Long-married couples recall their wedding day: the influence of collaboration and gender on autobiographical memory recall.

The current study examined the influence of collaboration, expertise, and communication on autobiographical memory, by considering gender differences in recall and how they may influence the products and processes of remembering when male-female couples recall events together. Thirty-nine long-married, male-female couples recalled their memories of their wedding day. In Session 1, they recalled it individually for an experimenter. One week later, in Session 2, they recalled the same event jointly as a collaborative pair. Women reported more details, especially episodic details, than men across both sessions. Notably, collaborative recall included many new details that neither spouse had recalled individually. Exploratory analyses suggest that women were less influenced by collaboration than were men: women's communication behaviours influenced men's recall, but the reverse was not found for men's communication. Additionally, when couples' individual recall was more similar in content, men were more likely to decrease their contribution to the collaborative session. We consider these findings in light of transactive memory theory, in which joint meta-memory and the distribution of expertise influence the processes and products of recall in the interdependent system of a couple who extensively share their autobiographical memories.

Effects of collaboration on the qualities of autobiographical recall in strangers, friends, and siblings: both remembering partner and communication processes matter.

Recalling autobiographical memories with others can influence the quality of recall, but little is known about how features of the group influence memory outcomes. In two studies, we examined how the products and processes of autobiographical recall depend on individual vs. collaborative remembering and the relationship between group members. In both studies, dyads of strangers, friends, and siblings recalled autobiographical events individually (elicitation), then either collaboratively or individually (recall). Study 1 involved typing memory narratives; Study 2 involved recalling aloud. We examined shifts in vividness, emotionality, and pronoun use within memory narratives produced by different relationship types. In Study 2, we also coded collaborative dyads' "collaborative processes" or communication processes. In Study 1, all relationships showed decreased positive emotion and I-pronouns and increased negative emotion within collaboratively-produced memory narratives. In Study 2, all relationships showed increased vividness, reduced emotionality and positive and negative emotion, and increased I- and we-pronouns within collaboratively-produced memory narratives. However, strangers used collaborative processes differently from friends and siblings. Some collaborative processes were associated with memory qualities. Across studies, collaboration influenced memory quality more than did relationship type, but relationship type influenced dyads' recall dynamics. These findings indicate the complexity of social influences on memory.

Ageing stereotypes influence the transmission of false memories in the social contagion paradigm.

These experiments are the first to investigate the impact of confederate accuracy, age, and age stereotypes in the social contagion of memory paradigm. Across two experiments, younger participants recalled household scenes with an actual (Experiment 1) or virtual (Experiment 2), older or younger confederate who suggested different proportions (0%, 33% or 100%) of false items during collaboration. In Experiment 2, positive and negative age stereotypes were primed by providing bogus background information about our older confederate before collaboration. Across both experiments, if confederates suggested false items participants readily incorporated these into their own memory reports. In Experiment 1, when no age stereotype was primed, participants adopted similar proportions of false items from younger and older confederates. Importantly, in Experiment 2, when our older confederate was presented in terms of negative ageing stereotypes, participants reported less false items and were better able to correctly identify the source of those false items.

Collaboration and prospective memory: comparing nominal and collaborative group performance in strangers and couples.

To perform prospective memory (PM) tasks in day-to-day life, we often enlist the help of others. Yet the effects of collaboration on PM are largely unknown. Adopting the methodology of the "collaborative recall paradigm", we tested whether stranger dyads (Experiment 1) and intimate couples (Experiment 2) would perform better on a "Virtual Week" task when working together or each working separately. In Experiment 1, we found evidence of collaborative inhibition: collaborating strangers did not perform to their pooled individual potential, although the effect was modulated by PM task difficulty. We also found that the overall collaborative inhibition effect was attributable to both the retrospective and prospective components of PM. In Experiment 2 however, there was no collaborative inhibition: there was no significant difference in performance between couples working together or separately. Our findings suggest potential costs of collaboration to PM. Intimate relationships may reduce the usual costs of collaboration, with implications for intervention training programmes and for populations who most need PM support.

