Encoding context and false recognition memories

False recognition of an extralist word that is thematically related to all words of a study list may reflect internal activation of the theme word during encoding followed by impaired source monitoring at retrieval, that is, difficulty in determining whether the word had actually been experienced or merely thought of. To assist source monitoring, distinctive visual or verbal contexts were added to study words at input. Both types of context produced similar effects: False alarms to theme-word (critical) lures were reduced; remember judgements of critical lures called old were lower; and if contextual information had been added to lists, subjects indicated as much for list items and associated critical foils identified as old. The visual and verbal contexts used in the present studies were held to disrupt semantic categorisation of list words at input and to facilitate source monitoring at output.     

The ecology of eating: smaller portion sizes in France Than in the United States help explain the French paradox

Part of the "French paradox" can be explained by the fact that the French eat less than Americans. We document that French portion sizes are smaller in comparable restaurants, in the sizes of individual portions of foods (but not other items) in supermarkets, in portions specified in cookbooks, and in the prominence of "all you can eat" restaurants in dining guides. We also present data, from observations at McDonald's, that the French take longer to eat than Americans. Our results suggest that in the domain of eating, and more generally, more attention should be paid to ecological factors, even though their mechanism of operation is transparent, and hence less revealing of fundamental psychological processes. Ironically, although the French eat less than Americans, they seem to eat for a longer period of time, and hence have more food experience. The French can have their cake and eat it as well.     

Dogs in Animal Shelters: Problems, Suggestions, and Needed Expertise

Because of very real practical constraints, conditions in animal shelters are often reminiscent of those in early primate deprivation studies. Dogs are frequently surrendered to shelters because of behavior problems, and aspects of the shelter environment may induce anomalous behavior, increasing the chances that adopted dogs will be returned to the shelters. Comparative psychologists, psychobiologists, and other behavioral scientists possess the knowledge and techniques to help shelters intervene in this cycle. Experience suggests human interaction and the application of basic conditioning procedures can reduce the impact of the shelter environment, and ease the transition into the adoptive home. A program developed to meet these goals is described. Shelters can provide opportunities both for the training of students in animal-related exercises and for limited applied research. Behavioral scientists stand in a unique position to help transform conditions in animal shelters to the benefit of all involved.     

Role of Secondary Stressors in the Parental Death–Child Distress Relation

This study examined the psychological consequences and secondary stressors associated with death of a parent. The sample (N = 116) consisted of 26 youths who had lost a parent to homicide, 45 youths who had lost a parent to natural death, and 45 nonbereaved youths. Youngsters completed face-to-face interviews, while their guardians completed measures assessing the children's functioning. Results based on both child and guardian reports indicated that parental death was associated with an increase in secondary stressors, regardless of the mode of death. Findings based on guardian reports also revealed that parental death was related to increased internalizing distress, and that parental death due to homicide was related to increased externalizing distress. Furthermore, secondary stressors mediated the parental death–child distress relation such that parental death led to an increase in stressors, which in turn led to increased child distress. Implications for secondary and tertiary preventive interventions are discussed.     

Infants' eyewitness testimony: Effects of postevent information on a prior memory representation

In eyewitness testimony research, postevent information impair retention of the original event and increases the probability that interpolated information will be identified as part:of the original event. The present experiments studied these effects with 3-month-olds. Infants learned to kick to move a particular crib mobile and then were briefly exposed to information about a novel mobile. The novel postevent information impaired recognition of the-original mobile when it immediately followed training but not when it was delayed by 1 day. Like adults, infants treated the postevent information as part of the original training event, continuing to do so for at least 2 weeks. We propose that postevent information displaces conflicting information coactive with it in primary memory and creates a new, updated memory token of the event. Once the new token leaves primary memory, however, it is protected; only a copy can be retrieved and modified in the future.     

An Overview of Primary Prevention

The historical antecedents of primary prevention are found in the methods of public health, counseling, and psychotherapy. Primary prevention is defined as being proactive and is aimed predominantly at high-risk groups not yet affected by the condition to be prevented. Its success is measured in a decline in the incidence of a condition that is compared with controls. Only through prevention can we reduce incidence, and it seems that it is the only feasible way to deal with the unbridgeable gap between the enormous number of individuals at risk for emotional disturbance and the limited availability of treatment resources.     

INFANT MACAQUE MONKEYS RESPOND TO PICTORIAL DEPTH

Abstract— The studies described here are the first to demonstrate that a nonhuman primate species is capable of responding to pictorial depth information during infancy. In two experiments, pigtailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina) infants were tested for responsivity to the pictorial depth cites of texture gradient/linear perspective and relative size. The procedures were adapted from human studies and are based on the proclivity of infants to reach more frequently to closer objects than to objects that are farther away. The stimulus displays included two equidistant objects that, when viewed monocularly, appear separated in space because of an illusion created by pictorial depth cues. When presented with these displays, animals reached significantly more often to the apparently closer objects under monocular conditions than under binocular conditions. These findings suggest that infant macaques are sensitive to pictorial depth information, the implication being that this ability has ancient phytogenetic origins and ix not learned from exposure to the conventions of Western art.     

Two investigations of “female modesty” in achievement situations

Two experiments examined motivations underlying the common finding that females present themselves more modestly than males in achievement situations. In Study 1, 388 first-year college students, primarily European-Americans, predicted their first semester grade point averages (GPAs) in one of 3 public and 2 private conditions, which varied the salience of modesty concerns and/or concerns about the others' feelings. In the public conditions combined, but not in the private conditions, women's predictions were lower than men's, although there were no gender differences in actual GPA. The public condition in which the others' feelings and modesty concerns were made salient accounted for this difference between men and women. In Study 2, 230 first-year college students predicted their first-semester GPAs in private, in public to a “nonvulnerable” other, or in public to a “vulnerable” other (someone who supposedly had earned a low GPA). Women's estimates were lower than men's in the latter condition only and lower than their estimates in the other conditions. These results suggest that relational motivations, rather than a simple lack of self-confidence or modesty alone, are a factor in gender differences in self-presentation of achievement.     

Retrospective and Prospective Memory Coding in Humans

The Psychological Record - In two experiments, memory coding strategies of adult humans were investigated. Retrospective coding is the storage and rehearsal of experienced material. Prospective...     

An Examination of Happiness, Racism, and Demographics on Judgments of Guilt

A policy-capturing study was conducted to evaluate the roles of both plaintiff and defendant race and gender on judgments of criminal guilt in either an assault or a theti case. It was hypothesized that defendant gender and race would affect likelihood of guilt ratings. Moreover, mock jurors' dispositional happiness, scores of modern racism, and race and gender were explored as potential influences on their decision-making policies and judgments. As predicted, strong support was found for the role of defendant gender on judgments of guilt. However, defendant race did not significantly impact guilt ratings. Post hoc analses revealed the importance of race and gender of the victim to juror decisions. In addition, participants' own race and gender played signiticant roles in the decisionmaking policies that were produced. Limitations of the study are discussed. as are topics for future research.