Retrieval-Induced Forgetting in the Feigning Amnesia for a Crime Paradigm

Previous studies demonstrated that, when asked to honestly provide information about a mock crime, former feigners performed worse than those who were requested to confess to this event. Thus, feigning amnesia for a mock crime undermined genuine memory for the same experience. In the present study, we examined whether retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) underlies this memory-undermining effect. After watching a mock crime, participants had to feign amnesia or confess to having committed that crime. Feigners were given retrieval practice instructions (i.e., retrieval-practice group) or no further instructions (i.e., control group). Immediately and 1 day later, all participants had to genuinely report what they remembered about the crime. Although simulators in the retrieval-practice group recalled the largest amount of information as a positive consequence of retrieval, the ratio for crucial crime-related details was lower than that exhibited by both simulators who were given no instructions and confessors. These findings suggest that RIF might play a role in forgetting critical information in claims of crime-related amnesia. Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.

Do psychopathic traits impair autobiographical memory for emotional life experiences?

We examined the relationship between psychopathic traits and autobiographical memory (AM) for emotional life experiences in both a community (Study 1) and forensic sample (Study 2). Considering that psychopathy is traditionally linked to an impairment in the processing of emotion, we hypothesised an emotional deficit of AM in individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits. Participants in both samples were asked to recall an emotionally charged event, and were then administered the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised, the Flashbulb Memory Checklist, and the Autobiographical Memory Characteristics Questionnaire. A linguistic content analysis was applied to inmates' memory transcriptions (Study 2). Only in the forensic sample, was self-centered impulsivity found to be positively related to the linguistic use of mood terms, and negatively related to the linguistic use of cognitive labels. Furthermore, high levels of fearless dominance were associated to a low emotional attribution to the event and its implications, and highly confident and coherent memory. Lastly, coldheartedness was the psychopathic trait most associated to a deficit in emotional AM, in terms of a lack of hedonic labels and contextual details, a poor emotional evaluation of the event and its implications. The current results encourage further investigation concerning AM in psychopathic traits.

Feigning Amnesia Moderately Impairs Memory for a Mock Crime Video

Previous studies showed that feigning amnesia for a crime impairs actual memory for the target event. Lack of rehearsal has been proposed as an explanation for this memory-undermining effect of feigning. The aim of the present study was to replicate and extend previous research adopting a mock crime video instead of a narrative story. We showed participants a video of a violent crime. Next, they were requested to imagine that they had committed this offense and to either feign amnesia or confess the crime. A third condition was included: Participants in the delayed test-only control condition did not receive any instruction. On subsequent recall tests, participants in all three conditions were instructed to report as much information as possible about the offense. On the free recall test, feigning amnesia impaired memory for the video clip, but participants who were asked to feign crime-related amnesia outperformed controls. However, no differences between simulators and confessors were found on both correct cued recollection or on distortion and commission rates. We also explored whether inner speech might modulate memory for the crime. Inner speech traits were not found to be related to the simulating amnesia effect. Theoretical and practical implications of our results are discussed.

Can implicit measures detect source information in crime-related amnesia?

Participants who are asked to simulate amnesia for a mock crime have a weaker memory for this event when they have to give up their role as a feigner, than those who are not asked to feign memory loss. According to the source monitoring framework (SMF), this memory-undermining effect of simulating amnesia for a crime would be due to misattribution of the right source of information. However, we know that the content of self-generated information (e.g., feigned version of the crime) might be preserved and recognised over time as a result of elaborative cognitive processing. In the present study, we aimed to contrast these two explanations. We showed participants a mock crime video and we instructed them to either feign amnesia (simulators) or confess the mock crime (confessors). Next, a free recall memory test was administered. After one week, participants were asked to perform a personalised source monitoring task using the autobiographical Implicit Association Test (aIAT). As predicted, we found that simulators were able to discriminate the content of their self-generated feigned story of the crime from the original version. Moreover, simulators were quicker than confessors at the aIAT task. Practical and theoretical implications of our results are discussed.

Measuring the flashbulb-like nature of memories for private events: the flashbulb memory checklist

What do we remember following an emotionally charged event? The assessment of memory characteristics for an emotional event represents one of the most challenging issues in the domain of autobiographical memory. Literature of flashbulb memories (FBMs) provides a crucial contribution on this issue: Following an emotional and unexpected public event, people remember not only central details of the episode, but also irrelevant, peripheral and idiosyncratic details of the reception context in which they learned of the news. The present study was set up to assess the factorial structure (samples 1 and 2) and convergent validity (sample 2) of an FBM checklist, an instrument designed to measure Flashbulb-like features of memories for emotional private events. Factorial analyses account for an oblique two-factor solution - FBM Specificity and Confidence - while correlational analyses support the convergent validity of this instrument. Practical implications are discussed, especially for the credibility assessment of witnesses of emotional events in forensic settings.

