Whose idea was that? Source monitoring for idea ownership following elaboration

Unconscious plagiarism (UP) occurs when an individual claims a previously experienced idea as their own. Previous studies have explored the cognitive precursors of such errors by manipulating the ways that ideas are thought about between initial idea exposure and later test. While imagining other's ideas does not increase rates of UP relative to control on either a recall-own or generate-new task, improving others’ ideas substantially increases such errors in the recall-own task. This study explored the effects of elaboration on rates of UP when a source-monitoring test replaced the recall-own test. Plagiarism was again observed following idea improvement but not idea imagery even though participants engaged explicit source evaluation. Thus the probability of plagiarising another's idea appears linked to the generative nature of the idea processing performed.     

Symbolic Politics and the Prediction of Attitudes Toward Federal Regulation of Reduced‐Exposure Tobacco Products1

The present study relies on symbolic politics theory to predict public attitudes toward the federal regulation of conventional tobacco products (a familiar attitude object) and reduced‐exposure tobacco products (a relatively novel attitude object). We predicted that attitudes toward most forms of regulation would be more strongly influenced by symbolic beliefs about the role of government in society than by self‐interested concerns, with the exception of taxation. We predicted that the financial consequences of taxation policies would be less ambiguous for those who are affected, resulting in a stronger relationship between self‐interest and policy attitudes. The results strongly supported our hypotheses, suggesting a process by which symbolic beliefs and self‐interested concerns influence attitude formation. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.     

The Practice of Psychotherapy in Mexico: Past and Present

This article explores the history of psychotherapy in Mexico and describes past and current practices of psychological services, training, and supervision for Mexican international students in the United States. Sample curricula, texts, and universities in Mexico are listed. Implications for training underscore the importance of collaboration and increased dialogue. Este artículo explora la historia de la psicoterapia en México y describe las prácticas pasadas y actuales de los servicios psicológicos, formación, y supervisión de estudiantes internacionales mexicanos en los Estados Unidos. Se presentan muestras de programas didácticos, textos, y universidades en México. Las implicaciones para la formación subrayan la importancia de la colaboración y un diálogo más profundo.     

Individual differences in spatial pattern separation performance associated with healthy aging in humans

Rodent studies have suggested that “pattern separation,” the ability to distinguish among similar experiences, is diminished in a subset of aged rats. We extended these findings to the human using a task designed to assess spatial pattern separation behavior (determining at time of test whether pairs of pictures shown during the study were in the same spatial locations). Using a standardized test of word recall to divide healthy aged adults into impaired and unimpaired groups relative to young performance, we demonstrate that aged impaired adults are biased away from pattern separation and toward pattern completion, consistent with the rodent studies.Memory impairment is a common complaint among aging individuals, yet the variability within the aging population is great in both rats (Gallagher et al. 2006; Robitsek et al. 2008) and humans (Hilborn et al. 2009). A rodent model of aging (Gallagher et al. 2006; Wilson et al. 2006) has demonstrated that ∼50% of healthy rats qualify as cognitively “impaired” by scoring outside the range of the young performance in a standard protocol (Gallagher et al. 1993). The other half, the “unimpaired” rats, perform on par with young adults, demonstrating a natural degree of variability in cognitive aging. In this study, we sought to capitalize on the variability observed in the aging of both rats and humans in a study of spatial pattern separation.One source of variability in memory performance is hypothesized to be tied to changes in the input to the dentate gyrus (DG), which has been shown in the rat to be affected by the aging process. Smith et al. (2000) reported a selective impairment in layer II entorhinal input into the DG and CA3 regions of the hippocampus in rats with cognitive impairment. Similarly, the number of synapses in the outer receiving layer of DG was reduced in autopsied aged brains and correlated with earlier performance on a delayed recall task (Scheff et al. 2006). Finally, in a human imaging study, Small et al. (2002) observed that 60% of their aging sample demonstrated diminished MRI signal in the hippocampal region (including the DG) and also had a greater decline in memory performance. These findings support the notion that changes in the DG associated with aging may affect memory performance.The DG may be particularly important for the computations that underlie pattern separation (Treves and Rolls 1994; McClelland et al. 1995; Norman and O''Reilly 2003). “Pattern separation” refers to the process by which similar inputs are stored as distinct, nonoverlapping representations. In contrast, “pattern completion” refers to the process by which an existing representation can be reinstated by the presentation of a partial or degraded cue. Numerous studies in the rodent have identified the importance of the DG for pattern separation using electrophysiological methods (Leutgeb et al. 2004, 2005, 2007; Leutgeb and Leutgeb 2007), immediate early gene expression (Vazdarjanova and Guzowski 2004), lesions (Lee et al. 2005; Gilbert and Kesner 2006; Goodrich-Hunsaker et al. 2008), and even genetic manipulations (Cravens et al. 2006; Kubik et al. 2007; McHugh et al. 2008). Human neuroimaging has also recently identified activity in the DG (and CA3 regions of the hippocampus) in an object pattern separation task (Kirwan and Stark 2007; Bakker et al. 2008).Given the importance of the DG in pattern separation and its vulnerability to changes that occur with aging, studies have begun to examine pattern separation in older adults. Our laboratory has designed a task to examine object-based pattern separation performance in humans (Kirwan and Stark 2007). In this task, pictures of objects were presented either once or repeatedly throughout the task. Critically, some of the items presented were lures that were similar but not identical to previously shown items. The overlapping features of the lures more heavily engaged pattern separation processes. In young adults, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity in the DG was sensitive to the lures, indicating a role in pattern separation processes in both an explicit (Kirwan and Stark 2007) and implicit (Bakker et al. 2008) version of this task. Toner et al. (2009) used the explicit version of this task to demonstrate that older adults showed a greater tendency to identify lures as “old” (repeated) relative to young adults. These findings were also recently replicated in our laboratory (Yassa et al., in press), with the additional demonstration that older adults exhibit greater fMRI CA3/DG activity for the lures during both encoding and retrieval.Since object-based pattern separation appears to be modulated by the DG in humans, we wondered if these findings could be extended to spatial pattern separation. Rodent studies have demonstrated that the DG has a particular role in spatial pattern separation (Gilbert et al. 2001; Kesner et al. 2004). Specifically, Hunsaker et al. (2008) placed rats with localized DG lesions in an environment with two objects spaced 60 cm apart. When the animals were later placed in the same environment with the same objects now placed 40 cm apart, DG-lesioned animals (unlike control animals) did not re-explore the objects or environment. These data suggest that the DG-lesioned rats were not able to discriminate between the training and test environments. That is, they were impaired in spatial pattern separation. Since converging evidence suggests that one feature of the aging process can be characterized as a DG knockdown, we modified this task design for humans to test spatial pattern separation performance in older adults. While the Hunsaker et al. (2008) task emphasized the distance between the two objects as the source of interference creating a greater need for pattern separation, the paradigm presented here moves an object in any direction, changing both the distance and the angle (i.e., changing more of the spatial relations). We posit that this amount of movement (close, medium, or far) may place similar demands on spatial pattern separation processes as in the rodent task.The present study included 20 young adults (mean age 19.9 yr, range 18–27 yr) and 30 aged adults (mean age 70.4 yr, range 59–80 yr). Aged adults completed a battery of standardized neuropsychological tests, including the Mini-Mental State Exam (Folstein et al. 1975), Rey Auditory–Verbal Learning Task (RAVLT) (Rey 1941), Digit Span, Vocabulary, and Matrices subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III (Wechsler 1997). The Vocabulary and Matrices scores were entered into a weighted formula along with age, gender, and education to derive estimated IQ scores (Schoenberg et al. 2003). All aged participants scored within the normal age-adjusted ranges on these measures and were cognitively intact. Younger adults also completed the RAVLT and scored within the normal age-adjusted range. These data are presented in Table 

