Conflict adaptation depends on task structure

The dependence of the Simon effect on the correspondence of the previous trial can be explained by the conflict-monitoring theory, which holds that a control system adjusts automatic activation from irrelevant stimulus information (conflict adaptation) on the basis of the congruency of the previous trial. The authors report on 4 experiments showing that conflict adaptation is mediated by task structure as well as previous congruency. Experiment 1 showed that for 2 completely segregated sets of stimulus-response pairs there was no conflict adaptation across sets. However, if the stimulus sets overlapped for 2 separate response sets, conflict adaptation could be observed across the response sets. Experiment 2 showed that this effect was not due to the use of stimulus-response sets lateralized to 1 hemisphere each. Experiment 3 showed that if response sets are common for 2 separate stimulus sets, then conflict adaptation can again be observed across sets. Finally, Experiment 4 showed local control effects in the absence of confounding feature-overlap effects. These results indicate that deployment of control as evidenced by conflict adaptation reflects task structure.     

Migration and psychological status of adolescents in Turkey

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of involuntary migration on an adolescent population that had moved with their families to either one of two culturally different locations in Turkey. One of these groups had moved from a village in Eastern Turkey to a nearby town, while the other had moved a considerable distance to a large city in Western Turkey. Comparison groups included adolescents from both regions who had never migrated. Measures of self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and social support networks were used with 305 adolescents who were between the ages of 12 and 15. Adolescents who had migrated scored lower on self-esteem and life satisfaction, and had fewer people in their social support networks than those who had not. It was also found that those who had migrated tended to be more dependent on peers than family for social support. This was probably the case because school attendance was lower for migrants, particularly for males, and the probability of full time work on the street away from their families was considerably higher.     

False memories are hard to inhibit: differential effects of directed forgetting on accurate and false recall in the DRM procedure

Directed forgetting research shows that people can inhibit the retrieval of words that they were previously instructed to forget. The present research applied the directed forgetting procedure to the Deese/Roediger and McDermott (DRM) recall task to determine if directed forgetting instructions have similar or different effects on accurate and false memory. After studying lists of semantically related words, some participants were told to forget those lists, whereas other participants were not. All participants were then shown additional lists to remember. Following study, all participants were asked to free recall as many of the studied words as possible, including those they were previously instructed to forget. Directed forgetting instructions inhibited the accurate recall of studied words, but not the false recall of nonstudied critical words, whether measured by a within-participant or between-participants design. Contrary to an implicit activation hypothesis, false memories survived instructions to forget. These findings were reviewed in terms of fuzzy trace theory and the activation/monitoring approach to false memory.