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Biomedical subjects

Jackie Andrade

Publications and source records attributed to Jackie Andrade.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

Hidden covariation detection produces faster, not slower, social judgments.

In P. Lewicki's (1986b) demonstration of hidden covariation detection (HCD), responses of participants were slower to faces that corresponded with a covariation encountered previously than to faces with novel covariations. This slowing contrasts with the typical finding that priming leads to faster responding and suggests that HCD is a unique type of implicit process. The authors extended Lewicki's methodology and showed that participants exposed to nonsalient covariations between hair length and personality were subsequently faster to respond to faces with those covariations than to faces without, despite lack of awareness of the critical covariations. This result confirms that people can detect subtle relationships between features of stimuli and that, as with other types of implicit cognition, this detection facilitates responding.

Adult↗

Is priming during anesthesia unconscious?

General anesthesia provides an alternative to typical laboratory paradigms for investigating implicit learning. We assess the evidence that a simple type of learning--priming--can occur without consciousness. Although priming has been shown to be a small but persistent phenomenon in surgical patients (Merikle & Daneman, 1996) there is reason to question whether it occurs implicitly due to problems in detecting awareness using typical clinical signs. This paper reviews the published studies on priming during anesthesia that have included a measure of awareness or of anesthetic depth. We conclude that perceptual priming, but not conceptual priming, takes place in the absence of conscious awareness.

Anesthesia, General↗

Imaginary relish and exquisite torture: the elaborated intrusion theory of desire.

The authors argue that human desire involves conscious cognition that has strong affective connotation and is potentially involved in the determination of appetitive behavior rather than being epiphenomenal to it. Intrusive thoughts about appetitive targets are triggered automatically by external or physiological cues and by cognitive associates. When intrusions elicit significant pleasure or relief, cognitive elaboration usually ensues. Elaboration competes with concurrent cognitive tasks through retrieval of target-related information and its retention in working memory. Sensory images are especially important products of intrusion and elaboration because they simulate the sensory and emotional qualities of target acquisition. Desire images are momentarily rewarding but amplify awareness of somatic and emotional deficits. Effects of desires on behavior are moderated by competing incentives, target availability, and skills. The theory provides a coherent account of existing data and suggests new directions for research and treatment.

Cognition↗

Beating the urge: implications of research into substance-related desires.

Despite the advent of improved pharmacological treatments to alleviate substance-related desires, psychological approaches will continue to be required. However, the current psychological treatment that most specifically focuses on desires and their management--cue exposure (CE)--has not lived up to its original promise. This paper argues that current psychological approaches to desire do not adequately incorporate our knowledge about the factors that trigger, maintain, and terminate episodes of desire. It asserts that the instigation and maintenance of desires involve both associative and elaborative processes. Understanding the processes triggering the initiation of intrusive thoughts may assist in preventing some episodes, but occasional intrusions will be inevitable. A demonstration of the ineffectiveness of thought suppression may discourage its use as a coping strategy for desire-related intrusions, and mindfulness meditation plus cognitive therapy may help in accepting their occurrence and letting them go. Competing tasks may be used to reduce elaboration of desires, and competing sensory images may have particular utility. The application of these procedures during episodes that are elicited in the clinic may allow the acquisition of more effective strategies to address desires in the natural environment.

Behavior, Addictive↗

Images of desire: cognitive models of craving.

Cognitive modelling of phenomena in clinical practice allows the operationalization of otherwise diffuse descriptive terms such as craving or flashbacks. This supports the empirical investigation of the clinical phenomena and the development of targeted treatment interventions. This paper focuses on the cognitive processes underpinning craving, which is recognised as a motivating experience in substance dependence. We use a high-level cognitive architecture, Interacting Cognitive Subsystems (ICS), to compare two theories of craving: Tiffany's theory, centred on the control of automated action schemata, and our own Elaborated Intrusion theory of craving. Data from a questionnaire study of the subjective aspects of everyday desires experienced by a large non-clinical population are presented. Both the data and the high-level modelling support the central claim of the Elaborated Intrusion theory that imagery is a key element of craving, providing the subjective experience and mediating much of the associated disruption of concurrent cognition.

Adolescent↗

Intrusive and non-intrusive memories in a non-clinical sample: the effects of mood and affect on imagery vividness.

We studied the number, valence, and vividness of intrusive and non-intrusive memories in two groups (N = 20) of pre-screened non-depressed mood and depressed mood undergraduate participants. They were asked to generate as many intrusive memories (IMs) as possible from the prior 2 weeks, together with pleasant and unpleasant non-intrusive memories from the same period. They subsequently formed images of these memories and rated them on measures of vividness, valence, arousal, and overall affect, while having their heart rate, skin conductance, and electromyogram monitored. IMs were common, with participants generating a mean of 1.15 pleasant IMs and 1.60 unpleasant IMs, and there was some evidence that they were mood-congruent. IMs were more vivid than non-intrusive memories, a difference not due to either valence or arousal. We conclude that IMs are a general feature of human memory rather than just a symptom of certain clinical disorders.

Adolescent↗

Determinants of the vividness of visual imagery: the effects of delayed recall, stimulus affect and individual differences.

This study investigated the influence of emotion on vividness of imagery. A total of 80 undergraduate participants saw 25 pictures from the International Affective Picture System, representing different dimensions of valence and arousal. They rated each stimulus for valence, arousal, and emotionality. Each stimulus was then presented again, and participants formed an image of it, rating the image for vividness, valence, arousal, and emotionality. During a 15-minute retention interval, participants completed several individual differences questionnaires. They then recalled each image from a verbal prompt and re-rated its quality. Slides rated as extremely valenced and highly arousing were more vividly imaged than neutral slides. Low mood was also associated with more vivid imagery. The influence of stimulus variables was greater in the immediate imagery phase; that of individual differences tended to be greater in the delayed imagery phase. Of 29 participants, 7 reported intrusive memories of highly unpleasant stimuli at 1 year follow-up.

Adolescent↗

Insensitivity of visual short-term memory to irrelevant visual information.

Several authors have hypothesized that visuo-spatial working memory is functionally analogous to verbal working memory. Irrelevant background speech impairs verbal short-term memory. We investigated whether irrelevant visual information has an analogous effect on visual short-term memory, using a dynamic visual noise (DVN) technique known to disrupt visual imagery (Quinn & McConnell, 1996b). Experiment I replicated the effect of DVN on pegword imagery. Experiments 2 and 3 showed no effect of DVN on recall of static matrix patterns, despite a significant effect of a concurrent spatial tapping task. Experiment 4 showed no effect of DVN on encoding or maintenance of arrays of matrix patterns, despite testing memory by a recognition procedure to encourage visual rather than spatial processing. Serial position curves showed a one-item recency effect typical of visual short-term memory. Experiment 5 showed no effect of DVN on short-term recognition of Chinese characters, despite effects of visual similarity and a concurrent colour memory task that confirmed visual processing of the characters. We conclude that irrelevant visual noise does not impair visual short-term memory. Visual working memory may not be functionally analogous to verbal working memory, and different cognitive processes may underlie visual short-term memory and visual imagery.

Adolescent↗