Inhibition, Contextual Segregation, and Subject Strategies in List Method Directed Forgetting

This experiment tested alternative explanations of list method directed forgetting effects. Two word lists were studied by 135 subjects. Between lists, subjects were instructed to remember both lists (remember group), remember both lists as well as in which list words were studied (segregate group), or to forget the first list and remember the second (forget group). All subjects took both recall and recognition tests with test order varied between subjects. Among subjects who took the recall test first, the forget group showed a directed forgetting effect (poorer performance on List 1 than List 2) with both recall accuracy, recall typing time, and recognition reaction time measures. Contextual segregation of List 1 words by forget subjects was ruled out as a sufficient cause of the effect. Limited support was obtained for a differential rehearsal explanation of the effect. Within-group comparisons and findings of release from directed forgetting support inhibitory processes as the major cause of the directed forgetting effect.     

Global matching models of recognition memory: How the models match the data

We present a review of global matching models of recognition memory, describing their theoretical origins and fundamental assumptions, focusing on two defining properties: (1) recognition is based solely on familiarity due to a match of test items to memory at a global level, and (2) multiple cues are combined interactively. We evaluate the models against relevant data bearing on issues including the representation of associative information, differences in verbal and environmental context effects, list-length, list-strength, and global similarity effects, and ROC functions. Two main modifications to the models are discussed: one based on the representation of associative information, and the other based on the addition of recall-like retrieval mechanisms.     

Engaging with change: a process study of family therapy

It is argued that current attempts to investigate the process of family therapy might benefit from the application of discursive and narrative analytic techniques. An example of such an analysis is given, taking the work of an experienced family therapist with one family seeking help in dealing with the aftermath of a marital separation.' The theme of how to deal with change'as it materializes in the discussions during therapy is selected for detailed examination in this paper. It is argued that there are two main discourses on this theme evident in the family's discussions, one being that the separation has occurred and its consequences should now he left to arise naturally; the other being that the effects of the separation need to be actively managed. It is suggested that this analytic procedure can dramatize the subtle changes in family discourses during therapy; its limitations in terms of generalizability, and the difficulties of dealing with huge amounts of complex material, are also noted.     

Stability of Q-sort attachment security from age two to five

The current report demonstrates reliability and stability of Q-sort attachment security in a sample of 46 mothers and their children seen by two observers at age two and again at age four to six years. Security scores were correlated between ages (r=.44), and a high proportion of item-by-item correlations between ages were also significant.     

Response Channel Activation and the Temporoparietal Junction

When we learn to make one motor response to one visual stimulus and a different motor response to another, representations of these stimulus–response associations must be maintained to efficiently transduce perception into action. When an irrelevant distractor is presented adjacent to a target stimulus, interference is observed when the two stimuli are associated with conflicting responses, presumably due to response channel activation by the incompatible information. We have explored the neural bases of these interference effects. In a previous study, patients with hemispatial neglect showed normal interference from contralesional flankers. In another study, patients with lesions of the lateral prefrontal cortex were found not to show interference from distractors presented in the contralesional hemifield. The current study provided a more anatomically detailed investigation of the effects of posterior association cortex lesions on flanker interference. Patients with chronic, unilateral lesions involving the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), two of whom had hemispatial neglect, were compared with patients with lesions of the posterior association cortex not involving the TPJ. All patients performed a color discrimination task at fixation while a congruent or incongruent colored flanker was briefly presented (16.7 ms) in the adjacent contralesional or ipsilesional hemifield. Patients with TPJ lesions showed no interference effects from the contralesional flankers. These results suggest that the TPJ, in combination with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is involved in transducing perception into action.     

The Representation of Arithmetic Facts in Memory: Results from Retraining a Brain-Damaged Patient

This single case study was designed to gather evidence regarding whether the mental representations mediating multiplication fact retrieval make use of single or multiple codes. MC is a brain-damaged volunteer whose numerical processing impairments were limited to multiplication fact retrieval. He relearned three sets of multiplication facts. Each set was relearned in one of three input formats: Arabic, written verbal, or spoken verbal. Following training all facts were tested in all input formats. MC's posttraining performance was virtually error free and showed no effects of input format. However, reaction-time data showed fact retrieval was fastest when the training format matched the test format. Results are discussed in relation to single- and multiple-code models of multiplication fact retrieval.     

Lead and hyperactivity: Lead levels among hyperactive children

Previous work has demonstrated an association between hyperactivity and increased body lead burdens in school-age children. In the present study it is shown that within a group of hyperactive children those for whom an organic etiology is present have lead burdens lower than in those for whom no apparent cause could be found. These data lead us to reject the notion that hyperactivity per se is responsible for the acquisition of elevated lead levels, and further strengthen the suspicion that for some children lower lead level absorption may be implicated in the development of the hyperkinetic disorder.This work was supported in part by the Office of Child Development, Grant #OCD-CB482. We thank Dr. Bernard Davidow for blood and urine determinations done by the Bureau of Laboratories, Lead Poison Division, Public Health Service, New York City. We also wish to thank Merck, Sharpe and Dohme for supplying the penicillamine for this study.