The role of stimulus type in list length effects in recognition memory

While many studies have investigated the list length effect in recognition memory, few have done so with stimuli other than words. This article presents the results of four list length experiments that involved word pairs, faces, fractals, and photographs of scenes as the stimuli. A significant list length effect was identified when faces and fractals were the stimuli, but the effect was nonsignificant when the stimuli were word pairs or photographs of scenes. These findings suggest that the intrastimulus similarity is what dictates whether list length has a significant effect on recognition performance. As is the case with words, word pairs and photographs of scenes are not sufficiently similar to generate detectable item interference.     

Observing Incivility toward Coworkers and Negative Emotions: Do Gender of the Target and Observer Matter?

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between observing incivility toward coworkers and negative emotions for observers. We also examined the roles target and observer gender play in this relationship. Participants included 453 restaurant employees (68% female, 76% White) mostly from the Midwest region of the U.S. who completed an online survey assessing observed incivility toward male and female coworkers. They also completed measures of anger, demoralization, fear, and anxiety at work. Results showed that participants reported more negative emotionality when they witnessed incivility toward same-gender coworkers compared to opposite-gender coworkers; this relationship was especially pronounced for male observers for anger, fear, and anxiety, and female observers for demoralization. These findings highlight the importance of secondary gender-based mistreatment and emotions in organizational contexts.     

The impact of depression on abstinence self-efficacy and substance use outcomes among emerging adults in residential treatment

A large proportion of emerging adults treated for substance use disorder (SUD) present with symptoms of negative affect and major depressive disorder (MDD). However, little is known regarding how these comorbidities influence important mechanisms of treatment response, such as increases in abstinence self-efficacy (ASE). This study tested the degree to which MDD and/or depressive symptoms interacted with during-treatment changes in ASE and examined these variables' relation to outcome at 3 months' posttreatment. Participants (N = 302; 74% male) completed measures at intake, midtreatment, end-of-treatment, and at 3-month follow-up. ASE was measured with the Alcohol and Drug Use Self-Efficacy (ADUSE) scale; depressive symptoms were assessed with the Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI 18) Depression scale; and current MDD diagnoses were deduced from the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). Random coefficient regression analyses focused on during-treatment changes in ASE, with BSI 18 scores and MDD diagnosis included as moderators. At intake, individuals with MDD or high levels of depressive symptoms had significantly lower ASE, particularly in negative affect situations. No evidence for moderation was found: ASE significantly increased during treatment regardless of MDD status. There was a main effect of BSI 18 Depression scores: those with lower BSI 18 scores had lower ASE scores at each time point. MDD and BSI 18 Depression did not predict 3-month outcome, but similar to previous findings ASE did predict abstinence status at 3 months. Treatment-seeking emerging adults with MDD merit particular clinical attention because of their lower reported self-efficacy throughout treatment.     

Peripheral oxytocin administration buffers autonomic but not behavioral responses to environmental stressors in isolated prairie voles

Negative social experiences such as social stressors and isolation influence mental and physical illnesses, including affective disorders and heart disease. Studies focused on socially monogamous prairie voles can provide insight into neurobiological systems that underlie the consequences of negative social interactions. Female prairie voles were exposed to 28 days of social isolation or pairing with a female sibling (control). Voles were administered daily oxytocin [20 μg/50 μl, subcutaneous (sc)] or saline vehicle (50 μl, sc) for 14 days and exposed to two behavioral stressors [elevated plus maze (EPM) and resident-intruder test]. Brain tissue was collected for analysis of central peptide levels in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Isolation produced autonomic changes [increased heart rate (HR) and decreased HR variability) during both acute stressors and increased anxiety behaviors in the EPM. Oxytocin injection prevented the autonomic consequences of the acute stressors in isolated prairie voles, but did not affect the behaviors tested under the present conditions. Oxytocin had no effect on the behavioral or autonomic responsiveness in paired prairie voles. Oxytocin injection may exert a beneficial effect on autonomic responses to stressors in isolated animals through increasing the number of oxytocin-containing neurons and decreasing the number of corticotropin-releasing hormone-containing neurons in the PVN. Oxytocinergic mechanisms may serve to compensate for autonomic responses associated with chronic isolation and exposure to both social and non-social acute stressors.     

