Prospective remembering in younger and older adults: Role of the prospective cue

In these studies, adult age differences in event-based prospective memory were examined using an adapted version of G.O. Einstein and M.A. McDaniel's (1990) task. In Experiments 13, we varied prospective cue specificity by assigning a specific target word or an unspecified word drawn from a given taxonomic category. In Experiment 3, we manipulated cue typicality by presenting low or high typicality target words. Results yielded positive effects of cue specificity on prospective performance. Age effects occurred when high typicality target words served as prospective cues (Exps. 1 and 3), but younger and older adults performed comparably with moderate and low typicality words (Exps. 2 and 3). Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that age accounted for a small but significant amount of variance in prospective memory, although the contribution of age was substantially reduced after statistically controlling for recognition memory. Implications of these data for current views on prospective remembering are discussed.     

A Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Study of Autobiographical Memory Retrieval

Memory for the experiences of one's life, autobiographical memory (AM), is one of the most human types of memory, yet comparatively little is known of its neurobiology. A positron emission tomography (PET) study of AM retrieval revealed that the left frontal cortex was significantly active during retrieval (compared to memory control tasks), together with activation in the inferior temporal and occipital lobes in the left hemisphere. We propose that this left frontal lobe activation reflects the operation of control processes that modulate the construction of AMs in posterior neocortical networks.     

Prejudice and self-esteem: A transactional model

This paper reviews three theoretical models of how prejudice affects the self-esteem of its targets. The stimulus-response model assumes that prejudice has a direct, negative effect on self-esteem. The stimulus-perception-response model recognises that perceptions of prejudice may not directly mirror experiences with prejudice, but predicts that the subjective perception of being a target of prejudice has a direct, negative effect on self-esteem. Both of these models are found to be inadequate. We propose a third, transactional model, which assumes that individuals do not respond in uniform way to being the target of prejudice. Rather, this model contends that self-esteem and emotional responses to prejudice are determined by cognitive appraisals of prejudicial events and coping strategies used in response to these events; these processes, in turn, are shaped by personal, situational, and structural factors. Experiments are presented showing that self-esteem in response to perceived prejudice is moderated by presence or absence of threats to personal identity, clarity of prejudices cues in the situation, ingroup identification, dispositional optimism, endorsement of legitimising ideologies, and group status. We argue that a transactional model of responses to prejudice emphasises sources of resistance as well as vulnerability among targets of prejudice.     

Five-Factor Measure of Borderline Personality Traits

This study provides psychometric data for a new self-report measure of borderline personality traits from the perspective of the Five-factor model (FFM) of general personality. Subscales were constructed in an undergraduate sample (n = 109) to assess maladaptive variants of 12 FFM traits (e.g., Affective Dysregulation as a maladaptive variant of FFM Vulnerability). On the basis of data from a second undergraduate sample (n = 111), the Five Factor Borderline Inventory (FFBI) subscales were shown to have good internal consistency, convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity. These psychometric results were replicated in a clinical sample of female residents at a substance abuse treatment facility (n = 94).     

Perceptions of Younger Single Adults as a Function of Their Gender and Number of Children

ABSTRACT. Research suggests that children may interfere with single parents’ romantic experiences. Although both male and female single parents face these challenges, they have stronger associations with the romantic satisfaction of single mothers as compared to single fathers. The two current studies examined aspects of attractiveness and dating across various dimensions for both younger single women and men, with and without children. Results of Study 1 indicated interactive effects of target gender and parental status on perceptions of both attractiveness and dating potential. Results of Study 2 indicated differential ratings on multiple dimensions (i.e., attractiveness, stress, motivation for dating, and positive qualities) of younger single adults on the basis of gender, parental status, and the number of children single parents were reported as having. Implications for importance of social support and difficulty of repartnering are discussed.     

