Improving memory after environmental context change: A strategy of “preinstatement”

A change in environmental context between study and test can produce detrimental effects on memory. For instance, when a change in the environment occurs after an event, memory for the event declines. However, the negative effects of context change can be eliminated when participants are provided with contextual cues. Here, we report that, as predicted by the Lehman–Malmberg model (Lehman & Malmberg Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 35(4):970, 2009, Psychological Review, 2012), participants can overcome a change in the environment by recalling the future test environment while studying, a strategy referred to as preinstatement.     

Coping self-efficacy mediates the effects of negative cognitions on posttraumatic distress

Although cognitive distortions have predicted posttraumatic distress after various types of traumatic events, the mechanisms through which cognitive distortions influence posttraumatic distress remain unclear. We hypothesized that coping self-efficacy, the belief in one's own ability to manage posttraumatic recovery demands, would operate as a mediator between negative cognitions (about self, about the world, and self-blame beliefs) and posttraumatic distress. In the cross-sectional Study 1, data collected among 66 adult female victims of child sexual abuse indicated that coping self-efficacy mediated the effects of negative cognitions about self and about the world on posttraumatic distress. The same pattern of results was found in a longitudinal Study 2, conducted among 70 survivors of motor vehicle accidents. Coping self-efficacy measured at 1 month after the trauma mediated the effects of 7-day negative cognitions about self and about the world on 3-month posttraumatic distress. In both studies self-blame was not related to posttraumatic distress and the effect of self-blame on posttraumatic distress was not mediated by coping self-efficacy. The results provide insight into a mechanism through which negative cognitions may affect posttraumatic distress and highlight the potential importance of interventions aimed at enhancing coping self-efficacy beliefs.     

Workgroup Temperance of Alcohol and Safety Climate Moderate the Cognitive Effects of Workplace Substance‐Abuse Prevention1

This research examined the independent and combined influence of workgroup drinking norms and safety climate on the cognitive outcomes of prevention. Employees from 72 workgroups (n = 347) were randomly assigned to attend 1 of 2 training conditions or a control group that did not receive training until after follow‐up questionnaires. Results from hierarchical regression analyses showed there was a significant effect of the interaction between safety climate, drinking norms, and training on beliefs that policy and the employee assistance program are effective. Informational training was least effective for employees from relatively temperate workgroups. Team awareness was less effective for employees from tolerant groups. Employees might benefit more from interventions tailored to individual and workgroup cultural factors.     

Finger flexor motor control patterns during active flexion: an in vivo tendon force study

An in vivo tendon force measurement system was used to evaluate index finger flexor motor control patterns during active finger flexion. During open carpal tunnel release surgery (N=12) the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) and flexor digitorum superficilias (FDS) tendons were instrumented with buckle force transducers and participants performed finger flexion at two different wrist angles (0 degrees or 30 degrees ). During finger flexion, there was concurrent change of metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint angles, but the FDP and FDS tendon force changes were not concurrent. For the FDS tendon, no consistent changes in force were observed across participants at either wrist angle. For the FDP tendon, there were two force patterns. With the wrist in a neutral posture, the movement was initiated without force from the finger flexors, and further flexion (after the first 0.5s) was carried out with force from the FDP. With the wrist in a flexed posture, the motion was generally both initiated and continued using FDP force. At some wrist postures, finger flexion was initiated by passive forces which were replaced by FDP force to complete the motion.     

Development of differences in response latencies to right and left visual fields

Robust lateralization developed in right-handed adults who were asked to judge letter pairs as "same" or "different" during 4608 trials. By the end of the first two blocks (768 trials) "same" responses were favored when presented in the RVF (transmitted directly to the left hemisphere) and "different" responses were favored when presented in the LVF (transmitted direction to the right hemisphere). This gradually reversed over sessions with "same" responses becoming faster for letters presented in the LVF, and "different" responses becoming faster for stimuli presented in the RVF. The laterality acquired under these conditions was cumulative and reproducible, appeared in all 16 subjects, and was preserved between sessions a week apart. The data suggest that laterality is a flexible and reversible characteristic of the human brain even when stimulus and task remain constant.     

Macintosh statistical packages

Fifteen statistical packages for the Apple Macintosh computer are reviewed, and their features are listed and compared. Many do not follow the Macintosh user interface and are likely to be confusing to novices. Accuracy tests are reported for several programs.     

Promoting Safety Belt Use on a University Campus: An Integration of Commitment and Incentive Strategies1

Safety belt use on a university campus was substantially increased by offering faculty/ staff and students who signed and returned “buckle up” pledge cards the opportunity to win prizes donated by community merchants. The 28,000 pledge cards, committing signers to buckle up for an academic quarter, were distributed during the spring and fall of 1985. One portion of the card was designed to be hung from a vehicle's rearview mirror as a reminder of the pledge to buckle up. The other portion served as a sweepstakes ticket and was deposited in boxes located throughout the campus community. Each quarter, winners were drawn from the returned pledge cards during three consecutive weeks. Although a relatively small proportion of the pledge cards were signed and turned in (i.e., 11.9% during spring and 9.4% during fall), those who signed and returned a pledge card (n = 3117) increased their safety belt use significantly. Across both quarters, faculty/ staff pledgers went from a high pre-pledge belt use level of 32.2% to a post-pledge level of 46.7%, and students increased their belt use from a pre-pledge use of 21.4% to a post-pledge level of 36.6%.     

Memory for modality: Evidence for an automatic process

Three experiments were conducted to explore the “automatic” encoding of information about presentation modality and the use of such information during word retrieval. Children (Grades 2, 3, and 6) and adults (college students) were asked to attend to a mixed-modality (auditory and visual) list of nouns, then to recall the target words, and finally to identify the presentation modality of each word on a recognition list. Instructions (incidental vs. intentional), list length, and list organization (unrelated words vs. words from taxonomic categories) were varied across the experiments. Although these manipulations affected the recall of target words, they did not change the amount of modality information retained, which was clearly above chance in all three experiments. As predicted by the Hasher and Zacks (1979) model for automatic processing, there were no developmental changes on memory for modality, instructions to remember modality information had no effect on modality identification, and a tradeoff between word recall and modality identification rarely occurred.