women, some male athletes may also have their own issues regarding body image, new research suggests.
But the eating and body image problems for men may be different than they are for women.
A pilot survey of elite male athletes at one university found that about one in five believed they aren’t sufficiently muscular. While female athletes in the study said they wanted to lose weight (an average of 6.8 pounds), men wanted to gain weight – an average of 3.2 pounds.
“Some male athletes see pictures in men’s fitness magazines of big, extremely muscular men and feel that they don’t measure up,” said Jennifer Carter, a psychologist at the Ohio State University Sports Medicine Center.
Carter, who works with athletes at Ohio State, conducted this study of 882 athletes at the university, 57 percent of whom were men. She presented the results August 8 in Toronto at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
If male athletes feel they are not lean and muscular enough – and combine that with unhealthy behaviors, such as use of performance-enhancing drugs – it could result in a body image disorder known as muscle dysmorphia.

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