Episodic autobiographical memory in depression: Specificity, autonoetic consciousness, and self-perspective

Autobiographical memory (AM) and the self are closely linked. AM retrieval in depression is characterized by a lack of specificity, suggesting an impairment of episodic AM. Autonoetic consciousness and self-perspective, which are critical to episodic AM, have never been addressed in depression. Twenty-one depressed inpatients and 21 matched controls were given an episodic AM task designed to assess positive and negative memories regarding specificity, autonoetic consciousness (remember/know procedure), and self-perspective (field/observer procedure). For specificity, "remember", and "field" responses, ANOVAs revealed a main group effect and a group x valence interaction. Between groups, patients showed lower scores than controls for positive memories. Within groups, patients showed greater scores for negative memories, and controls showed greater scores for positive memories. There is a global episodic AM impairment of positive memories in depression regarding specificity, autonoetic consciousness, and self-perspective. Our results suggest new cognitive interventions to improve the self-relevance of positive memories in depression.     

A configural effect in visual short-term memory for features from different parts of an object

Previous studies have shown that change detection performance is improved when the visual display holds features (e.g., a colour and an orientation) that are grouped into different parts of the same object compared to when they are all spatially separated (Xu, 2002a, 2002b). These findings indicate that visual short-term memory (VSTM) encoding can be "object based". Recently, however, it has been demonstrated that changing the orientation of an item could affect the spatial configuration of the display (Jiang, Chun, & Olson, 2004), which may have an important influence on change detection. The perceptual grouping of features into an object obviously reduces the amount of distinct spatial relations in a display and hence the complexity of the spatial configuration. In the present study, we ask whether the object-based encoding benefit observed in previous studies may reflect the use of configural coding rather than the outcome of a true object-based effect. The results show that when configural cues are removed, the object-based encoding benefit remains for features (i.e., colour and orientation) from different parts of an object, but is significantly reduced. These findings support the view that memory for features from different parts of an object can benefit from object-based encoding, but the use of configural coding significantly helps enlarge this effect.     

The supplementary motor area in motor and perceptual time processing: fMRI studies

The neural bases of timing mechanisms in the second-to-minute range are currently investigated using multidisciplinary approaches. This paper documents the involvement of the supplementary motor area (SMA) in the encoding of target durations by reporting convergent fMRI data from motor and perceptual timing tasks. Event-related fMRI was used in two temporal procedures, involving (1) the production of an accurate interval as compared to an accurate force, and (2) a dual-task of time and colour discrimination with parametric manipulation of the level of attention attributed to each parameter. The first study revealed greater activation of the SMA proper in skilful control of time compared to force. The second showed that increasing attentional allocation to time increased activity in a cortico-striatal network including the pre-SMA (in contrast with the occipital cortex for increasing attention to colour). Further, the SMA proper was sensitive to the attentional modulation cued prior to the time processing period. Taken together, these data and related literature suggest that the SMA plays a key role in time processing as part of the striato-cortical pathway previously identified by animal studies, human neuropsychology and neuroimaging.     

Correlates of attachment at age 3: construct validity of the preschool attachment classification system

This study examined correlates of attachment at age 3 to further validate preschool separation-reunion measures. Three-year-olds (N = 150) and their mothers participated in a separation-reunion protocol, the Preschool Attachment Classification System (PACS: J. Cassidy & R. S. Marvin with the MacArthur Working Group on Attachment, 1992), and a mother-child interaction session during a laboratory visit. Mothers also completed psychosocial measures and, along with teachers, evaluated child behavior problems. The secure and disorganized groups received, respectively, the highest and lowest interaction scores. Disorganized children showed a higher level of teacher-reported externalizing and internalizing problems than did secure children. Mothers of insecure children reported higher child externalizing (all insecure groups) and internalizing (avoidant group) scores, more personal distress related to emotional bonding (disorganized group), childrearing control (ambivalent group), and child hyperactivity (avoidant group). Results strongly support the validity of the PACS as a measure of attachment in 3-year-olds.     

