Does anxiety affect children's reports of memory for a stressful event?

The study was conducted to explore the effects of anxiety on children's memory for a naturalistic, potentially stressful event. Eighty children of two age groups, 4-5 and 7-8 years, visited the dentist for either a teeth-cleaning check-up or an operative procedure. Anxiety was assessed by a behavioural rating scale, as well as through Likert-scale ratings by the hygienist, parent, and child. Memory for the event was elicited through free recall and specific central and peripheral questions. High anxiety had a debilitative effect on the reports of the older children, but not on young children's reports. However, experience with the dental event mediated the influence of age and anxiety on memory. Although all measures of anxiety were significantly associated with each other, only the behavioural rating scale yielded statistically reliable effects of anxiety on memory. The anxiety-memory relationship is believed to be more complex than previous research with children suggests.     

Primacy effect or recency effect? A long‐term memory test of Super Bowl commercials

• The serial position effects for television commercials were tested within a naturalistic setting in this study, at both the micro level and the macro level. Television viewers' brand memory (recall and recognition) for the 2006 Super Bowl commercials were analyzed. At the micro level, the serial position of each commercial in a same commercial pod was measured. When the length of a commercial pod was controlled for, an earlier position for a commercial generated better brand recall. When the number of preceding ads was held constant, a commercial in a pod with fewer ads generated better brand recognition. At the macro level, the serial position of each commercial pod within the whole Super Bowl game broadcast was measured. The commercial pods at earlier positions generated better brand memory. Both findings confirmed a strong primacy effect. Managerial implications of the findings were also discussed.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does the use of mobile phones affect human short‐term memory or attention?

The effect of acute exposure to low‐level radio frequency electromagnetic fields (REF) generated by mobile phones on short‐term memory and attention was assessed in two experiments. Most of the tests manipulated task difficulty or what might be termed cognitive load. This manipulation is important since previous studies have argued that exposure to mobile phones might affect cognitive functions only under conditions which tax the cognitive system. All participants were exposed to REF (half were exposed to GSM—Global System for Mobile Communication—signals and the other half were exposed to unmodulated signals) in one testing session, while in a separate session participants were exposed to sham signals. To investigate potential lateralised effects, the mobile phone was positioned on the left side of the head for half of the participants and on the right side for the other half. No significant effect of exposure to REF was detected in any of the six tasks used in either the low or high cognitive load conditions. This study used much larger sample sizes than is typical for this type of research and REF exposure was administered under double‐blind conditions. Overall, the results indicate that acute exposure to REFs emitted by mobile phones do not have a strong impact on cognitive functions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Do children's number words begin noisy?

How do children acquire exact meanings for number words like three or forty‐seven? In recent years, a lively debate has probed the cognitive systems that support learning, with some arguing that an evolutionarily ancient “approximate number system” drives early number word meanings, and others arguing that learning is supported chiefly by representations of small sets of discrete individuals. This debate has centered around the findings generated by Wynn's ( 1990 , 1992 ) Give‐a‐Number task, which she used to categorize children into discrete “knower level” stages. Early reports confirmed Wynn's analysis, and took these stages to support the “small sets” hypothesis. However, more recent studies have disputed this analysis, and have argued that Give‐a‐Number data reveal a strong role for approximate number representations. In the present study, we use previously collected Give‐a‐Number data to replicate the analyses of these past studies, and to show that differences between past studies are due to assumptions made in analyses, rather than to differences in data themselves. We also show how Give‐a‐Number data violate the assumptions of parametric tests used in past studies. Based on simple non‐parametric tests and model simulations, we conclude that (a) before children learn exact meanings for words like one, two, three, and four, they first acquire noisy preliminary meanings for these words, (b) there is no reliable evidence of preliminary meanings for larger meanings, and (c) Give‐a‐Number cannot be used to readily identify signatures of the approximate number system.     

Is short‐term memory involved in decision making? Evidence from a short‐term memory patient

It is reasonable to suggest that working memory (WM; Baddeley & Hitch, 1974 ) is involved in decision making, as decision making is dependent on the ability to remember and update past choices and outcomes. However, contradictory results have been reported in the literature concerning the role of two of its components, namely the central executive and the phonological loop. In order to investigate the role of these components in the decision‐making process, we tested a patient with intact central executive but impaired phonological loop on a laboratory decision‐making task involving hypothetical gambles (gambling task, GT). When tested in a no‐load condition (simple keypress task), her performance was not significantly different from that of matched controls. We also verified whether her performance would be affected differently by memory‐load when compared with control subjects. The memory task (holding a string of letters in memory) loaded WM without incurring number‐number interference. When the memory‐load was imposed during the GT, both the patient and the controls showed a decline in performance, but the strategy they adopted differed. Possible explanations are discussed. In conclusion, our results suggest that the phonological loop is not directly involved in decision making.     

