Biomedical subjects

M Tharan

Publications and source records attributed to M Tharan.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1996

Traumatic memory characteristics: a cross-validated mediational model of response to rape among employed women.

In a cross-validated mediational model, the authors examined characteristics of memories formed in response to rape and other intense unpleasant and pleasant experiences. Data were responses to a mailed survey of women medical center and university employees. Measurement models of memory and symptom factors and a structural model with pathways among cognitive appraisal, emotional valence, memory characteristics, and health outcomes were developed in Sample 1 (N = 1,307) and confirmed in Sample 2 (N = 2,142). Rape had substantial direct effects on 2 memory factors (Clarity and Affect) and indirect effects through the construal of victimization. Rape was associated with memories described as more emotionally intense but less clear and coherent and less often thought of or talked about. Most effects on physical symptoms were nonsignificant. Implications of findings for neurohormonal and multiple representation models of emotional memory and to cognitive avoidance are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Are rape memories different? A comparison of rape, other unpleasant, and pleasant memories among employed women.

The study examined empirically-measured memory characteristics, compared pleasant and unpleasant intense memories as well as rape and other unpleasant memories, and determined whether rape memories exhibited significantly more "flashbulb" characteristics. Data consisted of responses to a mailed survey of women employees of a medical center (N = 1,037) and a university (N = 2,142). Pleasant and unpleasant memories were differentiated by feelings, consequences, and level of unexpectedness. The most powerful discriminator of rape from other unpleasant memories was the degree to which they were less clear and vivid, contained a less meaningful order, were less well-remembered, and were less thought and talked about. Few "flashbulb" characteristics discriminated among memory types. Implications for clinical work with rape survivors were discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

Implicit memory for possible and impossible objects: constraints on the construction of structural descriptions.

Four experiments examined implicit memory or priming effects on an object decision task in which subjects decided whether structurally possible or impossible novel objects could exist in three-dimensional form. Results revealed equivalent levels of priming for possible objects after 1 vs. 4 5-s exposures to the same structural encoding task (Experiment 1) and when objects were studied with a single structural encoding task or 2 different structural encoding tasks (Experiment 3). Explicit memory, by contrast, was greatly affected by both manipulations. However, priming of possible objects was not observed when Ss were given only a single 1-s exposure to perform a structural encoding task (Experiment 2). No evidence for priming of impossible objects was observed in any of the 4 experiments. The data suggest that object decision priming depends on a presemantic structural description system that is distinct from episodic memory.

Attention↗

PubMed1990

Priming effects in a letter-by-letter reader depend upon access to the word form system.

Several types of cognitive and neuropsychological evidence suggest that priming effects on such implicit memory tests as word identification are mediated by a pre-semantic visual word form system that can operate independently of episodic memory. We investigate priming in a letter-by-letter reader, P.T., whose pattern of performance on neuropsychological tests indicates preservation of the word form system. Experiment 1 revealed robust priming on a word identification test following letter-by-letter study of target words, despite P.T.'s great difficulty in identifying non-studied words. Experiment 2 showed that the priming effect was modality specific whereas Experiment 3 indicated that recall of previously studied words was not modality specific, thus indicating that the observed priming could not be attributed to explicit memory strategies. Experiment 4 revealed no priming of illegal nonwords on a letter identification test. The results support the notion that priming on the word identification test depends on access to the word form system.

Attention↗