Remembering can cause forgetting: Retrieval dynamics in long-term memory.

Three studies with 148 university students show that the retrieval process itself causes long-lasting forgetting. Ss studied 8 categories (e.g., Fruit). Half the members of half the categories were then repeatedly practiced through retrieval tests (e.g., Fruit Or). Category-cued recall of unpracticed members of practiced categories was impaired on a delayed test. Exps 2 and 3 identified 2 significant features of this retrieval-induced forgetting: The impairment remains when output interference is controlled, suggesting a retrieval-based suppression that endures for 20 min or more, and the impairment appears restricted to high-frequency members. Low-frequency members show little impairment, even in the presence of strong, practiced competitors that might be expected to block access to those items. Findings suggest a critical role for suppression in models of retrieval inhibition and implicate the retrieval process itself in everyday forgetting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental psychopathology perspective on adolescence.

Developmental psychopathology offers an integrative framework for conceptualizing the course of development during adolescence, with particular relevance for understanding continuity and the emergence of psychopathology during this and subsequent developmental periods. In this article, the utility of a developmental psychopathology perspective for informing the design of research, prevention, and intervention is highlighted. Interdisciplinary, organizational models of development, emphasizing the dynamic relations between the developing individual and internal and external contexts, are discussed. Examination of boundaries between abnormal and normal development during adolescence offers important vantage points for articulating diversity in the developmental course during this period. Conceptualizing divergence and convergence in developmental pathways, continuity and discontinuity in development, and the transactions of risk and protective processes leading to maladaptation, psychopathology, and resilience are highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental psychopathology perspective on child abuse and neglect

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this review is to conceptualize child abuse and neglect within a developmental psychopathology perspective. Toward this end, issues of definition and epidemiology, etiology, and sequelae are addressed. METHOD: Research and theory on child abuse and neglect with relevance to a developmental perspective is reviewed. RESULTS: Considerable progress has been made in our understanding of the etiology and consequences of child abuse and neglect. Less progress has been made in utilizing this knowledge to inform treatment efforts. CONCLUSIONS: Incorporation of a developmental psychopathology perspective into efforts to understand and ameliorate the adverse effects of child abuse and neglect holds considerable promise for advancing research and intervention in the area of child maltreatment. The importance of providing comprehensive and coordinated services that incorporate knowledge of how maltreated youngsters negotiate stage-salient issues of development is stressed. The provision of child-focused treatment, parent-based models of intervention, and ecologically driven approaches to prevention all can benefit from an understanding of the adverse effects that maltreatment exerts on the process of development.     

The effects of stress and trauma on brain and memory: a view from developmental cognitive neuroscience

Many aspects of brain development depend on experience. Because the major macro-morphological events of brain development occur over the first 2-3 years of postnatal life, this time period can be considered both a period of opportunity as well as a period of vulnerability. In this paper we describe how experience with stress early in life can have a negative impact on certain aspects of brain development, and specifically, those neural circuits that underlie memory. We also describe the effects of traumatic events on the development of the neural basis of memory. In support of our argument, we review the literature on brain, stress, and memory in the context of development. Based on this review, we suggest that the developing brain is particularly vulnerable to the harmful physiological effects of stress, which in turn has the potential to lead to impairments in memory. Unfortunately, there are few empirical data that directly address this hypothesis. In this context we offer a number of suggestions for future research.     

Confidence in protection: A developmental psychopathology perspective.

S. Goldberg, J. Grusec, and J. M. Jenkins (see record 1999-15264-001) provided a thorough review of J. Bowlby's (1982) work and offered a persuasive argument to consider confidence in protection as the roots of the parent-child attachment system. In an attempt to explore implications of their work, confidence in protection is examined from a developmental psychopathology perspective, with issues highlighted specifically about the role of family functioning, as well as the notion of risk and protection mechanisms. Questions are raised in the spirit of responding to and extending S. Goldberg et al.'s (1999) thought-provoking analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Amnesia observed: Remembering and forgetting in a natural environment.

Provided information about the relationship between a 58-yr-old amnesic patient's memory performance on laboratory tasks and in a natural environment. Several of S's mnemonic functions were systematically observed during 2 rounds of golf. S's memory for the events of the round was severely impaired. In contrast S demonstrated extensive general knowledge of golf and played the game with a substantial degree of skill. The pattern of preserved and impaired mnemonic abilities demonstrated by S on the golf course closely resembled his performance on laboratory tasks. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowing what to remember and forget: a developmental study of cue memory in intentional forgetting

These experiments are the first to investigate children's encoding and use of information about a memory cue in Bjork's (1972) intentional forgetting task. In Experiment 1, children in Grades 2, 4, and 6 and college students were given cues to either remember or forget after the presentation of each picture. Recall and recognition tests of pictures and cues followed. The procedure in Experiment 2 was identical to that in Experiment 1 except that the list of presentation pictures was altered for some children (Grades 3 and 4) and adolescents (Grades 8 and 9) so that remember and forget cues were associated with particular taxonomic categories. In Experiment 3, the testing component was modified so that children (Grades 2, 3, and 4) and college students were asked to recall only the cue associated with each picture. The results indicated that (1) children as young as second graders encode the cue associated with each picture, although to a lesser extent than do college students, (2) much improvement in intentional forgetting is still occurring during adolescence, (3) only adults adequately cluster their recall by cue, (4) associating remember and forget cues with items from different categories does not increase the differentiation between cues, and (5) eliminating picture recall and recognition has minimal effects on the magnitude of cue judgments. These results suggest that children's difficulties on intentional forgetting tasks stem, at least in part, from their poorer encoding of information about whether an item should be remembered or forgotten.     

