Exploring the relationship between experiential avoidance, coping functions and the recency and frequency of self-harm

This study investigated the relationship between experiential avoidance, coping and the recency and frequency of self-harm, in a community sample (N = 1332, aged 16–69 years). Participants completed online, self-report measures assessing self-harm, momentary affect, experiential avoidance and coping in response to a recent stressor. Participants who had self-harmed reported significantly higher levels of experiential avoidance and avoidance coping, as well as lower levels of approach, reappraisal and emotional regulation coping, than those with no self-harm history. Moreover, more recent self-harm was associated with lower endorsement of approach, reappraisal and emotion regulation coping, and also higher levels of both avoidance coping and experiential avoidance. Higher experiential avoidance and avoidance coping also predicted increased lifetime frequency of self-harm. Conversely, increased approach and reappraisal coping were associated with a decreased likelihood of high frequency self-harm. Although some of the effects were small, particularly in relation to lifetime frequency of self-harm, overall our results suggest that experiential avoidance tendency may be an important psychological factor underpinning self-harm, regardless of suicidal intent (e.g. including mixed intent, suicidal intent, ambivalence), which is not accounted for in existing models of self-harm

Developmental trends in semantic and phonological false memory : an investigation using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm

Previous research indicates that developmental trends in semantic and phonological false memory are dissociated. Using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm, seven experiments investigated these trends as well as manipulations that may be used to increase false memory in both children and adults. Experiments 1 and 2 provided evidence for dissociated developmental trends such that semantic false memory increases with age and phonological false memory does not. Experiment 1 also demonstrated that massing associates, as opposed to spacing them within a longer list increases both semantic and phonological false memory. In Experiment 2, presenting associates within a story format was used to increase semantic false memory levels in children but not adults. Experiments 3 and 4 further investigated semantic false memory for long and short lists and stories. False memory increased across development for short stories and long lists only. Importantly, these developmental effects were nullified when short and long study materials were matched for presentation duration. Experiments 5 and 6 investigated developmental effects of Length in phonological false memory for lists that converge on one critical lure. False memory increased with age for long lists but not for short lists. Moreover, controlling for presentation duration did not reliably affect this result. Experiment 7 provided limited support for the overadditivity of false memory for hybrid lists. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate that semantic false memory increases with age and that developmental trajectories for phonological false memory are less clear and appear to be determined by the nature of study and test conditions. The findings of this thesis are discussed within both activation-monitoring and fuzzy trace accounts of the false memory illusion. Although support is provided for both models, activation accounts provide a more-comprehensive account of all the results detailed in this thesis.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The effect of divided attention on false memory depends on how memory is tested.

In three experiments, we investigated the effects of divided attention on false memory, using the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants studied six DRM lists with full attention and six in one of two divided-attention conditions (random number generation or digit monitoring). Both divided-attention conditions increased false recall of related words (Experiment 1) but reduced false recognition (Experiment 2). These results were confirmed in Experiment 3, in which the type of secondary task was manipulated within groups. We argue that the increase in false recall with divided attention reflects a change in participants' response criterion, whereas the decrease in false recognition occurs because the secondary tasks prevent participants from generating associates of the words presented at study

Effects of presentation format and list length on children's false memories

The effect of list length on children's false memories was investigated using list and story versions of the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) procedure. Short (7 items) and long (14 items) sequences of semantic associates were presented to children aged 6, 8 and 10 years old either in lists or embedded within a story that emphasized the list theme. Subsequent tests of recognition memory revealed different effects of length for lists and stories across development. Longer lists produced more false alarms to critical lures for eight- and ten-year-olds only, and longer stories produced more false alarms to critical lures for six-year-olds only. These results demonstrate that increasing the number of items presented at study increases false recognition for younger as well as older children when the theme of the items is made salient

Phonological false memories in children and adults : evidence for a developmental reversal

False memories created by the Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) procedure typically show a developmental reversal whereby levels of false recall increase with age. In contrast, false memories produced by phonological lists have been shown to decrease as age increases. In the current study we show that phonological false memories, like semantic false memories produced by the DRM procedure, show a developmental reversal when list items converge on a single critical lure. In addition, effects of list length were observed in adults and older children but not in the younger children, again mirroring effects previously observed in semantic false memories. These findings suggest that differences in list structure underlie the divergent developmental trajectories previously reported in semantic and phonological false memories. The findings are discussed in relation to theories of false memory and theories of spoken word recognition

Beyond the text: Illusions of recollection caused by script-based inferences

Three experiments investigated memory distortions produced by scripts activated when hearing a story. In Experiment 1, participants heard a story with one of two alternative titles. At test, the words that were falsely recognised varied according to the title of the story, though the story itself was the same for all participants. Experiment 2 replicated this effect and found that words rated as central to a script were more likely to be falsely recognised than words rated as peripheral. Participants in Experiment 3 heard a cryptic story with a disambiguating title presented either before, after, or not at all. Script-based errors were observed only in participants given the title before the story. In all three experiments, falsely recognised words were frequently categorised as "remember" responses, based on illusory conscious recollection. These findings show that inferences produce a powerful illusion of memory that is not simply due to verbal associations. © 2007 Psychology Press