You say tomato? Collaborative remembering leads to more false memories for intimate couples than for strangers

Research on memory conformity shows that collaborative remembering--typically in the form of discussion--can influence people's memories. One question that remains is whether it matters with whom we discuss our memories. To address this question we compared people's memories for an event after they discussed that event with either their romantic partner or a stranger. Pairs of subjects watched slightly different versions of a movie, and then discussed some details from the movie, but not others. Subjects were better at remembering non-discussed details than discussed details: when remembering discussed details they incorrectly reported information from their partner's version instead of their own. In addition, subjects who discussed the event with their romantic partner (rather than with a stranger) were even more likely to report false memories. We discuss our findings in relation to other research on memory conformity, social influences on false memories, and memory systems within romantic relationships.     

The BAI–PC as a Screen for Anxiety, Depression, and PTSD in Primary Care

Despite the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in medical settings, mental health problems often go undetected and patients do not receive appropriate treatment. The main goal of this study is to provide additional information about the Beck Anxiety Inventory – Primary Care (BAI–PC), a brief instrument that screens for patients with anxiety. This study provides information on the performance of the BAI–PC as a screening instrument for depression and PTSD in addition to its original purpose as a screening instrument for anxiety. This efficient tool can identify patients who can benefit from effective psychological treatments and facilitate referrals to psychologists working in medical settings.     

Swimming-induced taste aversion and its prevention by a prior history of swimming

In two experiments, the evidence showed that 20 min of forced swimming by rats caused aversion to a taste solution consumed before swimming. When one of two taste solutions (sodium saccharin or sodium chloride, counterbalanced across rats) was paired with swimming and the other was not, the rats’ intakes of these two solutions showed less consumption of the former than the latter solution. Furthermore, a post-training two-bottle choice test clearly demonstrated long-lasting avoidance of the swimming-paired solution. These results imply that forced swimming acts as an unconditioned stimulus for establishing taste aversion. Preexposure to swimming opportunities before conditioning disrupts such conditioned taste aversion induced by forced swimming.     

Similarity attraction and actually selecting similar others: How cross-societal differences in relational mobility affect interpersonal similarity in Japan and the USA

Several studies have demonstrated that similarity between friendship partners is higher in the West than in East Asian countries. We hypothesized that these differences could be explained by relational mobility, or the number of opportunities to form new relationships in a given society. Through two studies, we confirmed that whereas the preference for similarity did not differ, similarity between friendship partners was higher in the USA than in Japan. Furthermore, a measure of relational mobility mediated the cultural difference in similarity, supporting our hypothesis. The effectiveness of considering socio-ecological factors when interpreting cultural differences in behaviour is discussed.     

The aggression test as a possible taxonomic tool in the Formica rufa group

The intra- and interspecific aggressive behavior of Formica polyctena, a species of the Formica rufa group, was analyzed and quantified both in the laboratory and in the field. This behavior was used as a potential taxonomic tool for gaining a better understanding of the phyletic relationships among the species within the group. No overt aggression was recorded toward members of the same species. To examine interspecific relationships, F. polyctena was first confronted with F. cunicularia, to ascertain its aggressiveness toward a distantly related species. All such encounters led immediately to overt and prolonged attacks with virtually no initial mutual inspection. This suggests that recognition of strangeness of the unrelated species is almost immediate in F. polyctena, as previously observed in F. lugubris and F. rufa toward the same antagonist. Subsequently, F. polyctena was contrasted with F. lugubris and F. rufa (also belonging to the F. rufa group) in order to compare these related species. Fierce attacks accompanied by all the elements of conflict behavior were observed in all encounters. Moreover, the degree of aggression in the field was higher than in laboratory-paired ants, possibly because of a territorial effect. These data and our previous and similar research indicate that the relationships between F. lugubris and F. rufa are closer than between these two species and F. polyctena. In considering different viewpoints on this problem, the validity of the aggression test is discussed and the opportunity to compare levels of aggressiveness among strictly sympatric samples of red wood ant species gathered from the same ecological environment are considered.     

Intelligence, reaction times, and peripheral nerve conduction velocity

Two studies (with sample sizes of 85 and 88) are reported that investigated relationships among measures of intelligence, speed of information processing, and peripheral nerve conduction velocity (NCV). In both studies, NCV was significantly correlated with IQ scores (rs = .42 and .48) and with reaction times (RTs; rs = −.28 and −.18): Thus, faster NCV was associated with higher IQ scores and faster speed of processing. In both studies, NCV and RTs contributed significantly, in combination, to the prediction of fullscale IQ (shrunken multiple Rs = .53 and .57), but the expected pattern of causal relationships between the variables was not borne out. The results are interpreted in terms of a “neural efficiency” model of intelligence, which has recieved support from other studies of physiological correlates of human intelligence.     

Relative locations among moving spots and visual vector analysis.

How the direction of apparent movement changed with the relative locations among spots was quantitatively measured by the method proposed by Hochberg and Fallon. From the vector-extraction model (proposed by Johansson) expanded as, "The vector to be subtracted depends on the relative location." and the directions of apparent movement, the vector to be subtracted was calculated at each relative location. Consequently data showed (i) the region in which the directions of spots in motion are affected by the frame is finite, and (ii) the degree of the influence is not iniform in the region but is rapidly reduced as spots go away from the frame.     

Group differences in the mutual gaze of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

A comparative developmental framework was used to determine whether mutual gaze is unique to humans and, if not, whether common mechanisms support the development of mutual gaze in chimpanzees and humans. Mother-infant chimpanzees engaged in approximately 17 instances of mutual gaze per hour. Mutual gaze occurred in positive, nonagonistic contexts. Mother-infant chimpanzees at a Japanese center exhibited significantly more mutual gaze than those at a center in the United States. Cradling and motor stimulation varied across groups. Time spent cradling infants was inversely related to mutual gaze. It is suggested that in primates, mutual engagement is supported via an interchangeability of tactile and visual modalities. The importance of mutual gaze is best understood within a perspective that embraces both cross-species and cross-cultural data.     

Comments on defining adolescence

Aspects of a definition for two characteristics of adolescence, being capable of doing something or not and having the right to do it, are proposed since adolescence is a period when a person is capable of but without the right to do something.     

Orthography and phonology in reading Japanese kanji words: Evidence from the semantic decision task with homophones

Correspondences between spelling and sound for Japanese kanji are complex and deep. The meaning of kanji words has generally been assumed to be accessed directly from orthography without phonological mediation. Experiment 1, however, replicated the findings of Van Orden (1987) that subjects made more false-positive errors on homophone foils than they did on nonhomophone controls in a semantic decision task, although they did so only when the foils were orthographically similar to the correct exemplars, which indicates both orthographic and phonological activations of meaning. Experiment 2 showed the same results when subjects were not required to pronounce the target words after semantic decisions, which indicates automatic phonological activation of kanji words. In Experiment 3, under pattern-masking conditions, this homophony effect was reduced but remained on errors, and the orthographic-similarity effect remained strong on both homophone and nonhomophone foils. These results suggest that both orthography and phonology play an important role in the comprehension of kanji words.