Maternal correlates of stability and change in infant-mother attachment

The relations between maternal control style, sensitivity, and childrearing attitudes on one hand and the stability of the infant-mother attachment relationship on the other were examined in a sample of 38 mother-infant dyads. The mother-child pairs were observed during a structured play session and in Ainsworth's Strange Situation when the infants were 12 and 20 months old, a developmental period characterized by increased autonomous functioning. Our results suggested that infants whose mothers had nonpunitive childrearing attitudes, were sensitive, and supportive of their infants' striving toward autonomy remained, or became, secure in their attachment relationship over their second year of life. Mothers who were more punitive, more controlling, and less sensitive had infants who either remained or became insecurely attached across this developmental period. While previous research has linked attachment stability to socioeconomic factors, the present investigation points to the importance of more subtle interactive variables to the understanding of the attachment relationship.     

Memory Performance and Socio-Economic Status

Memory ability is affected by the physical, educational and health environments. The nature of these environments, in turn, differs across people with different socio-economic status (SES). Thus, it would be expected that memory performance would vary systematically with SES. However, memory researchers have yet to examine the relationship between economic variables and memory performance. This paper reviews several literatures (medical, public health, IQ, sociological and memory) to assess the relationship—if any—of socio-economic status to memory performance. The results of the review revealed that memory performance is strongly and directly correlated with SES. However, the results were not strong enough to determine whether the extent of this relationship differs across different kinds of memory. These results suggest that memory researchers should investigate further the nature of the relationship between SES and memory performance and take account of the possible influence of SES in the design and interpretation of memory data. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children as Mystics, Activists, Sages, and Holy Fools: Understanding the Spirituality of Children and Its Significance for Clinical Work

This article explores children's spirituality and its significance for health care providers seeking to provide “spiritually competent care” of children amidst religious and spiritual diversity. Four metaphors of different spiritualities evidenced among children are explored: mystics, activists, sages, and holy fools. The article addresses issues clinicians face such as the problem of defining spirituality in relation to religion, and countertransference around religious and spiritual matters. Current research shows that spiritual and religious involvements constitute positive factors promoting resiliency and health in children. James W. Fowler's theory of faith development facilitates an exploration of questions concerning how children develop a belief system, leading to a view of children's spirituality as multidimensional. This article preserves the less formal conversational style of an earlier version's presentation in Grand Rounds at the UCLA Medical Center's Neuropsychiatric Hospital on December 10, 2003.     

Anisomycin infused into the hippocampus fails to block "reconsolidation" but impairs extinction: the role of re-exposure duration

Recent studies have reported new evidence consistent with the hypothesis that reactivating a memory by re-exposure to a training context destabilizes the memory and induces "reconsolidation." In the present experiments, rats' memory for inhibitory avoidance (IA) training was tested 6 h (Test 1), 2 d (Test 2), and 6 d (Test 3) after training. On Test 1 the rats were either removed from the shock compartment immediately after entry or retained in the shock context for 200 sec, and intrahippocampal infusions of the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin (75 microg/side) were administered immediately after the test. Anisomycin infusions administered after Test 1 impaired IA performance on Test 2 in animals given the brief re-exposure, but impaired extinction in animals exposed to the context for 200 sec. Rats with anisomycin-induced retention impairment on Test 2 demonstrated spontaneous recovery of retention performance on Test 3, whereas rats showing extinction on Test 2 showed further extinction on Test 3. The findings indicate that post-retrieval administration of anisomycin impairs subsequent retention performance only in the absence of extinction and that this impairment is temporary.