The role of age and inhibitory efficiency in working memory processing and storage components

In this study, we examined the extent to which inhibitory efficiency accounted for age-related decline in the processing and storage components of working memory. Older and younger adults performed a sequential task, which served as an index of deletion-type inhibition (the ability to suppress no-longer-relevant information). The reading span task was used to measure working memory components by examining processing accuracy, processing time, and end-word recall of sentences presented. Reduced inhibitory efficiency, which was poorer in older adults, predicted age-related decline in recall, over and above the effects of processing speed. Similar results were observed for processing accuracy, although the age effect in this component was marginal. These results highlight the important role of deletion-type inhibition in explaining age-related decline in working memory performance, particularly in the storage component, and extend previous research by examining this relationship at a componential level.     

Methodological and practical issues regarding phenomenological subtypes of highly suggestible individuals: A response to Kumar

A hypnotic induction produces different patterns of spontaneous experiences across individuals. The magnitude and characteristics of these responses covary moderately with hypnotic suggestibility, but also differ within levels of hypnotic suggestibility. This study sought to identify discrete phenomenological profiles in response to a hypnotic induction and assess whether experiential variability among highly suggestible individuals matches the phenomenological profiles predicted by dissociative typological models of high hypnotic suggestibility. Phenomenological state scores indexed in reference to a resting epoch during hypnosis were submitted to a latent profile analysis. The profiles in the derived four-class solution differed in multiple experiential dimensions and hypnotic suggestibility. Highly suggestible individuals were distributed across two classes that exhibited response patterns suggesting an inward attention subtype and a dissociative subtype. These results provide support for dissociative typological models of high hypnotic suggestibility and indicate that highly suggestible individuals do not display a uniform response to a hypnotic induction.     

Development of a Patient Adherence Scale for Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy

Exposure and response prevention (EX/RP) is an evidence-based treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). For EX/RP to be maximally effective, it is believed that patients must adhere outside of sessions to the procedures they learn in therapy. To date, there is no standard measure of patient EX/RP adherence, despite the importance of accurately assessing EX/RP adherence in both clinical research and practice. This paper describes the development of the Patient EX/RP Adherence Scale (PEAS), which assesses the patient's between-session adherence to the therapist's EX/RP instructions, and presents initial data on the scale's reliability and validity. The scale was designed to focus on the key procedures of EX/RP and to be brief enough to be used at each treatment session. The scale demonstrates excellent interrater reliability and good face and content validity. The usefulness of the scale is considered in the context of being an important tool to researchers trying to understand and improve outcomes of EX/RP for OCD as well as to EX/RP therapists in clinical practice. Future research will need to test the scale's reliability and validity in a larger sample of patients over the course of treatment.     

Interpretation bias and depressive symptoms: The role of self-relevance

Cognitive theories of depression emphasize negatively biased interpretations as an important target of therapy. Much of the research on interpretation bias in depression has focused on selection, or deciding which of several interpretations is likely. However, depressive biases may also exist in the generation of possible interpretations, or the ability to think of positive alternatives. If biases exist for generation as well as selection, therapeutic techniques to encourage the generation of more positive interpretations would be warranted. Asking therapy clients to consider someone else in a similar situation is a commonly used therapy strategy but has not been sufficiently examined empirically. In the current studies, we examine interpretation generation and selection in dysphoric and nondysphoric individuals, and contrast interpretations made for the self to interpretations made for two types of “other.” Our studies reveal depressive biases in both interpretation generation and selection, and indicate that interpretation valence is highly sensitive to the type of other considered. All participants generated and selected significantly more positive interpretations for friends than for themselves, but generated significantly more negative interpretations for hypothetical others than for themselves. Our results suggest that encouraging dysphoric individuals to imagine others can be beneficial, but the type of “other” used is critically important, with instructions to consider a close friend most likely to be effective in decreasing negativity in interpretation.     

