Singing and Social Identity in Young Children.

A range of studies suggest that singing activities with young children can have a beneficial impact on other aspects of their development. However, there is little research examining the relationship between young children's singing and their developing social identity. In the current study, data were captured of young children's singing and social identity as part of a larger-scale, longitudinal evaluation of the nationwide Sing Up programme in England. Participants were 720 children aged 5-8 years old. The assessment of young children's singing ability employed an established measure and was undertaken individually. With adult support, the children were also asked to complete a simple questionnaire that focused on selected aspects of their social identity, both in general terms and also related to singing. Key themes embraced their attitudes to singing (at home, in school and in informal settings), singer identity (emotional engagement with singing and self-concept), and perceptions of self (self-efficacy, self-esteem, social integration). Comparative data were collected from young children of a similar age outside the programme. Findings suggested that the programme had a positive impact on children's singing ability, both overall and including the youngest children. The data analyses suggest that children could be identified as either "pupils with positive singing identity" or "pupils with less positive, or still developing singing identity." Overall, pupils with a more positive singer identity-irrespective of Sing Up-related experience-tended to report more positive attitudes toward singing at school and other settings, had higher perceived levels of self-esteem and social integration, as well as more positive evaluations of their singing ability. Furthermore, the research suggests that successful participation in high-quality singing activities is likely to have a positive impact on young children's singing ability and, by implication, such positive singing development will also be associated with aspects of self that are related to contexualised singer identity and their sense of social inclusion.

The relative contribution of shape and colour to object memory.

The current studies examined the relative contribution of shape and colour in object representations in memory. A great deal of evidence points to the significance of shape in object recognition, with the role of colour being instrumental under certain circumstances. A key but yet unanswered question concerns the contribution of colour relative to shape in mediating retrieval of object representations from memory. Two experiments (N=80) used a new method to probe episodic memory for objects and revealed the relative contribution of colour and shape in recognition memory. Participants viewed pictures of objects from different categories, presented one at a time. During a practice phase, participants performed yes/no recognition with some of the studied objects and their distractors. Unpractised objects shared shape only (Rp-Shape), colour only (Rp-Colour), shape and colour (Rp-Both), or neither shape nor colour (Rp-Neither), with the practised objects. Interference effects in memory between practised and unpractised items were revealed in the forgetting of related unpractised items - retrieval-induced forgetting. Retrieval-induced forgetting was consistently significant for Rp-Shape and Rp-Colour objects. These findings provide converging evidence that colour is an automatically encoded object property, and present new evidence that both shape and colour act simultaneously and effectively to drive retrieval of objects from long-term memory.

Episodic Memory and Age-Related Deficits in Inhibitory Effectiveness.

Background/Study Context: Age-related deficits in inhibitory control are well established in some areas of cognition, but evidence remains inconclusive in episodic memory. Two studies examined the extent to which a loss in inhibitory effectiveness-as measured by the extent of retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF)-is only detectable in (1) the very old, and (2) that a failure to control for noninhibitory mechanisms can lead to the misinterpretation of intact inhibition in episodic memory in the very old. METHODS: In Study 1, the authors employed a modified independent cue test-to provide as clean a measure of inhibitory functioning as possible-and examined whether there were significant differences in inhibitory effectiveness between younger-old (60-64 years), old (65-69 years), and older-old (70-74 years) adults. In Study 2, the authors directly manipulated the contribution of output interference (a noninhibitory mechanism) to RIF in a group of young adults (18-34 years), old (61-69 years), and older-old (70-85 years) adults. RESULTS: In Study 1, both younger-old (60-64 years) and old (65-69 years) adults demonstrated RIF on the modified independent cue test but older-old (70-74 years) adults did not. In Study 2, all age groups demonstrated RIF in conditions where output interference was promoted. However, when output interference was controlled, only the young (18-34 years) and old (61-69 years) age groups demonstrated RIF; the older-old (70-85 years) age group did not. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that inhibitory functioning remains intact in older adults under the age of 70 years. However, a misleading impression can be formed of inhibitory effectiveness in adults over the age of 70 when memory tests do not exclude the use of noninhibitory processes, such as output interference. These two issues may partly explain the previous inconclusive findings regarding inhibitory deficits in normal aging.

Using singing to nurture children's hearing? A pilot study.

