Treatment of nocturnal enuresis by conditioning techniques

One hundred and fifteen enuretic children were assigned to five treatment groups. Three groups received Mowrer-type continuous signal (C.S.), Twin-Signal (T.S.) or intermittent Twin Signal (T.S.-I.R.) conditioning treatment, and two groups were given “placebo” or “arousal” control treatments. Over a one-month period, there was no difference between conditioning and control procedures, and it was concluded that further research is needed to determine the basis of treatment response. There was no evidence in support of the escape training hypothesis, and the twin-signal modification to standard bell-and-pad treatment is not recommended. The investigation confirmed the success of conditioning treatment in bringing about the initial arrest of enuresis (i.e. in 81.4 per cent of the cases) but the relapse rate was high. The investigation provided tentative evidence that intermittent conditioning treatment offers one way of reducing the frequency of relapse. The problem of obtaining satisfactory parental co-operation in a badly housed working-class population was apparent, and ways of reducing the demands that treatment imposes on parents are indicated. The results are discussed with regard to theories of conditioning treatment of nocturnal enuresis, and possible improvements in this technique of treatment.     

The effects of value confrontation and reinforcement counseling on the career planning attitudes and behavior of adolescent males

An experiment was conducted to compare the relative effectiveness of a value confrontation procedure and a procedure based on verbal operant conditioning in enhancing career development attitudes and increasing the frequency of information-seeking behavior in rural adolescent males. Ninety subjects were identified as internally controlled or externally controlled based on their locus of control scores and then randomly assigned to one of the two experimental treatment groups or a control group. The value confrontation procedure involved developing an awareness of self-dissatisfaction about one's career planning and relating this self-dissatisfaction to the importance one gave to the values logical and responsible. These values had been identified empirically in this study as having a relationship to career planning. The reinforcement counseling treatment involved the interpretation of individual career maturity data followed by the verbal operant conditioning of responses indicative of career maturity. Post tests administered 7 weeks after the treatments showed that the value confrontation procedure resulted in significantly greater frequency of information seeking for internally controlled subjects when compared to the reinforcement counseling and control procedures. No treatment was significant in increasing the maturity level of career development attitudes.     

Blocking as a retrieval failure: Reactivation of associations to a blocked stimulus

Conditioned lick suppression in rats was used to examine the effectiveness of three different “reminder” treatments in reactivating associations to a blocked stimulus in a Kamin blocking paradigm. Experiment I indicated that with our parameters prior tone-footshock pairings could block manifestation of a light-footshock association that would otherwise be evident following pairings of a light-tone compound stimulus with footshock. In Experiment II, exposure to either the US, the blocked stimulus (light), or the apparatus cues between the compound conditioning trials and testing decreased blocking. Experiments III(a) and III(b) replicated the unblocking effects seen in Experiment II and included control groups that received the identical training and reminder treatments except for the omission of the light from the compound stimulus. These latter animals failed to display behaviour comparable to the blocked and reminded subjects, thereby establishing the associative basis of suppression to the light in the animals reminded following treatment known to produce blocking. Experiment IV also replicated the results of Experiment II and included control groups that received identical light-tone compound trials and reminder treatments without prior conditioning to the tone alone. In these control groups, reminder treatments tended to disrupt rather than increase evidence of conditioning to the light. The results suggest that associations are formed to the added element of a compound despite prior conditioning to the initial element, and that failure on the test trial to retrieve these associations to the blocked CS, rather than a failure to attend to or learn about the added element, is at least in part responsible the Kamin blocking effect.     

Pavlovian feed-forward mechanisms in the control of social behavior

The conceptual and investigative tools for the analysis of social behavior can be expanded by integrating biological theory, control systems theory, and Pavlovian conditioning. Biological theory has focused on the costs and benefits of social behavior from ecological and evolutionary perspectives. In contrast, control systems theory is concerned with how machines achieve a particular goal or purpose. The accurate operation of a system often requires feed-forward mechanisms that adjust system performance in anticipation of future inputs. Pavlovian conditioning is ideally suited to subserve this function in behavioral systems. Pavlovian mechanisms have been demonstrated in various aspects of sexual behavior, maternal lactation, and infant suckling. Pavlovian conditioning of agonistic behavior has been also reported, and Pavlovian processes may likewise be involved in social play and social grooming. Several further lines of evidence indicate that Pavlovian conditioning can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of social interactions, thereby improving their cost/benefit ratio. We extend Pavlovian concepts beyond the traditional domain of discrete secretory and other physiological reflexes to complex real-world behavioral interactions and apply abstract laboratory analyses of the mechanisms of associative learning to the daily challenges animals face as they interact with one another in their natural environments.     

A review of behavioral approaches to weight control

Forty case reports and experimental studies of behavioral approaches to weight control were reviewed. The treatments, categorized as: aversive conditioning, covert sensitization, coverant conditioning, therapist controlled reinforcement and self-control of eating, were evaluated in terms of their empirical support. It was suggested that self-control procedures may be the most promising treatment, particularly when used in conjunction with therapist controlled reinforcement. Methodological difficulties and implications for future research were discussed.     