Accuracy, Confidence, and Experiential Criteria for Lie Detection Through a Videotaped Interview

An individual's ability to discriminate lies from truth is far from accurate, and is poorly related to an individual's confidence in his/her detection. Both law enforcement and non-professional interviewers base their evaluations of truthfulness on experiential criteria, including emotional and expressive features, cognitive complexity, and paraverbal aspects of interviewees' reports. The current experimental study adopted two perspectives of investigation: the first is aimed at assessing the ability of naïve judges to detect lies/truth by watching a videotaped interview; the second takes into account the interviewee's detectability as a liar or as telling the truth by a sample of judges. Additionally, this study is intended to evaluate the criteria adopted to support lie/truth detection and relate them with accuracy and confidence of detection. Results showed that judges' detection ability was moderately accurate and associated with a moderate individual sense of confidence, with a slightly better accuracy for truth detection than for lie detection. Detection accuracy appeared to be negatively associated with detection confidence when the interviewee was a liar, and positively associated when the interviewee was a truth-teller. Furthermore, judges were found to support lie detection through criteria concerning emotional features, and to sustain truth detection by taking into account the cognitive complexity and the paucity of expressive manifestations related with the interviewee's report. The present findings have implications for the judicial decision on witnesses' credibility.

Preliminary Data on the Role of Emotional Intelligence in Mediating the Relationship Between Psychopathic Characteristics and Detention Terms of Property Offenders

We present preliminary data on the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in mediating the relationship between psychopathy and detention term of authors of property crimes. We assumed that the detention term is an approximation of the severity of criminal behavior. A sample of 24 property offenders were individually administered a brief anamnestic interview, the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R), and the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Information concerning the detention term was obtained from prison records. A mediation model was applied to the data showing that offenders high in psychopathic traits (i.e., total PPI-R score and Self-centered dimension of PPI-R) have a low level of ability EI and this is in turn negatively associated with the duration of their prison sentence. Results encourage the investigation of ability EI as a protective factor against the antisocial outcomes of psychopathic disorder.

Does the General Strain Theory Explain Gambling and Substance Use?

General Strain Theory (GST: Agnew Criminology 30:47-87, 1992) posits that deviant behaviour results from adaptation to strain and the consequent negative emotions. Empirical research on GST has mainly focused on aggressive behaviours, while only few research studies have considered alternative manifestations of deviance, like substance use and gambling. The aim of the present study is to test the ability of GST to explain gambling behaviours and substance use. Also, the role of family in promoting the adoption of gambling and substance use as coping strategies was verified. Data from 266 families with in mean 8 observations for each group were collected. The multilevel nature of the data was verified before appropriate model construction. The clustered nature of gambling data was analysed by a two-level Hierarchical Linear Model while substance use was analysed by Multivariate Linear Model. Results confirmed the effect of strain on gambling and substance use while the positive effect of depressive emotions on these behaviours was not supported. Also, the impact of family on the individual tendency to engage in addictive behaviours was confirmed only for gambling.

Fifty Shades of Unsaid: Women's Explicit and Implicit Attitudes Towards Sexual Morality

The movie Fifty Shades of Grey has created a great deal of controversy which has reignited the debate on unusual and alternative sexual practices such as bondage. Erotophobic individuals have negative affect towards the type of sexual libertinism conveyed by the movie, while erotophilic persons have a positive attitude and emotional feelings towards this kind of sexual emancipation. Using the Implicit Association Test, this study aimed to explore the extent to which there is a difference in women's attitudes towards sexual morality on an explicit and implicit level. Our findings found that erotophobic and erotophilic women differed only on an explicit level of sex guilt and moral evaluation, while no difference in the implicit measure was found.

The transmission of attachment across three generations: A study in adulthood

One of the most striking pieces of evidence in attachment research is that attachment security is transmitted from 1 generation to the next. Although there has been an enormous advance in the understanding of this process, this area of research suffers from some significant gaps, as for example the transmission across 3 generations when considering the 2 parents as well as the 2 couples of grandparents. The current study was designed to fill this gap in existing literature by investigating AAI attachment representations in the members of 3 generations, belonging to a total of 32 families, each including an adult offspring, both parents and the 4 grandparents (N = 224). Main findings show that the transmission across 2 generations was stronger in the presence of a female caregiver (either mother or maternal/paternal grandmother), and that across 3 generations was confirmed only in the presence of 2 female caregivers (grandmother to mother to offspring). Conversely, the transmissions across 3 generations with only 1 or no female caregiver were not confirmed. Last, experiencing 2 secure parents increased the likelihood of developing a secure state of mind with respect to attachment among offspring, mothers and fathers, 95% confidence intervals [3.52, 1,238.72], [1.67, 31.17], and [1.67, 19.98], respectively. These findings may have important theoretical implications related to the understanding of the factors involved in the continuity and discontinuity of attachment patterns across generations. (PsycINFO Database Record

