High Versus Low Aggressive Priming During Video‐Game Training: Effects on Violent Action During Game Play,Hostility, Heart Rate,and Blood Pressure1

Playing violent video games is related to increased negative affect and cardiovascular reactivity. We examined the influence of high and low aggressive priming during video‐game training on violence during game play (e.g., shooting, choking), hostility, frustration with game play, blood pressure, and heart rate. Male undergraduates (N= 36) were assigned to a high aggressive or low aggressive video‐game priming condition. After training, they played Metal Gear Solid^(tm), which allows players to advance by using stealth, violence, or both. Participants in the high aggressive priming condition used significantly more violent action during game play and reported more hostility than those in the low aggressive priming condition. Heart rate was correlated with feelings of hostility. These findings indicate that both aggressive priming and use of game violence influence arousal and negative affect and might increase behavioral aggression.     

Memory Development in Children: Implications for Children as Witnesses in Situations of Possible Abuse

This article reviews the physiological constructs of memory development as they relate to a child's ability to recall accurately detailed accounts of sexual abuse. Counselors are provided with practical suggestions for increasing the reliability of child witnesses.     

Trajectories of Suicidal Ideation from Sixth through Tenth Grades in Predicting Suicide Attempts in Young Adulthood in an Urban African American Cohort

The trajectory of suicidal ideation across early adolescence may inform the timing of suicide prevention program implementation. This study aimed to identify developmental trajectories of suicidal ideation among an urban cohort of community‐residing African Americans (AA) longitudinally followed from middle school through early adulthood (ages 11–19 years). Subtypes based on the developmental course of suicidal ideation from late childhood through mid‐adolescence were identified using longitudinal latent class analysis (LLCA) with 581 AA adolescents (52.7% male; 71.1% free or reduced school meals). The developmental trajectories of suicidal ideation were then used to predict suicide attempts in young adulthood. Our LLCA indicated two subtypes (i.e., ideators and nonideators), with 8% of the sample in the ideator class. This trajectory class shows a peak of suicidal ideation in seventh grade and a steady decline in ideation in subsequent grades. Additionally, suicidal ideation trajectories significantly predicted suicide attempt. Results of these analyses suggest the need for suicide prevention approaches prior to high school for AA youth.     

Connectionist models and their properties

Much of the progress in the fields constituting cognitive science has been based upon the use of explicit information processing models, almost exclusively patterned after conventional serial computers. An extension of these ideas to massively parallel, connectionist models appears to offer a number of advantages. After a preliminary discussion, this paper introduces a general connectionist model and considers how it might be used in cognitive science. Among the issues addressed are: stability and noise-sensitivity, distributed decision-making, time and sequence problems, and the representation of complex concepts.