Self-centered memories: The reminiscence bump and the self

The self-memory relationship is thought to be bidirectional, in such a way that memories provide context for the self, and equally, the self exercises control over retrieval (Conway, 2005). Autobiographical memories are not distributed equally across the life span; instead, memories peak between ages 10 and 30. This reminiscence bump has been suggested to support the emergence of a stable and enduring self. In the present study, the relationship between memory accessibility and self was explored with a novel methodology that used generation of self images in the form of I am statements. Memories generated from I am cues clustered around the time of emergence for that particular self image. We argue that, when a new self-image is formed, it is associated with the encoding of memories that are relevant to that self and that remain highly accessible to the rememberer later in life. This study offers a new methodology for academics and clinicians interested in the relationship between memory and identity.     

A longitudinal examination of the relation between co‐offending with violent accomplices and violent crime

Although the idea that youthful offenders are affected by the company they keep is widely accepted, evidence in support of this idea is based primarily on reports provided by offenders and their peers. As an alternative to relying on reports of criminal behavior, a method that may overestimate the role that peers play in criminal behavior, the current research on co‐offending uses court records to identify and track over time individuals who are known to commit crimes together. The present investigation is the first co‐offending study to track patterns of violent criminal behavior (over an 18‐year period) among a sample of urban offenders and their accomplices. The study tests whether violence “spreads” from violent offenders to those inexperienced in violence. Results indicate that nonviolent offenders who commit their first co‐offense with violent accomplices are at increased risk for subsequent serious violent crime. Findings suggest that lessons of violence can be learned “on the street,” where knowledge is passed along through impromptu social contexts, including those in which offenders commit crimes together. Aggr. Behav. 28:97–108, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The importance of prudent negative consequences for maintaining the appropriate behavior of hyperactive students

Teachers use both positive and negative consequences to influence classroom behaviors. Four experiments were conducted to examine the differential affects of these two types of consequences on the maintenance of appropriate behaviors of hyperactive children. Results of Experiment 1 showed that the use of both positive and negative consequences (combined) was associated with high levels of on-task behaviors. Withdrawal of negative consequences caused a significant and dramatic decrease in on-task performance. The withdrawal of positive consequences produced no change in the rate of on-task behaviors. In Experiments 2, 3, and 4, the on-task results of Experiment 1 were replicated using a different teacher, different children, a counterbalanced design, longer phases, and different types of negative consequences. The withdrawal of negative consequences led to decreases in productivity in Experiment 2. The results of Experiment 3 also suggested that a prudent (e.g., calm, concrete, and consistent) approach to discipline was more effective than an imprudent (e.g., loud, emotional, and inconsistent) approach. Some level of mild negative consequences for inappropriate behavior is an important ingredient in effective classroom management, and qualitatively different negative consequences may have drastically different effects on the behavior of hyperactive students.This research was supported in part by a grant from the Middle Country Central School District No. 11, Centereach, New York, to the second author. We are grateful for the district's continued support. In addition, the authors wish to thank K. Daniel O' Leary for his helpful editorial comments.     

The effect of memory load on negative priming: An individual differences investigation

The effect of a verbal (Experiment 1) and a nonverbal (Experiment 2) memory load on negative priming was investigated by employing a concurrent memory task with a letter naming task. Across both experiments, negative priming was reliable only under conditions of zero memory load, suggesting that the processes that contribute to negative priming are resource demanding and dependent on a domain-free resource pool. Individual differences in negative priming were observed, such that high working memory capacity subjects showed reliable negative priming whereas low working memory capacity subjects did not. The results suggest that the negative priming effect results from allocation of controlled attention and that individual differences in working memory capacity correspond to the ability to efficiently handle irrelevant information.     

Overshadowing the Reminiscence Bump: Memories of a Struggle for Independence

We describe a study in which young and older groups of Bangladeshi participants recalled and dated autobiographical memories from across the lifespan. Memories were subsequently plotted in terms of the age of participants at time of encoding. As expected the reminiscence bump, preferential recall of memories from the period of 10 to 30 years of age, was observed. This was very marked in the younger group and but less so in the older group who also showed a second bump in the period 35 to 55 years of age. This second bump corresponded to the period of national conflict between Pakistan and the Bengalee people that resulted in the formation of an independent Bangladesh. It is proposed that both the reminiscence bump and later periods of unexpected rises in recall can be accounted for by the raised accessibility of sets of memories and this in turn is a product of the privileged encoding of highly self-relevant experiences.     

