Successfully controlling intrusive memories is harder when control must be sustained

After unpleasant events, people often experience intrusive memories that undermine their peace of mind. In response, they often suppress these unwanted memories from awareness. Such efforts may fail, however, when inhibitory control demands are high due to the need to sustain control, or when fatigue compromises inhibitory capacity. Here we examined how sustained inhibitory demand affected intrusive memories in the Think/No-Think paradigm. To isolate intrusions, participants reported, trial-by-trial, whether their preceding attempt to suppress retrieval had triggered retrieval of the memory they intended to suppress. Such counter-intentional retrievals provide a laboratory model of the sort of involuntary retrieval that may underlie intrusive memories. Using this method, we found that longer duration trials increased the probability of an intrusion. Moreover, on later No-Think trials, control over intrusions suddenly declined, with longer trial durations triggering more relapses of items that had been previously been purged. Thus, the challenges of controlling retrieval appear to cause a decline in control over time, due to a change in state, such as fatigue. These findings raise the possibility that characteristics often true of people with psychiatric disorders - such as compromised sleep, and increased demand on control - may contribute to difficulties in suppressing intrusive memories.

To Repress: a Note on an Ambiguity of Meaning

An analysand used the word repress in a dream in an unusual way. In the dream, a record had been re-pressed: it was not the original disc but a copy. This manifest meaning of the word led associatively to more latent meanings. A kind of dialectical process ensued whereby, whenever the concept of repression came up, several meanings had to be considered to set the record straight. The classical way of thinking about repression had been augmented a little by this novel meaning that the analysand had stumbled on in his dream. Psychoanalytic process was enriched by this ongoing scrutiny of repression in theory and practice.

Blunted cortisol response to acute pre-learning stress prevents misinformation effect in a forced confabulation paradigm

Research examining the effects of stress on false memory formation has been equivocal, partly because of the complex nature of stress-memory interactions. A major factor influencing stress effects on learning is the timing of stress relative to encoding. Previous work has shown that brief stressors administered immediately before learning enhance long-term memory. Thus, we predicted that brief stress immediately before learning would decrease participants' susceptibility to subsequent misinformation and reduce false memory formation. Eighty-four male and female participants submerged their hand in ice cold (stress) or warm (no stress) water for 3min. Immediately afterwards, they viewed an 8-min excerpt from the Disney movie Looking for Miracles. The next day, participants were interviewed and asked several questions about the video, some of which forced them to confabulate responses. Three days and three weeks later, respectively, participants completed a recognition test in the lab and a free recall test via email. Our results revealed a robust misinformation effect, overall, as participants falsely recognized a significant amount of information that they had confabulated during the interview as having occurred in the original video. Stress, overall, did not significantly influence this misinformation effect. However, the misinformation effect was completely absent in stressed participants who exhibited a blunted cortisol response to the stress, for both recognition and recall tests. The complete absence of a misinformation effect in non-responders may lend insight into the interactive roles of autonomic arousal and corticosteroid levels in false memory development.

Declines in representational quality and strategic retrieval processes contribute to age-related increases in false recognition

In a Yes/No object recognition memory test with similar lures, older adults typically exhibit elevated rates of false recognition. However, the contributions of impaired retrieval, relative to reduced availability of target details, are difficult to disentangle using such a test. The present investigation sought to decouple these factors by comparing performance on a Yes/No (YN) test to that on a Forced Choice (FC) test, which minimizes demands on strategic retrieval processes, enabling a more direct measure of the availability of object details. Older adults exhibited increased lure false recognition across test formats (Experiment 1), suggesting a decline in the availability of object details contributes to deficits in performance. Manipulating interference by varying the number of objects studied selectively enhanced performance in the FC test, resulting in matched performance across groups, whereas age differences in YN performance persisted (Experiment 2), indicating an additional contribution of impaired strategic retrieval. Consistent with differential sensitivity of test format to strategic retrieval and the quality of stimulus representations among older adults, variability in the quality of object representations, measured using a perceptual discrimination task, was selectively related to FC performance. In contrast, variability in memory control processes, as measured with tests of recall and executive function, was related to performance across test formats. These results suggest that both declines in the availability of object details and impaired retrieval of object details contribute to elevated rates of lure false recognition with age, and highlight the utility of test format for dissociating these factors in memory-impaired populations.

Flexible retrieval: When true inferences produce false memories

Episodic memory involves flexible retrieval processes that allow us to link together distinct episodes, make novel inferences across overlapping events, and recombine elements of past experiences when imagining future events. However, the same flexible retrieval and recombination processes that underpin these adaptive functions may also leave memory prone to error or distortion, such as source misattributions in which details of one event are mistakenly attributed to another related event. To determine whether the same recombination-related retrieval mechanism supports both successful inference and source memory errors, we developed a modified version of an associative inference paradigm in which participants encoded everyday scenes comprised of people, objects, and other contextual details. These scenes contained overlapping elements (AB, BC) that could later be linked to support novel inferential retrieval regarding elements that had not appeared together previously (AC). Our critical experimental manipulation concerned whether contextual details were probed before or after the associative inference test, thereby allowing us to assess whether (a) false memories increased for successful versus unsuccessful inferences, and (b) any such effects were specific to after compared with before participants received the inference test. In each of 4 experiments that used variants of this paradigm, participants were more susceptible to false memories for contextual details after successful than unsuccessful inferential retrieval, but only when contextual details were probed after the associative inference test. These results suggest that the retrieval-mediated recombination mechanism that underlies associative inference also contributes to source misattributions that result from combining elements of distinct episodes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Mismaking Memories

Memory illusions—vivid experiences of events that never occurred—could result from inaccuracies either in retrieving memories or in initially storing them. In two experiments, people studied lists of associated words that either did or did not induce later illusory (false) memories of associated but nonpresented lure words. The amplitude of the electrical brain activity during study of words (~500-1,300 ms) that were themselves later correctly remembered reliably distinguished list words that led to such illusory memories from those that did not. This encoding difference associated with subsequent illusory memory (referred to as a DIM)—presumably reflecting item-specific encoding differences—is a neural precursor of memory illusions.