When does event valence affect unrealistic optimism?

"Unrealistic optimism" (UO) has been found to be greater for negative (i.e. undesirable) than for positive (i.e. desirable) events. In two studies, we tested whether this "valence effect" is explicable in terms of motivational processes. In each case, participants were students (n = 159 in Study 1, n = 90 in Study 2), UO for the same health event was measured, and valence was manipulated by framing the event either negatively or positively. The degree to which the event would be expected to evoke concern was varied by manipulating the ease with which it could be avoided (Study 1) or the severity of its consequences (Study 2). A similar pattern of results was found in each study: the valence effect was exhibited in the condition where the event would have evoked concern, but not in the condition where it would have evoked little concern. The findings are in accord with an explanation of the valence effect in motivational terms. Implications for health education are discussed.     

Do maternal stress and home environment mediate the relation between early income‐to‐need and 54‐months attentional abilities?

Using Ecological Systems Theory and stage sequential modelling procedures for detecting mediation, this study examined how early developmental contexts impact preschoolers' performances on a measure of sustained attention and impulse control. Data from 1273 European‐American and African‐American participants in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care were used to identify the potential mediators of the relation between early household income‐to‐need (INR) and 54‐month impulsivity and inattention. Exploratory analyses were also conducted to determine whether the relationships between early income, home environment, parenting stress, and the outcome variables differ for African‐American versus European‐American‐American children. We found modest support for the study hypothesis that 36‐month home environment quality mediated the INR/attention relationship. INR accounted for more home environment score variance and home environment accounted for more Impulsivity score variance for African‐American children. Home environments were related to inattention in the European‐American, but not African‐American, group. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is there a memory profit after repeated learning of subject‐performed actions? Comparing direct and long‐term memory performance level as a function of age

Schatz, T.R., Spranger, T. & Knopf, M. (2010). Is there a memory profit after repeated learning of subject‐performed actions? Comparing direct and long‐term memory performance level as a function of age. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 51, 465–472. The present two studies investigated the possibility for improvement and maintenance of episodic memory in young and older adults. In a first study, the performance‐enhancing effect of two separate as well as combined learning devices, enactive encoding and repeated learning, was tested. With a time lag of one week, four different series of 30 action phrases were encoded either verbally or by enacting them symbolically. Memory was assessed in four immediate free recall tests. In a second study, the maintenance of the memory profit was tested in an unexpected fifth session half a year later. As expected, there was a steady improvement of memory performance as a function of repeated learning in study one. This holds true regardless of age. In addition, enactive encoding led to a better memory performance than verbal encoding in both age groups. Moreover, younger adults outperformed the elderly regardless of type of encoding. The combination of the two learning devices was not efficient enough to eliminate aging effects in episodic memory. However, memory flexibility is demonstrated also in the elderly. In the long‐term follow‐up, maintenance of learning and memory could be found in all participant groups.     

Do memorability ratings affect study-time allocation?

This research addresses the relation between predicting future memory performance (judgment of learning, or JOL) and subsequent self-paced study-time allocation. The results of three experiments support the main hypotheses: (1) recall increases with increasing JOL, (2) restudy increases JOL accuracy, and (3) study time is related to JOL. This last relation depends on the length of initial presentation time of the items. When the initial exposure trials were short, the most restudy time was allocated to the items judged hard to recall, but when the initial exposure times were long, the most restudy time was allocated to the uncertain items. Items studied longer were recalled equally well (Experiments 1 and 3) or to a lesser extent (Experiment 2) than items studied for a shorter time. It is hypothesized that during study time, subjects refine their JOLs for the items initially less well discriminated.     

Do 6‐month‐olds understand that speech can communicate?

Adults and 12‐month‐old infants recognize that even unfamiliar speech can communicate information between third parties, suggesting that they can separate the communicative function of speech from its lexical content. But do infants recognize that speech can communicate due to their experience understanding and producing language, or do they appreciate that speech is communicative earlier, with little such experience? We examined whether 6‐month‐olds recognize that speech can communicate information about an object. Infants watched a Communicator selectively grasp one of two objects (target). During test, the Communicator could no longer reach the objects; she turned to a Recipient and produced speech (a nonsense word) or non‐speech (coughing). Infants looked longer when the Recipient selected the non‐target than the target object when the Communicator spoke but not when she coughed – unless the Recipient had previously witnessed the Communicator's selective grasping of the target object. Our results suggest that at 6 months, with a receptive vocabulary of no more than a handful of commonly used words, infants possess some abstract understanding of the communicative function of speech. This understanding may provide an early mechanism for language and knowledge acquisition.     

