The applied value of collaborative memory research in aging: Behavioral and neural considerations

Our aim in this paper is to bring attention to the applied value of collaborative memory research in aging. At this time, much collaborative memory research focuses on the negative effects of collaboration in younger adults, and is primarily basic in nature. Here, we highlight the positive effects of collaboration that have received less attention, with a particular emphasis on the applied value of these effects in older adults. We first review studies to show that recalling in a group improves later individual recall and reduces memory errors in older adults. We then outline a four-step approach towards bridging laboratory and applied collaborative memory research, which involves: (1) complementing traditional paradigms with more ecologically valid paradigms, (2) evaluating these paradigms in applied settings, (3) adapting these paradigms for use with cognitively intact and cognitively impaired populations, and (4) modifying these paradigms to examine the neural systems that operate during collaborative recall.     

Use of a common software system for collaborative clinical research on attentional processes in schizophrenia and ADHD

MacArthur Network III, consisting of five nodes (locations) and over 100 investigators, was formed in 1983 to conduct collaborative clinical research on risk and protective factors associated with psychiatric disorders. The common measurement of attentional dysfunction associated with two specific disorders (schizophrenia and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder) was a goal of a subgroup of 11 Network III investigators. In this paper, the experiences with five approaches for implementing common protocols on laboratory computers for collaborative clinical research are described. The reasons for selecting the approach provided by Schneider’s (1988) MEL system are presented and discussed.     

The psychodynamic perspective in organizational research: Making sense of the dynamics of direction setting in emergent collaborative processes

This paper demonstrates how the psychodynamic perspective can contribute to the study of organizing processes. Research from this perspective provides a complementary insight in what actually happens in an unfolding collaborative process, both on the manifest and latent level, and how subjectivity is expressed in the organizing process. First, the paper addresses the specific nature and challenges of ‘multiparty collaboration’. Then it describes how the psychodynamic approach can be used in organizational research and the kind of theory it generates. The author presents a case study in the domain of foster care, where five independent organizations tried to develop a scenario for future collaboration. The case analysis focuses on three critical issues with which the participants and consultants were struggling. It discusses how the dynamics that emerged around those issues set the direction of the process. The paper concludes with the benefits of using a psychodynamic perspective in organizational research. Its main contribution is a better understanding of the paradox between the intention and societal necessity for creative collaboration, and the emotional and defensive responses when participants are confronted with the tensions of collaborative work.     

Imagining Experiences

It is often held that in imagining experiences we exploit a special imagistic way of representing mentality—one that enables us to think about mental states in terms of what it is like to have them. According to some, when this way of thinking about the mind is paired with more objective means, an explanatory gap between the phenomenal and physical features of mental states arises. This paper advances a view along those lines, but with a twist. What many take for a special imagistic way of thinking about experiences is instead a special way of misconstruing them. It is this tendency to misrepresent experiences through the use of imagery that gives rise to the appearance of an explanatory gap. The pervasiveness and tenacity of this misrepresentational reflex can be traced to its roots in a particular heuristic for monitoring and remembering the mental states of others. The arguments together amount to a new path for defending the transparency of perceptual experience.     

Varieties of Political-religious Experiences

In this article, I consider the intersection of and interplay between the religious and political experience and conversion. More particularly, I identify and describe five types of political-religious experiences, which are represented in the lives of five public figures.     

Taxonomy of Spiritual Experiences

Spiritual experiences are often associated with health crises, with little information about the structure of the experience. A taxonomic analysis was conducted on data from a group of healers, unveiling a structural model of spiritual experience comprised of three domains: circumstances, manifestation and interpretation. Circumstances included the aspects of setting, situation, and timing. Manifestation incorporated the modes of awareness and the phenomena of the experience. Components of interpretation included personal meaning and congruence with social norms. The examples reflected the orientation of the study population. Further research could examine the applicability of the taxonomy to other religious or spiritual orientations and may assist in clinical assessment of spiritual experiences.Diane Wind Wardell, Ph.D., R.N.C., H.N.C., C.H.T.P./I., and Joan C. Engebretson, Dr.P.H., R.N., H.N.C., are Associate Professors in the School of Nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Correspondence to Diane Wind Wardell, Diane.Wardell@uth.tmc.edu.     

