Auditory Long term Memory: Repetition Priming of Voice Recognition

Two experiments examined repetition priming in the recognition of famous voices. In Experiment 1, reaction times for fame decisions to famous voice samples were shorter than in an unprimed condition, when voices were primed by a different voice sample of the same person having been presented in an earlier phase of the experiment. No effect of voice repetition was observed for non-famous voices. In Experiment 2, it was investigated whether this priming effect is voice-specific or whether it is related to post-perceptual processes in person recognition. Recognizing a famous voice was again primed by having earlier heard a different voice sample of that person. Although an earlier exposure to that person's name did not cause any priming, there was some indication of priming following an earlier exposure to that person's face. Finally, earlier exposure to the identical voice sample (as compared to a different voice sample from the same person) caused a considerable bias towards responding 'famous'-i.e. performance benefits for famous but costs for nonfamous voices. The findings suggestthat (1) repetition priming invoice recognition primarily involves the activation of perceptual representations of voices, and (2) it is important to determine the conditions in which priming causes bias effects that need to be disentangled from performance benefits.     

Capturing Children's Response to Parental Conflict and Making Use of It

To read this article's abstract in both Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, please visit the article's full-text page on Wiley InterScience ( http://interscience.wiley.com/journal/famp ).
The aim of our study is to examine the interface between children's physiological changes and the specificities of parental conflict, and to develop a procedure in which such information can be shared with the family for therapeutic change. Children from 20 families were exposed to parental conflict discussion (CD) while their arousals were measured through skin conductance and heart rate sensors. It was found that regardless of the subject of the argument, 80% of the time they were complaining about each other. Likewise, 80% of the time the children were responding to the parents' own interpersonal tension, including moments of silence. The protocol established for the study, consisting of CD and debriefing, was found to be a powerful tool in moving parents toward conflict resolution.     

Associations between Prenatal and Early Childhood Fish and Processed Food Intake,Conduct Problems,and Co-Occurring Difficulties

Little is known about early life diet as a risk factor for early-onset persistent conduct problems (EOP CP). To investigate this, we used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a UK-based prospective epidemiological birth cohort. 5727 mother-child pairs (49.9 % boys) monitored since pregnancy (delivery date between 1 April, 1991 and 31 December, 1992) reported intake of fish and processed foods at 32 weeks gestation and, for the child, at 3 years; EOP (n = 666) and Low conduct problem (Low CP, n = 5061) trajectories were measured from 4 to 13 years; hyperactivity and emotional difficulties were assessed in childhood (4–10 years) and early adolescence (12–13 years), in addition to potential confounding factors (family adversity, birth complications, income). Compared to Low CP, mothers of EOP children consumed less fish (p < 0.01) and more processed food (p < 0.05) prenatally, while EOP children consumed more processed food at 3 years (p < 0.05). For EOP, but not Low CP children, consuming less than two servings/week of fish (vs. two or more servings/week, p < 0.05), and one or more servings/day of processed food (vs. less than one serving/day, p < 0.01), was associated with higher emotional difficulties in early adolescence. Conclusions: Findings suggest that prenatal and postnatal diets high in processed food, and low in fish, associate with an EOP CP trajectory and co-occurring difficulties in early adolescence. As small effect size differences were found, further studies are needed to investigate the long-term impact of early unhealthy diet.     

Traumatization of group leaders in their work with displaced persons

Displaced persons are a special, threatened group of people, participants in this war, who were suddenly forced to abandon their homes. The majority of them were, overnight, left without anything they had, some even without their closest family. They all have one thing in common: they have all lost so much. Work with such people is directed toward overcoming their feelings of loss and abandonment and preventing psychical decompensation. Groups of displaced persons temporarily sheltered in the Rijeka region have been observed to be markedly regressed, with increased sensitivity, a low degree of tolerance, great demands on society and strongly expressed projective tendencies. Therapists suffer personal traumatization in working with displaced persons. This paper describes the reactions and feelings of group leaders caused by manifestations of group dynamics in different phases of exile.     

Conception and dream material during psychoanalysis

A dream announcing her conception and describing in symbolic terms physiological processes associated with the early stages of pregnancy was reported by a female analysand 4 days after she and her husband had engaged in intercourse for the purpose of procreation. The manifest content of the dream and the associations to it are described. The assumption that conception, ordinarily a subliminal stimulus, was a somatic stimulus in this situation is explored. It is suggested that three special factors—the patient's exceptional sensitivity to internal sensations, her strong motivation to conceive, and a contributory awakening stimulus— may have made it possible for her to perceive her conception.     

From the left to the right: How the brain compensates progressive loss of language function

In normal right-handed subjects language production usually is a function oft the left brain hemisphere. Patients with aphasia following brain damage to the left hemisphere have a considerable potential to compensate for the loss of this function. Sometimes, but not always, areas of the right hemisphere which are homologous to language areas of the left hemisphere in normal subjects are successfully employed for compensation but this integration process may need time to develop. We investigated right-handed patients with left hemisphere brain tumors as a model of continuously progressive brain damage to left hemisphere language areas using functional neuroimaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to identify factors which determine successful compensation of lost language function. Only patients with slowly progressing brain lesions recovered right-sided language function as detected by TMS. In patients with rapidly progressive lesions no right-sided language function was found and language performance was linearly correlated with the lateralization of language related brain activation to the left hemisphere. It can thus be concluded that time is the factor which determines successful integration of the right hemisphere into the language network for compensation of lost left hemisphere language function.     

Recall-to-reject: The effect of category cues on false recognition

Four experiments examined the effect of category cueing on recall-to-reject, one of the central memory-editing mechanisms thought to prevent the occurrence of false memories. When category names were used as retrieval cues, the typically observed false recognition effect was eliminated for semantically associated distractors (Experiment 1a) and, moreover, a reduction in the absolute level of the false alarm rate was found for phonologically associated distractors (Experiment 2a). In addition to the old/new-recognition data, analyses using multinomial models support the interpretation that category cueing was successful in increasing the probability of recall-to-reject (Experiments 1b and 2b). The results are in line with dual-process theories of recognition memory and provide further evidence for recall-to-reject in single item recognition. They demonstrate its potential to reduce false recognition even when explicit instructions are not given. In addition, the results demonstrate that the paradigm can give rise to side effects that oppose recall-to-reject. A simultaneous familiarity increase can explain why many studies failed to find evidence for recall-to-reject in terms of false alarm rates.     

Recall-to-reject: The effect of category cues on false recognition

Four experiments examined the effect of category cueing on recall-to-reject, one of the central memory-editing mechanisms thought to prevent the occurrence of false memories. When category names were used as retrieval cues, the typically observed false recognition effect was eliminated for semantically associated distractors (Experiment 1a) and, moreover, a reduction in the absolute level of the false alarm rate was found for phonologically associated distractors (Experiment 2a). In addition to the old/new-recognition data, analyses using multinomial models support the interpretation that category cueing was successful in increasing the probability of recall-to-reject (Experiments 1b and 2b). The results are in line with dual-process theories of recognition memory and provide further evidence for recall-to-reject in single item recognition. They demonstrate its potential to reduce false recognition even when explicit instructions are not given. In addition, the results demonstrate that the paradigm can give rise to side effects that oppose recall-to-reject. A simultaneous familiarity increase can explain why many studies failed to find evidence for recall-to-reject in terms of false alarm rates.