Remembering first impressions: Effects of intentionality and diagnosticity on subsequent memory

People rely on first impressions every day as an important tool to interpret social behavior. While research is beginning to reveal the neural underpinnings of first impressions, particularly through understanding the role of dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), little is known about the way in which first impressions are encoded into memory. This is surprising because first impressions are relevant from a social perspective for future interactions, requiring that they be transferred to memory. The present study used a subsequent-memory paradigm to test the conditions under which the dmPFC is implicated in the encoding of first impressions. We found that intentionally forming impressions engages the dmPFC more than does incidentally forming impressions, and that this engagement supports the encoding of remembered impressions. In addition, we found that diagnostic information, which more readily lends itself to forming trait impressions, engages the dmPFC more than does neutral information. These results indicate that the neural system subserving memory for impressions is sensitive to consciously formed impressions. The results also suggest a distinction between a social memory system and other explicit memory systems governed by the medial temporal lobes.     

Age-related neural differences in affiliation and isolation

While previous aging studies have focused on particular components of social perception (e.g., theory of mind, self-referencing), little is known about age-related differences specifically for the neural basis of perception of affiliation and isolation. This study investigates age-related similarities and differences in the neural basis of affiliation and isolation. Participants viewed images of affiliation (groups engaged in social interaction) and isolation (lone individuals), as well as nonsocial stimuli (e.g., landscapes), while making pleasantness judgments and undergoing functional neuroimaging (BOLD fMRI). Results indicated age-related similarities in response to affiliation and isolation in recruitment of regions involved in theory of mind and self-referencing (e.g., temporal pole, medial prefrontal cortex). Yet age-related differences also emerged in response to affiliation and isolation in regions implicated in the theory of mind, as well as self-referencing. Specifically, in response to isolation versus affiliation images, older adults showed greater recruitment than did younger adults of the temporal pole, a region that is important for retrieval of personally relevant memories utilized to understand others' mental states. Furthermore, in response to images of affiliation versus isolation, older adults showed greater recruitment than did younger adults of the precuneus, a region implicated in self-referencing. We suggest that age-related divergence in neural activation patterns underlying judgments of scenes depicting isolation versus affiliation may indicate that older adults' theory of mind processes are driven by retrieval of isolation-relevant information. Moreover, older adults' greater recruitment of the precuneus for affiliation versus isolation suggests that the positivity bias for emotional information may extend to social information involving affiliation.     

Telemedicine and adherence to national guidelines for ADHD evaluation: A case study

The pilot project evaluated a telemedicine clinic's adherence to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) evaluation. Real-time videoconferencing linked the patients, the families, and the specialty mental health team. The ADHD Telemedicine Clinic adherence to AAP guidelines was tracked using chart data. The study included 22 patients (Mean age = 9.3 years, SD = 2.3 years) participating in 69 telemedicine visits across 13 different school-related sites. The ADHD Telemedicine Clinic reached extremely high adherence rates across the AAP evaluation guidelines for ADHD, ranging from 95-100% across the six guidelines. No factor inherent to the telemedicine service delivery mechanism impeded adherence to national guidelines for ADHD evaluation. Telemedicine-based outreach had the greatest impact on AAP Guideline #4, stating that information should be obtained from the child's academic setting. The school-based telemedicine clinic allowed increased communication across the school and specialty mental health systems and facilitated greater input across child, parent, school personnel, and mental health professionals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Putting their best foot forward: emotional disclosure on facebook

Abstract Facebook has become a widely used online self-representation and communication platform. In this research, we focus on emotional disclosure on Facebook. We conducted two studies, and results from both self-report and observer rating show that individuals are more likely to express positive relative to negative emotions and present better emotional well-being on Facebook than in real life. Our study is the first to demonstrate impression management on Facebook through emotional disclosure. We discuss important theoretical and practical implications of our study.     

Fear of Intimacy as a Mediator of the Internalized Heterosexism-Relationship Quality Link Among Men in Same-Sex Relationships

This study examined the relationship between internalized heterosexism (also known as internalized homophobia) and fear of intimacy and relationship quality among 88 men in a same-sex romantic relationship. Findings revealed that internalized heterosexism was positively correlated with fear of intimacy (r = .49) and negatively correlated with relationship quality (r = ?.43). In addition, results indicated that fear of intimacy partially mediated the relationship between internalized heterosexism and relationship quality. That is, the data were consistent with the notion that internalized heterosexism leads to more fear of intimacy, which in turn leads to less relationship quality among sexual minority men. Finally, the variables in the model accounted for 28 % of the variance in relationship quality scores. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.