The Enhanced Cognitive Interview: Testing Appropriateness Perception,Memory Capacity and Error Estimate Relation with Report Quality

The Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI) has been widely studied. However, research has overlooked witnesses' attitudes toward the interview and how error estimate and memory capacity relate to report quality. Participants watched a mock robbery video and were interviewed 48 hours later with either the Portuguese version of the ECI or a Structured Interview (SI). Participants interviewed with the ECI provided more information without compromising accuracy, particularly in free recall. Report accuracy was stable across interview phases and information categories. A higher perception of interview appropriateness (how witnesses evaluate the appropriateness of the interview procedure used) was linked with more detailed reports and more interest in being an interviewee. Participants over‐estimated their error rate, and their memory capacity was not related to witnesses' recall. It is essential to take into account their perception of interview appropriateness and use alternative methods to evaluate report quality. Major implications for real‐life investigations are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Review of the Institute of Medicine’s Analysis of using Chimpanzees in Biomedical Research

We argue that the recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine’s 2011 report, Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research: Assessing the Necessity, are methodologically and ethically confused. We argue that a proper understanding of evolution and complexity theory in terms of the science and ethics of using chimpanzees in biomedical research would have had led the committee to recommend not merely limiting but eliminating the use of chimpanzees in biomedical research. Specifically, we argue that a proper understanding of the difference between the gross level of examination of species and examinations on finer levels can shed light on important methodological and ethical inconsistencies leading to ignorance of potentially unethical practices and policies regarding the use of animals in scientific research.     

Inclusive victim consciousness predicts minority group members’ support for refugees and immigrants

What motivates minority group members to support other minorities, rather than compete for resources? We tested whether inclusive victim consciousness —i.e., perceived similarities between the ingroup's and outgroups’ collective victimization—predicts support for other minority groups; and whether personal and family experiences of group‐based victimization moderate these effects. Study 1 was conducted among members of historically oppressed groups in India. As hypothesized, inclusive victim consciousness predicted support for refugees. Personal experiences of group‐based victimization moderated this effect. Conceptually replicating these findings, in Study 2 (among Vietnamese Americans, mostly second‐generation immigrants) inclusive victim consciousness predicted less hostility toward other refugees and immigrants, and greater perceived responsibility to help victims of collective violence. This effect was moderated by family experiences of victimization.     

Moral Injury,Spiritual Care and the Role of Chaplains: An Exploratory Scoping Review of Literature and Resources

This scoping review considered the role of chaplains with regard to ‘moral injury’. Moral injury is gaining increasing notoriety. This is due to greater recognition that trauma (in its various forms) can cause much deeper inflictions and afflictions than just physiological or psychological harm, for there may also be wounds affecting the ‘soul’ that are far more difficult to heal—if at all. As part of a larger research program exploring moral injury, a scoping review of literature and other resources was implemented utilising Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping method (Int J Soc Res Methodol 8(1):19–32, 2005) to focus upon moral injury, spirituality (including religion) and chaplaincy. Of the total number of articles and/or resources noting the term ‘moral injury’ in relation to spiritual/religious issues (n = 482), the results revealed 60 resources that specifically noted moral injury and chaplains (or other similar bestowed title). The majority of these resources were clearly positive about the role (or the potential role) of chaplains with regard to mental health issues and/or moral injury. The World Health Organization International Classification of Diseases: Australian Modification of Health Interventions to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and related Health problems (10th revision, vol 3—WHO ICD-10-AM, Geneva, 2002), was utilised as a coding framework to classify and identify distinct chaplaincy roles and interventions with regard to assisting people with moral injury. Several recommendations are made concerning moral injury and chaplaincy, most particularly the need for greater research to be conducted.     

Moral Injury,Betrayal and Retribution: Australian Veterans and the Role of Chaplains

Journal of Religion and Health - This paper presents additional qualitative results from Phase 1 of a larger study examining potentially morally injurious events/experiences (PMIE) and/or moral...     

Can We Make Assumptions About the Psychosocial Impact of Living as a Carrier,Based on Studies Assessing the Effects of Carrier Testing?

