Age-related deficits in reality monitoring of action memories

The authors describe 3 theoretical accounts of age-related increases in falsely remembering that imagined actions were performed (A. K. Thomas & J. B. Bulevich, 2006). To investigate these accounts and further explore age-related changes in reality monitoring of action memories, the authors used a new paradigm in which actions were (a) imagined only, (b) actually performed, or (c) both imagined and performed. Older adults were more likely than younger adults to misremember the source of imagined-only actions, with older adults more often specifying that the action was imagined and also that it was performed. For both age groups, illusions that the actions were only performed decreased as repetitions of the imagined-only events increased. These patterns suggest that both older and younger adults use qualitative characteristics when making reality-monitoring judgments and that repeated imagination produces richer records of both sensory details and cognitive operations. However, sensory information derived from imagination appears to be more similar to that derived from performance for older adults than for younger adults.     

Finding the right case: the role of predictive features in memory for aviation accidents

Three experiments examined the role of story structure in memory for written aviation accident reports by both pilots and nonpilots. Accident reports follow a standard format providing setting, complication, decision and outcome information. Following the ‘predictive features’ model, it was hypothesized that expertise would facilitate recall, and that pilots would recall most effectively with the complication feature. Pilot and nonpilot participants read and recalled 4 (Experiment 1) or 8 (Experiment 2) accident reports. With four cases, pilots recalled more than nonpilots, but no difference was found with eight cases. A primacy effect for pattern of recall was found in Experiment 1 with the setting and complication features most effective in triggering case recall. When task difficulty was increased (Experiment 2), the complication feature alone was the most effective. In Experiment 3, we manipulated text structure and found that complication and decision features were better recognized than setting or outcome features by nonpilots. The finding across three studies that the complication feature was consistently the most effective for retrieving aviation accident reports supports the ‘predictive features’ model. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating a brief prevention program for improving marital conflict in community families.

Marital conflict is related to well-being in children and adults (E. M. Cummings & P. T. Davies, 2002). Marital conflict is likely most effectively ameliorated before it becomes clinically significant. However, families without significant problems may be unwilling to participate in couples therapies or other lengthy or intensive interventions. Responding to this gap, the authors developed a 4-session psychoeducational program about marital conflict for community families. Couples with children 4-8 years of age were randomly blocked into 1 of 3 groups: (1) a parent-only group (n = 24), (2) a parent-child group (n = 33), or (3) a self-study group (n = 33). Pre- and posttest and 6-month and 1-year assessments were conducted. This report evaluates (a) whether participation in a psychoeducational program for parents improved marital conflict, especially concerning ways of expressing disagreements, and (b) whether changes in marital conflict subsequently improved marital satisfaction, parenting, and child adjustment. Greater constructive and less destructive marital conflict was observed at all assessments for treatment groups, and these changes were linked with improvements in other family processes. The findings support the promise of brief, psychoeducational programs for improving marital conflict for community samples.     

Sex differences in the emergence of leadership during competitions within and between groups

This experiment investigated potential gender biases in the emergence of leadership in groups. Teams played a public-goods game under conditions of intra- or intergroup competition. We predicted and found a strong preference for female leaders during intragroup competition and male leaders during intergroup competition. Furthermore, during intragroup competition, a female leader was more instrumental than a male leader in raising group investments, but this pattern was reversed during intergroup competition. These findings suggest that particular group threats elicit specific gender-biased leader prototypes. We speculate about the evolutionary and cultural origins of these sex differences in the emergence of leadership.     

Threat in dreams: an adaptation?

Revonsuo's influential Threat Simulation Theory (TST) predicts that people exposed to survival threats will have more threat dreams, and evince enhanced responses to dream threats, compared to those living in relatively safe conditions. Participants in a high crime area (South Africa: n=208) differed significantly from participants in a low crime area (Wales, UK: n=116) in having greater recent exposure to a life-threatening event (chi([1,N=186])(2)=14.84, p<.00012). Contrary to TST's predictions, the SA participants reported significantly fewer threat dreams (chi([1,N=287])(2)=6.11, p<.0134), and did not differ from the Welsh participants in responses to dream threats (Fisher's Exact test, p=.2478). Overall, the incidence of threat in dreams was extremely low-less than 20% of dreams featured realistic survival threats. Escape from dream threats occurred in less than 2% of dreams. We conclude that this evidence contradicts key aspects of TST.     

