Individual differences in spatial configuration learning predict the occurrence of intrusive memories

The dual-representation model of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Brewin, Gregory, Lipton, & Burgess, Psychological Review, 117, 210-232 2010) argues that intrusions occur when people fail to construct context-based representations during adverse experiences. The present study tested a specific prediction flowing from this model. In particular, we investigated whether the efficiency of temporal-lobe-based spatial configuration learning would account for individual differences in intrusive experiences and physiological reactivity in the laboratory. Participants (N = 82) completed the contextual cuing paradigm, which assesses spatial configuration learning that is believed to depend on associative encoding in the parahippocampus. They were then shown a trauma film. Afterward, startle responses were quantified during presentation of trauma reminder pictures versus unrelated neutral and emotional pictures. PTSD symptoms were recorded in the week following participation. Better configuration learning performance was associated with fewer perceptual intrusions, r = ?.33, p < .01, but was unrelated to physiological responses to trauma reminder images (ps > .46) and had no direct effect on intrusion-related distress and overall PTSD symptoms, rs > ?.12, ps > .29. However, configuration learning performance tended to be associated with reduced physiological responses to unrelated negative images, r = ?.20, p = .07. Thus, while spatial configuration learning appears to be unrelated to affective responding to trauma reminders, our overall findings support the idea that the context-based memory system helps to reduce intrusions.     

Structural analysis of the intension and extension of semantic concepts

The present studies examined the nature of visuo-spatial working memory development using conventional visual span and spatial span measures. Children aged between 6 and 13 years and adults aged 18-38 years were employed as participants. In Study 1, visual span, spatial span, articulation rate, and verbal fluency competencies were measured. In Study 2, visual span and spatial span maintenance was subject to five interference formats: nil, speech articulation, verbal fluency, visual masking, and spatial tapping. Distinct developmental rates were found for the two span tasks, which in the older children were correlated with the verbal fluency measure. Study 2 provided experimental evidence of the contribution of executive and spatial processes to spatial and to visual span maintenance. The results are interpreted as indicating that these memory span procedures make complex demands upon the visuo-spatial working memory architecture and consequently a precise identification of the process that actually develop is compromised. It is suggested that a componential approach where tasks are constructed to tap specific working memory components would afford a more accurate understanding of the development of these processes.     

Dialogue in Therapy's "Borderzone"

This article explores some implications of practicing therapy from a discourse perspective. In particular, the dialogues of therapy are portrayed as a context in which client and therapist practice culture. Therapy, from this perspective, can optimally take place in an imaginary dialogic meeting place--a "borderzone"--wherein the discussions of therapy can occur in respectful ways. Discursive therapists are encouraged to see the differends, or potential stuck times of therapy, as times to turn to alternative discourses to keep the dialogue resourceful and collaborative.     

Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Sport: Relationships with Leadership,Team Cohesion,and Athlete Satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to introduce the construct of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; Organ, 1988 Organ, D. W. 1988. Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome, Lexington, MA: Lexington Books. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) into the sport psychology literature and examine its utility in sport. Based upon OCB research in the organizational literature, the Multidimensional Model of Leadership (MML; Chelladurai, 1978 Chelladurai, P. 1978. “A contingency model of leadership in athletics”. In Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Waterloo: University of Waterloo, Canada.  [Google Scholar]), the conceptual framework of team cohesion (CFC; Carron & Hausenblas, 1998 Carron, A. V. and Hausenblas, H. A. 1998. Group dynamics in sport, 2nd., Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology.  [Google Scholar]), and a model of athlete satisfaction (MAS; Chelladurai & Riemer, 1997 Chellardurai, P. and Riemer, H. A. 1997. A classification of facets of athlete satisfaction. Journal of Sport Management, 11: 133–159.  [Google Scholar]) were selected as theoretically sound antecedents to be associated with OCB in sport. A total of 193 student-athletes from a large Division I university and a smaller Division III university representing a variety of sports participated in the study. Results of the study provide preliminary evidence for OCB as a unique and meaningful construct in sport and support many of the predictions hypothesized in the MML, CFC, and MAS. Results are discussed in the context of previous literature as well as theoretical, research, and practical implications.     

Tuberculosis detection by giant african pouched rats

In recent years, operant discrimination training procedures have been used to teach giant African pouched rats to detect tuberculosis (TB) in human sputum samples. This article summarizes how the rats are trained and used operationally, as well as their performance in studies published to date. Available data suggest that pouched rats, which can evaluate many samples quickly, are sufficiently accurate in detecting TB to merit further investigation as a diagnostic tool.     

A laboratory analogue of mirrored-self misidentification delusion: The role of hypnosis,suggestion, and demand characteristics

Mirrored-self misidentification is the delusional belief that one’s own reflection in the mirror is a stranger. In two experiments, we tested the ability of hypnotic suggestion to model this condition. In Experiment 1, we compared two suggestions based on either the delusion’s surface features (seeing a stranger in the mirror) or underlying processes (impaired face processing). Fifty-two high hypnotisable participants received one of these suggestions either with hypnosis or without in a wake control. In Experiment 2, we examined the extent to which social cues and role-playing could account for participants’ behaviour by comparing the responses of 14 hypnotised participants to the suggestion for impaired face processing (reals) with those of 14 nonhypnotised participants instructed to fake their responses (simulators). Overall, results from both experiments confirm that we can use hypnotic suggestion to produce a compelling analogue of mirrored-self misidentification that cannot simply be attributed to social cues or role-playing.     

Giant African Pouched Rats as Detectors of Tuberculosis in Human Sputum: Comparison of Two Techniques for Sputum Presentation

Previous studies have shown that pouched rats can detect the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis, in human sputum samples obtained from clinical facilities. Although pouched rats evaluate sputum samples quickly, preparing the samples is relatively slow. The present study evaluated whether the rats can detect tuberculosis in microscope slides, which are routinely prepared at these facilities. Results indicate that they can do so, but their accuracy is considerably lower than that of rats exposed to pots containing sputum, as in prior studies.

     

Performing DISCO-SCA to search for distinctive and common information in linked data

Behavioral researchers often obtain information about the same set of entities from different sources. A main challenge in the analysis of such data is to reveal, on the one hand, the mechanisms underlying all of the data blocks under study and, on the other hand, the mechanisms underlying a single data block or a few such blocks only (i.e., common and distinctive mechanisms, respectively). A method called DISCO-SCA has been proposed by which such mechanisms can be found. The goal of this article is to make the DISCO-SCA method more accessible, in particular for applied researchers. To this end, first we will illustrate the different steps in a DISCO-SCA analysis, with data stemming from the domain of psychiatric diagnosis. Second, we will present in this article the DISCO-SCA graphical user interface (GUI). The main benefits of the DISCO-SCA GUI are that it is easy to use, strongly facilitates the choice of model selection parameters (such as the number of mechanisms and their status as being common or distinctive), and is freely available.     

Death anxiety and death obsession in Spanish students

This study examined the dimensional structure of Templer's Death Anxiety Scale and Abdel-Khalek's Death Obsession Scale. The responses of 289 Spanish students to the Spanish forms of both scales were evaluated by means of a principal components analysis with varimax rotation. Three significant factors were identified: Death Obsession, Cognitive-Affective, and Death Anxiety. The distribution of the factor loadings for the items of both scales on Factors 1 and 3 supported the discriminant validity of the constructs specific to each of the scales, while Factor 2 showed a common component in both scales characterized by cognitive and affective aspects in relation to the idea of death.