Just lying there, remembering: improving recall of prose in amnesic patients with mild cognitive impairment by minimising interference

The hallmark of amnesia is poor explicit long-term memory along with normal short-term memory. It is often stated that information encountered by amnesic patients is forgotten within 1 minute of presentation. However, previous work has not distinguished between forgetting as a function of time versus the interfering material occupying that time. We show that there is a marked benefit of reduced interference in amnesic patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition that is characterised by anterograde amnesia in the absence of other neuropsychological deficits and carries an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease. The result suggests that long-term memory is encoded in these patients to a greater extent than had been realised but that their memory is highly vulnerable to interference.     

Does the compatibility effect in the race Implicit Association Test reflect familiarity or affect?

In the Implicit Association Test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) involving race classification (white vs. black), an apparent compatibility effect is found between the “pleasant” attribute and the “white” category. This race IAT effect has been interpreted in terms of “implicit prejudice”—that is, more positive evaluation of whites than of blacks that is not open to consciousness. We suggested instead that the race IAT effect is better interpreted in terms of the salience asymmetry account proposed by Rothermund and Wentura (2004), whereby greater familiarity with the white category makes it more salient. Evidence that has been presented against the familiarity interpretation is considered, and alternative interpretations of findings related to the race IAT effect are discussed.     

The role of metabotropic glutamate receptors and cortical adaptation in habituation of odor-guided behavior

Decreases in behavioral investigation of novel stimuli over time may be mediated by a variety of factors including changes in attention, internal state, and motivation. Sensory cortical adaptation, a decrease in sensory cortical responsiveness over prolonged stimulation, may also play a role. In olfaction, metabotropic glutamate receptors on cortical afferent pre-synaptic terminals have been shown to underlie both cortical sensory adaptation and habituation of odor-evoked reflexes. The present experiment examined whether blockade of sensory cortical adaptation through bilateral infusion of the group III metabotropic glutamate receptor antagonist cyclopropyl-4-phosphonophenylglycine (CPPG) into the anterior piriform cortex could reduce habituation of a more complex odor-driven behavior such as investigation of a scented object or a conspecific. The results demonstrate that time spent investigating a scented jar, or a conspecific, decreases over the course of a continuous 10 minute trial. Acute infusion of CPPG bilaterally into the anterior piriform cortex significantly enhanced the time spent investigating the scented jar compared to investigation time in control rats, without affecting overall behavioral activity levels. Infusions into the brain outside of the piriform cortex were without effect. CPPG infusion into the piriform cortex also produced an enhancement of time spent investigating a conspecific, although this effect was not significant.     

Applying a psychoeducational perspective to ADHD

This article examines whether various cognitive abilities are associated with symptoms of ADHD. Cognitive ability is conceptualized using Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory as measured using the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability (3rd ed.). This article also examines whether test session behavior mediates the association between cognitive ability and ADHD. Participants are children ages 6 to 12 with (n= 33) and without (n= 19) ADHD. Results show that inattentive symptoms of ADHD are significantly related to the CHC ability of processing speed above and beyond the effect of test session behavior. Symptoms of ADHD (both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity) are also significantly associated with visual spatial processing, but this is completely mediated by test session behavior. It is concluded that inattentive symptoms of ADHD are associated with slower processing speed and that this relationship is not explained by test session behavior.     

Implementation of a comprehensive schoolwide behavioral intervention: The ABC program

The Academic and Behavioral Competencies (ABC) Program, a schoolwide program to reduce classroom disruption and encourage rule following, academic task completion, and homework completion, is described. The program was initially developed and implemented in an elementary school with a high-risk population. Data from teachers, parents, and children indicate high levels of satisfaction with the program. In addition, unobtrusive measures of program impact, reported as reductions in referrals to the principal's office, suspensions, and increases in homework completion rates relative to the year prior to implementation of the program, suggest a preliminary positive impact of the program. A replication is reported for another school district, with teacher evaluations of satisfaction and effectiveness reported, supporting the flexibility and adaptability of the program. Although the present article does not constitute a systematic evaluation of the ABC Program, it presents preliminary data on the process of implementation and stakeholder satisfaction.     

