Classifying Human Long-term Memory: Evidence from Converging Dissociations

This paper reviews the support for multiple human long-term memory systems that is provided by experimental findings of dissociations reported in the literature. Four putative systems are examined: episodic, semantic, perceptual representation (PRS) and procedural memory. The four systems are contrasted for four different forms of dissociations (functional, developmental, pharmacological and brain damage). At least one example of 23 of the 24 different types of dissociations is described. It is argued that this evidence from converging dissociations provides support for the existence of multiple long-term memory systems. The studies reviewed provide some hints about the critical neural substrates of different systems. This neuroanatomical information was compared and found to be consistent with the results of available functional neuroimaging studies.     

Self-efficacy and reasoned action: Predicting oral health status and behaviour at one,three, and six month intervals

Abstract

This study tested the usefulness of the theory of reasoned action and the addition of self-efficacy to this model for the prediction of oral health behaviour as part of a larger intervention at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine. Self-efficacy is a belief in one's ability to perform a particular behavior. The theory of reasoned action is an attitudinal model focused on predicting behavior. One hundred and sixty-six patients volunteered for an intervention and assessment program at the Oral Health Enhancement Clinic. Participants visited the clinic 7 times over a 14 month period. Relationships among social cognitive model variables and clinical and self-report outcome measures were examined at three different time points over increasingly longer time spans. Results indicated that the theory of reasoned action model was useful in predicting oral health behavior, and adding self-efficacy to the model significantly increased the reliability of predictions of outcome measures. Relationships for social cognitive variables were stronger for self-report than for clinical indices. Reasons for these differences are suggested.     

Can Science Cope with More Than One World? A Cross-Reading of Habermas, Popper, and Searle

The purpose of this article is to critically assess the ‘three-world theory’ as it is presented—with some slight but decisive differences—by Jürgen Habermas and Karl Popper. This theory presents the philosophy of science with a conceptual and material problem, insofar as it claims that science has no single access to all aspects of the world. Although I will try to demonstrate advantages of Popper’s idea of ‘the third world’ of ideas, the shortcomings of his ontological stance become visible from the pragmatic point of view in Habermas’s theory of communicative acts. With regard to the critique that the three-world theory has met in both its pragmatic and ontological versions, I will take a closer look at John Searle’s naturalistic counter-position. By teasing out some problematic implications in his theory of causation, I aim to show that Searle’s approach is, in fact, much closer to Popper’s than he might think. Finally, while condoning Habermas’s distinction between the natural world and the lifeworld, I will opt for a pragmatically differentiated view of ‘the real’, rather than speaking of different worlds.     

Social Exclusion Predicts Impaired Self‐Regulation: A 2‐Year Longitudinal Panel Study Including the Transition from Preschool to School

The need‐to‐belong theory stipulates that social exclusion (i.e., being rejected by peers) impairs the ability to self‐regulate, and experimental studies with adults support this contention, at least on a short‐term basis. Few studies have investigated whether social exclusion affects the development of self‐regulation of children in a more enduring manner. By using data from a community sample of 762 children, we investigated reciprocal relations between social exclusion and self‐regulation from age 4 to age 6. Social exclusion was reported by teachers, whereas self‐regulation was reported by parents. Autoregressive latent cross‐lagged analyses showed that social exclusion predicted impaired development of dispositional self‐regulation and, reciprocally, that poor self‐regulation predicted enhanced social exclusion. In other words, social exclusion undermines children's development of self‐regulation, whereas poor self‐regulation increases the likelihood of exclusion. Results illuminate the applied relevance of the need‐to‐belong theory.     

Milieu therapy for neglected children: Treatment in a caring relationship

The central thesis of this paper is that treatment of neglected children can better take place in a caring relationship than in psychotherapy or analysis. In order to create the basis for this idea, Part 1 introduces a milieu therapy for neglected children, developed by the author. In Part 2 of the article, it is proposed that treatment in a caring relationship is in line with the child's dependence on a caring person. It is also argued that the traditional distinction between problems in the child's environment and internal psychological difficulties seems imprecise. Instead, it is proposed that a problem has both an external and an internal aspect. This supports the idea that it may be possible to solve problems that are traditionally considered internal through environmental strategies, for example milieu therapy. The article is hypothesis-generating and builds upon clinical experience inspired by works of, among others, Erikson, Bowlby, Winnicott, and Fonagy and collaborators. Part 1 of the article is the first presentation in English of the main points of the author's books on milieu therapy. The ideas in Part 2 are published here for the first time.     

