The neural basis of updating: Distinguishing substitution processes from other concurrent processes

Sörqvist, P. & Sætrevik, B. (2010). The neural basis of updating: Distinguishing substitution processes from other concurrent processes. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 357–362. Most previous studies of updating processes have not been able to contrast processes of substituting items in memory with other concurrent processes. In the present investigation, we used a new task called “number updating” and an fMRI protocol to contrast the activation of trials that require item substitution (adding a new item to the working memory representation and suppressing an old item) with trials that involve no substitution (discarding the new item). Trials that require item substitution activated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the posterior medial frontal cortex and the parietal lobes, areas typically seen activated for working memory tasks in general. Trials that do not require substitution activated the anterior medial frontal cortex. Studies examining executive functions have associated this area with cognitive conflict, and may represent suppression of the substitution processes.     

Definitions of Suicide and Self‐Harm Behavior in an Australian Aboriginal Community

In this small qualitative grounded theory study (21 interviews and focus groups with a total of 26 participants) investigating the understandings of and attitudes toward suicide and self‐harm of Aboriginal peoples in a coastal region of New South Wales, Australia, we found that cultural factors particular to these communities influence the way such behavior is defined in an Aboriginal context. A continuation of certain “traditional” cultural forms of self‐harm behavior was evident in participant definitions, notably the practice of female hair cutting, also described as a mourning ritual, which appears to serve as a marker both to the individual and others.     

Risk for Suicide among Medicaid Beneficiaries

Demographic, diagnostic, and service expenditure characteristics of Florida Medicaid enrollees who died by suicide were investigated. Among persons receiving Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), findings indicate the most powerful predictors of suicide were involuntary psychiatric examination, mental health hospitalization, and high mental health service use. Among Medicaid enrollees not receiving SSI, strongest suicide predictors were mental health hospitalization, high expenditures for physical health medications, and involuntary psychiatric examination. Findings suggest reducing involuntary psychiatric examinations and mental health hospitalizations while improving physical health may reduce suicide in the Medicaid population. Comprehensive hospital discharge planning, adherence monitoring with follow‐up care, training mental health providers in assessing suicide lethality, and providing adequate assessment time are all crucial to achieve these objectives.     

Gaining Ground from a Family and Cultural Legacy: A Teen Mother's Story of Repairing the World

A multigenerational longitudinal study of teen mothering provided prospective data on the intergenerational continuities and discontinuities in parenting traditions and caregiving legacies. Families that included a teen mother were first interviewed intensively in 1988–1989 and were reinterviewed in 1993, 1997, 2001, and 2005. All studies in the series were based on the phenomenology of everyday practices and the assumption that the self is constituted by practical, historical, and embodied understandings. Data were analyzed using the hermeneutic approach.     

Al-D˛am L ¥ r,Human Conscience and Christian-Muslim Relations

Can human conscience be a uniting bond between Christians and Muslims, across moral and religious differences? This article discusses the notion of d?am L ¥ r as employed by the Egyptian Muslim authors ?Abba ¥ s Mah?mu ¥ d al-?Aqqa ¥ d, Kha ¥ lid Muh?ammad Kha ¥ lid and M. Ka ¥ mil H?usayn. In the 1950s and 1960s, these authors used the notion of d?am L ¥ r to express the inward dimension of Islamic ethics. As Islamic humanists, they also used it to express what Muhammad and Jesus, Muslims and Christians, may 'know together' in the field of ethics. The modern Egyptian material is related to some observations on the semantic history of d?am L ¥ r, and a discussion of the conceptual history of conscience in Christian tradition and European philosophy. The article proposes that a constitutive element in the notion of conscience is the tension between 'knowing by oneself' and 'knowing with others'. In a broader perspective, the article discusses conscience as a globalized concept, and its importance for a Christian-Muslim dialogue which respects the difference of the Other.     