[SUPPRESSION OF A NON-TRAUMA-RELATED THREATENING THOUGHT AS AN AVOIDANCE STRATEGY IN POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER PATIENTS]

AIMS

Our goal was to examine how suppression of nontrauma- related thoughts differs between PTSD patients and patients with non-PTSD anxiety disorder compared to a group of matched controls.

BACKGROUND

Intrusive recollections of aspects of the traumatic event and its sequelae are at the core of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). People who have suffered a traumatic event may implement some form of avoidance coping strategies in order to deal with the unwanted memories that accompany them. Thought suppression refers to the conscious effort that is made in order NOT to think about a particular thought and is used to regulate affect. The effects of thought suppression on trauma survivors indicates that suppression of trauma related thoughts produces a rebound effect, increasing frequency of negative autobiographical memory recall and may result in the maintenance of PTSD symptoms.

RESULTS

The results show that PTSD patients differed in their performance of purposeful suppression of non-traumarelated thoughts, and spent significantly longer time thinking about the target thought during suppression as compared to the control groups. The duration to disengage attention from any thought content was significantly longer in PTSD patients as compared to the anxiety group and controls.

CONCLUSIONS

We suggest that PTSD patients demonstrated a mental control deficient in self-regulatory mechanisms involved in coping with threat.

DISCUSSION

While PTSD patients used external objects in the room, the control groups used mental contents as distractors. When given suppression instructions, such as distraction thought, all groups demonstrated shorter duration to disengage attention, but the PTSD patients exhibited the significant advantage.

Psychoanalytic Reconstruction and Reintegration

Psychoanalytic reconstruction has declined in theoretical and clinical interest as greater attention has been directed to the here and now of the transference-counter-transference field and inter-subjectivity. Transference, however, is based upon childhood fantasy, and is a new edition of unconscious intra-psychic representation and relationships. In this paper transference is viewed as a guide to reconstruction, but transference itself is also an object of reconstruction. Reconstruction is a complementary agent of change, which integrates genetic interpretations and restores the continuity of the self The patient's childish traits, features, fixations, and irrational childish fantasies and behavior point to the necessity for reconstruction. Reconstruction organizes dissociated, fragmented memories, potentiating the further retrieval of repressed memories. Reconstruction is essential to the working through and attenuation of early traumatic experience. Recapture of the past is necessary to demonstrate and diminish the persistent influence of the past in the present, and to meaningfully connect past and present. A case is presented in which reconstruction had a central, vital role in the analytic process.

Anger Expression and Blood Pressure in Adolescents

The clinical significance of childhood hypertension is important as elevated pressures during childhood are found to follow a progressively increasing track into adulthood. Little work has been done to examine the relationship of emotions and emotional behavioral factors to the development of hypertension in children. Using the Roy Adaptation Model as a guide, this study investigated the relationship of anger expression and blood pressure (BP) among adolescents 16–18 years of age. Participants were 63 urban high school seniors. Measurements included the Anger Expression Inventory, a Demographic Questionnaire, and measures of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Analysis revealed significant positive relationships between anger expression with blood pressure, and a significant inverse relationship between blood pressure and the control of anger for girls. No significant relationships between anger expression and blood pressure were noted for boys. The majority of students (53%) were found to have high normal or hypertensive blood pressure readings, putting them at increased cardiovascular risk.

Emotion and false memory: The context-content paradox

False memories are influenced by a variety of factors, but emotion is a variable of special significance, for theoretical and practical reasons. Interestingly, emotion's effects on false memory depend on whether it is embedded in the content of to-be-remembered events or in our moods, where mood is an aspect of the context in which events are encoded. We sketch the theoretical basis for this content-context dissociation and then review accumulated evidence that content and context effects are indeed different. Paradoxically, we find that in experiments on spontaneous and implanted false memories, negatively valenced content foments distortion, but negatively valenced moods protect against it. In addition, correlational data show that enduring negative natural moods (e.g., depression) foment false memory. Current opponent-process models of false memory, such as fuzzy-trace theory, are able to explain the content-context dissociation: Variations in emotional content primarily affect memory for the gist of events, whereas variations in emotional context primarily affect memory for events' exact verbatim form. Important questions remain about how these effects are modulated by variations in memory tests and in arousal. Promising methods of tackling those questions are outlined, especially designs that separate the gist and verbatim influences of emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record

The cost of proactive interference is constant across presentation conditions

Proactive interference (PI) severely constrains how many items people can remember. For example, Endress and Potter (2014a) presented participants with sequences of everyday objects at 250ms/picture, followed by a yes/no recognition test. They manipulated PI by either using new images on every trial in the unique condition (thus minimizing PI among items), or by re-using images from a limited pool for all trials in the repeated condition (thus maximizing PI among items). In the low-PI unique condition, the probability of remembering an item was essentially independent of the number of memory items, showing no clear memory limitations; more traditional working memory-like memory limitations appeared only in the high-PI repeated condition. Here, we ask whether the effects of PI are modulated by the availability of long-term memory (LTM) and verbal resources. Participants viewed sequences of 21 images, followed by a yes/no recognition test. Items were presented either quickly (250ms/image) or sufficiently slowly (1500ms/image) to produce LTM representations, either with or without verbal suppression. Across conditions, participants performed better in the unique than in the repeated condition, and better for slow than for fast presentations. In contrast, verbal suppression impaired performance only with slow presentations. The relative cost of PI was remarkably constant across conditions: relative to the unique condition, performance in the repeated condition was about 15% lower in all conditions. The cost of PI thus seems to be a function of the relative strength or recency of target items and interfering items, but relatively insensitive to other experimental manipulations.

