An investigation of reversal learning in octopus vulgaris lamarck

Eighteen octopuses were trained by a method of successive discrimination training to discriminate between a vertical and a horizontal rectangle. They were then overtrained for either 20 or 60 trials, after which they learnt the reverse discrimination. At the beginning of each reversal they were given 20 trials pretraining on the new positive stimulus. The subjects completed from two to nine reversals.

It was found that the amount of overtraining had no effect on the rate of learning the subsequent reversal. The first four reversals all took significantly longer to learn than the original problem, but did not differ significantly from one another. However, examination of the raw data suggests that later reversals do take longer to learn. The performance when learnt (i.e. on the first day of overtraining) was as good after reversal learning as after the learning of the original problem.

The results do not show definite signs that could be interpreted as an exhaustion of a limited supply of neurones available for learning.     

Problem solving ability of Octopus vulgaris Lamarck (Mollusca, Cephalopoda)

Experiments presented in this study show that Octopus vulgaris Lamarck is able to open transparent glass jars closed with a plastic plug and containing a live crab (Carcinus mediterraneus). The animals remove the plus (Operandum: O) and seize the crab (Predation :P) in one single attack. The number of unsuccessful attacks appears to decrease over a series of trials (p less than .01); during the same period exploration time remains unchanged. There is a statistically significant increase in performance over trials for O (p less than .01) and P (p less than .05) mean times analyzed by single factor ANOVA, suggesting that the learning process is accomplished either by stimulus-response association or by trial and error. We propose that Octopus vulgaris is capable of learning the solutions of both problems, Operandum and Predation, thus showing a highly developed ability of "integration" of the behavioral program.     

Reversal learning in octopus vulgaris lamarck with and without irrelevant cues

Three groups of eight octopuses each were trained on a brightness discrimination and its reversal. Within each group half the animals were overtrained on the original problem and half were not. For Group I the discrimination was a simple one, for the other two groups irrelevant cues were introduced (for Group II position and for Group III orientation).

It was found that the overtrained animals learnt the reversal significantly faster than the non-overtrained only where irrelevant cues were present (i.e. only in Groups II and III). The results are discussed in relation to various theories of discrimination reversal.     

The role of stimulus preexposure in problem solving by Octopus vulgaris

Octopus vulgaris is able to open transparent glass jars closed with plastic plugs and containing live crabs. The decrease in performance times for removing the plug and seizing the prey with increasing experience of the task has been taken to indicate learning. However, octopuses’ attack behaviors are typically slow and variable in novel environmental situations. In this study the role of preexposure to selected features of the problem-solving context was investigated. Although octopuses failed to benefit from greater familiarity with the training context or with selected elements of the task of solving the jar problem, the methodological strategies used are instructive in potentially clarifying the role of complex problem-solving behaviors in this species including stimulus preexposure and social learning. Received: 27 April 1998 / Accepted after revision: 24 July 1998     

Contrasting speech patterns in apraxia of speech and phonemic paraphasia

This study was designed to determine if perceptual phonological analysis would reveal distinctions between patients with apraxia of speech and patients with phonemic paraphasic speech. Test findings from 10 Broca's aphasics with apraxia of speech were compared to findings from 10 paraphasic speakers (5 conduction and 5 Wernicke's aphasics). Several marked differences were revealed. Predominant locus of errors and relative difficulty of different classes of phonemic segments were significant discriminators. There was a nonsignificant trend for substituted phonemes to be further from target phonetically in the paraphasic patients. In addition, the two groups showed certain consistent differences in the types of errors they produced. Apraxic patients produced many errors of transitionalization, while sequencing errors were more typical of the patients with phonemic paraphasia. The findings are interpreted in relation to a neuropsychological model of speech. It is suggested that phonemic paraphasia represents a breakdown mainly in the retrieval of phonological word patterns, while apraxia of speech is characterized predominantly by a disturbance in encoding phonological patterns into appropriate speech movements.     

