Evaluating the quality and impact of mediators for learning when using associative memory strategies

Recently, a series of studies has reported much greater recall for factual information when students were asked to generate elaborations in response to ‘why’ questions (elaborative interrogation) relative to studying provided elaborations. The two experiments reported here extend and clarify research regarding the strategic benefits of generating elaborations versus providing elaborations. In both experiments, undergraduates studied 30 sentences, all of which described one particular man doing one activity. Students used one of three study strategies. In two conditions, students studied provided elaborations (PE). Half of the elaborations explained why the particular man engaged in the particular activity and half did not explain the specific relations. In the remaining condition, students generated their own elaborations. In both experiments, students were provided with their generated/provided elaborations as cues for recalling the fact at testing. When students were not explicitly cued to use the generated/ provided elaboration at recall, elaborative interrogation (EI) consistently outperformed the PE condition. Recall in the EI condition did not exceed recall in the PE condition, however, when students were provided with good explanatory elaborations and were cued with them at testing. These experiments demonstrate that the poorer performance associated with providing relative to generating elaborations can be mediated by encouraging more meaningful processing of materials and prompting students to access their mediators at recall.     

CONTRIBUTION A UNE ETUDE COMPARATIVE DES GARCONS ET DES FILLES EN FRANCE*

The sample of subjects and the modifications to the general research design due to local pecularities are described. From the analyses on the four questionnaires emerges an effect of sex on the following variables: Desired Number of Children (F> M), Masculinity (M > F), Femininity (M < F), Willing to compote (M > F) and five professional values from the fifteen. There is also an effect of the technical versus college samples on Educational Aspirations and Expectations, on Masculinity for self (but only for the older subjects) and on seven professional values. Positive correlations are obtained (for males and females, separately) between age, on the one hand, and Educational Aspirations, Educational Expectations, and the valorisation of Variety, on the other hand. The relationships between age, on the one hand, and Competition and Prestige, on the other hand, decrease as a function of age. For males, the value of Work decreases with age. For females, Masculinity as well as Work Security both decrease with age while the values of Independency and Creativity increase. Although the correlational analyses suggest some differences between males and females, the strongest correlations are common to both sexes. A preliminary study has been carried out on the effect of social environment.     

Infants' discrimination of faces by using biological motion cues

We report two experiments in which we used animated averaged faces to examine infants' ability to perceive and discriminate facial motion. The faces were generated by using the motion recorded from the faces of volunteers while they spoke. We tested infants aged 4-8 months to assess their ability to discriminate facial motion sequences (condition 1) and discriminate the faces of individuals (condition 2). Infants were habituated to one sequence with the motion of one actor speaking one phrase. Following habituation, infants were presented with the same sequence together with motion from a different actor (condition 1), or a new sequence from the same actor coupled with a new sequence from a new actor (condition 2). Infants demonstrated a significant preference for the novel actor in both experiments. These findings suggest that infants can not only discriminate complex and subtle biological motion cues but also detect invariants in such displays.     

Retrieval induces hippocampal-dependent reconsolidation of spatial memory

Nonreinforced retrieval can cause extinction and/or reconsolidation, two processes that affect subsequent retrieval in opposite ways. Using the Morris water maze task we show that, in the rat, repeated nonreinforced expression of spatial memory causes extinction, which is unaffected by inhibition of protein synthesis within the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus. However, if the number of nonreinforced retrieval trials is insufficient to induce long-lasting extinction, then a hippocampal protein synthesis-dependent reconsolidation process recovers the original memory. Inhibition of hippocampal protein synthesis after reversal learning sessions impairs retention of the reversed preference and blocks persistence of the original one, suggesting that reversal learning involves reconsolidation rather than extinction of the original memory. Our results suggest the existence of a hippocampal protein synthesis-dependent reconsolidation process that operates to recover or update retrieval-weakened memories from incomplete extinction.     

EMOTIONAL CONTAGION Gender and Occupational Differences

Theorists have proposed that men and women and those in various occupational groups should differ in their susceptibility to primitive emotional contagion. Study 1 was designed to explore the extent to which gender and occupation affected respondents' self-reports of emotional contagion, as measured by the Emotional Contagion (EC) scale. As predicted, women in a variety of occupations secured higher total EC scores than did men. Study 2 was designed to determine the extent to which gender affected self-reports of emotional contagion (again as measured by the EC scale) and actual responsiveness to others' emotions. As predicted, women received higher EC scores, reported sharing the targets' emotions to a greater extent, and were rated by judges as displaying more emotional contagion than did men.     

