Stress, glucocorticoids, and memory: a meta-analytic review

Although a strong psychoneuroendocrine linkage exists between stress, glucocorticoids and memory, the relationship is not always straightforward. Eighty-eight effect sizes and 1642 participants from 28 studies were meta-analyzed for the effects of stress on memory performance and glucocorticoid activation. Analyses showed that stress was associated with glucocorticoid activation and declarative memory decline. In animal studies, predator stress affected memory performance more than physical stress. In human studies, males showed higher cortisol levels than females in response to stress. Further, the correlation between cortisol levels and memory deficits was stronger in studies using laboratory stressors than those examining long term effects of chronic exposure to rising basal levels of glucocorticoids and chronic life stressors. It was concluded that, although the relationship between stress, glucocorticoids, and memory loss was empirically supported, there were other factors, such as stress condition and gender, as well as individual differences within groups, that influenced the association between these variables, and warrant further examination.     

Economic Antecedents of Foster Care

Individual and ecological research suggests that rising unemployment may affect the incidence of violence through two countervailing mechanisms suggested by frustration–aggression theory. The first, or provocation effect, assumes increased violence among persons who feel anger because they believe their job loss was arbitrary. The second, or inhibition effect, posits less violence among employed persons who attempt to reduce their chances of job loss by curtailing behavior objectionable to employers. The literature also reports that these mechanisms affect victimization measured as foster care sought by the state for abused children. The foster care finding, although consistent with theory and important for basic as well as applied reasons, arises from methods that cannot rule out several rival hypotheses. We revisit this research and apply improved methods to test the reported association in Los Angeles and San Francisco counties. We find that, as implied by the provocation and inhibition mechanisms, differences in monthly prevalence of foster care placements increase with modest increases in unemployment but decline when unemployment becomes much higher than usual levels.     

Modeling hippocampal and neocortical contributions to recognition memory: a complementary-learning-systems approach

The authors present a computational neural-network model of how the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe cortex (MTLC) contribute to recognition memory. The hippocampal component contributes by recalling studied details. The MTLC component cannot support recall, but one can extract a scalar familiarity signal from MTLC that tracks how well a test item matches studied items. The authors present simulations that establish key differences in the operating characteristics of the hippocampal-recall and MTLC-familiarity signals and identify several manipulations (e.g., target-lure similarity, interference) that differentially affect the 2 signals. They also use the model to address the stochastic relationship between recall and familiarity and the effects of partial versus complete hippocampal lesions on recognition.     

Sense of coherence, negative life events and appraisal of physical health among university students

We examined the stress-buffering effects of the ‘sense of coherence' among 116 undergraduates (70 females and 46 males) with a mean age of 18.6 years. Self-reported physical well-being and psychological distress were assessed on two occasions separated by two months. Assessment of the sense of coherence occurred at time-one, whereas assessment of negative life-events for the past year occurred at time-two. Sense of coherence correlated negatively with negative life events and reported psychological symptoms of both occasions, and negative life events correlated positively with both assessments of psychological distress. Negative life events correlated positively with physical ailments reported for both occasions only among students low in sense of coherence; this significant correlation persisted after accounting for the relationship between psychological and physical symptoms. We discuss the possible salubrious effects of a sense of coherence on the health appraisals of young adults experiencing stress.     

Applying Cluster Analysis to Test a Typology of Homelessness by Pattern of Shelter Utilization: Results from the Analysis of Administrative Data

This study tests a typology of homelessness using administrative data on public shelter use in New York City (1988–1995) and Philadelphia (1991–1995). Cluster analysis is used to produce three groups (transitionally, episodically, and chronically homeless) by number of shelter days and number of shelter episodes. Results show that the transitionally homeless, who constitute approximately 80% of shelter users in both cities, are younger, less likely to have mental health, substance abuse, or medical problems, and to overrepresent Whites relative to the other clusters. The episodically homeless, who constitute 10% of shelter users, are also comparatively young, but are more likely to be non-White, and to have mental health, substance abuse, and medical problems. The chronically homeless, who account for 10% of shelter users, tend to be older, non-White, and to have higher levels of mental health, substance abuse, and medical problems. Differences in health status between the episodically and chronically homeless are smaller, and in some cases the chronically homeless have lower rates (substance abuse in New York; serious mental illness in Philadelphia). Despite their relatively small number, the chronically homeless consume half of the total shelter days. Results suggest that program planning would benefit from application of this typology, possibly targeting the transitionally homeless with preventive and resettlement assistance, the episodically homeless with transitional housing and residential treatment, and the chronically homeless with supported housing and long-term care programs.     

Analogue drinking assessment: Sensation seeking and gender

This study assessed the relationship between sensation seeking measured as a trait variable and drinking behaviors observed unobtrusively in the laboratory. It was hypothesized that high-sensation-seeking subjects would consume more alcohol than low sensation seekers and experience greater enhancement of positive moods and body sensations associated with intoxication. Thirty female and 31 male subjects divided into high- and low-sensation-seeking subgroups participated in an ad libitum drinking situation with the manifest task of taste rating three types of vodka (actually 95% alcohol) or tonic. Dependent variables included beverage consumption, positive/negative mood states, body sensations, breath estimates of blood alcohol levels, and self-rated level of intoxication. All subjects reported feeling the effects of alcohol. Contrary to predictions, high-sensation-seeking subjects neither consumed more alcohol than their low-sensation-seeking counterparts nor drank more alcohol than tonic, Paradoxically, low-sensation-seeking women displayed significantly greater alcohol intake and intoxication than all other groups. Possible explanations for findings were considered as well as the necessity for multimethod assessments of both predictor (i.e., sensation seeking) and criterion (i.e., alcohol consumption) variables across time and situations.This research was supported by Grant Award AA04042-03 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to the first and third authors. Special Appreciation is expressed to Anne T. Patsiokas, Susan W. Altman, Victoria Molony-Sinnott, and Pamela J. Thompson for their invaluable assistance in collecting and analyzing the data.     

A note on ECG changes observed during Pavlovian conditioning in a rhesus monkey following coronary arterial occlusion

Changes in the ECG of a rhesus monkey during a classical aversive conditioning trial conducted 10 minutes after occlusion of the marginal branch of the left circumflex coronary artery have been observed. This appears to reflect an instance where myocardial ischemia following coronary occlusion was exacerbated by presentation of a conditional stimulus.     

Justice,instruction, and the good: The case for public education in Aristotle and Plato's Laws

This paper develops an interpretation and analysis of the arguments for public education which open Book VIII of Aristotle's Politics, drawing on both the wider Aristotelian corpus and on examination of continuities with Plato's Laws.Part II: Sections IV–VII examine the arguments for the first of the two conclusions which Aristotle advances in VIII. 1, namely that education is important enough to merit the legislator's attention. It is shown, through a development of links between Politics V and the arguments of VIII. 1, that Aristotle's two arguments for this conclusion are calculated to appeal to two distinct subgroups within his intended audience, those who would be moved by a desire to promote the common good, and those who could only be counted on to desire the preservation of their own rule.