Memory and consciousness: trace distinctiveness in memory retrievals

The aim of this article was to provide experimental evidence that classical dissociation between levels of consciousness associated with memory retrieval (i.e., implicit or explicit) can be explained in terms of task dependency and distinctiveness of traces. In our study phase, we manipulated the level of isolation (partial vs. global) of the memory trace by means of an isolation paradigm (isolated words among non-isolated words). We then tested these two types of isolation in a series of tasks of increasing complexity: a lexical decision task, a recognition task, and a free recall task. The main result of this study was that distinctiveness effects were observed as a function of the type of isolation (level of isolation) and the nature of the task. We concluded that trace distinctiveness improves subsequent access to the trace, while the level of trace distinctiveness also appears to determine the possibility of conscious or explicit retrieval.     

Perfectionism, anger, and anger rumination

Anger and anger rumination are considered to be detrimental to both physical and psychological well being. Furthermore, perfectionism, as a personality construct, seems to be related to various types of maladjustment. Whereas perfectionism has been characterized as being positive when an individual derives pleasure from striving for excellence yet recognizes and accepts individual limitations, it is deemed negative when the individual has unrealistic expectations and is never satisfied with his or her performance. The present study examined whether positive and negative perfectionism was associated with anger and anger rumination. The Farsi version of the Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale and the Farsi version of the Anger Rumination Scale, as well as Spielberger's State-Trait Anger Scale were completed by 384 Iranian students. Results showed that anger and anger rumination were, as expected, associated negatively with positive perfectionism and associated positively with negative perfectionism. Positive perfectionism enables individuals to strive for success in a flexible manner and, thus, to experience satisfaction and pleasure rather than dissatisfaction, frustration, and anger. Conversely, negative perfectionism makes individuals vulnerable to emotional distress such as predisposition to experience anger and anger rumination through setting high standards for performance, overgeneralization of perceived failures, negative self-evaluation, self-blame, and measuring self-worth in terms of unachievable goals of accomplishment and productivity. Hence, perfectionism may be regarded as having both adaptive and maladaptive aspects with regard to health.     

Comparison of dysfunctional attitudes and social adjustment among infertile employed and unemployed women in Iran

This study aims to compare dysfunctional attitudes and social adjustment in infertile employed and unemployed females. Due to the stresses of infertility, infertile females are faced with a variety of sexual and psychological problems, as well as dysfunctional attitudes that can lead to depression. Moreover, infertility problems provoke women into maladjustment and inadvertent corruption of relationships. In this regard, our goal is to consider the effects of employment in conjunction with education on dysfunctional attitudes and social adjustment among infertile women in Iran. In this work, we employed the survey method. We recruited 240 infertile women, utilizing the cluster random sampling method. These women filled out the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale and the social adjustment part of the California Test of Personality. Next, multivariate analysis of variance was performed to test the relationship of employment status and education with dysfunctional attitudes and social adjustment. Our results indicated that dysfunctional attitudes were far more prevalent in infertile unemployed women than in infertile employed women. Also, social adjustment was better in infertile employed women than in infertile unemployed women. It was shown that education level alone does not have significant effect on dysfunctional attitudes and social adjustment. However, we demonstrated that the employment status of infertile women in conjunction with their education level significantly affects the two dimensions of dysfunctional attitudes (relationships, entitlements) and has insignificant effects on social adjustment. It was revealed that in employed infertile women in Iran, the higher education level, the less dysfunctional were attitudes in relationships and entitlements, whereas in unemployed infertile women, those with a college degree had the least and those with master's or higher degrees had the most dysfunctional attitudes in terms of relationships and entitlements.     

Muslim Discrimination: Evidence From Two Lost‐Letter Experiments

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, there has been considerable concern about whether Muslims living in Western countries are targets of prejudice. A considerable amount of survey‐based evidence suggests that Muslims are victims of discrimination. This paper tested this hypothesis. Two lost‐letter experiments were conducted to test whether the difference in returned letters would be attributable to whether the addressee was Muslim or Swedish. The results show that Muslims receive far fewer letters than do Swedes. However, this discrimination only appears when the lost letters contain money; in which case, the finder gains by not posting the letter.     