Determinants of Money Management Behavior

Financial debt continues to rise, especially among college students, indicating a need for behavioral research to develop more effective money-management interventions. This study examined social psychological variables relevant to money management decision making among college students. Attitude, affect, perceived ability, and past experience were found to influence money-management behavior (i.e., maintaining a budget). We also examined an attitude model of money management and found 9 variables (e.g., normative influence, perceived barrier, perceived control) that determined attitudes toward maintaining a budget. The relevance of our findings to debt prevention is discussed.     

Concurrent and 2-year longitudinal relations between executive function and the behavior of 1st and 2nd grade children.

Abstract Concurrent and 2-year longitudinal relations were investigated between two indicators of children's ( n =60; mean age = years 11 months) executive function, inhibitory control and sequencing ability, and behavior problem symptomatology. Dependent measures were parent and teacher reported internalizing and externalizing behavior. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated few significant concurrent associations between either inhibitory control or sequencing ability, and behavior problem symptoms. In contrast, baseline inhibitory control predicted decreased teacher reported externalizing, and parent reported externalizing and internalizing behavior problems over a 2-year period. Baseline sequencing ability also predicted decreased teacher reported externalizing and parent reported internalizing behavior over this same time period. Results suggest that some aspects of executive function in early elementary grade-school children may be more strongly associated with change in behavior over time than concurrent behavior. Implications of these findings for the prevention of behavior problems are discussed.     

An investigation of the correlations between aggression,impulsiveness, social problem‐solving,and alcohol use

Impulsivity has been shown to predict aggression and heavy drinking in males, and poor social problem‐solving has been identified as a potential mediating variable in this relationship. We set out to investigate the inter‐relationships among impulsiveness, social problem‐solving, aggression, and alcohol use in a non‐offender sample of British males (N=70). Of our proposed relationships, only two were significant: higher impulsivity was related to poorer social problem‐solving, and poorer social problem‐solving was related to greater aggression. Combining impulsivity and social problem‐solving indicated that poor social problem‐solving, not impulsivity, was what exerted the influence over aggression in this sample. Impulsivity perhaps presents an obstacle to learning in the early developmental years, and the legacy of poor problem‐solving is what later contributes to aggression. Aggr. Behav. 28:439–445, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Automatic stereotypes vs. automatic prejudice: Sorting out the possibilities in the weapon paradigm

Payne (2001) has documented that African-American faces automatically facilitate the categorization of handguns, relative to White faces. We suggest that these provocative results could derive from either the automatic activation of prejudice (negative evaluations) or the automatic activation of stereotypes (both positively and negatively valenced associations). In an extension of Payne’s procedure, we show that African-American faces facilitate the categorization of both handguns and sports-related objects, but not the categorization of insects or fruits. Additionally, both handguns and sports objects are more likely to be miscategorized following a White face prime than an African-American one. These results suggest that when perceivers are attempting to identify objects, automatic stereotypic associations, both positively and negatively valenced ones, are more influential than general negative sentiments towards African-Americans.     

Differences in Creative Problem‐Solving Preferences Across Occupations

FourSight theory contends that individuals show preferences for the mental operations rooted in the creative process. The four fundamental preferences measured by FourSight are Clarifiers, Ideators, Developers, and Implementers. The present study examined the extent to which certain occupations reflect a proclivity for these four creative‐process preferences. Guided by Holland's theory of vocational choice, hypothesized relationships were formulated for the link between FourSight theory and 17 occupations. For example, it was predicted that those who work in finance would show a significant bias toward the Clarifier preference. Of the 17 hypothesized relationships between FourSight and occupation, statistical analysis of the FourSight preferences for 20,784 individuals showed support for 12 predictions and partial support for two of the hypothesized relationships. These findings clearly demonstrate that particular occupations engage specific creative‐process preferences. Future investigations might wish to examine the degree to which the interaction between work and creative‐thinking preferences predicts creative performance, satisfaction, stress, and turnover.