Co‐sleeping: Help or hindrance for young children's independence?

This study investigated the relationship between sleep arrangements and claims regarding possible problems and benefits related to co‐sleeping. Participants were 83 mothers of preschool‐aged children. Data were collected through parent questionnaires. Early co‐sleepers (who began co‐sleeping in infancy), reactive co‐sleepers (children who began co‐sleeping at or after age one), and solitary sleepers were compared on the dimensions of maternal attitudes toward sleep arrangements; night wakings and bedtime struggles; children's self‐reliance and independence in social and sleep‐related behaviours; and maternal autonomy support. The hypothesis that co‐sleeping would interfere with children's independence was partially supported: solitary sleepers fell asleep alone, slept through the night, and weaned earlier than the co‐sleepers. However, early co‐sleeping children were more self‐reliant (e.g. ability to dress oneself) and exhibited more social independence (e.g. make friends by oneself). Mothers of early co‐sleeping children were least favourable toward solitary sleep arrangements and most supportive of their child's autonomy, as compared to mothers in other sleep groups. Reactive co‐sleepers emerged as a distinct co‐sleeping sub‐type, with parents reporting frequent night wakings and, contrary to early co‐sleepers, experiencing these night wakings as highly disruptive. Implications for parents and pediatricians are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does memory affect judgment? Self-generated versus recall memory measures.

Most evidence regarding the independence of memory and judgment comes from studies that used memory measures consisting of Ss' recall of raw input data (recall measures). Such evidence provides the primary support for on-line judgment formation. The results of 2 experiments suggest that self-generated memory measures capture the contents of memory at the time of judgement more effectively than recall measures and, accordingly, are more likely to provide evidence that memory and judgment are related. When directly compared, a self-generated measure provided evidence of a memory-judgment relationship and a recall measure did not. Thus, memory-based judgment formation may be more prevalent than the on-line processing literature suggests.     

Do just‐world believers practice private charity?

The relationship between belief in a just world and private charity was examined in a representative sample of 805 French people. Participants were given money for their participation to a survey research and had the opportunity to allocate a part of it to an organization supporting victims of aggression. A multiple regression analysis including a selection of relevant covariates indicated that just‐world beliefs provided a unique contribution to monetary generosity. The amount of money left for the organization supporting victims was higher among women, and was correlated with participant's age and educational level. This study contributes to the literature by providing for the first time a behavioral demonstration of the relationship between just‐world belief for self and altruistic behavior.     

Why Don't You Just Show Me? Performance interviews for skill‐based promotions

Despite the high skill levels needed to cope with complex technical systems and the pace of technological change, there remain persistent skill gaps in the United States workforce. Organizations are increasingly relying on skill‐based programs to encourage and foster employee skill development. Unfortunately, many questions remain about how to make skill‐based promotions. Drawing from research on performance testing and structured interviewing, as well as work that examines broader issues of performance prediction and candidate reactions, we outline the development and empirical test of a performance interview that can be used for skill‐based promotions. Such interviews allow employees to demonstrate their skills on the job, and thus may be more accepted by employees. We first discuss seven design principles that form the conceptual foundation for the performance interview, followed by the specific steps practitioners can follow to develop a performance interview. Finally, using a sample of 230 auto parts manufacturing employees, we provide empirical evidence for the high reliability, validity, and positive candidate reactions to the performance interview.     

Who? What? When? Using a timeline technique to facilitate recall of a complex event

Accurately recalling a complex multi-actor incident presents witnesses with a cognitively demanding retrieval task. Given the important role played by temporal context in the retrieval process, the current research tests an innovative timeline technique to elicit information about multiple perpetrators and their actions. Adopting a standard mock witness paradigm, participants were required to provide an account of a witnessed event. In Experiment 1, the timeline technique facilitated the reporting of more correct details than a free recall, immediately and at a two-week retention interval, at no cost to accuracy. Accounts provided using the timeline technique included more correct information about perpetrator specific actions and fewer sequencing errors. Experiment 2 examined which mnemonic components of the timeline technique might account for these effects. The benefits of exploiting memory organization and reducing cognitive constraints on information flow are likely to underpin the apparent timeline advantage.