Trait dissociation and commission errors in memory reports of emotional events

In 2 studies we examined whether trait dissociation is related to spontaneous commission errors (reports of events that did not occur) in free recall of emotional events. We also explored whether the functional locus of the dissociation-commission link is related to repeated retrieval or shallow encoding. In Experiment 1 participants were exposed to a staged incident and were repeatedly asked to add more information to their written accounts of the event. Dissociation levels were related to commission errors, indicating that people who report many dissociative experiences tend to make more commission errors. However, it was not the case that the overall increase in commission errors over successive retrieval attempts was typical for high dissociative participants. In Experiment 2 participants saw a video fragment of a severe car accident. During the video, half the participants performed a dual task, and the other half did not. Participants performing the dual task made more commission errors than controls, but this effect was not more pronounced in those with high trait dissociation scores. These studies show that there is a link between dissociation and spontaneous commission errors in memory reports of emotional events, but the functional locus of this link remains unclear.     

The time-course of morphological constraints: evidence from eye-movements during reading

Lexical compounds in English are constrained in that the non-head noun can be an irregular but not a regular plural (e.g. mice eater vs. *rats eater), a contrast that has been argued to derive from a morphological constraint on modifiers inside compounds. In addition, bare nouns are preferred over plural forms inside compounds (e.g. mouse eater vs. mice eater), a contrast that has been ascribed to the semantics of compounds. Measuring eye-movements during reading, this study examined how morphological and semantic information become available over time during the processing of a compound. We found that the morphological constraint affected both early and late eye-movement measures, whereas the semantic constraint for singular non-heads only affected late measures of processing. These results indicate that morphological information becomes available earlier than semantic information during the processing of compounds.     

Forward and backward second-order Pavlovian conditioning in honeybees

Second-order conditioning (SOC) is the association of a neutral stimulus with another stimulus that had previously been combined with an unconditioned stimulus (US). We used classical conditioning of the proboscis extension response (PER) in honeybees (Apis mellifera) with odors (CS) and sugar (US). Previous SOC experiments in bees were inconclusive, and, therefore, we attempted to demonstrate SOC in the following three experiments: (Experiment 1) After differential conditioning (pairing odor A with US and presenting odor B without US), the bees experienced two pairs of partially overlapping odors, either a new odor C followed by a previously reinforced odor A (C-A) or a new odor C followed by a previously nonreinforced odor B (C-B). (Experiment 2) After differential conditioning, bees were presented with C-A or A-C. (Experiment 3) Bees were first presented with C-A or A-C before differential conditioning and were tested with odor C. We observed: (Experiment 1) 40% of the bees showed PER to the C-A presentation, but only 20% showed PER to the C-B presentation. (Experiment 2) 40% of the bees showed PER to the C-A presentation, while only 20% showed PER to the reversed sequence A-C. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that a previously reinforced odor can be a secondary reinforcer for excitatory SOC only with forward-pairing. (Experiment 3) PER toward C was lower (15%) in bees presented with A-C than with C-A (25%). This showed that backward SOC is not as effective as forward SOC. These results help to delineate different conditions that are critical for the phenomenon of SOC.     

Responding in configural discrimination problems depends on density of reinforcement in time

Previous research has shown that conditioned responding in differential skin conductance conditioning increased for reinforced stimuli (CSs+) but remained constant for nonreinforced stimuli (CSs-) due to decreasing reinforcement density. The present two experiments (Experiment 1: Negative patterning; Experiment 2: Positive patterning) were designed to disentangle a possible confound of reinforcement density with stimulus frequency. In order to achieve this, we varied the intertrial interval (18 s, 24 s, or 48 s) and held constant the numbers of CSs+ and of CSs- in each of both discrimination problems. With increasing intertrial intervals, we found higher responding both to CSs+ and to CSs- as well as increased response differentiation. We discuss these results with respect to two mechanisms offered by Wagner's SOP model and conclude that the observed effects are due to variations in density of reinforcement in time.     