Gender differences in memory processing: evidence from event-related potentials to faces

This study investigated gender differences on memory processing using event-related potentials (ERPs). Behavioral data and ERPs were recorded in 16 males and 10 females during a recognition memory task for faces. The behavioral data results showed that females performed better than males. Gender differences on ERPs were evidenced over anterior locations and involve the modulation of two spatially and temporally distinct components. These results are in general accordance with the view that males and females differ in the cognitive strategies they use to process information. Specifically, they could differ in their abilities to maintain information over interference and in the processing of the intrinsic contextual attributes of items, respectively, associated with the modulation of two anterior components. These interpretations lend support to the view that processing in females entails more detailed elaboration of information content than in males. Processing in males is more likely driven by schemas or overall information theme.     

Perceptions of and satisfaction with retirement: a comparison of six European union countries

The main aim of this study was to assess perceptions of and satisfaction with retirement among 1,686 recently retired people from 6 European Union countries. The authors compared their responses to a set of questions taken from the Retirement Satisfaction Inventory (F. J. Floyd et al., 1992). The first significant result was that Belgian, British, Finnish, French, and Spanish retirees all expressed very similar assessments of life satisfaction, whereas Portuguese retirees expressed a lower level of satisfaction. The 2nd result was that the major determinants of overall satisfaction in the 6 countries were (a) health and resources and (b) anticipated satisfaction. Finally, the data revealed that cultural background only accounted for a limited amount of variance in overall satisfaction with retirement.     

Memory and metamemory in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Studies on the link between checking and memory problems have produced equivocal results regarding a general memory deficit in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and subclinical checkers. However, there is clear and consistent evidence that patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) show lack of confidence in their memory performance. The purpose of the present study was to investigate memory and metamemory performance (feeling-of-knowing judgments) for neutral and threat-related material in three groups: OCD patients (OCs), subclinical checkers (SCs), and normal controls (NCs). Participants studied a list of neutral and threat word pairs. After an initial cued-recall test, they provided feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgments for unrecalled word pairs, followed by a recognition test. The results showed that OCs but not SCs were impaired in both recall and recognition compared to NCs. OCs were also less confident about their future memory performance than the other two groups, as reflected in their lower FOK ratings. Moreover, FOK judgments of the OCs were not reliable predictors of their recognition performance. Finally, neither OCs nor SCs showed any evidence of memory bias for threat-relevant information. The results support the idea of a general memory and a metamemory deficit in OCs.     

Controlled and automatic uses of memory in depressed patients: effect of retention interval lengths

The present study examines controlled and automatic uses of memory in clinically depressed patients by applying the Process Dissociation Procedure developed by Jacoby (1991) to a stem completion memory task with short and long retention intervals. The results show that the contribution of controlled processes is lower in depressed patients than in controls, especially for the longest retention interval, whereas the contribution of automatic processes is equivalent in both groups and unaffected by the length of the retention interval. These findings are discussed in a cognitive control framework.     

Relational factors of vulnerability and protection for adolescent pregnancy: a cross-sectional comparative study of Portuguese pregnant and nonpregnant adolescents of low socioeconomic status

This study explores multiple relational contexts that promote vulnerability and protection against early pregnancy in a potential risk group of Portuguese adolescents. A comparative analysis was made between two groups of female adolescents of low socioeconomic status: pregnant adolescents (n=57) and adolescents without a history of pregnancy (n=81). Results suggest that several variables belonging to different contexts-family and school and peer relations--are important in the characterization of the two groups. Lower levels of mother's overprotection and father's emotional support, presence of early pregnancy in adolescent's mother, lower level of emotional proximity to peer relations, and higher number of school failures are significantly associated with adolescent pregnancy.     

Consequential conditionals: invited and suppressed inferences from valued outcomes

Consequential conditionals are defined as "if P then Q" statements, where P is an action, and Q a predicted outcome of this action, which is either desirable or undesirable to the agent. Experiment 1 shows that desirable (viz. undesirable) outcomes invite an inference to the truth (viz. falsity) of their antecedent. Experiment 2 shows that the more extreme the outcome is, the stronger the invited inference is. Experiment 3 shows that modus ponens from premises "If A then C, A" can be suppressed with the introduction of a consequential conditional, "If C then Q," where Q is an undesirable outcome. Experiment 4 shows that the more undesirable Q is, the larger the suppression is. The authors discuss how these results can enrich current approaches of conditional inference on the basis of mental models, complementary necessary conditions, and conditional probabilities.