Comment on "Recall, retention, and Ritalin."

E. D. Rie and H. E. Rie (see record 1978-27952-001) concluded that Ritalin enhances story recall after a 2-hr retention interval but not after 2 days and that the lack of difference in later recall argues against a facilitation of scholastic achievement due to Ritalin. The present author argues that the former conclusion is questionable because of inappropriate statistical analyses and because of the effects of confoundings contained in the experimental design. The latter conclusion, it is stated, appears to arise from the misconception of equating achievement with long-term memory independently of amount learned. Achievement is a function of both learning and memory, and the distinction should be maintained in examining Ritalin's effects. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relative success of a self-help and a group-based memory training program for older adults.

This study evaluates self-help and group-based memory training programs to test for their differential impact on memory beliefs and performance. Self-help participants used a manual that presented strategies for name, story, and list recall and practice exercises. Matched content from that same manual was presented by the trainer in 2-hr weekly group sessions for the group-based trainees. Relative to a wait-list control group, most memory measures showed significant gains for both self-help and group-based training, with no significant training condition differences, and these gains were maintained at follow-up. Belief measures showed that locus of control was significantly higher for the self-help and group-based training than the control group; memory self-efficacy significantly declined for controls, increased for group-trained participants, and remained constant in the self-help group. Self-efficacy change in a self-help group may require more opportunities for interacting with peers and/or an instructor emphasizing one’s potential for memory change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shuttle-box memory facilitation by posttraining intracranial self-stimulation: Differential effects in rats with high and low basic conditioning levels.

The effects of intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) on retention (after 24 hr, 7, 15, or 60 days) of a massed 2-way active avoidance task were studied in independent groups of rats. All groups showed a higher performance on the retention session than on the acquisition one. In the control subjects. the higher retention performances were observed in the 7- and 15-day groups. However, the ICSS treatment facilitated the 24-hr retention compared with its control group, allowing the treated subjects to achieve the same level of performance on the 24-hr retention session than that achieved by the control rats at the 7-day retention test. In the 24-hr groups, the facilitatory ICSS effect was stronger in the subjects with a low level of conditioning and weaker in those with a high level. Results suggest that posttraining ICSS accelerates memory consolidation and equalizes the performance of poor and good learners. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of nicotine dose and administration method on withdrawal symptoms and side effects during short-term smoking abstinence.

The effects of using several different nicotine replacement treatments on self-reported withdrawal symptoms and side effects during 2-day periods of smoking cessation, with 5 days of ad lib smoking between cessation days, were evaluated. Participants (N ?=?18) experienced the following conditions: nicotine gum, 24-hr patch, 16-hr patch, 24-hr patch plus gum, double 24-hr patch, and no nicotine replacement. The present study found morning urge to smoke was greater during the 16-hr than during the 24-hr patch condition. Double-patch use resulted in significantly greater insomnia than the smoking baseline and 16-hr patch conditions. The no medication and gum alone conditions resulted in similar withdrawal symptoms, and both tended to result in greater reported withdrawal symptoms than the smoking baseline condition. There were no significant withdrawal symptom differences between the 24-hr, patch-gum, and double-patch conditions. The 24-hr and double-patch conditions were preferred by two thirds of the participants (6 each). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactivation treatment prevents the memory-impairing effects of scopolamine in preweanling rats.

The authors report that the expression of a conditioned odor aversion is impaired in preweanling rats when they are conditioned on Postnatal Day 12 and tested under the influence of scopolamine hydrobromide (0.2 or 0.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) after a 48-hr, but not after a 2-hr, retention interval (Experiment 1). This effect of scopolamine is not dependent on maturation of the cholinergic system between Days 12 and 14 (Experiment 2), nor is it due to peripheral mechanisms (Experiment 3). When pups are reexposed to the unconditioned stimulus (footshock) before drug administration, performance on the 48-hr retention test is not impaired by scopolamine (Experiment 4). These findings demonstrate that the cholinergic system may be critical for the retrieval and expression of long-term or weak memories in young rats. However, the expression of active memories (recent or recently reactivated) may not be dependent on the cholinergic system to the same extent as is the expression of inactive memories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Within-story recalls and the retention of ideas in prose processing.

Examined the facilitatory effect of within-story recalls on later recalls as a function of the interval elapsed between presentation of a to-be-recalled idea and its 1st recall, using 75 undergraduates. Results show that (1) specific ideas contained in a prose passage were forgotten rapidly during story presentation, (2) only those ideas that were successfully recalled during story presentation were likely to be recalled on later tests, and (3) the probability of a later recall given a successful within-story recall increased with retention interval. Findings suggest that frequent test questions, interspersed while listening to or reading an expository passage, were most beneficial for long-term retention. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Elaborative and integrative thought processes in mathematics learning.

