The neural correlates of everyday recognition memory

We used a novel automatic camera, SenseCam, to create a recognition memory test for real-life events. Adapting a 'Remember/Know' paradigm, we asked healthy undergraduates, who wore SenseCam for 2 days, in their everyday environments, to classify images as strongly or weakly remembered, strongly or weakly familiar or novel, while brain activation was recorded with functional MRI. Overlapping, widely distributed sets of brain regions were activated by recollected and familiar stimuli. Within the medial temporal lobes, 'Remember' responses specifically elicited greater activity in the right anterior and posterior parahippocampal gyrus than 'Know' responses. 'New' responses activated anterior parahippocampal regions. A parametric analysis, across correctly recognised items, revealed increasing activation in the right hippocampus and posterior parahippocampal gyrus (pPHG). This may reflect modulation of these regions by the degree of recollection or, alternatively, by increasing memory strength. Strong recollection elicited greater activity in the left posterior hippocampus/pPHG than weak recollection indicating that this region is specifically modulated by the degree of recollection.     

Best Practices: A Critical Yet Inclusive Vision for the Counseling Profession

Substantial controversy has surrounded the concept of best practices (BPs) in counseling; in particular, the consequences of deriving practice guidelines from empirically supported treatments (ESTs). Criticisms of EST methodology, assumptions, and findings are summarized, and implications for core counseling values, including multiculturalism, are discussed. The authors further elaborate an inclusive view of BP that can facilitate the use of research to inform and enhance counseling services while rectifying problems associated with methodological and theoretical bias.     

Inhibitory Control and Harsh Discipline as Predictors of Externalizing Problems in Young Children: A Comparative Study of U.S., Chinese,and Japanese Preschoolers

We examined associations between child inhibitory control, harsh parental discipline and externalizing problems in 120 4 year-old boys and girls in the US, China, and Japan. Individual differences in children’s inhibitory control abilities, assessed using behavioral tasks and maternal ratings, were related to child externalizing problems reported by mothers. As predicted, both child inhibitory control and maternal harsh discipline made significant contributions to child externalizing problems in all three countries. Across countries, child inhibitory control and maternal harsh discipline made significant independent contributions to early externalizing problems, suggesting an additive model of association. Our findings supported the cross-cultural generalizability of child inhibitory control and parental harsh punishment as key contributors to disruptive behavior in young children.     

The myths of free association and the potentials of the analytic relationship

The author challenges the traditional and still prevalent view of 'free association', arguing that it entails three forms of denial (also formulated in terms of corresponding myths): 1) denial of the patient's free agency; 2) denial of the patient's and the analyst's interpersonal infl uence; and 3) denial of the patient's share of responsibility for co-constructing the analytic relationship. That responsibility includes some degree of consideration of the analyst's needs. Sometimes, the patient's good judgment to that end may be refl ected in what is automatically and mistakenly reduced to a form of 'resistance'. Attention to the patient's responsibility must be balanced against the effort to provide a uniquely safe environment for the patient's revealing of shame and anxiety-ridden feelings and attitudes. But the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis, ideally, includes the cultivation, through lived experience, of the dialectical interplay of self-expression, on the one hand, and caring relational engagement, on the other. Recognition of the patient's free agency does not preclude exploration of constraining structures laid down in the past. On the contrary, it deepens such exploration. At the same time, it opens the door to the possibility of explicit recognition, via challenge, criticism, or affi rmation, of the patient's contributions to the analytic work.     

The Convergence of Counseling and Psychiatric Genetics: An Essential Role for Counselors

Research in psychiatric genetics shows that many mental disorders commonly seen by counselors are associated with the presence of specific genes. Although findings in gene research call for some changes in the way counselors approach intervention, in most cases, the importance of the counseling profession's core commitments is underscored. This article introduces the field of psychiatric genetics, clarifies the importance of counseling interventions in gene‐associated mental disorder, and highlights practice questions stimulated by growing knowledge in pychiatric genetics.     

