The effects of empathy on search efforts for missing persons

People have difficulty sighting missing persons, partially because people's limited cognitive resources are required for searching. As a result, people sometimes do not devote resources to searching. This research will examine whether empathy increases the resources devoted to searching and search performance. In Experiment 1, we will manipulate empathy toward a formerly missing person and measure willingness to volunteer to search and actual search performance. In Experiment 2, we will manipulate empathy felt toward a missing person. We will measure the time participants spend studying the missing person's photograph. We hypothesize that participants induced to feel empathy will indicate more willingness to search (Exp 1 & 2), put more effort toward searching (Exp 1), and spend more time studying the photograph (Exp 2) than those not induced to feel empathy. If empathy increases search effort and performance, it could be induced in actual missing persons cases to increase recovery rates.     

On the alleged memory-undermining effects of daydreaming

In three experiments, we examined the memory-undermining effects of daydreaming for (un)related stimuli. In Experiments 1 and 2, we tested whether daydreaming fosters forgetting of semantically interrelated material and hence, catalyzes false memory production. In Experiment 3, we examined the memory effects of different daydreaming instructions. In Experiment 1, daydreaming did not undermine correct recall of semantically interrelated words, nor did it affect false memories. In Experiment 2, we again failed to find that daydreaming exerted memory-undermining effects a. In Experiment 3, no memory effects were obtained using different daydreaming instructions. Together, our studies fail to show appreciable memory-undermining effects of daydreaming.     

The propensity to perceive meaningful coincidences is associated with increased posterior alpha power during retention of information in a modified Sternberg paradigm

There are ample inter-individual differences in the frequency with which people perceive meaningful coincidences. Previous research has identified increased proactive interference, that is a reduced working memory capacity, as one possible mechanism associated with this phenomenon. The present study aimed at extending this finding into the domain of neuroscience, (1) by assessing EEG alpha oscillations during the retention of information, (2) by replicating the behavioral link between meaningful coincidences and proactive interference. In a sample of 52 participants, the behavioral replication was successful. Furthermore, participants who perceived more meaningful coincidences showed higher alpha power increases at parietal-occipital sites, and at the same time, displayed lower alpha power increases at frontal areas, during retention of information. This neurophysiological activation pattern further underlines the assumption that participants who perceive more meaningful coincidences show lower working memory capacities, since increased alpha power at parietal areas reflects a higher load on working memory demands.     

Test–retest reliability of an emotion maintenance task

Research on working memory has suggested domain-specific components for visual, verbal, and spatial information, and more recently for emotion. Affective working memory has been proposed as the set of processes involved in the maintenance of emotions to guide behaviour. The current study examined the reliability of an emotion maintenance/affective working memory task over two experimental sessions separated by one week. Subjective accuracy based on individual ratings was found to correlate over time and was highest for negatively valenced pictures. Results suggest that this paradigm is a reliable measure of emotion maintenance, underscoring the utility of this measure as an assessment tool for normative and clinical populations.     

Rumination and Impaired Prospective Memory

Prospective memory (PM), remembering to remember, is crucial to everyday functioning. Understanding factors associated with PM impairments is thus important. One likely factor is rumination: a common cognitive process comprising repetitive self-focused thoughts. We investigated whether rumination is associated with impaired PM, and whether any associated impairment is exacerbated with negative stimuli. A sentence-rating task with sentences varying in valence was used with embedded PM cues in a non-clinical sample (N = 60). State rumination, two trait rumination subtypes (reflective pondering and brooding), and mood were measured in relation to PM cue detection and response times. Results showed that state rumination was associated with impaired PM cue detection and slower response times to PM cues embedded in negative sentences (not positive or neutral). Trait brooding (not reflective pondering) was associated with slower PM response times. These findings indicate that state rumination and trait brooding are associated with dissociable PM impairments.     

注意分心对定义一体化编码的影响

通过考察编码阶段注意分心对定义一体化条件下联结记忆成绩的影响,探究定义一体化编码对注意资源的依赖程度。使用注意分心范式,在记忆编码过程操作无分心、奇偶分心和大小分心条件,比较不同注意条件下的联结记忆成绩。结果发现:与无分心条件相比,定义一体化下的联结记忆成绩在两种分心条件下没有显著变化,而造句下的联结记忆成绩在两种分心条件下显著降低。当前发现表明了定义一体化编码较少依赖于注意资源,这深化了对定义一体化编码机制的认识。     

Mood-dependent retrieval in visual long-term memory: dissociable effects on retrieval probability and mnemonic precision

Although memories are more retrievable if observers’ emotional states are consistent between encoding and retrieval, it is unclear whether the consistency of emotional states increases the likelihood of successful memory retrieval, the precision of retrieved memories, or both. The present study tested visual long-term memory for everyday objects while consistent or inconsistent emotional contexts between encoding and retrieval were induced using background grey-scale images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). In the study phase, participants remembered colours of sequentially presented objects in a negative (Experiment 1a) or positive (Experiment 2a) context. In the test phase, participants estimated the colours of previously studied objects in either negative versus neutral (Experiment 1a) or positive versus neutral (Experiment 2a) contexts. Note, IAPS images in the test phase were always visually different from those initially paired with the studied objects. We found that reinstating negative context and positive context at retrieval resulted in better mnemonic precision and a higher probability of successful retrieval, respectively. Critically, these effects could not be attributed to a negative or positive context at retrieval alone (Experiments 1b and 2b). Together, these findings demonstrated dissociable effects of emotion on the quantitative and qualitative aspects of visual long-term memory retrieval.