Communication in collaborative discovery learning

Background. Constructivist approaches to learning focus on learning environments in which students have the opportunity to construct knowledge themselves, and negotiate this knowledge with others. Discovery learning and collaborative learning are examples of learning contexts that cater for knowledge construction processes. We introduce a computer‐based learning environment in which the two forms of learning are implemented simultaneously. We focus on the interaction between discovery learning and collaborative learning. Aim. We aim to investigate which communicative activities are frequently used in the discovery learning process and which communicative and discovery activities co‐occur. Sample. The study involved 21 pairs of 10th‐grade students enrolled in pre‐university education, ranging from 15 to 17 years of age. Method. Participants worked in dyads on separate screens in a shared discovery learning environment. They communicated using a chat box. In order to find a possible relationship between communicative activities and discovery learning processes, correlational analysis and principal component analysis were performed. Result. Significant relationships were found between communicative and discovery activities, as well as five factors combining the communicative process and the discovery learning processes. Communicative activities are performed most frequently during the activities in generating hypotheses, experimental design, and conclusion construction. Argumentation occurs less than expected, and is associated with the construction of conclusions, rather than generating hypotheses. Conclusion. Communicative activities co‐occur with discovery activities most of the time, as we expected. Further research should concentrate on means to augment communicative and discovery activities that are related to positive learning outcomes.     

Toward an integrative and collaborative approach to Asian American and Pacific Islander youth violence research, practice, and policy

Research into the prevalence of violence and delinquency among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) youth has proliferated in the last several years, as a result of federal funding. Consequently, this article reviews the literature on AAPI youth violence and delinquency published from 2001 to 2008. The findings demonstrate the frequency of AAPI youth violence and delinquency, provide a sense of the involvement of these youth in the juvenile justice system, reveal ethnic group differences in violence and delinquency, and explore the effects of immigration and acculturation on these phenomena. This article ends with a discussion on AAPI youth violence and delinquency prevention programs, with suggestions for future directions that incorporate a developmental and life-course approach in research and collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.     

Six Studies of Out-of-Body Experiences

Because of confusion between science and scientism, many people react negatively to the idea of scientific investigation of near-death experiences (NDEs), but genuine science can contribute a great deal to understanding NDEs and helping experiencers integrate their experiences with everyday life. After noting how scientific investigation of certain parapsychological phenomena has established a wider world view that must take NDEs seriously, I review six studies of a basic component of the NDE, the out-of-body experience (OBE). Three of these studies found distinctive physiological correlates of OBEs in the two talented persons investigated, and one found strong evidence for veridical, paranormal perception of the OBE location. The studies using hypnosis to try to produce OBEs demonstrated the complexity of a simple model that a person's mind is actually at an out-of-body location versus merely hallucinating being out, and require us to look at how even our perception of being in our bodies is actually a complex simulation, a biopsychological virtual reality.     

Therapeutic Experiences of Lesbian Couples

Abstract

This study explores the therapeutic experience of lesbian couples who had received couples psychotherapy earlier in their relationship. It examines their feelings regarding their own levels of acceptance, disclosure of sexual orientation, and connectedness with the professional providing services using qualitative methodology. The perspectives of both members of the lesbian couple were taken into account and explored. Lesbian couples who had accepted their sexual orientation appeared to have higher levels of satisfaction in their therapeutic experience and reported having an improved sense of self. Couples who had a therapist that portrayed a positive acceptance of homosexuality, low levels of heterosexism, and knowledge of issues relevant to the lesbian community reported an experience that was conducive to growth and development thus leading to an enriched relationship.     

Six orienting ideas for collaborative counsellors

An enhanced form of collaboration in counselling is made possible by recent developments in social constructionist theory and a new group of ‘postmodern therapies’. Highlighting six orienting ideas that draw from this theory and the postmodern therapies (solution-focused, narrative and collaborative language systems therapy), the author suggests that these ideas can focus counsellors’ listening and creativity broadly. Examples illustrate each of the orienting ideas, with no assumption that the ideas can be narrowed down to specific techniques.     

Exploring collaborative problem solving in adulthood

Collaborative problem solving occurs in situations in which two or more individuals cooperate in appraising, representing, and solving a variety of cognitive tasks. Collaborative groups are the context for much everyday cognitive activity in adulthood. Collaboration has been explored as a means through which older adults may maintain high levels of performance, perhaps compensating for individual-level cognitive and neurological decline. This study explored the effects of collaboration (group size) and adult age on solving both fixed- and unrestricted-alternatives 20 Questions tasks. Younger (M=24.3 years) and older (M=67.9 years) adults were randomly assigned to one of three homogeneous group size conditions: individuals, dyads, and tetrads. Results indicated some dissociation between individual-level performance (poorer for older adults) and collaborative performance (better for older adults). For the fixed-alternatives task, older adults produced more of the relatively inefficient hypothesis-scanning questions than did younger adults. In contrast, older collaborative groups produced more of the efficient constraint-seeking questions than hhpothesis-scanning questions, and an amount equivalent to that of younger adults. Overall performance for the difficult unrestricted-alternatives task was less efficient for both younger and older adults. The roles of task type, group characteristics, and adult age are discussed.