The eyes know: eye movements as a veridical index of memory

In two experiments, we examined whether observers' eye movements distinguish studied faces from highly similar novel faces. Participants' eye movements were monitored while they viewed three-face displays. Target-present displays contained a studied face and two morphed faces that were visually similar to it; target-absent displays contained three morphed faces that were visually similar to a studied, but not tested, face. On each trial in a test session, participants were instructed to choose the studied face if it was present or a random face if it was not and then to indicate whether the chosen face was studied. Whereas manipulating visual similarity in target-absent displays influenced the rate of false endorsements of nonstudied items as studied, eye movements proved impervious to this manipulation. Studied faces were viewed disproportionately from 1,000 to 2,000 ms after display onset and from 1,000 to 500 ms before explicit identification. Early viewing also distinguished studied faces from faces incorrectly endorsed as studied. Our findings show that eye movements provide a relatively pure index of past experience that is uninfluenced by explicit response strategies, and suggest that eye movement measures may be of practical use in applied settings.     

Intrusion, avoidance, and daily negative affect among couples coping with prostate cancer: a dyadic investigation

In the present study we examined how husbands' and wives' intrusive thoughts of prostate cancer (i.e., thinking about it when not meaning to) and avoidance (i.e., efforts to not think about cancer) related to their own and each other's average negative affect over a subsequent 14-day period. We examined whether congruence or similarity in intrusion about illness, but not avoidance, would be associated with less negative affect as this response to cancer could potentially facilitate adjustment. Fifty-nine husbands and wives completed measures of intrusion and avoidance after the diagnosis of prostate cancer and reported on their daily negative affect for 14 days. Using the actor-partner interdependence model, both patients and their wives who had high levels of intrusive thoughts experienced less negative affect when the other member of the couple also experienced high levels of intrusive thoughts. Those who had higher levels of avoidance had spouses who had higher levels of negative affect regardless of their own levels of avoidance. Congruence in responses to cancer may be adaptive for intrusion but not avoidance because the use of intrusive thoughts by both husbands and wives can allow couples to process the diagnosis of cancer, facilitating psychological adjustment, whereas avoidance does not. The current investigation adds to our understanding of how people within a marital dyad affect each other as they adjust to a cancer diagnosis.     

Foucault,Freud, and the Repressive Hypothesis

One aspect of Foucault's thought brings him much closer to Freud than many commentators believe. This Freudian “moment” in Foucault is formulated in the following dictum: the soul is the prison of the body. For Foucault, the modern soul is formed when the norms that govern disciplinary training and exercise are internalized. Once internalized, these norms affect our self-understanding and conduct. This paper focuses on Foucault's account of internalization. It shows that this Freudian moment in Foucault mitigates his criticisms of the repressive hypothesis, but it also suggests a conception of interiority that can be interpreted as the modern instantiation of the rapport à soi.     

Age invariance in semantic and episodic metamemory: Both younger and older adults provide accurate feeling-of-knowing for names of faces

Age differences in feeling-of-knowing (FOK) accuracy were examined for both episodic memory and semantic memory. Younger and older adults either viewed pictures of famous faces (semantic memory) or associated non-famous faces and names (episodic memory) and were tested on their memory for the name of the presented face. Participants viewed the faces again and made a FOK prediction about future recognition of the name associated with the presented face. Finally, four-alternative forced-choice recognition memory for the name, cued by the face, was tested and confidence judgments (CJs) were collected for each recognition response. Age differences were not obtained in semantic memory or the resolution of semantic FOKs, defined by within-person correlations of FOKs with recognition memory performance. Although age differences were obtained in level of episodic memory, there were no age differences in the resolution of episodic FOKs. FOKs for correctly recognized items correlated reliably with CJs for both types of materials, and did not differ by age group. The results indicate age invariance in monitoring of retrieval processes for name–face associations.     

Children's Conformity When Acquiring Novel Conventions: The Case of Artifacts

Prior research focused on children's acquisition of arbitrary social conventions (e.g., object labels) has revealed that both 3- and 4-year-old children conform to majority opinion. Two studies explored whether children show similar conformist tendencies when making category-based judgments about a less socially arbitrary domain that offers an objective basis for judgment: object functions. Three- and 4-year-old children watched a video in which two informants disagreed with a lone dissenter on the function of a novel artifact. Children were asked to categorize the object by stating with whom they agreed. The plausibility of the majority's response was manipulated across test trials. Results demonstrated that children were more likely to agree with the majority when majority and minority opinions were equally plausible, especially when the majority demonstrated an overt consensus. However, 4-year-olds actively eschewed the majority opinion when it was implausible in context of the artifact's functional design. The current results indicate that expertise in a domain of conventional knowledge reduces conformist tendencies.     

Computer-based written emotional disclosure: the effects of advance or real-time guidance and moderation by Big 5 personality traits

Standard written emotional disclosure (WED) about stress, which is private and unguided, yields small health benefits. The effect of providing individualized guidance to writers may enhance WED, but has not been tested. This trial of computer-based WED compared two novel therapist-guided forms of WED – advance guidance (before sessions) and real-time guidance (during sessions, through instant messaging) – to both standard WED and control writing; it also tested Big 5 personality traits as moderators of guided WED. Young adult participants (n = 163) with unresolved stressful experiences were randomized to conditions, had three, 30-min computer-based writing sessions, and were reassessed six weeks later. Contrary to hypotheses, real-time guidance WED had poorer outcomes than the other conditions on several measures, and advance guidance WED also showed some poorer outcomes. Moderator analyses revealed that participants with low baseline agreeableness, low extraversion, or high conscientiousness had relatively poor responses to guidance. We conclude that providing guidance for WED, especially in real-time, may interfere with emotional processing of unresolved stress, particularly for people whose personalities have poor fit with this interactive form of WED.     

A phenomenological examination of dating attitudes in ultra-orthodox Jewish emerging adult women

The current study investigated the dating attitudes of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women using a qualitative analysis. Interviews were conducted with eight Ultra-Orthodox Jewish young women. Themes reflected pressures associated with the dating process and the importance of dating for marriage. Additionally, respondents expressed satisfaction with the dating system due to its single-minded focus on finding a marriage partner and due to perceptions of alternative more Western systems.