We investigated the effects on achievement and retention of having students complete mathematics seatwork that required them to engage in elaborative and integrative processing. Fifth-grade students (N?=?121) were assigned randomly within class to a cognitive-process treatment group, a fact-sheet group, or a control group. The seatwork problems of cognitive-process students included "prequestions" that required them to analyze, compare, and define problem information before answering a computational or conceptual exercise or story problem. These questions were designed to facilitate interconnection of the measurement knowledge being learned. Students were taught an 8-day mathematics unit in measurement by their regular teachers. Students completed achievement and retention tests of memory and understanding of measurement and were asked about their thought processes. Results showed that the cognitive process treatment had more beneficial effects on the achievement of higher ability students than of lower ability students. Comparisons involving only students who performed substantial amounts of experimental processing during seatwork provided evidence for the usefulness of elaborative and integrative processing for memory-based performance. Students' reports of processing were related to better memory and understanding scores on the tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors affecting the efficiency of peripheral blood stem cell collection in children treated with chemotherapy and G-CSF

Post-training administration of morphine (0.25, 0.5, or 1 mg/kg) dose-dependently impairs retention of an inhibitory avoidance response in mice. The effects on retention performance induced by the drug appear to be due to an effect on memory consolidation. In fact, they were observed when drugs were given at short, but not long, periods of time after training, i.e., when the memory trace was susceptible to modulation. Moreover, these effects are not to be ascribed to an aversive or a rewarding or nonspecific action of the drugs on retention performance, because the latencies during the retention test of those mice that had not received a footshock during the training were not affected by post-training drug administration. Pretreatment with either selective D1 or D2 dopamine (DA) receptor antagonists SCH 23390 and (-)-sulpiride administered at per se noneffective doses (0.025 and 6 mg/kg, respectively) potentiated the effects of morphine, while either selective D1 or D2 receptor agonists SKF 38393 and LY 171555 at per se noneffective doses (5 and 0.25 mg/kg, respectively) antagonized the effects of the opiate on memory consolidation. No significant differences were evident between the effects of D1 and D2 receptor active compounds, thus suggesting that D1 and D2 receptor types are similarly involved in the effects of morphine on memory consolidation, in agreement with previously reported results. These results are discussed in terms of a possible inverse relationship of endogenous opioid and DA systems in the brain that are involved in memory processes.     

Role problems and the relationship of achievement motivation to scholastic performance.

82 2nd and 72 5th graders were asked questions concerning the expectations of their friends and teacher regarding their behavior as students. A measure of sociometric status was also obtained. It was hypothesized that role variables condition the relationship between achievement motivation and scholastic performance. In support of the hypothesis, a positive relationship between a socially based projective measure of achievement motivation and scholastic performance (grades and Iowa Tests of Basic Skills or Metropolitan Achievement Test) was found for upper graders who experienced low role conflict and also for upper graders who were high in sociometric status. It was also found that among upper graders, autonomously based achievement motivation related most strongly to the performance of children low in sociometric status. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of intentional forgetting in reducing children's retroactive interference.

Preschool and kindergarten children's retention of stories was examined in the presence of interfering information and instructions to forget. Children learned 2 stories and, 24 hr later, were asked to recall the 1st or 2nd story learned. Some of the children were instructed, either following acquisition or just prior to the retention test to forget the 2nd, or interfering, story. A model was used to isolate storage and retrieval effects, and the results showed that (a) retroactive interference affected both storage- and retrieval-based forgetting rates for the younger children but only storage-based forgetting rates for the older children, (b) intentional forgetting reduced retroactive interference primarily by attenuating storage-based forgetting regardless of age, (c) intentional forgetting instructions were effective only at acquisition for preschoolers but at both acquisition and retention for kindergarteners, and (d) all children recalled the to-be-forgotten story as well as they recalled the to-be-remembered story. These results are interpreted in terms of reorganization and distinctiveness effects in storage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of administering cocaine at the same versus varying times of day on circadian activity patterns and sensitization in rats.

