Electrophysiological indices of memory for temporal order in early childhood: implications for the development of recollection

The ability to recall contextual details associated with an event begins to develop in the first year of life, yet adult levels of recall are not reached until early adolescence. Dual‐process models of memory suggest that the distinct retrieval process that supports the recall of such contextual information is recollection. In the present investigation, we used both behavioral and electrophysiological measures to assess the development of memory for contextual details, as indexed by memory for temporal order, in early childhood. Results revealed age‐related improvements in memory for temporal order despite similar levels of memory for the individual items themselves. Furthermore, this pattern of recall was associated with specific components in the electrophysiological response. Consistent with electrophysiological research in adults, distributed, positive‐going activity late in the waveform was associated with increases in recall of contextual details and the development of recollective processes.     

The role of interference produced by conflicting associations in contextual control

In 2 experiments, participants completed a computer task in which they judged the probability of outcomes occurring (e.g., flowers growing, a bug infestation) given cues (e.g., treatment of soil with a fictitious garden product). In each 2-phase experiment, cue X was associated with 1 outcome in Phase 1 and with a 2nd outcome in Phase 2. When the outcome in Phase 1 (e.g., X led to a bug infestation) was replaced in Phase 2 (e.g., X led to flowers growing), contextual control was observed (Experiments 1 and 2). Information learned in each phase was less likely to be retrieved when the cue was tested in a context different from the 1 where training occurred. When the 2nd outcome did not conflict with information acquired in the 1st phase (e.g., X led to flowers and bugs), no contextual control was observed (Experiment 2). Acquiring a 2nd association to X resulted in contextual control only when it conflicted with an association learned earlier. The authors discuss the role of interference produced when conflicting information is acquired in establishing contextual control.     

Automated data collection using bar code

Using bar code technology to automate data collection provides a rapid and reliable alternative to paper-and-pencil tracking or keyboard entry into pocket or laptop computer. An array of bar code symbols is printed on a data menu, with a unique symbol corresponding to each possible observation. Bar code symbols are scanned using hand-held readers, which record the event, log the observation time, and store data for transfer to a personal computer. Advantages of the bar code monitoring system include: (1) ease of use by staff with minimal technical training, (2) reduced data entry errors and increased entry speed, (3) reliable portable operation, and (4) low-cost hardware. While the bar code system described here is used for behavioral monitoring in a residential treatment setting for the developmentally disabled, with minimal modification this system can be adapted for use in a wide variety of research and clinical applications.     

Nonclinical panic in college students: an investigation of prevalence and symptomatology

This article presents data on the prevalence and symptomatology of panic attacks and panic disorder (PD) in a large nonclinical sample (n = 2,375) of college students. Results showed that approximately 12% of the sample had experienced at least one unexpected panic attack and that 2.36% met DSM-III-R criteria for panic disorder. Although there were no sex differences in overall panic attack prevalence, men reported significantly more panic-related worry than women, and women reported a higher panic frequency than men. Compared to subjects who met DSM-III-R criteria for PD, infrequent panickers presented with fewer panic symptoms, fewer panic episodes, less panic-related worry, lower anxiety sensitivity, and less panic-related avoidance. Moreover, compared with PD subjects, the infrequent panickers were much less likely to report fears of dying, going insane, and derealization during a panic attack. The findings provide preliminary support for the role of anxious apprehension as a psychological vulnerability factor in the pathogenesis of panic disorder.     

Ethical Decision Making in Autonomous Vehicles: The AV Ethics Project

Science and Engineering Ethics - The ethics of autonomous vehicles (AV) has received a great amount of attention in recent years, specifically in regard to their decisional policies in accident...     

Importance of the kind of cue for judgments of learning (JOL) and the delayed-JOL effect

The delayed-JOL effect is the finding in which judgments of learning (JOLs) are more accurate at predicting eventual recall when they are made a short time after study rather than immediately after study. The present research replicated this effect and found that the kind of cue that is used for JOLs is critical. In particular, following the study of stimulus-response paired associates, there is an extremely robust delayed-JOL effect when the cue for JOLs is the stimulus alone (every one of 45 subjects showed the effect); however, there is little, if any, delayed-JOL effect when the cue for JOLs is the stimulus-response pair. This finding has important implications for education: To have the greatest accuracy at predicting eventual recall, a person should make JOLs not immediately after study but, instead, shortly after study (i.e., delayed JOLs) with the cue for JOLs being the stimulus alone. The theoretical mechanisms for the delayed-JOL effect are currently unknown, but some speculations are offered.     

The retrieval of controlled and automatic aspects of meaning on direct and indirect tests

The literature concerning implicit memory presents conflicting evidence on the importance of meaning in recovering recently studied words. When the same cues are used during testing, indirect instructions reduce levels of processing effects relative to those obtained with direct instructions, suggesting that meaning is not as likely to be retrieved on indirect tests. However, with certain cues, meaning set size of the studied words affects performance even under indirect instructions, suggesting that meaning is retrieved on such tests. The purpose of the present experiments was to resolve this apparent inconsistency. In Experiment 1, the effects of levels of processing and meaning set size were evaluated under direct and indirect test instructions, with the use of stem and word-fragment cues. In other experiments, beginning and ending stem cues were compared, and levels, set size, and instructional effects were evaluated using meaning cues. The findings indicated that levels effects were determined more by test instructions than by test cues, and that set size effects were determined more by test cues than by test instructions. Implications are discussed for transfer-appropriate processing viewpoints and for a model in which it is assumed that performance is determined by searching either explicit or implicit memories.     

Spa in Counseling

A place may be made in nearly every counseling session for spa: uplifting, positive experiences in which the focus is placed directly on helping clients feel good about themselves. With many clients, a few minutes at the end of each interview may be saved for these positive experiences; with some clients the entire effort of an individual session may be that of spa. The simplest of the several examples of spa in counseling offered in this article is the activity “Things I Can Do,” in which the counselor helps the client focus on and savor some of the most often-repeated actions of which he or she is capable: breathe, walk, talk, eat, sleep, think, and so on. All counseling clients can benefit from the emerging sense of wellness that can come from spa in counseling.     

Implicit processing in the cued recall of young and old adults.

Two cued recall experiments were reported in which younger and older subjects studied target words varying in number of preexperimental associates. In Experiment 1, targets were studied in either the absence or presence of meaning-related context cues, with recall always prompted by the cues. In the absence of context, words with smaller sets of associates were easier to recall than those with larger sets, but this effect was reduced for older subjects. The presence of a study context cue facilitated recall and eliminated the effect of associative set size for both ages. In Experiment 2, targets were studied and tested in the presence of unrelated words. In this situation, words with smaller sets of associates were less likely to be recalled than words with larger sets; again the effect was reduced for older subjects. The results are interpreted as an age decrement in processing implicitly activated information.