Visual attention and emotional memory: recall of aversive pictures is partially mediated by concurrent task performance

The emotional enhancement of memory is often thought to be determined by attention. However, recent evidence using divided attention paradigms suggests that attention does not play a significant role in the formation of memories for aversive pictures. We report a study that investigated this question using a paradigm in which participants had to encode lists of randomly intermixed negative and neutral pictures under conditions of full attention and divided attention followed by a free recall test. Attention was divided by a highly demanding concurrent task tapping visual processing resources. Results showed that the advantage in recall for aversive pictures was still present in the DA condition. However, mediation analyses also revealed that concurrent task performance significantly mediated the emotional enhancement of memory under divided attention. This finding suggests that visual attentional processes play a significant role in the formation of emotional memories.     

The six most essential questions in psychiatric diagnosis: a pluralogue part 3: issues of utility and alternative approaches in psychiatric diagnosis

In face of the multiple controversies surrounding the DSM process in general and the development of DSM-5 in particular, we have organized a discussion around what we consider six essential questions in further work on the DSM. The six questions involve: 1) the nature of a mental disorder; 2) the definition of mental disorder; 3) the issue of whether, in the current state of psychiatric science, DSM-5 should assume a cautious, conservative posture or an assertive, transformative posture; 4) the role of pragmatic considerations in the construction of DSM-5; 5) the issue of utility of the DSM ?C whether DSM-III and IV have been designed more for clinicians or researchers, and how this conflict should be dealt with in the new manual; and 6) the possibility and advisability, given all the problems with DSM-III and IV, of designing a different diagnostic system. Part 1 of this article took up the first two questions. Part 2 took up the second two questions. Part 3 now deals with Questions 5 & 6. Question 5 confronts the issue of utility, whether the manual design of DSM-III and IV favors clinicians or researchers, and what that means for DSM-5. Our final question, Question 6, takes up a concluding issue, whether the acknowledged problems with the earlier DSMs warrants a significant overhaul of DSM-5 and future manuals. As in Parts 1 & 2 of this article, the general introduction, as well as the introductions and conclusions for the specific questions, are written by James Phillips, and the responses to commentaries are written by Allen Frances.     

The six most essential questions in psychiatric diagnosis: a pluralogue. Part 4: general conclusion

In the conclusion to this multi-part article I first review the discussions carried out around the six essential questions in psychiatric diagnosis – the position taken by Allen Frances on each question, the commentaries on the respective question along with Frances’ responses to the commentaries, and my own view of the multiple discussions. In this review I emphasize that the core question is the first – what is the nature of psychiatric illness – and that in some manner all further questions follow from the first. Following this review I attempt to move the discussion forward, addressing the first question from the perspectives of natural kind analysis and complexity analysis. This reflection leads toward a view of psychiatric disorders – and future nosologies – as far more complex and uncertain than we have imagined.     

Family Drawings as a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technique

This article concerns a family whose son was treated for two years by chemotherapy, the parents participating for part of that time in a parents' group, without any significant changes in behavior. Family therapy was initiated, with the inclusion of family art therapy, which immediately provided highly significant diagnostic data not otherwise observable. It also served as a dramatic catalytic agent for constructive change as evidenced by other family sessions.     

Evaluations of competence as a function of sex and marital status

A total of 160 female and male college students read a completed job application and an article written by the applicant. Both the job and the article were in nonsex-typed fields. The applicant was described as either female or male, and as either married, never married, widowed, or divorced. Subjects answered eight evaluate questions concerning the competence of the applicant and the merits of the article. Neither the sex nor the marital status of the applicant had a strong or consistent effect on the subjects' evaluations.     

Cry analysis detects subclinical effects of prenatal alcohol exposure in newborn infants

The threshold, latency, and peak fundamental frequency (basic pitch) of crying were sensitive to the subclinical effects of prenatal alcohol exposure through the first month of postnatal life. Whereas infants with prenatal alcohol exposure showed a lower cry pitch and higher cry threshold at 2 days of age, higher pitched cries, typical of nervous system insult, were evident at 14 and 28 days. A longer latency was also evident at 14 days.     

Ex-Partner,Family, Friends,and Other Relationships: Their Role Within the Social Network of Long-Term Single Mothers1

This study explores various aspects of support in the social network of long-term single mothers: the nature of expected help and of offered support, the attitudes behind support, the strategies for requesting help, the reluctance to ask, the efficacy of received help, the perceived refusals, and the behaviors judged as harmful. Thirty women separated for at least two years with a child aged under 10 were chosen following the snowball technique, and participated in this study. The content analysis of the semi-structured interviews shows how the dynamics of social support varies according to the relationship to the target person: ex-partner, family, friends, or “other relationships”. For instance the ex-partner, when mentioned, rarely offered the expected support and was perceived as harmful. Family members often lived up to their expectations, but women were generally very reluctant to ask them for help. Friends were the most efficient helpers and were the main persons from whom mothers expected cognitive support. The “other relationships” offered a certain amount of help, especially at the instrumental level but, as with the ex-partner, they were frequently perceived as harmful. Finally, we advocate for an “ecological” approach to measure social support in the context of the interaction in which it occurs.