No abstract

The inhibition of responses to interfering stimuli in a trial results in longer reaction times in the following trial in which to‐be‐ignored stimuli become targets. This is due to the fact that the residual inhibition of the distractor must be overcome before the relevant response can be produced. Such negative priming effects are wellknown inhibitory after‐effects and the focus of intensive research. However, it seems reasonable to assume that the use of inhibitory processes leaves measurable after‐effects in a variety of other tasks and situations. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether the after‐effects of inhibition could be obtained in a task measuring motor inhibition (i.e. the stop signal task). Our results indicate that inhibitory after‐effects were present in the stop signal task whether or not participants were successful in inhibiting their reactions. Moreover, inhibitory after‐effects were greater when both trials consisted of the same primary task properties. Strategic effects might explain part of the results, but there is evidence that a specific inhibition of either the stimulus, or the response to that stimulus, or both plays a role in the constitution of the after‐effects.

If subjects are asked to recollect a former response after having been informed about the correct response, their recollection tends to approach the correct response. This effect has been termed hindsight bias. We studied hindsight bias in an experiment requiring numerical responses to almanac-type questions for physical quantities. We varied (l) the time at which the correct information was provided, (2) the encoding of the original responses by asking/not asking subjects to give a reason for the respective response, and (3) the motivation to recall correctly. We found that hindsight is less biased if reasons are given and if the correct information is provided at an earlier time. Motivation had only interactive effects: (1) With high motivation to recall correctly, the time the correct information was provided had no influence. (2) With reasons given, the variation of motivation showed no effect. These results rule out purely motivational and purely automatic explanations.Subjects who are asked almanac-type questions and are given the correct information at a later time have been found to "correct" their memory for their original responses in the direction of the correct response (e.g. , Fischhoff, 1977). This result has been termed distorted or biasedhindsight. Hindsight bias has been demonstrated for several types of knowledge: football game results

Zusammenfassung. In diesem Artikel berichten wir über die Validität und Reliabilität einer deutschen Version der “Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)”. 43 Patienten im Alter zwischen 60 bis 87 Jahren wurden während ihres stationären Aufenthaltes auf einer psychiatrischen oder chirurgischen Station mit dem Mini-Mental-Status-Test, dem Diagnostischen Kurzinterview bei Psychischen Störungen (Mini-DIPS) und der GDS untersucht. Die GDS wies bei einem kritischen Wert von 13 Punkten die beste Sensitivität (84.0 %) und Spezifität (88.9 %) auf. Bei der 15-Item Kurzform der GDS konnte bei einem kritischen Wert von 6 die beste Sensitivität (84.0 %) und Spezifität (88.9 %) erzielt werden. Die mittlere Trennschärfe (.49), die mittlere Fragebogenschwierigkeit (P = 43), die niedrige Interitemkorrelation (r = .19) und die hohe innere Konsistenz (Cronbach alpha = .91) weisen die deutsche Version der GDS insgesamt als Fragebogen mit guten psychometrischen Eigenschaften aus.

The authors investigated the role of the frontal lobes and the basal ganglia in the inhibition of ongoing responses. Seventeen patients with frontal lesions (FG), 20 patients with lesions outside the frontal cortex (NFG), 8 patients with lesions to the basal ganglia (BG), and 20 orthopedic controls (OG) performed the stop-signal task that allows the estimation of the time it takes to inhibit an ongoing reaction (stop signal reaction time [SSRT]). The FG and the BG showed significantly longer SSRTs than the OG. Within the FG, patients with right and bilateral lesions showed significantly longer SSRTs than patients with left lesions. Results provide evidence for a role of the frontal lobes and the basal ganglia in the inhibition of ongoing responses.