Relations Among Milk and Non-Milk Beverage Consumption, Calcium, and Relative Weight in High-Weight Status Children

Relations among weight, calcium, and milk have received considerable attention, but inconsistencies remain regarding strength and direction of associations. Calcium, milk, other beverages, and weight status associations were examined among children >75th BMI percentile from three studies. Results indicated negative relations between z-BMI and non-whole milk and calcium in one sample, with lower z-BMI and percent body fat among older children drinking any non-whole milk. In one older child sample, z-BMI and percent body fat were higher for whole milk consumers. The only significant relation observed for other beverages was the negative association between juice and percent body fat in younger children. Milk, calcium, and child weight status associations are inconsistent, and appear dependent on milk type and child age.     

Understanding Public Attitudes Toward Tobacco Harm Reduction: The Role of Attitude Structure1

The present research examines whether and to what extent the underlying structure of attitudes toward harm reduction and specific reduced‐exposure products contributes to an understanding of public attitudes toward harm reduction. Past research has focused on the extent to which some attitude objects are primarily affective or cognitive. Using survey data from a 5‐state Upper Midwest sample, we tested the relevance of 4 pertinent properties of attitudes for predicting overall attitudes toward tobacco harm reduction: affective and cognitive bases of attitudes; knowledge; experience with smoking and reduced‐harm products; and affective/cognitive consistency. We found that feelings about harm reduction are most predictive of overall attitudes toward harm reduction and specific reduced‐harm products. Theoretical and policy implications are discussed.     

Electromyographic evidence of neurological controller signals with viscous load

Ensemble averaging after pre-editing of surface EMG potentials has enabled construction of underlying controller signals from stereotyped head movements. Carefully controlled, intended time-optimal movements by trained, actively participating human subjects have been found to yield repeatable, multi-pulse controller signals. Also, adaptive changes in these horizontal head movements in response to added viscous loads showed further causal relationships between movement dynamics and EMG signals from left and right splenius muscles. These experimental results are a base from which modeling studies can be performed to explicate the neurological control strategies used in the performance of this class of movements.     

Differential effects of red and blue coloured lighting on gambling behaviour

Gambling at a modified version of three-card brag was observed for 28 volunteers, subjected to red or blue light conditions. It is concluded that subjects within a red light environment gambled more money more often and selected riskier odds than did subjects gambling under blue light. Furthermore, riskier bets were generally associated with later trials and red light again enhanced such an effect as compared with blue light. The results are discussed in terms of psychoanalytical theory, psychophysiology and choice shifts within group situations for various gambling activities.