Do children "DRM" like adults? False memory production in children

The Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm was used to investigate developmental trends in accurate and false memory production. In Experiment 1, DRM lists adjusted to be more consistent with children's vocabulary were used with 2nd graders, 8th graders, and college students. Accurate and false recall and recognition increased with age, but semantic information appeared to be available to all age groups. Experiment 2 created a set of child-generated lists based on the free associations by a group of 3rd graders to critical items. The child-generated associates were different from those generated by adults; long and short versions of the child-generated lists were therefore presented to 2nd, 5th, and 8th graders and college students in Experiment 3. Second graders exhibited few false memories, whereas 5th graders were similar to adults in low-demand conditions and more similar to younger children in high-demand conditions. Findings are discussed in terms of developmental changes in automatic and effortful processing and the use of semantic networks.     

Identifying objects by touch: An “expert system”

How good are we at recognizing objects by touch? Intuition may suggest that the haptic system is a poor recognition device, and previous research with nonsense shapes and tangible-graphics displays supports this opinion. We argue that the recognition capabilities of touch are best assessed with three-dimensional, familiar objects. The present study provides a baseline measure of recognition under those circumstances, and it indicates that haptic object recognition can be both rapid and accurate.     

Understanding the Relationship between Religiosity and Caregiver–Adolescent Communication About Sex within African-American Families

Caregiver–adolescent communication about sex plays a critical role in the sexual socialization of youth. Many caregivers, however, do not engage their youth in such conversations, potentially placing them at risk for negative sexual health outcomes. Lack of caregiver–adolescent communication about sex may be particularly harmful for rural African American youth, as they often report early sex initiation and are disproportionately impacted by STIs. Moreover, sexual communication may be particularly challenging for families with strong religious backgrounds, potentially affecting the occurrence and breadth of topics covered during communication. Study aims were to: determine whether there was a relationship between caregiver religiosity and type of topics covered during communication about sex (e.g., general sexual health vs. positive aspects of sexuality) among 435 caregivers of early adolescent, African American youth; and if so, identify factors that might explain how religiosity affects communication about sex. Results indicated that caregiver religiosity was positively associated with communication about general, but not positive aspects of sexuality for caregivers of males. Attitudes towards communication about sex and open communication style mediated the relationship. There was no association between religiosity and communication about sex for caregivers of females. The findings from this study could provide a base to better understand and support the sexual socialization process within religious, African American families.     

Using a modified lag task to measure adult age differences in working memory

Four groups of adults, ages 40 to 70+ years, took the Modified Lag Task which requires that participants remember lists of words and subsequently recall the first, second, or third word from the end of the list. Previously, the task showed convergent validity with the operation span (a complex span measure) and a divergent validity with the digit span (a simple span measure). To establish predictive validity, the present study was designed to assess if this task could separate four age groups in working memory performance. The present study found support for the validity of the Modified Lag Task; however, additional research is warranted to further develop the construct validity of this task.     

Ethics Consultation in Pediatrics: Long-Term Experience From a Pediatric Oncology Center

There is little information about the content of ethics consultations (EC) in pediatrics. We sought to describe the reasons for consultation and ethical principles addressed during EC in pediatrics through retrospective review and directed content analysis of EC records (2000–2011) at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Patient-based EC were highly complex and often involved evaluation of parental decision making, particularly consideration of the risks and benefits of a proposed medical intervention, and the physician's fiduciary responsibility to the patient. Nonpatient consultations provided guidance in the development of institutional policies that would broadly affect patients and families. This is one of the few existing reviews of the content of pediatric EC and indicates that the distribution of ethical issues and reasons for moral distress are different than with adults. Pediatric EC often facilitates complex decision making among multiple stakeholders, and further prospective research is needed on the role of ethics consultation in pediatrics.     

Culturally Sensitive Risk Behavior Prevention Programs for African American Adolescents: A Systematic Analysis

The current review conducted a systematic assessment of culturally sensitive risk prevention programs for African American adolescents. Prevention programs meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria were evaluated across several domains: (1) theoretical orientation and foundation; (2) methodological rigor; (3) level of cultural integration; (4) program target or domain (e.g., schools, communities, families); (5) outcome change level assessed (e.g., addressing change in beliefs/values or behaviors); and (6) program effects on risk behaviors. Thirteen studies (N = 13) with adolescent participants ranging from 10 to 18 years were identified and evaluated. Analyses suggested that more effective culturally sensitive risk prevention programs included the following: (1) a clearly articulated theoretical orientation, which utilized both universal (e.g., behavioral theories) and culturally specific (e.g., Africultural theories) frameworks; (2) a rigorous methodological design (e.g., inclusion of control group, utilization of program manuals, valid and reliable study measures); (3) an integration of culture at multiple levels (e.g., accessibility, delivery, and content) of programming; (4) consideration of the influence of multiple contexts and domains (e.g., family, community, school); (5) multiple behavior change outcomes (e.g., behaviors, relationships, values); and (6) sustained program effects over time. Recommendations for increasing the effectiveness and efficacy of culturally sensitive prevention programs are discussed.     

De novo conditioning in trauma-exposed individuals with and without posttraumatic stress disorder

Differential conditioning was assessed in 15 medication-free individuals meeting Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) criteria for chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and 18 trauma-exposed individuals who never developed PTSD (non-PTSD). Conditioned stimuli (CSs) were colored circles, and the unconditioned stimulus was a "highly annoying" electrical stimulus. Individuals with PTSD had higher resting heart rate (HR) and skin conductance (SC) levels and produced larger SC orienting responses. During conditioning, the PTSD group showed larger differential SC, HR, and electromyogram responses to the reinforced vs. nonreinforced stimuli (CS+ vs. CS-) compared with the non-PTSD group. Only PTSD participants continued to show differential SC responses to CS+ vs. CS- during extinction trials. Results suggest that individuals with PTSD have higher sympathetic nervous system arousal at the time of conditioning and are more conditionable than trauma-exposed individuals without PTSD.     

PTSD arousal and depression symptoms associated with increased right-sided parietal EEG asymmetry

Researchers have proposed that depression and particular types of anxiety are associated with unique patterns of regional brain activation. The authors examined the relationship among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depressive symptoms and frontal, temporal, and parietal EEG alpha asymmetry in female Vietnam War nurse veterans. The results indicate that PTSD arousal symptoms are associated with increased right-sided parietal activation. However, the combination of arousal, depression, and their interaction explain more than twice the variance in parietal asymmetry compared with arousal alone. The results support the contention that the association between anxiety and right-sided posterior activation is specific to the anxious arousal subtype. These findings underscore the importance of isolating, both theoretically and statistically, emotional subcomponents in studies of regional brain activation.