Contrasting patterns in the acquisition of spatial/temporal terms

Competing hypotheses about the acquisition of terms that refer to relationships in both time and space are tested. One hypothesis is that the language of time is acquired as a spatial metaphor; consequently, such terms will be acquired in their spatial sense first. The competing hypothesis is that differential experience with the dual senses of each term will result in different patterns of acquisition, depending upon which sense is dominant in actual usage. Comprehension of before-after, first-last, and ahead-behind by 4- to 6-year-olds was assessed in spatial, temporal, and spatial-temporal meaning tasks. Results support the second view: there is no consistent order of acquisition; the sense acquired first is the dominant sense, as determined by both linguistic evidence and empirical survey.     

Appraisal patterns of envy and related emotions

Envy is a frustrating emotion that arises from upward social comparison. Two studies investigated the appraisals that distinguish benign envy (aimed at improving one's own situation) from malicious envy (aimed at pulling down the superior other). Study 1 found that appraisals of deservingness and control potential differentiated both types of envy. We manipulated these appraisals in Study 2 and found that while both did not influence the intensity of envy, they did determine the type of envy that resulted. The more a situation was appraised as undeserved, the more participants experienced malicious envy. Benign envy was experienced more when the situation was not undeserved, and the most when the situation was appraised as both deserved and controllable. The current research also clarifies how the types of envy differ from the related emotions admiration and resentment.     

Localization of targets by strabismic subjects: Contrasting patterns in constant and alternating suppressors

Strabismic subjects in whom vision in one eye is constantly suppressed localized targets at different points in space when using each eye. Whether they were esotropes or exotropes determined the relation between the two locations and the angle of their vergence error correlated with the magnitude of the interocular discrepancy. These relationships suggest that constant suppressors utilize information about posture of the dominant eye in reaching toward targets presented to the normally suppressed eye. Neither orthotropes nor strabismics in whom vision in each eye is alternately suppressed showed this anomaly. These results were attributed to differences in the way in which visual space is represented, an outcome of the pattern of use of the eyes during early development.     

Visual discrimination of shape by octopus circles and squares, and circles and triangles

An investigation of the relative discriminability of circles and squares, and circles and triangles for octopus is described. The main findings were: (1) The three pairs of figures, circle and square with base horizontal, circle and square with base at 45° to the horizontal, circle and equilateral triangle were equally discriminable for the octopus. (2) Complete transfer occurred to larger and smaller figures. (3) No transfer occurred from a square in one orientation to a square rotated through 45°, nor did training with the square in one orientation lead to any saving when the discrimination was relearned with the square in the other orientation. (4) No transfer occurred from a square to a pentagon. (5) The method of training with reward on every positive trial leads to quicker initial learning of a discrimination than training with reward only where the positive figure is attacked, but discriminatory performance with the two methods approached the same asymptote. The results are in agreement with findings with other animals where these are available for comparison.     

Adolescent patterns of communication about sexually related topics

For this investigation, a sample survey of 179 black females, representing 53 family units, provided data for examining familial patterns in the amounts of information received about the menstrual cycle, sex, and contraception among adolescent daughters, mothers, and grandmothers, and the major source of information about these three topic areas. Significant relationships were found within the triads in the amount of information received about the three topic areas, suggesting familial patterns in the amount of information transmitted intergenerationally. This sample was more likely to report mothers as the source of information, suggesting their importance as formal agents of sexual socialization. Although this sample received large amounts of information about the menstrual cycle, sex, and contraception from their mothers, much information that is necessary for sexual health and informed decision making was neglected. The very young mean age (12.3 years) at first intercourse and the low proportion (24.2%) of teenagers using a method of birth control at first intercourse suggested that intergenerational communication about sex and contraception may not be meeting adolescents' needs. Consequently, attention should be focused not only on mothers as agents of sexual socialization of teenagers, but also the quality and impact of that information on the sexual health of teenagers.     

