This paper reports the results of an experiment designed to study how subjects’ decision making may be affected by the timing of participation payments (or show-up fees). The experiment follows Davis et al. (J. Econ. 30:69-95, 2004) where subjects were asked to make a sequential purchase decision and were given the opportunity to purchase information about the value of a good prior to a decision to purchase the good itself. There, subjects purchased information less often than expected which was interpreted as risk-seeking behavior. Here, we test a payment hypothesis by varying the timing of the participation payment. Payment of a show-up fee before the decision-making stages of the experiment increases information purchase, which we interpret as an increase in risk-averse behavior.

The recent expansion of cross-cultural research in the social sciences has led to increased discourse on methodological issues involved when studying culturally diverse populations. However, discussions have largely overlooked the challenges of construct validity- ensuring instruments are measuring what they are intended to- in diverse cultural contexts, particularly in developmental research. We contend that cross-cultural developmental research poses distinct problems for ensuring high construct validity, owing to the nuances of working with children and that the standard approach of transporting protocols designed and validated in one population to another risks low construct validity. Drawing upon our own and others’ work, we highlight several challenges to construct validity in the field of cross-cultural developmental research, including 1) lack of cultural and contextual knowledge, 2) dissociating developmental and cultural theory and methods, 3) lack of causal frameworks, 4) superficial and short- term partnerships and collaborations, and 5) culturally inappropriate tools and tests. We provide guidelines to address these challenges, including 1) using ethnographic and observational approaches, 2) developing evidence-based causal frameworks, 3) conducting community-engaged and collaborative research, and 4) culture-specific refinements and training. We discuss the need to balance methodological consistency with culture-specific refinements to improve construct validity in cross-cultural developmental research.

Psychologists and psychological research have shaped sleep and circadian science for over a century. Yet, psychology has not fully embraced sleep as a core area of inquiry, and sleep medicine has not distinctly acknowledged the foundational role psychology plays in understanding sleep and circadian rhythms. This Question Paper invites submissions exploring psychology’s profound impact on the study, measurement and intervention strategies in sleep and circadian science, as well as reciprocal influences. Manuscripts may include historiographies of key contributors, laboratory milestones, theoretical advancements and methodological innovations within a historical context. We aim to capture the full scope of sleep psychology from its origins to a vision of its future.

A survey of the literature was made to determine the skills involved in reading comprehension that are deemed most important by authorities. Multiple-choice test items were constructed to measure each of nine skills thus identified as basic. The intercorrelations of the nine skill scores were factored, each skill being weighted in the initial matrix roughly in proportion to its importance in reading comprehension, as judged by authorities. The principal components were rather readily interpretable in terms of the initial variables. Individual scores in components I and II are sufficiently reliable to warrant their use for practical purposes, and useful measures of other components could be provided by constructing the required number of additional items. The results also indicate need for workbooks to aid in improving students' use of basic reading skills. The study provides more detailed information regarding the skills measured by the Cooperative Reading Comprehension Tests than has heretofore been provided regarding the skills actually measured by any other widely used reading test. Statistical techniques for estimating the reliability coefficients of individual scores in principal-axes components, for determining whether component variances are greater than would be yielded by chance, and for calculating the significance of the differences between successive component variances are illustrated.

A comparison of factorial analyses made by Thurstone and by the writer shows that they differ in three important respects. The results of the two analyses are compared with respect to their social utility, which is offered as a proper criterion for judging the merit of factorial analyses performed by different mathematical procedures.

A method is given for determining the reliability of each of the components resulting from a factor analysis by the principal axis method.

Introduction: Recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD) has been associated with cognitive impairment and hippocampus atrophy. Additionally, in older adults it is related to increased dementia risk, as well as being dementia’s prodromal syndrome.

Case Report: A 68-year-old female patient, with a history of MDD beginning in 2014, has been under the care of the Psychogeriatrics service at HC-UFMG. In 2015, she was 60-year-old and underwent her first MRI scan. At that time, the Medial Temporal Atrophy Score (MTA) was 2 and she had a treatment resistant depression (TRD). She began multimodal treatments, including ECT, achieving only partial remission. Since then, the patient had recurrences of depression without the remission of cognitive impairment. In 2021, her MTA Score was still 2 with TDR symptoms. Currently, she is on Venlafaxine 150mg, Mirtazapine 30mg, Lithium 300mg, Olanzapine 5mg, Clonazepam 0.25mg and maintenance ECT every 45 days. The patient remains with cognitive impairment that leads to disabilities but had not significantly progressed. On the other hand, the main impact in functionality is related to depressive symptoms, especially to the loss of interest and apathy.

