Unravelling the beneﬁts of knitting Tips on Blogging False Memory Illusions · Unravelling the...

Unravelling the benefits of knitting

Tips on Blogging

False Memory Illusions

Also in this issue:Reflections on conducting empirical research

Conference and workshop reviews

Issue 85 December 2012

‘the most important showcase forall that is best in UK psychology’

Our conference themes:■ The typical and atypical mind across

the lifespan

■ Education, ethics and professionalpractice dilemmas in psychology

■ The nature and diversity of socialcohesion and attachment

Full details at www.bps.org.uk/ac2013

Annual Conference9–11 April 2013, Harrogate International Centre

‘as a postgraduate student it was an excellent opportunity to meetresearchers and discuss their work’

Our keynote speakers■ Professor Robin Dunbar■ Professor Peter Fonagy■ Professor Susan Gathercole■ Professor Alex Haslam■ Dr Karen Kitchener

EditorialBlaire Morgan

Issue 85 December 2012 1© The British Psychological Society

WELCOME to the 85th edition of thePsyPAG Quarterly. We hope that thegreat variety of reviews and

research-based articles in this issue will makefor an interesting and informative read.

In the first article of this issue, RhianWorth considers whether there is a benefi-cial aspect to forgetting which allows forunwanted information to be forgotten andimportant memories to be recalled. Tofollow this, Jennifer Paterson provides thefirst conference review of this issue with herarticle on the Society for Personality andSocial Psychology conference in San Diego.She describes the themes covered and thesessions that were on offer, alongside infor-mation on the venue itself and what she tookfrom the experience.

Israel Berger offers an interesting piece oninformed consent from youths within the areaof clinical research. He discusses the complex-ities behind informed consent and what thismeans for researchers, offers practical adviceand poses important questions to the reader.This is followed by Carmen Lefevre’s inter-esting conference review on the EuropeanHuman Behaviour and Evolution Society 2012conference in Durham, which brings togetherthe areas of Psychology, Anthropology, andSociology. We then turn to RosemaryKingston’s fascinating piece on the benefits ofknitting. This insightful article attempts touncover whether knitting has a positive influ-ence on psychological functioning, forexample ,improving one’s mood or mentalhealth. Perhaps one or two of you may bepersuaded to give knitting a go yourselves!

Jayanthiny Kangatharan then reviews theAcoustics 2012 Congress which took place inNantes in France. She talks about her firsttime at an international conference and herexperience with presenting research orallyfor the first time in public.

Alice Davies’ article takes a reflective viewon conducting empirical research. Shediscusses her own experience of conductingempirical work using interviews and Inter-pretative Phenomenological Analysis.Lauren Kita then reviews the Psychology ofWomen’s Section’s 2012 conference whichtackled issued such as feminism and themedia and feminism and sport.

The next piece is a fascinating look atblogging presented by Andrew Dunn. Hetalks about his own experience with bloggingand offers some insightful advice and infor-mation to those who are blogging novices.

The Sleep 2012 review, by Erica Kuchar-czyk, details some interesting workshops thatwere available and the recent advances thathave been made in the area of sleep andinsomnia research. To follow this, SamanthaRowbotham talks about her second time atthe International Society for Gesture Studiesconference which was held in Sweden thisyear. She explains why, with the vast array oftalks and workshops and excellent socialprogramme on offer, she is all set to attendagain next year as well.

Next, Sarah Garner offers an interestingpiece on false memories. Sarah exploreswhether false memories have an adaptivefunction that help aid survival.

PsyPAG Quarterly Editorial Team

2012–2013

Blaire Morgan

Daniel Zahra

Jumana Ahmad

Laura Scurlock-Evans

Email: [email protected]

2 PsyPAG Quarterly

Blaire Morgan

In the final article of this issue, HelenOwton details the diverse keynote lecturesand the variety of approaches and methodscovered within the British PsychologicalSociety’s Annual Conference, highlightingwhy these annual conferences are a greatopportunity for postgraduate researchers.

We hope you enjoy reading these articlesand invite you to get in touch if you wouldlike to contribute to future editions of thePsyPAG Quarterly. This publication is distrib-uted to all postgraduate institutions in theUK and is a great way of communicatingyour research with other psychologists. We look forward to hearing from you!

Blaire MorganUniversity of Birmingham.Email: [email protected]

Research DigestBlogging on brain and behaviour

Subscribe by RSS or e-mailwww.researchdigext.org.uk/blog

Become a fanwww.facebook.com/researchdigest

Follow the Digest editor atwww.twitter.com/researchdigest

Issue 85 December 2012 3© The British Psychological Society2012

FIRSTLY, I would like to take this oppor-tunity to welcome any of our readerswho have recently embarked upon their

postgraduate journey at the beginning ofthis academic year! Congratulations onentering the postgraduate world and I dohope that you are now settled in and feelequipped to embark on your studies.

All readers – both new and returningpostgraduates – will have hopefully receivedan email from your department providingyou with information about PsyPAG andwhat we offer to you as psychology postgrad-uates. If you did not receive any informationfrom your institution about us or you areaware of departments with psychology post-graduates that were not included, do contactme at [email protected] as we are verykeen to have a link with all departmentshosting psychology postgraduates and werealise that not everyone is based in a tradi-tional psychology department.

As I write this, it seems all of a sudden thenights have drawn in and got colder and weare fast approaching the end of 2012. Thistime of year always leads me to reflect on theyear so far and what may lie ahead for thecoming months. This year PsyPAG has beeninvolved in a wide range of activities aimed atsupporting the development of postgradu-ates and ensuring their interests are consid-ered and represented across the BritishPsychological Society’s member networksand the Health and Care ProfessionsCouncil (formerly the HPC).

In this time of austerity where we haverecently witnessed the closure of the HigherEducation Academy Psychology Networkand cutbacks to other sources of support forstudents, it is more important than ever thatas an organisation we continue to be thevoice and advocates of psychology postgrad-uates. This ensures that the impact of any

changes on postgraduates are consideredand that supporting the next generation ofpsychologists and researchers remains apriority of the British Psychological Society’smember networks.

It is not all doom and gloom though. You may have seen a review of our annualconference held in July that was published inthe September edition of The Psychologist.Managing Editor Dr Jon Sutton remarked onthe drive and professionalism of psychologypostgraduates that he had witnessed, despitethe challenges we face as early careerresearchers and practitioners embarking onour voyage on stormy seas. As psychologists,we are well placed to rise to these challengesand to help others do so through ourresearch, teaching, supervision, appliedpractice and consultation.

I see a core part of being a psychologist asbeing able to assess a situation and thinkabout factors that may predispose or precip-itate different outcomes, in addition tobeing able to identify protective and perpet-uating factors. We do this every day in ourcapacities as researchers, teachers, practi-tioners, supervisors, advisors and as learnersourselves. As these skills are central to whatwe do, we can redefine challenge as anopportunity to reflect on and refine ourroles, aims, goals and achievements.

Furthermore, in line with the old adage‘strength in numbers’, we recognise aspsychologists the importance of working inteams, collaboration and supporting others.A big part of PsyPAG’s remit involves facili-tating networking opportunities amongstpsychology postgraduates and withcolleagues at different stages of their career.This enables support networks to flourish,professional networks to develop and post-graduates to be involved in the biggerpicture.

Chair’s ColumnFleur-Michelle Coiffait

We encourage you to seek out opportuni-ties to share with and learn from oneanother. I have met friends for life at PsyPAGconferences and events whom I have collab-orated with and who have strengthened myprofessional networks. More importantly, itis these fellow postgraduates who haveprovided invaluable support and under-standing during the highs and lows of myjourney so far. Why not follow us on Twitterand take part in the weekly #PhDchat discus-sion or become a fan of our Facebook page?

We also urge you to take advantage of thechance to network at the various eventsPsyPAG offers throughout the year that arefree to postgraduates. You can apply for oneof our bursaries for financial support toattend other workshops and conferences,more information about all of the events andbursaries we offer can be found atwww.psypag.co.uk. If you have an idea for aparticular workshop that you would like tosee or host, we have four rounds of applica-tions for workshop bursaries per year and we encourage you to apply atwww.psypag.co.uk/resources/workshops/

I am always interested to hear from post-graduates who have suggestions, ideas orfeedback on how PsyPAG can better supportpsychology postgraduates in the UK, soplease feel free to get in touch with me [email protected]

Finally, I would like to thank the PsyPAGCommittee for their ongoing hard work onbehalf of UK psychology postgraduates andthe British Psychological Society’s ResearchBoard for their continued support.

Fleur-Michelle CoiffaitUniversity of Edinburgh, PsyPAG Chair.Email: [email protected]: @PsyPAG

4 PsyPAG Quarterly

Fleur-Michelle Coiffait

FORGETTING often occurs in everydaylife; and is something everyone experi-ences from time to time, for example,

forgetting where the car keys are. Forgettingcan have negative consequences (e.g. forget-ting where the car keys are could make youlate for a meeting). Given this information, itis somewhat understandable that forgettingis seen as an inconvenience or a hindrance.Early theories of forgetting suggest thatmemories become weaker as they becomeolder (e.g. the trace decay theory). Morerecently, however, the view of forgetting isbeginning to change, with a suggestion thatthere may also be a beneficial aspect toforgetting. Specifically that the retrieval ofmemories can be helped by a mechanismthat reduces the competition betweenmemories, through ‘temporarily forgetting’related but unwanted information. Thiscould be beneficial as it may not be possiblefor us to remember all the information weknow. If all this information was active it mayflood our minds, causing memory to bemore error prone than it currently is(Anderson, 2003).

When we attempt to retrieve a desiredmemory, general cues are often used to acti-vate the desired memory (Anderson, 2003).When this happens related but unwantedmemories are also activated (Anderson,Bjork & Bjork, 1994). For example, if thetarget memory was where the car is parked,memories of where the car was parked onprevious occasions may also be activated.Therefore, there is a need for a mechanismthat allows the target memory to be recalled,quickly and efficiently, and allows the otherinformation, which is related to the targetmemory but is currently unwanted to be

‘temporarily forgotten’. This would suggestthat forgetting can be beneficial. The forget-ting of related but unwanted information isknown as the retrieval-induced forgettingeffect.

Retrieval-Induced Forgetting (RIF)In order to study RIF items are used whichplace related but unwanted information incompetition with desired memories duringretrieval. A Retrieval Practice Paradigm (seeFigure 1) is used to do this and involvesthree stages: a Study phase, Retrieval Prac-tice phase, and a Recall phase. In the Studyphase participants are given a list of cate-gory-exemplar words (e.g. FRUIT-apple;FRUIT-banana; BIRD-robin; and BIRD-black-bird) to study. This is followed by a RetrievalPractice phase during which participantspractice half of the items from half of thecategories (e.g. FRUIT-apple) (e.g. throughcompleting a word stem completion task, for example, FRUIT-a ).

RIF studies typically report two key find-ings: 1. Memory performance for the practiced

items (Rp+ items e.g. FRUIT- apple,FRUIT- banana) is better than memoryfor unpractised items from anunpractised category (Nrp items, e.g.BIRD-robin, BIRD-blackbird). This is aretrieval practice effect.

2. Memory performance for the unpractiseditems from the practiced category (Rp– items, e.g. FRUIT-guava, FRUIT-kiwi) is worse than memory performancefor the Nrp items. This impairment inmemory performance for the Rp– itemsis known as the RIF effect (see Figure 2).


Is there a beneficial aspect to forgetting?Inhibitory and non-inhibitory theories Rhian Worth

6 PsyPAG Quarterly

Rhian Worth

Figure 1: Retrieval Practice Paradigm.

Study PhaseFRUIT – Banana, Apple, Guava, Kiwi

BIRD – Blackbird, Robin, Finch, Pheasant

Retrieval Practice (Rp) PhasePractice half the items from half the categories

(FRUIT – Banana, Apple)Participants are not required to do anything

with any of the other items Nothing is done with the other items

Recall Phase

Figure 2: Graphical representation of typical findings ofRetrieval-Induced Forgetting (RIF) studies.

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

ItemsRp+ Rp– Nrp

RIF

Note: The values in the above figure do not represent real data. Rp+ itemswere practiced. Rp– items were related to the Rp+ items but were notpracticed. Nrp items were not related to the Rp+ items and were not practiced.

The Retrieval Practice Paradigm was firstused by Anderson and colleagues (1994).During the study phase participants studieda list of category-exemplar pair words. In thefollowing retrieval practice phase partici-pants completed a word stem completiontasks. Following a 20-minute interval partici-pants were given a recall test. The resultsdemonstrated that memory performance forthe Rp+ items, was better than performancefor the Nrp items (see also Anderson &Spellman, 1995). Furthermore, memoryperformance for the Rp– items was found tobe worse than performance for Nrp items.This RIF effect has been demonstrated witha range of different stimuli (see Anderson etal., 1994; Anderson & Spellman, 1995;Ciranni & Shimamura, 1999; Koutstaal et al.,1999; MacLeod, 2002).

A number of theories have beenproposed to explain RIF, including non-inhibitory and inhibitory theories. Non-inhibitory theories suggest that RIF occursbecause the Rp+ items are stronger asthey’ve been practiced (i.e. during retrievalpractice) and this blocks the retrieval of theRp– items, which are weaker due to notbeing practiced. An alternative account isthe inhibitory theory, which suggests thatRIF is the result of inhibitory processes(Anderson & Spellman, 1995). Theinhibitory theory suggests that RIF is mostlikely to occur in situations where the Rp–items are strong, as the strong items aremore likely to be inhibited as they are likelyto intrude into consciousness duringretrieval, resulting in competition betweenthe items; as such RIF occurs to eliminatethis competition.

To examine the contradictory predic-tions of the non-inhibitory and inhibitorytheories, Anderson and colleagues (1994)manipulated the strength of the Rp– items.The results demonstrated that RIF wasgreatest for the strong Rp– items. It wouldseem then that strong items create thegreatest retrieval competition duringretrieval practice and are more likely tointrude into conscious awareness than the

weak category members. This means that thestrong category members are more likely tobe ‘forgotten’ in order to allow the informa-tion to be recalled, resolving the competi-tion. This would be in line with theinhibitory theory. A second prediction of theinhibitory theory is that RIF continues to befound even when an independent cue isused in the test phase (i.e. one which differsto the one in the study and retrieval practicephase). Non-inhibitory theories suggest thatit is interference along the retrieval route,which is the cause of RIF; therefore using anindependent cue during the test phaseshould allow the Rp– item to be recalled asan alternative route would be utilised.Inhibitory theories suggest that it is the Rp– items itself, and not the retrieval route,which is impaired. This suggests that usinganother pathway (i.e. retrieval via the inde-pendent cue) should not allow the item tobe retrieved.

