The Pavlovian basis of reciprocal inhibition therapy

While there is a slight disagreement between Wolpe’s views and Pavlov’s statements concerning the application of experimental psychology to the study of psychiatry, Wolpe indicates that he owes much to Pavlov. A Pavlovian analysis of therapy by reciprocal inhibition, which includes the physiological constructs as well as Pavlovian methodology, will increase our understanding of Reciprocal Inhibition therapy. The major techniques of Reciprocal Inhibition therapy are discussed in the terms of Pavlovian method and theory. Desensitization based on systematic relaxation appears to be effective because the excitatory stimulus is presented when the subject’s cortex is predominantly in an inhibitory state while relaxed. Assertive training relies mainly on building up the excitatory process by use of the second signal system. Thought-stopping is analogous to the external inhibition procedure with the use of the second signaling system as the “extra” stimulus. Deductions from Pavlov’s typology predict that an excitable subject will be difficult to desensitize and somewhat easier to train in assertive behavior and thought-stopping. Some implications of relating Pavlovian method and theory to Reciprocal Inhibition therapy are discussed.     

Assessing pavlov’s impact on the American conditioning enterprise

In this article, the visibility of Pavlov and of Watson in American psychology are compared, and the periods of their respective influence are specified with greater precision than is afforded by merely impressionistic methods. The author also critically examines the possibility that the early history of the American classic-conditioning enterprise involved a succession of two phases: a Watsonian/speculative phase and a Pavlovian/empirical phase. In conclusion, the author assesses the possibility that the publication of Pavlov’sConditioned Reflexes (1927) “stimulated” scholarly work on Pavlovian conditioning, and finds this proposition lacking empirical support.     

Schilder and Pavlov’s theory of higher nervous activity

In the late 1920s, the Viennese psychoanalyst Paul Schilder, after performing a conditioning experiment with human subjects, criticized I. P. Pavlov’s concept of “experimental neurosis.” Schilder maintained that subjective reports by conditioned human subjects were more informative than the objectively observed behavior of conditioned dogs. In 1932, Pavlov published a rejoinder to Schilder’s critique in theJournal of the American Medical Association. Pavlov maintained that Schilder misunderstood the value and implications of the scientific, objective method in the study of experimental neurosis. In 1934, Schilder subjected Pavlov’s theory of higher nervous activity to an incisive critique in a 1935 article inImago. Schilder objected to Pavlov’s narrow, reductionist conceptualization of the conditional reflex. Schilder reiterated his view that the psychological, subjective explanation of the conditional reflex is preferable to the physiological, objective explanation, and that the inference of cortical phenomena from experimental findings might be improper. Neither Pavlov nor any of his disciples replied to Schilder. The author provides an apology for the Pavlovian position, suggesting that Schilder was unfamiliar with early and late writings of Pavlov.     

The history of a catatonic dog

This article is a condensed life-history of a dog (“V3”) born and reared in the Pavlovian Laboratory and studied until his death in 1961. A detailed study was made of his pathologic development, his relations to people, and the effects of drugs. Measurements recorded were heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, 24-hour activity, sexual reflexes, general behavior. Although early experiments were done chiefly for recording and were not considered noxious or traumatic, this dog’s general development and symptoms seem to have been “constitutionally” rather than environmentally determined. His external behavior was strikingly similar to that of a catatonic patient-flexibilitas cerea, general immobility. Of particular interest was the “Effect of Person”: in the presence of all humans who confronted him he showed catatonic postures, cardiovascular disorders (tachycardia up to 200 beats/min., bradycardia to 12 beats/min., drop of blood pressure from 150 to 75 mm Hg, arrest of heart-beat for as long as 8 seconds), moribund poses. His response to drugs illustrated the specificity to a definite “constitutional type”: sexual activity markedly increased by alcohol and rarely present except after administration of alcohol; no improvement after administration of tranquilizers, except alcohol and meprobamate, which made him act like a normal dog in behavior and in relations to people. His symptoms and reactions to both people and drugs were generally opposite to those of another dog, “Nick”, studied over his life span: Nick showed excessive activity in physiologic systems; hyperactivity (running); generally, improvement through “Effect of Person”; sexual inhibition with alcohol. Observations of the two dogs suggest that symptoms as well as reactions to drugs are the result of the “type” rather than the procedure used, that perhaps psychopathologic symptoms are due more to inborn constitution than to “conflict” (“collision”) between excitation and inhibition, and that neurotic or psychotic symptoms may not interfere with longevity-Nick lived to be 14 years old and died fighting; V3, who also spent most of his life in the laboratory, died at the age of 14.     

An empirical comparison of several interval estimation procedures for coefficient alpha

Following a general introduction to Tukey's Jackknife technique and the construction of approximate confidence intervals, ten variants of the procedure are defined for giving interval estimates for coefficient alpha. A data base of known population characteristics was generated and used to compare the robustness of the ten Jackknife alternatives with Feldt's well-known sampling theory based upon the assumptions of normality. The empirical results indicate that out of the ten variants, defined by five transformations and two methods of data subdivision, only two are justifiable competitors to Feldt's approach.     

