Why misinformation is more likely to be recognised over time: A source monitoring account

Although memory for actual events tends to be forgotten over time, memory for misinformation tends to be retrieved at a stable rate over long delays or at a rate greater than that found immediately after encoding. To examine whether source monitoring errors contribute to this phenomenon, two experiments investigated subjects' memory for the source of misinformation at different retention intervals. Subjects viewed a slide presentation, read a narrative containing misinformation, and, either 10 minutes or 1 week later, completed a recognition test about details seen in the slides and about the source of these details. After the longer retention interval in both experiments, participants were more likely to agree that they had seen misleading information and were also more likely to incorrectly associate the misinformation with the slide event. Theoretical implications of these findings are considered.     

Morphological priming: Dissociation of phonological, semantic, and morphological factors

Previous experiments based on a masked-priming paradigm revealed robust morphological priming effects induced by two derivational morphemes in Hebrew: the root and the verbal pattern. However, considering the special characteristics of the masked-priming paradigm, the possible contributions of phonological and/or semantic factors to these morphological effects could not be firmly assessed. In the present study, the role of these factors in morphological priming was examined, using cross-modal presentation. Experiment 1 revealed that priming between morphologically related words in Hebrew is determined by higher level linguistic characteristics and cannot be reduced to phonological overlap. Experiment 2 confirmed that morphological priming occurs in Hebrew even when primes and targets are not semantically related but, nevertheless, increases with semantic similarity. The results support the claim that morphological priming cannot be accounted for by considering semantic and phonological factors alone, and they exemplify the potential of using both masked and cross-modal priming to examine morphological processing.     

Mood, personality disorder symptoms and disability in obsessive compulsive hoarders: a comparison with clinical and nonclinical controls

Hoarding is a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), as well as a diagnostic criterion for obsessive compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). One recent study suggests that people who suffer from compulsive hoarding report more general psychopathology than people who do not [Frost, R.O., Krause, M.S., & Steketee, G. (1996). Hoarding and obsessive compulsive symptoms. Behavior Modification, 20, 116-132]. The present study addressed whether persons with OCD hoarding exhibit more depression, anxiety, OCD and personality disorders symptoms than community controls, OCD nonhoarders, or other anxiety disorder patients. Disability was also examined. Hoarding subjects were older than the other three groups, but age did not account for any of the differences observed among the groups. Compared to controls, OCD hoarding, nonhoarding OCD and anxiety disorder patients showed elevated YBOCS scores, as well as higher scores on depression, anxiety, family and social disability. Compared to nonhoarding OCD and anxiety disorder patients, OCD hoarding patients scored higher on anxiety, depression, family and social disability. Hoarding subjects had greater personality disorder symptoms than controls. However, OCD hoarding subjects differed from OCD nonhoarding and anxiety disorder subjects only on dependent and schizotypal personality disorder symptoms. The findings suggest that hoarding is associated with significant comorbidity and impairment compared to nonhoarding OCD and other anxiety disorders.     

Multiply controlled verbal operants: an analysis and extension to the picture exchange communication system

This paper presents Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behavior as a framework for understanding language acquisition in children with autism. We describe Skinner's analysis of pure and impure verbal operants and illustrate how this analysis may be applied to the design of communication training programs. The picture exchange communication system (PECS) is a training program influenced by Skinner's framework. We describe the training sequence associated with PECS and illustrate how this sequence may establish multiply controlled verbal behavior in children with autism. We conclude with an examination of how Skinner's framework may apply to other communication modalities and training strategies.     

Increasing false recognition rates with confirmatory feedback: a phenomenological analysis

During a simulated witness interrogation, participants were encouraged to confabulate an account consistent with false information concerning a videotaped event. The interviewer verbally affirmed some false responses. Previous research has shown that, a week later, participants often recognize confabulated events that were affirmed by the experimenter as being from the video. What is unclear is whether confirmatory feedback encouraged a change in the mental representation of the confabulated events to fit the original event or confirmation might have merely encouraged a change in beliefs about the event. To further understand the mechanisms that underlie the confirmatory feedback effect, participants were asked to judge the phenomenological experience associated with false recognition.     