"Going episodic": collaborative inhibition and facilitation when long-married couples remember together.

Two complementary approaches to the study of collaborative remembering have produced contrasting results. In the experimental "collaborative recall" approach within cognitive psychology, collaborative remembering typically results in "collaborative inhibition": laboratory groups recall fewer items than their estimated potential. In the cognitive ageing approach, collaborative remembering with a partner or spouse may provide cueing and support to benefit older adults' performance on everyday memory tasks. To combine the value of experimental and cognitive ageing approaches, we tested the effects of collaborative remembering in older, long-married couples who recalled a non-personal word list and a personal semantic list of shared trips. We scored amount recalled as well as the kinds of details remembered. We found evidence for collaborative inhibition across both tasks when scored strictly as number of list items recalled. However, we found collaborative facilitation of specific episodic details on the personal semantic list, details which were not strictly required for the completion of the task. In fact, there was a trade-off between recall of specific episodic details and number of trips recalled during collaboration. We discuss these results in terms of the functions of shared remembering and what constitutes memory success, particularly for intimate groups and for older adults.

Using hypnosis to model Fregoli delusion and the impact of challenges on belief revision.

Fregoli delusion involves the belief that strangers are known people in disguise. We aimed to model aspects of this delusion for the first time using hypnosis. We informed hypnotised subjects that someone would enter the room (a confederate) and they would believe this person was someone they knew in disguise. After testing their reaction to the confederate, we challenged their delusion by directly contradicting their belief and then asking them to focus on the confederate's voice and gait. Finally, we indexed whether they could identify photographs of the confederate. We found that just over half of our high hypnotisable subjects identified the confederate as someone they knew in disguise. Although many highs abandoned their belief in response to challenges, some maintained strong, unwavering conviction that the confederate was a known person. We discuss these findings in terms of how evidence might be evaluated during both hypnotic and clinical delusions.

The hows and whys of "we" (and "I") in groups.

Informed by our interdisciplinary research program on collaborative recall, we argue that Baumeister et al. should consider: (1) group success as a balance between differentiation and integration (not differentiation alone); (2) variation in constellations of people and processes within and across groups; and (3) nuanced measurement of what people bring to, do in, and get out of groups.

Developing the Sense of Agency Rating Scale (SOARS): an empirical measure of agency disruption in hypnosis.

Two experiments report on the construction of the Sense of Agency Rating Scale (SOARS), a new measure for quantifying alterations to agency. In Experiment 1, 370 participants completed a preliminary version of the scale following hypnosis. Factor analysis revealed two underlying factors: Involuntariness and Effortlessness. In Experiment 2, this two factor structure was confirmed in a sample of 113 low, medium and high hypnotisable participants. The two factors, Involuntariness and Effortlessness, correlated significantly with hypnotisability and pass rates for ideomotor, challenge and cognitive items. Twelve week test-retest correlations showed that Involuntariness was highly stable, but Effortlessness only moderately stable. Analysis of the combined datasets from Experiments 1 and 2 showed both SOARS scores were significantly related to the derived factors of Woody, Barnier, and McConkey's (2005) 4-factor model of hypnotisability. This scale clarifies conceptual confusion around agentive action and provides empirical support for a multifactorial account of sense of agency.

Transmitting delusional beliefs in a hypnotic model of folie à deux.

Folie à deux is the transference of delusional ideas from one 'primary' individual to one or more 'secondary' individuals (Lasègue & Falret, 1877). However, it is difficult to investigate experimentally because often only one patient is identified as delusional. We investigated whether hypnosis could model the experiences of the secondary in this delusion. Our primary was a confederate, who displayed two delusional beliefs and attempted to transmit them to hypnotised subjects. We manipulated the status of the confederate so that they were portrayed as either "credible" or merely "interesting".Many high hypnotisable individuals adopted the confederate's beliefs and confabulated evidence in support of them.Also, subjects who interacted with a credible confederate extended their delusions beyond those displayed by the confederate. We discuss the strengths and limitations of this approach and suggest ways to improve the validity of this model.

A laboratory analogue of mirrored-self misidentification delusion: the role of hypnosis, suggestion, and demand characteristics.

