Positive bias is a defining characteristic of aging to the same extent as declining performance.

The aim of this study was to analyze whether one of the supposed gains of aging--positive bias--discriminates between young and older participants to the same extent as some of the losses in cognitive performance--recall and source monitoring--that come with age. Two age groups (N = 120)--young (M = 22.08, SD = 3.30) and older (M = 72.78, SD = 6.57)--carried out three tasks with varying levels of difficulty that included recall, recognition, and source monitoring using pictures, faces, and personal descriptors exchanged in a conversation as stimuli. The results of the discriminant analysis performed on 20 dependent variables indicated that six of them were key in discriminating between young and older participants. Younger participants outperformed older participants in recalling pictures, and in recognizing the descriptors exchanged in a conversation, as well as in monitoring their source. Just as important in discriminating between the two groups were the ability to recognize previously seen pictures, the likability rating they produced, and the recognition of faces with positive expressions--all superior in older participants. Thus, variables related to a positive bias--likability ratings and recognition of positive expressions--characterize the differences as a function of age as well as variables related to cognitive performance, such as recall and source monitoring. In addition, the likability ratings evoked by both pictures and faces were also significantly higher in the older participants with better cognitive performance than in those who performed poorly. This effect was not present in younger participants. The results are interpreted within the framework of socioemotional selectivity theory as evidence for a positive bias in old age. The connection between a positive bias and the maintenance of cognitive performance is also discussed.

Age differences in source monitoring and referent discrimination.

In contrast to previous studies which addressed separately memory for source and referent, the present experiment analyzes the effects of aging on memory for both, source and referent. The experiment simulated a conversation between two people exchanging descriptors of themselves and the other speaker (e.g., "I am helpful," "you are capable"). Participants (N = 60) were divided into two age groups: younger (M = 23.47 years old, SD = 2.37), older (M = 70.30 years old, SD = 3.73). Recall, recognition, and accuracy in identifying source (e.g., "who said helpful?") and referent (e.g., "about whom was capable said?") were analyzed. Younger and older adults recalled and recognized equally well information read by the experimenter about herself, but only young adults showed better memory for the descriptors they read about themselves. Older adults were impaired in source monitoring, but not in reference discrimination. Normal referent discrimination in older adults is attributed to the fact that the referent forms part of the content of the episode, whereas who spoke it is part of its context, and older adults tend to show greater deficits in context than in content memory. These results are explained within the source and reality monitoring framework.

[Memory and aging: recall, recognition and positive bias]. / Memoria y envejecimiento: recuerdo, reconocimiento y sesgo positivo.

The aim of the present study was to analyze the decay and maintenance of various aspects of the mnemic performance among the aged population and its potential relationship with a positive information processing bias. Thus, we compared recall and recognition performance in two groups of different ages (young, old). Results indicated that the free recall deficit found among the aged participants did not affect the serial position curve evenly, but took its toll in the absence of the primacy effect, whereas it left the recency effect intact. The data also showed that the ability to recognize information did not change with age, and revealed the presence of a positive recall bias even when the stimuli had no emotional content. A re-interpretation of Carstensen and colleagues' socio-emotional selectivity theory was used to account for the results.

[Serial dependence in the estimation of a car's arrival time]. / Dependencia serial en la estimación del tiempo de llegada de un coche.

Serial dependence of a car's arrival time. We have studied the sequential structure of data in the arrival- time estimations. Forty participants estimated the arrival-time of a vehicle under two experimental conditions: real car and video-image. Various time series regression models were fit to our data, and residuals autocorrelations were computed. For each serial-dependence model, data were fit to three functions, namely, power, logarithmic, and linear. In both experimental conditions, the response magnitude (R) on a given trial in t was a function of the stimulus intensity (S) in such a trial (t) and of the S and R on t-1 and t-2. Assimilation effect to the previous responses and contrast effect to the previous stimuli has been found.

Is there a deficit in recognition in old age?

