Verbal predicates foster conscious recollection but not familiarity of a task-irrelevant perceptual feature – An ERP study

Research on the effects of perceptual manipulations on recognition memory has suggested that (a) recollection is selectively influenced by task-relevant information and (b) familiarity can be considered perceptually specific. The present experiment tested divergent assumptions that (a) perceptual features can influence conscious object recollection via verbal code despite being task-irrelevant and that (b) perceptual features do not influence object familiarity if study is verbal-conceptual. At study, subjects named objects and their presentation colour; this was followed by an old/new object recognition test. Event-related potentials (ERP) showed that a study-test manipulation of colour impacted selectively on the ERP effect associated with recollection, while a size manipulation showed no effect. It is concluded that (a) verbal predicates generated at study are potent episodic memory agents that modulate recollection even if the recovered feature information is task-irrelevant and (b) commonly found perceptual match effects on familiarity critically depend on perceptual processing at study.     

Memory issues pertaining to social marketing messages about behavior enactment versus non-enactment

This article examines efficiency issues pertaining to social marketing messages about behavior enactment (e.g., smoker) vs. non-enactment (e.g., nonsmoker). Building on a wealth of psycholinguistics research, we posit that underlying differences in the processing and storage of word concepts with affixal negations affect learning and memory for these concepts (i.e., associations with non-enactment concepts will be harder to learn and remember than associations with enactment concepts). Two experiments support our predictions, suggesting that messages about enactment will demonstrate superior efficiency. Implications of study findings are discussed in terms of possibilities for improving the efficiency of social marketing messages about non-enactment.     

Memory deficits in young schizophrenics with normal general intellectual function

The aim of the present study was to examine different dimensions of memory functioning in young schizophrenics with normal general intellectual abilities. Thirty-three patients with schizophrenia and 33 healthy controls were included in the study. The results suggest that immediate short-term memory is intact, though there emerged a working memory deficit in the schizophrenia group. Deficient encoding of verbal material was observed in some, but not in other, testing conditions. There also seemed to be a retrieval deficit for verbal material in schizophrenia, though no storage deficit was indicated. Impaired memory for non-verbal material was also revealed. These results occurred in a context of intact executive functioning as measured by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. The results indicate that temporal and frontal structures, as well as their interconnections, may be compromised in schizophrenia.     

急性心理应激影响记忆效果：心理韧性的调节作用

研究选取56名大学生被试,通过特里尔社会应激测验、记忆和心理韧性测验来探究急性心理应激对大学生记忆效果的影响,以及心理韧性在二者关系中的调节作用。结果表明相对于非应激组,应激组大学生的整体记忆成绩更差,且应激组中的高应激反应大学生的记忆成绩比低应激反应者的记忆成绩更差;心理韧性可以调节应激反应与记忆成绩之间的关系,表现为高心理韧性者的记忆成绩显著好于低心理韧性者。研究进一步从认知加工资源分配与再分配的视角讨论了心理应激、心理韧性与记忆功能三者间的关系与启示。     

Direct assessment of the cognitive correlates of attention deficit disorders with and without hyperactivity

The cognitive functioning of children identified as attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADD/H) was compared to that of children identified as attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity (ADD/WO). Based on information on symptoms supplied by teachers, 20 ADD/H and 15 ADD/ WO children were selected according to DSM-III criteria from a large elementaryschool learning disabilities and behavior disorders population. For comparison purposes, 16 normal children from regular classrooms were also selected. Children from all three groups were evaluated with a battery of cognitive tests. Intelligence test scores differentiated the two ADD groups, with the ADD/H children obtaining significantly lower Full Scale IQ scores than both ADD/WO and control children. In addition, ADD/H children obtained significantly lower Verbal IQ scores than ADD/WO children. Both ADD groups performed more poorly than controls on Spelling and Reading Achievement, and the ADD/WO group performed more poorly on Math Achievement. The two ADD groups took longer to complete six Stroop and rapid naming tasks than the control groups but did not differ among themselves. The ADD/WO group made more errors on a visual matching task than the controls, but neither ADD group differed from controls on the accuracy of the Stroop tasks, rapid naming tasks, measures of receptive and expressive language, visual-motor integration, or sustained visual attention. The differences between the two ADD groups were fewer than expected on the basis of previous research and are more global than specific.The assistance of John Junginger, Jason Walker, and Cynthia Jones at various stages of the project is gratefully acknowledged. Particular thanks are extended to the teachers and staff of Clarke County schools.     