Anderson and Spellman (1995) studiedcue independence and found that RIFcontinued to be seen even when tested usingan independent cue. Participants were askedto study categories of exemplars for whichsome exemplars had a pre-existing associa-tion with a second category. For example,under the category RED participants studiedthe word tomato; however, participants maythen be tested for tomato under the categorycue FOOD. Anderson and Spellman’s (1995)findings are consistent with the inhibitorytheory as it suggests that it is the item itself,which has been inhibited. As the interferenceoccurs at the level of the item, even using anindependent cue will continue to lead toimpaired memory for the Rp– items (see alsoBauml, 2002; Saunders & MacLeod,2006).However, Perfect, Stark, Tree, Moulin,Ahmed and Hutter (2004) failed to find RIFunder independent cue conditions (see alsoWilliams & Zacks, 2001) suggesting that RIFoccurs in cue dependent conditions; not incue independent conditions.

A third prediction from inhibitorytheories is that the forgetting of Rp– itemsare specific to the retrieval process. Other

Issue 85 December 2012 7

Is there a beneficial aspect to forgetting? Inhibitory and non-inhibitory theories

methods such as extra study time or re-pres-entation, which only strengthen the Rp+ items, are insufficient to initiateretrieval competition, and no RIF should beseen. To investigate this, Anderson, Bjorkand Bjork (2000) compared retrieval prac-tice with re-presentation. Consistent with theinhibitory theory, RIF was only foundfollowing retrieval practice. Anderson et alconcluded that RIF is not due to thestrengthening of the memory trace, but thatit is due to retrieval in the practice phase.There are several other predictions to theinhibitory theory as well including cross-cate-gory inhibition effects (see Anderson &Spellman, 1995; Saunders & MacLeod,2006), and second order effects (seeAnderson & Spellman, 1995).

It is important to study inhibition notonly to examine mechanisms involved in RIFbut also because it can have an adaptivefunction. Anderson and colleagues (1994)suggested that retrieval processes could playan important role in everyday forgetting,suggesting that items which could interferewith the retrieval of relevant information,are ‘forgotten’ allowing the relevant andrequired information to be retrieved (Oram& MacLeod, 2001). This would be adaptivefor students studying for exams as studentsare required to study for several examswithin a close period of time, so they need tolearn several pieces of information, forexample, being able to ‘forget’ certain items(e.g. information revised for a previousexam) would be beneficial.RIF may also playa role in social psychology, such as, retrievingpersonality traits of an individual can lead toan impairment of other traits (Macrae &MacLeod, 1999). For example, participantswere asked to form impressions of two indi-viduals, John and Bill. Participants wereshown a card with the name of the individual(e.g. Bill) and a trait (e.g. romantic). RIF wasdemonstrated in this situation (see alsoMacrae & MacLeod, 1999, experiments 2and 3; Dunn & Spellman, 2003).

The above demonstrates that althoughforgetting has been thought of as ahindrance in our daily lives, it can be benefi-cial, allowing related but unwanted informa-tion to be forgotten, and the desiredmemories to be successfully recalled. Thereare, however, two different theories for howthis effect may occur, these are the non-inhibitory and inhibitory theories. Evidencehas been found for both theories; however,the inhibitory theory seems to have becomethe more dominant theory. This is an impor-tant question not only from the point of viewof forgetting, but it also has an adaptivefeature, in that related but unwanted infor-mation can be forgotten, at least temporarily,to allow desired memories to be recalledsuccessfully. This could be useful whenremembering information, and in examconditions, when we have to remember a lotof information in a small space of time. Inthis case perhaps a degree of forgetting isnot so bad after all.

Rhian WorthSwansea University.Email: [email protected]

8 PsyPAG Quarterly

Rhian Worth

Anderson, M.C. (2003). Rethinking interferencetheory: Executive control and the mechanisms offorgetting. Journal of Memory and Language, 49,415–445.

Anderson, M.C., Bjork, E.L. & Bjork, R.A. (2000).Retrieval-induced Forgetting. Evidence for arecall-specific mechanism. Psychonomic Bulletinand Review, 7, 522–530.

Anderson, M.C., Bjork, E.L. & Bjork, R.A. (1994).Remembering can cause forgetting: Retrievaldynamics in long-term memory. Journal of Experi-mental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition,20, 1063–1087.

Anderson, M.C. & Spellman, B. (1995). On the statusof inhibitory mechanisms in cognition: Memoryretrieval as a model case. Psychological Review, 102,68–100.

Bauml, K.H. (2002). Semantic generation can causeepisodic forgetting. Psychological Science, 13(4),356–360.

Ciranni, M.A. & Shimamura, A.P. (1999). Retrieval-induced Forgetting in episodic memory. Journalof Experimental Psychology, Learning, Memory andCognition, 25(6), 1403–1414.

Dunn, E.W. & Spellman, B.A. (2003). Forgetting byremembering: Stereotype inhibition throughrehearsal of alternative aspects of identity. Journalof Experimental Social Psychology, 39, 420–433.

Koutstaal, W., Schacter, D.L., Johnson, M.K. &Galluccio, L. (1999). Facilitation and impair-ment of event memory produced by photographreview. Memory and Cognition, 27(3), 478–493.

Macrae, C.N. & MacLeod, M.D. (1999). On recollec-tions lost: When practice makes imperfect.Journal of Personality in Social Psychology, 77,463–473.

MacLeod, M. (2002). Retrieval-induced Forgetting ineyewitness memory: Forgetting as a consequenceof remembering. Applied Cognitive Psychology,16(2), 135–149.

Oram, M.W. & MacLeod, M.D. (2001). Remem-bering to forget: Modelling inhibitory andcompetitive mechanisms in human memory.Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of theCognitive Science Society, 738–743.

Perfect, T., Stark, L., Tree, J., Moulin, C., Ahmed, L.& Hutter, R. (2004). Transfer appropriate forget-ting: The cue-dependent nature of retrieval-induced forgetting. Journal of Memory andLanguage, 51, 399–417.

Saunders, J. & MacLeod, M.D. (2006). Can inhibitionresolve retrieval competition through the controlof spreading activation? Memory and Cognition,31(2), 307–322.

Williams, C.C. & Zacks, R.T. (2001). Is Retrievalinduced Forgetting an inhibitory process? American Journal of Psychology, 114, 329–354.


Is there a beneficial aspect to forgetting? Inhibitory and non-inhibitory theories

References

WITH THE HELP of an internationalconference bursary from PsyPAGand a Grindley Grant from the

Experimental Psychological Society I wasfortunate in being able to attend this year’sSociety for Personality and Social Psychology(SPSP) conference in San Diego, California.The conference attracted over 3500 atten-dees, with 75 symposia and 2100 postersbeing presented in a variety of sub-disci-plines. Although these are remarkablefigures, especially considering the confer-ence lasted for only three days, the mostimpressive aspect of the conference from apostgraduate’s perspective was how theconference managed to cater to the needs ofits postgraduate members.

Even before the conference had started,the SPSP Graduate Student Committeeensured their members felt integral to theconference. The committee encouragedpostgraduate students to submit applicationsfor prestigious awards acknowledgingoutstanding postgraduate research and thebest student poster presentation. Togetherwith a monetary prize, the successful appli-cations were prominently displayed for theentirety of the conference giving the winnersa massive platform to showcase theirresearch and talents. Further to this, toinclude those of us who did not get short-listed for the prizes but wanted to contributeto the conference, postgraduate studentswere also given the opportunity to reviewapplications for the awards; an experience I thoroughly enjoyed and found to beextremely interesting and beneficial.

In addition to the prizes and the oppor-tunities to review award applications, theGraduate Student Committee organised arange of events engineered to help post-graduates get the most out of the conferenceexperience. For conference newcomers, thecommittee arranged a first-time attendeesbreakfast designed to help postgraduatesnavigate their way through the conference; agreat idea considering the somewhat intimi-dating enormity of the SPSP conference.The committee also sponsored a preconfer-ence and a symposium, and even gave aselection of postgraduates the opportunity tomeet an established researcher of theirchoice at the informal mentoring luncheon.The committee, being socially inclined, alsoorganised a social night (including freedrink!) in a nearby establishment. Thishelped to encourage networking and discus-sion of social and personality research in amore informal environment, and of coursean opportunity to explore the more socialaspects of attending conferences.

Back at the conference itself, postgradu-ates were spoilt for choice with preconfer-ences, symposia, and poster sessions in allmanner of social and personality psychologytopics. Due to its relevance to my researcharea and its 50 per cent discount forstudents, I opted to attend the GroupProcesses and Interpersonal Relations(GPIR) preconference. One of the aims ofthe GPIR preconference is to allow at leasttwo current or very recent postgraduatestudents to present their work alongsideseven established researchers of the field.

10 PsyPAG Quarterly© The British Psychological Society2012

Conference review:

Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference 2012Jennifer Paterson

San Diego, California, 26–28 January

Not only is this great for the two chosen post-graduates, but by explicitly representingpostgraduates, GPIR acknowledges theimportance of students while also providingattendees the opportunity to hear from thefield’s up and coming researchers. More-over, by being a relatively small, select groupof researchers who share many researchinterests, the preconference was a rare butideal setting to meet and converse with allthe significant people in the field.

Within the main SPSP conference, theimportance of postgraduate experiences,postgraduate research, and postgraduatestudents were continually outlined by thenotable delegates. In the Presidentialaddress, for example, Professor Devinedetailed her postgraduate experience andexplained how the difficulties encounteredduring her PhD paved the way to what hasbeen a remarkable career. She describedhow she had to defy the wishes of her super-visor to pursue the research that she waspassionate about. Although the research wasdeemed ‘risky’ and had its setbacks (as allresearch does), she highlights this experi-ence as pivotal because it not only openedup a whole new field of innovative research,the experience also gave her confidence andmotivation to pursue the research that hasmade her career so illustrious.

In receiving the Donald T. CampbellAward for distinguished career contributionsin social psychology, Jack Dovidio also elabo-rated on his postgraduate experience withhis postgraduate supervisor and long timecollaborator, Sam Gaertner. In contrast toProfessor Devine’s experience with a scep-tical PhD supervisor, Professor Dovidiodescribed his relationship with ProfessorGaertner as mutually encouraging, enthusi-astic and supportive, a sentiment that is

supported by the 133 papers they have co-authored in over 40 years of collaboration.However, the focus of the address was not hisown postgraduate experience; ProfessorDovidio used the occasion to specificallyhighlight the work of his postgraduatestudents indicating that these researcherswere ‘the future of SPSP’. He detailed hispostgraduates’ work with such enthusiasmand pride that it was evident that, for him,postgraduates are not only important to thefield because they have the potential to bringnew ideas and fresh approaches, they alsohelp to reinvigorate and motivate the moreexperienced researchers as well.

With such notable scholars acknowl-edging the importance of postgraduatestudents, research and experiences, alongwith the variety of the Graduate StudentCommittee’s events, I felt that the SPSPconference genuinely recognised andrewarded its postgraduate students. I left theconference not only informed with newsocial psychological research, I left feelingmotivated and excited to continue myresearch and lucky to belong to a field that issupportive and appreciative of its postgradu-ates. I would thoroughly recommend theSPSP conference to any interested postgrad-uate student. Not only is it an extremelyrewarding experience but next year it is inNew Orleans which promises to make theconference academically, culturally, andsocially stimulating.

Jennifer PatersonSocial Psychology Postgraduate Researcher.Institute of Psychological Sciences,University of Leeds,Leeds LS2 9JT.Email: [email protected]


Conference review

THIS ESSAY will explore the issue ofinformed consent and ethical concernsinvolved in conducting research

involving sensitive topics or in a clinicalcontext with youths. Although readers maybe most familiar with an under 18/over 18dichotomy, informed consent and age ismuch more complex. I will discuss howcapacity to consent has been historically andcurrently assigned based on age and whatthis means for researchers in psychology andrelated fields. This discussion is relevant toresearchers who use a variety of researchmethodologies, including but not limited tothose that involve surveys, interviews, orobservational techniques. It is also relevantto current or future members of ethicscommittees and policy committees.

Discrepancies between existing profes-sional and legal standards in medical andmental health care versus youth informedconsent for research participation will bepresented and analysed. Using examples fromprimarily British policies and research, thisessay will highlight important conceptualdilemmas for researchers and institutions.First, age of consent for treatment will beexamined. Second, age of consent forresearch participation be examined in light ofage of consent for treatment. Third, the role(or lack thereof) of parents will be discussed.Fourth, issues of confidentiality will be consid-ered. Finally, the dilemmas that these some-times opposing standards can present will bediscussed. At this point, suggestions for futureresearch and policy will be presented.

Age of consent for treatmentEnglish common law (from which thecurrent laws of most English-speaking coun-tries developed in some form) with regard to

all consent, not just for treatment, is basedon a rule of sevens. This is a guideline basedon the relationship between a person’s ageand their competence under the law. Under7 years of age, people are considered legallyincompetent without exception. Between 7and 14 years of age, they are presumedincompetent, but evidence of competencecan be presented. Between 14 and 21, theyare presumed competent, but evidence tothe contrary can be provided. Some laws andpolicies now specify ages, and societal normshave changed since this common law wasindeed common. Some laws and policies canbe obscure, and so it is not safe to rely oncommon law in first instance. I will discussspecifically medical and psychotherapy/counselling consent as it is today.

For medical treatment, people in the UKwho are 16 years of age or older can consentto or refuse treatment on their own. Below16, they can consent or refuse if judgedcompetent by a medical doctor (Family LawReform Act 1969; Age of Majority Act 1969(Northern Ireland); Age of Legal Capacity(Scotland) Act 1991; Adults with Incapacity(Scotland) Act 2000; Mental Capacity Act2005; Gillick v. West Norfolk and WisbechAHA [1986] AC 112). This is commonlyknown as Gillick consent (Gillick v. WestNorfolk and Wisbech Health Authority[1986] AC 112), which refers to the standardthat when someone under 16 demonstratesunderstanding of the procedure, they areable (i.e. allowed) to consent or refuse forthemselves. Although consent for medicaltreatment has been spelled out in officialdocuments, consent for psychotherapy orcounselling has not been made so clear. Aswith medical treatment, people aged 16years or over are able to consent independ-


Informed consent in clinical research with youthsIsrael Berger

ently. People under 16 are presumed unableto consent for themselves. However, thereare no specific requirements for parentalconsent nor specific allowances for youngerconsent.

