Affective valence of words impacts recall from auditory working memory

Abstract

There is limited evidence on the influence of affective stimuli on auditory working memory. The reported study investigated whether emotional auditory words interfere with ongoing auditory processing of words in auditory working memory. On each trial, words with negative, neutral, and positive affective valence were simultaneously presented on three different speakers. Participants recalled the word presented from the centre speaker first and then recalled the words presented from the side speakers. More negative and positive words compared to neutral words were recalled from the centre speaker. After recall of negative and positive words from the centre speaker, the subsequent first recall of words from the side speakers was reduced, regardless of anxiety level of the participant. The emotional interference effect suggests that emotional words interfere with ongoing central processing due to the attentional dwell on the information in auditory working memory.     

False memories in music listening: exploring the misinformation effect and individual difference factors in auditory memory

ABSTRACT

The study of false memory has had a profound impact on our understanding of how and what we remember, as shown by the misinformation paradigm [Loftus, E. F. (2005). Planting misinformation in the human mind: A 30-year investigation of the malleability of memory. Learning & Memory, 12(4), 361–366. doi:10.1101/lm.94705]. Though misinformation effects have been demonstrated extensively within visual tasks, they have not yet been explored in the realm of non-visual auditory stimuli. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate whether post-event information can create false memories of music listening episodes. In addition, we explored individual difference factors potentially associated with false memory susceptibility in music, including age, suggestibility, personality, and musical training. In two music recognition tasks, participants (N?=?151) listened to an initial music track, which unbeknownst to them was missing an instrument. They were then presented with post-event information which either suggested the presence of the missing instrument or did not. The presence of misinformation resulted in significantly poorer performance on the music recognition tasks (d?=?.43), suggesting the existence of false musical memories. A random forest analysis indicated that none of the individual difference factors assessed were significantly associated with misinformation susceptibility. These findings support previous research on the fallibility of human memory and demonstrate, to some extent, the generality of the misinformation effect to a non-visual auditory domain.     

Affective and cognitive attitudes,uncertainty avoidance and intention to obtain genetic testing: An extension of the Theory of Planned Behaviour

To ensure successful implementation of genetic screening and counselling according to patients best interests, the attitudes and motives of the public are important to consider. The aim of this study was to apply a theoretical framework in order to investigate which individual and disease characteristics might facilitate the uptake of genetic testing. A questionnaire using an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour was developed to assess the predictive value of affective and cognitive expected outcomes, subjective norms, perceived control and uncertainty avoidance on the intention to undergo genetic testing. In addition to these individual characteristics, the predictive power of two disease characteristics was investigated by systematically varying the diseases fatality and penetrance (i.e. the probability of getting ill in case one is a mutation carrier). This resulted in four versions of the questionnaire which was mailed to a random sample of 2400 Norwegians. Results showed genetic test interest to be quite high, and to vary depending on the characteristics of the disease, with participants preferring tests for highly penetrant diseases. The most important individual predictor was uncertainty avoidance.     

Are smokers interested in genetic testing for smoking addiction? A socio-cognitive approach

Genetic advances have made genetically tailored smoking cessation treatments possible. In this study, we examined whether smokers are interested in undergoing a genetic test to identify their genetic susceptibility to nicotine addiction. In addition, we aimed to identify socio-cognitive determinants of smokers’ intention to undergo genetic testing. Following the protection motivation theory (PMT), we assessed the following constructs using an online survey among 587 smokers: threat appraisal (i.e. susceptibility and severity), fear, coping appraisal (i.e. response efficacy and self-efficacy), response costs and intention. In addition, knowledge, social norms and information-seeking behaviour were measured. Mean intention rates were 2.57 on a 5-point scale. Intention was significantly associated with threat appraisal and coping appraisal, as predicted by the PMT. Fear of the outcome was negatively associated with the intention to undergo genetic testing, but response costs, knowledge and social influence were not. Intention to undergo genetic testing in turn was positively related to seeking information about genetic testing and genetically tailored smoking cessation treatments. Smokers seem ambivalent or ‘on the fence’ with regard to undergoing a genetic test for smoking addiction. Socio-cognitive concepts such as susceptibility, severity, response efficacy and self-efficacy may be used to inform or educate smokers about the value of genetically tailored smoking cessation treatments.     