Mirrored-self misidentification is the delusional belief that one's own reflection in the mirror is a stranger. In two experiments, we tested the ability of hypnotic suggestion to model this condition. In Experiment 1, we compared two suggestions based on either the delusion's surface features (seeing a stranger in the mirror) or underlying processes (impaired face processing). Fifty-two high hypnotisable participants received one of these suggestions either with hypnosis or without in a wake control. In Experiment 2, we examined the extent to which social cues and role-playing could account for participants' behaviour by comparing the responses of 14 hypnotised participants to the suggestion for impaired face processing (reals) with those of 14 nonhypnotised participants instructed to fake their responses (simulators). Overall, results from both experiments confirm that we can use hypnotic suggestion to produce a compelling analogue of mirrored-self misidentification that cannot simply be attributed to social cues or role-playing.

"That's not my arm": a hypnotic analogue of somatoparaphrenia.

INTRODUCTION: "Instrumental hypnosis" allows researchers to model clinical symptoms in the laboratory, creating "virtual patients" with reversible disturbances in, for example, perception, action, memory, or belief. We used hypnosis to temporarily recreate somatoparaphrenia, a delusional belief that one's own limb belongs to someone else. METHODS: We compared a "Fully Formed" somatoparaphrenia suggestion with a "Factor 1 + Factor 2" suggestion that attempted to generate the delusional belief from analogues of its hypothesised underlying factors (i.e., paralysis plus disrupted critical belief evaluation). We tested and then challenged subjects' responses to these suggestions. RESULTS: Although many hypnotic subjects experienced temporary paralysis, only a minority claimed their arm did not belong to them. Notably, the Fully Formed suggestion was more successful in recreating features of somatoparaphrenia than the Factor 1 + Factor 2 suggestion. In response to the challenges, some of those who developed temporary somatoparaphrenia maintained their belief throughout the hypnosis session. CONCLUSIONS. We discuss these findings in terms of the "two-factor" theory of delusions and we highlight the advantages versus disadvantages of using hypnosis to explore such delusional beliefs in the laboratory.

Mirror agnosia and the mirrored-self misidentification delusion: a hypnotic analogue.

INTRODUCTION: Mirrored-self misidentification is the delusional belief that one's reflection in the mirror is a stranger. Current theories suggest that one pathway to the delusion is mirror agnosia (a deficit in which patients are unable to use mirror knowledge when interacting with mirrors). This study examined whether a hypnotic suggestion for mirror agnosia can recreate features of the delusion. METHOD: Ten high hypnotisable participants were given either a suggestion to not understand mirrors or to see the mirror as a window. Participants were asked to look into a mirror and describe what they saw. Participants were tested on their understanding of mirrors and received a series of challenges. Participants then received a detailed postexperimental inquiry. RESULTS: Three of five participants given the suggestion to not understand mirrors reported seeing a stranger and maintained this belief when challenged. These participants also showed signs of mirror agnosia. No participants given the suggestion to see a window reported seeing a stranger. CONCLUSION: Results indicate that a hypnotic suggestion for mirror agnosia can be used to recreate the mirrored-self misidentification delusion. Factors influencing the effectiveness of hypnotic analogues of psychopathology, such as participants' expectations and interpretations, are discussed.

Mirrored-self misidentification in the hypnosis laboratory: recreating the delusion from its component factors.

INTRODUCTION: Mirrored-self misidentification is the delusional belief that one's reflection in the mirror is a stranger. According to Langdon and Coltheart's (2000) "two-factor" theory of monothematic delusions, the delusion can arise from deficits in face processing (Factor 1) and belief evaluation (Factor 2). This study gave participants separate hypnotic suggestions for these two factors to create a hypnotic analogue of the delusion. METHOD: Forty-six high hypnotisable participants received a hypnotic suggestion for either Factor 1 alone or for Factors 1 and 2, either with hypnosis (hypnosis condition) or without (wake condition). Participants were asked to look into a mirror and to describe what they saw. Participants who reported seeing a stranger in the mirror also received a series of challenges. RESULTS: Overall, 70% of participants in the hypnosis condition passed the delusion; only 22% of participants in the wake condition passed. Importantly, in hypnosis, the Factor 1 alone suggestion was just as effective in creating the delusion as the combined Factor 1 and Factor 2 suggestion. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that hypnotic suggestion can recreate the mirrored-self misidentification delusion from its component factors. Notably, the hypnotic context, itself known to disrupt belief evaluation, can act as Factor 2.

