Time-series analysis of the relationship between dizziness and stress

Ten individuals with dizziness participated in a longitudinal study on the relationship between stress and dizziness. The participants rated dizziness and stress on visual analogue scales twice daily for a period of 28 days (in all 56 data points). The ratings of stress included physical stress, mental stress, emotional stress, and the presence of stressful events. The data was analysed by means of time-series analysis (ARIMA), and the temporal associations investigated by lagged correlations. Results showed concurrent associations between dizziness and mental and emotional stress. However, individual differences were observed indicating complex and diverse patterns of association between different forms of stress and dizziness.     

What people believe about memory

Two representative samples of adult Norwegians (n=2000) were asked a set of general and specific questions regarding their beliefs and opinions about human memory. The results indicate that on many questions, such as time of the earliest memories, inhibiting effects of collaboration, and memory for dramatic versus ordinary events, the views of the general public concurred with current research findings, and people in general had realistic views about their own memory performance. On other questions, such as the reliability of olfactory as compared with visual and auditory memory, the memory of small children in comparison with that of adults, the likelihood of repression of adult traumatic memories, and on more general questions such as the possibility of training memory and the capacity limitations of long-term memory, a large proportion of the participants expressed views that are less supported by scientific evidence. Implications of these findings are briefly discussed.     

Tinnitus Stages of Change Questionnaire: psychometric development and validation

This study describes the development of the Tinnitus Stages of Change Questionnaire (TSOCQ), which aims to assess the readiness of tinnitus patients to change their behaviors and attitudes in relation to tinnitus. Its ability to predict treatment outcome was also investigated. One hundred and fifty-one patients with tinnitus completed the questionnaire. Through repeated principal component analyses, together with judgments of the factors' theoretical relevance, empirically and clinically meaningful scales were derived. A factor solution in accordance with the transtheoretical model (TTM) and with acceptable psychometric properties was found with the five scales of the TSOCQ labeled Precontemplation (Medical Solution), Precontemplation (Helplessness), Contemplation, Preparation and Action/Maintenance. Participants scoring high on Precontemplation (Helplessness) and low on Action/Maintenance had better treatment outcomes. In conclusion, the TSOCQ had some ability to predict treatment success, but further research is required into the utility of the TTM for understanding the rehabilitation process in tinnitus patients.     

Treatment of panic disorder: live therapy vs. self-help via the Internet

A randomized trial was conducted comparing 10 individual weekly sessions of cognitive behaviour therapy for panic disorder (PD) with or without agoraphobia with a 10-module self-help program on the Internet. After confirming the PD diagnosis with an in-person structured clinical interview (SCID) 49 participants were randomized. Overall, the results suggest that Internet-administered self-help plus minimal therapist contact via e-mail can be equally effective as traditional individual cognitive behaviour therapy. Composite within-group effect sizes were high in both groups, while the between-group effect size was small (Cohen's d=16). One-year follow-up confirmed the results, with a within-group effect size of Cohen's d=0.80 for the Internet group and d=0.93 for the live group. The results from this study generally provide evidence to support the continued use and development of Internet-distributed self-help programs.     

Randomized controlled trial of internet-based stress management

This study investigated the effects of an internet-based self-help stress management program with a randomized controlled design. Of 85 participants, 26% dropped out, leaving a final sample of 63 participants with 23 in the treatment group and 40 in the waiting list control group. Treatment included applied relaxation, problem solving, time management and cognitive restructuring. All information and treatment interventions were provided via the internet. Results were evaluated with the Perceived Stress Scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Improvements were seen in both groups, with greater improvements in the self-help treatment group. It is concluded that the internet can be used to provide stress management techniques and result in stress relief. However, spontaneous improvement, differential dropout rate and compliance need to be monitored in future studies.     

