Central galanin administration blocks consolidation of spatial learning

Galanin is a neuropeptide that inhibits the evoked release of several neurotransmitters, inhibits the activation of intracellular second messengers, and produces deficits in a variety of rodent learning and memory tasks. To evaluate the actions of galanin on encoding, consolidation, and storage/retrieval, galanin was acutely administered to Sprague-Dawley rats at time points before and after training trials in the Morris water maze. Intraventricular administration of galanin up to 3h after subjects had completed daily training trials in the Morris water task impaired performance on the probe trial, indicating that galanin-blocked consolidation. Pretreatment with an adenylate cyclase activator, forskolin, prevented the deficits in distal cue learning produced by galanin. Di-deoxyforskolin, an inactive analog of forskolin, had no effect. These results provide the first evidence that galanin interferes with long-term memory consolidation processes. A potential mechanism by which galanin produces this impairment may involve the inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity, leading to inhibition of downstream molecular events that are necessary for consolidation of long-term memory.     

Childhood amnesia: on answering questions about very early life events

Twenty five young adults were asked about the events surrounding the birth of a younger sibling which took place when they were under the age of 2 years. Approximately 40% of the participants claimed to have significant memories of the events. The mothers of our participants verified that a majority of their answers were accurate. Comparing the pattern of data with those previously collected (Eacott & Crawley, 1998) suggests that the memories of those who were aged below 2:0 are qualitatively similar to the memories of those who were older at the time of events and dissimilar in type to those who are basing their reports on reconstructions from family knowledge. This finding may be evidence that memories of events that occurred before the age of 2 years are genuine but rare. This conclusion may be useful in assessing theories of childhood amnesia.     

Memories of early childhood: Qualities of the experience of recollection

Memories judged to be recollections were contrasted with memories known to be based on second-hand sources in order to investigate the phenomenological qualities that underlie the experience of recollection. Adults rated the qualities of their recollections of an early childhood experience. Their ratings were compared with ratings of the qualities of memories of a similar autobiographical experience where the information was known to derive from other sources. Reported recollections were rated higher than memories based on other sources for many qualities, including sensory and spatial detail, location, thoughts, feelings, completeness, event detail, and pictorial representation. Comparison of the ratings of memories dating from different ages suggests that a memory may be judged to be recollected even if only a subset of the qualities characterizing recollections are present. This provides partial support for and clarification of Rubin's multiple-systems model of autobiographical memory.     

Evidence for transliminality from a subliminal card-guessing task

In this experiment we sought to provide evidence for transliminality from a test of subliminal perception that was disguised as a computerised ESP card-guessing task. It was predicted that highly transliminal individuals would outperform those with low levels of transliminality when given subliminal primes or 'clues' to the correct choice of card, but not when no primes were given. In line with the prediction, higher levels of transliminality were found to be associated with a greater number of correct selections of the target card on the primed trials, but not on the unprimed trials. In addition, a positive correlation was obtained between transliminality and detection accuracy, suggesting that higher levels of transliminality are associated with a greater sensitivity to visual stimulation. The results are discussed with reference to the possibility that transliminality might offer an alternative explanation for some ostensibly psychic perceptual experiences if subliminally acquired material is wrongly attributed to psychic sources.     

Characteristics of memories for traumatic and nontraumatic birth

Evidence for memory characteristic differences between trauma and other memories in non‐clinical samples is inconsistent. However, trauma is frequently confounded with the event recalled. This study compares trauma and nontrauma memories for the same event, childbirth, in a non‐clinical sample of 285 women 4–6 weeks after birth. None of the women met diagnostic criteria for post‐traumatic stress disorder. Traumatic birth, defined by the DSM‐5 event criterion, was reported by 100 women. The ratings of some memory characteristics did not differ between memories for traumatic and nontraumatic birth: All were rated highly coherent and central to women's lives, with moderate sensory memory. However, women who experienced traumatic births reported more involuntary recall, reliving, and negative/mixed emotions. Thus, trauma memories differed from nontrauma memories. In this non‐clinical sample, this is likely to be due to encoding during trauma rather than the distinctive memory profile for memories retrieved by those experiencing trauma symptoms.     

Closure of autobiographical memories: The effects of written recounting from first- or third-person visual perspective

Autobiographical memories are recalled with varying degrees of psychological closure. Closure is a subjective assessment of how far a remembered experience feels resolved, and it has been suggested that one predictor of closure is the amount of emotional detail in the memory. Study 1 examined which aspect of emotional detail is important for closure, and showed that open and closed negative memories were distinguished by ratings of emotion evoked during recall, not by remembered emotion from the time of the event. The recall of open memories was accompanied by more intense, more negative, and less positive emotion than the recall of closed memories. Biased retelling of memories has been shown to influence closure and on the basis of evidence that third-person recall serves a distancing function, Study 2 examined whether instructions to repeatedly recount an open memory from a third-person perspective would increase closure compared with a single or repeated recounting from a first-person perspective. While repeated third-person recounting had the greatest influence on closure, there were also increases in the first-person recounting groups. The results suggest that closure can be increased by reporting memories in written narrative form, particularly if repeatedly expressed from the third-person perspective.     

Changes in older Dutch adults’ role networks after moving

Using the convoy model (R. L. Kahn & T. C. Antonucci, 1980), this study examined the differential impact of relocation, depending on the distance moved, on the size of 3 types of role networks. A total of 890 Dutch nonmovers and 445 movers (aged 55–86 years) were selected from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. Results of analyses of variance showed that the neighbor networks changed most after relocation. Long‐distance movers discontinued the largest number of relationships with fellow club members. As expected, moving did not affect coworker networks. The findings show that, consistent with the convoy model, role networks proved to be unstable. Older adults, however, restored their partial networks at the second observation by starting new relationships.     

Manic-depressiveness and its correlates

Manic-depressiveness is the name here given to a hypothesized personality continuum that has, at one extreme, manic-depressive psychosis. A Manic-Depressiveness Scale is described, which comprises three scales, Manic Experience, Depressive Experience, and the sum of the two, since they are correlated. 250 undergraduate psychology students at the University of Adelaide and at Goldsmiths' College, London, were administered the Manic-Depressiveness Scale along with 12 measures including the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Revised). Scores on the total Manic-Depressiveness Scale tended (in order of size of association) to be correlated with Schizotypal Personality (and three subscales), Neuroticism, Magical Ideation, Mystical Experience, Belief in the Paranormal, absence of Social Na?veté, and Psychoticism. Manic Experience showed a pattern of relationships with the above variables broadly similar to that of Depressive Experience but included Creative Personality, while Depressive Experience included introversion. The relationship between manic-depressiveness and schizotypy is discussed.     

The self in the couple relationship: part 2

Part 1 of this paper examined some of the ways in which individual therapy, by assisting in the development of a more cohesive sense of self in the individual, inevitably has an impact on the individual's relationships, especially their relationship with a partner. This paper approaches the topic of the significance of ‘the self’ in the couple relationship from an alternative direction. It focuses on the significance of ‘the self’ for couples therapy, and argues that couples therapy may sometimes need to include therapeutic work with one partner to facilitate change in the relationship. In both parts of the paper, a conceptualization of the couple relationship as ‘a transitional space’ is central.