Creating a stem cell donor: a case study in reproductive genetics

During the nearly 10 years since its introduction, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has been used predominantly to avoid giving birth to a child with identified genetic disease. Recently, PGD was used by a couple not only to test IVF-created embryos for genetic disease, but also to test for a nondisease trait related to immune compatibility with a child in the family in need of an hematropoetic stem cell transplant. This article describes the case, raises some ethical and policy issues, highlights gaps in U.S. policy, and finally makes some recommendations for addressing advancing genetic and reproductive technologies.     

Retrieval-induced forgetting occurs in tests of item recognition

Using the retrieval-practice paradigm (Anderson, R. A. Bjork, & E. L. Bjork, 1994), we tested whether or not retrieval-induced forgetting could be found in item recognition tests. In Experiment 1, retrieval practice on items from semantic categories depressed recognition of nonpracticed items from the same categories. Similar results were found in Experiment 2 in a more stringent source test for practiced, nonpracticed, and new items. These results conceptually replicate those of previous retrieval-induced forgetting studies done with cued recall (e.g., Anderson et al., 1994). Our findings are inconsistent with the hypothesis that item-specific cues during retrieval will eliminate retrieval interference in the retrieval-practice paradigm (Butler, Williams, Zacks, & Maki, 2001). We discuss our results in relation to other retrieval interference and inhibition effects in recall and recognition.     

Psychological research online: report of Board of Scientific Affairs' Advisory Group on the Conduct of Research on the Internet

As the Internet has changed communication, commerce, and the distribution of information, so too it is changing psychological research. Psychologists can observe new or rare phenomena online and can do research on traditional psychological topics more efficiently, enabling them to expand the scale and scope of their research. Yet these opportunities entail risk both to research quality and to human subjects. Internet research is inherently no more risky than traditional observational, survey, or experimental methods. Yet the risks and safeguards against them will differ from those characterizing traditional research and will themselves change over time. This article describes some benefits and challenges of conducting psychological research via the Internet and offers recommendations to both researchers and institutional review boards for dealing with them. ((c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved)     

Complementary and supplementary fit: a theoretical and empirical integration

Complementary and supplementary fit represent 2 distinct traditions within the person-environment fit paradigm. However, these traditions have progressed in parallel but separate streams. This article articulates the theoretical underpinnings of the 2 traditions, using psychological need fulfillment and value congruence as prototypes of each tradition. Using a sample of 963 adult employees ranging from laborers to executives, the authors test 3 alternative conceptual models that examine the complementary and supplementary traditions. Results show that an integrative model dominates the other two, such that both traditions simultaneously predict outcomes in different ways.     

Self-directed affiliation and autonomy across acute and continuation phase cognitive therapy for recurrent depression

Using Benjamin's (2000) Structural Analysis of Social Behavior, we evaluated change in "self-directed" affiliation and autonomy and prediction of treatment response and relapse/recurrence among adult outpatients with recurrent major depressive disorder consenting to acute phase cognitive therapy (A-CT; Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979; N=156); A-CT responders randomized (N=84) to 8 months of continuation phase cognitive therapy (C-CT; Jarrett, 1989; Jarrett et al., 1998; Jarrett & Kraft, 1997) or assessment-only control; and C-CT and control patients entering a 16-month, assessment-only follow-up (N=74). Self-directed affiliation and autonomy increased after A-CT, and C-CT further increased affiliation and autonomy. Affiliation and autonomy did not predict A-CT response, but lower affiliation and higher autonomy pre-A-CT predicted relapse/recurrence post-A-CT. We discuss potential clinical implications of these results and present case examples to illustrate patterns of change.     

“Seeing Conversion Whole”: Testing a Model of Religious Conversion

Rambo (1993) theorized that religious conversion consists of a process involving seven dimensions, labeled context, crisis, quest, encounter, interaction, commitment, and consequences. To test the Rambo model, a new measure, the 97-item Adult Religious Conversion Experiences Questionnaire (ARCEQ), was developed, revised on the basis of feedback from a focus group, and administered by mail to 110 adult volunteers who self-identified as having experienced conversion. Reliability analysis of the subscales of the ARCEQ resulted in five (crisis, quest, encounter, commitment, and consequences) meeting the criterion ( > .80). A sixth (interaction) achieved a reliability of .76 and was retained, but the seventh (context) was dropped. Principal components factor analysis with Varimax rotation produced factors labeled Redemptive Love, Zealous Dedication, Dysphoric Need, Openness to Uncertainty, Extrinsic Crisis, and Experiential Learning, which could readily be interpreted in relation to Rambo's model. Subsidiary analyses showed a number of significant correlations between demographic characteristics of the sample and differences in religious conversion experience.     

Age-related differences in localized attentional interference

Attentional selection of an object in the visual field degrades processing of neighboring stimuli in young adults. A pair of experiments examined the effects of aging on such localized attentional interference. In Experiment 1, younger and older observers made speeded same-different judgments of target shapes that varied in spatial separation. Performance declined for both age groups as the distance between targets decreased, but an Age x Distance interaction indicated that the magnitude of this effect was larger for older adults. Experiment 2 ruled out sensory masking as an explanation for these findings. Results indicate that older observers experience losses in the ability to attend to multiple spatially proximal stimuli within the visual field.