Eyewitness Misidentification: Single vs Double-Blind Comparison of Photospread Administration

Interactive effects of photospread procedures (blind administration or has knowledge of suspect identity) and presentation techniques (sequential or simultaneous photospreads) on false eyewitness identification rates were examined. Of 117 subjects (57 men and 60 women), 87 served as a witness sample and 30 as a photospread administrator sample. Witnesses viewed a 20-sec. mock robbery video prior to viewing a photospread of six photographs either simultaneously or sequentially. Half of the administrators, prior to displaying the photospreads, were made aware of the photograph of the designated suspect (single-blind condition). Consistent with previous findings, sequential presentation was associated with both lower overall false identification rates as well as lower suspect designated-misidentification rates. In each case, there was evidence that administrators' knowledge increased false identification rates more in simultaneous than in sequential presentation conditions. Implications for administrations by police investigators are discussed.

Comparative study of false memory in dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease

The production of false memories (FMs) is a normal phenomenon, which can be affected in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). Only few studies investigated FMs in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). The aim of our preliminary study was to assess FMs in patients with DLB and to identify the underlying cognitive deficits influencing the production of FMs in DLB and AD. Ten AD patients and nine DLB patients performed a memory task (free recall and recognition) coupling two paradigms, namely the DRM (Deese-Roediger-McDermott) paradigm, promoting the production of FMs and the "Remember/Know" (R/K) paradigm, allowing to investigate the phenomenological experience during the recollection of a memory. A standard cognitive evaluation of memory, executive and instrumental functions completed the assessment. No FM was found in the DLB group during free recall, while the number of FMs was substantially identical in both groups during recognition. However, FMs differed from the phenomenological experience, with more K responses in DLB patients and more R responses in AD patients. None of the tests of the standard neuropsychological evaluation did correlate with measures of interest of FMs. In AD patients, the R responses associated with FMs reflect an alteration of the source memory. In DLB patients, the critical item lead to a sense of familiarity, without recollection of the circumstances in which the item was encoded, hence the K responses. This indicates a preservation of their source memory. Contrary to expectations, the type of FMs in both groups was not correlated to their cognitive profile. Hence, cognitive processes underlying the FMs appear to be different in AD and the LBD, but FMs seem independent of memory and executive abilities in these diseases.

False Recall for People's Names in the Deese-Roediger-Mcdermott Paradigm: Conspicuousness and Semantic Encoding of the Critical Lure

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm for studying false recall uses people's names as critical lures. In this study the contextual organization of list structure was manipulated in an effort to make the critical lure's absence inconspicuous and consequently increase the likelihood of false recall of the critical lures. Following Brédart's 2000 work, a list structure that appears to make the critical lure inconspicuous was constructed (Inconspicuous lure structure), according to the characteristics of two lists that previously induced a number of false memories. The rate of false recall for this structure was compared with Conspicuous lure structure, which was similar to his other lists that rarely induced false recall. 80 participants (age range 18–28 years, M age = 21.5 yr.) were presented eight 10-item lists, composed of four lists from each list structure. Contrary to expectations, the Inconspicuous lure structure produced less false recall than the Conspicuous lure structure. Moreover, better recall of list items was found in the Inconspicuous lure structure. These results were discussed in terms of semantic encoding related to contextual organization of the lists' structure.

False Recall with the Drmrs (“Drummers”) Procedure: A Quantitative Summary and Review

In the Deese-Roediger-McDermott-Read-Solso (DRMRS) procedure, which has recently enjoyed widespread use, participants try to remember lists of items constructed around critical themes that are not presented. The purpose of this quantitative review was to estimate the extent to which these themes are falsely recalled (Critical Intrusions) and to compare this error rate with Correct Recall and with false recall of other words that were not presented (Noncritical Intrusions). Based on 111 estimates, the mean rate of Critical Intrusions was .374 (95% confidence interval of .344 to .403), which was a very large effect ( d = 2.40). Critical Intrusions were less frequent than Correct Recall (.572) but more frequent than Noncritical Intrusions (.078). Critical Intrusions were lower (.318) for people told to be confident (not to guess) than for people not so cautioned (.428), a medium to large effect size ( d = 0.69). Effects of other variables are summarized, and the theoretical and applied implications of these results are discussed.

Generality of the Repression-Sensitization Dimension: Threat of Nuclear War

It was hypothesized that repressors, during the blockade of Cuba, would estimate nuclear war as less likely, would express less anxiety, and would show more approval of the blockade than sensitizers. The results for 196 Ss showed that the greater the estimate of the likelihood of nuclear war, the greater the anxiety and the less the approval but these results were not related to the repression-sensitization dimension.