Children's perceptions of dangerous substances

The aim of this research was to examine age differences in children's perceptions of dangerous substances. Children's responses to photographs of child models encountering alcohol, a syringe, medicine, glue, and household bleach were coded for recognition of substance, awareness of potential danger, and understanding of danger or harm. Responses from 59 children (28 girls and 31 boys, who were all children of the required age in an urban primary school) were compared across three age groups (6-7 years, 8-9 years, and 10-11 years). 15 to 18 of 20 children in each of three age groups recognised all the dangerous substances. Significant differences across age groups were found for awareness of the potential harm from alcohol, glue, and medicine, but not for the syringe or bleach. Children reported less serious consequences from ingesting alcohol than other substances, the consequences of sniffing glue tended to be confused with the sticking properties of glue, children's understanding of transmission of germs, disease, and AIDS through syringes was varied, and there was a tendency among the older children to underestimate the potential harm of self-administration of medicines. Findings were discussed in relation to children's concepts of danger and safety education.     

Receptive fields for flexible face categorizations

Abstract-Examining the receptive fields of brain signals can elucidate how information impinging on the former modulates the latter. We applied this time-honored approach in early vision to the higher-level brain processes underlying face categorizations. Electroencephalograms in response to face-information samples were recorded while observers resolved two different categorizations (gender, expressive or not). Using a method with low bias and low variance, we compared, in a common space of information states, the information determining behavior (accuracy and reaction time) with the information that modulates emergent brain signals associated with early face encoding and later category decision. Our results provide a time line for face processing in which selective attention to diagnostic information for categorizing stimuli (the eyes and their second-order relationships in gender categorization; the mouth in expressive-or-not categorization) correlates with late electrophysiological (P300) activity, whereas early face-sensitive occipito-temporal (N170) activity is mainly driven by the contralateral eye, irrespective of the categorization task.     

Extinction-induced immobility in the water maze and its neurochemical concomitants in aged and adult rats: a possible model for depression?

Extinction of escape behavior in the water maze due to the removal of the platform, was hypothesized to induce a negative state, including the development of immobility, which is held to reflect a state of "despair" when measured in the forced swimming test. 27 aged and 8 adult animals (26 and 3 months old Wistar rats, respectively) were tested in the water maze during nine days with a platform hidden, followed by 7 days of extinction trials with the platform absent. As expected, both age groups developed immobility over the extinction trials, with the aged showing more than the adults. To examine whether the age difference in immobility was related to performance differences during acquisition, the aged were subdivided into superior, intermediate and inferior learners (n = 9 per group) on the basis of overall times to platform during acquisition, and compared with each other and the adults. Results showed that the aged inferior learners displayed the highest levels of immobility among the aged. Immobility scores were then correlated with post-mortem neurotransmitter contents in the hippocampus and ventral striatum. In the ventral striatum, levels of immobility were correlated with levels of acetylcholine, dopamine and the metabolite dihydroxyphenylacetic acid in the aged, and with norepinephrine in the adults. The data support the hypothesis that multiple extinction trials in the water maze result in immobility that may indicate "behavioral despair," and that striatal neurotransmitter systems correlate with the degree of its expression. The concept of extinction-induced despair is held to provide the promise of a conceptual and empirical model of human depression that is the consequence of loss of reinforcers.     

Change after long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy

Psychoanalytic psychotherapy in clinical practice is traditionally a long-term treatment conducted by well-trained psychotherapists. However, very few studies have been published that evaluate the effects of such treatment. To redress this lack of studies, 55 individuals selected for long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy (average, 3 years) were invited to participate in a naturalistic study. The psychotherapists had a mean of 15 years of professional experience. The 36 patients who completed psychotherapy manifested a substantial reduction in symptomatic suffering and decreased levels of character pathology, as measured by the Karolinska Psychodynamic Profile (KAPP) and the Karolinska Scales of Personality. Generally, such changes were not found in the individuals who did not engage in treatment. In the therapy group, improvements were found on eight KAPP subscales defining different aspects of character: Intimacy and Reciprocity, Frustration Tolerance, Regression in the Service of the Ego, Coping with Aggressive Affects, Conceptions of Bodily Appearance and their Significance for Self-esteem, Sexual Function, Sexual Satisfaction, and Personality Organization. The results indicate that individuals who engaged in psychotherapy improved their capacity to handle crucial aspects of life and reduced their symptomatic suffering.