The locus of the benefits of repetition-lag memory training

The repetition-lag training procedure developed by Jennings and Jacoby (2003 , Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 14, 417) has been shown to improve older adults' performance in the recognition memory task used for training, and to improve performance in a variety of other memory and executive function tasks ( Jennings, Webster, Kleykamp, & Dagenbach, 2005 , Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 12, 278). The present study examined the effects of concurrent interference tasks during the study or test phases of training to localize the source of gains. Overall, the results suggest that training is resilient and resistant to interference, but also that the processes used during the test phases of training are more important to the gains seen in the primary task and in the transfer tasks than those used in the study phases.     

Maternal positive parenting style is associated with better functioning in hyperactive/inattentive preschool children

Many preschoolers are highly inattentive, impulsive, and hyperactive; but only some are impaired in their functioning. Yet factors leading to functional impairment, above and beyond the severity of inattentive and hyperactive symptoms, have not been systematically examined. This study examined a model suggesting that after controlling for attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptom severity, child temperament is uniquely associated with parenting stress; that parenting stress affects parenting style, above and beyond child characteristics; that parenting style is related to the level of child impairment, above and beyond the effects of child symptoms, temperament, and parenting stress; and finally that parenting style moderates the relationship between ADHD symptom severity and child functioning. Child measures included parent‐ and teacher‐rated ADHD symptom severity, teacher‐rated temperament, and clinician‐rated functioning in a sample of 138 inattentive/hyperactive preschoolers. Maternal self‐ratings of parenting style and parenting stress were obtained. Analyses indicated that, after controlling for symptom severity, child temperament was related to maternal parenting stress, which was additionally related to both maternal parenting style and child functioning. Maternal positive parenting style moderated the relationship between ADHD symptom severity and child impairment, indicating that a positive parenting style plays a protective role in the functioning of hyperactive/inattentive preschoolers. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Emotion Regulation and the Quality of Social Interaction: Does the Ability to Evaluate Emotional Situations and Identify Effective Responses Matter?

We examined self and friends' ratings of social relationship quality and everyday social interactions in 3 studies involving 544 college students in Germany, Spain, and the United States. Scores on a situational judgment test measuring strategic emotion regulation ability (SERA) were negatively related to conflict with others. SERA was more consistently and strongly related to conflict with others than to the positive dimension of relationship quality (support, companionship, and nurturance). The relationship between SERA and conflict was generally not mediated by trait positive or negative affect, and it remained significant or marginally significant controlling for the Big Five personality traits. These findings highlight the importance of the ability to evaluate emotional situations and identify effective responses to these in interpersonal emotion regulation. Furthermore, they suggest that situational judgment and flexible response selection may help people to manage conflicts more than to bond with others.     

Transparency and self-disclosure in family therapy: dangers and possibilities

Therapy is a paid intimate relationship that thrusts clients and therapists into navigating personal and professional boundaries. When, where, why, and how is it appropriate and ethical for family therapists to be transparent, and when is it damaging? Theorists take varied stances from Haley's position of tight boundaries around therapist disclosure—whether in treatment or training—to the narrative viewpoint that therapists should be transparent about models of therapy, personal values, and life experiences that inform their practice and beliefs. However, these positions are not research based, and theorists who support disclosure offer few guidelines other than general statements. This article examines the history of ideas about disclosure in six major family therapy models, and the dangers and possibilities of transparency. It looks at the research on self‐disclosure in individual therapy and whether and how it could apply to family therapy. Guidelines are proposed that take into account the multiple social identities of therapists and clients, and issues of safety and transparency.     

Neural basis of individual differences in impulsivity: contributions of corticolimbic circuits for behavioral arousal and control

The objective of the current study was to analyze the neural correlates of behavioral arousal and inhibitory control as they relate to individual differences in impulsivity via well-established functional MRI amygdala reactivity and prefrontal inhibitory control paradigms in healthy adult subjects. Impulsivity correlated positively with activity of the bilateral ventral amygdala, parahippocampal gyrus, dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus (BA 32), and bilateral caudate. Conversely, impulsivity correlated negatively with activity of the dorsal amygdala and ventral prefrontal cortex (BA 47). Together, these findings suggest that dispositional impulsivity is influenced by the functional interplay of corticolimbic behavioral arousal and control circuits.     

Aging and autobiographical memory: dissociating episodic from semantic retrieval

Cognitive aging research documents reduced access to contextually specific episodic details inolder adults, whereas access to semantic or other nonepisodic information is preserved or facilitated. The present study extended this finding to autobiographical memory by using a new measure; the Autobiographical Interview. Younger and older adults recalled events from 5 life periods. Protocols were scored according to a reliable system for categorizing episodic and nonepisodic information. Whereas younger adults were biased toward episodic details reflecting happenings, locations, perceptions, and thoughts, older adults favored semantic details not connected to a particular time and place. This pattern persisted after additional structured probing for contextual details. The Autobiographical Interview is a useful instrument for quantifying episodic and semantic contributions to personal remote memory.