Contrasting Cortical Activity Associated with Category Memory and Recognition Memory

We collected functional neuroimaging data while volunteers performed similar categorization and recognition memory tasks. In the categorization task, volunteers first studied a series of 40 dot patterns that were distortions of a nonstudied prototype dot pattern. After a delay, while fMRI data were collected, they categorized 72 novel dot patterns according to whether or not they belonged to the previously studied category. In the recognition task, volunteers first studied five dot patterns eight times each. After a delay, while fMRI data were collected, they judged whether each of 72 dot patterns had been studied earlier. We found strikingly different patterns of brain activity in visual processing areas for the two tasks. During the categorization task, the familiar stimuli were associated with decreased activity in posterior occipital cortex, whereas during the recognition task, the familiar stimuli were associated with increased activity in this area. The findings indicate that these two types of memory have contrasting effects on early visual processing and reinforce the view that declarative and nondeclarative memory operate independently.     

The rise and fall of Christian science

This paper applies a general theory of why religious movements succeed or fail to explain the meteoric rise of Christian Science, and to explain why the movement began an equally precipitous decline and may soon simply disappear. The analysis is based on quantitative data, on field work and on a variety of historical documents. The fall of Christian Science has many aspects, but particular emphasis is given to inadequate fertility, ineffective socialization, compromises in distinctiveness, a decline in the relative effectiveness of its placebo effects and to the greatly increased occupational opportunities for women.     

Temporal experience in recovery from psychosis

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences - During recovery from psychosis (diagnosed as schizophrenia) things must often be done slower than normally expected. The tempo of the socially shared...     

Effects of the testing situation on item responding: cause for concern

The effects of faking on personality test scores have been studied previously by comparing (a) experimental groups instructed to fake or answer honestly, (b) subgroups created from a single sample of applicants or nonapplicants by using impression management scores, and (c) job applicants and nonapplicants. In this investigation, the latter 2 methods were used to study the effects of faking on the functioning of the items and scales of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire. A variety of item response theory methods were used to detect differential item/test functioning, interpreted as evidence of faking. The presence of differential item/test functioning across testing situations suggests that faking adversely affects the construct validity of personality scales and that it is problematic to study faking by comparing groups defined by impression management scores.     

Standard posture,postural mirroring and client-perceived rapport

The relationship between client-perceived rapport (as measured from a standardized client) and physical mirroring and the standard counsellor posture was investigated with interviews performed by 59 post-graduate students in counselling psychology. Videotaped recordings were used to code counsellor posture in the categories of: total postural mirroring, mirroring of the hands and arms, mirroring of the legs, mirroring of the torso, and the frequency of the standard counsellor posture across each minute of the interviews. These minutes were classified as 'high' in rapport or 'low' in rapport as measured by the standardized client. Results indicated that there was significantly more postural mirroring of the torso during high versus low minutes, but that the counsellor standard posture occurred significantly more frequently during low rapport minutes than in high rapport minutes. However, when examined over the entire length of the interviews, these data were able to be understood in terms of counsellor 'flexibility' of response rather than simply whether these postural behaviours were present or not. Implications for counsellor training are discussed.     

A semiautomatic method for adding behavioral data to videotape records in combination with the Noldus Observer system

The Observer 3.0 (Noldus, 1991) was used as the base for a time-saving fine analysis of animal behavior. A PC controlled a shuttlebox and a shuttlebox control unit. Learning behavior was recorded on videotapes by an S-VHS camcorder with vertical interval time code (VITC), which was used to generate an observational data file (ODF). The observational system was enhanced by automatically recorded status signals from the PC as event markers on the soundtrack of the videotape. These signals were used to subdivide a training session into numbered trials during generation of the ODF. They were later used for a PC-aided fine analysis of behavioral events, such as attention responses (AR) and orienting responses (OR) during shuttlebox learning. In this way, a large number of both automatically inserted PC event markers and manually inserted, key-defined behavioral events were registered and analyzed effectively in a semiautomatic fashion. The system is illustrated with an analysis of shuttlebox avoidance data from gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus).     

Imitating step by step: a detailed analysis of 9- to 15-month-olds' reproduction of a three-step action sequence

To investigate what infants around their first birthday learn from observing an action sequence, 9- to 15-month-olds' imitative behavior was compared in three conditions: a demonstration group watched three target action steps and a final outcome, a control group observed only the third step and final outcome, and a baseline group received no demonstration. After a short delay, the demonstration infants of all ages produced more target actions than the control and baseline infants. Moreover, the latency to the first step was shortest in the demonstration condition. Data about the performance of the single steps in each age sample revealed which target actions were novel to the infants, and which steps were learned by observation. Infants in the control condition did not generate the unseen target action steps. It is concluded that infants' memory capacity and their ability to encode action-effect relations contribute to their imitation of an action sequence.     

Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory for Youth in a sample of girls

A new measure has been developed to assess depressive symptoms, the Beck Depression Inventory for Youth (BDI-Y; J. S. Beck, A. T. Beck, & J. B. Jolly, 2001). This research extends previous validation research of BDI-Y total scores by examining internal consistency and convergent and predictive validity within a school-based sample (n=859) of girls 9-13 years old by age level and for selected races or ethnic groups. Scores had high internal consistency, and there was support for using the BDI-Y to assess depressive symptoms. Reliability was slightly lower for 9-year-olds, but reliability and validity estimates did not differ by race or ethnic group. Finally, confirmatory factor analysis results provide some support for unidimensionality of scores but also point toward possible refinements.