Food-related stimuli increase desire to eat in hungry and satiated human subjects

In the present study, the effect of food-related cues on the desire to eat chocolate in hungry and satiated subjects was investigated. Subjects (n=46) were randomly assigned to either a hungry or satiated group and then assigned to a group receiving one of the following stimuli: taste (2 M&Ms), sight (a photograph of M&Ms), cognition (a passage describin M&Ms), or control (no stimulus). In each testing session, subjects rated their desire to eat chocolate before and after the 90-s presentation of the particular stimulus. Each subject was then given a half pound of M&Ms so that actual consumption could also be measured. Results indicated that, following the presentation of the sight and taste stimuli, the subjects’ desire to eat chocolate was significantly increased. Furthermore, no differences in chocolate consumption due to state of hunger or type of food-related stimulus presented were found.     

Exploring long-term modality effects: Vocalization leads to best retention

Five experiments employing an incidental learning procedure explored the effects of different input modalities on the long-term retention of word lists. In each of the first four experiments, mixed-mode presentations featuring three different modes of presentation were employed. In the baseline presentation mode in each experiment, subjects were to read words silently. In the two additional presentation modes, subjects were to vocalize or read and hear (Experiment 1), read and hear or mouth (Experiment 2), vocalize or write (Experiment 3), and vocalize or write without seeing the written word (Experiment 4). In Experiment 5, separate groups of subjects were presented with pure-mode lists that they were to read silently, write without seeing, write and see, mouth, hear, read and hear, or vocalize. The principal findings were that auditory presentation procedures led to best memory performance and that, of these, only vocalization was found to consistently enhance retention. These findings are conceptualized within a framework that proposes that both the temporal distinctiveness of auditory information and self-generated cues are employed in the process of retrieval.     

Organization in autobiographical memory

Three experiments investigated timed autobiographical memory retrieval to cue words and phrases. In the first experiment, subjects retrieved memories to cues that named semantic category members and were primed with the superordinate category name or with a neutral word. No prime effects were observed. In the second experiment, subjects retrieved memories to primed and unprimed semantic category cues and to personal primes and personal history cues. Personal primes named lifetime periods (e.g., “school days”) and personal history cues named general events occurring in those lifetime periods for each subject (e.g., “holiday in Italy”). Only personal primes were found to significantly facilitate memory retrieval. A third experiment replicated this finding and also failed to find any prime effects to primes and cues naming activities not directly related to an individual’s personal history. In this experiment, characteristics of recalled events (e.g,, personal importance, frequency of rehearsal, pleasantness, and specificity of the memory) were found to be strongly associated with memories retrieved to personal cues and only mildly associated with memories retrieved to other types of cues. These findings suggest that one way in which autobiographical memories may be organized is in terms of a hierarchically structured abstracted personal history.     

Are Conservatives Really More Simple‐Minded than Liberals? The Domain Specificity of Complex Thinking

Prior research suggests that liberals are more complex than conservatives. However, it may be that liberals are not more complex in general, but rather only more complex on certain topic domains (while conservatives are more complex in other domains). Four studies (comprised of over 2,500 participants) evaluated this idea. Study 1 involves the domain specificity of a self‐report questionnaire related to complexity (dogmatism). By making only small adjustments to a popularly used dogmatism scale, results show that liberals can be significantly more dogmatic if a liberal domain is made salient. Studies 2–4 involve the domain specificity of integrative complexity. A large number of open‐ended responses from college students (Studies 2 and 3) and candidates in the 2004 Presidential election (Study 4) across an array of topic domains reveals little or no main effect of political ideology on integrative complexity, but rather topic domain by ideology interactions. Liberals are higher in complexity on some topics, but conservatives are higher on others. Overall, this large dataset calls into question the typical interpretation that conservatives are less complex than liberals in a domain‐general way.     

Are boundary extension and representational momentum related?

Boundary extension (BE) is misremembering more of a particular scene than actually presented. Representational momentum (RM) is misremembering the final position of a moving object as further along its implied trajectory. There is a sense in which both BE and RM are predictions, and the current experiments explore the possibility that these are related phenomena. We showed participants single photographs to measure baseline BE, and then approach sequences and measured BE and RM. We found significant BE and RM, and a significant interaction between baseline BE and BE following an approach sequence, but no interaction with RM. The initial evidence suggests that BE and RM are separate processes, and that BE (the establishing of spatial layout) occurs before RM (the continuation of movement) within a scene.