Are failures to suppress obsessive-intrusive thoughts associated with working memory?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterised by repeated attempts to suppress obsessive-intrusive thoughts (OITs). Nonclinical individuals also regularly engage in thought suppression. Attempts to suppress OITs are often unsuccessful and there is wide variation in suppression abilities across nonclinical and clinical samples. Understanding the mechanisms that explain variations in suppression abilities could enhance our understanding of OCD. This study aimed to investigate one potential mechanism - working memory - using a comprehensive thought suppression task. METHODS: Eighty-three nonclinical participants completed a computerized thought dismissibility task (in which they replaced an obsessive-intrusive thought with a neutral thought), and a computerized working memory task. Participants also completed measures of OCD and negative mood. RESULTS: None of the suppression variables (OIT frequency, mean OIT duration, mean latency to return, total OIT duration) were correlated with working memory capacity. Obsessive-compulsive symptoms were correlated with total OIT duration, but the relationship was not significant after controlling for negative mood. LIMITATIONS: The thought dismissibility task does not account for differences in motivation to suppress OITs. The sample was non-clinical and mostly female. CONCLUSION: An individual's ability to suppress OITs is not associated with their working memory capacity, suggesting poor working memory does not explain persistent OITs in individuals with OCD.

Inconsistent findings for the eyes closed effect in children: the implications for interviewing child witnesses.

A child who alleges that they have been the victim of a crime will be interviewed by police officers. During a police interview it is important that the interviewer obtains the most accurate testimony possible from the child. Previous studies have shown that if children have their eyes closed during an interview they sometimes report more correct information. This paper includes two studies. In Experiment 1 156 children experienced an event and were then questioned about it. Half the children answered with their eyes open and half with their eyes closed. The participants with eyes closed provided more correct information. In Experiment 2 152 children answered questions in different conditions including eyes open and eyes closed conditions. In contrast to Experiment 1 there was no beneficial effect for the eyes closed condition. These inconsistent results are discussed with reference to actual police interviews. It is suggested that until there has been more research into eyes closed procedures caution should be taken in recommending such procedures for police interviews with children.

Anogenital distance and penile length in infants with hypospadias or cryptorchidism: comparison with normative data.

BACKGROUND: Anogenital distance (AGD) in animals is a sensitive biomarker of fetal endocrine disruption and the associated testicular dysgenesis syndrome (TDS). However, AGD in human infants with cryptorchidism and hypospadias, which are potential manifestations of TDS during childhood, is not clearly described. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to compare AGD in boys with cryptorchidism or hypospadias against normative data. METHODS: Boys with isolated cryptorchidism (n = 71, age 13.4 ± 5.8 months) or hypospadias (n = 81, age 11.4 ± 6.2 months) were recruited from a tertiary center for measurement of AGD and penile length; they were compared with 487 healthy full-term boys from a birth cohort by deriving age-specific standard deviation scores (SDS). RESULTS: Boys with cryptorchidism were older (p = 0.048) compared with boys with hypospadias. Boys with hypospadias had shorter mean AGD and penile length SDS than healthy boys (both p < 0.0001). Mean AGD and penile length SDS values in boys with cryptorchidism were longer than mean values in boys with hypospadias (both p < 0.01) and shorter than mean values in healthy boys (both p < 0.0001). Mean penile length SDS decreased as the severity of hypospadias increased (ptrend = 0.078). CONCLUSIONS: In the study population, AGD and penile length were reduced in boys with hypospadias or cryptorchidism relative to normative data derived from a longitudinal birth cohort. The findings support the use of AGD as a quantitative biomarker to examine the prenatal effects of exposure to endocrine disruptors on the development of the male reproductive tract.

Children's sensitivity to their own relative ignorance: handling of possibilities under epistemic and physical uncertainty.

Children more frequently specified possibilities correctly when uncertainty resided in the physical world (physical uncertainty) than in their own perspective of ignorance (epistemic uncertainty). In Experiment 1 (N=61), 4- to 6-year-olds marked both doors from which a block might emerge when the outcome was undetermined, but a single door when they knew the block was hidden behind one door. In Experiments 2 (N=30; 5- to 6-year-olds) and 3 (N=80; 5- to 8-year-olds), children placed food in both possible locations when an imaginary pet was yet to occupy one, but in a single location when the pet was already hidden in one. The results have implications for interpretive theory of mind and "curse of knowledge."