Relationship of depression and anxiety to cancer patients' medical decision-making

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of depression and anxiety to cancer patients' medical decision-making. Participants were 79 rural and urban cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The four decisional styles of the Decisional Processing Model were the independent variables. Dependent variables were anxiety and depression, measured by Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety and the Center for Disease Control Depression Scale, respectively. Consistent with the Decisional Processing Model, analysis suggested that patients make medical decisions by information seeking, information processing, advice following, or ruminating. Decisional style did not vary according to type or stage of cancer, prognosis, time elapsed since initial diagnosis, or whether cancer was initial or recurrent. Decisional style did not systematically vary with depression and anxiety suggesting how a person makes decisions is a stable personality trait. Thus, decision-making may follow a cognitive schema. It is likely that patients' decisional styles help to manage anxiety and depression when confronted with life-threatening illness. Implications for informed consent and patients' involvement in decision-making are discussed.     

The buried in treasures workshop: Waitlist control trial of facilitated support groups for hoarding

Hoarding is a serious form of psychopathology that has been associated with significant health and safety concerns, as well as the source of social and economic burden (Tolin, Frost, Steketee, & Fitch, 2008; Tolin, Frost, Steketee, Gray, & Fitch, 2008). Recent developments in the treatment of hoarding have met with some success for both individual and group treatments. Nevertheless, the cost and limited accessibility of these treatments leave many hoarding sufferers without options for help. One alternative is support groups that require relatively few resources. Frost, Pekareva-Kochergina, and Maxner (2011) reported significant declines in hoarding symptoms following a non-professionally run 13-week support group (The Buried in Treasures [BIT] Workshop). The BIT Workshop is a highly structured and short term support group. The present study extended these findings by reporting on the results of a waitlist control trial of the BIT Workshop. Significant declines in all hoarding symptom measures were observed compared to a waitlist control. The treatment response rate for the BIT Workshop was similar to that obtained by previous individual and group treatment studies, despite its shorter length and lack of a trained therapist. The BIT Workshop may be an effective adjunct to cognitive behavior therapy for hoarding disorder, or an alternative when cognitive behavior therapy is inaccessible.     

Imposters,Tricksters, and Trustworthiness as an Epistemic Virtue

This paper argues that trustworthiness is an epistemic virtue that promotes objectivity. I show that untrustworthy imposture can be an arrogant act of privilege that silences marginalized voices. But, as epistemologists of ignorance have shown, sometimes trickery and the betrayal of epistemic norms are important resistance strategies. This raises the question: when is betrayal of trust epistemically virtuous? After establishing that trust is central to objectivity, I argue for the following answer: a betrayal is epistemically vicious when it strengthens or promotes oppressive, exclusive networks of trust, and a betrayal is epistemically virtuous when it expands trust networks to involve the oppressed. These criteria correctly account for both the epistemic vice of a recent case of Internet imposture and the epistemic virtue of resistant tricksters.     

Longitudinal associations between low morning cortisol in infancy and anger dysregulation in early childhood in a CPS‐referred sample

Children who experience early adversity are at increased risk for developing psychopathology, and dysfunction of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is a possible mechanism conferring this risk. This study sought to characterize the association between morning cortisol during different developmental periods and deficits in children's emotion regulation, a core feature of many psychological disorders. Morning cortisol was collected at two time points (i.e., during infancy, M = 13.0 months old, and during early childhood, M = 36.8 months old) from 120 children with histories of child protective services (CPS) involvement. Children completed a lab visit during early childhood (M = 38.6 months old) that involved an observational measure of anger regulation. Results showed that low morning cortisol during infancy, but not early childhood, predicted increased anger dysregulation during early childhood. These results highlight the importance of developmental timing in assessing the effects of HPA axis functioning and suggest that low cortisol during infancy is a risk factor for later emotion regulation difficulties.