The Role of Numeracy and Intelligence in Health‐Risk Estimation and Medical Data Interpretation

Despite ample evidence that numeracy is an important influence on patient understanding and use of health‐related information, there is a dearth of studies examining the concept's relationship to other individual differences measures that may underlie complex judgments in the health domain. In this study, we compared the relative contributions of selected extant numeracy measures and general intelligence and other measures to varied judgment and decision‐making outcomes. Two hundred participants completed numeracy items, subscales of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scales, the need for cognition scale, and four relevant outcome measures including risk estimation and medical data interpretation. A numeracy scale constructed using item response and confirmatory factor analyses was consistently the strongest predictor across all outcome measures and accounted for unique variance over and above general intelligence. The results support the concept of numeracy as an independent construct that merits consideration in patient communication. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Discrete emotion norms for nouns: Berlin affective word list (DENN–BAWL)

The Berlin Affective Word List (BAWL, Võ, Jacobs, &; Conrad, Behavior Research Methods, 35, 606-609, 2006) and the BAWL-R (Võ et al. in Behavior Research Methods 38, 606-609, 2009) are two commonly used lists to investigate affective properties of German words. The two-dimensional valence and arousal model of affect underlying the BAWL is traditionally contrasted with models describing affect in discrete emotional categories, which, however, are not currently incorporated in the BAWL. In order to allow future studies to investigate affective processing from both perspectives—or to directly compare them—in the present study, we collected data by assigning nouns taken from the BAWL-R to discrete emotion intensities, which in turn allowed the assignment to discrete emotion categories. In the study, we present Discrete Emotion Norms for Nouns–Berlin Affective Word List (DENN–BAWL). Using these ratings and the psycholinguistic indexes from the BAWL-R, the DENN–BAWL allows researchers to design experiments using highly controlled and reliable word material. Data have been archived at www.fu-berlin.de/allgpsy/DENN-BAWL     

Risks and realities: dyadic interaction between 6-month-old infants and their mothers in opioid maintenance treatment

A number of studies point to methadone exposure in utero as a possible risk factor in the developing mother–infant relationship in the first year of life. This study is part of a larger, national follow-up of 38 infants prenatally exposed to methadone or buprenorphine and 36 comparison, low-risk infants. The aim of the present paper is to assess the quality of mother–infant relationship when the infants are 6 months old. Videotaped mother–infant interactions were rated in a global scale (NICHD). Maternal and infant contributions collapsed into the variables “infant style” and “maternal style” showed that the only factor making significant contribution to the outcome measure “dyadic mutuality” was maternal style. The importance of group membership (exposed versus non-exposed), was reduced when controlling for maternal drug use prior to opioid maintenance treatment (OMT), maternal depression and parenting stress as well as infants’ developmental status and sensory-integrative functions. This suggests that prediction of dyadic mutuality should be based on individual characteristics rather than group characteristics. These results support previous research findings that methadone and buprenorphine use per se does not have direct influence on the quality of early mother–infant relationship, but tailored follow-up procedures targeting drug-free pregnancies and parenting support are beneficial for women in OMT and their children.     

Knowing your own mate value: sex-specific personality effects on the accuracy of expected mate choices

Knowing one's mate value (mate-value accuracy) is an important element in reproductive success. We investigated within- and between-sex differences in this ability in a real-life speed-dating event. A total of 190 men and 192 women filled out a personality questionnaire and participated in speed-dating sessions. Immediately after each date, participants recorded who they would choose as mates and who they expected would choose them. In line with evolutionarily informed hypotheses, results indicated that sociosexually unrestricted men and more agreeable women showed greater mate-value accuracy than sociosexually restricted men and less agreeable women, respectively. These results have important implications for understanding mating behavior and perhaps the origin of sex differences in personality.