Patterns of 4-month-old infant responses to hidden silent and sounding people and objects

Responses of 4-month-old infants to hidden people and objects were investigated with equated task demands. Twenty-one 4-month-old infants were administered a combined task, in which they were shown a sounding stimulus that continued to sound after hiding, an auditory task, in which sound was the only source of information about the position of the object in space, and a vision task, in which a silent stimulus was shown to the infants prior to hiding. Five infant behaviours were coded: reaching, gazing, body movements, vocalizations and smiles. The infants reached significantly more for hidden objects than for people, to whom they vocalized instead. They further smiled, and moved their bodies more towards their invisible mother than to the other stimuli. Thus infants responded differentially to people and objects whether the stimuli were soundless (so that there was no cue to their presence) or not. This suggested that infants appreciated (a) that an object had been hidden; (b) this object was either animate or inanimate; and (c) different procedures were appropriate for the retrieval of, or for interacting with animate and inanimate objects. Discussion centres on the underlying representational system that allows for such appreciation.     

Concordance Between Mothers' and Children's Reports of Somatic and Emotional Symptoms in Patients with Recurrent Abdominal Pain or Emotional Disorders

Mother–child concordance regarding children's somatic and emotional symptoms was assessed in children with recurrent abdominal pain (n = 88), emotional disorders (n = 51), and well children (n = 56). Children between 6 and 18 years of age and their mothers completed questionnaires assessing the children's somatic symptoms, functional disability, and depression. Mothers of children with recurrent abdominal pain reported more child somatic and depressive symptoms than did their children, and mothers of children with emotional disorders reported more child depressive symptoms than did their children. Higher levels of maternal distress were associated with greater mother-child discordance in the direction of mothers reporting more child symptoms than did their children. No significant child age or sex differences were found in concordance patterns.     

REPEATED EXPOSURE TO SUGGESTION AND THE CREATION OF FALSE MEMORIES

Abstract— The purpose of the present study was to extend research on repetition and illusory truth to the domain of eyewitness suggestibility. Specifically, we assessed whether repeated exposure to suggestion, relative to a single exposure, facilitates the creation of false memory for suggested events. After viewing a video of a burglary, subjects were asked questions containing misleading suggestions, some of which were repeated. Their memory for the source of the suggestions was tested. The results show that following repeated (relative to a single) exposure to suggestion, subjects were more likely to (a) claim with high confidence that they remembered the suggested events from the video (Experiment 1) and (b) claim that they consciously recollected witnessing the suggested events (Experiment 2). The effects of repeated exposure were highly reliable and were observed over retention intervals as long as I week.     

On the time course of negative priming: Another look

In two experiments, the pattern of persistence of negative priming effects across delay intervals of 500 and 2,500 msec was assessed using a within-subjects, random sequencing of delays. Neill and Valdes (1992; Neill, Valdes, Terry, & Gorfein, 1992) have argued that a within-subject experimental design is required for decay of negative priming to be seen, in contrast to results reported elsewhere (e.g., Tipper, Weaver, Cameron, Brehaut, & Bastedo, 1991) showing stable negative priming effects across delays. In neither experiment was substantial evidence of decay detected, raising questions for the notion that suppression necessarily declines across brief temporal intervals and for the assertion that episodic retrieval is the sole source of negative priming.     

The relationship between frontalis muscle activity and self-reports of headache pain

The relationship between levels of frontalis muscle activity and self-reports of pain was evaluated in two studies. In Study I frontalis muscle activity and self-reports of pain collected during biofeedback treatment of muscular contraction headache clients were correlated. In Study II frontalis EMG activity was increased and decreased using biofeedback techniques while concurrent reports of headache pain were recorded. The results of Study I indicated a significant relationship between EMG activity and reported headache pain for only two of the five subjects studied. The biofeedback procedures in Study II were associated with reliable increases and decreases in EMG activity. Concordance between EMG and pain reports occurred only during the EMG increase condition. Overall correlations were significant for one of the 2 subjects. The results suggest that EMG activity may not be sufficient to account for pain reports in all chronic headache clients, and variables other than EMG activity may be influencing reports of pain in some patients.     

A Relationship Skills Training Program for College Students

An eight-session Relationship Skills Training program was developed for college students who have difficulty in meeting others and establishing close personal relationships. The major components of each session (i.e., introduction, cognitive restructuring, skills training, and homework) are described and results of the initial offering of the program are presented.     

Learning capacities during sleep: A preliminary study in a group of schizophrenic inpatients

The relationship between sleep and learning processes is analysed in a sample of schizophrenic patients, starting from more recent hypotheses about the function of REM sleep in learning and memory processes. This is done by means of two experiments: in the first AA. evaluate the possibility to elicit a simple motor conditional reflex acquired during daytime in different sleep stages. With the second experiment daytime learning performances are evaluated with and without a reinforcement administered during REM sleep. Results for the first experiment underline a qualitative difference between REM and nREM sleep in a reflexological perspective. In nREM sleep the conditional response is better maintained than in REM sleep. The second experiment confirms the possibility to improve daytime learning performances after an additional presentation of learning material in REM. The joint study of sleep abnormalities and learning and cognitive impairment in schizophrenic patients is finally suggested.