The effects of extending the CS-UCS interval on the effectiveness of the conditioning treatment for nocturnal enuresis

Previous studies of the “conditioning method” of enuresis treatment have confounded the effects of conditioning with those of nonspecific psychotherapeutic aspects of the procedure. The present study compared three groups of enuretic children: (1) under the conventional bell-light conditioning procedure; (2) under a similar procedure, but which involved a three-minute delay between wetting and alarm, and (3) under no-treatment conditions. Double-blind precautions were used. Results suggested that conditioning effects improvement over and above that effected by nonspecific influences. The findings are qualified by large variances in improvement, and by premature termination of the experiment.     

Adult Eyewitness Memory for Single Versus Repeated Traumatic Events

Reports from individuals who have witnessed multiple, similar emotional events may differ from reports from witnesses of only a single event. To test this, we had participants (N = 65) view a video of a road traffic accident. Half of the participants saw two additional (similar) aversive films. Afterwards, participants filled out the Self‐Administered Interview on the target film twice with an interval of 1 week. Participants who saw multiple similar films were less accurate in recalling details from the target film than participants in the control condition. On their second report, participants were less complete but more accurate compared with their first report. These results indicate that adults who have witnessed multiple repeated events may appear less reliable in their reports than adults who have witnessed a single event. These findings are relevant when evaluating eyewitness evidence and call for new approaches to questioning witnesses about repeated events.Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stereotypic horses (Equus caballus) are not cognitively impaired

Animal Cognition - Stereotypies in animals are thought to arise from an interaction between genetic predisposition and sub-optimal housing conditions. In domestic horses, a well-studied...     

The Theory of Planned Behavior: Some Measurement Issues Concerning Belief-Based Variables

The theory of planned behavior presents clear operational definitions of attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and each of their corresponding belief-based measures. Theoretically, the direct and indirect measures of a given construct must be closely correlated. Empirical results, however, indicate that this is not always the case. In the present study, 2 of the factors that could be responsible for this situation-namely, the scaling of the variables defining each belief-based construct and the adequacy of using an expectancy-value model within the belief-based measures-were verified among a data set of 16 studies concerned with the application of the theory of planned behavior to the field of health. The results indicate that the scaling method used affected the correlation coefficients between indirect and direct measures. However, the face validity of these scaling methods must be demonstrated. The results also support the idea that, in most cases, using the expectancy-value model is no better than using only one arm of the belief-based measure.     

INSTRUMENTAL AND EXPRESSIVE TRAITS, TRAIT STEREOTYPES, AND SEXIST ATTITUDES What Do They Signify?

College students rated die typical male and female student and themselves on 22 instrumental (I) and 16 expressive (E) items from the PAQ (Spence & Helmreich, 1978) and the BSRI (Bern, 1974), as well as on the BSRI items "masculine" and "feminine." They also completed measures of gender stereotypes and sexist attitudes. Significant gender stereotypes were found on all but two I and E items in both genders. Significant gender differences in self-report were found on all the E items but on only 41% of the I items, confirming our hypotheses that societal changes have led women to develop more agentic self-conceptions. The pattern of relationships found between the self-report, stereotype, and attitude measures supports the utility of a multidimensional approach to gender. Responses to the items "masculine" and "feminine" confirm the implications of our hypothesis that these items primarily assess men's and women's basic sense of gender identity.     

Retraction statement: When nothing compares to me: how defensive motivations and similarity shape social comparison effects

The following article from European Journal of Social Psychology, “When nothing compares to me: How defensive motivations and similarity shape social comparison effects” by Diederik A. Stapel and Camille S. Johnson, published online on 26 September 2006 in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com ), has been retracted by agreement between the co‐author, the journal Editor in Chief, Tom Postmes, and John Wiley and Sons Ltd. The retraction has been agreed following the results of an investigation into the work of Diederik A. Stapel ( https://www.commissielevelt.nl/ ). The Levelt Committee has determined that this article contained data that was fabricated by Diederik A. Stapel. His co‐author was unaware of his actions, and not in any way involved. REFERENCE Stapel, D. A. &; Johnson, C. S. (2007). When nothing compares to me: how defensive motivations and similarity shape social comparison effects. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 824–838. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.390     

Top-down processing modulates older adults’ susceptibility to noise

The present study examined older and younger adults’ ability to use top-down processes to mitigate the effects of display noise during simple feature, visual search. As display noise levels increased, older adults (age 60–74 years, n = 32) exhibited greater top-down search reaction time (RT) benefits (bottom-up minus top-down search RT), compared to younger adults (age 18–27, n = 32). Older adults’ ability to mitigate the effects of noise was further assessed with RT variability, as measured by intra-individual standard deviations across trials. Older adults again exhibited larger top-down benefits (i.e., less RT variability) compared to younger adults, and more so when display noise was present vs. absent. These results suggest a sparing of top-down processes with age (Madden, Whiting, Spaniol, & Bucur, 2005; Psychology and Aging, 20, 317), and that top-down processes in older adults enhance search efficiency by optimizing signal-to-noise ratios.