The potential effects of the implanted memory paradigm on child subjects

The purpose of this article is to examine the appropriate use of the implanted memory paradigm with children. In this paradigm, participants are asked repeatedly about fictitious events that never transpired. The responses of children in these investigations demonstrate clearly that they can be led to unintentionally create false memories. This article addresses whether memory research should continue to encourage children to create memories for events that never happened. The literature in other areas of psychology suggests that deception may lessen respect for authority, affect a child's self-esteem, and create stress. We propose that the use of the implanted memory paradigm be suspended indefinitely or until appropriate research demonstrates that the paradigm does not affect children negatively. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Refusing to be Marginalized: Groupwork in Mental Health Services for Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Childhood sexual abuse is a major aetiological factor in the development of mental health difficulties experienced by women. Although this conclusion is supported by two decades of extensive research, it has had little impact on the provision of mainstream mental health services. It remains exceptional for there to be specialist therapy or counselling provision for women survivors of childhood sexual abuse within statutory mental health services. This represents a serious gap in service provision and, it is argued, results in extended and inappropriate treatment for women survivors using mental health services. In this article, the development of a multi-agency approach to the provision of groupwork for women survivors of childhood sexual abuse within mental health service is described. A women-centred model of groupwork is outlined. Evaluation and funding are discussed. It is argued that, as a time-limited and effective treatment option, groupwork for women survivors of childhood sexual abuse should form a central part of service provision within statutory adult mental health services.     

Ethnic identity and reconciliation: two main tasks for the young in Bosnia-Herzegovina

The saliency of ethnicity and ethnic identity is influenced by contextual circumstances. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, due to the current ethno-political situation, ethnicity and ethnic identity most likely are important aspects of adolescents' lives. The main purpose of this study is to describe a group of young Mostarians in relation to ethnic identity and reconciliation. Focus is on the participants' perspectives on these subjects and the meanings they attribute to the concepts. A total of 89 young Mostarians are included in the study. A third of the participants are members of a local peace- and reconciliation-building organization, Koraci Nade. Results show that ethnic identity is highly salient for the group. While participants demonstrate strong emotional attachment to their ethnic group, exploration of ethnic identity is less reported. With regard to reconciliation, the participants perceive it as very desirable and show a personal and integrated relation to the concept. However, their definitions of the concept are vague as to what constitutes the process of reconciliation. Although of great importance to the members, participation in the peace-building organization was not found to enhance either ethnic identity or cross-ethnic friendships.     

Compensation for coarticulation reflects gesture perception, not spectral contrast

This article reports three experiments designed to explore the basis for speech perceivers' apparent compensations for coarticulation. In the first experiment, the stimuli were members of three /da/-to-/ga/ continua hybridized from natural speech. The monosyllables had originally been produced in disyllables /ada/ and /aga/ to make Continuum 1, /alda/ and /alga/ (Continuum 2), and /arda/ and /arga/ (Continuum 3). Members of the second and third continua were influenced by carryover coarticulation from the preceding /l/ or /r/ context. Listeners showed compensation for this carryover coarticulation in the absence of the precursor /al/ or /ar/ syllables. This rules out an account in which compensation for coarticulation reflects a spectral contrast effect exerted by a precursor syllable, as previously has been proposed by Lotto, Holt, and colleagues (e.g., Lotto, Kluender, & Holt, 1997; Lotto & Kluender, 1998). The second experiment showed an enhancing effect of the endpoint monosyllables in Experiment 1 on identifications of preceding natural hybrids along an /al/-to-/ar/ continuum. That is, coarticulatory /l/ and /r/ information in /da/ and /ga/ syllables led to increased judgments of /l/ and /r/, respectively, in the precursor /al/-to-/ar/ continuum members. This was opposite to the effect, in Experiment 3, of /da/ and /ga/ syllables on preceding tones synthesized to range in frequency from approximately the ending F3 of /ar/ to the ending F3 of /al/. The enhancing, not contrastive, effect in Experiment 2, juxtaposed to the contrastive effect in Experiment 3, further disconfirms the spectral contrast account of compensation for coarticulation. A review of the literature buttresses that conclusion and provides strong support for an account that invokes listeners' attention to information in speech for the occurrence of gestural overlap.     

