What people believe about memory

Two representative samples of adult Norwegians (n=2000) were asked a set of general and specific questions regarding their beliefs and opinions about human memory. The results indicate that on many questions, such as time of the earliest memories, inhibiting effects of collaboration, and memory for dramatic versus ordinary events, the views of the general public concurred with current research findings, and people in general had realistic views about their own memory performance. On other questions, such as the reliability of olfactory as compared with visual and auditory memory, the memory of small children in comparison with that of adults, the likelihood of repression of adult traumatic memories, and on more general questions such as the possibility of training memory and the capacity limitations of long-term memory, a large proportion of the participants expressed views that are less supported by scientific evidence. Implications of these findings are briefly discussed.     

Analysis of the decision-making process leading to appendectomy: a grounded theory study

The aim was to develop a theoretical understanding of the decision-making process leading to appendectomy. A qualitative interview study was performed in the grounded theory tradition using the constant comparative method to analyze data. The study setting was one county hospital and two local hospitals in Sweden, where 11 surgeons and 15 surgical nurses were interviewed. A model was developed which suggests that surgeons' decision making regarding appendectomy is formed by the interplay between their medical assessment of the patient's condition and a set of contextual characteristics. The latter consist of three interacting factors: (1) organizational conditions, (2) the professional actors' individual characteristics and interaction, and (3) the personal characteristics of the patient and his or her family or relatives. In case the outcome of medical assessment is ambiguous, the risk evaluation and final decision will be influenced by an interaction of the contextual characteristics. It was concluded that, compared to existing, rational models of decision making, the model presented identified potentially important contextual characteristics and an outline on when they come into play.     

Prenatal androgens and gender-typed behavior: a study of girls with mild and severe forms of congenital adrenal hyperplasia

Gender-typed behaviors and interests were investigated in 26 girls, aged 2-10 years, affected with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and in 26 unaffected girls matched for age. Girls with CAH were more interested in masculine toys and less interested in feminine toys and were more likely to report having male playmates and to wish for masculine careers. Parents of girls with CAH rated their daughters' behaviors as more boylike than did parents of unaffected girls. A relation was found between disease severity and behavior indicating that more severely affected CAH girls were more interested in masculine toys and careers. No parental influence could be demonstrated on play behavior, nor did the comparison of parents' ratings of wished for behavior versus perceived behavior in their daughters indicate an effect of parental expectations. The results are interpreted as supporting a biological contribution to differences in play behavior between girls with and without CAH.     

Rat strain differences in copulatory behavior after para-chlorophenylalanine and hormone treatment.

The potentiation of masculine copulatory behavior in castrated male rats following systemic para-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA) treatment was found to be dependent upon the strain of rat and the recency of castration. Wistar (W) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) males displayed a decline in behavioral responsiveness to PCPA treatment following castration, the W males retaining their behavioral responsiveness longer than SD males. Castrated W males were also behaviorally more responsive to androgen replacement than were SD males. Ovariectomized W and SD females receiving estrogen replacement displayed a strain difference in hormonal sensitivity. In tests for feminine copulatory behavior, ovariectomized W females were behaviorally more sensitive to estrogen treatment than SD females. Ovariectomized and estrogen-primed females of both strains displayed potentiated lordotic behavior following chronic PCPA treatment. Concomitant treatment with dexamethasone to reduce adrenal steroid output abolished the potentiation of lordotic behavior found with PCPA treatment.     

