Michelle D. Miller

Do Animal-Assisted Activities Effectively Treat Depression? A Meta-Analysis

ABSTRACT We conducted a meta-analysis to determine the effectiveness of animal-assisted activities (AAA) and animal-assisted therapy (AAT) for reducing depressive symptoms in humans. To be included in the meta-analysis, studies had to demonstrate random assignment, include a comparison/control group, use AAA or AAT, use a self-report measure of depression, and report sufficient information to calculate effect sizes, a statistical standardization of the strength of a treatment effect. Five studies were identified for analysis. The aggregate effect size for these studies was of medium magnitude and statistically significant, indicating that AAA/AAT are associated with fewer depressive symptoms. This analysis revealed gaps in the research on AAA/AAT, which we attempted to identify in order to better understand the factors that make AAA and AAT effective at reducing depression.

Semantic Blindness: Repeated Concepts Are Difficult to Encode and Recall Under Time Pressure

This study demonstrates a recently predicted cognitive phenomenon known as semantic blindness, an inhibitory effect attributable to concept repetition in the serial recall of rapidly presented sentences Proficient bilinguals read mixed, Spanish-English sentences, each including a target and a pretarget word Targets and pretargets were related in three ways They were identical (e g, like-like), semantically identical across languages (e g, gusta-like), and nonidentical within or across languages (e g, read-like) Equivalent repetition blindness was found for targets with identical and semantically identical pretargets, indicating that repetition deficits were occurring solely at the semantic level, rather than at orthographic or phonological levels

Repetition Deafness: Repeated Words in Computer-Compressed Speech Are Difficult to Encode and Recall:

This research demonstrates a new cognitive phenomenon known as repetition deafness, a difficulty in immediate recall of repeated words in computer-compressed speech Sixty-four subjects heard sentences and lists at four speeded rates 70, 55, 35, and 28 ms/phoneme Each target word in the materials followed a pretarget word that was either identical (repeated-target condition) or different (unrepeated-target condition), and targets were harder to recall when repeated than unrepeated Repetition deafness was rate-limited, occurring only with rapid rates of presentation (55 ms/phoneme or less), and decreased in magnitude as structure increased from lists to sentences Implications for current theories of repetition deficits are discussed

Lexical‐semantic retention and speech production:further evidence from normal and brain‐damaged participants for a phrasal scope of planning

The present study investigated the scope of planning in speech production by examining onset latencies for sentences describing moving picture displays. The experimental sentences began with either a simple or complex noun phrase, but were matched in length and content words. Results from young and old normal participants replicated previous findings of Smith and Wheeldon (1999) in showing longer onset latencies for sentences beginning with a complex noun phrase, supporting a phrasal scope of planning. Two aphasic patients were tested who, in previous studies, had shown a short‐term memory deficit either in semantic retention (patient ML)or in phonological retention (patient EA). Patient ML showed a markedly greater disadvantage for the sentences beginning with a complex noun phrase whereas EAshowed an effect within normal range. The present results from the patients, together with those from previous studies, indicate that the phrasal planning is occurring at a lexical‐semantic level using a capacity that is also involved in comprehension.

Repetition blindness and aging: evidence for a binding deficit involving a single, theoretically specified connection.

This study tested 2 main hypotheses for explaining repetition blindness (RB), a difficulty in encoding and recalling rapidly presented repeated words in sentences. Under 1 hypothesis, RB reflects an inhibitory process and should be more pronounced in young than in older Ss, who typically exhibit diminished inhibitory processes. Under the second hypothesis, RB reflects a failure to bind a specific connection: The second connection from the single node for encoding a repeated word is difficult to form under time pressure. Under this binding hypothesis, young adults should exhibit less RB than older adults, who typically require more time to form new connections. Results supported a version of the binding hypothesis but contradicted the inhibition hypothesis, and did not support hypotheses whereby RB reflects either a refractory effect or perceptual fusion of the repeated words.