Pain perception as a function of self-focused rumination

Pain sensitivity and tolerance were studied using the cold-pressor technique. A 3 independent groups design was employed using rumination as the independent variable. Group 1 was given a situation in which anger-related self-rumination was introduced. Group 2 was given a self-related rumination task in which anger was not induced. Group 3 received a rumination task not related to the self. In addition, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory was given prior to the experiment to test the hypothesis that ratings on the Anger-In subtest would correlate with pain sensitivity. In each group were 6 men and 6 women. Each participant took the anger and another inventory not relevant to the present study before the experiment. An anger measure was taken before and after the experiment for each group to see if the anger induction in Group 1 actually increased anger. There were no differences among the 3 groups on the second anger measure, so differences between Groups 1 and 2 could not be attributed to anger. A 1-way analysis of variance for 3 groups showed a strong main effect on pain tolerance but not pain sensitivity. Groups 1 and 2 were significantly more tolerant of pain than Group 3. The correlation of ratings on the Anger-In (internalized anger) subtest fell short of statistical significance with pain sensitivity and also was not significant for pain tolerance. Results were discussed in terms of the possibility that self-rumination may increase pain tolerance by requiring a greater cognitive load than nonself rumination.     

Tactile spatial acuity differs between fingers: a study comparing two testing paradigms

Tactile spatial acuity (TSA) is a reliable and reproducible measure of somatosensory system function that has been used to study abroad range of subject populations. Although TSA is most often assessed at the fingertip, published studies employing identical stimuli disagree on whether TSA differs between the fingers of neurologically normal subjects. Using a validated grating orientation discrimination task, we determined TSA bilaterally at the index and ring fingers of 16 healthy young adults. Motivated by earlier work, we utilized two stimulus presentation paradigms, the method of constant stimuli (MCS) and a staircase (SC) method. We found that TSA was significantly higher (the discrimination threshold was lower) at the index than at the ring finger, which was consistent with a prior study. Although mean thresholds at both fingers were higher when measured with the SC than with the MCS paradigm, this difference did not reach statistical significance (p = .14). These findings should facilitate both design and interpretation of future studies investigating TSA.     

Interrater reliability and coding guide for nonpsychotic formal thought disorder

Reliable and valid assessment of abnormal speech patterns may enable earlier recognition of nonpsychotic disorders through characteristic speech patterns. This study sought to establish interrater reliability using a standardized guide for scoring. A scoring guide defining 27 elements (e.g., inappropriate self-reference, simple loss of goal, circumstantiality) of disordered thought was developed. The seminal work of Andreasen's and Holzman's groups provided 12 elements, and 15 new elements were suggested by clinical literature. Audiotaped interviews with 12 psychiatric inpatients, adults of both sexes and various ages hospitalized for acute management of nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders, provided speech samples for observation of disordered thought by two independent raters. Using the guide's definitions and accompanying examples of elements of disordered thought, reliability in scoring was high (kappa of .85 for agreement on the presence of any abnormal speech element and kappa values from .66 to 1.00 for agreement on the presence of individual elements).     

Gender differences in temperament: a meta-analysis

The authors used meta-analytical techniques to estimate the magnitude of gender differences in mean level and variability of 35 dimensions and 3 factors of temperament in children ages 3 months to 13 years. Effortful control showed a large difference favoring girls and the dimensions within that factor (e.g., inhibitory control: d = -.41, perceptual sensitivity: d = -0.38) showed moderate gender differences favoring girls, consistent with boys' greater incidence of externalizing disorders. Surgency showed a difference favoring boys, as did some of the dimensions within that factor (e.g., activity: d = 0.33, high-intensity pleasure: d = 0.30), consistent with boys' greater involvement in active rough-and-tumble play. Negative affectivity showed negligible gender differences.     

Ultimate, provisional, and personal meaning of life: differences and common ground

Building on Viktor Frankl's clinical approach of Logotherapy and the works of subsequent theoreticians, three types of meaning of life were theoretically derived and empirically investigated, Ultimate, Provisional, and Personal meaning. These types were characterized, first, by the amount of agreement of subjects, second, by sources of Life Meaning, which were assessed by content analyses, third, by correlations, and fourth by prediction with ratings of important life concepts from the domains of Well-being, Religiosity, and Prosocial Behavior. 192 German adults, 45 men and 147 women, whose M age was 31.6 yr. (SD = 11.9), participated. Analysis indicated different sources for the Ultimate meaning compared with the other meaning types, which seem to display more similarities with each other. Other important life concepts, such as Belief, Harmony, Happiness, and Human Goodness were related to the investigated types of meaning of life. Some implications for clinical applications, research perspectives, and Positive Psychology are discussed.