False memories and source‐monitoring problems: criterion differences

A source‐monitoring/memory suggestion experiment was used to produce false memories and a signal‐detection analysis was conducted to determine if criterion differences could help explain their production. The procedure and stimuli were adapted from Zaragoza and Lane ( 1994 ). Participants saw slides depicting a crime and then answered questions about the slides with some of the questions containing suggested or misleading information. After a brief delay filled with several assessment tests, a list of items was presented and the participants were asked to identify whether each item came from the slides, the questions, both or neither. The results showed that all participants produced false memories but those who adopted more lenient criteria produced more false memories. In addition, those with stricter criteria scored lower on an assessment of dissociative experiences. These results were interpreted within a source‐monitoring framework. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identifying operant functions for tics in children with mental retardation

Functional analyses were used to assess the effects of environmental consequences on occurrences of repetitive vocal behavior that had been diagnosed as chronic vocal tics in two adolescent males with mental retardation. The functional analyses indicated that one participant's tics were sensitive to positive reinforcement in the form of caregiver attention, while the second participant's tics occurred independent of social consequences. The results are discussed in terms of using functional analysis methodology during assessment, diagnosis, and treatment selection for suspected tics. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Correlations of selected psychomotor and visuomotor tests with initial Dynavision performance

The current study investigated the relationship between Dynavision scores for 36 men and 52 women (M age = 20.5 yr.) and performance on six conventional psychomotor tests which presumably tap similar psychomotor abilities and visuomotor skills. Analysis indicated that initial Dynavision performance was significantly correlated with performance on these common psychomotor tests. These data extend findings that propose the effectiveness of the Dynavision apparatus to assess performance on basic visual-motor and visual-cognitive functions. Taken together with these new results, findings suggest that this apparatus might contribute to psychomotor assessment and may be potentially useful for effective selection and identification of individual differences in human behavioral performance.     

Active learning: effects of core training design elements on self-regulatory processes, learning, and adaptability

This article describes a comprehensive examination of the cognitive, motivational, and emotional processes underlying active learning approaches; their effects on learning and transfer; and the core training design elements (exploration, training frame, emotion control) and individual differences (cognitive ability, trait goal orientation, trait anxiety) that shape these processes. Participants (N = 350) were trained to operate a complex, computer-based simulation. Exploratory learning and error-encouragement framing had a positive effect on adaptive transfer performance and interacted with cognitive ability and dispositional goal orientation to influence trainees' metacognition and state goal orientation. Trainees who received the emotion-control strategy had lower levels of state anxiety. Implications for development of an integrated theory of active learning, learner-centered design, and research extensions are discussed.     

Working memory capacity moderates the predictive effects of drug-related associations on substance use

Some theories suggest that spontaneously activated, drug-related associations in memory may have a "freer reign" in predicting drug use among individuals with lower working memory capacity. This study evaluated this hypothesis among 145 at-risk youth attending continuation high schools (CHS). This is the 1st study to evaluate this type of dual-process interaction in the prediction of drug use among a sample of at-risk adolescents. The CHS students completed assessments of drug-related memory associations, working memory capacity, and drug use. Control variables included age, gender, ethnicity, and acculturation. Robust multiple regression using least trimmed squares estimation indicated that there was a significant linear by linear interaction between working memory capacity (assessed with the self-ordered pointing task) and drug-related associations (assessed with verb generation and cue-behavior association tasks) in the prediction of alcohol and cigarette use. Consistent with dual-process cognitive theories, drug-related associations in memory predicted drug use more strongly in students with lower levels of working memory capacity. These findings add to the literature implicating the influence of dual cognitive processes in adolescent risk behaviors.     

Dissolving the Diaspora

[Dissolving the Diaspora] provides a Canadian perspective on the problem of intergration viewed through the prism of a particular understanding of multiculturalism. In this article the three key themes; the conceptualisation of diversities, diaspora and dialogue, are identified, and these conceptes are engaged with critically. I argue that despite the many advantages of the multicultural paradigm, there are still a number of fault lines that require critical attention, among which are the relationship of culture to class, and the failure to fully incorporate racism in its vocabulary. I suggest, using the phrase ‘the grammar of social location’, that the language of multiculturalism still ties us to a relatively static model of culture and away from an analysis of the complexity of inequalities. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Apples and oranges? Comparing indirect measures of alcohol-related cognition predicting alcohol use in at-risk adolescents.

Recently, there has been increased interest in the role of implicit cognitive processes in the development of addictive behaviors. In this study, the authors compared 3 indirect measures of alcohol-related cognitions in the prospective prediction of alcohol use in at-risk adolescents. Implicit alcohol-related cognitions were assessed in 88 Dutch at-risk adolescents ranging in age from 14 to 20 years (51 males, 37 females) by means of varieties of word association tasks, Implicit Association Tests, and Extrinsic Affective Simon Tasks adapted for alcohol use. Alcohol use and alcohol-related problems were measured with self-report questionnaires at baseline and after 1 month. Results showed that the indirect measures predicted unique variance in prospective alcohol use after controlling for the direct measure of alcohol-related cognitions and background variables. The results indicate that the word association tasks were the best indirect measure of alcohol-related cognitions. These indirect measures appear to assess cognitive motivational processes that affect behavior in ways not reflected by direct measures of alcohol-related cognitions.