Worker and caller variety in three crisis centers.

Worker and caller behaviors are studied and compared in an available sample of 100 suicidal calls to three crisis intervention centers. Caller-Worker Interaction Program results were compared among the three centers. Worker and caller differences across centers were significant in 32 of 41 categories (p less than .05); using four discriminant functions, 2 of 18 hit percentages exceeded p less than .01. The verbal behaviors of workers and callers at the three centers are substantially different, leading to the conclusion that crisis intervention is dissimilarly practiced between centers but similar within them.     

Visual working memory capacity for objects from different categories: a face-specific maintenance effect

The capacity of visual working memory was examined when complex objects from different categories were remembered. Previous studies have not examined how visual similarity affects object memory, though it has long been known that similar-sounding phonological information interferes with rehearsal in auditory working memory. Here, experiments required memory for two or four objects. Memory capacity was compared between remembering four objects from a single object category to remembering four objects from two different categories. Two-category sets led to increased memory capacity only when upright faces were included. Capacity for face-only sets never exceeded their nonface counterparts, and the advantage for two-category sets when faces were one of the categories disappeared when inverted faces were used. These results suggest that two-category sets which include faces are advantaged in working memory but that faces alone do not lead to a memory capacity advantage.     

Taking old ideas seriously: Evolution, development, and human behavior

I argue that the roots of an adequate integration of evolution into psychology are not to be found in evolutionary psychology, but rather in evolutionary developmental biology (evo–devo). To this end, I provide an overview of evo–devo and explore the limited role that behavioral sciences have played in its genesis. I then motivate an evo–devo approach to psychobiology, and sketch desiderata for the success of this enterprise. In particular, I elucidate what it means to take both development and evolution seriously, and argue for the primacy of developmental analysis in the exploration of (human) behavior and its evolution.     

Combining mindfulness meditation with cognitive-behavior therapy for insomnia: a treatment-development study

This treatment-development study is a Stage I evaluation of an intervention that combines mindfulness meditation with cognitive-behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Thirty adults who met research diagnostic criteria for Psychophysiological Insomnia (Edinger et al., 2004) participated in a 6-week, multi-component group intervention using mindfulness meditation, sleep restriction, stimulus control, sleep education, and sleep hygiene. Sleep diaries and self-reported pre-sleep arousal were assessed weekly while secondary measures of insomnia severity, arousal, mindfulness skills, and daytime functioning were assessed at pre-treatment and post-treatment. Data collected on recruitment, retention, compliance, and satisfaction indicate that the treatment protocol is feasible to deliver and is acceptable for individuals seeking treatment for insomnia. The overall patterns of change with treatment demonstrated statistically and clinically significant improvements in several nighttime symptoms of insomnia as well as statistically significant reductions in pre-sleep arousal, sleep effort, and dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions. In addition, a significant correlation was found between the number of meditation sessions and changes on a trait measure of arousal. Together, the findings indicate that mindfulness meditation can be combined with CBT-I and this integrated intervention is associated with reductions in both sleep and sleep-related arousal. Further testing of this intervention using randomized controlled trials is warranted to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention for this population and the specific effects of each component on sleep and both psychological and physiological arousal.     

Lexical decision task performance in blood-fearful and spider-fearful individuals

University undergraduates were pre-screened for blood fearfulness (fear of blood, n = 25), spider fearfulness (fear of spiders, n = 30), or non-fearfulness (n = 23) and presented with blood, spider, neutral, positive, and pseudoword (pronouncable nonword, like flirp) stimuli in a lexical decision task (LDT). Use of the LDT in phobic individuals may provide insight about how these individuals process, store, and ultimately use information and, in turn, how processing this information affects their day-to-day activities. Words were responded to faster than pseudowords. No group main or interaction effects emerged, and all groups responded faster and more accurately to spider words then blood words and neutral words. Results suggest that the single-word lexical decision task may not be sensitive in detecting lexical processing biases toward threat in these groups. Results also suggest that paradigms that are based on high-level, semantic-conceptual information processing (like lexical decision) are not sensitive enough to detect group differences in blood and spider phobias. Any array of perceptual and conceptual tasks taken together may be needed to detect these differences.     

The effect of midazolam on implicit and explicit memory in category exemplar production and category cued recall

Transfer‐appropriate processing theory (Roediger, Weldon, & Challis, 1989) proposes that dissociations between performance on explicit and implicit memory tests arise because these tests often rely on different types of information processing (e.g., perceptual processing vs conceptual processing). This perspective predicts that implicit and explicit memory tasks that rely primarily on conceptual processing should show comparable results, not dissociations. Numerous studies have demonstrated such similarities. It is, however, possible that these results arise from explicit memory contamination of performance on implicit memory tasks. To address this issue, an experiment was conducted in which participants were administered the sedative midazolam prior to study. Midazolam is known to create a temporary, but dense, period of anterograde amnesia. The effects of blocking stimulus materials by semantic category at study and generation at study were investigated on category exemplar production and category‐cued recall. The results of this study demonstrated a dissociation of the effects of midazolam on category exemplar production and category‐cued recall. Specifically, midazolam reduced the effect of blocking stimulus materials in category‐cued recall, but not in category exemplar production. The differential effect of midazolam on explicit and implicit memory is at odds with transfer‐appropriate processing theory and suggests that theories of memory must distinguish the roles of different types of conceptual processing on implicit and explicit memory tests.     

The effect of midazolam on implicit and explicit memory in category exemplar production and category cued recall

Transfer-appropriate processing theory (Roediger, Weldon, & Challis, 1989) proposes that dissociations between performance on explicit and implicit memory tests arise because these tests often rely on different types of information processing (e.g., perceptual processing vs conceptual processing). This perspective predicts that implicit and explicit memory tasks that rely primarily on conceptual processing should show comparable results, not dissociations. Numerous studies have demonstrated such similarities. It is, however, possible that these results arise from explicit memory contamination of performance on implicit memory tasks. To address this issue, an experiment was conducted in which participants were administered the sedative midazolam prior to study. Midazolam is known to create a temporary, but dense, period of anterograde amnesia. The effects of blocking stimulus materials by semantic category at study and generation at study were investigated on category exemplar production and category-cued recall. The results of this study demonstrated a dissociation of the effects of midazolam on category exemplar production and category-cued recall. Specifically, midazolam reduced the effect of blocking stimulus materials in category-cued recall, but not in category exemplar production. The differential effect of midazolam on explicit and implicit memory is at odds with transfer-appropriate processing theory and suggests that theories of memory must distinguish the roles of different types of conceptual processing on implicit and explicit memory tests.