Shooting the messenger won’t change the news

Malcolm-Smith, Solms, Turnbull and Tredoux [Malcolm-Smith, S., Solms, M., Turnbull, O., & Tredoux, C. (2008). Threat in dreams: An adaptation? Consciousness and Cognition, 17, 1281–1291.] conducted a rigorous study that sampled two populations differentially exposed to threat in real life, and found that critical predictions from the Threat Simulation Theory of dreams [Revonsuo, A. (2000a). The reinterpretation of dreams: An evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23, 877-901.; Revonsuo, A. (2000b). Did ancestral humans dream for their lives? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23, 1063–1082.] were not supported. Specifically, we found no evidence of increased realistic threats to physical survival or enhanced threat avoidance in the dreams of those from the exposed population. Revonsuo and Valli’s [Revonsuo, A., & Valli, K. (2008). How to test the threat simulation theory. Consciousness and Cognition, 17, 1292-1296.] commentary on our study argues that the methods we used are so flawed as to render the results meaningless. In this response article, we address the criticisms raised in their commentary.     

Equivalence of a measurement model of cognitive abilities in U.S. standardization and Australian neuroscience samples

A psychological measurement model provides an explicit definition of (a) the theoretical and (b) the numerical relationships between observed scores and the latent variables that underlie the observed scores. Examination of the metric invariance of a measurement model involves testing the hypothesis that all components of the model relating observed scores to latent variables are equal across groups. The assumption of metric invariance is necessary for simple interpretation of scores. Establishing metric invariance also has implications for interpretation of convergent and divergent validity and patterns of deficit or disability. In this study the equivalence of the measurement model derived from the U.S. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III standardization sample was compared with a heterogeneous neurosciences sample in Australia. A pattern of strict metric invariance was observed across samples. These results provide evidence of the generality of the model underlying measurement of cognitive abilities.     

D-cycloserine facilitates context-specific fear extinction learning

D-cycloserine (DCS) may facilitate fear extinction learning, but the behavioral consequences and mechanisms behind this effect are not well understood at present. In this paper, we re-analyze data from previously reported null result experiments and find that rats showing above-median extinction learning during DCS treatment benefited from the drug, whereas rats showing below-median (and in this case little) extinction learning did not. Two additional experiments found that DCS facilitated extinction learning when specifically combined with a moderate, but not a small, number of extinction trials. DCS thus facilitates extinction learning only if the behavioral procedure first engages the extinction learning process. The benefits of the drug, however, were specific to the context in which extinction was learned--i.e., DCS did not prevent or influence the renewal of fear observed when the extinguished cue was tested in the original conditioning context.     

Intra-amygdala anxiogenic drug infusion prior to retrieval biases rats towards the use of habit memory

In a dual-solution plus-maze task that can be acquired using either hippocampus-dependent "cognitive/place" learning or dorsal striatal-dependent "habit/response" learning, pre-acquisition peripheral or intra-basolateral amygdala (BLA) injections of anxiogenic drugs result in the predominant use of response learning. The present experiments examined the effect of anxiogenic drug treatment on the relative use of multiple memory systems when administered prior to memory retrieval. Adult male Long-Evans rats were trained for two days (6 trials/day, 30s ITI) in a dual-solution plus-maze task to swim from the same start point (south) to an escape platform that was located in a consistent goal arm (west). On day three, prior to a memory retrieval probe trial from a novel start point (north), rats received a peripheral (0.03, 0.1 or 0.3 mg/kg), or intra-BLA (0.1 microg/0.5 microl) injection of the anxiogenic alpha(2)-adrenoreceptor antagonist RS 79948-197, or saline. Relative to saline controls, rats receiving either peripheral or intra-BLA infusions of RS 79948-197 predominantly displayed response learning on the probe trial. In an additional experiment peripheral (0.1 mg/kg) or intra-BLA (0.1 microg) drug injections administered prior to both acquisition and retrieval also resulted in the predominant use of response learning. The findings indicate that (1) similar to acquisition, peripheral injection of an anxiogenic drug prior to memory retrieval biases rats towards the use of habit/response memory, (2) intra-BLA infusions of an anxiogenic drug is sufficient to produce this modulatory effect of emotional state on memory retrieval, and (3) state-dependency does not appear to play a role in the effects of anxiogenic drug treatment on multiple memory system use. The findings may have implications for understanding the interaction between brain function, emotion, and the relative use of multiple memory systems in human psychopathology.