Co‐Occurring Disorders in Treatment‐Based Courts: Results of a National Survey

Drug courts and mental health courts have expanded rapidly in the past several decades to provide more efficient coordination of treatment and supervision of offenders with behavioral health problems. A significant number of offenders in these court‐based programs have co‐occurring mental and substance use disorders, which predict early termination, relapse, rearrest, and other negative outcomes. A web‐based national survey examined programmatic adaptations for co‐occurring disorders (CODs) among 54 drug courts, mental health courts, and freestanding COD dockets. COD dockets were smaller and of longer duration, and provided more intensive services than programs situated in drug courts or in mental health courts. However, more similarities than differences were noted across the different types of court‐based program. Key adaptations for CODs included extended program duration, highly intensive and integrated treatment, smaller, less formal, and more frequent hearings, and use of specialized supervision teams and dually credentialed staff. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anxiety Sensitivity and Negative Interpretation Biases: Their Shared and Unique Associations with Anxiety Symptoms

Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a psychological risk factor for anxiety disorders. Negative interpretation biases are a maladaptive form of information-processing also associated with anxiety disorders. The present study explored whether AS and negative interpretation biases make independent contributions to variance in panic and generalized anxiety symptoms and whether particular interpretation bias domains (e.g., of ambiguous arousal sensations) have specific associations with panic and/or generalized anxiety symptoms. Eighty-nine female undergraduates (44 low AS; 45 high AS) completed measures of AS, interpretation biases, and panic and generalized anxiety symptoms. Findings showed that AS and negative interpretation biases both significantly added to the prediction of anxiety symptoms. Negative interpretations of ambiguous arousal sensations were uniquely associated with panic symptoms, while negative interpretations of ambiguous general and social events were uniquely associated with generalized anxiety symptoms. Findings support the conceptual validity of AS and negative interpretation biases and their unique and shared contributions to anxiety symptoms.     

A quarter of a century of job transitions in Germany

By examining trends in intra-organizational and inter-organizational job transition probabilities among professional and managerial employees in Germany, we test the applicability of mainstream career theory to a specific context and challenge its implied change assumption. Drawing on data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), we apply linear probability models to show the influence of time, economic cycle and age on the probability of job transitions between 1984 and 2010. Results indicate a slight negative trend in the frequency of job transitions during the analyzed time span, owing to a pronounced decrease in intra-organizational transitions, which is only partly offset by a comparatively weaker positive trend towards increased inter-organizational transitions. The latter is strongly influenced by fluctuations in the economic cycle. Finally, the probability of job transitions keeps declining steadily through the course of one's working life. In contrast to inter-organizational transitions, however, this age effect for intra-organizational transitions has decreased over time.     

Improving School Readiness in Preschoolers with Behavior Problems: Results from a Summer Treatment Program

To examine a) the feasibility of delivering a summer treatment program for pre-kindergarteners (STP-PreK) with externalizing behavior problems (EBP) and b) the extent to which the STP-PreK was effective in improving children’s school readiness outcomes. Participants for this study included 30 preschool children (77 % boys; Mean age?=?5.33 years; 77 % Hispanic background) with at-risk or clinically elevated levels of EBP. The STP-PreK was held at an early education center and ran for 8-weeks (M-F, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.) during the summer between preschool and kindergarten. In addition to a behavioral modification system and comprehensive school readiness curriculum, a social-emotional curriculum was also embedded within the STP-PreK to target children’s self-regulation skills (SR). Children’s pre- and post-school readiness outcomes included a standardized school readiness assessment as well as parental report of EBP, adaptive functioning, and overall readiness for kindergarten. SR skills were measured via a standardized executive functioning task, two frustration tasks, and parental report of children’s emotion regulation, and executive functioning. The STP-PreK was well received by parents as evidenced by high attendance and satisfaction ratings. Additionally, all school readiness outcomes (both parent and observational tasks) significantly improved after the intervention (Cohen’s d effect sizes ranged from 0.47 to 2.22) with all effects, except parental report of emotion regulation, being maintained at a 6-month follow-up. These findings highlight the feasibility and utility of delivering an early intervention summer program that can successfully target multiple aspects of children’s school readiness, including behavioral, social-emotional/self-regulation, and academics.