The effects of different schedules of cocaine administration on circadian activity patterns and locomotor sensitization were studied. Rats received intraperitoneal injections of either saline or 20 mg/kg cocaine at either 24- or 33-hr intervals for 8 cycles (development). After a 2-day withdrawal, they were given a cocaine challenge in a novel environment. Rats given cocaine at 24-hr intervals were hypoactive 4 to 9 hr postinjection during development and, during cocaine challenge, showed sensitization of locomotor activity. Rats given cocaine at 33-hr intervals did not show these effects. On the 33-hr-period schedule, activity was enhanced beginning 24 hr after drug receipt. Different intermittent schedules of cocaine receipt may alter the vulnerability to cocaine, and altered vulnerability may be more likely when a subsequent cocaine injection interacts with a distal state of sensitivity produced by a prior injection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing: The dilemma of group differences.

A revival of test bashing has followed the growing public disillusionment with racial preferences as a means for abrogating the adverse impact of tests on certain groups in educational and occupational selection. This, added to the racial differences in g and the slight and ephemeral effects of Head Start and other more intensive interventions aimed at decreasing racial group differences in scholastic achievement, is the dilemma of group differences. In the face of the apparent failure of equal educational opportunity to make all groups in American society equal in scholastic performance or in the test scores used in selection for higher education, jobs, and the Armed Forces, psychological tests are again being blamed and scorned. This could be averted in the public's perception by emphasizing tests' face validity in test construction without lessening the latent traits that account for the tests' validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A prose recall test using stories in American sign language.

Objective: To develop a test of American Sign Language (ASL) prose recall, modeled after the Logical Memory subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale. Method: Two ASL stories were developed and presented to participants, whose verbatim recall in immediate and delayed conditions was videotaped. Three ASL-fluent raters scored the responses. Recall scores were correlated with performance IQ (PIQ) and Signed Paired Associate Test (SPAT) results. Participants: 41 ASL-fluent deaf adults. Outcome Measures: ASL Stories Test, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test PIQ, SPAT. Results: Mean recall scores for the 2 stories were 58% and 66% (immediate condition, a significant difference) and 63% and 68% (delayed condition, also a significant difference), respectively. Interrater reliability coefficients ranged from .77 to .94. Immediate and delayed recall scores for the 1st story correlated with PIQ. Combined ASL story recall scores correlated with more challenging elements of the SPAT. Conclusions: The 1st ASL story was more difficult than the 2nd. Reliability scores, correlations with PIQ and SPAT performance, and other test properties that are comparable to the Logical Memory subtest suggest the ASL Stories Test shows promise as a verbal memory research and clinical evaluation tool with deaf individuals who use ASL. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Success, failure, and self-assessment ratings.

Investigated the effects of success and failure experiences on subsequent self-ratings of positive and negative social-psychological characteristics. 60 teacher trainees were assigned to success, failure, or control experiences on 3 achievement tasks ostensibly testing intellectual ability. Posttest minus pretest gains were assessed on variables of self-reported self-confidence, self-worth, opportunity, efficacy, and true unto self, which were categorized as positive dimensions. Similar gains were assessed on variables of self-reported need for isolation, worried and afraid, need for help, troubles and obstacles, and cynicism, categorized as negative dimensions. As hypothesized, Ss who experienced success made significantly greater gains in positive self-assessments, and failure Ss made significantly greater gains in negative self-assessments. No significant Success-Failure * Sex interaction was found. Implications for clinicians, psychotherapists, and procedures employed in self-rating scales are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Source Recall Enhances Children's Discrimination of Seen and Heard Events.

The effects of rehearsing actions by source (slideshow vs. story) and of test modality (picture vs. verbal) on source monitoring were examined. Seven- to 8-year-old children (N = 30) saw a slideshow event and heard a story about a similar event. One to 2 days later, they recalled the events by source (source recall), recalled the events without reference to source (no-source-cue recall), or engaged in no recall. Seven to 8 days later, all children received verbal and picture source-monitoring tests. Children in the source recall group were less likely than children in the other groups to claim they saw actions merely heard in the story. No-source-cue recall impaired source identification of story actions. The picture test enhanced recognition, but not source monitoring, of slide actions. Increasing the distinctiveness of the target events (Experiment 2) allowed the picture test to facilitate slideshow action discrimination by children in the no-recall group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Olfactory learning and memory impairments following lesions to the hippocampus and perirhinal-entorhinal cortex.