Evidence that Projection of a Feared Trait can Serve a Defensive Function

Two experiments tested the notion that allowing people to project a feared trait onto another individual would facilitate denial of the trait. In Study 1, participants were given feedback that they were high or low in repressed anger and were allowed to rate an ambiguous target on anger or not. Participants who received high (vs. low) anger feedback rated the target especially high on anger. In addition, participants who received high anger feedback and who were allowed to project their anger had the lowest anger accessibility on a word completion exercise. Study 2 replicated these basic findings using a different trait dimension (dishonesty) and a direct measure of denial (self-attributions of dishonesty). Specifically, in Study 2, participants who received high dishonesty feedback and who were allowed to project dishonesty reported having an especially low level of dishonesty. Discussion focused on the relationship between classic projection and other forms of psychological defense.

Increasing Self-Regulatory Strength Can Reduce the Depleting Effect of Suppressing Stereotypes

Three longitudinal studies and one correlational study tested the hypothesis that increasing self-regulatory strength by regular self-regulatory exercise would reduce the intrapsychic costs of suppressing stereotypes. Participants tried to resist using stereotypes while describing or talking to a stimulus person. Participants whose habitual motivation to suppress stereotypes was low exhibited impaired Stroop and anagram performance after the suppression task, presumably because of self-regulatory depletion (i.e., a reduction of self-regulatory strength following prior use). Two weeks of self-regulation exercises (such as using one’s nondominant hand or refraining from cursing) eliminated this effect. These findings indicate that self-regulatory exercise can improve resistance to self-regulatory depletion and, consequently, people can suppress stereotypes without suffering subsequent decrements in task performance.

Consequences of Stereotype Suppression and Internal Suppression Motivation: A Self-Regulation Approach

The present research studied the effects of suppression of stereotypes on subsequent stereotyping. Moreover, the moderating influence of motivation to suppress stereotypes was examined. The first three experiments showed that suppression of stereotypes leads to the experience of engaging in self-control (Study 1), to depleted regulatory resources as indicated by worse performance on an unrelated subsequent task that involves self-regulation (Study 2), and to hyperaccessibility of the suppressed thoughts (Study 3). However, these effects were moderated by internal suppression motivation: Increased self-control, depleted regulatory resources, and hyperaccessibility of suppressed thoughts only occur for people with low internal suppression motivation. Furthermore, in line with the argument that depletion of regulatory resources after suppression also should result in increased stereotyping in general, it was found that suppression of a specific stereotype leads to an increased use of stereotypes in general, but only for people with low internal suppression motivation (Study 4).

Neural Global Pattern Similarity Underlies True and False Memories

The neural processes giving rise to human memory strength signals remain poorly understood. Inspired by formal computational models that posit a central role of global matching in memory strength, we tested a novel hypothesis that the strengths of both true and false memories arise from the global similarity of an item's neural activation pattern during retrieval to that of all the studied items during encoding (i.e., the encoding-retrieval neural global pattern similarity [ER-nGPS]). We revealed multiple ER-nGPS signals that carried distinct information and contributed differentially to true and false memories: Whereas the ER-nGPS in the parietal regions reflected semantic similarity and was scaled with the recognition strengths of both true and false memories, ER-nGPS in the visual cortex contributed solely to true memory. Moreover, ER-nGPS differences between the parietal and visual cortices were correlated with frontal monitoring processes. By combining computational and neuroimaging approaches, our results advance a mechanistic understanding of memory strength in recognition.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

What neural processes give rise to memory strength signals, and lead to our conscious feelings of familiarity? Using fMRI, we found that the memory strength of a given item depends not only on how it was encoded during learning, but also on the similarity of its neural representation with other studied items. The global neural matching signal, mainly in the parietal lobule, could account for the memory strengths of both studied and unstudied items. Interestingly, a different global matching signal, originated from the visual cortex, could distinguish true from false memories. The findings reveal multiple neural mechanisms underlying the memory strengths of events registered in the brain.

Forgetting of Trauma Cues in Adults Reporting Continuous or Recovered Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse

According to betrayal trauma theory, adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) who were molested by their caretakers (e.g., a father) are especially likely to dissociate (“repress”) their memories of abuse. Testing college students, some reporting CSA, DePrince and Freyd (2004) found that those scoring high on a dissociation questionnaire exhibited memory deficits for trauma words when they viewed these words under divided-attention conditions. Replicating DePrince and Freyd's procedure, we tested for memory deficits for trauma words relative to neutral words in adults reporting either continuous or recovered memories of CSA versus adults denying a history of CSA. A memory deficit for trauma words under divided attention was expected in the recovered-memory group. Results were inconsistent with this prediction, as all three groups exhibited better recall of trauma words than neutral words, irrespective of encoding conditions.

Children's Emotional False Memories

Eight- and 12-year-old children were presented with neutral and negative emotional Deese-Roediger-McDermott lists equated on familiarity and associative strength. Both recall and recognition (A') measures were obtained. Recall measures exhibited the usual age increments in true and false recollection. True neutral items were better recalled and recognized than true negative emotional items. Although the children showed more false recall for neutral than for negative emotional lists, false recognition was higher for negative emotional than for neutral items. A' analyses also showed that whereas true neutral information and false neutral information were easily discriminated by children regardless of age, the same was not the case for true and false negative emotional information. Together, these results suggest that although children may be able to censor negative emotional information at recall, such information promotes relational processing in children's memory, making true and false emotional information less discriminable overall.

The Reality of Recovered Memories

Although controversy surrounds the relative authenticity of discontinuous versus continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA), little is known about whether such memories differ in their likelihood of corroborative evidence. Individuals reporting CSA memories were interviewed, and two independent raters attempted to find corroborative information for the allegations. Continuous CSA memories and discontinuous memories that were unexpectedly recalled outside therapy were more likely to be corroborated than anticipated discontinuous memories recovered in therapy. Evidence that suggestion during therapy possibly mediates these differences comes from the additional finding that individuals who recalled the memories outside therapy were markedly more surprised at the existence of their memories than were individuals who initially recalled the memories in therapy. These results indicate that discontinuous CSA memories spontaneously retrieved outside of therapy may be accurate, while implicating expectations arising from suggestions during therapy in producing false CSA memories.