Oral kinematics: examining the role of edibility and valence in the in-out effect

Previous research has revealed a stable preference for words with inward consonantal-articulation patterns (from the front to the back of the mouth; e.g. BENOKA), over outward-words (from the back to the front; e.g. KENOBA). Following the oral approach-avoidance account suggesting that the in–out effect is due to the resemblance between consonantal-articulations patterns and ingestion/expectoration, recent findings have shown that when judging inward-outward names for objects with particular oral functions, valence did not modulate the effect while the oral function did. To replicate and examine further the role of edibility and valence in shaping the in–out effect, we asked participants (N?=?545) to rate inward and outward names for edible and non-edible products while controlling for valence. Results revealed that the motor-to-affect link was only observed for edible products, regardless of valence.     

Neurodevelopmental model of long-term outcomes of adult survivors of childhood brain tumors

Childhood brain tumors and related treatments disrupt the developing brain and have a cascading impact on core cognitive skills and intellectual (intelligence quotient [IQ]) and academic achievement outcomes. Theoretical models for this cascade have been developed based on the literature, but no studies thus far have empirically evaluated the models. The current study aimed to empirically test the two extant models and generate a new data-driven model of the relationships among neurodevelopmental risk factors, core cognitive skills (i.e., processing speed, attention span, working memory), and IQ and achievement outcomes. Fifty-seven adult survivors of childhood brain tumors and fifty-seven demographically matched neurotypical individuals were included in the current study. The average age at brain tumor diagnosis was 8 years, and the average time since diagnosis was 17 years. Three a priori path models tested the hypothesized relationships among variables. Results of the path analyses revealed that the hybrid model best fit the data for both survivors and controls based on all statistical criteria. For survivors, processing speed was the core cognitive skill most widely associated with neurodevelopmental risk factors and outcomes. However, working memory and attention span also had unique contributions to IQ and academic achievement. Processing speed appears to be the central cognitive skill that disrupts the other core cognitive skills of attention span and working memory, and all three make a unique contribution to IQ and academic achievement. This is best demonstrated by a novel neurodevelopmental model that combines components of two earlier untested theoretical models.     

A Review of Consumer Embarrassment as a Public and Private Emotion

Whether the result of mispronouncing a fancy brand name, miscalculating a tip, purchasing a sensitive product, or stumbling into a product display, embarrassment is an important part of the consumer landscape. Embarrassment has traditionally been considered a social emotion, one that can only be experienced in public. In this paper, we offer a comprehensive review of consumer embarrassment and consider situations in which embarrassment can affect consumer behavior in both public and private contexts. We define embarrassment using this broader conceptualization and outline the transgressions that might trigger embarrassment in consumption contexts. We also discuss the diverse implications of embarrassment for consumer behavior, and review the strategies that both consumers and practitioners can use to mitigate embarrassment and its negative consequences. We hope this framework will stimulate new research on consumer embarrassment in both public and private contexts.     

Five Perspectives on the Meaning of Meaning in the Context of Clinical Practices

What is meaningful in life? This is a question many individuals ask at least once in their lifetime. Many researchers have also asked this question, and a large body of literature seems to answer in theoretical and academic terms. But what is the meaning of meaning in clinical practice? That is, what is the role of meaning in psychotherapy, recovery, and positive mental health? And how could meaning in life be addressed in practices: What clinical competencies are needed? To answer these and other questions, a broad panel of researchers and practitioners met at the world conference of the International Network for Personal Meaning (INPM) in Toronto in July of 2016. A passionate debate followed, particularly on the question of the meaning of meaning in clinical practice. In this article, five panel members—Mick Cooper, Clara Hill, Robert Neimeyer, Kirk Schneider, and Paul Wong—elaborate their perspective on these two questions. At the end of the article, the moderator, Joel Vos summarizes, their differences and agreements, and suggests a pluralistic, multidimensional perspective on meaning for practitioners. Despite some fundamental differences, the authors report many similar perspectives on the meaning of meaning in clinical practice and on clinical competencies. This debate could be used as an example of how practitioners could also converse with their clients; the process of exploring the question, “What does meaning mean to you here and now, in our therapy room?” could be meaningful in itself.