Hemispatial neglect and serial order in verbal working memory

Working memory refers to our ability to actively maintain and process a limited amount of information during a brief period of time. Often, not only the information itself but also its serial order is crucial for good task performance. It was recently proposed that serial order is grounded in spatial cognition. Here, we compared performance of a group of right hemisphere-damaged patients with hemispatial neglect to healthy controls in verbal working memory tasks. Participants memorized sequences of consonants at span level and had to judge whether a target consonant belonged to the memorized sequence (item task) or whether a pair of consonants were presented in the same order as in the memorized sequence (order task). In line with this idea that serial order is grounded in spatial cognition, we found that neglect patients made significantly more errors in the order task than in the item task compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, this deficit seemed functionally related to neglect severity and was more frequently observed following right posterior brain damage. Interestingly, this specific impairment for serial order in verbal working memory was not lateralized. We advance the hypotheses of a potential contribution to the deficit of serial order in neglect patients of either or both (1) reduced spatial working memory capacity that enables to keep track of the spatial codes that provide memorized items with a positional context, (2) a spatial compression of these codes in the intact representational space.     

Bilingual computerized speech-recognition screening for clinical depression: Evaluating a cellular telephone prototype

This exploratory field study evaluated a bilingual computerized speech-recognition cellular telephone prototype of the Center for Epidemiological Studies—Depression scale (CES-D). Thirty Spanish and 22 English speakers completed both computer-telephone and face-to-face CES-D methods and an oral depression checklist in counterbalanced order. Both language groups reported high positive ratings for the computer-telephone method, with the English sample preferring the computer-telephone over the face-to-face method. In both samples, the computer-telephone method yielded high internal consistency estimates, strong alternate form reliabilities, and similar high correlations to the depression checklist. Both groups reported significantly elevated scores with the computer-telephone method, but total score variances for both methods did not differ. Computer-telephone limitations included occasional misrecognitions and template training constraints.     

A fiery conflict: Attachment orientations and the effects of relational conflict on sexual motivation

This study examined the effects of relational conflict on sexual motivation. Sixty‐one couples were videotaped while discussing either a major relationship problem or their daily routine. Both partners then completed measures of sexual motives and rated their romantic partner's sexual attractiveness. Results showed that conflict discussion inhibited relationship‐based motives and had an adverse effect on women's perceptions of partner's attractiveness, but a beneficial effect on men's perceptions. Conflict discussion also inhibited self‐serving sexual motives such as having sex to obtain relief from stress among people with avoidant partners, suggesting that people are unlikely to turn to avoidant partners for sexual consolation. Implications for understanding the role of the sexual system in regulating reactions to relationship distressful events are discussed.     

Causal attribution,coping strategies,and combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder

The present study assesses the intervening role of ways of coping in mediating the effects of causal attribution for negative events on combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The sample consisted of Israeli soldiers who suffered a combat stress reaction episode during the 1982 Lebanon War and were followed 2 and 3 years after their participation in combat. The results showed that an attribution of negative events to stable and uncontrollable causes was associated with both a more frequent use of emotion-focused coping and a less frequent use of problem-focused coping. It was also found that emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping were more direct antecedents of combat-related PTSD than causal attribution. Finally, it was found that the association between causal attribution and combat-related PTSD was mediated by variations in emotion-focused coping. The discussion attempts to integrate theoretical notions derived from attributional models and Lazarus and Folkman's stress-coping model.