Effect of incest on self and social functioning: A developmental psychopathology perspective.

The effects of child sexual abuse have become a leading concern of mental health service providers. Despite an explosion of studies, one major difficulty in this research is the lack of a developmentally sensitive model for conceptualizing short- and long-term effects and continuity and discontinuity of effects over time. This article proposes a model based in the perspective of developmental psychopathology. It is argued that incest has its unique negative effects in the domains of self- and social functioning, specifically in jeopardizing self-definition and integration, self-regulatory processes, and a sense of security and trust in relationships. Studies with clinical samples indicate that diagnostic conditions associated uniquely with a history of incest reflect serious self- and social impairments. A review of the developmental literature on self- and social development summarizes each major developmental transition from infancy to middle adulthood, and the implications for the negative effects of incest on development are discussed. Finally, implications for developmentally sensitive research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of normal forgetting, psychopathology, and information-processing models of reported amnesia for recent sexual trauma.

This study assessed memories for sexual trauma in a nontreatment-seeking sample of recent rape victims and considered competing explanations for failed recall. Participants were 92 female rape victims assessed within 2 weeks of the rape; 62 were also assessed 3 months postassault. Memory deficits for parts of the rape were common 2 weeks postassault (37%) but improved over the 3 month window studied (16% still partially amnesic). Hypotheses evaluated competing models of explanation that may account for reported recall deficits. Results are most consistent with information processing models of traumatic memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Binding, relational memory, and recall of naturalistic events: A developmental perspective.

This research was an investigation of children's performance on a task that requires memory binding. In Experiments 1 and 2, 4-year-olds, 6-year-olds, and adults viewed complex pictures and were tested on memory for isolated parts in the pictures and on the part combinations (combination condition). The results suggested improvement in memory for the combinations between the ages of 4 and 6 years but not in memory for the isolated parts. In Experiments 2 and 3, the authors also examined the developmental relationship between performance in the combination condition and free recall of a naturalistic event, finding preliminary evidence that performance on a memory task that requires binding is positively related to performance in episodic memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fantasy proneness: Hypnosis, developmental antecedents, and psychopathology.

In 7 studies, 6,000 college students were screened to obtain 5 samples of 156 fantasy-prone Ss. Fantasy-prone Ss were selected from the upper 2–4% on a measure of imaginative involvement and were contrasted with nonfantasizers (lower 2–4%) and medium fantasy-prone Ss. Wilson and Barber's construct of fantasy proneness was supported. Fantasizers differed from nonfantasizers on measures of hypnotizability, imagination, waking suggestibility, hallucinatory ability, creativity, psychopathology, and childhood experiences. Differences in hypnotizability were most reliable when Ss participated in a multisession study and were screened not only with the screening inventory, but also with an interview that substantiated their fantasy-prone status. However, our findings indicated that less correspondence between fantasy proneness and hypnotizability exist than Wilson and Barber suggested. Hypnotic responsiveness is possible even in the absence of well-developed imaginative abilities, and not all fantasizers were highly hypnotizable. Fantasizers recollected being physically abused and punished to a greater degree than other Ss did and reported experiencing greater loneliness and isolation as children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maltreated children's memory: Accuracy, suggestibility, and psychopathology.

Memory, suggestibility, stress arousal, and trauma-related psychopathology were examined in 328 3- to 16-year-olds involved in forensic investigations of abuse and neglect. Children's memory and suggestibility were assessed for a medical examination and venipuncture. Being older and scoring higher in cognitive functioning were related to fewer inaccuracies. In addition, cortisol level and trauma symptoms in children who reported more dissociative tendencies were associated with increased memory error, whereas cortisol level and trauma symptoms were not associated with increased error for children who reported fewer dissociative tendencies. Sexual and/or physical abuse predicted greater accuracy. The study contributes important new information to scientific understanding of maltreatment, psychopathology, and eyewitness memory in children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cervical cancer: a developmental perspective

Cervical cancer is a disease that affects women worldwide. In some countries it is the leading cause of death among women. Although the incidence of cervical cancer has decreased with the advent of the Papanicolaou smear, it remains a problem in adult women. Cervical dysplasia most often affects women in their 20s; carcinoma in situ affects women 30 to 39 years of age; and invasive carcinoma affects women older than 40 years. These age groups fall into the final three of Erickson's eight stages of ego development. However, taking a developmental approach in planning nursing interventions for women with cervical cancer has its drawbacks. Much of developmental theory research has been conducted on nonrepresentative samples, with women being underrepresented. A template for exploring patient problems from a life stage (developmental) perspective has been developed within the context of three different nursing diagnoses (sexual dysfunction, spiritual distress, and alteration in family processes).     