Bodily expression of emotion

The question whether body movements and body postures are indicative of specific emotions is a matter of debate. While some studies have found evidence for specific body movements accompanying specific emotions, others indicate that movement behavior (aside from facial expression) may be only indicative of the quantity (intensity) of emotion, but not of its quality. The study reported here is an attempt to demonstrate that body movements and postures to some degree are specific for certain emotions. A sample of 224 video takes, in which actors and actresses portrayed the emotions of elated joy, happiness, sadness, despair, fear, terror, cold anger, hot anger, disgust, contempt, shame, guilt, pride, and boredom via a scenario approach, was analyzed using coding schemata for the analysis of body movements and postures. Results indicate that some emotion-specific movement and posture characteristics seem to exist, but that for body movements differences between emotions can be partly explained by the dimension of activation. While encoder (actor) differences are rather pronounced with respect to specific movement and posture habits, these differences are largely independent from the emotion-specific differences found. The results are discussed with respect to emotion-specific discrete expression models in contrast to dimensional models of emotion encoding. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Impact of Anxiety on Memory for Details in Spider Phobics

According to the attentional narrowing account of emotional memory, physiological arousal results in attention being directed towards central rather than peripheral characteristics of the situation. Consequently, memory for central details would be relatively good, whereas memory for peripheral information would be impaired. The present experiment sought to test this attentional narrowing hypothesis under highly stressful conditions. Spider phobics and low-fear controls were confronted with a large live spider, eliciting high levels of emotion in the phobic group. Afterwards, subjects' memory for the experimental situation was tested. On a cued recall test, phobics displayed a poor memory for peripheral detail information relative to control subjects. There were no differences between phobics and controls with respect to central detail information. Thus, the present data provide partial support for the attentional narrowing account of emotional memory. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychophysiological Responses of Sport Fans

The present study investigated psychophysiological differences in identified sport fans within the context of the biphasic theory of emotion (P. J. Lang, 1985). Forty participants, grouped into three levels of identification with the local university athletic teams, viewed five pictures from each of two categories (team-relevant sport and team-irrelevant sport). Self-identified sport fans rated team-relevant pictures as more pleasant and arousing compared to team-irrelevant pictures. The P3 component of the event-related potential to an irrelevant startle probe was diminished and heart-rate deceleration was enhanced during team-relevant pictures as a function of fan identification level, suggesting that these pictures evoked a motivated attentional state. Neither probe-P3 nor heart rate differed for team-irrelevant pictures. Lastly, increased positivity for slow cortical potentials was evident for team-relevant compared to team-irrelevant pictures, regardless of fan identification level. These results suggest the utility of psychophysiological measures in the study of sport fans, and for other positive emotions as well.     

Dissociative experiences and interrogative suggestibility in college students

The present study examined whether scores on the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) are related to interrogative suggestibility, as measured by the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS-1). In addition, an attempt was made to identify factors that may mediate this relationship. The DES and GSS were administered to a sample of 56 female undergraduate students along with self-report measures of cognitive failures and fantasy proneness. DES and cognitive failures were found to be related to total GSS scores. In contrast, fantasy proneness was not linked to total GSS scores. Correcting for the influence of cognitive failures attenuated the correlation between DES and GSS. This suggests that cognitive efficiency is one of the mediating factors operating in the connection between dissociation and interrogative suggestibility.     

Characteristics of recovered memories: a Dutch replication of Gudjonsson's (1997) British survey

A survey was conducted among members of the Dutch counterpart of the British False Memory Society (BFMS), the Werkgroep Fictieve Herinneringen (the Dutch False Memory Working Group; FMWG). FMWG members answered questions about the nature and circumstances of the allegations and provided information about the accuser. By and large, the results of this survey parallel those of the Gudjonsson (1997) survey among members of the BFMS. That is, most accusations were made by adult daughters about their biological fathers and arose in the context of psychotherapeutic treatment. Along with the survey among FMWG members, regional police forces were surveyed about the prevalence of recovered memory cases. Results yielded an estimate of 63 cases resulting in legal proceedings over the past two years. None of these cases resulted in a conviction. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.