The effects of affect and input source on flashbulb memories

Flashbulb memories of shocking news (Challenger Explosion, death of Princess Diana, Pearl Harbour and Iraq bombings) were employed to test two hypotheses: encoding emotion enhances memory and how one gets the shocking news will help determine the nature of what is recalled. Different groups of subjects (Total = 2405) remembered their discoveries at delays ranging from 2 weeks to 50 years on three memory measures: a free and probed recall test of their flashbulb discovery, and a probed recall of the facts concerning the events themselves. Subjects were grouped according to the source of their discovery (Media vs. Person), affect at encoding (calm vs. upset) and recounts (few vs. many). The results indicated that how one learns of shocking news determined the type and extent of the resultant memory. ‘Media’ subjects remembered more facts whereas ‘person’ subjects recalled more of their personal discoveries regardless of the initial flashbulb inspiring event. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The development of sentence interpretation: effects of perceptual, attentional and semantic interference

How does the development and consolidation of perceptual, attentional, and higher cognitive abilities interact with language acquisition and processing? We explored children's (ages 5–17) and adults’ (ages 18–51) comprehension of morphosyntactically varied sentences under several competing speech conditions that varied in the degree of attentional demands, auditory masking, and semantic interference. We also evaluated the relationship between subjects’ syntactic comprehension and their word reading efficiency and general ‘speed of processing’. We found that the interactions between perceptual and attentional processes and complex sentence interpretation changed considerably over the course of development. Perceptual masking of the speech signal had an early and lasting impact on comprehension, particularly for more complex sentence structures. In contrast, increased attentional demand in the absence of energetic auditory masking primarily affected younger children's comprehension of difficult sentence types. Finally, the predictability of syntactic comprehension abilities by external measures of development and expertise is contingent upon the perceptual, attentional, and semantic milieu in which language processing takes place.     

The role of medial temporal lobe in item recognition and source recollection of emotional stimuli

Recent neuroimaging results suggest that distinct regions within the medial temporal lobe (MTL) may differentially support the episodic encoding of item and relational information for nonemotional stimuli (for a review, see Davachi, 2006). The present study was designed to assess whether these findings generalize to emotional stimuli. Behaviorally, we found that emotion reduced item recognition accuracy but did not reliably affect relational memory. fMRI analyses revealed that neutral and emotional words elicited distinct activation patterns within MTL regions predictive of subsequent memory. Consistent with previous findings for neutral words, hippocampal activation predicted later relational memory, whereas activation in the perirhinal cortex predicted successful item recognition. However, for emotional words, activation in the amygdala, hippocampus, and posterior parahippocampal cortex predicted item recognition only. These data suggest that MTL regions differentially support encoding of neutral and emotional stimuli.     

Males' Greater Tolerance of Same-Sex Peers

ABSTRACT— Three studies were conducted to examine the often-cited conclusion that human females are more sociable than males. Using perceptions of roommates, roommate changes at three collegiate institutions, and an experimental manipulation of friendship beliefs, the studies demonstrated unequivocally that males exhibit a higher threshold of tolerance for genetically unrelated same-sex individuals than females do. Tolerance was defined as acceptance of the stresses and strains within relationships. Results are discussed in terms of potential underlying mechanisms and ultimate explanations.     

Orientation tuning of shapefrom shading

Four experiments were performed to assess the effect of different orientations and direction of lighting on the visual processing of shaded or bipartite disks. In the first two experiments, observers were presented with nine different shading orientations from 0° to 180°. Targets were detected in a rapid and parallel fashion for shaded disks when the orientation of the shading gradient was not horizontal (90°) or oriented at 67.5°. Search asymmetries favoring the detection of “pock” targets over “ball” targets were found for all orientations. The search rates for bipartite disks were similar to the shaded disks at 0°, 22.5°, and 90° but not for intermediate orientations, and no search asymmetries were found. These differences suggest that shaded displays and bipartite displays are processed by different underlying mechanisms. The third experiment showed that the direction of the light source (left or right) had no influence on search asymmetries around the 90° point. Shading gradient orientation affected magnitude estimates of depth in the fourth experiment. These experiments show that the visual system’s “as-sumption” of overhead lighting is broadly tuned.     

