The face you recognize may not be the one you saw: memory conjunction errors in individuals with or without learning disability

Memory conjunction errors, that is, when a combination of two previously presented stimuli is erroneously recognized as previously having been seen, were investigated in a face recognition task with drawings and photographs in 23 individuals with learning disability, and 18 chronologically age-matched controls without learning disability. Compared to the controls, individuals with learning disability committed significantly more conjunction errors, feature errors (one old and one new component), but had lower correct recognition, when the results were adjusted for different guessing levels. A dual-processing approach gained more support than a binding approach. However, neither of the approaches could explain all of the results. The results of the learning disability group were only partly related to non-verbal intelligence.     

Empathy and viewing the other as a subject

Empathy and viewing another person as a subject rather than an object are often associated in theoretical contexts, but empirical research of the relation is scarce. The purpose of the present research was to investigate the relationship between subject/object view and empathy. In Study 1, participants watched film clips and indicated their empathy for specific characters in the clips, as well as the extent to which they saw these persons as subjects and objects. The subject/object view explained some, but not all, of the differences in empathy, which raised the question of what else accounts for differences in empathy. A second study was conducted to investigate whether the difficulty of the other's situation also contributes. In Study 2, another group watched the film clips and rated the difficulty of the film character's situations in addition to empathy and subject/object view. The results of Study 2 revealed that subject view/object and perceived difficulty together explain a substantial part of differences in empathy. It was concluded that empathy is evoked primarily when a person in difficulty is viewed as a subject.     

The challenge of merging: merger patterns, premerger status, and merger support

Employees of merging organizations often show resistance to the merger. The employees' support depends on the companies' premerger status and on the merger pattern. Based on an intergroup perspective, three studies were conducted to investigate the influence of premerger status (high, low) and merger pattern (assimilation, integration-equality, integration-proportionality, transformation) on participants' support for a pending organizational merger. Students (Study 1) and employees (Study 2) had to take the perspective of employees of a fictitious merging organization. Study 3 investigated students' perceptions of a potentially pending university merger using a 2 (status) x 3 (merger pattern: assimilation, integration-equality, integration-proportionality) design. Across all studies, the low-status group favored integration-equality and transformation whereas the high-status group preferred integration-proportionality and assimilation. Perceived threat mediated the effects. Legitimacy was a stronger mediator for effects of the low-status group.     

Rate of acquisition, adult age, and basic cognitive abilities predict forgetting: new views on a classic problem

Rate of forgetting is putatively invariant across individuals, sharing few associations with individual-differences variables known to influence encoding and retrieval. This classic topic in learning and memory was revisited using a novel statistical application, multilevel modeling, to examine whether (a) slopes of forgetting varied across individuals and (b) observed individual differences in forgetting shared systematic relations with adult age, learning speed, and cognitive ability. Participants (N = 136) received mnemonic training prior to memorizing 4-digit numbers to perfection, and retention was tested immediately after training and after 30 min, 24 hr, 7 weeks, and 8 months. Slower rate of learning to criterion, older age, and poorer cognitive performance predicted accelerated forgetting with associations most pronounced within 24 hr from baseline. Observed correlates of differential forgetting slopes are similar to those previously found to affect encoding, suggesting continuity rather than asymmetry of prediction for these memory processes.     

On the limits of anisochrony in pulse attribution

Pulse is the subjective experience of isochrony, which is typically elicited by series of sensory events with close to isochronous spacing, as is common in music and poetry. We measured the amount of anisochrony in a 10-event sequence with 570- to 630-ms nominal inter-onset intervals (IOI) that corresponded to the threshold for pulse attribution. This threshold was 8.6% of the IOI across 28 participants with a wide range of musical training, as compared with 3.5% for detection of anisochrony in the same kind of sequence. Musical training led to lower thresholds for detection of irregularity but had no effect on pulse attribution. The relatively larger amount of anisochrony in pulse attribution may reflect the limit for predicting and synchronising with future events. We suggest that this limit reflects a compromise between tolerance for naturally occurring deviations and the need for precision in timing.     