True Photographs and False Memories

Some trauma-memory-oriented psychotherapists advise clients to review old family photo albums to cue suspected “repressed” memories of childhood sexual abuse. Old photos might cue long-forgotten memories, but when combined with other suggestive influences they might also contribute to false memories. We asked 45 undergraduates to work at remembering three school-related childhood events (two true events provided by parents and one pseudoevent). By random assignment, 23 subjects were also given their school classes' group photos from the years of the to-be-recalled events as memory cues. As predicted, the rate of false-memory reports was dramatically higher in the photo condition than in the no-photo condition. Indeed, the rate of false-memory reports in the photo condition was substantially higher than the rate in any previously published study.

Separating Sustained From Transient Aspects of Cognitive Control During Thought Suppression

Cognitive theories of how people regulate their thoughts have suggested the involvement of two control processes that occur over different time courses. These cognitive accounts parallel recent neural models of executive control, which suggest that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) mediates sustained changes in the allocation of control processes, whereas the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) relays a transient need for additional control. Combining these cognitive and neural models of control, we used recently developed analysis techniques to distinguish transient from sustained changes in brain activation while subjects attempted to suppress an unwanted thought. Results were consistent with both models: Dorsolateral PFC demonstrated sustained increases in activation during attempts at thought suppression, whereas bilateral ACC demonstrated transient increases associated with occurrences of unwanted thoughts. These data support proposals regarding the different contributions made by the PFC and ACC to executive control and provide initial neuroimaging support for dual-process models of how individuals regulate their thoughts.

A Special Sort of Forgetting: Negation in Freud and Augustine

The development from a positive, dualistic theory of memory and forgetting to a concept of memory that includes forgetting as a variety of remembering is traced in two thinkers. Freud's concept of repression is discussed as a complex negation of both remembering and forgetting, and the development of this construct is shown in his letters to Wilhelm Fliess. A close reading of Augustine of Hippo's Confessions shows a similar concept of a special sort of forgetting, in which what is forgotten is remembered nonetheless. Finally, the limits of the comparison are discussed, and a reading of Freud's "Negation" reveals ways in which the unconscious is fundamentally unlike Augustine's interiority.

Accounting for intrusive thoughts in PTSD: Contributions of cognitive control and deliberate regulation strategies

BACKGROUND

Persistent, trauma-related intrusive thoughts are common in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Automatic aspects of cognitive functioning (including executive functioning) and maladaptive deliberate attempts at cognitive regulation have been proposed as individual difference factors that may perpetuate intrusive thoughts. The current study sought to examine the joint contribution of these two factors on intrusive thoughts in PTSD.

METHOD

Forty-two women with PTSD completed an executive functioning assessment followed by a thought suppression task. Intrusive thoughts (frequency and duration), as well as participants' use of specific cognitive regulation strategies (avoidance-based thought regulation strategies; TRS), were measured during the task. Hierarchical linear regression was used to examine the interaction of executive functioning and TRS on intrusive thoughts.

RESULTS

Greater use of TRS was associated with greater intrusive thought persistence for those with low executive functioning, but not those with high executive functioning.

LIMITATIONS

Data was collected cross-sectionally and the laboratory thought suppression task may not correspond to naturalistic thought regulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Results are consistent with prior literature suggesting that certain responses deployed by individuals to control intrusive thoughts may be unhelpful, but that a higher level of cognitive capacity may mitigate this effect. Implications of these findings for recent models of cognition in PTSD are discussed.

Let it go: the flexible engagement and disengagement of monitoring processes in a non-focal prospective memory task

Remembering to perform a delayed intention is referred to as prospective memory (PM). In two studies, participants performed an Eriksen flanker task with an embedded PM task (they had to remember to press F1 if a pre-specified cue appeared). In study 1, participants performed a flanker task with either a concurrent PM task or a delayed PM task (instructed to carry out the intention in a later different task). In the delayed PM condition, the PM cues appeared unexpectedly early and we examined whether attention would be captured by the PM cue even though they were not relevant. Results revealed ongoing task costs solely in the concurrent PM condition but no significant task costs in the delayed PM condition showing that attention was not captured by the PM cue when it appeared in an irrelevant context. In study 2, we compared a concurrent PM condition (exactly as in Study 1) to a PM forget condition in which participants were told at a certain point during the flanker task that they no longer had to perform the PM task. Analyses revealed that participants were able to switch off attending to PM cues when instructed to forget the PM task. Results from both studies demonstrate the flexibility of monitoring as evidenced by the presence versus absence of costs in the ongoing flanker task implying that selective attention, like a lens, can be adjusted to attend or ignore, depending on intention relevance.

[Unconnected, possibly irrelevant for the nursing profession, but mandatory readings not to lose the focus in 2015, and beyond]

SUMMARY

Unconnected, possibly irrelevant for the nursing profession, but mandatory readings not to lose the focus in 2015, and beyond. The recent, and chronologically concomitant publication of two reports - on the specific and dramatic violence against women in war situations; on the experience and results of resilience of cultural, health, academic palestinian institutions under Israeli State repression - has suggested their joint, very synthetic presentation, which explains the somehow henigmatic formulation of the title, and provides the opportunity for possibly relevant comments for the nursing profession and research. Two main points are underlined: a) beyond their clear heterogeneity, in terms of content and format, the two publications have a common, reciprocally complementary objective and message: the importance, and the concrete rarity, of visibility for scenarios which are most of the time left to the fragmentation of the chronicle, though they touch the roots of the interests of those who are working in fields which are close to the rights to life and dignity. b) The specific relevance of becoming aware of strategies contrasting massive violations of fundamental rights could and should be tested by the nursing profession with cultural and field projects targeted to the populations who in many scenarios of care and life are threatened by the violence of marginalization.

