Emotion's influence on memory for spatial and temporal context

Individuals report remembering emotional items vividly. It is debated whether this report reflects enhanced memory accuracy or a bias to believe emotional memories are vivid. We hypothesized emotion would enhance memory accuracy, improving memory for contextual details. The hallmark of episodic memory is that items are remembered in a spatial and temporal context, so we examined whether an item's valence (positive, negative) or arousal (high, low) would influence its ability to be remembered with those contextual details. Across two experiments, high-arousal items were remembered with spatial and temporal context more often than low-arousal items. Item valence did not influence memory for those details, although positive high-arousal items were recognized or recalled more often than negative items. These data suggest that emotion does not just bias participants to believe they have a vivid memory; rather, the arousal elicited by an event can benefit memory for some types of contextual details.     

Exploring Perspectives on the Hiring of School Counsellors: from Directive to Direction

Currently, there is no national framework or standardized procedure for the selection and recruitment of counsellors for schools in India. Hiring as a practice aids the selection of a professional counsellor in alignment with the needs of the school. In order to bring this area into research focus, the present study employs a qualitative design to explore perspectives of five school principals and five school counsellors on the hiring of prospective school counsellors. In-depth interviews were conducted with the participants, and data collected were subjected to thematic analysis. Findings describe reasons underlying the hiring of school counsellors, the criteria that are used to guide selection, the process of hiring itself and issues currently encountered during selection. They indicate a need for structured formal guidelines for selection and recruitment of school counsellors at the school and policy level. On the basis of findings, a checklist is presented to serve as an initial guide in the hiring process in the absence of a defined system of selection and recruitment.     

Relationship of Workplace Factors and Job Involvement of Healthcare Employees with Quality of Patient Care in Teaching and Non-teaching Hospitals

The present study examined the effects of certain hospital workplace factors on job involvement among healthcare employees at the paramedical levels and quality of patient care in public hospitals in North India. The sample consisted of paramedical healthcare employees (N = 200), from a medical college affiliated teaching hospital and public hospitals (non-teaching) run by the railway services. Data were analyzed statistically to examine the hypothesized differences between the two types of hospitals. Results showed that employee perceptions of the workplace factors, namely, participation in decision making, innovative practices, perceived organizational support and role efficacy were significantly different in the teaching and non-teaching hospitals. Stepwise regression analysis of the data revealed that the factor ‘innovative practices’ was a positive predictor of job involvement in the non-teaching hospitals but a negative predictor of in job involvement in the teaching hospital. Job involvement significantly mediated the relationship between the perception of workplace factors and quality of patient care only in the non-teaching hospitals. The present study has important implications for initiating changes in the hospital system, particularly in public hospitals, where no systematic study has yet been conducted to determine the effects of workplace factors on job involvement of healthcare professionals and the quality of patient care in India.     

The Practice of Psychotherapy in Mexico: Past and Present

This article explores the history of psychotherapy in Mexico and describes past and current practices of psychological services, training, and supervision for Mexican international students in the United States. Sample curricula, texts, and universities in Mexico are listed. Implications for training underscore the importance of collaboration and increased dialogue. Este artículo explora la historia de la psicoterapia en México y describe las prácticas pasadas y actuales de los servicios psicológicos, formación, y supervisión de estudiantes internacionales mexicanos en los Estados Unidos. Se presentan muestras de programas didácticos, textos, y universidades en México. Las implicaciones para la formación subrayan la importancia de la colaboración y un diálogo más profundo.     

Development and validation of Indian Affective Picture Database

Since culturally salient stimuli for emotion recognition are scarce in India, we developed and validated a set of 140 coloured pictures of six basic emotions along with a neutral expression. The expressions were posed by four expressers, two males and two females, with mean age of 25.25 (SD 3.77) years. The expressions were captured from five different angles keeping the background uniform. These pictures were shown to 350 undergraduates who labelled the emotion and rated their intensity. The mean biased hit rate was 93.02 (SD 7.33) and mean unbiased hit rate was .519 (SD .015). Within subjects ANOVA revealed significant main effect of emotion (F(1, 6) = 7.598, p < .001). The t‐test value (23.116, p < .001) shows that the given emotion was identified correctly by participants beyond chance factors. The mean intensity rating was 5.94 (SD .77). Overall, the results reveal that the pictures are a valid set of affective stimuli.     

