Transfer-appropriate processing (TAP)

Transfer-appropriate processing (TAP), as applied to implicit memory, has tended to emphasize general forms of processing (e.g., perceptual or conceptual processing). In the present studies, the TAP principle was employed in a more specific manner in order to more precisely assess the relations between the processing engaged during first exposure and that engaged during second exposure to items. Thirteen experiments used a two-phase, cross-task design in which participants engaged in different combinations of seven specific intentional tasks between Phase 1 and Phase 2. Maximum repetition priming was found when tasks were the same in Phases 1 and 2. When Phase 1 and Phase 2 tasks differed, there were lesser, or no, repetition priming effects, depending on the particular combination of tasks. The results demonstrate the importance of the specific intentional processes engaged during repetition priming and the potential heuristic value of TAP, as a principle and methodology, for exploring the organization of memory and related process models.     

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for ADHD in medication-treated adults with continued symptoms

The purpose of the present study was to examine the potential efficacy, patient acceptability, and feasibility of a novel, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for adults with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who have been stabilized on medications but still show clinically significant symptoms. Thirty-one adults with ADHD and stable psychopharmacology for ADHD were randomized to CBT plus continued psychopharmacology or continued psychopharmacology alone. Assessments included ADHD severity and associated anxiety and depression rated by an independent evaluator (IE) and by self-report. At the outcome assessment, those who were randomized to CBT had lower IE-rated ADHD symptoms (p < .01) and global severity (p < .002), as well as self-reported ADHD symptoms (p < .0001) than those randomized to continued psychopharmacology alone. Those in the CBT group also had lower IE-rated and self-report anxiety (p's < .04), lower IE-rated depression (p < .01), and a trend to have lower self-reported depression (p = .06). CBT continued to show superiority over continued psychopharmacology alone when statistically controlling levels of depression in analyses of core ADHD symptoms. There were significantly more treatment responders among patients who received CBT (56%) compared to those who did not (13%) (p < .02). These data support the hypothesis that CBT for adults with ADHD with residual symptoms is a feasible, acceptable, and potentially efficacious next-step treatment approach, worthy of further testing.     

Facilitative orthographic neighborhood effects: the SERIOL model account

A large orthographic neighborhood (N) facilitates lexical decision for central and left visual field/right hemisphere (LVF/RH) presentation, but not for right visual field/left hemisphere (RVF/LH) presentation. Based on the SERIOL model of letter-position encoding, this asymmetric N effect is explained by differential activation patterns at the orthographic level. This analysis implies that it should be possible to negate the LVF/RH N effect and create an RVF/LH N effect by manipulating contrast levels in specific ways. In Experiment 1, these predictions were confirmed. In Experiment 2, we eliminated the N effect for both LVF/RH and central presentation. These results indicate that the letter level is the primary locus of the N effect under lexical decision, and that the hemispheric specificity of the N effect does not reflect differential processing at the lexical level.     

Through their own eyes: a media-based group approach to adolescent trauma

This paper describes the process of two groups of students from high schools located in the immediate vicinity of the World Trade Center grappling to make sense of the events of September 11 through the creation of a documentary chronicling their experiences. The process of creating these videos mirrored the process and curative factors of a psychotherapy group in a non-stigmatizing, innovative, and accessible format, one generated by the students themselves with the assistance of professionals in the visual and performing arts. After reviewing the literature on the potential impact of violence on adolescents and the use of group treatment, especially in school settings, as an optimal choice for this population, we describe the distinctive process of the two separate groups of students, each culminating in different expressions of their very personal experience of September 11. We understand and contextualize their process through the lens of the therapeutic dynamics and elements of group work.     

False recognition across meaning,language, and stimulus format: Conceptual relatedness and the feeling of familiarity

Four experiments examined contributions of conceptual relatedness and feelings of familiarity to false recognition. Participants first studied lists of unrelated items (e.g., table, lock) followed by a recognition test with three types of items: (1) studied items (e.g., table), (2) semantically related lures (e.g., key), and (3) unrelated lures (e.g., cup). Participants falsely recognized more related than unrelated lures when the stimuli were words (Experiment 1A) and pictures (Experiment 1B), when the studied items and related lures differed in language (Experiment 2), and when they differed in perceptual format (Experiment 3). In Experiment 4, an attribution manipulation, designed to make feelings of familiarity nondiagnostic for memory judgments, eliminated the false-recognition effect obtained in Experiment 3. Overall, the study suggests that conceptual relatedness produces false recognition even in the absence of shared perceptual surface features between study and test items, and it does so by generating feelings of familiarity.     

Forgetting of trauma cues in adults reporting continuous or recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse

According to betrayal trauma theory, adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) who were molested by their caretakers (e.g., a father) are especially likely to dissociate ("repress") their memories of abuse. Testing college students, some reporting CSA, DePrince and Freyd (2004) found that those scoring high on a dissociation questionnaire exhibited memory deficits for trauma words when they viewed these words under divided-attention conditions. Replicating DePrince and Freyd's procedure, we tested for memory deficits for trauma words relative to neutral words in adults reporting either continuous or recovered memories of CSA versus adults denying a history of CSA. A memory deficit for trauma words under divided attention was expected in the recovered-memory group. Results were inconsistent with this prediction, as all three groups exhibited better recall of trauma words than neutral words, irrespective of encoding conditions.