Forced confabulation affects memory sensitivity as well as response bias

A signal detection analysis assessed the extent to which forced confabulation results from a change in memory sensitivity (d _a ), as well as response criterion (β). After viewing a crime video, participants answered 14 answerable and 6 unanswerable questions. Those in the voluntary guess condition had a “don’t know” response option; those in the forced guess condition did not. One week later, the same questions were answered using a recognition memory test that included each participant’s initial responses. As was predicted, on both answerable and unanswerable questions, participants in the forced guess condition had significantly lower response criteria than did those who voluntarily guessed. Furthermore, on both answerable and unanswerable questions, d _a scores were also significantly lower in the forced than in the voluntary guess condition. Thus, the forced confabulation effect is a real memory effect above and beyond the effects of response bias; forcing eyewitnesses to guess or speculate can actually change their memory.     

The Significance of Strategic Community Engagement in Recruiting African American Youth & Families for Clinical Research

We present baseline data and describe the utility of a community engaged, culturally relevant approach to recruiting African American youth and families for phase I of The AAKOMA Project. The AAKOMA Project is a two phase treatment development study to improve mental health service use among depressed African American youth. We completed capacity building activities using a community engaged framework and Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methods. Replicating the (Alvarez et al. in West J Nurs Res 28:541–560, 2006) model of systematic community outreach enhanced our ability to effectively recruit partners and evaluate outreach efforts as demonstrated by our Recruitment Success Factor (RSF—i.e. ‘an adjusted ratio of eligible participant yield to contacts made’). Using the chi-square goodness-of-fit statistic; we compared the RSFs of the various modes of participant study entry to determine which was most effective. Our target enrollment was 56 persons. We recruited 130 and enrolled 57. Our baseline data is drawn from a gender balanced and socioeconomically diverse sample who participated in youth focus groups and individual interviews and adult focus groups. We identified 3 study participant referral modes (self-referral, provider referral and participant-to-participant referral) with multiple sources per mode and an overall RSF of 0.41. Study findings support the effectiveness of assiduous and systematic community interaction, reflective review of recruitment efforts and the importance of disseminating information on strategic recruitment processes for engaging diverse populations in clinical research.     

Neuropsychological profile following suicide attempt by hanging: two adolescent case reports

Hippocampal damage and amnesia following hypoxia and ischemia are described in the few published adult cases of suicide attempt by hanging. However, a recent review (Caine &; Watson, 2000 Caine, D. and Watson, J. D. 2000. Neuropsychological and neuropathological sequelae of cerebral anoxia: A critical review. Journal of the International Neuropsychology Society, 6: 86–99. [CROSSREF][Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) suggests a variable pattern of brain involvement and neuropsychological impairments following hypoxic-ischemic injury that may or may not involve amnesia. To help clarify the impact of hanging on the developing brain, we examined neuropsychological functioning in two adolescents who survived suicide attempt by hanging. Despite differences in Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), coma duration, and structural imaging findings, both patients had similar IQ (VIQ > PIQ) and presented with various combinations of deficits in expressive/receptive language, visual-constructional and perceptual ability, processing speed, attention, working memory, and/or executive functioning shortly after injury. In spite of their similarities, only one of the patients presented with classic amnesia symptoms in his early recovery. This patient was evaluated 1 year postinjury, and persistent deficits in processing speed and memory encoding were noted. Several hanging-related variables, including longer estimated hanging duration, greater weight, and severe airway edema, were thought to place this patient at increased risk for cognitive deficits. Clinical MRI scans of this patient obtained 6 weeks postinjury revealed mild volume loss as well as abnormalities in bilateral superior cortex. However, CT and MRI scans obtained throughout early recovery did not reveal overt evidence of injury to specific memory-related structures. Comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation of all adolescent survivors of suicide attempt by hanging is recommended, as a variety of postacute cognitive deficits were observed in these patients despite relatively short (≤ 15 minutes) estimated hanging durations.     

Representation of mental illness in Christian self-help bestsellers

The present study examined messages about mental illness in 14 contemporary Christian self-help bestsellers. Content analysis revealed that most texts focused upon depression. Categories of textual units included Underlying Assumptions Regarding Depression, Representations of Depression, Roots/Causes/Reasons for Depression, and Christian Responses to Depression. Demonic influence was the most frequently cited reason for depression. Other reasons included negative cognitions, failure as a Christian, and negative emotions. Christian responses to depression included trusting God, religious activity, and individual willpower. Discussion of these results focused upon the problematic impact of these messages upon individuals with depression, and upon suggestions for reducing mental illness stigma in religious communities.     