Receiving the results of genetic carrier testing may have an impact on the psychosocial health of the individual. Numerous studies have been conducted to assess the psychosocial effects of carrier status for a range of conditions. To systematically review research focused on the psychological and social impact of carrier testing on individuals in order to identify factors affecting the impact of carrier testing results, and discern areas where further research is needed. Twenty relevant papers meeting criteria for inclusion in this review were found. The main themes identified across these studies included: anxiety, guilt and stigmatization, effect on family relationships, effect on self image, active coping mechanisms and reproductive issues. Variables related to the psychosocial effect of carrier testing included whether the carrier has an affected child, mode of inheritance, genetic counseling, and life stage. A key finding concerns carriers who already have an affected child; they are more likely to experience guilt and self-blame, and change their reproductive plans compared to carriers without affected children. Additionally, some participants reported clinical features of the disorder for which they were being tested. Genetic counselors may erroneously assume that parents with affected children are aware of their own carrier status in the absence of testing, and they may offer inadequate support. Additionally, counselors should attempt to address patient misconceptions related to their health and carrier status.     

View combination: a generalization mechanism for visual recognition

We examined whether view combination mechanisms shown to underlie object and scene recognition can integrate visual information across views that have little or no three-dimensional information at either the object or scene level. In three experiments, people learned four “views” of a two dimensional visual array derived from a three-dimensional scene. In Experiments 1 and 2, the stimuli were arrays of colored rectangles that preserved the relative sizes, distances, and angles among objects in the original scene, as well as the original occlusion relations. Participants recognized a novel central view more efficiently than any of the Trained views, which in turn were recognized more efficiently than equidistant novel views. Experiment 2 eliminated presentation frequency as an explanation for this effect. Experiment 3 used colored dots that preserved only identity and relative location information, which resulted in a weaker effect, though still one that was inconsistent with both part-based and normalization accounts of recognition. We argue that, for recognition processes to function so effectively with such minimalist stimuli, view combination must be a very general and fundamental mechanism, potentially enabling both visual recognition and categorization.     

Differentiating Adolescent Self-Injury from Adolescent Depression: Possible Implications for Borderline Personality Development

Self-inflicted injury (SII) in adolescence marks heightened risk for suicide attempts, completed suicide, and adult psychopathology. Although several studies have revealed elevated rates of depression among adolescents who self injure, no one has compared adolescent self injury with adolescent depression on biological, self-, and informant-report markers of vulnerability and risk. Such a comparison may have important implications for treatment, prevention, and developmental models of self injury and borderline personality disorder. We used a multi-method, multi-informant approach to examine how adolescent SII differs from adolescent depression. Self-injuring, depressed, and typical adolescent females (n = 25 per group) and their mothers completed measures of psychopathology and emotion regulation, among others. In addition, we assessed electrodermal responding (EDR), a peripheral biomarker of trait impulsivity. Participants in the SII group (a) scored higher than depressed adolescents on measures of both externalizing psychopathology and emotion dysregulation, and (b) exhibited attenuated EDR, similar to patterns observed among impulsive, externalizing males. Self-injuring adolescents also scored higher on measures of borderline pathology. These findings reveal a coherent pattern of differences between self-injuring and depressed adolescent girls, consistent with theories that SII differs from depression in etiology and developmental course.     

Meta-analytic evidence for a superordinate cognitive control network subserving diverse executive functions

Classic cognitive theory conceptualizes executive functions as involving multiple specific domains, including initiation, inhibition, working memory, flexibility, planning, and vigilance. Lesion and neuroimaging experiments over the past two decades have suggested that both common and unique processes contribute to executive functions during higher cognition. It has been suggested that a superordinate fronto–cingulo–parietal network supporting cognitive control may also underlie a range of distinct executive functions. To test this hypothesis in the largest sample to date, we used quantitative meta-analytic methods to analyze 193 functional neuroimaging studies of 2,832 healthy individuals, ages 18–60, in which performance on executive function measures was contrasted with an active control condition. A common pattern of activation was observed in the prefrontal, dorsal anterior cingulate, and parietal cortices across executive function domains, supporting the idea that executive functions are supported by a superordinate cognitive control network. However, domain-specific analyses showed some variation in the recruitment of anterior prefrontal cortex, anterior and midcingulate regions, and unique subcortical regions such as the basal ganglia and cerebellum. These results are consistent with the existence of a superordinate cognitive control network in the brain, involving dorsolateral prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and parietal cortices, that supports a broad range of executive functions.