Diminished episodic memory awareness in older adults: evidence from feeling-of-knowing and recollection

The ability to reflect on and monitor memory processes is one of the most investigated metamemory functions, and one of the important ways consciousnesses interacts with memory. The feeling-of-knowing (FOK) is one task used to evaluate individual's capacity to monitor their memory. We examined this reflective function of metacognition in older adults. We explored the contribution of metacognition to episodic memory impairment, in relation to the idea that older adults show a reduction in memory awareness characteristic of episodic memory. A first experiment showed that age affects the accuracy of FOK when predictions are made on an episodic memory task but not on a semantic memory task, suggesting a particular role for episodic memory awareness in metacognitive evaluations. A second experiment showed that the age-difference in episodic FOK accuracy was removed if one took into account subjective reports of memory awareness, or recollection. We argue that the FOK deficit specific to episodic memory is based on a lack of memory awareness manifest as a recollection deficit.     

Career Research Interests and Training of Genetic Counseling Students

Research is important to validate clinical services, provide information on the effectiveness of practice techniques, and develop the knowledge base of a clinical profession. Genetic counseling students from American Board of Genetic Counseling (ABGC) accredited training programs were surveyed to determine their career research interests and interest in pursuing a hypothetical doctoral degree in genetic counseling. Genetic counseling program directors were surveyed to assess the emphasis on research training within their programs. A substantial number (46%, n = 92) of genetic counseling students are interested in performing research in their careers and many (40%, n = 80) would pursue a doctoral degree in genetic counseling if it was available. Students and directors from programs with a thesis requirement reported a significantly higher emphasis on career research preparation than those from programs without a thesis requirement. The results of this study indicate that future genetic counselors are interested in contributing to the research base that will advance the field. This study suggests a need to strengthen research training within ABGC accredited graduate programs and explore the development of a doctoral degree option in genetic counseling.     

Metaplastic effect of apamin on LTP and paired-pulse facilitation

In area CA1 of hippocampal slices, a single 1-sec train of 100-Hz stimulation generally triggers a short-lasting long-term potentiation (S-LTP) of 1–2 h. Here, we found that when such a train was applied 45 min after application of the small conductance Ca²⁺-activated K⁺ (SK) channel blocker apamin, it induced a long-lasting LTP (L-LTP) of several hours, instead of an S-LTP. Apamin-induced SK channel blockage is known to resist washing. Nevertheless, the aforementioned effect is not a mere delayed effect; it is metaplastic. Indeed, when a single train was delivered to the Schaffer’s collaterals during apamin application, it induced an S-LTP, like in the control situation. At the moment of this LTP induction (15th min of apamin application), the SK channel blockage was nevertheless complete. Indeed, at that time, under the influence of apamin, the amplitude of the series of field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs) triggered by a stimulation train was increased. We found that the metaplastic effect of apamin on LTP was crucially dependent on the NO-synthase pathway, whereas the efficacy of the NMDA receptors was not modified at the time of its occurrence. We also found that apamin produced an increase in paired-pulse facilitation not during, but after, the application of the drug. Finally, we found that the induction of each of these two metaplastic phenomena was mediated by NMDA receptors. A speculative unitary hypothesis to explain these phenomena is proposed.     

Child and parent predictors of perceptions of parent--child relationship quality

OBJECTIVE/METHOD: Predictors of perceptions of parent-child relationship quality were examined for 175 children with ADHD, 119 comparison children, and parents of these children, drawn from the follow-up phase of the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: Children with ADHD perceived their mothers and fathers as more power assertive than comparison children. Children higher on depressive symptomatology also perceived their mothers and fathers as less warm and more power assertive. Mothers perceived themselves as more power assertive and fathers perceived themselves as less warm if they were higher on depressive symptomatology themselves or had children with ADHD or higher levels of depressive symptomatology. Several interactions indicated that the association between child factors and parental perceptions of warmth and power assertion often depended on parental depressive symptomatology. The findings resolve a previous contradiction in the literature regarding the relationship between child depressive symptoms and parental perceptions of parent-child relationship quality.     

Physicians' silent decisions: because patient autonomy does not always come first

Physicians make some medical decisions without disclosure to their patients. Nondisclosure is possible because these are silent decisions to refrain from screening, diagnostic or therapeutic interventions. Nondisclosure is ethically permissible when the usual presumption that the patient should be involved in decisions is defeated by considerations of clinical utility or patient emotional and physical well-being. Some silent decisions--not all--are ethically justified by this standard. Justified silent decisions are typically dependent on the physician's professional judgment, experience and knowledge, and are not likely to be changed by patient preferences. We condemn the inappropriate exclusion of the patient from the decision-making process. However, if a test or treatment is unlikely to yield a net benefit, disclosure and discussion are at times unnecessary. Appropriate silent decisions are ethically justified by such considerations as patient benefit or economy of time.     

An evaluation and comparison of claims made in behavioural investigative advice reports compiled by the National Policing Improvements Agency in the United Kingdom

This study examined the content of a contemporary sample of behavioural investigative advice reports produced by the National Policing Improvements Agency (NPIA), formally known as the National Centre for Policing Excellence, and compared this sample with previous offender‐profiling samples reported by Alison, Smith, Eastman, and Rainbow in 2003. Forty‐seven reports written in 2005 were content analysed. The reports contained 805 claims, although 96% of the claims contained grounds for their claim, only 34% had any formal support or backing. In terms of confirmability, 70% of the claims were verifiable. However, only 43% were falsifiable, in that they could be objectively measured post‐conviction. Analysis also showed that there were differences when comparing the different types of claims made (i.e. behavioural, temporal) and the different types of reports compiled by the NPIA (i.e. behavioural assessment report, linking report, etc.) Comparisons show that there is a very large positive difference between the contemporary behavioural investigative advice sample and previous non‐NPIA expert advice in terms of the substantiveness of their arguments. Contemporary NPIA behavioural investigative advice has clearer boundaries around the claims made and presents material in a more coherent and evidence‐based format than previous expert advice. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The neuroscience of "free will"

Advances in neuroscience over the past 40 or more years are causing a re-visiting of an old debate: Does man possess free will over his actions, or do forces out of his control determine his behavior? Philosophers and biologists since the beginning of recorded history have taken positions on each side of the debate. Recent discoveries of brain activation prior to conscious awareness and genetic conditions that induce impulsive violent behavior are fortifying the perspective that biological determinism is basic to the human condition. But some contemporary thinkers are conflicted in this viewpoint since “free will” is a necessary element for self-determination and for attributing personal responsibility for one's actions. Hence, modifications of strict determinism have emerged which try to incorporate the features of determinism enforced by neuroscience findings with some element of “free will”, making the two seemingly opposed positions compatible. How successful this will be to rescue “free will” in the long term depends on future discoveries in neuroscience and genetics. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.