The representational consequences of intentional forgetting: Impairments to both the probability and fidelity of long-term memory

We investigated whether intentional forgetting impacts only the likelihood of later retrieval from long-term memory or whether it also impacts the fidelity of those representations that are successfully retrieved. We accomplished this by combining an item-method directed forgetting task with a testing procedure and modeling approach inspired by the delayed-estimation paradigm used in the study of visual short-term memory (STM). Abstract or concrete colored images were each followed by a remember (R) or forget (F) instruction and sometimes by a visual probe requiring a speeded detection response (E1-E3). Memory was tested using an old-new (E1-E2) or remember-know-no (E3) recognition task followed by a continuous color judgment task (E2-E3); a final experiment included only the color judgment task (E4). Replicating the existing literature, more "old" or "remember" responses were made to R than F items and RTs to postinstruction visual probes were longer following F than R instructions. Color judgments were more accurate for successfully recognized or recollected R than F items (E2-E3); a mixture model confirmed a decrease to both the probability of retrieving the F items as well as the fidelity of the representation of those F items that were retrieved (E4). We conclude that intentional forgetting is an effortful process that not only reduces the likelihood of successfully encoding an item for later retrieval, but also produces an impoverished memory trace even when those items are retrieved; these findings draw a parallel between the control of memory representations within working and long-term memory.

Internalized Homonegativity: A Systematic Mapping Review of Empirical Research

Internalized homonegativity (IH) is an important variable affecting the wellbeing of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) persons. We included 201 studies in a systematic mapping review of IH. Most studies were conducted in North America and examined IH as a predictor of poor health. The primary focus of 14 studies was IH scale measurement, and, in total, these studies detailed nine distinct scales. Eighteen studies compared levels of IH in LGB populations, four described prevention programs, and one investigated IH using qualitative methods. Our review indicates that further research is needed, particularly qualitative research and ways to ameliorate IH.

What Do People Believe About Memory? Implications for the Science and Pseudoscience of Clinical Practice

We examine the evidence concerning what people believe about memory. We focus on beliefs regarding the permanence of memory and whether memory can be repressed and accurately recovered. We consider beliefs about memory among the undergraduate and general population, mental health professionals, judges, jurors, and law enforcement officers to provide a broad canvass that extends to the forensic arena, as well as to psychiatry, psychology, and allied disciplines. We discuss the implications of these beliefs for the education of the general public and mental health professionals regarding the science and pseudoscience of memory and the use of suggestive procedures in psychotherapy.

[The "return of the repressed": the role of sexuality in the reception of psychoanalysis in Chilean medical circles, 1910-1940]

This article discusses the reception of psychoanalysis in Chilean medical circles from the decade of 1910 onwards. The findings make it possible to reconstruct how Freudianism was initially rejected by the incipient local psychiatric milieu, accusing it of being pansexualist. In the 1930s, this situation changed, and a reassessment of psychoanalysis was made at a local level, describing it precisely as a branch of knowledge specialized in sexuality. The highlighting of the "sublimation" mechanism, esteemed for its ability to transmute the danger of the "id" into culturally accepted products, is a milestone that marked this "return of the repressed" of the sexual factor of psychoanalysis in Chile. The possible social, political and economic variables that influenced this phenomenon are duly discussed.

Habitual suppression relates to difficulty in regulating emotion with cognitive reappraisal

One common strategy to cope with the difficulties of daily life is suppression. Habitual users of suppression tend to suppress their feelings rather than expressing them. Although this strategy may reduce outward response to emotion, it is not thought to lessen induced negative affect. Moreover, it remains unclear whether people with high suppression scores can reduce negative affect through cognitive reappraisal. In the present study, twenty-nine healthy participants differing in suppression scores were directed to reappraise aversive stimuli during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results showed that higher suppression scores correlated with decreased response of dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) during cognitive reappraisal. Further, high suppression scores related to enhanced negative affect to stimuli with greater negative affect correlating with decreased dmPFC response during cognitive reappraisal. This study suggests that people with high suppression scores experience difficulty in reducing negative affect through cognitive reappraisal and implicates neurobiological processes that may underlie this difficulty.

Using Implicit Instructional Cues to Influence False Memory Induction

Previous research has shown that explicit cues specific to the encoding process (endogenous) or characteristic of the stimuli themselves (exogenous) can be used to direct a reader's attentional resources towards either relational or item-specific information. By directing attention to relational information (and therefore away from item-specific information) the rate of false memory induction can be increased. The purpose of the current study was to investigate if a similar effect would be found by manipulating implicitly endogenous cues. An instructional manipulation was used to influence the perceptual action participants performed on word stimuli during the encoding of DRM list words. Results demonstrated that the instructional conditions that encouraged faster processing also led to an increased rate of false memory induction for semantically related words, supporting the hypothesis that attention was directed towards relational information. This finding supports the impoverished relational processing account of false memory induction. This supports the idea that implicitly endogenous cues, exogenous cues (like font) or explicitly endogenous cues (like training) can direct attentional resources during encoding.

