Facilitation and disruption of lateralized syllable processing by unattended stimuli in the opposite visual field

The influence of lateralized unattended stimuli on the processing of attended stimuli in the opposite visual field can shed light on the nature of information that is transferred between hemispheres. On a cued bilateral task, participants tried to identify a syllable in the attended visual field, which elicits a left hemisphere (LH) advantage and different processing strategies by the two hemispheres. The same or a different syllable or a neutral stimulus appeared in the unattended field. Transmission of unattended syllable codes between hemispheres is symmetric, as revealed by equal interference for the two visual fields. The LH is more accurate than the RH in encoding unattended syllables, as indicated by facilitation in the left but not right visual field and a greater frequency of identifiable intrusions into the left than right field. However, asymmetric encoding strategies are different for attended and unattended syllables.     

The impact of rock videos and music with suicidal content on thoughts and attitudes about suicide

In Experiment 1, 133 college student volunteers watched a rock music video with or without suicidal content and then completed written measures assessing mood, priming of suicide-related thoughts, perceptions of personal risk, sensitivity to suicidality in others, and attitudes/beliefs about suicide. In Experiment 2, 104 college student volunteers listened to rock music with either suicidal or neutral content and then completed measures similar to Experiment 1, with the addition of a hopelessness measure. In both experiments, participants exposed to suicidal content wrote more scenarios with suicide-related themes in a projective storytelling task than those exposed to nonsuicidal content. However, there were virtually no group differences on explicit measures of affect, attitudes, and perceptions. Music and videos with suicide content appeared to prime implicit cognitions related to suicide but did not affect variables associated with increased suicide risk.     

Character strengths before and after September 11

Did Americans change following the September 11 terrorist attacks? We provide a tentative answer with respect to the positive traits included in the Values in Action Classification of Strengths and measured with a self-report questionnaire available on-line and completed by 4,817 respondents. When scores for individuals completing the survey in the 2 months immediately after September 11 were compared with scores for those individuals who completed the survey before September 11, seven character strengths showed increases: gratitude, hope, kindness, leadership, love, spirituality, and teamwork. Ten months after September 11, these character strengths were still elevated, although to a somewhat lesser degree than immediately following the attacks.     

The neural basis of autobiographical and semantic memory: new evidence from three PET studies

A novel, neuropsychologically informed paradigm (extended retrieval of events in response to a cue word) was used to investigate the neural basis of autobiographical and semantic memory. Contrasting retrieval of autobiographical memories with retrieval of semantic facts (ABM-SEM) in 24 subjects across three PET studies revealed bilateral involvement of the middle temporal gyrus (BA 21) and medial frontal cortex (BA 9/10). The opposite contrast, SEM-ABM, resulted in increased regional cerebral blood flow in left posterior temporal regions (BA 37) and left prefrontal cortex (BA 45/46). Laterality maps suggest that the bilateral pattern seen in our studies, but not often in other neuroimaging investigations, reflects the use of a task stressing retrieval of specific personal events. Further comparisons revealed that the activation in the right anterior temporal lobe during autobiographical recall was virtually identical to that seen during retrieval of information about famous people or events in contrast with retrieval of general semantic facts. These findings suggest that the retrieval of an autobiographical event requires participation from conceptual knowledge, and that this type of knowledge is bilaterally distributed in the temporal lobes.     

Crossing the Line: Case Studies of Identity Development in First-Generation College Women

In this paper we present four case studies of adult women from working class backgrounds who attended Hillside College (a pseudonym for one of the seven-sister colleges) during the early 1990s. Although research on women has led, over the past few decades, to a more complex picture of the contexts in which women develop their identities, one important context that has been underexplored is social class. Drawing on data from three lengthy interviews with each of our four participants, our purpose was to explore the identity concerns of adult women from working class backgrounds in their experience getting to and attending Hillside College, which has historically been home to the middle and upper social classes. Implications for college retention are discussed.     

Where Do We Go from Here?

Beginning with the End represents an excellent collection of articles devoted to the thought of Wolfhart Pannenberg. This volume includes many of the most important thinkers in the science-religion dialogue and shows as well the importance and impact of Pannenberg's theology. This response addresses themes that surface in several of the articles: What is religion? What is science? What is theology? What is God? On some of these themes there is agreement, on others sharp disagreement. The conclusion also considers what this volume suggests about the future of Pannenberg's theology.     

Reversing the phonological similarity effect

The phonological similarity effect--poor retention of order for lists of similar-sounding items--is a benchmark finding in the short-term memory literature. In our first two experiments, we show that the effect actually reverses following relatively brief periods of distraction, yielding better order retention for similar than for dissimilar lists, provided that different items are used on every trial. In Experiment 3, the same items were used on every trial and similar lists produced poorer performance across all three retention intervals. The results are interpreted from a general discrimination framework: Items are viewed as occupying positions in a multidimensional space defined by list and within-list dimensions.     

The Dimensionality of Memory Strength Between Levels of Both Serial Position and Word Frequency Category

In recognition tasks where Signal Detection Theory (SDT) is applied, a suitable decision variable is required. This variable is typically assumed to be a global assessment of memory strength. A further assumption is that factors such as old-new, serial position (SP), and word frequency (WF) simply act to change the value of strength across levels within the factor. In terms of SDT, the decision variable is assumed to be uni-dimensional. Four experiments are reported that provide a direct empirical assessment of this assumption for SP and WF. Judgements of items (JOI), recency (JOR), and primacy (JOP) were measured for SP; and subjective frequency (JOF) was measured for WF. Multiple dimensions imply non-additive effects across factor levels and different retrieval processes or the influence of an extra process. A single dimension is consistent with an additive effect of factor levels and current theorizing. The data are in fairly good agreement with the uni-dimensional assumption across all four factors with the exception of JOR and JOP. These showed less uni-dimensionality for comparisons between beginning vs. end list items. The implications of this are discussed.     

The Sigmund Freud Museum Exhibit: The Price for a Bit of Good Luck

The Museum Exhibit on the life and works of Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis opened at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC on October 15, 1998. The Exhibit includes both praise and critical commentary regarding Freud's many contributions. Original documents, artifacts and personal items from Freud collections are on display as well as film clips, photographs, and other recordings. Different periods in Freud's life are highlighted. After leaving Washington, DC, the Exhibit will travel to New York, Los Angeles, and on to Vienna.