When and where do we apply what we learn? A taxonomy for far transfer

Despite a century's worth of research, arguments surrounding the question of whether far transfer occurs have made little progress toward resolution. The authors argue the reason for this confusion is a failure to specify various dimensions along which transfer can occur, resulting in comparisons of "apples and oranges." They provide a framework that describes 9 relevant dimensions and show that the literature can productively be classified along these dimensions, with each study situated at the intersection of various dimensions. Estimation of a single effect size for far transfer is misguided in view of this complexity. The past 100 years of research shows that evidence for transfer under some conditions is substantial, but critical conditions for many key questions are untested.     

CATECHIZING THE HEAD AND THE HEART: AN INTEGRATED MODEL FOR CONFIRMATION MINISTRY

In catechesis for adolescents seeking confirmation in the Roman Catholic Church, a dualistic bias unconsciously dichotomizes objective doctrine and subjective psychology. This is problematic because if a catechist does not communicate mind‐independent truth, no seed of Catholic faith will have been planted in a student. At the same time, if a catechist does not affirm a student's subjectivity, the seed cannot find receptive soil. I believe the key to integrating these intellectual and affective elements – the head and the heart – lies in the link between what Bernard Lonergan calls authentic subjectivity and objectivity. Catechists can appeal to this link by embracing the moral responsibility to ‘know our knowing,’ becoming aware of our dualistic bias and judging our faith experiences according to objective standards of knowledge.     

"I saw it with my own ears": the effects of peer conversations on preschoolers' reports of nonexperienced events

The study was designed to explore the effects of naturally occurring peer interactions and repeated suggestive interviews on preschoolers' (N=96, Meanage=54 months) memories for a personally experienced event, namely a staged archaeological dig. During the dig, one third of the children witnessed two "target" activities. A second third of the children were the classmates of those in the first group, but did not witness the target activities. The remaining children were not the classmates of those who witnessed the target activities, nor did they witness the target activities themselves, and thus served to provide a baseline against which to assess the effects of peer contact. Following the dig, the children were interviewed in either a neutral or suggestive manner on three occasions. Results from a fourth interview by a new examiner revealed that the combination of suggestive interviews and peer exposure led to claims of witnessing the target activities by the classmate group that were comparable to the children who actually did witness these activities. Further, assent rates to misleading questions employing peer pressure and false claims of actually seeing versus merely hearing about the target activities were elevated following opportunities to discuss these activities with peers.     

Repeatedly Thinking about a Non-event: Source Misattributions among Preschoolers

In this paper we review the factors alleged to be responsible for the creation of inaccurate reports among preschool-aged children, focusing on so-called "source misattribution errors." We present the first round of results from an ongoing program of research that suggests that source misattributions could be a powerful mechanism underlying children′s false beliefs about having experienced fictitious events. Preliminary findings from this program of research indicate that all children of all ages are equally susceptible to making source misattributions. Data from a follow-up wave of data indicate that very young children may be disproportionately vulnerable to these kinds of errors when the procedure is changed slightly to create mental images more easily. This vulnerability leads younger preschoolers, on occasion, to claim that they actually experienced events that they only thought about. These preliminary findings are discussed in the context of the ongoing debate over the veracity and durability of delayed reports of early memories, repressed memories, dissociative states, and the validity risks posed by therapeutic techniques that entail repeated visually guided imagery inductions.     

Intracerebroventricular Administration of Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antisense Oligonucleotides Attenuates Salt Appetite in the Rat

The anterior ventral third ventricle (AV3V) region of the brain contains high concentrations of mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) and glucocorticoid receptors (GR) that are important in the maintenance of body fluid and electrolyte balance as well as other physiological processes. Daily intracerebroventricular pulse injections of MR antisense oligonucleotides significantly suppressed deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA) induced salt appetite in a dose-related manner. Similar administration of GR antisense or scrambled/sense oligonucleotide into the third ventricle failed to inhibit salt appetite. Salt appetite aroused after adrenalectomy was not suppressed by MR antisense oligonucleotide treatments but was suppressed by an antisense oligonucleotide directed against the angiotensin II AT1 receptor subtype. Receptor binding analysis demonstrated that MR and GR oligonucleotide treatments each reduced their respective receptor subtypes. Finally, although GR antisense oligonucleotide treatment was ineffective in suppressing DOCA-induced salt appetite, this treatment did increase stress induced corticosterone release as well as delayed the recovery of corticosterone to basal levels after stress.     

Psychological Science in the Public Interest: the case for juried analyses

The inaugural issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest (PSPI), a new publishing initiative by the American Psychological Society, accompanies this issue of Psychological Science. The report it contains, "Psychological Science Can Improve Diagnostic Decisions," by John Swets, Robyn Dawes, and John Monahan, represents a careful effort by those authors to summarize the potential of modern psychological science to enhance real-world diagnostic decisions. Such decisions (Is a cancer present? Will this individual commit violence? Will an impending storm strike? Will this applicant succeed?) are prevalent and crucial to the lives of individuals and to the well-being of our society. Subsequent issues of PSPI will address other important topics of public interest in areas where psychological science may have the potential to inform and improve public policy. Each of those reports will also represent the efforts of a distinguished team of scientists to report the available evidence, and the implications of that evidence, fairly and comprehensively. In this article, we describe the goals, procedures, and potential of PSPI.     

The rise and fall of IQ in special ed: Historical trends and their implications

Using IQ records from 10 sites around the country, we examined longitudinal trends in IQ among mental retardation (MR) students during the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) to WISC-Revised (R) transition in the 1970s and learning disability (LD) students during the WISC-R to WISC-3rd Revision (III) transition in the 1990s. Based on the work by Flynn [American Journal of Mental Deficiency 90 (1985) 236; Psychology, Public Policy, and Law 6 (2000) 191], we predicted a rise in IQ followed by a fall each time a newly normed IQ test is introduced into the schools and used to diagnose children as MR or LD. As expected, we found that mean IQs of MR and LD students followed a nearly identical parabolic trajectory, and differed depending on what year they were tested. IQs from the older norms were higher than IQs from the newly introduced norms. This systematic shift had a significant impact on the likelihood of a MR diagnosis. The broader implications of this pattern are discussed.