Differences in the use of autobiographical memory across the adult lifespan

Current research distinguishes between self, directive and social function of autobiographical memories (AMs). To date, only few studies have investigated these functions across adulthood. The comparison of different age groups requires that the functions of AM are measured in the same way across groups (measurement invariance, MI). Additionally to the average use of AM, the factor variances and factor covariances among the three functions were examined across adulthood. In the present study, 1290 adults (aged between 17 and 93 years) completed the Thinking about Life Experiences Questionnaire (TALE), which measures the overall use of AMs for self, directive and social purposes. The sample was divided into five age groups and partial strong MI was established using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis. The results showed an increase in the factor associations as well as a decrease in the factor mean levels of all three functions across age groups. Both findings could be adequately described by linear functions of age. The factor variances were on most parts equal across age groups. These results strengthen the assumption that—from a lifespan developmental perspective—the use of AM may be aligned with relatively normative developmental tasks in a given society.     

Assessing the specificity of autobiographical memory in individuals at a trait-based vulnerability to bipolar disorder using a sentence completion task

Overgeneral autobiographical memory recall has been associated with the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, but the role of overgenerality in the vulnerability to bipolar disorder remains under-researched. While a previous study suggested that high-risk individuals for bipolar disorder recall emotionally negative memories in specific detail, this is in contrast to memory recall patterns noted in bipolar samples. The Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) used in previous non-clinical studies has also been criticised for not being sensitive to overgenerality due to its repetition of specificity instructions and practice trials. The traditional AMT format may allow some individuals to override their trait-based tendencies to be overgeneral. The current study used a sentence completion task to assess memory specificity in groups of students at a low and high trait-based vulnerability for bipolar disorder. In contrast to previous research, high-risk individuals recalled fewer specific positive memories and greater numbers of overgeneral negative memories than low-risk individuals. These results support the notion that the vulnerability for bipolar disorder might be associated with similar recall biases as demonstrated in bipolar samples, and that the AMT might not be sufficiently sensitive to detect overgenerality in non-clinical groups. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Effects of self-referencing on feeling-of-knowing accuracy and recollective experience

The current research investigated the impact of self-referencing (SR) on feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgements to improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying these metamemory judgements and specifically test the relationship between recollective experiences and FOK accuracy within the accessibility framework FOK judgements are thought to be by-products of the retrieval process and are therefore closely related to memory performance. Because relating information to one's self is one of the factors enhancing memory performance, we investigated the effect of self-related encoding on FOK accuracy and recollective experience. We compared performance on this condition to a separate deep processing condition in which participants reported the frequency of occurrence of pairs of words. Participants encoded pairs of words incidentally, and following a delay interval, they attempted at retrieving each target prompted by its cue. Then, they were re-presented with all cues and asked to provide FOK ratings regarding their likelihood of recognising the targets amongst distractors. Finally, they were given a surprise recognition task in which following each response they identified whether the response was remembered, known or just guessed. Our results showed that only SR at encoding resulted in better memory, higher FOK accuracy and increased recollective experience.     

Sandtray Play with Traumatized Children

Summary

The patterns of play in latency age males were examined to determine how play influenced by sexual abuse trauma differs from other types of traumatic play. Three groups of five boys each were assessed using sandtray play. The first were victims of sexual abuse, the second were being treated for chronic or terminal health conditions and the third had no known trauma. Although the number of subjects was small, the findings reflected distinct patterns in the groups examined including differences in the average number of figures used, organization in their trays, whether they were chosen deliberately or randomly, the central figure and the ability to find resolution.     

Attributions for Different Types of Traumatic Events and Post-Traumatic Stress Among Women

This study investigated the relationship of attributions to post-traumatic stress symptoms among women exposed to different types of traumatic events. Participants were 424 female undergraduates who previously experienced a serious accident, natural disaster, child abuse, or adult interpersonal violence. Path analysis indicated a significant indirect pathway from event type to post-traumatic stress through global attributions. Interpersonal-violence survivors exhibited the highest levels of global attributions and post-traumatic stress symptoms. Regression analyses revealed significant interactions between event type and attributions in predicting post-traumatic stress. Stable attributions were associated with increased symptoms in sexual-assault survivors and decreased symptoms in natural-disaster survivors. These findings have implications for improving cognitive interventions for survivors of different types of traumatic events.     

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist

Several studies have employed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to examine the latent structure of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist (PCL; Weathers, Litz, Herman, Huska, & Keane, 1993), a measure that assesses PTSD symptomatology. Findings have failed to support the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text revision [DSM–IV–TR]; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) PTSD model, consisting of reexperiencing, avoidance/numbing, and arousal factors, and no consensus has emerged regarding the best fitting alternative model. Additionally, most studies have utilized homogeneous trauma samples. This study used CFA to examine the PCL factor structure in a sample with exposure to various traumatic events. Superior fit was demonstrated by a model specifying reexperiencing, avoidance, dysphoria, and arousal factors.     

Un point sur la responsabilité civile du fait des prothèses

The evolutions of the medical liability depend on the walking (step) of the jurisprudence, and on that of the European law. Crossings renewed the reflection on the consequences of the protheses failures, and make paradoxically return to the contractual obligation.     

The effect of feature discriminability on the intertrial inhibition of focused attention

Identifying the shape of a colour oddball is faster when the distractor colour is viewed in the preceding target-absent trial and slower when the target colour is previewed, an intertrial effect known as the distractor previewing effect (DPE). We tested the effect of feature discriminability on the DPE. In Experiment 1, we determined the interitem discriminability of two colour pairs and two shape pairs. In Experiments 2 and 3, we measured DPEs with these set of target–distractor discriminability pairs. Our results showed that when the defining features allow for efficient parallel search, the a priori degree of interitem discriminability did not modulate the DPE. The results suggest the DPE does not arise as a strictly bottom-up modulation of saliency of the search-relevant features but reflects an attentional bias aimed at preventing attention from revisiting recently rejected “search features”. The underlying mechanism of this attentional bias is discussed.     

Transformations of the Sacred in Contemporary Chicana Culture

Abstract

Focusing on the transformation of the sacred icon La Virgen de Guadalupe into a secularized and sexualized modern woman in illustrations by Yolanda M. López and Ester Hernández, the rearticulation of ex-votos in Sandra Cisneros's short story ‘Little Miracles, Kept Promises’, and the development of a lesbian form of spirituality in Ana Castillo's Massacre of the Dreamers, this essay argues that it is the tradition of syncretism and cultural hybridization within the folk version of Mexican Catholicism and its concomitant propensity toward the deconstruction of binary oppositions (such as colonizer versus colonized; male versus female; body versus soul; sexuality versus spirituality) that forms the basis for many of the feminist revisions, reinterpretations, and transformations of Catholic figures, motifs and texts in contemporary Chicana art.