Directed forgetting in direct and indirect tests of memory: Seeking evidence of retrieval inhibition using electrophysiological measures

We investigated whether directed forgetting as elicited by the item-cueing method results solely from differential rehearsal of to-be-remembered vs. to-be-forgotten words or, additionally, from inhibitory processes that actively impair retrieval of to-be-forgotten words. During study, participants (N = 24) were instructed to remember half of a series of presented words (TBR) and to forget the other half (TBF), as indicated by an instruction cue shown shortly after each word. During test, accuracy and reaction time measures from lexical decisions (indirect memory test) followed by recognition-memory judgements (direct memory test) were supplemented with event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Results from the behavioural measures revealed directed forgetting in the recognition-memory test but not the lexical-decision test. ERPs obtained during recognition indicated that TBR words elicited a larger parietal old/new effect than TBF words overall, suggesting that remember/forget instructions impaired conscious recollection processes more severely than familiarity processes. Moreover, TBF words that were successfully forgotten elicited less parietal activity than correctly rejected new words (the reversed old/new effect; Nowicka, A., Jednorórog, K., Wypych, M., & Marchewka, A. (2009). Reversed old/new effect for intentionally forgotten words: An ERP study of directed forgetting. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 71, 97–102). This was taken to implicate that inhibitory processes likely affected these items. Enhanced negativities for successfully forgotten TBF words relative to new words were observed in the lexical-decision task at early (150–250 ms) and late (800–1000 ms) time windows, suggesting that inhibitory influences disrupt more than just conscious recollection when memory retrieval is tested indirectly.     

The effects of TV commercials using less thin models on young women's mood, body image and actual food intake

This study experimentally tested the effects of exposure to television commercials using less thin models on mood, body focused anxiety and food intake, as compared to the effects of commercials using thin models. In a naturalistic setting, 110 young women were exposed to a neutral movie, interrupted by two commercial breaks. The commercial breaks contained real commercials using either less thin (n = 32) or thin models (n = 39), or neutral commercials (n = 39). During watching television, participants could freely eat snack food. Further, their mood and body focused anxiety was assessed. ANOVAs revealed no effects on body focused anxiety, but women reported a more negative mood and ate less after exposure to commercials using less thin models than after exposure to commercials using thin models. These results imply that using less thin models in commercials explicitly referring to the thin ideal does not make women feel better.     

Even in correctable search, some types of rare targets are frequently missed

Socially important visual search tasks, such as airport baggage screening and tumor detection, place observers in situations where the targets are rare and the consequences of failed detection are substantial. Recent laboratory studies have demonstrated that low target prevalence yields substantially higher miss errors than do high-prevalence conditions, in which the same targets appear frequently (Wolfe, Horowitz, & Kenner, 2005; Wolfe et al., 2007). Under some circumstances, this \ldprevalence effect\rd can be eliminated simply by allowing observers to correct their last response (Fleck & Mitroff, 2007). However, in three experiments involving search of realistic X-ray luggage images, we found that the prevalence effect is eliminated neither by giving observers the choice to correct a previous response nor by requiring observers to confirm their responses. This prevalence effect, obtained when no trial-by-trial feedback was given, was smaller than the effect obtained when observers searched through the same stimuli but were given trial-by-trial feedback about accuracy. We suggest that low prevalence puts pressure on observers in any search task, and that the diverse symptoms of that pressure manifest themselves differently in different situations. In some relatively simple search tasks, misses may result from motor or response errors. In other, more complex tasks, shifts in decision criteria appear to be an important contributor.     

An Examination of the Validity and Incremental Value of Needed‐at‐Entry Ratings for a Customer Service Job

We examined needed‐at‐entry ratings of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) provided by job experts (N= 285) during a job analysis for a customer service manager position. To serve as an external referent, a group of industrial and organisational psychologists (N= 31) rated the perceived trainability of each KSAO. Analyses revealed only limited support for the validity of inferences drawn from job experts' needed‐at‐entry ratings. Consistent with our hypotheses, less validity evidence was found for ratings of the more person‐oriented and abstract “AO” attributes than for the more job‐oriented and concrete “KS” attributes. In general, job experts tended to rate attributes as needed‐at‐entry that psychologists thought could be developed on the job. We also found that failing to collect needed‐at‐entry ratings, and relying on only the more common importance‐to‐the‐job ratings, would have resulted in a rather different set of critical KSAOs identified for assessment during the selection process.     

Pain-related correlates of MMPI profile subgroups among back pain patients

The MMPI profiles of 96 male and 218 female patients attending a back pain clinic in a private university-affiliated, orthopedic hospital were analyzed by a hierarchical clustering procedure. The clustering procedure produced four male and four female profile subgroups. The subgroups were compared with one another on the basis of patients' responses to the Cornell Medical Index and revised McGill Pain Assessment Questionnaire. Within the male and female patient cohorts it was found that profile subgroups featuring elevated clinical scales showed greater disruptions of daily activities than did subgroups with relatively unelevated profiles. However, profile subgroups with elevations primarily on the neurotic triad scales reported greater affective disturbance and disruption of daily activities than did subgroups with elevations on both the neurotic triad and relatively psychotic scales. In addition, profile subgroups with subclinical elevations on the neurotic triad scales appeared to have adjusted to their pain experience more poorly than did subgroups that featured scores on nearly all clinical scales that were within one standard deviation of the mean. Suggestions are provided for the use of the MMPI in assessing chronic pain patients and future research regarding cluster analyses of patients' MMPI profiles.     

Are the spatial features of bodily threat limited to the exact location where pain is expected?

Previous research has revealed that anticipating pain at a particular location of the body prioritizes somatosensory input presented there. The present study tested whether the spatial features of bodily threat are limited to the exact location of nociception. Participants judged which one of two tactile stimuli, presented to either hand, had been presented first, while occasionally experiencing a painful stimulus. The distance between the pain and tactile locations was manipulated. In Experiment 1, participants expected pain either proximal to one of the tactile stimuli (on the hand; near condition) or more distant on the same body part (arm; far condition). In Experiment 2, the painful stimulus was expected either proximal to one of the tactile stimuli (hand; near) or on a different body-part at the same body side (leg; far). The results revealed that in the near condition of both experiments, participants became aware of tactile stimuli presented to the “threatened” hand more quickly as compared to the “neutral” hand. Of particular interest, the data in the far conditions showed a similar prioritization effect when pain was expected at a different location of the same body part as well as when pain was expected at a different body part at the same body side. In this study, the encoding of spatial features of bodily threat was not limited to the exact location where pain was anticipated but rather generalized to the entire body part and even to different body parts at the same side of the body.