Remembering schema-consistent information: Effects of a balance schema on recognition memory.

The major premise of this study is that schema-consistent (balanced) information is structurally represented in memory in a qualitatively different fashion from schema-inconsistent (imbalanced) material. The former closely resembles overlearned information and "easily chunked" information in that multicomponent stimuli are represented in memory as unitary wholes, whereas the latter is stored as discrete propositions. 38 undergraduates studied short scenarios that described either balanced or imbalanced structures involving 3 relations and then answered questions that required retrieval of either 1, 2, or all 3 of the relationships. For imbalanced information, reaction times to questions increased with the number of to-be-retrieved relations, whereas with balanced information, reaction times actually decreased as the number of to-be-retrieved relationships increased. Thus, for balanced structures, all 3 relations were more quickly verified than any 2, and any 2 were more quickly verified than any 1. A model is proposed for the operation of the balance schema that explains why the whole is retrieved more easily than its parts. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Remembering pictures: Pleasure and arousal in memory.

Assessed incidental memory performance for pictures that varied along the affective dimensions of pleasantness and arousal. For both an immediate and delayed (1 yr later) free-recall task, only the arousal dimension had a stable effect on memory performance: Pictures rated as highly arousing were remembered better than low-arousal stimuli. This effect was corroborated in a speeded recognition test, in which high-arousal materials encoded earlier in the experiment produced faster reaction times (RTs) than their low-arousal counterparts. Pleasantness affected RT decisions only for pictures not encoded earlier. These results suggest that whereas both the dimensions of pleasantness and arousal are processed at initial encoding, long-term memory performance is mainly affected by arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and psychopathology: A historical perspective.

The possible links between personality psychology and psychopathology are examined with the goal of understanding the constraints that set boundaries to the possible contributions of one to the other. The reciprocal nature of these contributions is described. The historical survey looks at the early concepts of the humors and temperament; at the concept of a general vulnerability to psychosis and deviance, represented by the 19th-century concept of degeneracy; and at later typologies arising from the work of H. J. Eysenck, Freud, E. Kretschmer, Pavlov, and W. H. Sheldon. The impact of current developments in neuropsychology and in cognitive psychology is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why never forgetting a face matters: Visual imagery and social memory.

Tested the hypothesis that persons who tend to form vivid visual images of others have more accurate social memories than those who form relatively nonvivid visual images of others. In Exp I, using 186 undergraduates as Ss, vivid imagers outperformed nonvivid imagers in remembering details concerning the attitudes, activities, and life history of a woman whom they observed being interviewed. Exp II with 154 Ss provided more definitive evidence for the link between visual imagery and social memory by demonstrating that vivid imagers had more accurate memories after seeing an interviewee answer questions, whereas seeing the interviewee had no impact on the memories of nonvivid imagers. Results support the author's hypothesis that the relatively superior social memories of vivid imagers reside in their capacity for visual imagery rather than some covariate of imagery. The discussion considers the impact that imagery processes may have on a variety of social thought processes. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Occultism, parapsychology and the esoteric from the perspective of psychopathology]

The concepts and main themes of occultism, parapsychology and esoterics are set in comparison to religion, spirituality, mysticism. The cultural relativity of these concepts is emphasised. Occultism means dealing with phenomena, processes, and/or powers which are not accessible to "normal perception". The manipulation of such powers is effected via (white, black, grey) magic. Parapsychology, in its popular sense, deals with occult phenomena, whereas scientific parapsychology investigates them empirically. Esoterics is a complex of beliefs within a hermetic tradition about occult processes and about desting after death. Transpersonal psychology deals with these issues while calling them "spiritual". Effects of paranormal experiences and actions on the side of the actor as well as the adept are discussed: personality types, interpersonal effects, crises and psychoses (mediumistic psychoses). The concept of dissociation of subpersonalities (subselves) appears to be a viable perspective to explain these phenomena. In mediumistic psychoses, the splitting of non-ego parts of the psyche leads to a manifestation of schizophrenic symptoms. Dangers for mental health are an ego inflation by self-attribution of "superhuman" power. A personality disposition for parapsychological perception and/or action may be seen in schizotypia and similar near-psychotic "personalities up the border". Adepts of occultism may present with a "false self" in the sense of Winnicott.     

Occlusal trauma: a case in perspective

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by expansion of a CAG trinucleotide repeat which codes for glutamine in the protein ataxin-1. We have investigated the effect of this expansion on ataxin-1 by immunoblot analysis. The wild-type protein is detected in both normal and affected individuals; however, a mutant protein which varies in its migration properties according to the size of the CAG repeat is detected in cultured cells and tissues from SCA1 individuals. The protein has a nuclear localization in all normal and SCA1 brain regions examined but a cytoplasmic localization of ataxin-1 was also observed in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Our data show that in SCA1, the expanded alleles are faithfully translated into proteins of apparently normal stability and distribution.