Personality,Demographic, and Intellectual Variables Associated with Readiness for Discharge from Psychiatric Treatment

This study examined the relationship between staff rated discharge readiness and patient personality, demographic, and intellectual variables. Chi square and t test analyses were performed on data of 88 male and female adult patients of a short-term residential psychiatric treatment program. Patient diagnosis, trait anxiety level, marital status, age, and abstract intelligence scores assessed at admission were found to be significantly associated with staff ratings of patients’ readiness for discharge following six weeks of treatment. Findings were discussed in terms of prior process and outcome literature and implications for future research.     

Narcissism and Adult Attachment: A Multivariate Approach

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between maladaptive narcissism, attachment anxiety, and attachment avoidance. The secondary objective of the present research was to explore further the differences between overt and covert forms of narcissistic vulnerability. Female participants (N = 171) completed measures of adult attachment, overt narcissism, and covert narcissism. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) explored the multivariate relationship between overt and covert narcissism, on one hand, and adult attachment dimensions of anxiety and avoidance, on the other hand. CCA indicated the two linear combinations of variables overlapped significantly and shared about a quarter of their variance in common. The most important variable within the narcissism set was covert narcissism; and within the adult attachment set, both anxiety and avoidance were important, but the former more than the latter. The implications of the present findings are discussed in the context of past and future research on personality, attachment, and the experience of emotions.     

The rejection-rage contingency in borderline personality disorder

Though long-standing clinical observation reflected in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.) suggests that the rage characteristic of borderline personality disorder (BPD) often appears in response to perceived rejection, the role of perceived rejection in triggering rage in BPD has never been empirically tested. Extending basic personality research on rejection sensitivity to a clinical sample, a priming-pronunciation experiment and a 21-day experience-sampling diary examined the contingent relationship between perceived rejection and rage in participants diagnosed with BPD compared with healthy controls. Despite the differences in these 2 assessment methods, the indices of rejection-contingent rage that they both produced were elevated in the BPD group and were strongly interrelated. They provide corroborating evidence that reactions to perceived rejection significantly explain the rage seen in BPD.     

Physiological, psychological and behavioral consequences of activating autobiographical memories

Activating an autobiographical memory for a specific childhood event can have immediate and robust physiological, psychological, and behavioral consequences. The target behavior was public speaking, a vital skill about which many people are socially anxious. In this study, it was suggested to subjects that they had a positive public speaking experience in early childhood; they then thought about and retrieved details of this true childhood memory. Compared to a control condition in which a different suggestion was made, subjects in the treatment group exhibited superior public speaking performance on the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Further, physiological measures of cortisol and a self-report measure of anxiety (STAI-S) reflected a significantly smaller increase in anxiety from before to after the TSST in the treatment than control condition. Activating autobiographical memory for an event increases the accessibility of that memory and consequently affects performance on related behaviors.     

Seeing a phrase "time and again" matters: the role of phrasal frequency in the processing of multiword sequences

Are speakers sensitive to the frequency with which phrases occur in language? The authors report an eye-tracking study that investigates this by examining the processing of multiword sequences that differ in phrasal frequency by native and proficient nonnative English speakers. Participants read sentences containing 3-word binomial phrases (bride and groom) and their reversed forms (groom and bride), which are identical in syntax and meaning but that differ in phrasal frequency. Mixed-effects modeling revealed that native speakers and nonnative speakers, across a range of proficiencies, are sensitive to the frequency with which phrases occur in English. Results also indicate that native speakers and higher proficiency nonnatives are sensitive to whether a phrase occurs in a particular configuration (binomial vs. reversed) in English, highlighting the contribution of entrenchment of a particular phrase in memory.     

The role of optimism in the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior

A possible relationship between Joiner's (2005) interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior and optimism was investigated by examining the ability of optimism to act as a moderator of perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, and acquired capability to engage in self-injury in the prediction of suicidal ideation. Results supported hypotheses that optimism would serve as a moderator of the effects of thwarted belongingness and perceived burdensomeness in the prediction of suicidal ideation; however, similar results were not found regarding the acquired capability to engage in self-injury. How optimism might play a role in alleviating suicidal ideation and clinical implications of the findings are discussed.