Hearing loss, cognition, and risk of neurocognitive disorder: evidence from a longitudinal cohort study of older adult Australians.

Addressing midlife hearing loss could prevent up to 9% of new cases of dementia, the highest of any potentially modifiable risk factor identified in the 2017 commissioned report in The Lancet. In Australia, hearing loss is the second-most common chronic health condition in older people, affecting 74% of people aged over 70. Estimates indicate that people with severe hearing loss are up to 5-times more likely to develop dementia, but these estimates vary between studies due to methodological limitations. Using data from the Sydney Memory and Aging Study, in which 1,037 Australian men and women aged between 70 and 90 years were enrolled and completed biennial assessments from 2005-2017, investigations between hearing loss and baseline cognitive performance as well as longitudinal risk of neurocognitive disorder were undertaken. Individuals who reported moderate-to-severe hearing difficulties had poorer cognitive performances in the domains of Attention/Processing Speed and Visuospatial Ability, and on an overall index of Global Cognition, and had a 1.5-times greater risk for the neurocognitive disorder during 6-years' follow-up. Hearing loss independently predicted risk for MCI but not dementia. The presence of hearing loss is an important consideration for neuropsychological case formulation in older adults with cognitive impairment. Hearing loss may increase cognitive load, resulting in observable cognitive impairment on neuropsychological testing. Individuals with hearing loss who demonstrate impairment in non-amnestic domains may experience benefits from the provision of hearing devices; This study provides support for a randomized control trial of hearing devices for improvement of cognitive function in this group.

Ageing Together: Interdependence in the Memory Compensation Strategies of Long-Married Older Couples.

People live and age together in social groups. Across a range of outcomes, research has identified interdependence in the cognitive and health trajectories of ageing couples. Various types of memory decline with age and people report using a range of internal and external, social, and material strategies to compensate for these declines. While memory compensation strategies have been widely studied, research so far has focused only on single individuals. We examined interdependence in the memory compensation strategies reported by spouses within 58 older couples. Couples completed the Memory Compensation Questionnaire, as well as an open-ended interview about their memory compensation practices. We found that internal, intra-individual memory compensation strategies were not associated within couples, but external, extra-individual strategies showed interdependence. Individuals' scores on material/technological compensation strategies were positively correlated with their partners'. Reported reliance on a spouse was higher for men and increased with age. Our open-ended interviews yielded rich insights into the complex and diverse resources that couples use to support memory in day-to-day life. Particularly evident was the extent of interaction and coordination between social and material compensation, such that couples jointly used external compensation resources. Our results suggest that individuals' reports of their compensation strategies do not tell the whole story. Rather, we propose that older couples show interdependence in their memory compensation strategies, and adopt complex systems of integrated material and social memory compensation in their day-to-day lives.

Building consensus about the past: schema consistency and convergence in socially shared retrieval-induced forgetting.

A large body of literature on "within-individual retrieval-induced forgetting" (WI-RIF; Anderson, Bjork, & Bjork, 1994) shows that repeatedly retrieving some items, while not retrieving other related items, facilitates later recall of the practised items, but inhibits later recall of the non-practised related items. This robust effect has recently been extended to "socially shared retrieval-induced forgetting" (SS-RIF; Cuc, Koppel, & Hirst, 2007). People who merely listen to a speaker retrieving some, but not other, items-even people participating as speakers or listeners in conversations-show the same facilitation and inhibition. We replicated and extended the SS-RIF effect with a structured story (Experiment 1) and in a free-flowing conversation about the story (Experiment 2). Specifically, we explored (1) the degree to which participants subsequently form a coherent "collective memory" of the story and (2) whether schema consistency of the target information influences both WI-RIF and SS-RIF. In both experiments, speakers and listeners showed RIF (that is, WI-RIF and SS-RIF, respectively), irrespective of the schema consistency of the story material. On final recall, speakers and listeners described similar renderings of the story. We discuss these findings in terms of the role of "silences" in the formation of collective memories.

