The adaptive nature of children's overestimation in a strategic memory task

Kindergarten, first-, and third-grade children were given a multitrial sort-recall task with different items on each trial. Children were asked to predict how many items they would recall prior to each trial. We classified children into high- and low-overestimation groups based on their prediction accuracy on the first two trials and assessed changes in recall and strategy use over trials (trials 4/5 minus trials 1/2). Following predictions, at all grades, children in the high-overestimation group showed greater gains (or fewer losses) in recall than children in the low-overestimation group. Differences in strategy use over trials were generally nonsignificant. The results were interpreted as reflecting the adaptive nature of children's overestimation of their cognitive abilities.     

Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for PTSD symptoms after a road accident: an uncontrolled case series

This report examined whether Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) could be used in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in the aftermath of a serious motor vehicle accident. Six individuals reporting either full or severe subsyndromal PTSD completed 10 sessions of VRET, which was conducted using software designed to create real-time driving scenarios. Results indicated significant reductions in posttrauma symptoms involving reexperiencing, avoidance, and emotional numbing, with effect sizes ranging from d=.79 to d=1.49. Indices of clinically significant and reliable change suggested that the magnitude of these changes was meaningful. Additionally, high levels of perceived reality ("presence") within the virtual driving situation were reported, and patients reported satisfaction with treatment. Results are discussed in light of the possibility for VRET to be useful in guiding exposure in the treatment of PTSD following road accidents.     

Training-specific adaptations of H- and stretch reflexes in human soleus muscle

The authors investigated the effect of physical exercise on reflex excitability in a controlled intervention study. Healthy participants (N = 21) performed 4 weeks of either power training (ballistic strength training) or balance training (sensorimotor training [SMT]). Both training regimens enhanced balance control and rate of force development, whereas reductions in peak-to-peak amplitudes of stretch reflexes and in the ratio of the maximum Hoffman reflex to the maximum efferent motor response (Hmax:Mmax) measured at rest were limited to SMT. The differences in reflex excitability between the training regimens indicated different underlying neural mechanisms of adaptation. The reduced reflex excitability following SMT was most likely induced by supraspinal influence. The authors discuss an overall increase in presynaptic inhibition of Ia afferent fibers as a possible mechanism.     

The relationship between violence and youth suicide indicators among Asian American and Pacific Islander youth

The literature documents a relationship between interpersonal violence and suicide. One tool used to understand interpersonal violence is the Power Wheel, developed from clinical experience and originally used in domestic violence education. We examine the relationship between Teen Power and Control Wheel domains and suicidal indicators (seriously considered suicide, made a suicide plan, and attempted suicide) among Asian American and Pacific Islander high school students, in terms of both victimization and perpetration. Data from a 2007 survey of two multi-ethnic high schools on the island of O'ahu, Hawai'i were used. The survey assessed interpersonal youth violence and a multitude of risk and protective factors. It found that females were significantly more likely to seriously consider suicide and attempt suicide, compared to males. There were no statistically significant differences in seriously considering suicide, making a suicide plan, and attempting suicide by ethnic group, employment status, or hours worked per week. Using the Wheel, we found that all dimensions for victimization and perpetration were associated with the three suicidal indicators. However, the magnitude of this association was dramatically higher for victims than for perpetrators. School- and healthcare-based prevention strategies should ensure that both suicide and violence intervention components are addressed. Professionals who work with youth should be trained to feel comfortable, confident, and competent in discussing suicide and violence, and be willing and capable to assess and intervene.     

Interviewing Witnesses: Forced Confabulation and Confirmatory Feedback Increase False Memories

In two experiments, adults who witnessed a videotaped event subsequently engaged in face-to-face interviews during which they were forced to confabulate information about the events they had seen. The interviewer selectively reinforced some of the participants' confabulated responses by providing confirmatory feedback (e.g., "Yes, _is the correct answer") and provided neutral (uninformative) feedback for the remaining confabulated responses (e.g., "O.K. _"). One week later, participants developed false memories for the events they had earlier confabulated knowingly. However, confirmatory feedback increased false memory for forcibly confabulated events, increased confidence in those false memories, and increased the likelihood that participants would freely report the confabulated events 1 to 2 months later. The results illustrate the powerful role of social-motivational factors in promoting the development of false memories.     

Naive psychology and the attributional model of achievement

Open-ended explanations for the success and failure outcomes of others were obtained from (N= 226) undergraduates. Only 23% of the 2,495 explanations generated by these naive psychologists could be readily categorized as one of the four causal elements of the Weiner model of achievement attributions. An individual difference model of multidimensional scaling of the explanations for success and failure was performed separately. Because the explanations for success and failure were generally asymmetrical, the three dimensions of success explanations had little resemblance to the three dimensions of failure explanations. The success dimensions were labelled Achievement Orientation, Vitality, and Mastery. The failure dimensions were labelled Insufficient Energy, Poor Work Attitude, und Lack Ability.     

Non-spatial context-driven search

Contexts that predict characteristics of search targets can guide attention by triggering attentional control settings for the characteristics. However, this context-driven search has most commonly been found in the spatial dimension. The present study explored the context-driven search when shape contexts predict the color of targets: non-spatial context-driven search. It has been demonstrated that context-driven search requires cognitive resources, and evidence of non-spatial context-driven search is found when there is an increase in cognitive resources for the shape/color associations. Thus, the scarcity of evidence for non-spatial context-driven search is potentially because the context-driven search requires more cognitive resources for shape/color associations than for spatial/spatial associations. In the current study, we violated a previously 100% consistent shape/color association with two mismatch trials to encourage allocation of cognitive resources to the shape/color association. Three experiments showed that the shape-predicted color cues captured attention more than the non-predicted color cues, indicating that shape contexts triggered attentional control settings for a color predicted by the contexts. Furthermore, the shape contexts guided attention to the predicted color only after the two mismatch trials, suggesting that expression of the non-spatial context-driven search may require cognitive resources more than the spatial context-driven search.

     

Amending limb movements to mechanical perturbations under choice reaction time conditions

This paper examines the amendment of limb movements to mechanical perturbations under choice reaction time conditions. The two experiments reported were designed to examine the question of whether amendment latencies increase under choice conditions using two different choice manipulations. In Experiment 1, choice was manipulated by varying the duration of a mechanical perturbation in a known direction, while in Experiment 2 the strategy was to present perturbations of similar duration but unknown direction. Subjects produced discrete timing responses (700 ms-70 degrees) during which perturbations were interjected on random trials. The results reported reflect the outcome accuracy, the kinematics of the responses and latency of response modifications as a function of the various choice manipulations. The data demonstrated no statistically significant increases in reaction time as a function of choice manipulations. Although latencies did not significantly vary, both experiments demonstrated a significant decrease in response accuracy for the choice conditions. Collectively, the results are discussed in relation to the discrepancies between previous proprioceptive choice reaction time studies, which appear to stem from inconsistencies in both experimental methods and data analysis procedures.