Gender differences in episodic memory and visual working memory including the effects of age

Analysing the relationship between gender and memory, and examining the effects of age on the overall memory-related functioning, are the ongoing goals of psychological research. The present study examined gender and age group differences in episodic memory with respect to the type of task. In addition, these subgroup differences were also analysed in visual working memory. A sample of 366 women and 330 men, aged between 16 and 69 years of age, participated in the current study. Results indicate that women outperformed men on auditory memory tasks, whereas male adolescents and older male adults showed higher level performances on visual episodic and visual working memory measures. However, the size of gender-linked effects varied somewhat across age groups. Furthermore, results partly support a declining performance on episodic memory and visual working memory measures with increasing age. Although age-related losses in episodic memory could not be explained by a decreasing verbal and visuospatial ability with age, women's advantage in auditory episodic memory could be explained by their advantage in verbal ability. Men's higher level visual episodic memory performance was found to result from their advantage in visuospatial ability. Finally, possible methodological, biological, and cognitive explanations for the current findings are discussed.     

Alternative strategies for construct elicitation: Experimenting with experience

In order to provide an overview and evaluation of the ways in which constructs might be elicited, a number of procedures are reviewed including: the original triad procedure, dyadic and monadic procedures, ordinal elicitation procedures, and self-characterization procedures. In addition, two recently developed procedures are presented: 1) a focusing elicitation procedure using a modification of Gendlin's focusing technique which allows it to be applied to the triadic elicitation procedure, 2) a storytelling elicitation procedure that uses an original board game to aid a small group of participants in examining their personal and interpersonal constructions. In conclusion, some of the ways that these elicitation procedures have been compared and evaluated are reviewed.     

Treatment-related anxieties in children and adolescents with cancer

Abstract

Side-effects of anti-cancer treatment like nausea and vomiting and frightening medical procedures are relevant sources of anxiety in children and adolescents with cancer. Anticipatory nausea and vomiting can be described in terms of respondent conditioning. Hypnosis, systematic desensitization, relaxation training and employment of video-games are effective in mitigating these unpleasant concomitants of chemotherapy. Venipunctures, bone marrow aspirations, and lumbar punctures are repetitive painful procedures. Responses of pain and anxiety are ubiquitous, but still difficult to differentiate by psychological assessment. Rating scales and checklists have been developed to evaluate various intervention programs. Hypnotherapeutic approaches and comprehensive cognitive-behavioral treatment packages have been employed successfully to reduce anxiety reactions. In the future, it might be promising to match specific intervention programs with the coping behaviors spontaneously shown by the child; for instance, patients avoiding anxiety-provoking stimuli should be supported by additional distraction techniques, whereas vigilant patients that spontaneously focus their attention on these stimuli should be shown how to transform them in a positive context.     

Spatial Conceptual Influences on the Coordination of Bimanual Actions: When a Dual Task Becomes a Single Task

When the left and right hands produce 2 different rhythms simultaneously, coordination of the hands is difficult unless the rhythms can be integrated into a unified temporal pattern. In the present study, the authors investigated whether a similar account can be applied to the spatial domain. Participants (N = 8) produced a movement trajectory of semicircular form in single-limb and bimanual conditions. In the bimanual tasks, 1 limb moved above the other in the frontal plane. Bimanual unified tasks were constructed so that the spatial paths to be produced by the 2 limbs could be easily conceptualized as parts of a unified circle pattern. Bimanual distinct tasks availed a less obvious spatial pattern that would unify the 2 tasks. Performance of the spatial patterns was more accurate in the unified task, despite similar demands placed on the coordination dynamics between the limbs in the 2 cases (e.g., the phase relations). The authors conclude that a dual task becomes a single task, and interlimb interference is reduced, when the spatial patterns produced by the 2 hands form a geometric arrangement that can be conceptualized as a unified representation.     

Motor Performance of Stutterers and Nonstutterers on Timing and Force Control Tasks

Recently it has been suggested that speech and manual timing tasks share a common central process (Franz, Zelaznik, & Smith, 1992). Because stuttering is thought to be related to deficits in motoric processes such as timing, stutterers (n = 15) were compared with a set of age-, education-, and sex-matched nonstutterers on timing and isometric force-production tasks. In the timing tasks, subjects flexed and extended the right index finger at the metacarpophalangeal joint at cycle durations of 600, 500, 400, 300, and 200 ms. In the force-production tasks, subjects generated isometric forces to match target force levels displayed on a cathode-ray tube (CRT) screen. There were five levels of force, ranging from .11 to 7.85 newtons. Overall, there were no differences in timing and force-production performance between stutterers and nonstutterers. These results are similar to those obtained recently by Hulstijn, Summers, van Lieshout, and Peters (1992). We suggest that stuttering is not characterized by a general deficit in rhythmic timing. Instead, the motor deficit associated with stuttering should be viewed as speech specific.     

Reasons for (prior) belief in Bayesian epistemology

Bayesian epistemology tells us with great precision how we should move from prior to posterior beliefs in light of new evidence or information, but says little about where our prior beliefs come from. It offers few resources to describe some prior beliefs as rational or well-justified, and others as irrational or unreasonable. A different strand of epistemology takes the central epistemological question to be not how to change one’s beliefs in light of new evidence, but what reasons justify a given set of beliefs in the first place. We offer an account of rational belief formation that closes some of the gap between Bayesianism and its reason-based alternative, formalizing the idea that an agent can have reasons for his or her (prior) beliefs, in addition to evidence or information in the ordinary Bayesian sense. Our analysis of reasons for belief is part of a larger programme of research on the role of reasons in rational agency (Dietrich and List, Nous, 2012a, in press; Int J Game Theory, 2012b, in press).     

Observational Context of Mother-Child Interaction: Impact of a stress Context on Emotional Availability

Previous studies have found that a stressful observational context challenges the mother-child relationship, thus highlighting negative interactive behavior. However, the impact of observational context has only been investigated in infants and preschoolers without specifically using the Emotional Availability Scales. Nor have they explored whether the association of mother-child interaction with children’s emotional or behavioral problems depends on the observational context. We observed 140 mothers and their five to 12-year-old children in non-stressful free play and in a stressful task context. In general, dyads showed higher emotional availability in the task context compared to the free play. Specifically, mothers showed higher levels of Sensitivity, Structuring and Nonhostility, but lower levels of Nonintrusiveness during the task compared to the free play context; children showed higher levels of Responsiveness during the task than during free play. After controlling for dyadic stress, contextual effects decreased for all dimensions of emotional availability. The association of mother-child interaction with child problem behavior depended on the observational context. Specifically, we found maternal emotional availability during free play to be more strongly associated with child problem behavior than during the stressful task; however, emotional availability of the child was more strongly associated with problem behavior when obtained during the task. We conclude that context impacts on mother-child interactive behavior and also on the association of mother-child-interaction and child behavior. Stress is a relevant contextual factor influencing mother-child interactive behavior.