Retrieval monitoring is influenced by information value: the interplay between importance and confidence on false memory

The perceived value of information can influence one's motivation to successfully remember that information. This study investigated how information value can affect memory search and evaluation processes (i.e., retrieval monitoring). In Experiment 1, participants studied unrelated words associated with low, medium, or high values. Subsequent memory tests required participants to selectively monitor retrieval for different values. False memory effects were smaller when searching memory for high-value than low-value words, suggesting that people more effectively monitored more important information. In Experiment 2, participants studied semantically-related words, and the need for retrieval monitoring was reduced at test by using inclusion instructions (i.e., endorsement of any word related to the studied words) compared with standard instructions. Inclusion instructions led to increases in false recognition for low-value, but not for high-value words, suggesting that under standard-instruction conditions retrieval monitoring was less likely to occur for important information. Experiment 3 showed that words retrieved with lower confidence were associated with more effective retrieval monitoring, suggesting that the quality of the retrieved memory influenced the degree and effectiveness of monitoring processes. Ironically, unless encouraged to do so, people were less likely to carefully monitor important information, even though people want to remember important memories most accurately.

Military westernization and state repression in the post-Cold War era

The waves of unrest that have shaken the Arab world since December 2010 have highlighted significant differences in the readiness of the military to intervene in political unrest by forcefully suppressing dissent. We suggest that in the post-Cold War period, this readiness is inversely associated with the level of military westernization, which is a product of the acquisition of arms from western countries. We identify two mechanisms linking the acquisition of arms from western countries to less repressive responses: dependence and conditionality; and a longer-term diffusion of ideologies regarding the proper form of civil-military relations. Empirical support for our hypothesis is found in an analysis of 2523 cases of government response to political unrest in 138 countries in the 1996-2005 period. We find that military westernization mitigates state repression in general, with more pronounced effects in the poorest countries. However, we also identify substantial differences between the pre- and post-9/11 periods.

To suppress, or not to suppress? That is repression: controlling intrusive thoughts in addictive behaviour

Research to understand how individuals cope with intrusive negative or threatening thoughts suggests a variety of different cognitive strategies aimed at thought control. In this review, two of these strategies--thought suppression and repressive coping--are discussed in the context of addictive behaviour. Thought suppression involves conscious, volitional attempts to expel a thought from awareness, whereas repressive coping, which involves the avoidance of thoughts without the corresponding conscious intention, appears to be a far more automated process. Whilst there has been an emerging body of research exploring the role of thought suppression in addictive behaviour, there remains a dearth of research which has considered the role of repressive coping in the development of, and recovery from, addiction. Based on a review of the literature, and a discussion of the supposed mechanisms which underpin these strategies for exercising mental control, a conceptual model is proposed which posits a potential common mechanism. This model makes a number of predictions which require exploration in future research to fully understand the cognitive strategies utilised by individuals to control intrusive thoughts related to their addictive behaviour.

Misremembering what you see or hear: Dissociable effects of modality on short- and long-term false recognition

False working memories readily emerge using a visual item-recognition variant of the converging associates task. Two experiments, manipulating study and test modality, extended prior working memory results by demonstrating a reliable false recognition effect (more false alarms to associatively related lures than to unrelated lures) within seconds of encoding in either the visual or auditory modality. However, false memories were nearly twice as frequent when study lists were seen than when they were heard, regardless of test modality, although study-test modality mismatch was generally disadvantageous (consistent with encoding specificity). A final experiment that varied study-test modality using a hybrid short- and long-term memory test (Flegal, Atkins & Reuter-Lorenz, 2010) replicated the auditory advantage in the short term but revealed a reversal in the long term: The false memory effect was greater in the auditory study-test condition than in the visual study-test condition. Thus, the same encoding conditions gave rise to an opposite modality advantage depending on whether recognition was tested under short-term or long-term memory conditions. Although demonstrating continuity in associative processing across delay, the results indicate that delay condition affects the availability of modality-dependent features of the memory trace and, thus, distinctiveness, leading to dissociable patterns of short- and long-term memory performance.

The fallibility of memory in judicial processes: lessons from the past and their modern consequences

The capability of adult and child witnesses to accurately recollect events from the past and provide reliable testimony has been hotly debated for more than 100 years. Prominent legal cases of the 1980s and 1990s sparked lengthy debates and important research questions surrounding the fallibility and general reliability of memory. But what lessons have we learned, some 35 years later, about the role of memory in the judicial system? In this review, we focus on what we now know about the consequences of the fallibility of memory for legal proceedings. We present a brief historical overview of false memories that focuses on three critical forensic areas that changed memory research: children as eyewitnesses, historic sexual abuse and eyewitness (mis)identification. We revisit some of the prominent trials of the 1980s and 1990s to not only consider the role false memories have played in judicial decisions, but also to see how this has helped us understand memory today. Finally, we consider the way in which the research on memory (true and false) has been successfully integrated into some courtroom procedures.

Veridical and false recall in adults who stutter

PURPOSE

This study used a false memory paradigm to explore the veridical and false recall of adults who stutter.

METHOD

Twelve adults who stutter and 12 age-matched typically fluent peers listened to and then verbally recalled lists of words that consisted of either semantic or phonological associates or an equal number of semantic and phonological associates (i.e., hybrid condition) of a single, unpresented critical "lure" word. Three parameters of recall performance were measured across these 3 conditions: (a) number of accurately recalled words, (b) order of recall (primacy vs. recency effect), and (c) number of critical lures produced (i.e., false memories).

