Perceptual match effects in direct tests of memory: the role of contextual fan

The aim of the present study was to determine whether physical attributes of a memory representation would affect explicit memory performance and, if so, what type of factors would affect the size of a perceptual match effect. Subjects studied words in different, uncommon fonts and were later asked whether the word had been studied earlier. Words could be re-presented in the original font, a font studied with another word, or a font not seen earlier. In two additional experiments, we varied the numbers of words studied in the same unusual font (1 vs. 12 words per font). Recognition memory for the words was better if the test and study fonts matched, and this effect was larger for fonts not shared with other words. Moreover, old judgments were most likely to be classified as remember responses when words were re-presented in the same font when it had not been studied with other words. Although we found a significant effect of levels of processing, this factor did not interact with whether the font matched between study and test. These results are consistent with the predictions of the source of activation confusion model of memory and suggest that perceptual information operates according to the same memory principles as conceptual information.     

The obsessive compulsive spectrum: a survey of 800 practitioners

The obsessive-compulsive (OC) spectrum is a group of related disorders that appear to share symptomatology, neurobiology, and treatment response with obsessive-compulsive disorder. To collect data on the appreciation of the OC spectrum concept among clinicians, 800 participants completed a questionnaire to help determine their understanding and appreciation of this concept, at a workshop on the OC spectrum.     

A nonparametric test for the two-sample problem

Moses [3] has proposed a nonparametric test of the null hypothesis that two samples, say a treatment and a control group, have been drawn from the same population; his test is designed to be sensitive to the alternative hypothesis that the treatment group is extreme in either or both directions as compared with the controls. This paper presents a test of similar character, except that rather than being based on a range of the control group ranks, it depends upon the variance of those ranks. This has the advantage of making ties less troublesome. Tables of significance values are presented for some small sample sizes. A normal approximation is developed and seen to be useful.This research was partially sponsored by a Public Health Biostatistics Training Grant at Stanford University.I wish to thank Professor Lincoln E. Moses of Stanford University for suggesting the problem, and for his invaluable assistance in the preparation of this paper.     

Through their own eyes: a media-based group approach to adolescent trauma

This paper describes the process of two groups of students from high schools located in the immediate vicinity of the World Trade Center grappling to make sense of the events of September 11 through the creation of a documentary chronicling their experiences. The process of creating these videos mirrored the process and curative factors of a psychotherapy group in a non-stigmatizing, innovative, and accessible format, one generated by the students themselves with the assistance of professionals in the visual and performing arts. After reviewing the literature on the potential impact of violence on adolescents and the use of group treatment, especially in school settings, as an optimal choice for this population, we describe the distinctive process of the two separate groups of students, each culminating in different expressions of their very personal experience of September 11. We understand and contextualize their process through the lens of the therapeutic dynamics and elements of group work.     

Differential fan effect and attentional focus

As people study more facts about a concept, it takes longer to retrieve a particular fact about that concept. This fan effect (Anderson, 1974) has been attributed to competition among associations to a concept. Alternatively, the mental-model theory (Radvansky & Zacks, 1991) suggests that the fan effect disappears when the related concepts are organized into a single mental model. In the present study, attentional focus was manipulated to affect the mental model to be constructed. One group of participants focused on the person dimension of personlocation pairs, whereas the other group focused on the location dimension. The result showed that the fan effect with the focused dimension was greater than the fan effect with the nonfocused dimension, which is contrary to the mental-model theory. The number of associations with a concept is indeed crucial during retrieval, and the importance of the information seems to be accentuated with attentional focus.     

Comorbidity in compulsive hoarding: a case report

A 56-year-old male presented with compulsive hoarding along with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and schizotypal personality disorder. Hoarding has been described as difficult to treat both pharmacologically and behaviorally, and this patient's comorbid conditions also contributed to his overall impairment. The patient's treatment regimen of fluvoxamine, amphetamine salts, and risperidone, along with behavioral therapy, has helped with hoarding behaviors, motivation, procrastination, and increased socialization. Hoarding may be a unique subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder with poorer prognosis and distinct neuroanatomic dysfunction. Augmentation with stimulants may provide benefits in aspects of hoarding such as procrastination, especially in patients with comorbid attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.     

Impact of recent findings on study design of future autism clinical trials

There are specific challenges to studying the design of pharmacologic trials in child/adolescent and adult autism, such as subject stratification and parallel versus crossover designs. This article describes how optimal study design is influenced by subject selection and outcome measures chosen. Lessons learned in study design from the Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology Autism Network trial with risperidone, Seaver Center trials with fluoxetine and valproate, Dartmouth trials with amantadine, and National Institutes of Health secretin trials are highlighted. The Internet System for Assessing Autistic Children system for managing multicenter clinical trials in autism and statistical issues in autism research are also described.     

The formation of the therapeutic alliance in couple therapy

This study examines the predictive validity of several clinical variables--including marital distress, individual symptomatology, and family-of-origin experiences--on the formation of the alliance in couple therapy. Eighty people who were treated with a naturalistic course of integrative conjoint psychotherapy at a large midwestern outpatient clinic were assessed on the clinical variables before session 1. They also completed ratings of the therapeutic alliance after sessions 1 and 8. Individual symptomatology did not predict alliance formation at either treatment stage. Higher levels of marital distress predicted poorer alliances to treatment between partners at session 1. Marital distress also predicted therapeutic alliance quality for men and women at session 8. Family-of-origin distress predicted alliance quality for men at session 1, and for women at session 8. Family-of-origin distress for men and women predicted split alliances early in treatment, and marital distress predicted split alliances for women at session 8. Clinical implications for the assessment and treatment of couples are discussed.