Introduction to This Special Issue: Complex Thought and Construction of Identity

This Introduction summarizes the rationale for three Special Issues in the Journal of Adult Development. The first, the present Special Issue, is on the themes of complex thought and the construction of identity. Summaries of the six empirical and theoretical articles in this first Special Issue appear below. The argument is made that work in this area adds to our knowledge about the complex network of factors present in and intersecting with adult development.     

Complex Thought and Construction of the Self in the Face of Aging and Death

Awareness of our own aging and eventual death demands a re-construction of our sense of self. This article offers a theoretical exploration of the process by which this adaptive re-construction might take place to avoid a potential developmental crisis. The discussion utilizes ideas from study on existential psychology, ambiguous loss, complex thought, and wisdom and spiritual traditions. The author is grateful to reviewers for their thoughtful suggestions.     

Estimated Risk of Developing Selected DSM-IV Disorders Among 5-Year-Old Children with Prenatal Cocaine Exposure

We estimated childhood risk of developing selected DSM-IV Disorders, including Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD), in children with prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE). Children were enrolled prospectively at birth (n = 476) with prenatal drug exposures documented by maternal interview, urine and meconium assays. Study participants included 400 African-American children from the birth cohort, 208 cocaine-exposed (CE) and 192 non-cocaine-exposed (NCE), who attended a 5-year follow-up assessment and whose caregiver completed the Computerized Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Under a generalized linear model (logistic link), Fisher’s exact methods were used to estimate the PCE-associated relative risk (RR) of these disorders. Our results indicated a modest but statistically robust elevation of ADHD risk associated with increasing levels of PCE (p < 0.05). Binary comparison of CE versus NCE children indicated no PCE-associated RR. Estimated cumulative incidence proportions among CE children were 2.9% for ADHD (vs 3.1% NCE); 1.4% for SAD (vs 1.6% NCE); and 4.3% for ODD (vs 6.8% NCE). Our findings suggest evidence of increased risk of ADHD (but not ODD or SAD) in relation to an increasing gradient of PCE during gestation.     

An Inference-Based Approach to Treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders

This article outlines the conceptual and empirical basis for an inference-based approach (IBA) to treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The IBA considers that in most cases the obsessional process begins with an initial doubt (e.g., “Maybe my hands are not clean”; “Perhaps the door was not locked”; “There's a chance I made an error”; “I could have harmed someone”) and that this doubt is a product of invalid reasoning. The IBA focus on initial doubt adds an extra upstream dimension to the current cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), which targets downstream appraisals, following on from the initial intrusion. Hence the aim of inference-based therapy (IBT) is to modify the reasoning narrative producing the doubt, and to return the person to the world of commonsense perception. IBT complements existing CBT and a case study illustrates the application of the IBT protocol. The IBA may be particularly useful in cases where belief in the initial probability of an obsessional doubt is strongly held and/or where consequences or appraisals following the doubt are absent or minimally associated with distress.     

Statistics between inductive logic and empirical science

Inductive logic generalizes the idea of logical entailment and provides standards for the evaluation of non-conclusive arguments. A main application of inductive logic is the generalization of observational data to theoretical models. In the empirical sciences, the mathematical theory of statistics addresses the same problem. This paper argues that there is no separable purely logical aspect of statistical inference in a variety of complex problems. Instead, statistical practice is often motivated by decision-theoretic considerations and resembles empirical science.     

The limits of top-down control of visual attention

The extent to which spatial selection is driven by the goals of the observer and by the properties of the environment is one of the major issues in the field of visual attention. Here we review recent experimental evidence from behavioral and eye movement studies suggesting that top-down control has temporal and spatial limits. More specifically, we argue that the first feedforward sweep of information is bottom-up, and that top-down control can influence selection only after the sweep is completed. In addition, top-down control can limit spatial selection through adjusting the size of attentional window, an area of visual space which receives priority in information sampling. Finally, we discuss the evidence found using brain imaging techniques for top-down control in an attempt to reconcile it with behavioral findings. We conclude by discussing theoretical implications of these results for the current models of visual selection.     

Failure to loose fear: The impact of cognitive load and trait anxiety on extinction

Exposure therapy is an effective technique for fear reduction. However, whether effective exposure requires attentional allocation to the feared situation remains a debated clinical issue. In the present study, the impact of attention allocation in extinction was investigated in an experimental conditioning study. Through a between-subjects manipulation of cognitive load, we created a condition in which participants could allocate their attention to the feared stimulus during extinction (low load condition), and a condition in which attentional allocation was impaired (high load condition). The influence of cognitive load on extinction was examined by comparing electrodermal responses and verbal ratings for the conditioned stimuli in the two extinction load conditions. The results show less successful extinction in the high load condition than in the low load condition. However, this effect was found only in low anxious participants, and it was prominent only on the skin conductance responses. The present results suggest that extinction is not automatic but requires cognitive resources.     

Remembrance of Eyewitness Testimony: Effects of Emotional Content,Self‐Relevance,and Emotional Tone1

This experiment concerned the effects of emotional content, self‐relevance, and emotional tone of testimony on memory. Eyewitness accounts of 4 events were constructed that systematically differed in emotionality and self‐relevance. The testimony, captured on videotape, was expressed with or without negative emotion. After viewing one of the videotaped accounts, participants were administered cued‐recall and recognition memory tests. Significant main effects indicated that participants best remembered testimony that was emotional in content, self‐relevant, and negatively expressed. Although emotional content and self‐relevance interacted to affect state anxiety, the latter did not mediate memory effects. Overall, significant gender differences in state anxiety but not memory emerged. Implications for understanding the influence of emotion on juror memory are discussed.     

Transfer of avoidance responding to a sensory preconditioned cue: Evidence for the role of S-S and R-S knowledge in avoidance learning

In avoidance learning studies, a warning signal (Sd) is directly paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) unless a particular response is performed. Research by Augustson and Dougher (1997) demonstrated that not only warning signals but also stimuli that are indirectly paired with the aversive event are capable of affecting the avoidance response. In the present study, we extended these results by incorporating a sensory preconditioning paradigm in an avoidance learning procedure. Sensory preconditioning training influenced the selection of avoidance responses in the presence of warning signals that were never paired directly with the aversive events. Moreover, results suggest that the selection of the avoidance responses was based on an integration of knowledge about the relation between the Sd and the US (S-S knowledge) and knowledge about the relation between the avoidance response and the US (R-S knowledge). As the expectancy-based theory of Lovibond (2006) is the only theory of avoidance that incorporates both knowledge structures, the results provide unique support for this theory.