BACKGROUND: There is some debate over of the effect of aging on the ability to recognize previously processed information. The aim of the present study is to analyze, by means of different measurements, whether aging has differential effects on recall and recognition of visual and verbal materials. METHOD: A within-subject design was used to compare two groups of different age (younger, older) in tasks of recall and recognition of images and of the verbal descriptors exchanged in a conversation. RESULTS: The results indicated that, unlike the recall and recognition of words, better in younger participants, the recall and recognition of images was equal in both groups, or even better in older participants when assessed by means of d´. Nevertheless, a more strict recently proposed measurement, the conditional probability for recall given recognition, yielded significant age differences in all instances. Besides, the conditional probability shows the aging changes usually found in the serial position curve: decline of the primacy effect, while maintenance of the recency effect. CONCLUSIONS: RESULTS are explained according to the theories that postulate two components in the process of recognition (familiarity and recollection), which are independently affected by aging.

Does education about death and dying decrease stress generated in the dissection room? / ¿Disminuye el estrés generado en la sala de disección la formación sobre la muerte y el moribundo?

SUMMARY: Positive effects on reducing students' stress have been reported across numerous university settings when anatomy preparatory seminars have been provided. To date, this type of preparation for coping with cadaver dissection has not been studied in Spanish universities. The aim of this study is to evaluate how first-year Spanish medical students face the dissecting room and whether previous preparation about death and dying reduces the stress generated. We performed an interventional study with students who received preparatory classes before the dissection practices (Experimental Group, EG) and with students who did not (Control Group, CG). Sociodemographic data and a self-assessment on stress symptoms were collected through a questionnaire completed before and after the dissection practices. No differences were found in the self-report of symptoms of stress among students who consider themselves religious or not, or between students who had a family member in the healthcare environment or not. However, in the EG, the students who had ample experience with terminally ill patients or death reported fewer stress symptoms. Unexpectedly, the number of selfreported stress symptoms after the dissection practice was higher in EG students. In conclusion the stress levels of first-year Spanish medical students not only did not improve after receiving preparatory classes about death and dying and discussion groups, but it gets worse. We found a relationship between student stress measured and experience with terminally ill patients or death. Additional studies are needed to identify the most suitable preparation for Spanish medical students.

RESUMEN: Se han informado efectos positivos en la reducción del estrés en los estudiantes de numerosos entornos universitarios cuando se han impartido seminarios preparatorios de anatomía. Hasta la fecha, este tipo de preparación para hacer frente a la disección del cadáver no se ha estudiado en las universidades españolas. El objetivo de este estudio es evaluar cómo los estudiantes de medicina españoles de primer año se enfrentan a la sala de disección y si la preparación previa sobre la muerte y el moribundo reduce el estrés generado. Realizamos un estudio de intervención con estudiantes que recibieron clases preparatorias antes de las prácticas de disección (Grupo Experimental, GE) y con estudiantes que no las recibieron (Grupo de Control, GC). Se recogieron datos sociodemográficos y síntomas de estrés mediante un cuestionario de autoevaluación antes y después de las prácticas de disección. No se encontraron diferencias en los síntomas de estrés valorados, entre los estudiantes que se consideran religiosos y los que no, ni tampoco entre los estudiantes que tenían o no un familiar en el entorno sanitario. Sin embargo, en el GE, en los estudiantes que tenían una amplia experiencia con pacientes con enfermedades terminales o con la muerte se observaron menos síntomas de estrés. Inesperadamente, el número de síntomas de estrés recogidos después de la práctica de disección fue mayor en los estudiantes del GE. En conclusión, los niveles de estrés de los estudiantes españoles de medicina de primer año no solo no mejoraron después de recibir las clases preparatorias sobre la muerte y el moribundo y establecer grupos de discusión, sino que empeoraron. Encontramos una relación entre la medición del estrés en los estudiantes y la experiencia con pacientes con enfermedades terminales o con la muerte. Se necesitan estudios adicionales para identificar la preparación más adecuada para los estudiantes de medicina españoles.