Everyday‐like memory for objects in ageing and Alzheimer's disease assessed in a visually complex environment: The role of executive functioning and episodic memory

To investigate everyday memory, more and more studies rely on virtual‐reality applications to bridge the gap between in situ approaches and laboratory settings. In this vein, the present study was designed to assess everyday‐like memory from the virtual reality‐based Human Object Memory for Everyday Scenes (HOMES) test (Sauzéon et al., 2012 , Exp. Psychol., 59, 99) in ageing and in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Two aims motivated this study: the first was to assess multiple processes of episodic memory (EM) functioning embedded within contexts closely related to real life in ageing and AD using the multi‐trial free‐recall paradigm, and the second aim was to evaluate the mediating effects of executive functioning (EF), EM, and subjective memory complaints (SMCs) on age differences in the HOMES measures and in AD. To this end, the HOMES test and neurocognitive tests of EF and EM were administered to 23 younger adults, 23 older adults, and 16 patients with AD. The results were: firstly, compared to young adults, elderly adults presented only free‐recall decline that almost disappeared in recognition condition whereas AD patients exhibited a poor clustering, learning, and recognition performance, and also a high amount of false recognition; secondly, age differences as well as AD related deficits on the HOMES test were mediated by both memory and EF measure while those observed on false memory indices were only mediated by EM measure; thirdly, the HOMES indices are related to SMCs even when episodic or EF measures are controlled. Overall, the results supported the fact that the VR‐based memory test is an appropriate device to capture age‐related differences as well as the AD effect with respect to both in situ and laboratory settings.     

Connecting the dots between fantasy and reality: The social psychology of our engagement with fictional narrative and its functional value

This essay provides an overview of research and theory on narrative and its important, functional role in human experience, including the ways people use media to interrogate their own beliefs and feelings, and derive social meaning. Thought‐provoking film, television, and books can help us make meaning of our lives and grow in ways that are important for our successful social functioning. Research reviewed here demonstrates that exposure to fiction can increase empathy and social skills and reduce prejudice. Our connection to characters and stories has been studied in various ways as extensions of the self into another, while at the same time bringing the other into the self. Bringing together disparate perspectives, we propose that connecting to story worlds involves a process of “dual empathy”—simultaneously engaging in intense personal processing while also “feeling through” characters, both of which produce benefits. Because the value of entertainment narratives may not always be well understood, we explain how those experiences can be personal, social, and can serve important adaptive functions.     

Psychology Internships in the Treatment of Severe Mental Illness: Implications for Training in Academic Medical Centers

Despite an increasing focus over the past 2 decades by federal and state governments on the care of persons with severe mental illness, psychologists remain underrepresented among behavioral health professionals working with this population. Within the discipline there is growing concern about the need to adequately train, recruit, and retain psychologists in this specialty. This is a particular concern in academic medical settings where the overall severity of illness among those receiving psychiatric services continues to increase. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to intensively examine the experience of predoctoral interns engaged in treating individuals with severe mental illness in an academic medical center in order to identify the professional developmental experiences and training needs of those learning to care for this population. This analysis, conducted with semistructured interviews at four points during the internship year, yielded a series of recommendations for improving internship training and recruiting psychologists to this specialty.     

Adolescent Health Care Training in Predoctoral Psychology Internship Programs: A Model of Interdisciplinary Training Needs in Health Care

This needs assessment of predoctoral psychology programs in a large southeastern state reveals that although many programs include adolescent health issues and often involve the psychiatry discipline in their curricula, many trainees do not have exposure to medicine, nutrition, or nursing disciplines. Opportunities for greater interdisciplinary adolescent health care training exist in psychology training programs in this southeastern state. Integrating such training into psychology programs may enhance psychology's ability to function as a vital component of adolescent health care teams within academic medical centers across the country.     

A preliminary study of the comfort of paced respiration

In order to obtain basal information about what type of externally paced respiration is comfortable, 25 male and 25 female undergraduate students were asked to practice self‐paced respiration. After a 1‐min rehearsal following instructions on comfortable self‐paced respiration, subjects carried out 2 min of self‐paced respiration and rated their level of comfort on a scale of 1–5. This was repeated (up to a maximum of seven times) until the subject recorded a high rating. Results indicated that self‐paced respiration was most comfortable, irrespective of sex, when a respiratory pattern was attained of half the respiratory rate and nearly twice the tidal volume of the trainee's resting condition. Although respiratory sinus arrhythmia and heart rate were indicative of a decrease in cardiac vagal activity and end‐tidal PCO₂ was suggestive of a reduction in anxiety, these effects were small. The results have implications for the utilization of externally paced respiration.     

Influence of vowel context on the audio‐visual speech perception of voiced stop consonants

The work reported here investigated whether the extent of McGurk effect differs according to the vowel context, and differs when cross‐modal vowels are matched or mismatched in Japanese. Two audio‐visual experiments were conducted to examine the process of audio‐visual phonetic‐feature extraction and integration. The first experiment was designed to compare the extent of the McGurk effect in Japanese in three different vowel contexts. The results indicated that the effect was largest in the /i/ context, moderate in the /a/ context, and almost nonexistent in the /u/ context. This suggests that the occurrence of McGurk effect depends on the characteristics of vowels and the visual cues from their articulation. The second experiment measured the McGurk effect in Japanese with cross‐modal matched and mismatched vowels, and showed that, except with the /u/ sound, the effect was larger when the vowels were matched than when they were mismatched. These results showed, again, that the extent of McGurk effect depends on vowel context and that auditory information processing before phonetic judgment plays an important role in cross‐modal feature integration.     

Oculomotor responses of stereo‐anomalous observers to pulse and ramp disparities

We examined oculomotor responses to binocular disparities of one stereo‐normal and three stereo‐anomalous observers, who were identified through a stereoscopic depth‐discrimination task, in two experimental conditions. In the pulse disparity condition, crossed and uncrossed disparities (1–6°) were briefly presented (for .25–2.0 s). In the ramp disparity condition, disparities were varied continuously with constant velocities (.7–2.0°/s) and with an amplitude of 10°. The stereo‐normal observer showed vergence responses to both pulse and ramp disparities. The three stereo‐anomalous observers showed a marked reduction or absence of vergence responses to pulse disparities but showed vergence responses to ramp disparities. The results suggest the existence of separate sub‐systems mediating disparity vergence eye movements.     

The Future of Training and Credentialing in Group Psychotherapy

High-quality group psychotherapy training is seen as more important than ever in the current health care environment. The training opportunities available at present are assessed. It is argued that there is a body of knowledge about generic group psychotherapy that can and should be taught, and that there are appropriate people to teach it. Credentialing is discussed, and it is suggested that the assessment of actual work in clinical situations must be emphasized if such efforts are to be meaningful.     

Will the Mother-Group Have a Face? The Future of the Facilitating Environment

The author predicts that maintaining the responsible practice of group psychotherapy in the coming years will require attention to three areas of professional life. The training of group therapists must include group-as-a-whole, in addition to intrapsychic and interpersonal, theoretical constructs. A supportive network of professional colleagues must be available to provide consultation and continuing education. Finally, a culture that values the necessary components of group psychotherapy practice must be encouraged and supported.     

Shepherding Group Analysis: Shepherds Past, Present and Future

The development of group analysis in Britain and Europe following the death of the founder, S. H. Foulkes is described. Group analytic training, journal and book publications are noted. Future prospects for group analysis are envisaged.