Retrieval processes supporting judgments of recency.

Abstract & The circumstances under which different retrieval processes can support judgments about how long ago events occurred remain a matter of debate, as do the ways in which retrieved information can be employed in support of such judgments. In order to contribute to an understanding of the nature and number of distinct retrieval processes that support time judgments, event-related potentials (ERPs) were acquired during a continuous verbal memory task, where the lag between presentation and re-presentation of words was varied. Participants made judgments of recency ( JORs), indicating the number of words that had intervened between presentation and re-presentation. Two spatially and temporally separable ERP effects predicted JORs, and the two effects bore correspondences with ERP modulations that have been linked to the processes of recollection and familiarity, suggesting that both of these processes contributed to JORs. The two effects predicting recency judgments also did so in the same way, with larger effects uniformly predicting shorter lag judgments. In so far as the sizes of the effects index memory strength, these findings are consistent with theoretical accounts of JORs where strength is employed heuristically: The more information recovered, the more recently the event occurred. &amp

Hair Cortisol in Twins : Heritability and Genetic Overlap with Psychological Variables and Stress-System Genes

A. Palotie on työryhmän jäsen.Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is a promising measure of long-term hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. Previous research has suggested an association between HCC and psychological variables, and initial studies of inter-individual variance in HCC have implicated genetic factors. However, whether HCC and psychological variables share genetic risk factors remains unclear. The aims of the present twin study were to: (i) assess the heritability of HCC; (ii) estimate the phenotypic and genetic correlation between HPA axis activity and the psychological variables perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism; using formal genetic twin models and molecular genetic methods, i.e. polygenic risk scores (PRS). HCC was measured in 671 adolescents and young adults. These included 115 monozygotic and 183 dizygotic twin-pairs. For 432 subjects PRS scores for plasma cortisol, major depression, and neuroticism were calculated using data from large genome wide association studies. The twin model revealed a heritability for HCC of 72%. No significant phenotypic or genetic correlation was found between HCC and the three psychological variables of interest. PRS did not explain variance in HCC. The present data suggest that HCC is highly heritable. However, the data do not support a strong biological link between HCC and any of the investigated psychological variables.Peer reviewe

Provision of support for psychological distress by university staff, and receptiveness to mental health training

There is increasing concern over the number of university students and university staff who require psychological support; however, little is known about the impact of this on higher education (HE) staff. University employees (n=91) from two UK universities completed an anonymous survey which explored their experience of providing support for psychological distress, receptiveness to mental health training and ability to recognise signs of mental health problems. A total of 63% of the sample reported providing support for psychological distress to students, and 41% had provided this service to colleagues. More than half of those without regular student contact had still provided support for psychological distress to students. Many staff were untrained (>70%) in the topic of mental health, and the majority of staff (64%) would welcome this form of training from employers if made available. HE staff participating in this research demonstrated ability to recognise the signs of schizophrenia (99%) and major depression (95%), but 37% of the sample confused everyday troubles with likely signs of a mental health difficulty. In conclusion, a large number of HE staff provide support for psychological distress as part of their workloads, though most are untrained to do so. HE institutions should ensure that appropriate mental health awareness training is made available to employees, and should encourage staff to complete this training if already available