Age of consent for researchThe UK has no laws pertaining to age ofconsent for research. Local NHS researchethics committees and/or other institutionalethics committees decide on consentrequirements on a case-by-case basis or at thelevel of policy. Professional societies (e.g.British Psychological Society [BPS], 2010)publish guidelines only, but researchers andethics committees have the ultimate respon-sibility for deciding on consent require-ments. This allows great flexibility for ethicscommittees to work with researchers on theappropriate consent requirements forstudies.

This brings us to the different kinds ofconsent that can be utilised in research, orindeed any situation clinical or otherwise.Olds (2003) looked at the consent patternsof parents whose children were givenconsent forms at school to take home to besigned. This situation is one of activeconsent: in order for the children to partici-pate, the parent must actively communicateconsent to the researchers. Olds surveyednon-responding parents and found that themajority did not object to their child partici-pating in the research. Olds advocates forpassive parental consent in which parentsare given the opportunity to object to theresearch but are not required to respond inorder for the child’s participation to goahead. This approach prevents childrenfrom being excluded from research due toparents’ lack of action, which can be due tosocioeconomic difficulties that make signingconsent forms a low priority. Dent et al.(1993) found that adolescents who wereomitted from research due to lack of actionon the part of parents were at a higher riskfor health and social problems, and Pirie etal. (1989) found that adolescents with thehighest risk profiles are those least likely to

obtain parental permission. Active consentapproaches can thus lead to research that isbiased in favour of children from familieswith low risk profiles and high-socioeco-nomic status.

Involving parents in consent procedurescan also cause inadvertent coercion of theirchildren. Cohn et al. (2005) conducted astudy on consent patterns of children andparents in a hospital setting. They found thatwhen others were present, children weremore likely to report that they did not feelthat the decision to participate was theirown. In other words, if the parent wassupportive of the research, children felt thatthey had to consent to participate. This pres-ents a very important issue, as coercion ofany kind is strongly frowned upon in profes-sional societies, law, and ethics committees,so much so that many professional societiesand ethics committees discourage orprohibit research involving students orpayment to participants.

Confidentiality and youthThe Hippocratic Oath and confirmation byseveral statements by the World MedicalAssociation (WMA) since its inception in1947 (WMA 1981, 1948, 1964) state thephysician’s responsibility to patients’ confi-dentiality. The National Health Service(NHS) recognises confidentiality as animportant and complex issue (Departmentof Health, 2003). Similarly, the GeneralMedical Council (GMC) provides extensiveguidance on confidentiality (e.g. GMC,2009), and the BPS discusses confidentialityin its codes of ethics both with specificregard to research and more broadly (BPS,2009, 2010).

Sometimes parents think that they havethe right to demand that professionals breaktheir children’s confidentiality. However, thisis not necessarily the case. Parents arecommonly entitled to information in orderto fulfil their parental role. Sometimes this isinterpreted as a parental right to confiden-tial information (e.g. in some parts of theUS, Maradiegue, 2003). England and Wales


Informed consent in clinical research with youths

likewise justify providing confidential infor-mation to parents as providing parents withthe necessary information to discharge theirparental responsibilities, but parental rightsto children’s medical information have beenfirmly rejected by British courts (DataProtection Act, 1998).

Most discussion of confidentiality forpeople under 18 years of age is in relation tosexual health, and it is widely accepted thatpeople are entitled to confidentiality in thisarea (American Academy of PediatricsCommittee on Adolescence, 1996; GMC,2007; Teenage Pregnancy Unit, 2009). Confi-dentiality is an extremely salient issue thataffects young people’s help seeking behav-iour both for sexual health as well as otherhealthcare. Cheng et al. (1993) found that25 per cent of Massachusetts high schoolstudents would avoid health care if theycouldn’t be assured confidentiality. Reddy,Fleming and Swain (2002) report that 47 percent of teenagers would stop receiving serv-ices at Planned Parenthood and another 12 per cent would significantly alter thoseservices to avoid parental notification.

In order to provide the best servicespossible, agencies and health care fieldsmore generally must conduct research intothe needs and experiences of young people.Sixty per cent of behavioural factors that areassociated with health status indicate inadolescence; they significantly affect publichealth both now and in the future (Olds,2003). Although Olds’s research wasconducted in the US, it is likely that the 2/3of the annual US mortality for which thesehealth behaviours account holds for otherminority world countries such as the UK.

Researcher-participant relationships arenot necessarily privileged as those of solici-tors, doctors, and psychotherapists. In theUK, researchers are mandatory reporters forcertain kinds of activities, including childabuse. Beyond the reporting of specifiedillegal activities, their obligations to partici-pants are governed by professional societies’guidance and ethics committees’ decisions.

The UK is not alone in research’s grey areain terms of reporting. Jenden, Fisher, andHoagwood (1999) discuss how all US Stateshave laws pertaining to mandatory report-ing, yet the situation for researchers is muchmore uncertain. Their recommendation toseek legal advice during study design holdsfor UK-based researchers as well.

ConclusionsAlthough there are fairly clear laws and poli-cies on consent for medical treatment, thereis less clarity around psychotherapy andcounselling and even less clarity forresearch, even when medical or psycholog-ical treatment is involved. Decisions areoften made by NHS and institutional ethicscommittees that may be ill equipped to dealwith the complexities of youth consent andthe research that is necessary to ensure serv-ices that meet the needs of young people.Such ethics committees may adopt blanketpolicies that all research with under 18s orunder 16s must have parental consent.However, two general situations requireparticularly sensitive consideration to theneeds of youth. Ethics committees shouldparticularly bear in mind: What consent forresearch should be required when peopleare able to consent to treatment themselves?What consent for research should berequired when disclosing the research topicor the reason for treatment would damagethe parent-child relationship or causedanger to the child? It is crucial that ethicscommittees and professional bodies do notadopt blanket policies regarding youth orparental consent but rather evaluate theappropriate approach based on specific situ-ations and consult with knowledgeable solic-itors as appropriate.

Israel Berger, PhD CandidateUniversity of Roehampton,Whitelands College,Holybourne Avenue,London SW15 4JD.Email: [email protected]

14 PsyPAG Quarterly

Israel Berger

Adults with Incapacity Act, Scotland 2000.Age of Capacity Act, Scotland 1991.Age of Majority Act, Northern Ireland 1969.American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on

Adolescence (1996). The adolescent’s right toconfidential care when considering abortion.Pediatrics, 97, 746–751.

British Psychological Society (BPS) (2009). Code ofEthics and Conduct. Leicester: BPS.

British Psychological Society (BPS) (2010). Code ofHuman Research Ethics. Leicester: BPS.

Cheng, T.L. Savageau, J.A. Sattler, A.L. & DeWitt,T.G. (1993). Confidentiality in health care: A survey of knowledge, perceptions, and atti-tudes among high school students. Journal of theAmerican Medical Association, 269, 1404–1407.

Cohn, M., Ginsburg, K.R., Kassam-Adams, N. & Fein,J.A. (2005). Adolescent descisional autonomyregarding participation in an emergency depart-ment youth violence interview. American Journal ofBioethics, 5(5), 70–74.

Data Protection Act, United Kingdom 1998.Dent, C.W., Galaif, J., Sussman, S., Stacy, A., Burtun,

D. & Flay, B.R. (1993). Demographic, psychoso-cial and behavioral differences in samples ofactively and passively consented adolescents.Addictive Behaviors, 18(1), 51–56.

Department of Health (DoH) (2003). NHS Confiden-tiality Code of Practice. Leeds: DoH.

Family Law Reform Act, United Kingdom 1969.General Medical Council (GMC) (2007). 0–18 years:

Guidance for all doctors. London: GMC.General Medical Council (GMC) (2009). Confiden-

tiality. London: GMC.Gillick v. West Norfolk and Wisbech AHA (1986).

AC 112.

Jensen, P.S., Fisher, C.B. & Hoagwood, K. (1999).Special issues in mental health/illness researchwith children and adolescents. In H.A. Pincus,J.A. Lieberman & S. Ferris (Eds.), Ethics in psychi-atric research (pp.159–175). Washington, DC:American Psychiatric Association.

Maradiegue, A. (2003). Minor’s rights versus parentalrights: Review of legal issues in adolescent healthcare. Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health,48(3), 170–177.

Mental Capacity Act, United Kingdon 2005.Olds, R.S. (2003). Informed-consent issues with

adolescent health behaviour research. AmericanJournal of Health Behavior, 27(Suppl. 3),S248–S263.

Pirie, P., Thompson, S., Mann, S., Peterson, A.,Murray, D., Flay, B. & Best, J. (1989). Trackingand attrition in longitudinal, school-basedsmoking prevention research. Preventive Medicine,18, 249–256.

Reddy, D.M., Fleming, R. & Swain, C. (2002). Effectof mandatory parental notification on girls’ useof sexual health care services. Journal of the American Medical Association, 228, 710–714.

Teenage Pregnancy Unit (2009). Guidance for fieldsocial workers, residential social workers and fostercarers on providing information and referring youngpeople to contraceptive and sexual health services.Leeds: Department of Health.

World Medical Association (1948). Declaration ofGeneva.

World Medical Association (1964). Declaration ofHelsinki.

World Medical Association (1981). Declaration ofLisbon on the Rights of the Patient.


Informed consent in clinical research with youths

References

THE European Human Behaviour andEvolution Society (EHBEA) wasfounded in 2008 and has since estab-

lished a popular annual interdisciplinaryconference. The society branches betweenPsychology, Anthropology, and Sociologyinvolving anybody with an interest in evolu-tionary accounts of human cognition, behav-iour, and culture. This year’s conferencetook place in Durham, England, and wasattended by around 230 delegates fromacross Europe and North America.

A total of seven exceptionally interestingplenary lectures were delivered throughoutthe conference. Opening the meeting wasProfessor Leslie Aiello, giving an excitingoverview of the expensive tissue hypothesisand its development across the last 15 years.Further plenary speakers included AndyWhiten, Ian Penton-Voak and Simon Kirby.The new investigator award, annually givenout by EHBEA, went to Pontus Strimling forhis novel modelling approaches to the evolu-tion of culture. In his talk Pontus demon-strated that it is unlikely that a generalmodel predicting cultural evolution will befound.

Aside from classic evolutionary andbehavioural topics there was also a confer-ence-session entitled ‘New Frontiers inEvolutionary Psychology’ exploring novelapproaches to mate choice research. Itincluded a talk by Tamas David-Barrettdemonstrating that the analysis of Facebookprofile pictures can provide highly insightfulinformation about sex differences in socialgroups: While women appear to have one or

two close friends (as depicted by groups oftwos or threes on profile pictures) men tendto be members of much larger, though lessintimately linked groups (as depicted byfrequent display of group photographs withup to 10 or 15 members in them). In thesame session Edward Morrison highlightedthe importance of movement and in partic-ular, gait, for attractiveness judgementsrecommending a focus shift away from staticimages to more real-life moving displays inthe study of attractiveness.

General topics throughout EHBEAincluded facial attractiveness, life-historytheory, mating strategies and evolution ofbehaviour. The structure of the conferencewas such that there were few parallelsessions. While this meant that only relativelyfew talks could be presented in total, it alsoallowed for delegates to hear talks on topicsperhaps not immediately relevant to theirown work. This arrangement presented agreat opportunity for all attendees to gain awider understanding of their field in generalas well as be aware of current research withinhuman evolution and behaviour.

A poster session, accompanied by locallybrewed beer, was held on the secondevening. More than 100 posters werepresented on a large variety of topics. Postersby students and more established academicswere intermixed, making the display diverseand informative. The session was broadlysplit into three areas: ‘EvolutionaryPsychology’, ‘Cultural Evolution’ and‘Behavioural Ecology’. The award for thebest student poster went to Emily Emmott


Conference review:

European Human Behaviour and EvolutionSociety ConferenceCarmen E. Lefevre

Durham, England, 25–28 March

for her contribution entitled ‘How much dofathers matter? Paternal investment effectson height in a Bristol cohort study’. Theresearch explored whether father presenceinfluences height, an indicator of physicaldevelopment, when controlling for maternalinvestment. Results indicate that maternalinvestment but not paternal investment isimportant for physical development inchildren.

The social programme of the conferenceincluded a cruise on the River Wear, theevolutionary rapper Baba Brinkman, and theconference dinner at spectacular DurhamCastle. Additionally a student lunch wasorganised during which students could meetone of the plenary speakers and chat to theminformally. It can be hard to approach andtalk to more senior academics at conferencesso this lunch provided a great opportunityand was well received by many students whomade use of this unique chance.

Durham proved itself a great conferencelocation. It is a beautiful place with manyexciting sights. The world heritage sites ofDurham Castle and Cathedral are particu-larly worth visiting. The cathedral is thelargest Norman-style building in England.Lastly, the great sunny and warm Springweather made this week in Durham a greatexperience.

Overall EHBEA provides a great oppor-tunity to learn about both the latest advancesand historical development in the field ofevolutionary and behavioural science. It is anexcellent platform for the presentation ofnovel work since the audience is generallyfriendly and encouraging. Its relatively smallsize enables communication with other dele-gates both during question sessions at theend of each talk and during more informalsettings such as coffee breaks and socialevents.

Carmen E. LefevreUniversity of St. Andrews.Email: [email protected]


Conference review

IAM A KNITTER. Well, really more of acrocheter these days, but ‘knitter’ rollsmore easily off the tongue. It’s something

I started doing regularly about three yearsago, in the month-long gap I had betweenfinishing my Masters and beginning my PhD.Having moved to a completely new part ofthe country, I was looking for something todo with my spare time, and not yet knowinganyone in the area, I went to my local libraryand borrowed some instructional books withbasic crochet patterns.

Apart from a few mild (and one or twosomewhat less mild) bouts of frustrationwhen learning stitches from poorly drawntwo-dimensional sketches and endlesslylooped tutorial videos, it’s something I foundmyself picking up fairly rapidly. I quicklygrew to find both knitting and crochetimmensely enjoyable, calming, and satisfyingactivities. As soon as the time came to startmy PhD, I immediately signed up to one ofthe student-run societies on campus –KnitSoc – a small but vibrant group of craftyfolks who meet up for a couple of hoursevery Monday, armed with wool and needles,to sit, chat, eat cake, and make things.