Frequency and Specificity of Referents to Violence in News Reports of Anti-gay Attacks

Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses that: (1) news reports of anti-gay attacks would use fewer and vaguer referents to the violence than similar stories about attacks against straight persons; and (2) this milder use of referents would cause readers to perceive less harm done and to blame the perpetrator less. A content analysis of two newspapers found that one used far fewer, less specific nominals to refer to anti-gay than to anti-straight violence, whereas the other, based in a more gay-friendly community, did not differentiate significantly by sexual orientation. An experimental study in which frequency and specificity of referents were systematically varied in mock newspaper stories found that greater referent frequency, but not specificity, caused readers to perceive greater harm to victims. The results are interpreted in terms of cognitive processing and within the context of the use of linguistic variation to encode and enforce power differences.

Relations Between Language and Memory: The Case of Repetition Deafness

Immediate recall decreases for repeated relative to unrepeated words in rapidly presented spoken lists, a phenomenon known as repetition deafness (RD) The present study examines RD as a test case for a distributed memory account of relations between language and memory Within the distributed memory framework, general connection-formation processes required for language comprehension influence repetition deficits in sentences Thus, RD should increase as a function of factors, such as listlike sentence prosody, that disrupt the formation of word-to-phrase links Also under this account, repetition blindness and RD in sentences should display fundamentally similar characteristics (e.g., relative insensitivity to low-level sensory differences between the repeated words) Using innovative procedures for computer sound manipulation, the present study obtained data supporting both predictions RD increased for sentences generated with listlike versus normal prosody, but did not differ reliably for acoustically similar versus dissimilar repeated words Implications of these data for the general issue of relations between language and memory are discussed

What College Teachers Should Know About Memory: A Perspective From Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology has much to contribute to our understanding of the best ways to promote learning and memory in the college classroom. However, cognitive theory has evolved considerably in recent decades, and it is important for instructors to have an up-to-date understanding of these theories, particularly those—such as memory theories—that bear directly on how students absorb new information. This article offers a non-technical overview of major theoretical ideas on memory, geared to instructors who want to optimize their teaching to take advantage of the way human memory works. Relevant theories of short-term and working memory are reviewed, with particular attention to how these have been refined and changed in recent years. Long-term memory is also discussed, with emphasis on the concept that human memory is an adaptation shaped by natural selection, an idea that instructors can use to create more memorable learning experiences. Lastly, the article presents a set of predictions regarding future trends in teaching-related cognitive theory; these include an increasing emphasis on the role of attention in memory, new understanding of the limitations of working memory, de-emphasis on perceptual learning styles and increased emphasis on frequent testing.

Double Standards in Sentence Structure Passive Voice in Narratives Describing Domestic Violence

Previous research has shown that passive voice predominates in mass media reports describing male violence against women. However, there has been little systematic study of narratives describing female violence against men. The authors analyzed the impact of perpetrator gender on verb voice, first in a content analysis of published news stories and second in a new procedure for eliciting written narratives with male or female perpetrators. Results reveal an increased frequency of passive voice when perpetrators are male. These findings suggest that writers specifically prefer the passive voice to describe male-on-female violence rather than for violent or negative acts in general.

Can cognitive aging contribute to fundamental psychological theory? Repetition deafness as a test case

Abstract This study concretely illustrates the Birren-Fisher strategy (1991), the use of well-established aging effects to understand fundamental but poorly understood phenomena in mainstream psychology. Our well-established aging effects included inhibition deficits and new learning deficits, and our poorly understood mainstream phenomenon was repetition deafness (RD), the reduced immediate recall of repeated words in computer compressed speech. Applying the Birren-Fisher strategy to RD successfully showed that RD is fundamentally similar to repetition blindness, that normal prosody eliminates RD for both young and older participants, and that age-linked connection formation problems cause RD, but not inhibition, perceptual fusion, or an absolute refractory period.