Communicating BRCA1/2 genetic test results within the family: A qualitative analysis

Genetic testing for BRCA1/2 mutations associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer reveals significant risk information about one's chances of developing cancer. It is important to study communication processes in families where members are undergoing genetic testing because the information received is crucial not just to the individual concerned but also to other members of the biological family. This study investigates family communication of BRCA1/2 test results from both the informants’ and recipients’ perspectives. A total of 10 female patients and 22 of their relatives were interviewed. Patients’ and their relatives described feelings of responsibility for sharing genetic information within the family to enable others to reduce their risks of developing cancer. However, there were limits to an individuals’ responsibility once key family members had been informed, who then had to take responsibility for continuing dissemination of information. Whilst there was an implicit responsibility to inform the family of a mutation, information was edited or withheld in the best interest of relatives, dependent upon their perceived emotional readiness, resilience and current life stage and circumstances. The pre-existing family culture and the impact previous cancer diagnoses had upon the family also influenced the process of communication. Findings are discussed in relation to extant literature and implications for clinical practice are considered.     

Detecting performance invalidity in children: Not quite as easy as A,B, C, 1, 2, 3 but automatized sequences appears promising

In adult populations, embedded performance validity indicators are well established, as they are time efficient, resistant to coaching, and allow for more continuous monitoring of effort than standalone measures. Although several recent studies have demonstrated the appropriateness of using standalone validity tests with school-age children, a paucity of pediatric work has examined embedded indicators. The present study investigated the value of a simple automatized sequences task to detect performance invalidity in 439 clinically referred patients with mild head injury aged 8 through 17 years. Sixteen percent of the participants failed the Medical Symptom Validity Test (MSVT). Thirteen percent failed the MSVT and also performed below established cutoffs on either the Test of Memory Malingering or Wechsler Digit Span subtest. The group classified as providing invalid data performed significantly worse than the group passing the MSVT across all sequencing conditions. Sensitivity and specificity for the total time on the sequencing task compared favorably to data produced for many respected adult-based embedded indicators (i.e., sensitivity around 50% when specificity ≥ 90%). Classification statistics for any embedded performance validity test can be expected to be worse in more severely affected populations; however, the current sequencing task appears to have value in detecting invalid performance in relatively high-functioning older children and adolescents. The fact that the task takes less than a couple of minutes to administer makes it especially appealing.     

Noncredible Effort during Pediatric Neuropsychological Exam: A Case Series and Literature Review

Neuropsychological test interpretation rests upon the assumption that the examinee has exerted full effort. If an individual provides inadequate effort during exam, the resulting data will be invalid and represent an underestimate of the person's true abilities. Although youth have been assumed historically to be less capable of deception than adults, acts of deception in childhood are not uncommon, even in normative populations. Yet, very few cases of children who have provided suboptimal effort during neuropsychological exam have appeared in the scientific literature. We present six clinical cases illustrating that children down to at least age 8 years can present with noncredible performance. The cases include those in which clear external incentives could be identified to those in which intrinsic or psychological factors were presumed to predominate. The fairly diverse nature of the presented cases, along with other recent work, suggests that suboptimal effort in children is apt to occur more frequently than previously recognized, even if it might occur less often than in comparable adult samples. In most of the presented cases, noncredible performance would not have been detected definitively by clinical judgment alone, reinforcing the value of routinely incorporating symptom validity tests into the neuropsychological assessment of school-aged children. The number of effort tests that have demonstrated utility in children pales in comparison to those available to the adult practitioner, although recent research now supports the use of several standalone measures with pediatric patients.     

The Effect of a Final Exam on Long-Term Retention

Testing on a final exam in a college course improved long-term retention over material that had not been tested on the final. Students from an upper level psychology course took a long-term retention test, four to five months after the end of the course. For half of the items, a related question had been on the final. For the remaining half, a related question had appeared on an earlier exam, but not the final. On the long-term retention test, percent correct was 79% when a related question had appeared on the final and 67% when a related question had not appeared on the final. These results have both theoretical and practical implications.