Enhancing effects of acute psychosocial stress on priming of non-declarative memory in healthy young adults

Social stress affects cognitive processes in general, and memory performance in particular. However, the direction of these effects has not been clearly established, as it depends on several factors. Our aim was to determine the impact of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) reactivity to psychosocial stress on short-term non-declarative memory and declarative memory performance. Fifty-two young participants (18 men, 34 women) were subjected to the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST) and a control condition in a crossover design. Implicit memory was assessed by a priming test, and explicit memory was assessed by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). The TSST provoked greater salivary cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) responses than the control task. Men had a higher cortisol response to stress than women, but no sex differences were found for sAA release. Stress was associated with an enhancement of priming but did not affect declarative memory. Additionally, the enhancement on the priming test was higher in those whose sAA levels increased more in response to stress (r(48)?=?0.339, p?=?0.018). Our results confirm an effect of acute stress on priming, and that this effect is related to SNS activity. In addition, they suggest a different relationship between stress biomarkers and the different memory systems.     

Opposite actions of dopamine on aversive and appetitive memories in the crab

The understanding of how the reinforcement is represented in the central nervous system during memory formation is a current issue in neurobiology. Several studies in insects provide evidence of the instructive role of biogenic amines during the learning and memory process. In insects it was widely accepted that dopamine (DA) mediates aversive reinforcements. However, the idea of DA being exclusively involved in aversive memory has been challenged in recent studies. Here, we study the involvement of DA during aversive and appetitive memories in the crab Chasmagnathus. We found that DA-receptor antagonists impair aversive memory consolidation, in agreement with previous reports in insects, while administration of DA facilitates memory formation after a weak training protocol. In contrast, DA treatment during appetitive training was found to impair formation of long-term appetitive memory. In addition, as a first step in elucidating the neuroanatomical correlates of DA action on memory, we mapped dopaminergic neurons in the central nervous system of the crab. Results of the current study, together with those obtained in a previous work about the role of octopamine (OA), suggest that both amines (DA and OA) play a dual action in memory processes. On the one hand, DA and OA mediate the aversive and the appetitive signals, respectively, throughout training, while on the other hand, they interfere with the formation of memory of the opposite sign (DA in appetitive and OA in aversive). Our results support a new understanding about the way appetitive and aversive stimuli are processed during memory formation to ensure adaptive behavior.     

Explaining the relation between thin ideal internalization and body dissatisfaction among college women: the roles of social comparison and body surveillance

Sociocultural models of disordered eating lack comprehensive explanations as to how thin ideal internalization leads to body dissatisfaction. This study examined two social psychological theories as explanations of this relation, namely social comparison and objectification theories, in a sample of 265 women attending a Southeastern university. Social comparison (both general and appearance-related) and body surveillance (the indicator of objectification) were tested as mediators of the relation between thin ideal internalization and body dissatisfaction using bootstrapping analyses. Results indicated that body surveillance was a significant specific mediator of this relation; however, neither operationalization of social comparison emerged as such. Results serve to elaborate upon the sociocultural model of disordered eating by providing a more comprehensive understanding of the processes by which thin ideal internalization manifests itself in body dissatisfaction. The current findings also highlight the importance of targeting body surveillance in clinical settings.     

Two Sides of the Same Coin? Viewing Altruism and Aggression Through the Adaptive Lens of Kinship

Are altruism and aggression polar opposites, or are they two sides of the same coin? In this review, the authors examine the evolved biological roots of these behaviors and focus on the psychology of kinship and how it can serve to bridge both behaviors. Drawing on inclusive fitness theory ( Hamilton, 1964 ), the kinship, acceptance, and rejection model of altruism and aggression (KARMAA; Webster, 2008 ), and a sociofunctional threat‐based approach to prejudice ( Cottrell & Neuberg, 2005 ), the authors propose that altruism and aggression can be viewed as two sides of the same coin depending on context and perspective. For example, a mother bear protecting her cubs by attacking a predator may be simultaneously exhibiting an act of altruism and aggression. After offering some empirical support for their view, the authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications of viewing altruism and aggression as related constructs at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup levels.     

Size–brightness correspondence: Crosstalk and congruity among dimensions of connotative meaning

Following Karwoski, Odbert, and Osgood (Journal of General Psychology 26:199?C222, 1942), in the present article, cross-sensory correspondences are proposed to reflect the alignment of, and extensive bidirectional cross-activation among, dimensions of connotative meaning. The size?Cbrightness correspondence predicted on this basis (in which smaller is aligned with brighter) was confirmed in two ways. First, when participants explored three wooden balls of different size by touch alone and indicated how bright they thought each of them was, the smaller ball was judged to be brighter than the bigger ball. Second, when these two balls served as response keys in a speeded brightness-classification task, participants were quicker and more likely to be correct when confirming that a stimulus was bright (dark) when this required them to press the smaller (bigger) key, than when it required them to press the bigger (smaller) key. This congruity effect originated from interactions embedded in the later stages of information processing concerned with stimulus classification and response selection. These results, together with the observation that the cross-sensory features associated with smallness are the same as those associated with higher pitch sounds (i.e., both attributes are more active, brighter, faster, lighter in weight, quieter, sharper, and weaker than their opposites), support the suggestion that there exists a core set of cross-sensory correspondences that emerges whichever stimulus feature is used to probe it.     