The role of the hippocampus and perirhinal-entorhinal cortex was examined in an olfactory discrimination paradigm. Small neurotoxic lesions of the hippocampus (21% tissue damage) yielded relatively unimpaired olfactory retention across brief (30 s), intermediate (approximately 5 min), and 24-hr delays, whereas impairments were noted at 5-day retention intervals. Larger hippocampal lesions (63% tissue damage) spared memory at intermediate delays, with no impact at 8-day retention intervals. Aspiration lesions directed at the perirhinal-entorhinal cortex produced a variable performance pattern, with impairments noted at intermediate, 24-hr, and 5-day delays. Results suggest the hippocampus is not specifically involved in retaining olfactory information, with additional consideration given to the relationship between lesion size and memory impairment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the importance of mood intensity and encoding demands in memory: Commentary on Hasher, Rose, Zacks, Sanft, and Doren.

Comments on the failure of L. Hasher et al (see record 1986-03061-001) to find either an overall reduction in story recall or selectivity effects in recall due to mildly depressed mood state. It is suggested that their negative findings may be the result of a weak individual difference mood manipulation and that the story recall task may make insufficient encoding demands to reveal the effects of mood on recall. Although the negative findings of Hasher et al appear valid, the conditions of their experiments are those which appear least likely to produce mood effects on recall. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of experimentally aroused achievement motivation to academic achievement anxiety.

180 Ss, balanced for sex, were administered the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT) under experimental conditions producing either minimal or high arousal of achievement motivation. Regression of scholastic aptitude and AAT scores on grade-point average (GPA) showed both AAT scales accounting for the same variance in GPA. Analyses of variance of AAT scores showed no sex differences, but highly significant main effects for experimental condition and level of scholastic aptitude. It was concluded that test anxiety is a unidimensional construct, and that the AAT is a measure of anxiety aroused by stress cues present during test taking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Breakfast, blood glucose, and cognition

This article compares the findings of three studies that explored the role of increased blood glucose in improving memory function for subjects who ate breakfast. An initial improvement in memory function for these subjects was found to correlate with blood glucose concentrations. In subsequent studies, morning fasting was found to adversely affect the ability to recall a word list and a story read aloud, as well as recall items while counting backwards. Failure to eat breakfast did not affect performance on an intelligence test. It was concluded that breakfast consumption preferentially influences tasks requiring aspects of memory. In the case of both word list recall and memory while counting backwards, the decline in performance associated with not eating breakfast was reversed by the consumption of a glucose-supplemented drink. Although a morning fast also affected the ability to recall a story read aloud, the glucose drink did not reverse this decline. It appears that breakfast consumption influences cognition via several mechanisms, including an increase in blood glucose.     

Subanesthetic effects of the noncompetitive NMDA antagonist, ketamine, in humans. Psychotomimetic, perceptual, cognitive, and neuroendocrine responses

BACKGROUND: To characterize further behavioral, cognitive, neuroendocrine, and physiological effects of subanesthetic doses of ketamine hydrochloride in healthy human subjects. Ketamine, a phencyclidine hydrochloride derivative, is a dissociative anesthetic and a noncompetitive antagonist of the N-methyl-D-aspartate subtype of excitatory amino acid receptor. METHODS: Nineteen healthy subjects recruited by advertisements from the community participated in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Subjects completed three test days involving the 40-minute intravenous administration of placebo, ketamine hydrochloride (0.1 mg/kg), or ketamine hydrochloride (0.5 mg/kg). Behaviors associated with the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia were assessed by using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. Changes in perception and behaviors associated with dissociative states were assessed by the Perceptual Aberration Subscale of the Wisconsin Psychosis Proneness Scale and the Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale. Cognitive function was assessed by using the (1) Mini-Mental State Examination; (2) tests sensitive to frontal cortical dysfunction, including a continuous performance vigilance task, a verbal fluency task, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; and (3) tests of immediate and delayed recall. Plasma levels of cortisol, prolactin, homovanillic acid, and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenethyleneglycol were measured. RESULTS: Ketamine (1) produced behaviors similar to the positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia; (2) elicited alterations in perception; (3) impaired performance on tests of vigilance, verbal fluency, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test; (4) evoked symptoms similar to dissociative states; and (5) preferentially disrupted delayed word recall, sparing immediate recall and postdistraction recall. Ketamine had no significant effect on the Mini-Mental State Examination at the doses studied. Ketamine also had no effect on plasma 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenethyleneglycol levels, although it blunted a test day decline in plasma homovanillic acid levels at the higher dose. It also dose dependently increased plasma cortisol and prolactin levels. Ketamine produced small dose-dependent increases in blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonists produce a broad range of symptoms, behaviors, and cognitive deficits that resemble aspects of endogenous psychoses, particularly schizophrenia and dissociative states.