Reactions to social and non‐social novelties in 2‐year‐olds

The purpose of this study is to investigate the internal structure of behavioural inhibition [cf. Goldsmith, H.H. and Campos, J.J. (1990). Child Development, 61 , 1944–1964]. Observations of 45 2‐year‐olds’ approaching/positive reactions, inhibited/negative reactions, and latencies, when encountering strangers as well as unfamiliar objects, are made in a laboratory setting. The intercorrelations between the six different measures, obtained from the observations, are analysed by means of a multitrait–multimethod matrix. It is concluded, from inspection of the matrix, that aggregations of data into indexes covering different reactions (approaching/positive reactions, inhibited/negative reactions, and latency) and settings (stranger and objects), respectively, are appropriate. To further validate the different indexes, assessments of concurrent variables (separation reactions, reactions to physical intrusion, reactions in a new setting, and maternal ratings of reactions to strangers) are used. The results indicate that all reactions to both social and non‐social novelties can be assigned to one construct, which is in line with the assumption made by Kagan and his co‐workers about behavioural inhibition. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The face you recognize may not be the one you saw: memory conjunction errors in individuals with or without learning disability

Memory conjunction errors, that is, when a combination of two previously presented stimuli is erroneously recognized as previously having been seen, were investigated in a face recognition task with drawings and photographs in 23 individuals with learning disability, and 18 chronologically age-matched controls without learning disability. Compared to the controls, individuals with learning disability committed significantly more conjunction errors, feature errors (one old and one new component), but had lower correct recognition, when the results were adjusted for different guessing levels. A dual-processing approach gained more support than a binding approach. However, neither of the approaches could explain all of the results. The results of the learning disability group were only partly related to non-verbal intelligence.     

Value conflict and post-decision consolidation

The primary goal of the present study was to investigate how the mental representations of value conflicts are restructured after a decision. A value conflict exists if a chosen alternative is less attractive than a non-chosen alternative on one important attribute when a decision is made. In order to follow up earlier field studies with no experimental control over value conflicts, the present study induced value conflicts in the laboratory. This was done through associating the more attractive of two alternatives with a smaller probability of success. The first hypothesis was that consolidation of value conflict attributes should follow the same pattern when the conflict is controlled experimentally as in earlier studies of real-life decisions. The second hypothesis was that consolidation should be weaker in a non-consequential laboratory study than in the earlier real-life studies. The third hypothesis was that stronger value conflicts (that is, value conflict on more important attributes) lead to greater consolidation effects than weaker value conflicts. The results showed that participants consolidated the value conflicts in the same way as in real-life decisions with the difference that also less important attributes were consolidated in the present study. However, the consolidation effects were not so strong that they caused advantage reversals on a conflict attribute, as in the earlier field studies with real outcomes and consequences. There was no relationship between strength of conflict and consolidation. The fact that no advantage reversals were registered leads to questions about the ecological validity of laboratory studies of non-consequential decision making.     

Memories of real-life decisions

Three studies investigated decision makers' memory representations of choice alternatives in most important real-life decisions. In Study 1, each participant recalled the most important decision that she or he had ever made and rated to what degree a number of characteristics could describe the decisions. In Study 2, the participants were asked to think about an important decision that they had made during the last 7-10 days. In Study 3, the memory representations of decisions of a group of action-oriented participants were compared with those of a group of state-oriented participants (Kuhl, 1983). Characteristics related to standard decision theory, like consequences, values, and likelihood, had high ratings of applicability as well as affect/feeling. When testing the applicability of a circumplex model, the fuzzy-trace theory of memory, and differences between state- and action-oriented decision makers, we found (1) that there was no support for the circumplex model of emotions. Instead, an important decision problem was characterised by both positive and negative affect/emotion and thus, a bipolar mapping was found inadequate; (2) that a comparison of abstract and concrete aspects showed that the abstract characteristics scored higher, thereby supporting the fuzzy-trace theory; and (3) that the prediction that action-oriented participants would score higher than state-oriented participants on the characteristic of activity was not supported. However, state-oriented decision makers rated passivity higher than action-oriented decision makers for the important decision of leaving a partner. State-oriented decision makers used perceptual/cognitive scenario representations to a greater extent than action-oriented participants. Finally, it was stressed that in the development of decision theories it is essential to find theoretical representations as close as possible to how decision makers themselves represent the decisions. The method used in this contribution is focused on the role of memory in decision making and gives further insights into how important real-life decisions are represented by different decision makers.