Accurate forced-choice recognition without awareness of memory retrieval

Recognition confidence and the explicit awareness of memory retrieval commonly accompany accurate responding in recognition tests. Memory performance in recognition tests is widely assumed to measure explicit memory, but the generality of this assumption is questionable. Indeed, whether recognition in nonhumans is always supported by explicit memory is highly controversial. Here we identified circumstances wherein highly accurate recognition was unaccompanied by hallmark features of explicit memory. When memory for kaleidoscopes was tested using a two-alternative forced-choice recognition test with similar foils, recognition was enhanced by an attentional manipulation at encoding known to degrade explicit memory. Moreover, explicit recognition was most accurate when the awareness of retrieval was absent. These dissociations between accuracy and phenomenological features of explicit memory are consistent with the notion that correct responding resulted from experience-dependent enhancements of perceptual fluency with specific stimuli--the putative mechanism for perceptual priming effects in implicit memory tests. This mechanism may contribute to recognition performance in a variety of frequently-employed testing circumstances. Our results thus argue for a novel view of recognition, in that analyses of its neurocognitive foundations must take into account the potential for both (1) recognition mechanisms allied with implicit memory and (2) recognition mechanisms allied with explicit memory.     

The Interface between Mental Health Providers, Families, and Schools: Parent and Child Attitudes about Information-Sharing

Youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) are at an increased risk for school problems and negative consequences into adulthood, increasing the need for collaboration between families, school personnel and mental health providers. Current treatment guidelines emphasize the importance of information-sharing between providers and schools, yet few studies have addressed parents’ or students’ attitudes and preferences about this process or about the disclosure of mental health-related information to school professionals. Using a sample of 73 pairs of parents and their adolescents seeking outpatient treatment, this study assessed parental and adolescent attitudes about disclosure of mental health treatment information to school personnel. The majority of parents reported that the school should be informed that their adolescent was receiving counseling or medication for EBD, and that they should be the primary informant, rather than providers. By comparison, adolescents preferred more discretion about their involvement in treatment. Taken together, the study results highlight a number of implications relevant to the therapeutic relation and the process of obtaining and sharing mental health-related treatment information with various school personnel. Future research directions regarding the consultative and collaborative process with school personnel are also discussed.     

Unique Aspects of Adolescent Sexual Victimization Experiences

This study explored females' adolescent experiences with sexual aggression using event-level data. A community sample of women, ages 18 to 30 years ( N = 319), were interviewed regarding their most recent unwanted sexual experience. Incidents were categorized as occurring during adolescence (ages 14 to 17) or adulthood (after age 18). Preliminary statistical comparison of adolescent and adult incidents revealed differences in perpetrators, type of aggression, preceding activities, and location of assault. Qualitative analytic techniques were then used to identify the contexts in which adolescent victimization occurred, as well as the factors contributing to adolescent vulnerability. Four contexts in which adolescents were sexually victimized emerged: Within Intimate Relationships, At Parties/Social Gatherings, Abuse by Authority Figures, and While Alone With a Friend. Thematic analysis revealed that inexperience with sex and dating, lack of guardianship, substance use, social and relationship concerns, and powerlessness contributed to adolescent vulnerability within these contexts.     

Linkages between spouses' psychological distress and marital conflict in the home.

To elucidate the processes that underlie the established association between psychopathology and marital functioning, researchers have given attention to how symptomatic individuals manage their interpersonal contexts, particularly during the handling of disagreements. In the current study, the authors evaluate the role of marital conflict strategies in relation to wives' and husbands' psychological distress levels. A sample of 100 community-based couples completed assessments of psychological distress and diaries describing marital conflict that occurred at home during a 15-day reporting period. Findings from multilevel modeling of dyadic data revealed associations between both spouses' psychological distress and multiple behavioral and emotional conflict expressions in the home. Psychological symptoms uniquely predicted the occurrence of certain conflict expressions, even when accounting for global negative marital sentiments. The findings encourage subsequent consideration of marital conflict expressions and resolution strategies when studying processes involved in the marriage-psychological adjustment link.     

Sex differences in the causes of self-reported adolescent delinquency

Sex differences in the causes of self-reported adolescent delinquency were examined in full and half siblings born to a nationally representative sample of women in the United States. Qualitative sex differences in the genes that influence delinquency were not detected. Similarly, the proportions of variance in both aggressive and nonaggressive delinquency attributable to genetic and environmental influences did not differ significantly between girls and boys. Nonetheless, total variance in delinquency was greater among boys, and a scalar sex-differences model suggested that genetic and environmental influences on delinquency have less effect on population variation in delinquency among girls. Similarly, a test of the polygenic multiple threshold model suggested that girls require greater causal liability for the expression of delinquency than boys.     

Clarification and elaboration on evidence-based practice in psychology

Responds to comments by D. C. Wendt and B. D. Slife, P. H. Hunsberger, and R. B. Stuart and S. O. Lilienfeld regarding the report by the APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice entitled Evidence-based practice in psychology. The goal of the task force was to create a scheme that would suggest how evidence should be used to design and offer services that will benefit patients and to assure the public and the health care system that psychologists are providing evidence-based services. There were and will continue to be many scientific and philosophical issues inherent in any such enterprise, and agreement by all psychologists with every aspect of EBPP may not be possible. Nevertheless, the APA's EBPP policy and the report that accompanied it are remarkably inclusive of various perspectives while remaining unambiguous about the need to use evidence in a way that leads to effective services. What is needed at this point are clinically relevant evidence and investigations of how such evidence can be used to best benefit those served by psychological interventions.     

Breast Cancer as Trauma: Posttraumatic Stress and Posttraumatic Growth

Diagnosis and treatment of cancer has been associated with both posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and posttraumatic growth (PTG). This cross-sectional study sought to assess the frequency, common predictors, and interrelationships of PTSD symptoms and PTG in breast cancer survivors (n = 65). In this sample, symptoms of PTSD and reports of PTG were common and were not significantly related to one another. Greater social constraints on talking about breast cancer and perception of cancer as a traumatic stressor were associated with greater PTSD symptomatology. Younger age and perception of cancer as a traumatic stressor were associated with greater PTG. Findings suggest the central role of subjective appraisal in adjustment to cancer. Psychosocial interventions should be sensitive to the potential for PTG, both in treatment design and in assessment of outcomes.     

Confidence intervals for gamma-family measures of ordinal association

This research focused on confidence intervals (CIs) for 10 measures of monotonic association between ordinal variables. Standard errors (SEs) were also reviewed because more than 1 formula was available per index. For 5 indices, an element of the formula used to compute an SE is given that is apparently new. CIs computed with different SEs were compared in simulations with small samples (N = 25, 50, 75, or 100) for variables with 4 or 5 categories. With N > 25, many CIs performed well. Performance was best for consistent CIs due to N. Cliff and colleagues (N. Cliff, 1996; N. Cliff & V. Charlin, 1991; J. D. Long & N. Cliff, 1997). CIs for Spearman's rank correlation were also examined: Parameter coverage was erratic and sometimes egregiously underestimated.