This article reports a pilot study of the potential benefits of a sustained programme of singing activities on the musical behaviours and hearing acuity of young children with hearing impairment (HI). Twenty-nine children (n=12 HI and n=17 NH) aged between 5 and 7 years from an inner-city primary school in London participated, following appropriate ethical approval. The predominantly classroom-based programme was designed by colleagues from the UCL Institute of Education and UCL Ear Institute in collaboration with a multi-arts charity Creative Futures and delivered by an experienced early years music specialist weekly across two school terms. There was a particular emphasis on building a repertoire of simple songs with actions and allied vocal exploration. Musical learning was also supported by activities that drew on visual imagery for sound and that included simple notation and physical gesture. An overall impact assessment of the pilot programme embraced pre- and post-intervention measures of pitch discrimination, speech perception in noise and singing competency. Subsequent statistical data analyses suggest that the programme had a positive impact on participant children's singing range, particularly (but not only) for HI children with hearing aids, and also in their singing skills. HI children's pitch perception also improved measurably over time. Findings imply that all children, including those with HI, can benefit from regular and sustained access to age-appropriate musical activities.

Disruptions to processing of self referential emotional material are associated with positive symptoms of schizotypy.

The current experiment examined emotional processing difficulties related to self referential material in high schizotypal individuals employing the mnemic neglect paradigm. Participants read about behaviors, in reference to themselves, that were either central or peripheral, and positive or negative, before recalling those behaviors. Levels of self reported unusual experiences and cognitive disorganization were associated with reduced recall of central positive behaviors, and increased recall of central negative behaviors. These findings are discussed in terms of emotional processing of stimuli in schizotypy, and suggest that high schizotypal individuals are insensitive to emotional self referential material.

Singing and social inclusion.

There is a growing body of neurological, cognitive, and social psychological research to suggest the possibility of positive transfer effects from structured musical engagement. In particular, there is evidence to suggest that engagement in musical activities may impact on social inclusion (sense of self and of being socially integrated). Tackling social exclusion and promoting social inclusion are common concerns internationally, such as in the UK and the EC, and there are many diverse Government ministries and agencies globally that see the arts in general and music in particular as a key means by which social needs can be addressed. As part of a wider evaluation of a national, Government-sponsored music education initiative for Primary-aged children in England ("Sing Up"), opportunity was taken by the authors, at the request of the funders, to assess any possible relationship between (a) children's developing singing behavior and development and (b) their social inclusion (sense of self and of being socially integrated). Subsequently, it was possible to match data from n = 6087 participants, drawn from the final 3 years of data collection (2008-2011), in terms of each child's individually assessed singing ability (based on their singing behavior of two well-known songs to create a "normalized singing score") and their written responses to a specially-designed questionnaire that included a set of statements related to children's sense of being socially included to which the children indicated their level of agreement on a seven-point Likert scale. Data analyses suggested that the higher the normalized singing development rating, the more positive the child's self-concept and sense of being socially included, irrespective of singer age, sex and ethnicity.

Mindfulness increases recall of self-threatening information.

Previous research has suggested that we tend to show impaired memory for self-threatening information, an effect known as mnemic neglect. Mnemic neglect is believed to be due to shallow processing or inhibition of self-threatening information. Mnemic neglect, however, could also be an example of experiential avoidance and mindfulness training has been demonstrated to counteract experiential avoidance. The current study was designed to negate experiential avoidance on a memory task via mindfulness training and attempt to increase recall of self-threatening information. Participants were exposed to a short intervention, either mindfulness or unfocused attention, before being instructed to read and later recall self-referent behaviors. The findings indicated that recall of self-threatening and other self-referent information was increased following the mindfulness but not unfocused attention intervention. The utility of mindfulness as a strategy for negating the experiential avoidance normally associated with self-threatening information and increasing memory performance are discussed.

Does retrieval-induced forgetting affect future social behavior?

The current paper presents an experiment examining the impact of retrieval-induced forgetting on a behavioral test. Participants first studied neutral and positive, or neutral and negative traits about a target and then practiced the neutral traits either via retrieval practice or re-presentation. Participants then were asked to take a seat outside the laboratory before recalling all the traits. Retrieval-induced forgetting was found in the retrieval practice but not the re-presentation condition for the valenced traits and also on the behavioral task with participants who suppressed positive traits choosing to sit further away from the target and participants who suppressed negative traits choosing to sit closer to the target. The findings indicate that retrieval-induced forgetting extends to behavioral tasks and affects the likely execution of a behavior. The findings are discussed in terms of the inhibitory theory of retrieval-induced forgetting.

The representation of response effector and response location in episodic memory for newly acquired actions: evidence from retrieval-induced forgetting.

Information retrieval can cause forgetting for related but non-retrieved information. Such retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) has been previously found for semantically and episodically related information. The current study used RIF to examine whether response effector and location are encoded explicitly in action memory. Participants learned unique touchscreen responses to ten novel objects. Correct actions to each object involved left-hand or right-hand pushing of one of four possible object buttons. After learning, participants practiced two of the ten object-specific sequences. Unpracticed actions could share hand only, button only, both hand and button, or neither hand nor button, with the practiced actions. Subsequent testing showed significant RIF (in retrieval accuracy and speed measures) for actions that shared hand only, button only, or both hand and button with the practiced action. The results have implications for understanding the representations mediating episodic action memory, and for the potential of RIF as a tool for elucidating feature-based representations in this and other domains.

