Retrieval dynamics in false recall: revelations from identifiability manipulations

The present study analyzed the retrieval dynamics of false recall, using an externalized free-recall task after participants studied Deese/Roediger–McDermott lists with high- and low-identifiable critical words. In Experiment 1, the memory test required participants to write down the words they remembered as having been presented in each list (recall output) plus any related words that came to mind (inclusion output). The results of the inclusion output showed that highly identifiable critical items were more frequently generated than less identifiable critical items, suggesting that highly identifiable critical words were more accessible in a first phase of retrieval. At the same time, the results of the recall output showed that highly identifiable critical items were less often falsely recalled than low-identifiable critical items, a replication of previous findings. In Experiment 2, self-reports corroborated that participants were using an editing strategy based on the identification and exclusion of critical words—that is, the identify-to-reject strategy. These results help us to more fully understand the identifiability effect and, beyond that, emphasize the importance of considering the intervening of dual processes of accessibility and error correction as a crucial feature in theoretical explanations of false memories.     

Love as a Fictitious Commodity: Gift-for-Sex Barters as Contractual Carriers of Intimacy

Gift-for-sex (GFS) barters are a niche practice potentially representing the commodification of everyday dating practices. We inquire how GFS exchanges are practiced and understood in contemporary Russia. Second, we situate these in relation to contemporary economic culture. Our project provides answers in two steps based on online content. First, we identify GFS exchange practices within a major dating website. Next, we take the signals exchanged in those dating profiles and display their intersubjective meanings in Russia based on blogs and discussion fora. Our analysis focuses on gender roles and inter-gender conflicts, the use of economic jargon, the link between luxury consumption and sexuality, and understandings of gift-giving and generosity, in order to show how GFS barters, despite being contractual, carry emotional and romantic content. As such, love is under a constant conversion process, through the medium of the contractual gift, into the fictitious commodity form.     

Workplace violence and the changing nature of work in Europe: Trends and risk groups

Incidence rates of third party workplace violence in Europe have increased, but little is known about the causes thereof. It has been suggested that the growth of the service sector and the intensification of work could be responsible for the increase. This study aimed to identify trends in the prevalence of physical workplace violence across Europe, as well as to uncover factors explaining these trends. Three cross-sectional waves (1995, 2000, and 2005) of the European Working Conditions Survey were used, involving 58,520 workers and covering 15 European member states. Logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate associations between work characteristics and violence prevalence. Workplace violence increased significantly during the study interval. Although violence was clearly related to specific characteristics of the labour market (gender, age, sector, etc.) and the work environment (client contact frequency, time pressure, control, and computer work), recent changes in the European labour market composition and work environment could not explain the increase in violence. In jobs characterized by high levels of computer work in particular, violence appears to be an emerging risk. Our results suggest that the nature (and perhaps quality) of client contact is changing, leading to higher violence risks.     

The early development of human mirror mechanisms: evidence from electromyographic recordings at 3 and 6 months

In primates and adult humans direct understanding of others' action is provided by mirror mechanisms matching action observation and action execution (e.g. Casile, Caggiano & Ferrari, 2011). Despite the growing body of evidence detailing the existence of these mechanisms in the adult human brain, their origins and early development are largely unknown. In this study, for the first time, electromyographic (EMG) measures were used to shed light on the emergence of mirror motor mechanisms in infancy. EMG activity was recorded while 6‐ and 3‐month‐old infants watched two videos displaying an agent reaching for, grasping and bringing an object either to the mouth or to the head. Results indicate that the motor system of 6‐month‐olds, but not 3‐month‐olds, was recruited and selectively modulated during observation of the goal‐directed actions, favoring the idea that mirror mechanisms driving action understanding gradually emerge during early development.     

Love Life: Aristotle on Living Together with Friends

According to Aristotle, the most characteristic activity of friendship is “living together” [to suzên]. This paper seeks to understand living together in the light of his famous, foundational claim that humans are social by nature. Based on an interpretation of Nicomachean Ethics 9.9, I explain our need for friends in terms of a more fundamental human need to appreciate one's life as a whole. I then argue that friendship is built into the very structure of human life itself such that human living is living together.     