How we think and act together

In this paper, I examine the challenges socially extended minds pose for mainstream, individualistic accounts of social cognition. I argue that individualistic accounts of social cognition neglect phenomena important to social cognition that are properly emphasized by socially extended mind accounts. Although I do not think the evidence or arguments warrant replacing individualistic explanations of social cognition with socially extended explanations, I argue that we have good reason to supplement our individualistic accounts so as to include the ways in which situational context affects social interactions. The result, I hope, is a more sophisticated individualism that offers a more comprehensive account of how we think and act together.     

Physical and Sexual Victimization Predicts Suicidality among Women in Prison: Understanding Ethnic and Trauma-Specific Domains of Risk

Few studies have addressed the association between specific forms of trauma and suicidality among incarcerated women. This study examined domains of trauma as predictors of suicidality, and also evaluated ethnicity as a moderator of the association between physical and sexual victimization and suicidality. Participants were 224 treatment-seeking incarcerated women who completed self-report measures of trauma exposure, suicidal behavior, and ethnicity. Women in this sample reported significant histories of trauma exposure and suicidal behavior, and physical and sexual victimization significantly predicted suicidality. Ethnicity moderated this association such that there was a significant positive association between victimization and suicidality for European-American women; however, this association was not statistically significant for ethnic minority women. These findings demonstrate the specific risk conferred by physical and sexual victimization and European-American ethnicity among women in prison.     

Mothers’ Experiences of Parent-Reported and Video-Recorded Observational Assessments

Rigorous evaluation of early childhood interventions requires accurate and efficient measurement. Researchers commonly use parent-reported surveys or direct observations; both of which have inherent strengths and limitations. Existing attempts to understand the correspondence between these methods have been primarily quantitative in design. Little is known about parents’ unique, subjective experiences of parent-reported surveys and direct parent-child observations. In this paper, we describe the experiences of ten mothers of children aged 24 months, recruited from a randomised controlled trial of a nurse home visiting program for mothers at risk of experiencing social adversity. After completing both a survey and video-recorded parent-child observation, mothers participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews which were analysed thematically. Mothers voiced concerns about how researchers may view their parenting skills, and their child’s behaviour and development. Contrary to previous quantitative evidence, mothers reported parent and child behavioural change, which they attributed to the researcher’s presence. Mothers described how the structured requirements of the observation contributed to forced and unnatural interactions. The survey was viewed as a welcome opportunity to reflect on parenting skills, the parent-child relationship and the child’s development. Mothers identified practical strategies for minimising parent-child discomfort during video-recorded observations, such as the researcher averting their gaze or stepping out of the room. We highlight opportunities for enhanced data validity in research and clinical settings, strengthened participant engagement, and minimisation of participant discomfort. Given the exploratory nature of this study, we do not claim that results are necessarily generalisable to other parent or general populations. Further research is warranted to build the evidence regarding parent participation in early childhood research.     

Telling in-tune from out-of-tune: widespread evidence for implicit absolute intonation

Absolute pitch (AP) is the rare ability to name or produce an isolated musical note without the aid of a reference note. One skill thought to be unique to AP possessors is the ability to provide absolute intonation judgments (e.g., classifying an isolated note as “in-tune” or “out-of-tune”). Recent work has suggested that absolute intonation perception among AP possessors is not crystallized in a critical period of development, but is dynamically maintained by the listening environment, in which the vast majority of Western music is tuned to a specific cultural standard. Given that all listeners of Western music are constantly exposed to this specific cultural tuning standard, our experiments address whether absolute intonation perception extends beyond AP possessors. We demonstrate that non-AP listeners are able to accurately judge the intonation of completely isolated notes. Both musicians and nonmusicians showed evidence for absolute intonation recognition when listening to familiar timbres (piano and violin). When testing unfamiliar timbres (triangle and inverted sine waves), only musicians showed weak evidence of absolute intonation recognition (Experiment 2). Overall, these results highlight a previously unknown similarity between AP and non-AP possessors’ long-term musical note representations, including evidence of sensitivity to frequency.