Selective memory bias for self-threatening memories in trait anxiety.

Previous research has suggested that we tend to forget information that is self-threatening--an effect known as mnemic neglect. Three experiments are reported, which examined mnemic neglect in anxiety and whether high-anxious individuals show facilitated memory for self-threatening material. In Experiment 1, high-anxious participants were found to have facilitated memory for self-threatening information in comparison to low-anxious participants. In Experiments 2 and 3 boundary conditions to this memory bias for self-threatening memories were examined, which revealed facilitated recall of self-threatening memories when this information was unmodifiable (Experiment 2) and when this information was highly diagnostic of underlying traits (Experiment 3). The findings indicate that high-anxious participants show reversed mnemic neglect effects indicating increased access to self-threatening information. The findings suggest that high-anxious individuals do show memory bias for threatening information but only under certain circumstances.

Retrieval-induced forgetting deficits in high anxious individuals.

Previous research has indicated that high anxious individuals exhibit a memory bias for self-threatening material. This memory bias may be partly due to an inhibitory deficit whereby there is a failure to inhibit self-threatening information leading to an increase in anxious thoughts and memories. To investigate this issue, high and low anxious participants chose 10 neutral and 10 negative personality traits that were self-descriptive. In Experiment 1, participants performed retrieval practice on the neutral traits, and in experiment 2 participants performed retrieval practice on the negative traits, while control participants completed an unrelated task. Participants then recalled all neutral and negative traits using a cued-recall procedure. Low anxious participants demonstrated a typical retrieval-induced forgetting effect (i.e., inhibition) for both types of trait, whereas high anxious participants failed to show the effect for negative traits but did so for neutral traits. The findings are discussed in terms of an inhibitory deficit in high anxious individuals.

The role of self-esteem in the misinformation effect.

Previous research using the Gudjonnson suggestibility scale has suggested a role for self-esteem in suggestibility, with participants low in self-esteem being more suggestible than participants high in self-esteem. Four experiments are presented examining the role of self-esteem in the misinformation effect and whether enhanced suggestibility effects in participants low in self-esteem reflect genuine memory impairment. In Experiments 1 and 4 participants completed a standard recognition test. In Experiment 2 participants completed the modified recognition test. In Experiment 3 participants completed a free recall test. In Experiments 1 and 4 participants low in self-esteem demonstrated greater misinformation effects than participants high in self-esteem. In Experiment 3 a 3-day retention interval was employed with the modified test and no differences were found between the two groups on the reporting of the new item. The findings suggest that participants low in self-esteem are particularly sensitive to demand characteristics and post-event suggestion but do not suffer from genuine memory impairment.

Recall of false memories in individuals scoring high in schizotypy: memory distortions are scale specific.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Previous research has indicated abnormal semantic activation in individuals scoring higher in schizotypy. In the current experiment, semantic activation was examined by using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm of false memories. METHODS: Participants were assessed for schizotypy using the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings (OLIFE). Participants studied lists of semantically related words in which a critical and highly associated word was absent. Participants then recalled the list. RESULTS: Participants high in Unusual Experiences and Cognitive Disorganization recalled more critical non-presented words, weakly related studied words, and fewer studied words than participants who scored low on these measures. LIMITATIONS: Previous research using the cognitive-perceptual factor of the Schizotypy Personality Questionnaire found reduced false memories, while the Unusual Experiences subscale of the OLIFE was associated with more false memories. Both scales cover similar unusual perceptual experiences and it is unclear why they led to divergent results. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that subtypes of schizotypy are associated with abnormal semantic activation.

Reversed mnemic neglect of self-threatening memories in dysphoria.

Previous research has suggested that people have difficulties remembering information which is threatening to the self--an effect known as mnemic neglect. Three experiments are presented that examined mnemic neglect in dysphoria and whether dysphoric individuals show enhanced memory for self-threatening information. Pilot work determined that dysphoric participants rated central negative traits as more important than nondysphoric participants. In Experiment 1, dysphoric participants were found to have better memory for self-threatening information than nondysphoric participants. Enhanced recall of self-threatening memories was also found for unmodifiable (Experiment 2), and highly diagnostic (Experiment 3) self-threatening traits. The findings suggest that dysphoric participants show reversed mnemic neglect effects indicating enhanced access to negative information relating to the self.

Effect of a context of concrete and abstract words on hallucinatory content in individuals scoring high in schizotypy.