Factors associated with Borderline pathology in school-age children

The Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines as revised (DIB-R) for use with children and chart review was completed using the records of 54 children, ages 6 to 12 years, who had been admitted to a public psychiatric hospital. Based on the results of the DIB-R, the children were grouped as borderline and nonborderline. The two groups were then compared with regard to 52 independent variables which have historically been associated with the borderline diagnosis. Stepwise logistic regression was used to identify the cluster of diagnostic and independent variables which best discriminated the borderline subjects. Self-destructive behavior, irritable affect, anhedonia, and an externalizing disorder diagnosis at the time of admission accounted for 95.4% of the borderline children. These findings are in contrast to previous studies which have found an assortment of neuropsychological and/or neurological deficits and stressed the importance of a tendency toward psychotic regression on psychological testing as discriminative variables. The authors underscore the idea that borderline pathology may represent a spectrum of disorders and the need for a more specific psychiatric nosology in describing and diagnosing these children.     

Dissociative effects of elaboration on memory of enacted and non-enacted events: A case of a negative effect

One experiment compared the effect of elaboration on enacted and non-enacted events. The commands were either presented in a basic form (e.g., "wave your hands") or in an enriched form. The commands were enriched by adding statements to the commands of how to perform the actions (e.g., "wave your hands as a conductor"). Free- and cued-recall data showed elaboration to have a dissociative effect on enacted and non-enacted events. Memory for the non-enacted events benefited from enrichment, whereas simple enacted events were remembered to a higher extent than complex enacted events. Lack of benefit from elaboration on memory of enacted events is suggested to be due to enactment leading to a sufficient degree of item-specific processing, and a negative effect of elaboration is suggested to occur when the way of manipulating item complexity decreases the familiarity of the actions. Familiarity ratings of the items by two independent groups of subjects supported this interpretation.     

Memory of Politics and Politics of Memory. Reflections on the Construction of the Past in Post-Totalitarian Poland

Studies in East European Thought -     

An fMRI investigation of posttraumatic flashbacks

Flashbacks are a defining feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but there have been few studies of their neural basis. We tested predictions from a dual representation model of PTSD that, compared with ordinary episodic memories of the same traumatic event, flashbacks would be associated with activity in dorsal visual stream and related areas rather than in the medial temporal lobe. Participants with PTSD, with depression but not PTSD, and healthy controls were scanned during a recognition task with personally relevant stimuli. The contrast of flashbacks versus ordinary episodic trauma memories in PTSD was associated with increased activation in sensory and motor areas including the insula, precentral gyrus, supplementary motor area, and mid-occipital cortex. The same contrast was associated with decreased activation in the midbrain, parahippocampal gyrus, and precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex. The results were discussed in terms of theories of PTSD and dual-process models of recognition.     

Children's Representation and Imitation of Events: How Goal Organization Influences 3‐Year‐Old Children's Memory for Action Sequences

Children's imitation of adults plays a prominent role in human cognitive development. However, few studies have investigated how children represent the complex structure of observed actions which underlies their imitation. We integrate theories of action segmentation, memory, and imitation to investigate whether children's event representation is organized according to veridical serial order or a higher level goal structure. Children were randomly assigned to learn novel event sequences either through interactive hands‐on experience (Study 1) or via storybook (Study 2). Results demonstrate that children's representation of observed actions is organized according to higher level goals, even at the cost of representing the veridical temporal ordering of the sequence. We argue that prioritizing goal structure enhances event memory, and that this mental organization is a key mechanism of social‐cognitive development in real‐world, dynamic environments. It supports cultural learning and imitation in ecologically valid settings when social agents are multitasking and not demonstrating one isolated goal at a time.