Is the truth in the details? Extended narratives help distinguishing false “memories” from false “reports”

The present study examined the effects of fantasy proneness on false "reports" and false "memories", of existent and non-existent footage of a public event. We predicted that highly fantasy prone individuals would be more likely to stand by their initial claim of having seen a film of the event than low fantasy prone participants when prompted for more details about their experiences. Eighty creative arts students and 80 other students were asked whether they had seen CCTV footage preceding the attack on Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh up to, and including, non-existent footage of the actual moment of the attack. If affirmative, they were probed for extended narratives of what they claimed to have seen. Overall, 64% of participants provided a false "report" by answering yes to the initial question. Of these, 30% provided no explicit details of the attack, and a further 15% retracted their initial answer in their narratives. This left 19% of the sample who appeared to have false "memories" because they provided explicit details of the actual moment of the attack. Women scored higher than men and art students scored higher than other students on fantasy proneness, but there was no effect on levels of false reporting or false "memory". Memories were rated more vivid and clear for existent compared to non-existent aspects of the event. In sum, these data suggest a more complex relationship between memory distortions and fantasy proneness than previously observed.     

Word fluency performance and strategies in children with cochlear implants: age‐dependent effects?

Löfkvist, U., Almkvist, O., Lyxell, B. & Tallberg, I.‐M. (2012). Word fluency performance and strategies in children with cochlear implants: age‐dependent effects? Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 53, 467–474. Word fluency was examined in 73 Swedish children aged 6–9 years divided into two age groups, 6–7 and 8–9 years; 34 deaf children with cochlear implants (CI) (15 girls/19 boys) and 39 age‐matched children with normal hearing (NH) (20 girls/19 boys). One purpose was to compare the ability to retrieve words in two different word fluency tasks; one phonemically based (FAS letter fluency) and one semantically based (animal fluency). A second purpose was to examine retrieval strategies in the two tasks by conducting an analysis of clustering and switching of word sequences. In general we found that age was an important factor for word fluency ability, in both the CI and the NH groups. It was also demonstrated that children with CI aged 8–9 years retrieved significantly fewer words and used less efficient strategies in the retrieval process, especially on the phonemically based task compared to children with NH of the same ages, whereas children 6–7 years performed similarly in both groups regarding number of retrieved words and use of strategies. The results are discussed with respect to factors such as age differences in performance for children with CI, especially for the phonemically based task.     

Nonlinear blood pressure effects on cognition in old age: separating between-person and within-person associations

Midlife hypertension is associated with increased risk of cognitive impairment in later life. The association between blood pressure (BP) in older ages and cognition is less clear. In this study we provide estimates of between-person and within-person associations of BP and cognition in a population-based sample (N = 382) followed from age 70 across 12 occasions over 30 years. Between-person associations refer to how individual differences in BP relates to individual differences in cognition. Within-person associations refer to how individual and time specific changes in BP relate to variation in cognition. Hierarchical linear models were fitted to data from three cognitive measurements (verbal ability, spatial ability, and perceptual speed) while accounting for demographic and health-related covariates. We found consistent nonlinear between-person associations between diastolic BP (DBP) and cognition, such that both low (<75 mmHg) and high (>95 mmHg) pressure were associated with poorer cognition. Within-person decreases in systolic BP (SBP) and DBP were associated with decreases in perceptual speed. Notably, between-person and within-person estimates did not reveal similar associations, suggesting the need to separate the two effects in the analysis of associations between BP and cognition in old age.     

Research misconduct among clinical trial staff

Between 1993 and 2002, 39 clinical trial staff were investigated for scientific misconduct by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI). Analysis of ORI case records reveals practices regarding workload, training and supervision that enable misconduct. Considering the potential effects on human subjects protection, quality and reliability of data, and the trustworthiness of the clinical research enterprise, regulations or guidance on use of clinical trial staff ought to be available. Current ORI regulations do not hold investigators or institutions responsible for supervision and training of clinical trial staff. Given the important issues at stake, the definition of research misconduct should encompass the intentional or negligent mismanagement of scientific projects. Individual institutions and professional associations not only can but should adopt stricter standards of conduct than those reflected in federal regulations.     

Dark-adaptation mechanisms of the long-wave foveal cones

The ordinary long-term rod and cone dark-adaptation curves have generally been assumed to follow a single exponential rate of recovery. However, in two previous papers on rod dark-adaptation (Stabell et al., 1986a, b), the recovery curve was found to consist of three different sections. The results of the present paper show the same type of recovery function with three different sections for the long-term dark-adaptation curve of the long-wave cone system. During the major, middle section log cone threshold, like log rod threshold, is linearly related to the logarithm of the concentration of bleached photopigment. Presupposing that the bleached cone photopigment acts as a ligand, the change in threshold level obtained during the middle section of the dark-adaptation curve is well described by the change in activity rate of an allosteric, postively cooperative enzyme built as a dimer.