Impact of decision goal on escalation

This research investigates the sunk-cost effect or escalation defined as the irrational tendency to choose to continue to invest money, time, or effort following unsuccessful investments. Building on previous research demonstrating a loss-sensitivity principle in sequential decision making, the hypothesis was proposed that a loss-minimization goal would lead to stronger effects of sunk outcomes (prior gains and losses) than would a gain-maximizing goal. The hypothesis was investigated in three experiments with undergraduates responding to investment decision scenarios. Although the tendency to continue investments was always larger for gain-maximizing than for loss-minimizing goal instructions, the sunk-outcome effect was stronger in the former case. However, when the decisions were personal and concerned lower stakes rather than business investments involving large amounts of money, the expected stronger effect of sunk outcomes was found for loss-minimizing goal instructions. Another finding was that the expected value was never ignored, thus suggesting that future research should focus on the joint effects of the expected value and sunk outcomes.     

Health service use costs by personality disorder following specialist and nonspecialist treatment: a comparative study

The impact of specialist psychosocial treatment on health service use costs by patients with personality disorder is not yet sufficiently documented. In this prospective study we compare patterns of health service costs by three groups of people with personality disorder treated in a hospital-based program (IPP), a step down program (SDP), and a general psychiatric program (GPP). Total service use costs at follow up, compared with intake costs, showed that significantly higher savings were achieved by SDP and IIP compared with GPP. Cost reductions in SDP were significantly greater than in IPP. Significant cost reductions were found between treatment programs in social worker and community psychiatric nursing and psychotherapy. The cost-effectiveness of the two specialist treatment programs was indicated by the significant association between total cost reduction and clinical outcome in GPP and IPP, but not in GPP. The effect of Major Depression and Borderline Personality Disorder on health service use alone and in combination was also investigated. The finding that Major Depression was found to be more significantly associated with higher health service use costs than Borderline Personality Disorder is discussed.     

Personality and mood correlates of avoidant personality disorder

Avoidant personality disorder (APD) has been recognized as prevalent and clinically important; however, it is not clear how APD maps onto established personality and mood dimensions. In this cross-sectional survey study, 365 college students completed questionnaires assessing APD features and theoretically relevant personality and mood dimensions. Based on these self-report data, 6.6% may meet DSM-IV criteria for APD. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that APD features were associated with introversion, neuroticism, low self-esteem, and pessimistic expectancies. Additionally, APD features were linked with self-reports of elevated emotional responsiveness to threats and reduced emotional responsiveness to incentives (the behavioral inhibition system and behavioral activation system scales). After controlling for the effects of other personality, temperament, and cognitive measures, affective distress (i.e., anger, anxiety, and depression) was no longer related to APD. Results are consistent with APD models that emphasize the joint influences of emotional vulnerability and social-cognitive triggering and sustaining factors.     

Behavioral consequences of radiation exposure to simulated space radiation in the C57BL/6 mouse: open field,rotorod, and acoustic startle

Two experiments were carried out to investigate the consequences of exposure to proton radiation, such as might occur for astronauts during space flight. C57BL/6 mice were exposed, either with or without 15-g/cm2 aluminum shielding, to 0-, 3-, or 4-Gy proton irradiation mimicking features of a solar particle event. Irradiation produced transient direct deficits in open-field exploratory behavior and acoustic startle habituation. Rotorod performance at 18 rpm was impaired by exposure to proton radiation and was impaired at 26 rpm, but only for mice irradiated with shielding and at the 4-Gy dose. Long-term (>2 weeks) indirect deficits in open-field activity appeared as a result of impaired experiential encoding immediately following exposure. A 2-week recovery prior to testing decreased most of the direct effects of exposure, with only rotorod performance at 26 rpm being impaired. These results suggest that the performance deficits may have been mediated by radiation damage to hippocampal, cerebellar, and possibly, forebrain dopaminergic function.