Synergies and Motor Equivalence in Voluntary Sway Tasks: The Effects of Visual and Mechanical Constraints

The authors used two analyses developed within the framework of the uncontrolled manifold hypothesis to quantify multimuscle synergies during voluntary body sway: analysis of intertrial variance and analysis of motor equivalence with respect to the center of pressure (COP) trajectory. Participants performed voluntary sway tasks in the anteroposterior direction at 0.33 and 0.66 Hz. Muscle groups were identified in the space of muscle activations and used as elemental variables in the synergy analyses. Changing mechanical and vision feedback–based constraints led to significant changes in indices of sway performance such as COP deviations in the uninstructed, mediolateral direction and indices of spontaneous postural sway. In contrast, there were no significant effects on synergy indices. These findings show that the neural control of performance and of its stability may involve different control variables and neurophysiological structures. There were strong correlations between the indices of motor equivalence and those computed using the intercycle variance analysis. This result is potentially important for studies of patients with movement disorders who may be unable to perform multiple trials (cycles) at any given task, making analysis of motor equivalence of single trials a viable alternative to explore changes in stability of actions.     

Review of Ordering Don’t Resuscitate in Iranian Dying Patients

Making decision on not to resuscitate is a confusing, conflicting and complex issue and depends on each country’s culture and customs. Therefore, each country needs to take action in accordance with its cultural, ethical, religious and legal contexts to develop guidelines in this regard. Since the majority of Iran’s people are Muslims, and in Islam, the human life is considered sacred, based on the values of the community, an Iranian Islamic agenda needs to be developed not taking measures about resuscitation of dying patients. It is necessary to develop an Iranian Islamic guidelines package in order to don’t resuscitate in dying patients.     

An investigation of intra-individual variability in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)

Intra-individual variability (IIV) is defined as systematic within-person variation in performance either across test sessions (e.g., test/retest performance on the same task) or in one session (e.g., variations in performance on multiple trials of a single task). Higher levels of IIV have been noted as a characteristic of neurodevelopmental disorders such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder? (ADHD), but IIV is yet to be investigated in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). FASD is a term used to describe a range of conditions resulting from prenatal exposure to alcohol. As part of a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, four study groups (1. fetal alcohol syndrome/partial fetal alcohol syndrome; 2. static encephalopathy/alcohol exposed; 3. neurobehavioral disorder/alcohol exposed as diagnosed using the University of Washington FASD 4-Digit Code; 4. typically-developing (TD) age-matched children with no prenatal alcohol exposure) were administered measures of motor response and inhibitory control, attention, and adaptive behavior. The results indicate increased levels of IIV in those with FASD compared to the TD controls. It was found that IIV uniquely contributes to predicting adaptive behavior above and beyond attention, while attention partially mediates the relationship between IIV and adaptive behavior. This is the first study to the authors’ knowledge to show the presence of increased IIV in children with FASD. It additionally provides evidence that IIV measures some inherent variability in performance independent of poor attention in children with FASD.     

Effects of aging on action-intentional programming

Background: Action-intentional programs control “when” we initiate, inhibit, continue, and stop motor actions. The purpose of this study was to learn if there are changes in the action-intentional system with healthy aging, and if these changes are asymmetrical (right versus left upper limb) or related to impaired interhemispheric communication. Methods: We administered tests of action-intention to 41 middle-aged and older adults (61.9 ± 12.3 years). Results: Regression analyses revealed that older age predicted a decrement in performance for tests of crossed motor response inhibition as well as slower motor initiation with the left hand. Conclusion: Changes in action-intention with aging appear to be related to alterations of interhemispheric communication and/or age-related right hemisphere dysfunction; however, further research is needed to identify the mechanisms for age-related changes in the brain networks that mediate action-intention.