The present study examined the occurrence and content of auditory hallucinatory experiences in 41 non-clinical participants scoring high or low on the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (brief version; OLIFE-B) measure of schizotypy. Participants listened to 10 1-min recordings of white noise, some of which contained embedded concrete or abstract words, and were asked to record the words that they had heard. High scorers on the unusual experiences (UE) scale of the OLIFE-B reported hearing more words, not actually present, relative to low scorers on that measure. In addition, high UE scorers showed a bias toward making hallucinatory reports of an abstract type over a concrete type. These results suggest a bias toward more auditory hallucinatory reports in high scorers in schizotypy, and particularly to those of an abstract type.

The derived generalization of thought suppression.

Thought suppression appears to be a relatively ineffective and even counterproductive strategy for dealing with unwanted thoughts. However, the psychological processes responsible for unsuccessful suppression are still underspecified. One process that may be implicated is derived stimulus relations, which may underlie the formation of unintentional relations that act to hamper suppression attempts. To test this prediction, participants were trained and tested for the formation of three derived equivalence relations using a match-to-sample procedure. Subsequently, they were instructed to suppress all thoughts of a particular target word that was a member of one of the three relations and were also allowed to selectively remove words that appeared on a computer screen in front of them by pressing the space bar. Results showed, as predicted, that participants not only removed the to-be-suppressed stimulus, but also removed words in derived relations with that stimulus, thus showing transformation of suppression/interference functions via derived equivalence. The theoretical implications of this demonstration, including its potential as a model for a key psychological process involved in unsuccessful thought suppression, are discussed.

The effects of age on remembering and knowing misinformation.

Previous research has suggested that older adults are more susceptible to misleading information. The current experiments examined the nature of older and younger participants' conscious experience of contradictory and additive misinformation (Experiment 1), and misinformation about a memorable or non-memorable item (Experiment 2). Participants watched a video of a burglary before answering questions about the event that contained misinformation. Participants then completed a cued recall task whereby they answered questions and indicated whether they remembered the item, knew the item, or were guessing. The results indicated that older adults were less likely to remember or know the original item in comparison to younger adults but were also more likely to know misinformation than younger adults. This pattern occurred for contradictory misinformation and misleading information about memorable and non-memorable items. Only additive misinformation was associated with more remember responses for older but not younger adults.

Retrieval-induced forgetting and mental imagery.

In the present article, we present four experiments in which we examined whether mental imagery can initiate retrieval-induced forgetting. Participants were presented with word pairs (Experiments 1, 2, and 3) or narratives (Experiment 4) and then engaged in selective mental imagery about half of the details from half of the categories. The results indicated that mental imagery can produce the same pattern of impairment as retrieval practice (Experiment 1) and postevent questioning (Experiment 4). Additionally, mental imagery-invoked, retrieval-induced forgetting was found for category cued recall (Experiments 1, 3, and 4) and cued recall (Experiment 2); it was found to dissipate across a 24-h delay, but only when there was no pre-delay test (Experiment 3). Such retrieval-induced forgetting was also found for imagining from the first-person and third-person perspectives (Experiment 4). From these findings, we suggest that the underlying retrieval processes behind mental imagery can initiate retrieval-induced forgetting. The findings are discussed in terms of inhibitory processes.

Memory impairment in the weapon focus effect.

Two experiments are reported in which postevent source of misinformation was manipulated within weapon-present and weapon-absent scenarios. Participants viewed slides depicting either a weapon or a newspaper event and then received either incomplete questioning or a narrative. Both postevent sources contained misleading information about a central and peripheral detail concerning either the weapon or the newspaper scenario. With a modified test in Experiment 1, questioning was found to increase misinformation effects concerning the central item, as compared with a narrative, and more misinformation effects were found for the weapon-peripheral than for the newspaper-peripheral item. In Experiment 2, the participants were more likely to claim to have seen contradictory and additive misinformation about the central item in the slides following questioning, and more contradictory and additive misinformation effects occurred for the weapon-peripheral than for the newspaper-peripheral item. The findings are considered in terms of the effects of both postevent and encoding factors on memory.

Parenting stress reduces the effectiveness of early teaching interventions for autistic spectrum disorders.

This community-based study examined the influence of early teaching interventions on children diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, and the dynamics between the time intensity of the interventions and parenting stress, on child outcomes. Intellectual, educational, and adaptive behavior and social functioning were all measured. Sixty-five children were divided into four groups, based on the levels of time intensity of their intervention, and on their parents' stress levels. There were gains in intellectual, educational, and adaptive behavioral and social skills, and there was a positive relationship between the time intensity of the early teaching interventions and child outcome gains. More importantly, however, high levels of parenting stress counteracted the effectiveness of the early teaching interventions.