How implicitly activated and explicitly acquired knowledge contribute to the effectiveness of retrieval cues

The extralist cued recall task simulates everyday reminding because a memory is encoded on the fly and retrieved later by an unexpected cue. Target words are studied individually, and recall is cued by associatively related words having preexisting forward links to them. In Experiments 1 and 2, forward cue-to-target and backward target-to-cue strengths were varied over an extended range in order to determine how these two sources of strength are related and which source has a greater effect. Forward and backward strengths had additive effects on recall, with forward strength having a consistently larger effect. The PIER2 model accurately predicted these findings, but a plausible generation-recognition version of the model, called PIER.GR, could not. In Experiment 3, forward and backward strengths, level of processing, and study time were varied in order to determine how preexisting lexical knowledge is related to knowledge acquired during the study episode. The main finding indicates that preexisting knowledge and episodic knowledge have additive effects on extralist cued recall. PIER2 can explain these findings because it assumes that these sources of strength contribute independently to recall, whereas the eSAM model cannot explain the findings because it assumes that the sources of strength are multiplicatively related.     

Examination of relative reinforcement effects of stimuli identified through pretreatment and daily brief preference assessments.

Several brief preference assessments have recently been developed to identify reinforcers for individuals with developmental disabilities. One purported advantage of brief assessments is that they can be administered frequently, thus accommodating shifts in preference and presumably enhancing reinforcement effects. In this study, we initially conducted lengthy paired‐choice preference assessments and identified a hierarchy of preferred items for 5 individuals with developmental disabilities. Subsequently, brief multiple‐stimulus‐without‐replacement assessments using the same items were completed each day prior to work sessions. On days when results of the daily brief assessment differed from the one‐time lengthy assessment, the relative reinforcing effects of the top items from each assessment were compared in a concurrent‐schedule arrangement. The results revealed that when the two assessments differed, participants generally allocated more responses to the task associated with the daily top‐ranked item.     

The Influence of Social Interaction on Intuitions of Objectivity and Subjectivity

We present experimental evidence that people's modes of social interaction influence their construal of truth. Participants who engaged in cooperative interactions were less inclined to agree that there was an objective truth about that topic than were those who engaged in a competitive interaction. Follow‐up experiments ruled out alternative explanations and indicated that the changes in objectivity are explained by argumentative mindsets: When people are in cooperative arguments, they see the truth as more subjective. These findings can help inform research on moral objectivism and, more broadly, on the distinctive cognitive consequences of different types of social interaction.     

Certified Athletic Trainers’ Understanding and Use of Sport Psychology in Their Practice

Nine certified athletic trainers from one National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I institution participated in semistructured interviews about their understanding of sport psychology and use of psychological strategies in their work with injured athletes. Through Consensual Qualitative Research (Hill, 2012 Hill, C. E. (2012). Consensual qualitative research: A practical resource for investigating social science phenomenon. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. [Google Scholar]) procedures, three major domains were constructed: (a) recognition of the common psychological challenges of injury rehabilitation, (b) knowledge and understanding of sport psychology, and (c) utilization of sport psychology skills and strategies for rehabilitation. Although athletic trainers utilized basic psychological strategies (e.g., goal setting, reassurance) during injury rehabilitation, findings support the need for an interprofessional team approach to enhancing psychological recovery.     

Preliminary evidence of the impact of early childhood maltreatment and a preventive intervention on neural patterns of response inhibition in early adolescence

Maltreated youths in foster care often experience negative developmental and psychological outcomes, which have been linked with poor response inhibition. Recent evidence suggests that childhood maltreatment is also associated with alterations in the neural circuitry underlying response inhibition. However, a burgeoning line of research has begun to explore the mitigating effects of preventive interventions on neural functioning. The current study used event‐related functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the impact of early childhood maltreatment and a preventive intervention on response inhibition in early adolescence. Thirty‐six demographically similar adolescents (ages 9–14 years) completed a Go/NoGo task. The sample included nonmaltreated adolescents (n = 14) and maltreated adolescents who were in foster care as preschoolers and randomly assigned to receive services as usual (n = 11) or a preventive intervention, Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for Preschoolers (n = 11). The groups demonstrated similar behavioral performance but significantly different neural patterns. The maltreated adolescents who received services as usual demonstrated subcortical hypoactivity during successful response inhibition and subcortical hyperactivity during unsuccessful response inhibition. In contrast, the nonmaltreated adolescents and maltreated adolescents who received the intervention exhibited strikingly similar neural patterns during successful response inhibition, but the maltreated adolescents who received the intervention demonstrated prefrontal hypoactivity during unsuccessful response inhibition. These findings offer preliminary evidence that early childhood maltreatment alters the neural patterns underlying response inhibition in early adolescence and that participating in a preventive intervention could mitigate maltreatment‐related effects on these neural systems.     

Developing and demonstrating inhibitory stimulus control over repetitive behavior

Developing inhibitory stimulus control over repetitive behavior minimizes the social and learning disruptions caused by this behavior while allowing individuals to continue to access this source of reinforcement at nonproblematic times. These procedures involve allowing repetitive behaviors to occur in some stimulus conditions (S+) and blocking the repetitive behavior in order to disrupt the response–reinforcer relation in other stimulus conditions (S‐) such that the onset of the S‐ period results in rapid and sustained reductions in repetitive behavior. However, the demonstration of stimulus control exerted by the S‐ has often been confounded with participants' exposure to programmed reductive contingencies (i.e., behavior is reduced due to direct contact with contingencies rather than the programmed antecedent stimuli). The current study both developed and demonstrated the suppressive effects of S‐ presentation upon repetitive behavior with two children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. These demonstration techniques involved (a) introducing the S‐ into novel environments without the programmed contingencies that we used to establish discriminative control, (b) evaluating the reductive effects of programmed contingencies with and without the associated discriminative stimuli, and (c) evaluating latencies to the onset of repetitive behavior given S+ and S‐ presentations.     

An alternative method of thinning reinforcer delivery during differential reinforcement

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) may result in rates of reinforcement that are impractical for caregivers to implement; therefore, recent research has examined methods for thinning reinforcer delivery during DRA. In this study, reinforcer delivery was thinned during DRA by restricting access to the participant's alternative response materials.     

Boarding school: the trauma of the 'privileged' child

Sending young children to boarding school may be considered a particularly British form of child abuse and social control. The trauma of the rupture with home may be followed by other ordeals such as emotional deprivation and, in extreme cases, physical and sexual abuse. The taboo on expressing emotion, which is common in such institutions, may lead to an encapsulation of the self. Consequently, the needs of the distressed child/self remain active, but unconscious, within the adult. This maybe disguised by an armoured, and very often socially successful, persona. The psychological interplay, between these two facets of the personality, may be detrimental to intimate relationships. In clinical practice the emotional conflict between a desire for intimacy and anticipated exile comes to the fore. Three examples demonstrate how within the transference this may lead to a dependent and erotic atmosphere, which abruptly changes to sever all connection. Changes in the frame, breaks in analysis, and confessions of emotional need are all points at which vigilance is required if such disturbance in analysis is not to end in its abrupt termination.