Exploring the boundaries of memory distrust from repeated checking: increasing external validity and examining thresholds

Checking behavior is among the most common forms of compulsions in OCD. Recent research suggests that repeated checking decreases memory confidence, and supports theoretical models of how repeated checking is maintained. The current paper presents findings from two studies exploring the boundaries of memory distrust from repeated checking. Results of study 1 show that repeated checking of a real stove decreases memory confidence, vividness, and detail (i.e., metamemory), and leads to a greater reliance on knowing as a source of memory, without meaningfully altering memory accuracy. Results of study 2 suggest that these changes in metamemory are observed after performing a relatively low number of checks on one occasion. The findings are considered within the context of theoretical models of checking and future directions are delineated.     

Ethical Issues in Cancer Genetics: 1) Whose Information Is It?

This article presents and discusses four clinical cases that exemplify the complexity of ethical dilemmas concerning the provider's obligation to disclose or withhold genetic information from patients. Case 1: What is the responsibility of the cancer genetics provider to ensure that a positive test results is shared with distant relatives? Case 2: To ensure that results go to at-risk relatives, do we have the right to ignore the wishes of the designated next-of-kin? Case 3: Do we have the right to reveal a familial BRCA1 mutation to a patient's relative, who is at 50% risk? Case 4: Do we have an obligation to reveal that a patient is not a blood relative and therefore, not at risk to have inherited a familial mutation? These cases form the basis for discussing the provider's dual obligations to keeping patient confidentiality and informing patients and families about risk (i.e. duty to warn). We also provide a summary of consensus points and additional discussion questions for each case.     

The presumption of sociality: social learning in diverse contexts in brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater)

Data are presented on social and vocal learning in cowbirds (Molothrus ater) housed in large aviaries and given more degrees of freedom than in conventional experimental studies. The studies show that social and vocal outcomes are facultative responses to social contexts. Several findings are reviewed: First, cowbirds quickly self-organize into groups by age and sex; second, opportunities to interact across age and sex do exist and affect courtship competence; third, female cowbirds organize themselves differently in the presence and absence of male competition; and fourth, young, naive cowbirds show rapid and differential sensitivity to group dynamics. Taken as a whole, the data show that social Umwelten are dynamic, developmental ecologies.     

Recognition bias for critical faces in social phobia: a replication and extension

Studies using linguistic stimuli have provided little support for explicit memory biases among individuals with social phobia (SP). However, using facial stimuli rated on their criticalness, Lundh and Ost (1996) found that individuals with SP recognized more critical than accepting faces, whereas non-anxious controls tended to show the opposite pattern. Since the publication of Lundh and Ost's findings, additional studies using a variety of facial stimuli have produced inconsistent findings (J. Anxiety Disord. 14 (2000) 501; Behav. Res. Ther. 39 (2001) 967). Unfortunately, these inconsistencies are difficult to reconcile given great variation in methods and stimuli. Therefore, we designed a study to replicate and extend the work of Lundh and Ost (Behav. Res. Ther. 34 (1996) 787). Similar to Lundh and Ost, individuals with SP identified a significantly higher proportion of old critical faces as old than did non-anxious controls. Further, extending the work of Lundh and Ost, signal detection analyses revealed group differences on response bias according to face type. Specifically, controls showed a response bias towards indicating that accepting faces were previously seen, whereas individuals with SP did not. Finally, signal detection analyses failed to reveal group differences in the accuracy of memory.     

Sexual arousal patterns of bisexual men

There has long been controversy about whether bisexual men are substantially sexually aroused by both sexes. We investigated genital and self-reported sexual arousal to male and female sexual stimuli in 30 heterosexual, 33 bisexual, and 38 homosexual men. In general, bisexual men did not have strong genital arousal to both male and female sexual stimuli. Rather, most bisexual men appeared homosexual with respect to genital arousal, although some appeared heterosexual. In contrast, their subjective sexual arousal did conform to a bisexual pattern. Male bisexuality appears primarily to represent a style of interpreting or reporting sexual arousal rather than a distinct pattern of genital sexual arousal.     

Physical attractiveness and health in Western societies: a review

Evidence from developed Western societies is reviewed for the claims that (a) physical attractiveness judgments are substantially based on body size and shape, symmetry, sex-typical hormonal markers, and other specific cues and (b) physical attractiveness and these cues substantially predict health. Among the cues that the authors review, only female waist-to-hip ratio and weight appear to predict both attractiveness and health in the claimed manner. Other posited cues--symmetry and sex-typical hormonal markers among them--failed to predict either attractiveness or health (or both) in either sex. The authors find that there is some indication that attractiveness has an overall relationship with health among women, but little indication that male attractiveness relates to male health.     

