Negatively biased recall in children with self-reported symptoms of depression

This study investigated differences in depressed and nondepressed children's recall of positively and negatively reinforced behavior. Twenty-six children with self-reported symptoms of depression in the fourth through sixth grades were compared with a matched sample of 26 nondepressed children to determine if there was a negative bias in depressed children's recall. Subjects first generated guesses of the most common associations to each of a series of 40 words. Later, when compared with their nondepressed peers, the children with depressive symptomology were less accurate in recalling which words they had answered correctly and remembered fewer of their own correct responses. They also did more poorly when asked to recall the correct answers that had been provided by the investigator. The two groups did not differ, however, in their recall of which items had been answered incorrectly or in their recall of their previous wrong responses. These results suggest that children with self-reported depressive symptomology do not remember negative experiences more than do nondepressed children; rather, they recall positive experiences less well. Selective forgetting of positively reinforced behavior could be a serious handicap for depressed children in school. It could also play an important role in the maintenance and perhaps even the etiology of depressive symptomatology in children.We wish to thank Bruce Compas for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

Are there capacity limitations in symmetry perception?

Previous researchers have proposed that there are two types of symmetry detection: one based on crude preattentive symmetry judgments and another based on detailed scrutiny of individual parts (Barlow & Reeves, 1979; S. E. Palmer & Hemenway, 1978; Royer, 1981). Four experiments were conducted to examine capacity limits in different symmetry judgments. Observers were required to discriminate between random patterns and approximate symmetry (Experiments 1 and 3) or between perfect and approximate symmetry (Experiments 2 and 4). The patterns were divided into two sets of dots, presented either simultaneously or successively. A comparison of accuracy under these two presentation conditions suggested that symmetry detection involves an analysis that is spatially parallel but coarse, regardless of either task difficulty or task type (detecting symmetry vs. detecting asymmetry).     

Intergenerational transmission of prejudice, sex role stereotyping, and intolerance

The attitudes of 111 ninth and eleventh graders and both of their biological parents were independently assessed for prejudice against people with HIV/ AIDS, homosexuals, Blacks, and fat people, as well as for male and female sex role stereotyping. This study corrected for two shortcomings in previous research: neglecting to assess both parents and assessing only a single domain of prejudice. We addressed the intergenerational transmission of prejudice and stereotyping using three competing models: same-sex, parent equivalent, and differential effects. Using multiple regressions in which parents' scores were entered separately, along with control variables, different maternal and paternal influences were detected. Mothers were the primary influence for prejudice regarding HIV/AIDS, fatness, and race, and fathers were the primary influence for male and female stereotyping and prejudice against homosexuals, supporting the differential effects model. We also established that prejudice and stereotyping in specific domains reflected a more general proclivity to be intolerant. In contrast to prejudice and stereotyping in specific domains, fathers and mothers about equally shaped the adolescents' intolerance, supporting the parent equivalent model.     

Pathways to violence in the children of mothers who were depressed postpartum

The impact of postnatal depression on a child's risk for violent behavior was evaluated in an urban British community sample (N=122 families). Mothers were interviewed during pregnancy, at 3 months postpartum, and when the child was 1, 4, and 11 years of age. Mothers, teachers, and children reported on violent symptoms at age 11. Structural equation modeling revealed that the child's violence was predicted by the mother's postnatal depression even when her depression during pregnancy, her later history of depression, and family characteristics were taken into account. Violence was associated with symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and problems with anger management. Children were most violent if mothers had been depressed at 3 months and at least once thereafter.