Friendship Intimacy Exchange Buffers the Relation between ADHD Symptoms and Later Social Problems among Children Attending an After-School Care Program

The friendships of children displaying symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been understudied, particularly in comparison to the domain of peer rejection. This study tested whether friendship intimacy exchange buffers the prospective relation between ADHD symptoms and social problems 1 year later in a sample of children attending a community-based after-school program. Children (N?=?131; 53 % boys; 66 % African American) ranging from 5 to 13 years of age participated in this study. At baseline, children reported on friendship intimacy exchange with their identified best friend, and program staff rated children on ADHD symptoms and social problems. Staff ratings of children’s social problems were collected again 1 year later. Multiple regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for demographic variables and baseline social problems, friendship intimacy exchange significantly moderated the association between ADHD symptoms and social problems at the one-year follow-up. Specifically, the relation between ADHD and social problems was no longer significant for children reporting high levels of friendship intimacy exchange. This moderation was not further qualified by either child age or sex, although boys were more likely than girls to report low rates of friendship intimacy exchange. These findings indicate the importance of friendship intimacy for children displaying ADHD symptoms, who often experience significant peer problems. Friendship quality may be a promising target for prevention and intervention efforts in mitigating some of the long-term social problems associated with ADHD symptomatology, and future research is needed to extend these findings to other domains of friendship quality and clinical samples of children with ADHD.     

Change and processes of change within interventions to promote adjustment to multiple sclerosis: Learning from patient experiences

This qualitative study was nested within a trial of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and supportive listening for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). It aimed to enrich understanding of the changes made during therapy and to explore processes of change. In-depth interviews with 30 participants from the treatment trial were analysed inductively and five main themes were developed. The benefits that participants described experiencing as a result of the interventions were highly variable, idiosyncratic and often departed from outcomes measured within the trial. Tuning into and sharing one’s thoughts and feelings and learning specific strategies for living with MS appeared to be important processes for change, and participants identified the latter as particularly important for sustaining long-term benefits from therapy. Whether participants fully engaged with the interventions appeared to be related to their perceptions of being the right sort of candidate for the intervention, their expectations and motivations, the therapeutic relationship, adequate tailoring of the intervention, and practical issues. This study builds on previous research on factors and processes involved in adjustment to MS, the benefits of CBT for this population and highlights important issues to consider when developing psychosocial interventions for people with MS.     

Measuring coping flexibility

Abstract

The present study examined coping flexibility and correlates of this style of approaching stressful situations. Two methods for assessing coping flexibility, the Flex (Schwartz and Daltroy, 1991) and a modification of the Ways of Coping Checklist (Folkman and Lazarus. 1980) were administered to 28 men and 32 women, who were also asked questions about their age, gender, style of impression management (self-monitoring and social desirability), and basic personality variables from the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (Tellegen. 1982). Subjects responded to four common scenarios described by a 2 (social/nonsocial) × 2 (minor/major) matrix. Gender differences were not found for the Flex, but men exhibited more flexibility than did women when determined by the WOC range score. Older subjects exhibited smaller ranges on both the Flex and the WOC, suggesting that they were less flexible in coping than were younger subjects. Correlations with the Self-Monitoring scale approached significance for the Flex and were significant for the WOC. Greater flexibility was associated with greater well-being and achievement and negatively correlated with stress reactions and alienation.     

Demand characteristics and research into drug use

Abstract

Health research makes frequent use of verbal reports; and such reports are usually assumed to be the surface indicants of measurable entities such as attitudes, beliefs, intentions, etc. which reside inside the person. It is our assertion that verbal reports themselves are motivated and variable; they are functional and context-dependent and their meaning and significance are localised. Consequently discourse cannot be treated as if it were fixed and categorical data to be retrieved from memory by asking questions that appear objective or disinterested. A method is postulated, using a social perception analogy with signal detection (SD) theory. The method allows for the assessment of subject criterion, and permits an examination of signal-strength in terms of the researcher's motivation. Data are evaluated in terms of their “robustness”, a measure which derives from the variability of response in different contexts, and under different elicitation procedures. The method requires few assumptions to be made about the “truth” or “falsity” of verbal reports. It focuses on the types of social activities that are performed by utterances and thus on the contextual variability revealed by asking questions in different situations and in different ways. This procedure does not presume a direct correspondence between verbal reports and mental representations.