The place of the conditioned reflex in psychology and psychiatry: Reply to reese,dykman, and peters

Razran’s “The Place of the Conditional Reflex in Psychology and Psychiatry” delivered at GAP Symposium No. 9 traced historically the influence of Russian physiology on American behavior systems, first in the classical Watson period and then in present-day Neobehaviorism. The address collated Pavlovianism and Behaviorism, and mentioned recent Soviet emphasis of interoceptive, semantic, and compound-stimulus conditioning. Within the limits of time, it dealt with group developments and not with individual contributions. And it assumed that a behavior system comprises both normal and abnormal aspects; that is, the basics of both psychology and psychiatry. The assertion by Reese, Dykman and Peters that “Psychiatrists tend to avoid contributions of experimental psychologists and vice versa” is not shared by Razran, nor, he believes, by American psychiatry and experimental psychology as such. And the assertion is contrary to the Pavlovian tradition. Pavlov’s first, 1903, publication on conditioned reflexes was entitled “Experimental Psychology and Psychopathology in Animals” which he later renamed “the physiology and pathology [or pathophysiology] of higher nervous activity.”     

The frequency of excess success for articles in Psychological Science

Recent controversies have questioned the quality of scientific practice in the field of psychology, but these concerns are often based on anecdotes and seemingly isolated cases. To gain a broader perspective, this article applies an objective test for excess success to a large set of articles published in the journal Psychological Science between 2009 and 2012. When empirical studies succeed at a rate much higher than is appropriate for the estimated effects and sample sizes, readers should suspect that unsuccessful findings have been suppressed, the experiments or analyses were improper, or the theory does not properly account for the data. In total, problems appeared for 82 % (36 out of 44) of the articles in Psychological Science that had four or more experiments and could be analyzed.     

Reduction in clinical assessment time using computer algorithms

A new mathematical procedure (BIDALGO) is suggested for application to the psychological testing field. BIDALGO, similar to past adaptive testing methods, is compared both with MMPI short-form efforts and applications in the educational testing literature. A comparison is also made between linear regression models used in past efforts and the Bayesian decision models used in BIDALGO. The requirements for an MMPI application are delineated, emphasizing branching procedures for specific scales and difficulties expected in achieving code-type congruence. Work in progress of applying BIDALGO to the depression scale and the full MMPI is also described.     

Parametric and bootstrap approaches to repeated measures designs

Recently, a nonparametric technique called bootstrapping has been recommended over the more well-known analysis of variance (ANOVA) for analyzing repeated measures data. Advocates cite as bootstrap’s advantages over ANOVA the fact that the former uses distributional information and is free of normal theory assumptions. The present study used a computer simulation to compare the two techniques calculated using data sampled from normal and nonnormal distributions. The parametric test had adequate control of Type I error rates; the nonparametric test had overly liberal Type I error rates and therefore is not recommended.     

Synergy between Positive Psychology and Indian Psychology? Reflections on Barriers and Pathways

There are points of convergences between Positive Psychology and Indian Psychology. But we do have to cross many barriers and travel some distance on converging pathways for the potential synergies between these fields to manifest. There are indicators in the global literature that Positive Psychology is maturing as an approach but this is yet to become very evident in the Indian research on Positive Psychology. Systematic efforts at discovering convergences between Indian Psychology and Positive Psychology can go a long way in enriching our understanding of well being.     

A rule-based expert system for music perception

We describe an expert system written in Pascal to simulate part of Lerdahl and Jackendoff’s (1983) theory of music perception. This program, a production system based on a Hearsay II architecture (Nii, 1986), illustrates a number of techniques, including program modularity, complex data structures, and simulated parallelism using operating system concepts.     

Pavlovian conditioning with proximal stimuli

This experiment was conducted with the objective of demonstrating that the effective stimuli in Pavlovian Conditioning are not environmental stimuli but internal physiological processes elicited by environmental input (proximal stimuli). In order to achieve the objective, afterimages in color vision were used: looking at a diffuse lightened circle after seeing a red circle yields an image of a green circle. A differential conditioning paradigm with two sequential compounds was run. In one group (G⁺B^?: n₁=10), a red circle followed by a green circle was paired with shock, whereas a red circle followed by a blue circle remained unpaired. A second group (G^?B⁺: n₂=10) received red-blue paired trials and unpaired red-green trials. Immediately after that training, subjects were tested with a new, never trained sequential compound: a red circle followed by a diffuse lightened circle. Furthermore, they were tested with the already trained compounds. Taking the environmental point of view, the never trained stimulus should elicit an orienting response lying inbetween the excitatory reaction to the paired stimulus and the inhibitory reaction to the unpaired stimulus. From the proximal point of view, the diffuse light should elicit an excitatory reaction in group G⁺B^? and an inhibitory reaction in group G^?B⁺. Electrodermal conditioned anticipatory and omission responses were measured. The results supported the proximal hypothesis. Hence, defining input in environmental terms may be the wrong way. Instead, in conceptualizing the stimulus in conditioning, the following should be considered: the processing organism itself is creating the effective stimuli.     