Over the years I’ve been enjoying goingto this group, I’ve gained a real sense that itdoes me a lot of good. It almost goes withoutsaying that doing a PhD can be highlystressful at times, and I know a number ofpeople who find it difficult to ‘switch off’from their work. I think I’m fortunateenough to be a relatively cheerful person bynature, but I always come away from ourknitting sessions feeling uplifted, relaxed,happy, and with a better sense of perspectiveabout what matters in life – that there’s noneed to devote energy to being worked up byparticipants who don’t show up to your

experiment, scary quantities of ‘trackchanges’ comments on your work from yoursupervisor, SPSS not behaving, again…repeat ad nauseum. People walking past oursmall gaggle on a Monday evening oftenmake comments to the effect that we look‘really chilled’ or ‘very Zen’. I’ve come tobelieve that not only are crafts like knittingand crochet – particularly when done with agroup of people – an excellent pastime,they’re an important means of accessingsomething that is fundamental to our senseof well-being.

The psychologist in me is really inter-ested in this idea of why knitting, both as asolitary activity and something done with agroup, seems to have this positive effect.Having searched the literature, there seemsto be very little in the way of peer-reviewedresearch that has examined the effects ofregular needlecraft (knitting, crochet, etc.),either alone or in groups, on mental healthand well-being.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the obvious‘little old lady’ stereotype of the knitter,much of the research has focused on olderadults. However, the research seems to haveunanimously positive things to say about itscognitive and emotional benefits. Correla-tional evidence from a large populationstudy of individuals over 70 years old demon-strated that engagement in craft activities,including knitting, was associated withdecreased odds of experiencing age-relatedmild cognitive impairment (Geda et al.,2011). Prospective evidence from anotherlarge study, conducted in France, demon-strated that knitting predicted lowered levelsof dementia (Fabrigoule et al., 1995). In asingle case study of a 70-year-old Alzheimer’spatient, engagement with a knitting inter-


Loose ends: Unravelling the benefits of knittingRosemary Kingston

vention resulted in decreased feelings ofapathy and depressed mood (Adam et al.,2000). However, the research hasn’t beenentirely limited to the study of older adults.In a study exploring the effects of anxietymanagement in inpatients with anorexianervosa, patients reported that knitting wasbeneficial in reducing feelings of anxiety:they reported that it lessened the intensity oftheir fears and thoughts, that it had acalming and therapeutic effect, and that itgave them a sense of pride and accomplish-ment (Clave-Brule et al., 2009).

Whilst there is undoubtedly a lack ofresearch examining the psychological effectsof knitting specifically, I think one can get asense of why it may have positive cognitiveand emotional effects by extrapolating ideasfrom research in other areas. For instance,when considering knitting or crochet as anactivity that can be done in a group, socialpsychological research has repeatedlydemonstrated that social interaction haspositive influences on both physical andmental health and well-being (e.g. Cohen &Wills, 1985). Considering the characteristicsof knitting itself, an activity that can equallybe enjoyed alone or in a group, there are anumber of other reasons why it may confersome psychological benefit. It has beennoted that the state of mind that one getsinto when knitting is not dissimilar to mind-fulness meditation: ‘paying attention in aparticular way: on purpose, in the presentmoment, and non-judgementally’ (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p.4). Manning (2004, p.3)remarks, ‘I began to tune into the common-alities between practising mindfulness medi-tation and the actions of knitting. Bothrequire light attention to the environment,both allow the mind to rest, both have anatural object of focus that contributes arhythmic quality to the experience.’Research indicates that mindfulness practice

has a positive influence on psychologicalfunctioning, and can also help to relievesymptoms of a variety of mental health prob-lems (e.g. Baer, 2003). In addition, the factthat knitting and crochet are creativeprocesses that tend to evoke a sense ofpersonal productivity and satisfaction mayalso explain some of the positive psycho-logical outcomes. Research has demon-strated that participation in creative activitiesis associated with self-reported improve-ments in health and increased quality of life,self-efficacy, and self-esteem (Batt-Rawden &Tellnes, 2005). Undoubtedly, there arenumerous reasons as to why knitting mayhave such positive effects, and for a moreextensive discussion of these ideas, seeCorkhill (2008).

I would be delighted if, in writing thisarticle, I had persuaded some of you that itmight be fun or even psychologically benefi-cial to have a go at knitting or crochet ifyou’ve never done it before. Likewise, if youhave vague memories of a kindly grand-mother showing you the ropes when youwere younger, I hope I’ve encouraged you todig out your needles! If you’re interested,see if there’s a knitting group at your univer-sity or in your local area (check the websitewww.ravelry.com), and if not, perhapsconsider starting a group with some like-minded friends. I feel I’ve gained so muchfrom being a knitter, and really hope thatmore people take it up and gain as muchpleasure and enjoyment from it as I do.

The AuthorRosemary Kingston is a PhD student based inthe Mood Disorders Centre research group, in thePsychology department at the University of Exeter.Her research explores why some people have atendency to ruminate and worry excessively.E-mail: [email protected]


Loose ends: Unravelling the benefits of knitting

Adam, S., Van der Linden, M., Juillerat, A.C. &Salmon, E. (2000). The cognitive managementof daily life activities in patients with mild tomoderate Alzheimer’s disease in a day carecentre: A case report. Neuropsychological Rehabili-tation, 10, 485–509.

Baer, R.A. (2003). Mindfulness training as a clinicalintervention: A conceptual and empirical review.Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10,125–143.

Batt-Rawden, K.B. & Tellnes, G. (2005). Nature-culture-health activities as a method of rehabili-tation: An evaluation of participants’ health,quality of life and function. International Journal ofRehabilitation Research, 28, 175–180.

Clave-Brule, M., Mazloum, A., Park, R.J., Harbottle,E.J. & Birmingham, C.L. (2009). Managinganxiety in eating disorders with knitting. Eatingand Weight Disorders, 14, 1–5.

Cohen, S. & Wills, T.A. (1985). Stress, social support,and the buffering hypothesis. PsychologicalBulletin, 98, 310–357.

Corkhill, B. (2008, April). Our theories so far. In Stitchlinks. Retrieved 29 April 2012, from:http://www.stitchlinks.com/pdfsNewSite/research/Our%20theories%20so%20far%20New_%20unshuffled%20watermarked_4.pdf

Fabrigoule, C., Letenneur, L., Dartigues, J.F.,Zarrouk, M., Commenges, D. & Barberger-gateau, P. (1995). Social and leisure activities andrisk of dementia: A prospective longitudinalstudy. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 43,485–490.

Geda, Y.E., Topazian, H.M., Lewis, R.A., Roberts,R.O., Knopman, D.S., Pankratz, V.S. et al. (2011).Engaging in cognitive activities, ageing, and mildcognitive impairment: A population-based study.Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences,23, 149–154.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, there you are:Mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York:Hyperion.

Manning, T.J. (2004). Mindful knitting: Invitingcontemplative practice to the craft. Boston, MA:Tuttle Publishing.

20 PsyPAG Quarterly

Rosemary Kingston

References

THE Acoustics 2012 congress took part inNantes, France, from the 23–27 April2012 and was co-organised by the

French Acoustical Society (SFA) and the UKInstitute of Acoustics (IOA) with support ofthe European Acoustics Association (EAA).The congress covered topics ranging fromPhysiological and Psychological Acousticsthrough Aero and Hydro Acoustics toSpeech Production. The congress was heldat the Cité Internationale des Congrès deNantes that is located at the centre of the cityNantes, which is the sixth largest city inFrance. With its multitude of small cafés,cozy restaurants and easily accessible historicattractions, Nantes was the ideal venue torelax following a day of thought-provokingpresentations and discussions.

This congress represented my very firstinternational conference and provided mewith the rare opportunity to disseminate anumber of very important findings of myresearch for the first time in public in formof an oral presentation.

The congress started with an openingceremony in which the audience was treatedto jazz music played by experienced localmembers of the acoustic community. Thegeneral co-chairmen Michel Bérengier(SFA) and Keith Attenborough (IOA)opened with a formal welcome in which theyoutlined the factors that facilitated the emer-gence of this congress. In addition, theyemphasised that the goal of this congress wasnot solely to present attendees with aprogramme that exhibited the latest devel-opments in acoustics, but to also encouragemore students to showcase their research tothe public and to foster the exchange of

information through networking with atten-dees from around the world. Given theconsiderably higher number of studentspresenting at this conference compared tothe amount of students in previous Acousticsconferences, the goal can be consideredaccomplished.

Moreover, the congress offered plenty ofopportunities to interact and network withfellow acousticians from different parts ofthe world. At the end of the ceremony, twoplenary lectures on the acoustical moni-toring of water infrastructure and on vibro-acoustics modelling were delivered byProfessor Kirill Horoshenkov (University ofBradford) and by Professor NoureddineAttala (Sherbrooke University) respectively.

Across the duration of the congress,more than 825 of invited and contributedpapers, poster presentations and eightkeynote lectures were featured. Due to nineparallel running sessions, it was unfortu-nately not possible to be present at morethan a small selection of talks and thereforeI’ll highlight those presentations that I attended and found particularly fasci-nating. One talk that captured my attentionwas a presentation on ‘Formant frequenciesof British English vowels produced by nativespeakers of Farsi’ in which evidence insupport of Kuhl’s perceptual magnet hypoth-esis was presented. Accordingly, vowelsounds by participants with Farsi as their firstlanguage and English as their secondlanguage were recorded. As predicted,‘good’ examples of English vowels weregenerated when a Farsi vowel existed in closeproximity in formant space to the requiredEnglish vowel. However, it was shown that


Conference review:

The Acoustics 2012 CongressJayanthiny Kangatharan

Nantes, France, 23–27 April

Farsi speakers’ production of English vowelsfor which comparable equivalent in Farsiwere absent, was sizably poorer. Producedformants were frequently closer to thoseformants for other Farsi vowels. Conse-quently, participants were observed to oftenconfuse particular English vowels. This talkand its references were especially useful tome given my own focus on speech percep-tion and formant measurement.

Another highlight was the keynotelecture by Professor Daniel Pressnitzer(Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Paris) enti-tled ‘The adaptive auditory mind’. It drewupon recent evidence according to whichthe capacity to adapt quickly in operation tonearby sounds and tasks represents a mainelement of brain function by which efficientlistening is made possible. The idea of Audi-tory Scene Analysis (ASA) was then intro-duced which describes the capability tofollow the origin of a sound in a mixture. Itwas argued that ASA is implementedthrough a broadly distributed neuralnetwork by which the entire processingchain is focused on the stream of attention.The manner in which the human auditorysystem copes with natural acoustic sceneswith success was then suggested to besubstantially facilitated by adaptive coding.Moreover, an interplay between levels ofprocessing (features, ASA, memory) wasproposed as well as a pervasiveness of rapidadaptive plasticity in the auditory system.This keynote lecture was especiallyintriguing and informative to me as it dealtwith the auditory cortical areas regardingcorrelates of streaming, a topic that I’meager to address in my own research as well.

The Acoustics 2012 congress alsoenabled me to attend presentations thatwere not relevant to my area of researchthereby allowing me to acknowledge theresearch carried out in the broaderacademic community of acoustics. High-lights include a fascinating talk on ‘Dampingof flexural vibrations in rectangular plates byslots of power-law profile’, which dealt withthe applications of acoustic black holes.

Another engaging talk was entitled ‘Compar-ison of temporal and frequency methodsapplied to ultrasonic nonlinear signals’,which compared two approaches in theirefficiency when the temporal signal iscontaminated through equipment and envi-ronmental noises. There was also a rivetingposter presentation on the ‘Acoustic emis-sion analysis of a laminate under a differentloading rate’ which examined the effect ofstacking sequence of laminates on the evolu-tion of damage mechanisms. These presen-tations illustrate not only the extensive arrayof research being exhibited at the Acoustics2012 congress but also indicate the excep-tionally high standard of talks and posters.

In addition to showcasing the mostrecent developments in the different aspectsof acoustics, the congress provided its atten-dants with a wealth of opportunities tonetwork. Events included a musical evening,the cruise and congress banquet, technicalvisits as well as diverse tours to explore thedifferent attractions of Nantes. TheAcoustics 2012 congress also offered awelcome cocktail and a student receptionthat included a variety of enthralling oppor-tunities for ancillary relaxation where fellowacousticians could interact in a delightfulsetting.

My presentation took part on the last dayof the congress. With about fifty delegates in the audience, my presentation entitled ‘A-M I S-P-EA-K-I-NG C-L-E-AR-L-YE-N-OU-GH?: An investigation of thepossible role of vowel hyperarticulation inspeech communication’ was well attended.My presentation was well received and I wasgiven valuable feedback. I certainly enjoyeddelivering my talk and was sad when it wasover. Overall, I can say that I was reallydelighted with the Acoustics 2012 congressas my first conference. It enabled me to notonly present results of my research to expertsand receive feedback but to network withfellow researchers, expose myself to researchfrom across the spectrum of acoustics andinitiate some interesting collaborations. Themain strength of this conference is that the

22 PsyPAG Quarterly

Jayanthiny Kangatharan

wide range of topics certainly will addressone’s particular research while it will alsoencourage one to explore new interests,which will make one’s intellectual journeyboth more inspiring and stimulating. Thus,it offers a fair amount of opportunities forexploration and learning.

Jayanthiny KangatharanBrunel University, Kingston Lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH.Email: [email protected]


Conference review

Castle in Nantes, France.

THIS PAPER offers a reflective account ofconducting empirical research regard-ing an Assertive Outreach Team’s

(AOT) attitudes towards Community Treat-ment Orders (CTOs; Department of Health,2008). Eight staff members were interviewedregarding their experiences of using CTOs.Interview recordings were transcribed andanalysed using Interpretative Phenomeno-logical Analysis (IPA). Throughout theresearch a reflective journal was written. Onreviewing the entries I have been struck byhow closely many of the issues I haveencountered map onto those shared by theparticipants. Consequently my reflectiveaccount will be structured around the threesuperordinate themes which emerged fromthe empirical data.

Managing the processThe theme of ‘managing the process’ in myempirical research was concerned withparticipants’ evaluative accounts of the appli-cation of the CTO and covered issues such asits effectiveness, the use of collaboration andself competence. My experience ofmanaging the process of research will nowbe explored with reference to methodo-logical limitations and reflections on CTOs.

Methodological limitationsThe participants used in my study wererecruited from a service within which myclinical supervisor worked, consequentlysome staff may have felt a pressure to beinvolved and may have been guarded aboutsharing their experiences. Such risks werereduced by the study’s design; for example,no raw data was shared with that supervisor.