Mental rotation under head tilt: Factors influencing the location of the subjective reference frame

We report five experiments on the effect of head tilt on the mental rotation of patterns to the “upright.” In Experiment 1, subjects rotated alphanumeric characters, displayed within a circular surround. Experiment 2 was similar except that the character was an unfamiliar letter-like symbol. In Experiment 3, subjects again rotated alphanumeric characters, but they were displayed within a rectangular frame tilted 60° to the right. Experiment 4 was similar, except that the subjects were instructed to rotate the characters to the “upright” defined by the tilted frame. In all four experiments, the subjects performed the task with their heads either upright or tilted 60°. In Experiment 5, subjects had their heads and bodies tilted 90°, and rotated alphanumeric characters displayed within a circular surround. In all except Experiment 4, analysis of response latencies revealed that the subjective vertical lay closer to the gravitational than to the retinal vertical, although it was somewhat displaced in the direction of the head tilt—more so in Experiments 2 and 3 than in Experiment 1, and more so still in Experiment 5. In Experiment 4, instructions to adopt the axes of the frame land thus of the retina) succeeded in bringing the subjective vertical closer to the retinal than to the gravitational vertical, although the subjective vertical was still some 20° on average from the gravitational vertical. The results show that the subjective reference frame is distinct from both gravitational and the retinal frames, and that the gravitational frame exerts the stronger influence. They also argue against the primacy of a “retinal factor” in the perception of orientation.     

Longitudinal changes in term and preterm infant night wakings: The role of caregiver anxious-depression

Changes in infant night waking during the first year of life are associated with individual (e.g., prematurity) and family (e.g., caregiver psychopathology) factors. This study examined the association between infant night waking and caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms during the first year of life in preterm and term infants. We considered between-person differences and within-person changes in caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms in relation to changes in infant night waking from 2- to 9-months. Racially (30.0% Black, 60.4% White, 9.5% multiracial/other) and socioeconomically (40.0% below median household income) diverse caregivers (N = 445) of full term (n = 258) and preterm (n = 187) infants were recruited from hospitals and clinics in two midwestern states. Caregivers completed measures of anxious-depression and their infant's night waking at four sampling periods (2-, 4-, 6-, and 9-months). Infant night wakings declined from 2- to 9-months. Between-person differences were observed, such that caregivers with higher average anxious-depressive symptoms or infants born full term reported more night wakings. Within-person effects of caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms were not significant. Caregiver anxious-depression is closely associated with infant night wakings. By considering a caregiver's average severity of anxious-depression, healthcare providers can more effectively plan infant sleep interventions. If caregiver anxious-depressive symptoms are ameliorated, night wakings may also decrease.     

Contribution of religiousness in the prediction and interpretation of mystical experiences in a sensory deprivation context: activation of religious schemas

M. A. Persinger (2002) claimed that transcranial magnetic stimulation with weak, complex magnetic fields evokes mystical experiences. However, in a double-blind experiment, P. Granqvist, M. Fredrikson, P. Unge, A. Hagenfeldt, S. Valind., et al. (2005) found no effects of field exposure on mystical experiences (N = 89), though a minority of participants reported spontaneous mystical experiences. Following the conclusion of null effects from magnetic field exposure, the setup of this experiment, including pre-experimental assessments of religiousness and sensory deprivation, can be viewed as a prime/setting for such experiences. The authors analyzed subsets of experimental data from P. Granqvist and colleagues with emphasis on the contribution of religiousness in the prediction and interpretation of mystical experiences. They found that a higher degree of religiousness predicted a higher occurrence of mystical experiences with a religious quality, but not of mystical experiences without such a quality. The authors discuss findings in terms of the experimental setup serving as a prime/setting activating the religious schemas of religious participants.     

Cyber-Islamophobia? The case of WikiIslam

A large amount of academic research has analysed and documented the fact that Muslims are often presented in a negative or stereotypical way in Western media and popular culture. This article focuses on how the Internet can also be used in spreading and publishing anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim opinions. Although the Internet is significant in the development of contemporary society, no studies have focused on the importance of information and communication technologies in spreading Islamophobic opinions. However, the new technologies can also be used for monitoring and combating Islamophobia, and many Muslim organisations are today using the Internet for these purposes. The article is based on an indepth analysis of both anti-Muslim and pro-Muslim homepages that can be related to the debate over Islamophobia.