Open-Field Foraging: The Influence of Prior Taste-Aversion Conditioning

The Psychological Record - Two experiments evaluating open-field foraging behavior of rats that had received prior taste aversion conditioning to liquid saccharin are reported. In both studies each...     

Individual differences in imagination inflation

Garry, Manning, Loftus, and Sherman (1996) found that when adult subjects imagined childhood events, these events were subsequentlyjudged as more likely to have occurred than were not-imagined events. The authors termed this effect imagination inflation. We replicated the effect, using a novel set of Life Events Inventory events. Further, we tested whether the effect is related to four subject characteristics possibly associated with false memory creation. The extent to which subjects inflated judged likelihood following imagined events was associated with indices of hypnotic suggestibility and dissociativity, but not with vividness of imagery or interrogative suggestibility. Results suggest that imagination plays a role in subsequent likelihood judgments regarding childhood events, and that some individuals are more likely than others to experience imagination inflation.     

BRCA1 Testing: Genetic Counseling Protocol Development and Counseling Issues

This article discusses the genetic counseling protocols which were developed and counseling issues that have arisen in the first 2 years of evaluating a large kindred with a BRCA1 mutation. The rationale for the development of the genetic counseling protocols and specific genetic counseling visual aids are presented and discussed. The protocols and counseling aids can serve as models for other programs offering cancer susceptibility testing. The observations of study counselors about study subject concerns and responses to genetic testing at the time of the pretest and posttest counseling sessions are presented.     

Sex-related differences in the relationship between sibling status and responsivity to babies

Ninety-six middle-class subjects equally divided by age (4–5, 8–9, and 14–15 years), sex, and the presence or absence of younger siblings in the family were studied in two situations which assessed their interest in babies: responsivity to an unfamiliar baby in a waiting room situation and reactions to pictures of babies. Subjects' birth order does not affect degree of interest, only mode of expression. These findings held for boys, but not girls. Regardless of age, boys without younger siblings expressed their interest in babies in more distal, cautious ways. The results were discussed in terms of the contention that birth order effects are best understood as distinctive for each sex, especially when sex-role-related behavior is being investigated.This project was supported by funds from the Boys Town Center for the Study of Youth at Stanford. We are indebted to Barbara Aschenbrenner for her assistance in all phases of this study.     

The nature of individual differences in working memory capacity: active maintenance in primary memory and controlled search from secondary memory

Studies examining individual differences in working memory capacity have suggested that individuals with low working memory capacities demonstrate impaired performance on a variety of attention and memory tasks compared with individuals with high working memory capacities. This working memory limitation can be conceived of as arising from 2 components: a dynamic attention component (primary memory) and a probabilistic cue-dependent search component (secondary memory). This framework is used to examine previous individual differences studies of working memory capacity, and new evidence is examined on the basis of predictions of the framework to performance on immediate free recall. It is suggested that individual differences in working memory capacity are partially due to the ability to maintain information accessible in primary memory and the ability to search for information from secondary memory.     

Why do doctored images distort memory?

Doctored images can cause people to believe in and remember experiences that never occurred, yet the underlying mechanism(s) responsible are not well understood. How does compelling false evidence distort autobiographical memory? Subjects were filmed observing and copying a Research Assistant performing simple actions, then they returned 2 days later for a memory test. Before taking the test, subjects viewed video-clips of simple actions, including actions that they neither observed nor performed earlier. We varied the format of the video-clips between-subjects to tap into the source-monitoring mechanisms responsible for the ‘doctored-evidence effect.’ The distribution of belief and memory distortions across conditions suggests that at least two mechanisms are involved: doctored images create an illusion of familiarity, and also enhance the perceived credibility of false suggestions. These findings offer insight into how external evidence influences source-monitoring.     

Neurotherapy with Adults

Several possible conceptualizations of neurotherapy are discussed: EEG operant conditioning; EEG homeostatic normalization; and utilization of EEG biofeedback as a means of accessing particular states of consciousness. Attention is given to how neurotherapy is actually done and when it may be a useful adjunct to psychological or medical therapies. Integration of neurotherapy with the larger framework of cognitive behavior therapy and the biopsychosocial model is discussed. Three case studies of adults involving the use of neurotherapy are described.     

Effects of the Inclusion and Refutation of Peripheral Details on Eyewitness Credibility

The present study examines the effects of including trivial details in eyewitness testimony on witness credibility, as well as the effects of discrediting presented details. Participants ( N = 155) read 2 brief, contradictory depositions from fictional witnesses about a fictional car accident. One of the depositions included a short set of details unrelated to the accident itself. After participants rated the credibility of the witnesses, the trivial details were refuted and the participants rated the credibility of the witnesses again. Contrary to previous research (Bell & Loftus, 1989), the inclusion of trivial details had no effect on witness credibility. However, significant effects on witness credibility were obtained when the details were refuted. As expected, the credibility of the witness presenting the trivial details significantly decreased after detail refutation. More interestingly, refutation appeared to increase the credibility of the other witness.     

Variation in the use of cues to guide visual working memory

Across two experiments we examined individual differences in the use of precues and retrocues to guide the selective encoding and maintenance of information in visual working memory (WM). In Experiment 1, we used spatial cues to indicate which item would be tested either before or after the presentation of a memory array. Regression analyses allowed us to separate variance due to visual WM capacity and attention control differences. In Experiment 2, we used categorical cues to indicate from which subset of items the tested item would be drawn, and we measured attention control with two independent tasks. Collectively, the results supported the idea that an element of individual differences in WM is the ability to flexibly allocate attention to encode only relevant information and subsequently select relevant information during maintenance stages.