How did you feel when "The Crocodile Hunter" died? Voicing and silencing in conversation influences memory for an autobiographical event.

Conversations about the past can involve voicing and silencing; processes of validation and invalidation that shape recall. In this experiment we examined the products and processes of remembering a significant autobiographical event in conversation with others. Following the death of Australian celebrity Steve Irwin, in an adapted version of the collaborative recall paradigm, 69 participants described and rated their memories for hearing of his death. Participants then completed a free recall phase where they either discussed the event in groups of three or wrote about the event on their own. Finally, participants completed the original questionnaire again, both 1 week and 1 month after the free recall phase. Discussion influenced later memories for hearing of Irwin's death, particularly memories for emotion and shock. Qualitative analysis of the free recall phase suggested that during conversation a shared understanding of the event developed, but that emotional reactions to the event were silenced in ways that minimised the event's impact. These findings are discussed in terms of the processes and consequences of sharing public and personal memories in conversation.

Hypnotic illusions and clinical delusions: hypnosis as a research method.

INTRODUCTION: Hypnosis is not only intrinsically interesting, but it can be used instrumentally as a powerful tool to investigate phenomena outside its immediate domain. In focusing on instrumental hypnosis research, we first sketch the many contributions of hypnosis across a range of areas in experimental psychopathology. In particular, we summarise the historical and more recent uses of hypnosis to create and explore clinically relevant, temporary delusions. METHODS: We then describe in detail the steps that hypnosis researchers take in constructing a hypnotic paradigm to map the features and processes shared by clinical and hypnotic delusions, as well as their impact on information processing (including autobiographical memory). We illustrate with hypnotic versions of mirrored-self misidentification, somatoparaphrenia, alien control, and identity delusions. RESULTS: Finding indicate that hypnotic analogues can produce compelling delusions with features that are strikingly similar to their clinical counterparts. These similarities encompass phenomenological features of delusions, delusional resistance to challenge, and autobiographical memory during delusions. CONCLUSIONS: We recognise important methodological issues and limitations of such hypnotic analogues, including: indexing response (behaviour vs. experience), alternative explanations (e.g., social compliance), the need for converging data, the need for close and continuing dialogue between the clinic and the laboratory, and generalisability of the findings.

Mechanisms of Mindfulness Meditation, Cognitive Therapy, and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain.

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated theoretically derived mechanisms and common therapeutic factors to test their role in accounting for pain-related outcome change during group-delivered cognitive therapy, mindfulness meditation, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for chronic low back pain. METHODS: A secondary analysis of a pilot randomized controlled trial was used to explore the primary mechanisms of pretreatment to posttreatment changes in pain control beliefs, mindful observing, and pain catastrophizing, and the secondary common factor mechanisms of therapeutic alliance, group cohesion, and amount of at-home skill practice during treatment. The primary outcome was pain interference; pain intensity was a secondary outcome. RESULTS: Large effect size changes in the 3 primary mechanisms and the outcome variables were found across the conditions. Across all 3 treatment conditions, change in pain control beliefs and pain catastrophizing were significantly associated with improved pain interference, but not pain intensity. Therapeutic alliance was significantly associated with pain intensity improvement and change in the therapy-specific mechanisms across the 3 conditions. Mindful observing, group cohesion, and amount of at-home practice were not significantly associated with changes in the outcomes. DISCUSSION: Cognitive therapy, mindfulness meditation, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for chronic low back pain were all associated with significant changes in the primary mechanisms to a similar degree. Change in perceived pain control and pain catastrophizing emerged as potential "meta-mechanisms" that might be a shared pathway that contributes to improved pain-related outcomes across treatments. Further, strong working alliance may represent a critical therapeutic process that both promotes and interacts with therapeutic techniques to influence outcome.