Fuzzy-Trace Theory and False Memory

A key problem confronting theories of false memory is that false-memory phenomena are so diverse: Some are characteristic of controlled laboratory tasks, others of everyday life; some occur for traumatic events with legal consequences, others for innocuous events; some are characteristic of one developmental level, others of another developmental level. Fuzzy-trace theory explains false memories via a small set of principles that implement a single representational distinction. Those principles generate new predictions, some of which are counterintuitive.     

Beyond beliefs: Challenging obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours within a collaborative counselling relationship

Three clients with obsessive‐compulsive disorder were studied using a multiple case study approach. Clients' experiences of cognitive‐behavioural therapy, in particular the impact of having their beliefs challenged, and their responses to self‐monitoring tasks and behavioural experiments were investigated. Data included case notes made during therapy, pre‐ and post‐therapy questionnaires, and post‐therapy semi‐structured interviews. Qualitative analysis of the data identified clients' obsessive beliefs, general negative beliefs and meta‐cognitive beliefs, and explored any post‐therapy changes in these beliefs. The results demonstrated similarities between cases in obsessive beliefs (e.g. inflated responsibility for harm), general negative beliefs (e.g. feelings of failure), meta‐cognitive beliefs (e.g. the need to control thoughts) and affect (e.g. guilt). Questionnaire data from all three clients suggested no clinically significant post‐therapy changes in general negative beliefs and meta‐cognitive beliefs. However, idiosyncratic changes in obsessive beliefs were reported during therapy and at post‐therapy interview, and clients reported improved functioning and decreased levels of distress during therapy and at interview. Responses to challenge were uniformly positive, but reactions to self‐monitoring and behavioural experiments varied across cases. The implications of these findings for the treatment of obsessive‐compulsive disorder using cognitive behavioural techniques are discussed.     

反馈负波及其近10年理论解释

个体决策后的反馈对随后的结果监控和行为调整起着至关重要的作用。事件相关脑电位研究发现, 反馈负波(feedback-related negativity, FRN)是与决策后反馈加工过程紧密相关的脑电成分。近10年来关于FRN的理论解释, 在最初经典的强化学习理论和情绪动机假说的基础上又提出了反应-结果的预测模型、奖赏正波理论以及积极情绪启动模型。未来的研究应该立足于大样本, 采用互补的研究手段和多样的分析技术来探讨FRN的心理意义; 同时考虑将FRN作为奖赏加工的脑电指标, 研究社会互动情境下的人类行为。     

预期错误在复合恐惧记忆提取消退中的作用

基于记忆再巩固理论的提取消退范式被证明是一种有效和颇有前景的消除不良记忆的方法。本研究将预期错误(Prediction Error, PE)应用于提取消退范式中, 采用多感官复合刺激模型(声音 + 图片)作为条件刺激, 以皮电反应作为恐惧反应指标, 考察在提取阶段不同的预期错误设置(无PE、单个负性PE、单个正性PE和多重PE)对条件性恐惧记忆提取消退效果有何差异。结果表明：无PE组和多重PE组出现了恐惧的自发恢复和重建效应, 而负性PE组和正性PE组均没有出现恐惧的自发恢复和重建效应。说明了在对复合恐惧记忆进行提取消退时, 提取阶段适当的PE才能使记忆进入再巩固过程, 随后传统消退达到抑制恐惧返回效果, 提取阶段没有PE或PE量过多都不能达到恐惧消退效果。     

Quality of Olympics opening ceremony: Tourism behavioural intention of international spectators

This study assessed the impact of the artistic program of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony event on international spectators’ national image branding of the host country and their intention to visit the host nation. We surveyed a total of 600 international spectators of the South Korea PyeongChang Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony (150 Filipino, 150 Americans, 150 British, and 150 South Africans; 50% female) on their perceptions of quality of the opening ceremony, national image branding, and their intention to visit the host country. Results from hierarchical analysis indicated that the quality of the artistic program of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics opening ceremony (content of expression, form of expression, and narrative of nation) predicted perceptions of host country national image and behavioural intentions to visit. From these findings, we conclude that the artistic program of the opening ceremony of an Olympic event is a valuable opportunity to help international spectators to better understand the host country culture, and for influencing their tourism intentions.     

Prediction of overt aggression experienced by college students

We sought to predict overt aggression among college students from their intra- and interpersonal relationships self-perceptions. Respondents were 311 students (females = 69.8%; black = 65.9%, white = 16.7%; mean age = 26.38 years, SD = 9.57 years) from a large South African university. Results following multivariate inferential analysis indicated Negative, destructive interpersonal relationships; Negative, destructive self-concept; and Positive inclination towards others to predict overt aggression among the university students. By contrast, Positive interaction with self and others; and Submissiveness towards others can be used to predict overt aggression among the university students. Our hypothesis that the more constructive (higher) students’ self-concept and intrapersonal relationships, interpersonal relationships, the lower will their levels of overt aggression, physical aggression and verbal aggression become was supported. As such, the finding was that: Overt Aggression = a(Negative destructive interpersonal relationships) + b(Negative destructive self-concept) ? c(Positive inclination towards others).     

The practice of crime linkage: A review of the literature

Crime linkage has been the subject of increasing attention in academic research. Research has found support for the principles of behavioural consistency and distinctiveness, which underpin crime linkage, but this does not provide direct evidence as to whether crime linkage is useful in practice. This literature review draws together documentation that refers to the practice of crime linkage, from assessing analysts' efficacy, to discussing the usage of computerised tools to assist with the linkage process, to providing a comprehensive outline of the process itself. The implications of the amount and type of information currently available are discussed, including the variations in practice and terminology that were explored. Avenues for future investigation and the manner in which future research could be conducted are set out in a research agenda.     

Behavioural linking of stranger rapes

A sample of serial stranger rape cases ( n = 43) that had occurred in Finland during the years 1983–2001 were studied with the objectives being to: (a) describe the characteristics of the offenders; (b) explore the structure of serial rape; and (c) demonstrate behavioural linkage through an analysis of the offenders' crime scene behaviour using both multidimensional scaling (MDS) and discriminant function analysis (DFA). The material was content analysed with regard to the occurrence of a number of dichotomous variables. The inter‐relationships of the variables was studied using MDS. The analysis revealed two previously identified major modes of interaction with the victim: involvement and hostility. Employing MDS and DFA, it was shown that the offences of different offenders were distinguishable in terms of variation between the offences of different offenders and consistency within the offences of a single offender. Using DFA, the classification accuracy clearly exceeds that expected by chance, and 25.6% of the cases were classified without any error. The results are discussed in relation to their practical utility and previous studies. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.