What Is over and above Psychopathy? The Role of Ability Emotional Intelligence in Predicting Criminal Behavior

This study aims to investigate the role of ability emotional intelligence (EI) in predicting criminal behavior from a life-span perspective, over and above psychopathy. Psychopathic individuals are characterized by a deviant lifestyle and an inability to regulate emotion. A sample of 29 male inmates was administered the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ), the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R), the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), and five dichotomous items that are converged into the Criminal Behavior Index (CBI). Correlation analysis showed a complex pattern of relationships among the variables. The MSCEIT Experiential area of EI together with CISS Emotion-oriented Coping and PCL-R Social Deviance are found to significantly predict the CBI. The results offer promising findings for the assessment of the relationship between personality traits, emotional abilities and criminal behavior across the life span. Furthermore, the results suggest that EI is an important feature for implementing prevention programs of criminal behavior and recidivism.

Association between Ability Emotional Intelligence and Left Insula during Social Judgment of Facial Emotions

The human ability of identifying, processing and regulating emotions from social stimuli is generally referred as Emotional Intelligence (EI). Within EI, Ability EI identifies a performance measure assessing individual skills at perceiving, using, understanding and managing emotions. Previous models suggest that a brain "somatic marker circuitry" (SMC) sustains emotional sub-processes included in EI. Three primary brain regions are included: the amygdala, the insula and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Here, our aim was to investigate the relationship between Ability EI scores and SMC activity during social judgment of emotional faces. Sixty-three healthy subjects completed a test measuring Ability EI and underwent fMRI during a social decision task (i.e. approach or avoid) about emotional faces with different facial expressions. Imaging data revealed that EI scores are associated with left insula activity during social judgment of emotional faces as a function of facial expression. Specifically, higher EI scores are associated with greater left insula activity during social judgment of fearful faces but also with lower activity of this region during social judgment of angry faces. These findings indicate that the association between Ability EI and the SMC activity during social behavior is region- and emotion-specific.

Balancing emotional processing with ongoing cognitive activity: the effects of task modality on intrusions and rumination

In the present paper we aimed to show that competition for resources between post-emotional processes and the execution of a cognitive task will result in two possible effects: (1) an impairment of the cognitive task in the short run and (2) an elongation of intrusions and rumination in the long run. The outcome of this competition is influenced by the interaction of the modality (verbal vs. visuospatial) of cognitive tasks run in the aftermath of an emotional experience and the nature (verbal vs. visuospatial) of the same experience. Non-clinical participants were given a working memory task (OSPAN vs. an analog Visual task) before and after the presentation of negative vs. neutral material (a novel excerpt in Experiment 1 and a video clip in Experiment 2). Intrusions and rumination were measured after a 24-h delay. Rumination was also assessed immediately after the experimental induction. Results showed that exposure to verbal negative material impaired verbal performance (Experiment 1); by contrast, exposure to visual negative material impaired both verbal and visuospatial performance (Experiment 2). Intrusions were only affected by the emotional valence of the original experience, while performing a visuospatial task resulted in enhanced rumination only after exposure to verbal emotional material. The findings of both experiments suggest that emotional processing spreads over time in balance with ongoing cognitive activities, and, in such a balance, the visuospatial processing mode tends to prevail over verbal engagements.

Incremental validity of emotional intelligence ability in predicting academic achievement

We tested the incremental validity of an ability measure of emotional intelligence (El) in predicting academic achievement in undergraduate students, controlling for cognitive abilities and personality traits. Academic achievement has been conceptualized in terms of the number of exams, grade point average, and study time taken to prepare for each exam. Additionally, gender differences were taken into account in these relationships. Participants filled in the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices, the reduced version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, and academic achievement measures. Results showed that El abilities were positively related to academic achievement indices, such as the number of exams and grade point average; total El ability and the Perceiving branch were negatively associated with the study time spent preparing for exams. Furthermore, El ability adds a percentage of incremental variance with respect to cognitive ability and personality variables in explaining scholastic success. The magnitude of the associations between El abilities and academic achievement measures was generally higher for men than for women. Jointly considered, the present findings support the incremental validity of the MSCEIT and provide positive indications of the importance of El in students' academic development. The helpfulness of El training in the context of academic institutions is discussed.

Does Emotions Communication Ability Affect Psychological Well-Being? A Study with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) v2.0

The main aim of the current study was to provide evidence regarding the relationship between emotions communication ability--in terms of emotional intelligence (EI)--and psychological well-being. Additionally, the study explored the moderating effect of sex on this relationship. Participants filled in the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, General Health Questionnaire, Psychological General Well-Being Index, and Depression Questionnaire. Results showed the moderating role of sex in the relationship between EI ability and psychological well-being. Furthermore, the associations between EI and psychological well-being measures were generally higher for men than for women, supporting the idea that sex needs to be taken into account when considering EI measures. The potential helpfulness of EI and emotions communications ability in promoting mental health is discussed.