Multivariate data analysis in empirical research

The interpretive benefits of employing multivariate analysis methods on experimental data with more than one dependent variable are described heuristically and illustrated on a set of data from a simply designed experiment in physiological psychology. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) is performed on the 9 dependent variables contained in the sample data and on the four composites derived from a principal components analysis (PCA) of the variability of the nine. A linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is conducted following both MANOVA results, and 5 methods of determining the “important” dependent variables in the experimental-control group difference are presented and discussed in terms of the data at hand.     

The Trauma Related Shame Inventory: Measuring Trauma-Related Shame Among Patients with PTSD

This article proposes a new measurement instrument of trauma-related shame. The purpose of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties of the scores derived from the Trauma Related Shame Inventory (TRSI) by means of generalizability theory (G-theory). The psychometric analyses are based on a sample of 50 patients in treatment for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The results provided supporting construct validity evidence for the interpretation of TRSI as a homogeneous construct. The 24-item version of internal and external referenced shame yielded generalizability and dependability coefficients of .874 and .868, respectively. The distinction between shame and guilt was supported by a high generalizability coefficient of .812 for the difference scores between TRSI and guilt cognition scale. Further validity evidence was provided by a positive relationship between TRSI and a) self-judgment subscale in Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff Self and Identity 2:(3), 223–250, 2003) and b) Beck Depression Inventory (Beck Steer and Brown 1996a) when controlled for guilt. The results of the present study provided promising support for using the 24-item version of TRSI in both clinical research and practice.     

Comparison of child and adult vibrotactile thresholds as a function of frequency and duration

Psychophysical thresholds for the detection of sinusoidal vibration of the thenar eminence of the hand were determined for children and adults. The subjects in the child group were between 8 and 11 years old, and the adults were between 20 and 39 years old. Measurements were made for vibration frequencies ranging from 18 to 700 Hz and stimulus durations ranging from 28 to 1,000 msec. For both children and adults, thresholds were a Il-shaped function of stimulus frequency. However, the exact form of the function was influenced by the age of the subjects. At frequencies above 200 Hz, thresholds were virtually identical for children and adults, but below this frequency children were more sensitive than adults. This finding, in combination with known changes in the anatomy of the Pacinian corpuscle with age, is in agreement with a filter model of this cutaneous receptor. Furthermore, variation of stimulus duration resulted in data in agreement with the theory that two classes of mechanoreceptors, Pacinian and non-Pacinian, mediate the perception of vibration.     

Species-specific defense reactions and avoidance learning

Bolles (1970) proposed a theory of avoidance learning, the species-specific defense reaction (SSDR) hypothesis, which emphasized innate constraints on the response repertoire of rats in aversive situations and minimized the role of reinforcement in avoidance learning. The present paper describes Bolles’ (1970, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1978) development of SSDR theory and reviews the empirical tests of its assumptions and predictions. It is concluded that the SSDRs described by Bolles, along with some others, are highly probable in aversive situations but that the response repertoire is not limited to them. Further, there is strong evidence for reinforcement effects in the establishment and maintenance of at least some avoidance responses.     

Understanding Middle School Students’ Physical Activity and Health-Related Quality of Life: An Expectancy-Value Perspective

Assessing and promoting physical activity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) have become major public health issues, but little is known regarding HRQOL and its relation with physical activity in adolescents. This study attempted to examine relationships among middle school students’ motivation, physical activity, and HRQOL by using the expectancy-value model as a theoretical framework. Participants were 282 middle school students who responded to a previously validated inventory assessing their motivation, physical activity, and HRQOL. Correlation analyses revealed that expectancy-related beliefs and task values were positively related to physical activity and HRQOL. Physical activity was positively associated with physical, emotional, and social functioning of HRQOL. Regression analyses showed a significant relationship between increasing expectancy-related beliefs and increasing degrees of HRQOL. This research line is promising in that it can provide useful information regarding the translation of theory to practice in influencing adolescents’ physical activity and HRQOL.     

Reinforcement strength in classical conditioning of leg flexion,freezing, and heart rate in cats

Stable leg-flexion CRs were successfully elaborated in cats receiving tone-strong shock pairings, but not in cats receiving tone-weak shock pairings. Both shock USs elicited reliable flexion URs in the presence of the CS, thus satisfying the contiguity requirement basic to the Pavlovian paradigm. Elaboration of the flexion CRs required a large number of trials relative to the conditioned freezing and decelerative heart rate responses which appeared after only a very few trials in the strong-US cats. As with flexion CRs, freezing and heart-rate responses never developed with the weak-shock US. When the weak-US cats were later switched to the strong US, freezing and heart-rate CRs quickly appeared and flexion CRs appeared after fewer strong-US trials than in cats receiving the strong shock originally. The results were interpreted as supporting a reinforcement conception of classical defense conditioning and as indicating the importance of using a US capable of eliciting emotional responses.