Incidence of depression related to isotretinoin treatment in 100 acne vulgaris patients

The incidence of depression in acne patients using isotretinoin was assessed in 100 patients with moderate and nodulocystic acne. All patients received 0.75-1.00 mg/kg/day of isotretinoin for 20-28 weeks after acne was assessed. All patients' acne lesions were improved at the end of the treatment period. Psychological state was evaluated at baseline, at Month 3, and Month 6 by a psychiatrist using a Turkish version of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Only one patient's score increased to the clinical level of depression at Month 3 of treatment and declined to subclinical levels at Month 6. Although Hamilton scores increased at Month 3 over baseline scores, except for one patient, others' scores remained below the subclinical level for depression. At the end of Month 6, the mean score decreased below that at Month 3. These changes in means might be related to the onset of clinical effect of isotretinoin.     

Perceptual organization of auditory temporal patterns in European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

The perception of continuously repeating auditory patterns by European starlings was explored in seven experiments. In Experiment 1, 4 starlings learned to discriminate between two continuously repeating, eight-element, auditory patterns. Each eight-element pattern was constructed from different temporal organizations of two elements differing in timbre. In Experiments 2–7, the repeating patterns were transformed in ways designed to identify the starlings’ perceptual organization of the patterns. In Experiment 2, the starlings identified patterns beginning with novel starting points. In Experiment 3, discrimination performance was adversely affected by reorganizing the elements in the patterns. In Experiments 4 and 5, the pattern elements were altered. In Experiment 4, the patterns were constructed from two novel elements. In Experiment 5, the temporal location of the two pattern elements was reversed. The transformations of the patterns in Experiments 4 and 5 affected discrimination performance for some, but not all, of the starlings. In Experiments 6 and 7, replacing either of the two elements with silent intervals had no effect on discrimination performance. The results of these experiments identify basic grouping principles that starlings use when they perceive auditory patterns.     

Sex differences in spatial ability and activity in two vole species (Microtus ochrogaster and M. pennsylvanicus)

The hypothesis that sex differences in maze learning result from sex differences in activity was tested with wild-caught prairie (Microtus ochrogaster) and meadow (M. pennsylvanicus) voles. For 38 voles error production and activity were simultaneously measured in a series of 7 symmetrical mazes. Repeated-measures analyses of variance (ANOVAS) examined species, sex, maze, and interaction effects for 3 dependent variables: errors, activity, and errors/activity. The pattern of significant effects was very different for the errors and activity ANOVAS, which suggests that differential activity cannot explain differential error rates. In contrast, the pattern of effects was very similar for errors and errors/activity ANOVAS, which suggests that controls for activity do not remove differences in error production. These results fail to support the activity hypothesis.     

Cause and covariate: Development of two related concepts

This study used a rule-analytic technique to investigate the role of event covariation in causal judgment. Junior high school and college subjects were shown information about the co-occurrences of two potentially related events and were asked to make either causal or covariation judgments about the two events. Subjects often failed to identify covariates as causes or identified as causes events which were either unrelated or related in the opposite direction to the event to be explained. Rule analyses indicated that use of mathematically flawed strategies resulted in erroneous covariation and causal judgments. Comparisons between the junior high and college samples showed parallel improvement with increasing age for the two judgments. Strategy analyses of the covariation and causal judgments showed that males defined causes and covariates by similar rules, but that females used different rules to make the two judgments.     

An overview and analysis of journal operations, journal publication patterns, and journal impact in school psychology and related fields

This article describes the results of three studies designed to understand better the journal operations, publishing practices, and impact of school psychology journals in recent years. The first study presents the results of a survey focusing on journal operations and peer-review practices that was completed by 61 journal editors of school psychology and aligned journals. The second study presents the results of review and classification of all articles appearing in one volume year for nine school psychology journals (i.e., The California School Psychologist, Canadian Journal of School Psychology, Journal of Applied School Psychology, Journal of School Psychology, Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology Forum, School Psychology International, School Psychology Quarterly, and School Psychology Review). The third study employed multilevel modeling to investigate differences in the longitudinal trends of impact factor data for five school psychology journals listed in the Web of Science (i.e., Journal of School Psychology, Psychology in the Schools, School Psychology International, School Psychology Quarterly, and School Psychology Review). The article addresses implications for authors, editors, and journal editorial teams as well as the status and impact of school psychology journals.