Despite this, it became apparent that someparticipants may have been anxious abouttheir involvement with one likening theinterview experience with ‘going over thetrenches’. Most participants were enthusi-astic about participating, however, with somestressing the importance of such research.

My own limited experience of inter-viewing should be considered. The processinvolved a steep learning curve which islikely to mean the interview qualityprogressed with each participant. Whilst Iam familiar with the use of active listeningskills, having a range of key topics to cover insuch a limited time increased the demandfor thinking ‘one step ahead’. ConsequentlyI found myself asking long or leading ques-tions and found that seeking clarificationfrom participants was important in manag-ing this. In future I would use a shorter inter-view schedule. I would also use discussionswith staff to develop the schedule, becauseon reflection they would have offered usefulideas around the issues important to them.

IPA is a qualitative method which focusesupon describing the meanings attributed bypeople to their experience (Smith, 1996). Itis phenomenological in the sense that it relatesto how one perceives the world and interpre-tative because of its reliance upon theresearchers own experience in attempting tomake sense of that experience. My experi-ence of using IPA was generally positive.There were moments, however, duringwhich I became overwhelmed by the detailrequired by the line by line analysis of tran-scripts (Shinebourne, 2011) and the amountof data generated. I also struggled at times tobalance the use of descriptive and interpre-


Conducting empirical research:Reflections on control, process andcongruence Alilce Davies

tative analysis, a trait which is thought tocharacterise the novice (Smith, Flowers &Larkin, 2009, p.103). I became seduced intogenerating further questions as I analysedthe data and was frustrated by the lack ofreciprocity involved in working with ‘one off’accounts. As my experience with IPA devel-oped however, so too did confidence in myrole as a ‘filter’. During those times it washelpful to regularly refer to my research aimsin order to focus my attention (Gee, 2011).It was challenging to write meaningfullyabout all eight interviews and I was requiredto be highly selective when constructing thefinal report, condensing over 1000 themesinto three final key concepts. Such reductionof the data required a rigorous determina-tion which also triggered anxiety relating tomy desire to capture its essence. Frequentconsultation with my supervision team wasimportant throughout this process.

Reflections on Community Treatment Orders(CTOs)Having never worked with the AssertiveOutreach population, my feelings towardsCTOs were mainly based upon my ideasabout what life might be like under suchrestrictions. Like many of the staff I inter-viewed, I felt slightly fearful that a piece oflegislation could not only stipulate whereone can live and what medication one musttake, but also that such constraints could beenforced in one’s own home. I could accept,however, that CTOs theoretically offered thepotential for care in the community thatcould facilitate recovery and was curiousabout how they had been experienced inreality. Participants had been required toreview their ideas on the use of compulsionas well as integrate a range of models in thecontext of this legislation. I was struck by theextent to which clinicians’ own professionalbackground had influenced their initial atti-tude towards this new form of treatment andhow many of those opinions had started tochange as clinical experience of the CTOhad increased. The application of ‘reflectivepractice’ seems particularly important in

maintaining awareness of the impact of one’sperspective on work and ensuring an open-minded response in the face of its challenge.My views towards CTOs remain mixed,largely because of the diversity in experi-ences shared by participants. I have anincreased awareness of the complex andsensitive nature of the issues involved intheir use and whilst I would be less nervousabout the idea of working with such powers,I am keen to develop a better understandingof their impact upon clients.

Issues around controlThe issue of control was an important themeacross the data set. Participants shared theirfears around working with coercive powers,their experience of the benefits that struc-ture could provide and their thoughtsaround the impact upon therapeutic rela-tionships. My reflections will be structuredaround related issues from the perspective ofstaff, clients and self.

Staff: Responsibility and anxietyA level of staff anxiety was apparent in theinterview data and seemed to be exacerbatedby the complexities surrounding the imple-mentation of the CTO legislation. Partici-pants spoke of various responses to thisworry, including sharing responsibility withteam members, imposing structured check-lists to inform planning and taking time overdecisions in an attempt to ‘get it right’. Manyspoke too of the way in which the ultimateresponsibility rested with the ResponsibleClinician, showing a sense of reassurance indeferral to others not dissimilar to that theydescribed as being demonstrated by clients.Participants shared their successes and joysof working with certain clients as well as thesense of frustration and hopelessness gener-ated by others. I became aware of thestrength of feeling involved in working withthese clients as well as how important it is forstaff themselves to feel valued in order thatthey can effectively work with others. I wasconscious also of the way participantsresponded to being interviewed and how


Conducting empirical research: Reflections on control, process and congruence

that may convey something of their style withclients. One participant almost ‘became theinterviewer’ by altering questions andrevising the order and importance of certainissues. This made me wonder about theirstyle being an attempt to elicit control,perhaps out of anxiety provoked by the situ-ation. My initial response was to adopt amore passive style out of a desire to allow theparticipant to share their experiences fully;this was replaced with increased structure asthe interview progressed and I became awareof the need to cover all questions. Anotherparticipant spoke of how, when faced with aclient who ‘pushes the boundaries’, herresponse was often to enforce them morestrictly in order to maintain control. Thistype of interaction is likely to be influencedby the early experiences of both staff andclient (Gray & Mulligan, 2010; Tyrell et al.,1999) and reinforces the importance ofreflecting upon one’s own personality styleand emotional needs when working clinically.

Client: Compliance and boundariesWhilst interviewing staff about their experi-ences of working with people on a CTO, I was intrigued by the variety of client reac-tions. I heard examples of clients for whomthe CTO had enhanced their recovery andtheir engagement with services and alsolistened to situations where the CTO hadthreatened the therapeutic relationship andactivated clients’ feelings of disempower-ment and rage. I became curious about thefactors which influence this diversity inresponse. It seems counter-intuitive on onelevel to elect to be under compulsory powers,and yet that is exactly what some clients haddone. For them, deferring the responsibilityof their care may have served as an avoidantstrategy to protect from a greater level ofawareness which may have generated furtherdistress. There were others for whom non-compliance appeared to serve as a strategyfor maintaining control. Several participantsdescribed the influence of personality issuesand one suggested a potential link with

attachment theory, ideas which aresupported by research into recovery styles(Drayton, Birchwood & Trower, 1998; Tait,Birchwood & Trower, 2004). The client’sability to accept their experience ofpsychosis and maintain an open and respon-sible stance to its treatment, impacts uponengagement (Tait, Birchwood & Trower,2003). An understanding of clients’ relation-ship with their psychosis is, therefore, impor-tant when considering the likely outcomes ofthe CTO and the usefulness of boundaries asoutlined by its criteria.

Self: Managing perfectionismI was struck by how my personal style soclosely related to the issues raised by theresearch. Perhaps it is no coincidence; I didafter all choose to study this area. Whilstconducting this research I was confronted bymy desire to maintain control and ‘get thingsright’, aspects which mirrored some of theexperiences of my participants. For me, thispersonality trait was emphasised in thecontext of increased anxiety triggered by thesignificance of completing my thesis.Throughout the process as enthusiasm fluc-tuated, so did motivation levels; sometimes adesire to do well prevented me from movingon to the next stage. From talking with othertrainees, I am relieved that this phenom-enon is common and from experience I amaware that I am not the only psychologist todemonstrate obsessional traits in some areas.Whilst I do believe that being thorough canbenefit one’s work, being distracted byassessing your own performance (‘Am Igetting this right?’) can distract from thetask in hand, and in extreme cases can bedetrimental (Covington, 1984). It is anothermanifestation of an avoidant strategy andcan be likened to the responses of staff andclients in the face of distressing stimuli. Forme this was crystallised when I found myselfspending an excessive amount of time re-analysing a few pages of interview transcriptout of concern that something had beenoverlooked. It was only afterwards that I became aware I had become ‘stuck’ on a

26 PsyPAG Quarterly

Alice Davies

transcript of someone who had shared theirown tendency to spend too long on tasks outof their personal need to ‘get things justright’. Being aware of one’s own style isessential in helping to understand the inter-action between ‘self’ and ‘other’ in theprocess of both research and clinical work(Mollon, 1989). It is also important to findways of managing such anxiety in order tomaintain good psychological health (Souza,Egan & Rees, 2011).

CongruenceThe final theme of ‘Congruence’ was inter-pretative in nature and arose from aperceived experience of conflict for staffbecause they appeared to need to integratethe CTO with other models. They were alsoled to update their ideas around the use ofcompulsion. This theme also relates to myexperiences of research as I applied my ownprinciples to my work and managed the, attimes, competing demands of conductingresearch within the constraints of thedoctoral training requirements.

Professional integrityThroughout this process I have been aware ofethical responsibilities relating to conductingpsychological research. Because of the timepressures faced by staff in the NHS, I waskeen to minimise the time required of anyone participant. Whilst it was not difficult toadhere to basic ethical principles such as ‘theright to withdraw’ and ‘informed consent’(British Psychological Society, 2009a, 2009b)I experienced a sense of responsibilitytowards the data generated, the participantswho offered their views and the clients whomthey serve. I value the information shared bymy participants and have attempted to repre-sent their experiences as best I can. At thesame time my thoughts have been with theutility of the research findings and in a studywhich is perhaps distant from the voice of theclient, I am hopeful that the clinical rele-vance of the findings will contribute to thecontinuing work of the AOT and benefit thepopulation they serve.

Clinician and researcherMany of the clinical skills I have acquired asa psychologist have complemented my workas a researcher. I found myself more confi-dent towards interviewing than I would havea few years ago and better equipped withpsychological theory to interpret my findingsat a conceptual level. During clinical psycho-logy training I have improved my ability towork on a range of projects at once; a skillwhich is also congruent with the process ofresearch. As the project progressed, certaintensions did, however, arise. Whilst attendinga conference on the introductory use of IPA,I had been advised to reduce my sample sizebecause of the small scale nature of myresearch. In subsequent discussion with mysupervisors, it became clear this was not aviable option because of the specific require-ments of the thesis. There seemed, there-fore, a tension between ‘doing the best IPA I could’ and ‘doing the best IPA I couldwhilst also meeting external requirements’. I was challenged to achieve a balancebetween robustness and achievability andforced to distance myself from the expecta-tions of the depth of analysis I had returnedfrom the conference with. Such need forpragmatism can be likened to the difficultiesmany clinicians face whilst working in theNHS, where ‘ideal outcomes’ may not bepossible and sometimes doing ‘enough’must be enough. Understanding when tostop assessing, end an intervention, or in thiscase, cease data analysis are critical skillswhich this process has helped me tocontinue to develop.

ConclusionThe empirical research demonstrated parti-cipants’ need for collaborative working,supervision and self-reflection; conductingthe research also reinforced my own needfor those elements. The use of supervisionhas been valuable in helping to focus methroughout this process and as I haveexplored new areas of working, I have devel-oped an increased confidence in my ability.Understanding my experience of control


Conducting empirical research: Reflections on control, process and congruence

British Psychological Society (BPS) (2009a). Ethicalprinciples for conducting research with human partici-pants. Leicester: BPS.

British Psychological Society (BPS) (2009b). Guide-lines for minimum standards of ethical approval inpsychological research. Leicester: BPS.

Covington, M. (1984). The self-worth theory ofachievement motivation: Findings and implica-tions. The Elementary School Journal, 85(1), 5–20.

Department of Health (DoH) (2008). National Institute of Mental Health. Supervised CommunityTreatment – A guide for practitioners. London: DoH.

Drayton, M., Birchwood, M. & Trower, P. (1998).Early attachment experience and recovery frompsychosis. The British Journal of Clinical Psychology.37(3), 269–284.

Gee, P. (2011). ‘Approach and Sensibility’: A personal reflection on analysis and writingusing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.Qualitative Methods in Psychology Bulletin, 11, 8–22.

Gray, A. & Mulligan, A. (2010). Staff stress andburnout. In C. Cupitt (Ed.), Reaching out: The psychology of assertive outreach. East Sussex:Routledge.

Mollon, P. (1989). Anxiety, supervision and a spacefor thinking: Some narcissistic perils for clinicalpsychologists in learning psychotherapy. The British Journal of Medical Psychology, 62(2),113–122.

Shinebourne, P. (2011). The theoretical under-pinnings of Interpretative PhenomenologicalAnalysis. Existential Analysis, 22(1), 16–29.

Smith, J.A. (1996). Beyond the divide between cogni-tion and discourse: Using interpretative phenom-enological analysis in health psychology.Psychology and Health, 11, 261–271.

Smith, J.A., Flowers, P. & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpre-tative Phenomenological Analysis: Theory, method andresearch. London: Sage.

Souza, F., Egan, J. & Rees, C. (2011). The relationshipbetween perfectionism, stress and burnout inclinical psychologists. Behaviour Change, 28(1),17–28.

Tait, L., Birchwood, M. & Trower, P. (2003).Predicting engagement with services forpsychosis: Insight, symptoms and recovery style.The British Journal of Psychiatry, 182, 123–128.

Tait, L., Birchwood, M. & Trower, P. (2004). Adaptingto the challenge of psychosis: Personal resilienceand the use of sealing-over (avoidant) copingstrategies. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 185,410–415.

Tyrell, C. Dozier, M., Teague, G. & Fallot, R. (1999).Effective treatment relationships for persons withserious psychiatric disorders: The importance ofattachment states of mind. Journal of Consultingand Clinical Psychology, 5, 725–733.

and anxiety has been a valuable part of thisprocess and supported by maintaining agood balance between life at home andwork. Using leisure time to exercise, seeksupport from friends and enjoy other activi-ties has helped me to maintain a sense ofperspective. I consider myself to be a reflec-tive person and am aware of the importanceof acknowledging the impact of ‘self’ uponmy work, and maybe work upon the self. Myaim is to ensure I continue to practice in areflective way when faced with new chal-lenges as I begin my career as a qualifiedclinical psychologist.

Ali Davies (nee Morgan)Clinical Psychologist, Central Manchester University Hospitals Trust.Email: [email protected]

28 PsyPAG Quarterly

Alice Davies

References

THIS YEAR’S Psychology of WomenSection (POWS) conference was onceagain held at the fantastic venue of

Cumberland Lodge in Windsor. POWS is anorganisation which focuses on issuessurrounding gender and inequality. Individ-uals from different backgrounds, professionsand continents attended this year’s confer-ence, which lasted three days. The keythemes were focused around women andausterity, feminism and the media, feminismand sport and feminism and trans-feminism.