Alibi believability: Corroborator certainty,cooperativeness and relationship with the defendant

Alibi believability can be affected by characteristics of the alibi corroborator, including the relationship between the defendant and corroborator, which has been studied extensively by researchers. The corroborator's certainty that they were together at the time of the crime may also influence alibi believability, but only a few studies have examined this. Another factor that may affect believability is the corroborator's cooperativeness with the police, which is yet to be studied in the alibi context. Online U.S. participants recruited from CloudResearch (N = 280) acted as mock jurors and evaluated a mock arson case where the defendant used an alibi defence. The alibi corroborator's relationship to the defendant (brother/neighbour), the certainty that they were together at the time (65%/100%) and cooperativeness with police (cooperative/uncooperative) were manipulated between participants. The participants were evenly split when it came to verdict (p > .05) but were more likely to vote guilty when the corroborator was a brother rather than a neighbour (p < .01) and when the brother was uncooperative versus cooperative (p < .05). As expected, alibis were more believable when they were corroborated by a neighbour rather than a brother and when the corroborator was 100% certain that they were together versus 65% certain (ps < .01). Alibis were also more believable when the corroborator cooperated than when he was uncooperative (p < .01). Cooperative (vs. uncooperative) corroborators led to more positive defendant and corroborator views on all six character trait measures (ps < .01). Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Change and stability in adult intellectual functioning assessed by Wechsler item responses

Change in adult intellectual performance was assessed with longitudinal data from the Intergenerational Studies at the Institute of Human Development. Wechsler Intelligence data from two age cohorts spanning ages 18 to 61 were analyzed at the subtest and item level. Hotelling T2 analyses on sets of equivalent items from Wechsler subtests were studied to determine if change in response occurred between pairwise combinations of occasions of test administrations. We used Bowker's test to analyze data at the item level to determine the direction of change in performance. Consistent improvement in performance occurred between the ages of 18-40 and 18-54. Between the ages of 40 and 61, results showed mostly improved performance on the Information, Comprehension, and Vocabulary subtests, mixed change on the Picture Completion subtest, and decline on the Digit Symbol and Block Design subtests. The pattern of mixed change on the Picture Completion subtest indicated improvement on the easy items and decline on the difficult items. Decline in performance on the Block Design test occurred only for the most difficult items.     

Are There Typical Age Curves in Political Behavior? The “Age Invariance” Hypothesis and Political Socialization

The acquisition and expression of political orientations are highly age-related; however, the nature of age-typical forms is rarely conceptualized in socialization research. The first part of this article examines the hypothesized nature of "age invariance" identified by criminologists in the study of deviant behavior and the inverted U-curve of voting behavior identified by political scientists. The second part uses survey data from German youth and young adults ( n = 7,280, ages 13 to 30) to describe typical age patterns for various types of unconventional behavior. The more unconventional the behavior, the more the curve resembles what criminologists have long found for deviant behavior. Youth approval of the more disruptive forms of political behavior has a left-skewed age distribution that is also typical of deviant behavior. This suggests an unappealing combination of potential actionism and political ignorance occurring in late adolescence, a possibility that ought to be of consequence for the design of civic education and other interventions. From a research perspective, these age-typical patterns can be useful as a theory-building and theory-testing strategy by treating them as baselines against which individual and cultural variations can be measured.     

A Brain of Her Own: A Neural Correlate of Song Assessment in a Female Songbird

The song control region in the avian forebrain is a series of discrete, interconnected nuclei mediating song learning and production. It has been studied in males or in species where both sexes sing. Little is known about the neural correlates of song perception in nonsinging females, often the intended recipients of song. We studied cowbirds (Molothrus ater), a species in which only males sing but in which females discriminate between males on the basis of song. We focused on nucleus lMAN because it has been implicated in early song acquisition, a stage relevant to both sexes to choose among competing acoustic models. We found that volume of lMAN was monomorphic in cowbirds. Moreover, the volume and neuronal number of female lMAN were positively correlated with selectivity of copulatory responding. The results provide strong evidence of nonsinging female's use of “song” control nuclei for song perception without the possibility of song production.