Discussion: This case stands out due to the combination of hippocampal atrophy at a relatively young age and severe depression with cognitive impairment that has not progressed to dementia in 9 years. Severe depression can lead to significant cognitive deficits, as well as, hippocampus atrophy. While depression is related to hippocampus atrophy, it has not been related to TRD in a review study with Voxel-Based Morphometry. Conversely, Alzheimer’s Disease is related to MTA ≥2 scores, as well as depressive symptoms. MTA 2 in a person of 60 years of age is not considered normal. When combined with cognitive impairment, these findings are generally related to neurodegeneration. Since both MTA and cognitive deficits were relatively stable, the hypothesis of a cognitive impairment and hippocampus atrophy due to depression were more likely.

Conclusions: MDD leads to cognitive impairment in older adults, as well as hippocampus atrophy. Nevertheless, depression and age are important risk factors for dementia and, therefore, a progression to dementia due to a neurodegenerative disease is still possible.

Insomnia’s impact on psychological functioning is known to increase suicide risk. The underlying mechanisms of this association are unclear. This study explored psychological factors including depression, emotion dysregulation, perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness as possible mechanisms in the association between insomnia and suicidal ideation in a nationally representative sample for age, sex and race in the United States. Participants (N = 428) completed a Qualtrics survey of demographics, Insomnia Severity Index, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire, Frequency of Suicidal Ideation Inventory and PROMIS-Depression and PROMIS-Anxiety short forms. Regression analyses and structural equation modeling were used. Insomnia severity was associated with greater suicidality (p < 0.001, CI = 0.19–0.31). When accounting for depression severity, emotion dysregulation and perceived burdensomeness fully mediated insomnia–suicidal ideation frequency association (β = 0.04, p = 0.045; β = 0.24, p < 0.001). Insomnia has major implications on psychological functioning, which may serve as mechanisms through which insomnia confers risk for suicidality. Our model posits that insomnia prevents regional sleep restoration in brain regions involved in psychological functioning, thereby conferring risk for suicidality. Insomnia may be an ideal upstream target for reducing suicidality and its risk factors, including depression, emotion dysregulation and perceived burdensomeness.

The terminal Ediacaran Period is signaled worldwide by the first appearance of skeletonizing tubular metazoan fossils, e.g., Cloudina Germs, 1972 and Sinotubulites Chen, Chen, and Qian, 1981. Although recent efforts have focused on evaluating the taxic composition and preservation of such assemblages from the southwestern United States, comparable forms reported in the 1980s from Mexico remain to be re-examined. Here, we reassess the latest Ediacaran skeletal materials from the La Ciénega Formation of the Caborca region in Sonora, Mexico, using a combination of analytical methods: optical microscopy of extracted fossils, thin-section petrography, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray tomographic microscopy. From our examination, we conclude that the La Ciénega hosts a polytaxic assemblage of latest Ediacaran tubular organisms that have been preserved through two taphonomic pathways: coarse silicification and calcareous recrystallization preserving finer details. Further, these fossils show signs that their shells might not have been inflexible or completely mineralized in vivo, and that they might also record tentatively interpreted predation traces in the form of drill holes or puncture marks. This work, along with ongoing efforts around the world, helps to provide a framework for biostratigraphic correlation and possible subdivision of the Ediacaran Period, and further shapes our view of metazoan evolution and ecology in the interval directly preceding the Cambrian explosion.

The status of the genera Euparagonimus Chen, 1963 and Pagumogonimus Chen, 1963 relative to Paragonimus Braun, 1899 was investigated using DNA sequences from the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (CO1) gene (partial) and the nuclear ribosomal DNA second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2). In the phylogenetic trees constructed, the genus Pagumogonimus is clearly not monophyletic and therefore not a natural taxon. Indeed, the type species of Pagumogonimus,P. skrjabini from China, is very closely related to Paragonimus miyazakii from Japan. The status of Euparagonimus is less obvious. Euparagonimus cenocopiosus lies distant from other lungflukes included in the analysis. It can be placed as sister to Paragonimus in some analyses and falls within the genus in others. A recently published morphological study placed E. cenocopiosus within the genus Paragonimus and probably this is where it should remain.

The task given to me for this issue was to discuss the history, challenges, and accomplishments of the History of Economics Society (HES) as I see them from my vantage point as a past president. I frame my remarks in terms of changes I believe have occurred in how our field has been pursued in the society since I became involved.