A compelling round-table discussion,chaired by Erica Burman (ManchesterMetropolitan University), provided a fasci-nating exploration of women and austerityin the modern day. Four professionals fromthe field gave short speeches on the issue,each providing a unique perspective. Inparticular the old-fashioned wartime mottoto ‘make do and mend’ was debated, partic-ularly in terms of how this idea fed intosociety’s constructions of modern women.

A session that I had been particularlylooking forward to was Katrina Douglas’(University of Bristol) performance entitled‘Signals and Signs’. Coming from a mostlyquantitative perspective in my currentresearch, I was excited to hear about thecreative performance-based methodologiesused to portray her research. Katrina sharedwith us a number of songs and poems thatshe created from her previous work withDavid Carless (Leeds Metropolitan Univer-sity). She performed a somewhat heart-warming song about the life of an elderlywoman who was involved in her research.

She described how, when struggling to findthe right thing to say, a rhythm wouldpresent itself that was able to tie the storytogether without need for words. Theperformance highlighted the value ofcreative-analytic methodologies in socialresearch.

Another interesting talk was given byKirsty Budds (University of Huddersfield),entitled ‘Having it all or risking it all.Constructing the choice to delay mother-hood in modern society’. Kirsty looked atmedia use regarding motherhood, and theway in which delaying motherhood isportrayed as a ‘choice’ in many of thenational newspapers. Along with the associ-ated increased risks involved in delayingmotherhood (which is commonly defined ashaving your first child after the age of 35),this, therefore, portrays women as ‘choosing’to put themselves and babies at risk. Withmany younger mums being frowned uponfor having babies at a younger (but biologi-cally ‘optimal’ age), this raised an interestingdiscussion about the limited time-frame inwhich society portrays as the ‘best’ time tohave a baby.

Ending the conference was anoutstanding talk by Professor Vikki Kranefrom Bowling Green State University, US,entitled ‘The Heteronormative Landscape ofElite Women’s Sport’. Using a queer,transnational, feminist approach, Vikkidescribed several examples of LBT athleteswho have been subjected to ‘sex testing’ (e.g.Caster Semenya). As well as describing theterrible consequences that this has had both


Conference review:

Psychology of Women Section Annual ConferenceLauren Kita

Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, 11–13 July

on the individual and their career, sheexplored the way in which these cases areoften viewed within the media. The issue ofrace is seemingly overlooked, yet a trans-national examination of media coveragereveals the stereotyped gender and racedundertones that are portrayed. At a particu-larly important time surrounding theOlympics, Vikki stressed the importance ofcontinuing to critique heteronormative andinternational representations of elite sports-women.

Overall this year’s conference was a hugesuccess. Due to the intimate nature of thevenue and the friendliness and openness ofthe attendees, it provides not only a place todebate and share research, but also a placewhere diversity is embraced, lasting friend-ships are formed, and positive memories arecreated.

The POWS conference is very welcomingof postgraduate students, offering bothundergraduate and postgraduate prizes andbursaries to attend the conference. It is oneof the most supportive conference environ-ments that I have experienced during mytime as PhD student, and I would highlyrecommend POWS to any postgraduatestudent in this field. It is a truly unique andinspiring conference and I am excited to seewhat next year brings.

Lauren KitaPoole House (P104), Talbot Campus,Bournemouth University,Poole BH12 5BB.Email: [email protected]

30 PsyPAG Quarterly

Lauren Kita

Cumberland Lodge, Windsor.

H, BLOGGING!

I keep an occasional blog – drDrew01 onWordpress (can be found here:http://www.ntupsychology.net/). It wasintended to be about my research but islargely an opportunity for me to witter onabout whatever it is I am thinking about. I tryto keep it under 500 words (who can readmore than that? Please keep reading this).I’ve not really been doing it long, I don’tpost very often and I’m not sure if I’m muchgood at it, but it is a useful way to: (a) keepwriting (and write in a different style); (b)stretch my thoughts; and (c) reflect on them.All of which are important activities for anacademic – budding or established.

So, I thought, as an additional exercise inwriting and communicating I would presenta version of one of my posts (Tipping theVervet monkey: 20 December 2011), in thehope that it would stimulate a little thoughtand perhaps comment from the Psychologypostgraduate community. Then, as I wasthinking about doing this, it occurred to methat it might also be a good way to encourage‘You, Dear Reader’, to have a go at bloggingyourself. It’s actually a very easy thing to doand it’s remarkably satisfying. I would,however, caution you to think through whatyou are posting to the world (or even justyour mates) because you never know who’sreading. A similar word to the wise goes forFacebook and Twitter. Really, be careful.

Being a good academic should involvecommunicating with a wider community.Used wisely, blogging can be a nice entry-level opportunity to tell people what youdo/think/know about/are interested in.Few academics really grasp the importance

of doing this (I know because until recently Iwas one) beyond writing for high impactjournals that will make them superRAE/REF–able. Sure a blog won’t neces-sarily get you a Pulitzer or similar academicaccolade but it is a good forum for airingthings beyond just a few North American/Western Europeans, publishing in one ortwo limited access journals, or worse notpublishing at all (try getting a null effectpublished!). It can also (potentially) carryweight in terms of ‘esteem indicators’ andeven advertise your place of work (potentialbrownie points there).

It can also be very useful for otheracademics (see here for two very good examples: http://computingforpsycholo-gists. wordpress.com/ and http://psycholog-icalstatistics.blogspot.co.uk/)

So what of my promised blog extract?Well, here it is. I hope you enjoy it even if youdon’t agree with what I have to say:

The tipping point and free will.Psychology is about behaviour, and if we areto fully understand behaviour in all its grimeand glory, we should not be afraid to readwidely, to open our thinking to other disci-plines or to consider other ways of thinking.Forearmed is forewarned, free your mindand the rest will follow, etc, etc …

Where better to begin then, than with arecent episode of Radio 4’s Thinking Allowed(or should that be aloud?) with the ever excellent Laurie Taylor(http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qy05)? In it they discuss, from a number ofangles the notion of the tipping point.


Blogging, the tipping point, and free willAndrew K. Dunn

A

The tipping point refers to a point (largelyhypothetical; perhaps just metaphorical) atwhich a system is displaced from a state ofstable equilibrium (balance) into differentstates (see Wikipedia). Sociologists use it torefer to a previously rare or small event/phenomenon that leads to a rapid anddramatic change – think Rosa Parkes on acrowded bus.

In the latter half of the programme theydiscussed the notion that all events have aprecursor: Everything leads to a point that inturn leads to something else. Be it big orsmall, group or individual, it all has anantecedent and is, I suppose, the antecedentof other future events. The problem at themoment is calculating all the variables andthen weighting them (and nigh on impos-sible task I would suggest) thought there is aproject trying to do just. Fascinating as it is,and it is fascinating, I find this all a little bitworrying, since theoretically nothing isunpredictable (Minority Report anyone?),and no unpredictability=no free will (harddeterminism). Personally I find the notion ofhard determinism too hard to swallow butthen perhaps I’m built that way? I am moreof a Compatibilitist, and, in my version, I have some degree of free will but reality isdetermined. That is to say, I can choose but I know that it is constrained, to some degree,by previous events and the natural sciencesof physics, chemistry, and biology. Too muchlike sitting on the fence? Perhaps, but itavoids the nihilism and abandonment ofresponsibility that comes of hard deter-minism. What really worries me (and if youknow me you’ll know that I really do fretabout such things) is that if it is possible tocalculate, a priori, the tipping point, withany degree of accuracy, then where does thatleave humanity? Certainly politics could geta whole lot nastier.

On a related note (it’s in the pro-gramme) I realised that the Romantic Move-ment was actually a direct response to therationality of the enlightenment and led, I suppose, to post postmodernism. I’d neverreally thought of it like that before but thereyou go.

This is not a blog nor is it a banana. It is botha blog and a banana but not both.

And that’s it. Answers, comments andwhat-nots, on a comments card, please. Ofcourse a better idea would be to post amessage on my blog I suppose, or better stillwhy just get out there and start bloggingyourself? Happy blogging.

Andrew K. DunnNottingham Trent University, School of Social Sciences, Division of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham, NG1 4BU.Email: [email protected]

32 PsyPAG Quarterly

Andrew K. Dunn

THIS ARTICLE reflects upon the high-lights of the 26th annual meeting of theAssociated Professional Sleep Societies,

‘Sleep 2012’ held in Boston, Massachusetts. I am now coming to the end of my PhDtitled, ‘The Occupational Impact of SleepQuality’, supervised by Professor KevinMorgan of Loughborough University and Dr Andrew Hall of University Hospitals ofLeicester. I was invited to present some of myfindings on the sleep related occupationalimpairment of patients with obstructivesleep apnoea before and after treatment as aposter presentation. This was my third visitto the annual international Sleep confer-ence (www.sleepmeeting.org), which bringstogether international researchers and clini-cians from biopsychosocial sleep back-grounds, and each year I have been able tonetwork with leading experts in my field withan increased level of confidence in my ownresearch. A particular highlight was attend-ing a postgraduate training day whereleading experts provided a series of hourlyseminar sessions with small groups of early-career researchers. I attended a session onthe development of Patient ReportedOutcome Measures presented by Dr DanielBuysse (Pittsburgh), which was particularlysalient as I developed such a measure in theearly stages of my PhD and had beeninspired by Dr Buysse’s work in this area.

My research interests have broadenedover the past eight months, as I have alsobeen working as a Research Associate on anEPSRC funded project to investigate the useof social networks to improve adherence tocomputerised Cognitive BehaviouralTherapy (CBT) for insomnia (Exploiting

social Networks to Augment Cognitivebehavioural Therapy for insomnia, or‘ENACT’ for short). Of particular interest tome at the conference was a seminar on theefficacy of online therapy for insomnia. Inthe UK, despite consistent evidence tosuggest that CBT is an effective treatment forchronic insomnia, it is largely unavailable asa treatment on the NHS mainly due to a lackof resources and the costs involved with face-to-face delivery of therapy.

In the past few years, research has movedin the direction of developing cost-effectiveand accessible Computerised CBT forinsomnia, known as CCBTi. At previousSleep meetings there has been an increasingdisquiet with the limited accessibility ofpsychological treatments for insomnia, so itwas inspiring to see so much high qualityresearch being conducted into increasingaccess to CBTi. It was invaluable to attend aseminar so relevant to my research interests,and encouraging to see that the ENACTproject is moving in the same direction asother projects by leaders in this field.

After taking in a number of seminars, itwas time to refocus my attention on my PhDresearch and present my poster titled, ‘Sleeprelated occupational impairment before andafter CPAP treatment for Obstructive SleepApnoea’. Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) isa disorder characterised by complete(apnoea) or partial (hypopnoea) episodes ofupper airway obstruction occurring duringsleep due to collapse of the upper airway.Upper airway narrowing and subsequentOSA are largely caused by excess soft tissuepresent in the neck area (particularly inobese or overweight individuals). Collapse of


Conference review:

Sleep 2012Erica Kucharczyk

Boston, Massachusetts, 9–13 June

the upper airway causes decreased bloodoxygen saturation and results in briefarousals (10 to 30 seconds on average) fromsleep as the individual wakes to gasp for air.Either as a consequence of the intermittenthypoxia or the disruption to slow wave or‘deep’ restorative sleep, people with OSAtypically present with excessive daytimesleepiness, fatigue and associated impair-ments in cognitive performance, which hasthe potential to affect occupational perform-ance. In the UK, Continuous Positive AirwayPressure (CPAP) therapy is provided by anNHS sleep or respiratory medicine servicefollowing an evaluation and GP referral. A CPAP machine is a small electrical devicewhich delivers lightly pressurised air via aflexible tube to a mask worn by the patient.The pressure of the air keeps the patients’airway open while they are sleeping,minimising arousals caused by oxygen desat-uration, in order to stabilise sleep architec-ture and minimise subsequent daytimesleepiness. The study utilised the 19-itemmetric I developed in the early stages of myresearch programme, the LoughboroughOccupational Impact of Sleep Scale (LOISSfor short) and assessed patients at OSA diag-nosis and at one month following CPAP

therapy. My poster presentation summarisedthe research aims of the study as: (a) toassess sleep-related occupational impair-ment in a clinical sample of OSA patients;and (b) to assess the clinical utility of theLOISS. Results indicated that sleep-relatedoccupational impairment increased withOSA symptom severity at baseline, andsecondly that increased adherence to treat-ment was related to a decrease in occupa-tional impairment as measured by LOISS atfollow-up. The poster session was a greatnetworking opportunity; I was visited bypeople from industrial, clinical, andresearch backgrounds and I really appreci-ated the comments and questions about ourresearch. After I presented, I was able to takein some of the other posters and was pleasedto see that UK sleep research was well repre-sented from a number of institutions. I would like to thank Loughborough Univer-sity for awarding me a Research StudentConference Travel Award which made myattendance to the conference possible.

Erica KucharczykLoughborough University.Email: [email protected]

34 PsyPAG Quarterly

Erica Kucharczyk

THE FIFTH CONFERENCE of the International Society for GestureStudies (ISGS) was held at Lund Univer-

sity, Sweden, on 24–27 July 2012. The confer-ence takes place every two years and bringstogether researchers with an interest inbodily communication, in particular handgestures and sign language, from a diversearray of disciplines including Psychology,Linguistics, Anthropology, and Communica-tion Science. As well as being internationaland interdisciplinary, the conference is alsoinclusive, with American Sign Languageinterpreters present for the duration of theconference allowing for dialogue betweenhearing and non-hearing delegates.

As this was the second ISGS conference I have attended (the first being the 2010conference in Frankfurt-Oder, Germanywhere I also helped out with the conferencesummer school), my usual pre-conferencenerves were abated by my excitement at theprospect of seeing everyone that I had met atthe previous conference. I arrived on theafternoon of Monday 23 July giving me timeto explore the picturesque city of Lundbefore the conference began on Tuesdaymorning. The venue was excellent, with talksheld in the Lund University ConferenceCentre, which is set in the beautiful Lunde-gard Park. This was the perfect place to relaxand chat with other delegates during coffeeand lunch breaks, especially as we had sunnyweather for the duration of the conference.

The conference opened with a welcomeaddress from Lund University Assistant ViceChancellor, Professor Sven Strömqvist, whogave us an overview of the rich history ofLund University, which is the largest and

oldest university in Sweden. This wasfollowed by the first plenary, given by JanaIverson (University of Pittsburgh) whotalked about the role of hand gestures aspredictors of language development in bothtypically- and atypically-developing toddlersand the variability in gesture use in infants atheightened biological risk of Autism Spec-trum Disorder. This inspiring talk alignedwell with the conference theme of ‘TheCommunicative Body in Development’ andhighlighted the importance of hand gesturesduring development.