Movie exposure to smoking cues and adolescent smoking onset: a test for mediation through peer affiliations.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the effect of movie exposure to smoking on adolescent smoking onset is mediated through increased affiliation with peers who smoke. DESIGN: A longitudinal study was conducted with a sample of 5th- 8th graders; persons who were nonsmokers at the baseline assessment (N = 2,614) were followed up 18 months later. Movie exposure to smoking cues was assessed at baseline with a rigorous coding procedure. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: A school-based survey and follow-up telephone interview determined whether the participant smoked cigarettes. RESULTS: Longitudinal structural modeling analysis indicated movie-smoking exposure was related to smoking onset both through an indirect effect involving increased affiliation with peer smokers and through a direct effect. The analysis controlled for demographics, parenting style, rebelliousness and sensation seeking, school performance, parental smoking, and sibling smoking; several of these variables also had mediated or direct effects to smoking onset. CONCLUSION: The effect of movie exposure on adolescent smoking onset is attributable in part to a social mechanism. Implications of media effects for prevention are discussed.     

The effects of early foster care intervention on attention biases in previously institutionalized children in Romania

Children raised in institutions experience psychosocial deprivation that can negatively impact attention skills and emotion regulation, which subsequently may influence behavioral regulation and social relationships. The current study examined visual attention biases in 8‐year‐old children who were part of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP). Relations among attention biases and concurrent social outcomes were also investigated. In early childhood, 136 children abandoned at birth or shortly thereafter into institutional care were randomized to receive a high‐quality foster care intervention or care‐as‐usual within the context of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP). At 8 years of age, 50 care‐as‐usual, 55 foster care, and 52 community controls performed a behavioral dot‐probe task, and indices of attention biases to threat and positive stimuli were calculated. Concurrent data on social behavior were collected. Children placed into the foster care intervention had a significant attention bias toward positive stimuli, while children who received care‐as‐usual had a significant bias toward threat. Children in the foster care intervention had a significantly larger positive bias when compared to the care‐as‐usual group. A positive bias was related to more social engagement, more prosocial behavior, less externalizing disorders, and less emotionally withdrawn behavior. The magnitude of positive bias was predicted by age of placement into foster care among children with a history of institutionalization. An attention bias towards positive stimuli was associated with reduced risk for behavioral problems amongst children who experienced early psychosocial deprivation. Research assessing attention biases in children experiencing early environmental stress may refine our understanding of the mechanisms underlying risk for later psychiatric and social disorders and inform prevention efforts.     

Executive functioning and psychological adjustment in children and youth with spina bifida

Children and adolescents with spina bifida are at risk for poor neuropsychological functioning and psychological outcomes. The relationship between executive functioning and psychological adjustment is an area worthy of investigation in this population. The current study assessed executive functioning and psychological outcomes in a group of children and adolescents with spina bifida (SBM) (n = 51) and nondisabled controls (n = 45). A mediation model was hypothesized, such that Metacognition, as measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), mediated the relationship between group status (spina bifida versus nondisabled controls) and psychological outcomes. Results indicated that metacognitive skills fully explained the relationship between group and internalizing and depressive symptoms as reported by mothers. In particular, specific components of the BRIEF Metacognition composite were most responsible for this relationship, including Initiate, Working Memory, and Plan/Organize. The study limitations include its cross-sectional nature that precludes drawing conclusions about causality. The results have implications for treatment interventions for children and adolescents with spina bifida and typically developing individuals.     

Examining Estimates of Effect Using Non-Overlap of All Pairs in Multiple Baseline Studies of Academic Intervention

The inclusion of single-case design (SCD) studies in meta-analytic research is an important consideration in identifying effective evidence-based practices. Various SCD effect sizes have been previously suggested; non-overlap of all pairs (NAP) is a recently introduced effect size. Preliminary field tests investigating the adequacy of NAP are promising, but no analyses have been conducted using only multiple baseline designs (MBDs). This preliminary study investigated typical values of NAP in MBDs, investigated agreement with visual analysis, and suggested cut scores for interpreting a NAP effect size. Typical values of NAP in MBDs were larger compared to a previous meta-analysis of studies using AB, MBD, or ABAB withdrawal designs, and agreement of suggested cut scores and visual analysis was moderate.     

Assessing Patients’ Beliefs About Their Cancer-Related Fatigue: Validation of an Adapted Version of the Illness Perception Questionnaire

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a common and distressing side-effect of cancer treatment. The present study developed a brief version of the Illness Perception Questionnaire (IPQ) for assessing patients' representations of CRF. Cancer patients and survivors (n?=?155) completed a revised version of the IPQ as well as measures of fatigue severity at two different time-points. Confirmatory factor analysis at both Time 1 and 2 showed that the seven-factor solution based on the Self-Regulation Model fit the data adequately and factorial invariance over the two time-points was supported. The resulting subscales exhibited good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The adapted version of the IPQ shows promise for the assessment of patient perceptions regarding CRF. The scale may be able to be used clinically to identify if patients have inaccurate or unhelpful representations of CRF and to help tailor interventions for persistent fatigue in cancer survivors.