RESULTS

Significant group differences were noted in recall accuracy specific to list type and also list position as well as relative to critical lure productions.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that certain basic memory processes (i.e., recency effect) and the processing of gist semantic information are largely intact in adults who stutter, but recall of verbatim phonological information and subvocal rehearsal may be deficient.

The Effectiveness of Early Group Intervention for Military Reserves Soldiers: The Role of the Repressive Coping Style

This study had two aims: 1. To examine whether soldiers who participated in Early Group Intervention (EGI) would show less distress and better functioning and physical health than soldiers who did not participate in EGI, and 2. To examine the contribution of the intervention to participants with repressive coping style. The sample comprised 166 male reserve soldiers who fought in the Second Lebanon War. The intervention was conducted three months after the traumatic event, was based on military protocol, and took place over the course of one day. Data were collected at two points in time (four months apart). The findings indicated that after EGI, the intervention group experienced less post-traumatic distress than did the control group. In addition, four months after the intervention, the functioning and physical health of the intervention group was significantly better than that of the control group. Notably, the intensity of post-traumatic distress before the intervention was lower among repressors and low-anxious soldiers than among soldiers in the other two groups (high-anxious and defensive). No significant differences were found after the intervention with regard to the various styles of coping with post-traumatic distress. Future clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

Published case reports: one woman's account of having her confidentiality violated

This is a personal story regarding one woman's experience of serving as a case study protagonist and later having a psychologist uncover her identity and retell her life story in the name of scientific investigative journalism. As a participant in a psychological case report, I believed that my confidentiality would be protected. Unfortunately, this case study participant found herself in the middle of the Memory Wars, and that turned out to be the catalyst for an unwanted inquiry into my life. A well-known memory researcher hired a private investigator to find me, gained access to a great deal of private information about me, and published this in detail without my permission. I discuss in this article how these actions affected my life in some very serious ways. I raise several issues about the meaning of my experience for further case study authors and the clients whose lives they present, as well as questions about the duties of psychologists to the subjects of their research and inquiry.

A review and correction of the errors in Loftus and Guyer on Jane Doe

There are so many errors among those facts that can be checked in the Loftus and Guyer articles under review that they cast doubt on the accuracy of the alleged facts in these articles that cannot be easily checked. Loftus's and Guyer's two articles, published in a newsstand magazine instead of a peer-reviewed journal, show a pattern of inaccuracy that casts doubt on their claims to have conducted a skeptical, objective inquiry. Some, but not all of these errors, were corrected in a 2009 article Geis and Loftus published in a peer-reviewed journal, although Loftus does not acknowledge in that article her earlier inaccuracies. This article corrects the record about the conclusions drawn in the Corwin and Olafson article published in 1997 and clarifies the history about Corwin's involvement in the Taus case.

Replacing intrusive thoughts: investigating thought control in relation to OCD symptoms

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Control of obsessive thoughts in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involves both avoidance and removal of undesirable intrusive thoughts. Thought suppression tasks tap both of these processes but experimental results have been inconsistent. Experimental tasks allowing more focused study of the processes involved in controlling intrusive thoughts may be needed. In two experiments, control over neutral, standardized intrusive and personal intrusive thoughts was investigated as participants attempted to replace them with neutral thoughts.

METHODS

Non-selected university students (Experiment 1: N = 61) and university students scoring high and low on self-report measure of OC symptoms (Experiment 2: N = 40) performed a computerized thought replacement task.

RESULTS

In experiment 1 replacing personal intrusive thoughts took longer than replacing neutral thoughts. Self-reports showed that intrusive thoughts were rated more difficult to replace and were associated with greater thought reoccurrence during replacement, larger emotional reaction and more discomfort. These results were largely replicated in experiment 2. Furthermore, the high OC symptom group experienced greater overall difficulty controlling thoughts on the replacement task, experienced more reoccurrences of personal intrusive thoughts, larger emotional reactions and discomfort associated with them, and felt a greater urge to remove them.

LIMITATIONS

All participants were non-clinical university students, and older adults with OCD should be tested.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings are in line with cognitive behavioural theories of OCD. They support the usefulness of thought replacement as a research paradigm to study thought control in OCD and possibly other psychological conditions characterized by repetitive thoughts.

Semantic effects in sentence recall: the contribution of immediate vs delayed recall in language assessment

Sentence recall is increasingly used to assess language. It is widely debated what the task is actually testing, but one rarely explored aspect is the contribution of semantics to sentence recall. The few studies that have examined the role of semantics in sentence recall have employed an 'intrusion paradigm', following Potter and Lombardi (1990), and their paradigm relies on interference errors with conclusions based on an analysis of error patterns. We have instead manipulated the semantic plausibility of whole sentences to investigate the effects of semantics on immediate and delayed sentence recall. In Study 1, adults recalled semantically plausible and implausible sentences either immediately or after distracter tasks varying in lexical retrieval demands (backward counting and picture naming). Results revealed significant effects of plausibility, delay, and a significant interaction indicating increasing reliance on semantics as the demands of the distracter tasks increased. Study 2, conducted with 6-year-old children, employed delay conditions that were modified to avoid floor effects (delay with silence and forward counting) and a similar pattern of results emerged. This novel methodology provided robust evidence showing the effectiveness of delayed recall in the assessment of semantics and the effectiveness of immediate recall in the assessment of morphosyntax. The findings from our study clarify the linguistic mechanisms involved in immediate and delayed sentence recall, with implications for the use of recall tasks in language assessment.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The reader will be able to: (i) define the difference between immediate and delayed sentence recall and different types of distractors, (ii) explain the utility of immediate and delayed recall sentence recall in language assessment, (iii) discuss suitability of delayed recall for the assessment of semantics.