Neural correlates of deficient response inhibition in mentally disordered violent individuals

In this study, response inhibition and associated neural activation during a motor inhibition paradigm were investigated in (i) men with antisocial personality disorder (APD) with a history of violence (n = 14), (ii) men with schizophrenia with a history of violence (n = 12), (iii) men with schizophrenia without a history of violence (n = 12), and (iv) healthy control subjects (n = 14) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). At the behavioural level, individuals with schizophrenia showed impaired performance across all conditions, whereas an increased error rate was seen in the APD group only during the conditions requiring inhibition. At the neural level, both violent groups showed reduced thalamic activity, compared with controls, in association with modulation of inhibition by task demands. In addition, the violent schizophrenia group, compared with controls, showed reduced activity in the caudate nucleus during the condition requiring inhibition. It is concluded that violence may not be specifically associated with impaired voluntary inhibition in schizophrenia but this is likely in APD. Reduced thalamic function, perhaps due to its known association with sensorimotor disturbances, is implicated in violent behaviour across both disorders. In addition, caudate dysfunction may contribute, given its role in timing and temporal processing as well as suppression of motor actions, to deficient inhibition and violent behaviour in schizophrenia.     

Examining the testing effect with open‐ and closed‐book tests

Two experiments examined the testing effect with open‐book tests, in which students view notes and textbooks while taking the test, and closed‐book tests, in which students take the test without viewing notes or textbooks. Subjects studied prose passages and then restudied or took an open‐ or closed‐book test. Taking either kind of test, with feedback, enhanced long‐term retention relative to conditions in which subjects restudied material or took a test without feedback. Open‐book testing led to better initial performance than closed‐book testing, but this benefit did not persist and both types of testing produced equivalent retention on a delayed test. Subjects predicted they would recall more after repeated studying, even though testing enhanced long‐term retention more than restudying. These experiments demonstrate that the testing effect occurs with both open‐ and closed‐book tests, and that subjects fail to predict the effectiveness of testing relative to studying in enhancing later recall. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive load and task condition in event- and time-based prospective memory: an experimental investigation

Prospective memory is memory for the realization of delayed intention. Researchers distinguish 2 kinds of prospective memory: event- and time-based (G. O. Einstein & M. A. McDaniel, 1990). Taking that distinction into account, the present authors explored participants' comparative performance under event- and time-based tasks. In an experimental study of 80 participants, the authors investigated the roles of cognitive load and task condition in prospective memory. Cognitive load (low vs. high) and task condition (event- vs. time-based task) were the independent variables. Accuracy in prospective memory was the dependent variable. Results showed significant differential effects under event- and time-based tasks. However, the effect of cognitive load was more detrimental in time-based prospective memory. Results also revealed that time monitoring is critical in successful performance of time estimation and so in time-based prospective memory. Similarly, participants' better performance on the event-based prospective memory task showed that they acted on the basis of environment cues. Event-based prospective memory was environmentally cued; time-based prospective memory required self-initiation.     

Is attempted suicide an offense?

The English poet William Ernest Henley wrote: “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” However, Hamlet's dilemma of “to be or not to be” faces many a soul in times of distress, agony and suffering, when the question asked is “to die or not to die”. If the decision were to die and the same is implemented to its fructification resulting in death that is the end of the matter, the dead is relieved of the agony, pain and suffering and no evil consequences known to our law follow. But if the person concerned were unfortunate to survive, the attempt to commit suicide becomes punishable with imprisonment and fine under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Petitions have assailed the validity of Section 309 IPC praying time and again to declare the section void. On the other hand, euthanasia and physician assisted suicide have become prominent public issues in many countries over the past few years. Several countries or regions of countries have debated legislation on euthanasia and/or physician assisted suicide. Although there is growing public acceptance of physician-assisted deaths all over the world, many professional organizations remain opposed to it. Most of the debates on the issue are usually framed as issues of morality while many basic empirical questions remain unanswered. This paper attempts to examine the causes and consequences of attempted and completed suicide.