All the plenary speakers were excellentand their talks displayed the diversity ofquestions that are of interest to gestureresearchers. These included: Wendy Sandler(University of Haifa) who gave a fascinatingtalk about the gradual and visible emergenceof grammar in response to social factors in anewly-developing sign language (Al-SayyidBedouin Sign Language); Spencer Kelly(Colgate University) who discussed the inte-gration of gesture and speech, drawingexamples from a series of simple yet elegantexperiments using both behavioural andbrain approaches; and Michael C. Corballis(University of Auckland) who consideredevidence for the theory that spokenlanguage evolved from manual gestures.

Although the conference days were long,starting at 9.00 a.m. and usually ending at6.00 p.m., and packed full (five parallelsessions per day), the range of talks and thehigh quality speakers (along with the excel-lent catering for coffee and lunch breaks)more than made up for this. Talks were 20minutes long with five minutes for questionsand five minutes for room changes, and the


Conference review:

International Society for Gesture StudiesSamantha Rowbotham

Lund, Sweden, 24–27 July

timetable was well adhered to meaning thatthe changeovers between talks were mostlysmooth, although in some cases additionaltime for questioning would have been bene-ficial. The sessions covered a broad range oftopics, including gestures in learning andteaching, sign language, gestures in art andmusic, metaphor and gesture, the role ofgestures in social interaction and gestures inbilingualism/second language learning, toname but a few.

Some highlights for me included VitoEvola’s work on gestures in forensic inter-viewing and Sara Healing’s talk on the effectsof recipient visibility (telephone vs. face-to-face) on the spatial cohesiveness of sponta-neous gesture sequences. Ewa Kusmierczykpresented interesting data on the role ofgestures in building mutual understandingin the context of job interviews and how thisrelates to interview success. Alan Cienkitalked about gestural alignment betweeninterlocutors during the process of sharedremembering and presented a codingscheme to allow for coding of gestural align-ment across multiple interlocutors.

Despite (or perhaps because of) its multi-disciplinary nature, the ISGS has a friendlyand relaxed atmosphere, fostering construc-tive dialogue between delegates andproviding an excellent environment for post-graduate and early career researchers topresent and receive feedback on their work.This was the first ISGS conference at which I have given a full talk (I gave a five-minuteposter-talk at ISGS 2010), and although I wasnervous about presenting the first study ofmy PhD to an audience of gesture specialists,the talk was very well received and I obtainedvaluable feedback.

The social programme was well balancedwith events on the Tuesday and Thursdayevenings, leaving the Wednesday eveningfree for people to make their own plans. Thefirst day of the conference (Tuesday) wasrounded off with a wine reception to cele-brate the 10th Anniversary of the ISGS. Herewe were welcomed by the Mayor of Lund,Annika Annerby Johnson, and heard cele-

bratory words from past, present andhonorary presidents of the ISGS includingJurgen Streek, Adam Kendon, Susan Goldin-Meadow, and David McNeill (via video-link).As a PhD student, it was fascinating to hearabout how the ISGS has flourished over thelast decade and I felt proud to be part of afield that is still young and has so manyexciting opportunities for the future. Theconference dinner took place on theThursday evening in the sumptuoussurroundings of the Grand Hotel, Lund. Theevent was well attended, although many werediscouraged by the high ticket price (around£70). Although this is expensive, it doesreflect the relatively high cost of eating anddrinking out in Lund. The three-course mealwith wine was excellent and we were treatedto a local barbershop quartet singing RandyNewman songs between the main course anddessert.

Special thanks go to Marianne Gullberg(conference chair) and the local organisingcommittee for arranging such a fantastic andmemorable conference. At the GeneralAssembly it was agreed that the next ISGSconference is to be held in San Diego in2014 so I am eagerly awaiting that!

Samantha RowbothamPhD student, School of Psychological Sciences,University of Manchester.Email: [email protected]

36 PsyPAG Quarterly

Samantha Rowbotham

Lundegard Park, Lund, Sweden.

RESEARCHERS such as Loftus (2003)have suggested that memory is notalways an accurate process and can

often be prone to errors. These errorsfrequently lead to false memory illusions,whereby people remember details that neveroccurred, particularly when presented withincorrect or misleading information duringencoding. Recent research has since discov-ered that these false memory effects can berecreated in a controlled laboratory environ-ment using a powerful procedure known asthe Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm(DRM; Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott,1995). This procedure involves presenting alist of words that are all associates of an un-presented critical lure. For example, thewords truck, bus, train, vehicle, etc., are allassociates of the un-presented critical lurecar. Despite never being presented, whentested participants will often falsely recall orrecognise the critical lure as part of the list.

Research into false memory effects hasoften branched into interesting areas, withone of the most fascinating recent topics ofinvestigation being that of survival memory.With regard to true memory, research hasdemonstrated a benefit for words encodedin a survival context (e.g. Nairne,Pandeirada & Thompson, 2008), with wordsrated on their importance to survival beingremembered better than words rated forother aspects of semantic processing (e.g.pleasantness). Nairne et al. suggest thatsurvival related information has greateradaptive value and consequently humanmemory systems are primed to rememberthis information better. One would expect,therefore, to find fewer false memories forsurvival related information, given itsclaimed evolutionary adaptive value.

Research by Howe and Derbish (2009),however, actually found the opposite to betrue. After controlling for a wide range ofword-specific factors, such as backward asso-ciative strength (BAS; the extent to which listitems activate the critical lure), semanticdensity, arousal and valence, they found thatsurvival related items and survival relatedprocessing increased the number of falsememories produced. Given the evolutionaryvalue of survival information, an increase inerrors and false memories for this informa-tion seems to be maladaptive. One possibleexplanation as to why this may occur isproposed by the authors. They suggest thatthe priming of strongly interconnectedsurvival concepts will subsequently activateassociated concepts, guiding attention toother survival related materials. This will acti-vate survival relevant knowledge that can beused to draw attention to key aspects of theenvironment, a trait that may be essential tosurvival, despite leading to increased falsememories.

An alternative explanation may comefrom research into problem solving. Theability to solve problems in a survival relatedcontext is crucial (e.g. Leach & Ansell,2008). Strong activation of survival-relatedknowledge may not only guide attention tokey aspects in the environment, but couldalso aid problem solving processes. Difficultproblems, for example, may require a highlevel of insight that could potentially beaided by the spreading activation of conceptsin memory (Collins & Loftus, 1975).Research by Bowden et al. (2005), forexample, has suggested that insight relatedproblem solving initially involves the activa-tion of concepts in memory that are unre-lated to the solution, followed by the weak


False memory illusions in survivalcontexts: The role of problem solvingSarah Garner

activation of concepts that are critical to thesolution. Research by Kershaw and Ohlsson(2004) has also found that insight problemsolving initially involves searching throughrelated concepts in memory for relevantinformation. An increase in false memoriesfor survival related information, therefore,may not only serve the function of guidingattention, but could also serve the functionof priming and aiding adaptive problemsolving in a similar manner to true memories(i.e. via spreading activation). For example,falsely remembering the presence of a pred-ator at a location based only on animal tracesmay not just make one more wary, but couldactually provide insight into solving prob-lems and making future decisions about thislocation. Indeed, research has alreadyproposed that spreading activation may bethe underlying mechanism behind falsememories, priming and problem solving(Roediger, Balota & Watson, 2001),providing justification for studying thepotential links between all three domains.There is the possibility, therefore, that falsememory production may be more than just aby-product of problem solving, and thepotential exists to explore links betweenproblem solving theories and theories offalse memories.

Support for these ideas seems to arisewhen one considers the role of creativity.Numerous authors (e.g. Isen, Daubman &Nowicki, 1998) have drawn attention tocreativity as a useful tool in problem solving,particularly in insight problems. Creativityhas also been proposed as a potential factorinvolved in the emergence of false memo-ries. Hyman and Billings (1998), forexample, suggested a possible link betweencreativity and suggestibility in adults, withsuggestibility already being seen as a keyfactor in the production of false memories(e.g. Quas et al., 1997).

The current study addresses the issue ofwhether false memories are simply capableof priming problem solving tasks in a similarmanner to true memories. These findingsinform my future research which will be to

attempt to distinguish the function thispriming may serve with regard to survivalinformation.

A problem solving task which has beenwidely used in priming studies using truememories is the Compound Remote Asso-ciate Task (CRAT). Originally developed byMednick (1962), a CRAT involve the presen-tation of three words, for example, apple,family, house, all of which can be associatedwith a fourth word, in this case tree. In orderto gain insight and solve this problem,theories have suggested a process ofspreading activation until the correctconcept has been activated (Bowden et al.,2005), making the task an ideal problemwithin which to test a link between falsememory and priming. The experimentreported below, therefore, aimed to use thecritical lures from previously studied DRMlists to prime participants with the correctsolution to a number of these CRATs inorder to see whether problem solving is facil-itated by priming. Facilitation will be definedas an increase in the number of CRATssolved as well as a decrease in the time takento solve these CRATs. It is predicted, there-fore, that when participants are primed witha critical lure using the DRM paradigm, theywill solve more CRATs and solve them morequickly than when they are not primed.

A within-subjects design was used to studythis prediction, whereby each subject wasprimed on half of the CRAT problems with apreceding DRM list whose critical lure wasalso the solution to one of the CRAT prob-lems.

Eight CRAT problems were selected fromthe normative data produced by Bowdenand Jung-Beeman (2003). Each CRATconsisted of three words, all of which couldbe solved by a single linking word. EightDRM lists were used, consisting of 15 associ-ates of the critical lure. Lists were selectedbecause their critical lure was the same as thesolution word used in the selected CRATproblem. DRM lists were taken from thenormed associates created by Nelson,McEvoy and Schreiber (1998) and were

38 PsyPAG Quarterly

Sarah Garner

randomly divided into two groups of four.Participants were primed on half the DRMlists first and then completed all eight CRATproblems. The two sets of four DRM listswere equated on backward associativestrength (BAS) List set 1 BAS=.189; List set 2BAS=.186).

Each list was presented verbally, followedby a distractor task (counting backwards bythrees for 30 seconds). Participants werethen asked to recall as many words as theycould remember from the list. Followingstudy-test trials on four DRM lists, partici-pants attempted to solve all eight CRATproblems.

The data showed that false memory rateswere comparable to other studies usingrecall measures (e.g. Howe et al., 2009) withparticipants falsely recalling the critical lurean average of 56 per cent of the time. Themean CRAT solution rates (proportions)and the mean CRAT solution times(seconds) were calculated for each partici-pant and analysed separately in a series ofanalyses of variance (ANOVAs). For primedCRAT problems, solution rates and solutiontimes were further conditionalised onwhether the participant had produced thecritical lure during recall (i.e. primed/FM=critical lure produced and primed/No-FM=no critical lure produced). Thus,both solution rates and solution times weresubjected to separate ANOVAs where theonly factor was solution type (unprimed vs.primed/No-FM vs. primed/FM).

Concerning solution rates, there was amain effect for solution type, F(2,82)=4.09,p=.02, η2p=.09, where post-hoc tests (Tukey’sLSD) showed that solution rates werehighest for primed/FM problems (M=.65)than primed/No-FM (M=.45; p<.02) andunprimed (M=.48; p<.02) problems, and thelatter two did not differ. Concerning solutiontimes, there was also a main effect for solu-tion type, F(2,82)=7.51, p=.001, η2p=.16,where post-hoc tests (Tukey’s LSD) showedthat solution times were fastest for primed/FM problems (M=31.14) than primed/No-FM (M=45.15; p<.002) and unprimed

(M=43.74; p<.006) problems, and the lattertwo did not differ.

The findings from this study are the firstto demonstrate that false memories canprime insight based problem solving. It wasclear that when problem solutions wereprimed by the prior presentation of DRMlists whose critical lures were the solution tothat problem, both the probability andspeed of solving such problems improvedsignificantly. Key to this finding is that it isnot simply a consequence of priming of theproblem solution given the presentation of aDRM list whose critical lure is the problemsolution, but rather, the participant mustalso falsely remember that item as onehaving been presented in the list. That is, thefalse memory must, for all intents andpurposes, become part of the ‘presented’ listand be recalled along with the items thatwere actually presented.

These results strongly suggest that falsememories, like true memories, are capableof priming and facilitating problem solving.Specifically, DRM lists can prime and facili-tate performance on problem-solving tasks.However, this conclusion is restricted tocases in which the critical lure is falselyrecalled. Such facilitation is not found whenthe false critical lure has not been recalled.Indeed, priming with no recall of the criticallure resulted in problem-solving rates andtimes identical to conditions in which therewas no priming. This outcome is similar torelated findings in which falsely recalled critical lures behaved in a manner similar totrue memories (e.g. McDermott, 1997). Theimportance of the present research is that itextends the domain of false memorypriming effects to more than changes inperformance on related memory tasks.Therefore false memories can primeperformance on more complex problemsolving tasks, in particular, insight problems.

These results support the growing litera-ture to suggest that false memories canexhibit effects similar to those of true memo-ries. Secondly, they add to an emergingconsensus that false memories have benefi-


False memory illusions in survival contexts: The role of problem solving

Bowden, E.M., JungBeeman, M.J., Fleck. J. &Kounios, J. (2005). New approaches to demysti-fying insight. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9,322–328.

Collins, A.M. & Loftus, E.F. (1975). Spreading-activa-tion theory of semantic memory. PsychologicalReview, 82, 402–428.

Deese, J. (1959). Influence of interitem associativestrength upon immediate free recall. PsychologicalReports, 5, 235–241.

Howe, M.L. & Derbish, M.H. (2010). On the suscep-tibility of adaptive memory to false memory illusions. Cognition, 115, 252–267.

Howe, M.L., Wimmer, M.C., Gagnon, N. &Plumpton, S. (2009). An associative-activationtheory of children’s and adults’ memory illusions. Journal of Memory and Language, 60,229–251.

Hyman, I.E. & Billings, F.J. (1998). Individual differ-ences and the creation of false childhood memo-ries. Memory, 6, 1–20.

Isen, A.M., Daubman, K.A. & Nowicki, G.P. (1987).Positive affect facilitates creative problem solving.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52,1122–1131.

Kershaw, T. & Ohlsson, S. (2004). Multiple causes ofdifficulty in insight: The case of the nine-dotproblem. Journal of Experimental Psychology:Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 30, 3–13.