Feeling Controlled and Drinking Motives Among College Students: Contingent Self-Esteem as a Mediator

This article presents an examination of college student drinking motives from a self-determination perspective. We predicted positive associations between controlled orientation (a chronic orientation toward pressures and experiencing a lack of choice in one's behaviors), and drinking as a means of regulating affect (enhancement and coping motives) and social approval (social rewards and conformity motives). Contingent self-esteem involves deriving self-worth from meeting expectations and was expected to mediate the relation between controlled orientation and drinking motives, which were in turn expected to predict alcohol consumption and related consequences. College students' (N?=?204) controlled orientation, contingent self-esteem, motives for drinking, and patterns of alcohol use were assessed. Mediation analyses provided support for our theoretical framework. Results suggest that “controlled” individuals drink to regulate affect and social approval in part because they have a greater tendency to base self-worth on contingencies.     

Social Skills Mediate the Association of ADHD and Depression in Preadolescents

Childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a replicated risk factor for depression, but the explanatory factors underlying this association have not been reliably identified. Given that social skills (i.e., cooperation, assertion, responsibility, self-control) are sensitive to early ADHD and predict later depression, we tested whether individual differences in social skills individually and collectively mediated predictions of depressive symptoms from early ADHD symptoms. In an ethnically diverse (50 % non-Caucasian) sample of 232 children with (n = 124) and without ADHD (n = 108) followed prospectively for two years (aged 5–10 at Wave 1; 7–12 at Wave 2), we gathered multi-informant (i.e., parent, teacher) and multi-method (e.g., rating scale, structured interview) assessment of key constructs. Using a multiple mediation framework with bootstrapping and statistical control of sex, Wave 1 depression, Wave 1 oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), Wave 1 anxiety, and Wave 2 ADHD symptoms, an independent mediation effect emerged for parent-rated self-control in the prediction of Wave 2 depression (parent-rated) from Wave 1 ADHD symptoms (combined parent and teacher ratings). Teacher-rated social skills at Wave 1 also collectively mediated this association, with teacher-rated assertion emerging as a unique mediator. We discuss the role of social skills in emergent depression among youth with ADHD and consider implications for prevention and intervention.     

A review of abnormalities in the perception of visual illusions in schizophrenia

Specific abnormalities of vision in schizophrenia have been observed to affect high-level and some low-level integration mechanisms, suggesting that people with schizophrenia may experience anomalies across different stages in the visual system affecting either early or late processing or both. Here, we review the research into visual illusion perception in schizophrenia and the issues which previous research has faced. One general finding that emerged from the literature is that those with schizophrenia are mostly immune to the effects of high-level illusory displays, but this effect is not consistent across all low-level illusions. The present review suggests that this resistance is due to the weakening of top–down perceptual mechanisms and may be relevant to the understanding of symptoms of visual distortion rather than hallucinations as previously thought.     

Demographic factors,childhood maltreatment and psychological functioning among university students' in Ghana: A retrospective study

This study retrospectively investigates the influence of child (i.e., gender), care‐giver (e.g., who grew up with), household size (i.e., number of siblings grew up with) and community (i.e., rural versus urban) factors on childhood maltreatment, as well as the impacts of maltreatment on psychological functioning. A cross‐sectional survey and self‐report methodology is used to gather data from 300 students of the University of Ghana. The results show that being a male, growing up in rural areas, living with more than 3 siblings in the same household and being raised by both biological parents have significant main effects on childhood maltreatment. Analyses of the interaction effects show that living with more than 5 siblings in a rural household with “other” parents (i.e., non‐biological parents) has a significant effect on physical abuse. Furthermore, males from rural households consisting of more than 3 siblings and who did not grow up with both biological parents endorsed significantly more physical abuse and physical neglect, compared with the females. With respect to the psychological outcome, childhood maltreatment significantly predicts and account for significant variance in depression (34%), self‐efficacy (18%) and life satisfaction (22%). The findings and the implications of the study are briefly discussed.