Video training of imagery for mature adults

To examine the effectiveness of videotaped memory training, two groups of middle-aged and older adults were given imagery training that included videotaped presentation of interactive imagery for object location recall and linking items on a list, and the image-name match method for name recall. The training group performed significantly better than the waiting list on the initial post-test, and the two groups were comparable after both groups had received training. Evidence for both maintenance and generalization was found. Videotaped presentation of imagery training is effective for mature adults as a self-paced at-home intervention, and has cost-saving advantages over the predominant training methodology.     

HIV Prevention with Male Prostitutes and Patrons of Hustler Bars: Replication of an HIV Preventive Intervention

The core objectives of this study were to document the process by which a community-based organization replicated and adapted an experimentally developed intervention to its own use and to explore the effectiveness of that HIV prevention program for male prostitutes and other patrons in New York City hustler bars. The intervention model employed was based on previous research with gay men (Kelly, St. Lawrence, Diaz, et al., 1991; Kelly, St. Lawrence, Stevenson, et al., 1992) and inspired by diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers, 1995). The effects of the current intervention were assessed on a sample of 1,741 male prostitutes and bar patrons. Analyses indicated significant reductions in paid, unprotected sexual intercourse and oral sex following the intervention. Analyses further indicated that the data were partially consistent with the program's model, which specified that norms were the putative mediator of behavior change in the intervention. Also, the intervention's effects varied by bar and by participants' race/ethnicity. Data support the utility of the intervention model for an urban sample of men at high risk for HIV infection. The importance of exploring the mechanisms that underlie the intervention is discussed.     

NATURE, NURTURE, AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT FROM 1 TO 16 YEARS:

Abstract— Children increasingly resemble their parents in cognitive abilities from infancy through adolescence Results obtained from a 20-year longitudinal adoption study of 245 adopted children and their biological and adoptive parents, as well as 245 matched nonadoptive (control) parents and offspring, show that this increasing resemblance is due to genetic factors Adopted children resemble their adaptive parents slightly in early childhood but not at all in middle childhood or adolescence. In contrast, during childhood and adolescence, adopted children become more like their biological parents, and to the same degree as children and parents in control families Although these results were strongest for general cognitive ability and verbal ability similar results were found for other specific cognitive abilities—spatial ability, speed of processing, and recognition memory. These findings indicate that within this population, genes that stably adolescence and that environmental factors that contribute to cognitive development are not correlated with parents' cognitive ability.     

Offset transients modulate attentional capture by sudden onsets

Recent research with visual search tasks has suggested that stimuli which appear as sudden onsets (new objects) have attentional priority over stimuli that are created by removing segments of premasks (non-onset stimuli). Attentional capture by sudden onsets occurs despite the fact that the appearance of these new objects predicts neither the identity nor the location of the target in the visual search task. In three experiments, we examined the extent to which attentional capture by sudden onsets could be modulated by offset transients used to create non-onset objects. To that end, we systematically manipulated the ratio of non-onset to onset stimuli in the display (display ratio) as well as the ratio of offset to onset segments between the stimulus types (stimulus ratio). Increases in either the stimulus ratio or the display ratio resulted in increases in the visual search slopes for the onset targets. These results suggest that the ability of sudden onsets (new objects) to capture attention is influenced by stimulusdriven factors, such as environmental change. Interestingly, the results also indicated that goal-directed or purposeful search for sudden-onset (new-object) targets was relatively uninfluenced by the amount of change in the visual display. Therefore, it would appear that environmental change has differential effects on goal-directed and stimulus-driven search. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for our understanding of attentional capture.     

Effects of Exposure to Cigarette Advertisements on Adolescents' Attitudes Toward Smoking1

One hundred seventy-eight adolescents viewed a magazine that either contained or did not contain 4 cigarette advertisements. Adolescents who have tried smoking reported more positive attitudes toward smoking. Of the adolescents who have tried smoking, those in the cigarette-advertisement-present condition expressed more positive attitudes toward smoking than did those in the cigarette-advertisement-absent condition. Consistent with the prediction that adolescents who have tried (vs. never tried) smoking would attend more to cigarette advertisements, adolescents in the cigarette-advertisement-present condition who have tried (vs. never tried) smoking correctly recognized more cigarette advertisements. Taken together, these results suggest that adolescents who have tried smoking are attending to cigarette advertisements and are impacted by cigarette advertisements; specifically, cigarette advertisements bolster these adolescents' attitudes toward smoking.     

Endogenous visuospatial precuing effects as a function of age and task demands

This experiment examined the effects of age on processing resource capacity using an endogenous visuospatial precuing task and four levels of resource demands. Younger and older adults made speeded two-choice responses to dim and bright targets that required a line-orientation or a lexical decision. An arrow preceding target onset served as an attentional cue to affect the spatial distribution of resources. It provided accurate information about the target’s location on most trials and inaccurate or neutral information on the remaining trials. Although older adults were slower than younger adults under all conditions and were more affected by the resource demand manipulations, they exhibited a pattern of precuing effects across conditions that was similar to that of the younger adults. Results are consistent with the idea that the visuospatial attention system remains relatively unaffected by aging. However, the data speak against the idea that capacity reduction is the primary contributor to age-related slowing.