Leach, J. & Ansell, L. (2008). Impairment in atten-tional processing in a field survival environment.Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22, 643–652.

Loftus, E.F. (2003). Our changeable memories: Legaland practical implications. Nature Reviews Neuro-science, 4, 231–234.

McDermott, K.B. (1997). Priming on perceptualimplicit memory tests can be achieved throughpresentation of associates. Psychonomic Bulletinand Review, 4, 582–586.

Mednick, S.A. (1962). The associative basis of thecreative process. Psychological Review, 69, 220–232.

Nairne, J.S., Pandeirada, J.N. S. & Thompson, S.R.(2008). Adaptive memory: The comparativevalue of survival processing. Psychological Science,19, 176–180

Nelson, D.L., McEvoy, C.L. & Schreiber, T.A. (1998).The University of South Florida word association,rhyme, and word fragment norms. Available at:http://www.usf.edu/FreeAssociation/

Quas, J.A., Quin, J., Schaaf, J. & Goodman, G.S.(1997). Individual differences in children’s andadults’ suggestibility and false event memory.Learning and Individual Differences, 9, 359–390.

Roediger, H.L., III, Balota, D.A. & Watson, J.M.(2002). Spreading activation and arousal of falsememories. In H.L. Roediger, III, J.S. Nairne, I. Neath & A.M. Surprenant (Eds.), The nature ofremembering: Essays in honour of Robert G. Crowder(pp.95–115). Washington, DC: American Psycho-logical Association.

Roediger, H. L., III & McDermott, K.B. (1995).Creating false memories: Remembering wordsnot presented in lists. Journal of ExperimentalPsychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21,803–814.

cial effects in human cognition and notsimply the negative consequences we are allfamiliar with in the forensic (e.g. eyewitnessmemory) literature.

Based on these findings, the possibilityexists that false memories could be adaptive,accounting for the increase in false memo-ries for survival information found by Howeand Derbish (2009). That is, the function offalse memories may be to aid survival bypriming solutions to adaptive problems. Ifthat is the case, one would expect problemsolving to be facilitated more when partici-pants are primed with survival information

than when primed with neutral information.This hypothesis will be the focus of much ofmy future research. Meanwhile, the currentresearch has taken us a step closer to real-ising the positive aspects of false recollectionand has clearly established that false memo-ries, like true memories, can and do providesignificant benefits when it comes to morecomplex cognitive processes, specificallyinsight-based problem solving.

Sarah GarnerLancaster University.Email: [email protected]

40 PsyPAG Quarterly

Sarah Garner

References

THIS YEAR’S British PsychologicalSociety (BPS) conference was fittinglyset in the city of London. The confer-

ence was spread over three days, which gavedelegates the opportunity to move aroundthe impressive maze-like venue, the GrandConnaught Rooms, slipping in and out ofvarious symposia to suit their interests. Thisyear, the conference worked specificallytogether with four segments of the BPS:Qualitative Methods in Psychology (QMiP),Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology,Division of Academics, Researchers &Teachers in Psychology (DARTP) and theStudent conference. As a third-year PhDstudent interested in many of these strands, I found the conference more intellectuallystimulating and thought-provoking thanprevious BPS conferences. A guest appear-ance and keynote from James Cracknell alsosparked up people’s interest in sport.

Whilst some research presented still heldonto traditional viewpoints and employedconventional methods, there was also anemergence of exciting qualitative and adven-turous alternative and innovative method-ological approaches. Along one of thecorridors, I particularly enjoyed beingcaptured by the series of filmed journeys ofvarious athletic landscapes on the phenom-enon of flow (by Victoria Tischler & DavidBickerstaff: http://vimeo.com/40260708).As QMiP were particularly involved in thisconference I would like to reflect on a selec-

tion of presentations I attended, which weregiven as part of three symposiums they ran.

The three presentations that particularlycaptured my interest over the two days I wasable to attend were by Peter Reddy, HannahGravestock, and Peter Branney. On the firstday of the conference, Peter Reddy (with R. Shaw & E. Moores) from Aston Universitypresented ‘Psychology graduates in the tran-sition to employment: Negotiating employa-bility, identity and the meaning of highereducation in the class of 2011: An IPA study’.This merged interests between QMiP andTeachers and Researchers in Psychology.Peter heartily explained how this studyexplored the lived experiences of psychologygraduates (four with and four without year-long sandwich work experience placements)from a university in the Midlands. Theresearchers interviewed participants abouttheir perception of readiness and prepared-ness for graduate professional employmentand other development and emergentissues. Peter boldly focused on highlightingthe dominance of status as a driver of partic-ipants’ careers and the salience of clinicalpsychology. I found that the rich descriptivequotes from participants captured theemotional aspects and the impacts of gradu-ation and postgraduation work.

Audience debate was evoked with a focuson the pressures we also feel as the impedingachievement driven culture influences ourneed to succeed in our careers. Many of us


Conference review:

British Psychological Society Annual ConferenceHelen Owton

Grand Connaught Rooms, London, 18–20 April

A review of the Innovative Qualitative Methods in Psychology presentations

seemed to have experienced others askingus, ‘What do you want to do? What do youwant to do with your life?’ with the idea thata career should be one narrow direction withan emerging CV-building culture wherebyoften the intrinsic value and nature of doinganything is shifted into the background.Sometimes we need to be reminded that,‘You are not your CV. You are so much morethan your CV’ (Sparkes, 2007, p.528). Whilstwe need to prepare students for a careerafter university, perhaps we also need toincorporate ‘a methodology of the heart’(Pelias, 2004) and encourage a more enjoy-able nature of creativity into the way employ-ability is approached at universities.

The following day, I attended a QMiPpresentation from Hannah Gravestock(University of the Arts London) whoperformed her intriguing research onEmbodying understanding: Drawing asresearch in sport and exercise. This broughttogether interests between QMiP and Sportand Exercise Psychology. Hannah carefullyintroduced drawing as an interdisciplinaryqualitative research method and articulatedhow drawings, if applied effectively, have thepotential to enhance research methods inthe field of sport and exercise science. As afigure skater herself, Hannah used threeethnographic case studies conducted intheatre and the sport of figure skating, andwere analysed using a grounded theoryapproach. Hannah explained the concept ofdrawing as mime by using Jacques Lecoq’s(2006) understanding and application;understanding the rhythms of athletics as akind of physical poetry that affected himstrongly. Additionally, she meticulouslydiscussed and illustrated drawings of threeprominent scenographers: Rae Smith,Adolphe Appia (1862) and Casper Neher(1897–1962). Throughout, visuals streamedwith emotion and enhanced the flow of herpresentation. She also included some of herown exquisite and delicate drawings, whichare shown here.

42 PsyPAG Quarterly

Helen Owton

Paul Flowers, the chair of the symposium,(Glasgow Caledonian University) enthusias-tically opened the floor to questions wherethe audience seemed stirred by creativity.Debates touched on how there is often aprioritisation of the written word over thevisual representation, particularly inacademia. Wendy Hollway (Open Univer-sity) emphasised the importance of notbeing apologetic for not prioritising thewritten word and discussed ways in which wecan draw from alternative epistemologies,which means drawing upon ‘characterisedtraits’ (Sparkes & Smith, 2009) to judgethese (‘alternative’) types of research. Somemight remember Brett Smith’s talk in ‘All the world’s a stage’ at last year’s BPSconference (2011) where he suggested thatthe open ended lists of ‘characteristic traits’are brought to judgment with the perma-

nent capacity to add items to and subtractitems from the lists (Smith & Deemer, 2000).For example, when judging an auto ethno-graphic piece of writing, perhaps one wouldconsider whether it ‘contributes to knowl-edge’, or whether there is a ‘comprehensive-ness of evidence’, ‘believable’ or ‘respectful’.

The final presentation I would like tofocus on was by Peter Branney*; ‘I’m notgoing to ask that question because I think it’ssilly: A participative-workshop study toexplore the “quality of life” research priori-ties of patients with penile cancer’. Peterconfidently described the need for researchfocusing on patients’ perspectives withpenile cancer. The team in which Peter wasworking had decided to use a participativeworkshop design, which was a unique andinteresting way of ‘giving power’ to partici-pants. Particularly, participants took part intwo focus groups (N=10) where each groupdesigned a semi-structured interviewschedule. Then, participants (N=5) used theschedule to interview each other. Variousthemes emerged from the data: waterworks,diagnosis and disclosure, and humour. Peterdiscussed the different ways humour andlaughter seemed to prove contentious in oneof the participant-conducted interviews.Whilst many seemed to use humour as a wayto talk about uncomfortable and tabooissues, humour seemed taboo itself in certaincircumstances for some people.

Audience responses seemed interested inthe silences surrounding sexual dys/func-tion and questioned how this might havesomething to do with an embedded hege-monic masculin culture: Peter acknowl-edged that these issues were discussed morein the individual interviews than in the focusgroups. Rachel Shaw (Aston University)seemed particularly interested in the processof the research because it seemed clear thatthe research had been beneficial for thegroup involved.


Conference review

1 With Karl Witty, Debbie Braybook, Alan White (Centre for Men’s Health, Leed Metropolitan), Kate Bullen(Department of Psychology, Aberystwyth University), Ian Eardley (Pyrah Department of Urology, LeedsTeaching Hospitals NHS Trust).

Along with the abundance and somewhatrichness of qualitative and sports research I found this conference a good opportunityto catch-up with PsyPAG (ex) members andmingle with other friendly academics. Onprevious occasions, I have found the BPSconference somewhat ‘scientific’ and I wasapprehensive about presenting what somemight call ‘risky’ methodological research,but I received some positive and valuablefeedback from the compassionate and open-minded audience. So I would like to thankPsyPAG for providing me with funding toattend and present as well as QMiP foraccepting my abstract and doing such anamazing job of giving qualitative research alarge stage amidst the sports-focused BPSconference.

Helen OwtonUniversity of Exeter.Email: [email protected]

ReferencesLecoq, J. (2006). Theatre of movement and gesture

(Edited by D. Bradby). London: Routledge. Pelias, R. (2004). A methodology of the heart: Evoking

academic and daily life. Walnut Creek, CA:AltaMira Press.

Sparkes, A. (2007). Embodiment, academics, and theaudit culture: A story seeking consideration.Qualitative Research, 7, 521–550.

Sparkes, A. & Smith, B. (2009). Judging the quality ofqualitative inquiry: criteriology and relativism inaction. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 10, 491–497.

44 PsyPAG Quarterly

Helen Owton


Dates for your Diary

8 January 2013: The Grand Thistle, BristolDivision of Educational and Child Psychology Trainee Educational PsychologyConference 2013http://www.bps.org.uk/events/division-educational-and-child-psychology-trainee-educational-psychology-conference-2013

9–11 January 2013: Crowne Plaza Hotel, ChesterDivision of Occupational Psychology Annual Conference 2013www.bps.org.uk/dop2013

1 February 2013: The Rougemont Hotel, ExeterMindfulness and Mindfulness-based Approaches – From Reactivity to Respondinghttp://www.bps.org.uk/events/mindfulness-and-mindfulness-based-approaches-reactivity-responding

4 February 2013: British Psychological Society London OfficeDialogue: How to create change in organisations through conversationhttp://www.bps.org.uk/events/dialogue-how-create-change-organisations-through-conversation-2

27 February 2013: British Psychological Society London OfficeThrough the Looking Glass: Doing Sport Psychology in Elite Youth Sporthttp://www.bps.org.uk/events/through-looking-glass-doing-sport-psychology-elite-youth-sport

25 March 2013: British Psychological Society London OfficeAn introduction to the science of sleep: Psychobehavioural assessment and treatmentstrategies for people with insomnia.http://www.bps.org.uk/events/introduction-sleep-psychobehavioural-assessment-and-treatment-strategies-people-insomnia

5 April 2013: British Psychological Society London OfficeUnderstanding Qualitative Methods and Analysishttp://www.bps.org.uk/events/understanding-qualitative-methods-and-analysis

9–11 April 2013: Harrogate International Centre and Holiday Inn, HarrogateBritish Psychological Society Annual Conference 2013http://www.bps.org.uk/events/conferences/annual-conference-2013


PsyPAG Committee 2011/2012

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About PsyPAGPsyPAG is a national organisation for all psychology postgraduates based at UK Institutions. Funded by the Research Board of the British Psychological Society, PsyPAG is run on a voluntary basis by postgraduates for postgraduates.Its aims are to provide support for postgraduate students in the UK, to act as a vehicle for communication between postgraduates, and represent postgraduates within the BritishPsychological Society. It also fulfills the vital role of bringing together postgraduates fromaround the country.■ PsyPAG has no official membership scheme; anyone involved in postgraduate study in

psychology at a UK Institution is automatically a member.■ PsyPAG runs an annual workshop and conference and also produces a quarterly

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■ PsyPAG is run by an elected committee, which any postgraduate student can be voted onto. Elections are held at the PsyPAG Annual Conference each year.

■ The committee includes representatives for each Sub-Division within the BritishPsychological Society, their role being to represent postgraduate interests and problemswithin that Division or the British Psychological Society generally. We also liaise with the Student Group of the British Psychological Society to raise awareness of postgraduate issues in the undergraduate community.

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Contents

Editorial 1Blaire MorganChair’s column 3Fleur-Michelle CoiffatIs there a beneficial aspect to forgetting?– 5Rhian WorthConference review: Society for Personality and Social Psychology 10Jennifer PatersonInformed consent in clinical research with youths 12Israel BergerConference review: European Human Behaviour and Evolution Society 16Carmen LefevreLoose Ends: Unravelling the benefits of knitting 18Rosemary KingstonConference review: The Acoustics 2012 Congress 21Jayanthiny KangatharanConducting empirical research: Reflections on control, process and congruence 24Alice DaviesConference review: Psychology of Women Section’s Annual Conference 2012 29Lauren KitaBlogging, the tipping point, and free will 31Andrew DunnConference review: Sleep 2012 33Erica KucharczykConference review: International Society for Gesture Studies 35Samantha RowbothamFalse memory illusions in survival contexts: The role of problem solving 37Sarah GarnerConference review: British Psychological Society Annual Conference 2012 41Helen OwtonDates for your Diary 45

PsyPAG Committee 2012/2013 46

About PsyPAG IBC

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© The British Psychological Society 2012Incorporated by Royal Charter Registered Charity No 229642

ISSN 1746-6016

Unravelling the beneﬁts of knitting Tips on Blogging False Memory Illusions · Unravelling the...

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