权力概念加工对视觉空间注意定向的影响：一个ERP证据

概念表征是认知心理学研究的一个重要领域。具身认知理论认为, 在概念加工过程中, 个体会以具身模拟的形式对概念所暗含的空间方位信息进行理解。本研究采用事件相关电位技术, 考察抽象权力概念加工时的激活特点。实验首先要求被试对出现在屏幕中央的词进行权力高/低判断, 接着在屏幕的上方或者下方呈现一个字母(“m”或“n”), 要求被试对目标物进行按键反应。结果发现, 当权力词隐喻的空间特性与目标物出现的位置一致时诱发了一个更大的N1波幅, 不一致时诱发了一个更大的P3波幅。该结果提示, 抽象权力概念加工时会产生自动激活空间上-下意向图示, 对权力词的加工影响了随后字母位置的判断, 并将空间注意指向了与意向图示相一致的位置, 从时间加工进程看, 起始于早期的知觉识别并一直持续到晚期的高级认知加工阶段, 权力概念加工具有内隐性。     

Differential effectiveness of various prior-cuing treatments in the reactivation and maintenance of memory

In 3 experiments, changes were examined in the characteristics of newly acquired and reinstated memories over time in preweanling rats. Experiment 1 indicated that forgetting after conditioning was monotonic, with the upper limit of retention at approximately 120 min posttraining. In Experiment 2, Ss were exposed to various elements of the training episode before testing, after either a 3- or a 24-hr retention interval. The results indicated that the prior-cuing treatments were differentially effective and that the effectiveness of a reactivation treatment may change as a function of the retention interval. Experiment 3 indicated that Ss expressed a conditioned aversion at much longer intervals following reactivation treatments than after initial conditioning. Furthermore the susceptibility of the reinstated memory to forgetting was dependent on the prior-cuing treatment used. The results suggest a change in the memorial representation of the conditioning episode over time.     

Blocking of conditioning of tentacle lowering in the snail (Helix aspersa)

Experiment 1 established the effectiveness of an appetitive conditioning of odours procedure with snails (Helix aspersa) that was subsequently used for the study of blocking. In this important phenomenon, the conditioning of a CS1 (where CS is the conditioned stimulus) prior to conditioning of a compound, CS1CS2, blocked the conditioning to the CS2. Experiments 2a, 2b, and 2c demonstrated this associative effect using three different experimental controls. Experiments 3a and 3b replicated the blocking effect and allowed us to reject an explanation of blocking based on generalized effects of several treatments of diverse stimuli in blocking and control groups (the pseudoblocking effect). The implications of these results for the study of invertebrate cognition by means of conditioning techniques are discussed.     

阈下奖励调节认知控制的权衡

本研究采用奖励版的AX-CPT任务, 通过控制奖励线索和反馈的呈现方式, 设置出基线、阈上奖励、阈下奖励三种条件, 考察习得的奖励联结和奖励动机能否以潜意识的方式影响认知任务的表现和认知控制的权衡。结果显示：奖励线索只在阈上呈现时提高AX序列的任务表现; 与基线条件相比, 阈上和阈下奖励条件下认知控制的权衡均偏向主动性控制, 且这种偏向在两者间无显著差异。这表明习得的阈下奖励线索可以调节认知控制的权衡, 使被试像阈上奖励时那样偏向主动性控制。     

Aerobic conditioning and stress reduction: Participation or conditioning?

The efficiency of an aerobic conditioning program (jogging) is compared to cognitive therapy (stress inoculation) and a waiting list control in modifying self-reported chronic stress. The participants were community residents; 48 were females and 25 were males. Treatment sessions were conducted over a 10-week period with subjects meeting in small groups for 1$\text{1}\text{2}$ hours per week. The State/Trait Inventories, a Tension Thermometer and a submaximal bicycle ergometer test were administered pre, post and follow-up. Repeated measures, multivariate analysis of variance indicated that both treatments were effective in reducing stress compared to the waiting list control and that these changes were maintained at 3-month follow-up. Multivariate analysis indicated that participants with higher initial levels of aerobic fitness did not report less stress, while participants who obtained higher levels of fitness during the conditioning program fared no better in reducing stress than their counterparts who obtained lower levels of aerobic fitness. These findings are of interest because they suggest that the psychosocial components of the fitness program were active ingredients of treatment rathee than the effects of improved cardiovascular functioning.     

Voluntary Blood Pressure Control: Operant Conditioning by a Continuous Blood Pressure Feedback Technique

Abstract

The present study evaluated a single session operant conditioning of blood pressure in borderline hypertensives. A double blind randomized two period (each lasting for 20 minutes) cross over study consisting of a treatment (operant conditioning of mean arterial blood pressure) and a control condition (heart rate) was performed. Sequence of treatments was randomly assigned. Fourteen borderline hypertensive subjects participated and were trained to decrease their continuously measured blood pressure (Finapres) and heart rate. Subjects receiving blood pressure feedback during the first session showed a significant (4.3 mmHg) decrease in diastolic blood pressure. In contrast, subjects receiving blood pressure training during the second session showed a non-significant increase in diastolic blood pressure. Treatment consisting of more sessions is a promising adjunct to antihypertensive regimens.     

Generalization of contextual fear as a function of familiarity: the role of within- and between-context associations

Three experiments in rats investigated the generalization of conditioned fear from one context (B) to both a preexposed context (A) and a novel context (C). In each experiment, when the conditioning context (B) had been preexposed, there was greater generalization to context A than to context C; but when B was novel at the outset of conditioning this difference between A and C was not observed. The implications of these results for associative treatments of the development of contextual memories are evaluated.     

Chemical aversion conditioning as a treatment for alcoholism: A re-analysis

The literature on chemical aversion conditioning is characterized by the lack of controlled clinical research. The existing data derive primarily from methodologically inadequate studies. Although short-term conditioned aversion reactions to alcohol have been demonstrated, the independent efficacy of this technique in clinical treatment remains to be shown. Beyond the failure to demonstrate the value of adding chemical aversion conditioning to more standard treatments for alcoholism, evaluation in terms of broader outcome criteria (e.g. safety, intrusiveness, acceptability, the availability of alternative methods, and cost-effectiveness) indicates that chemical aversion conditioning cannot be recommended as a standard form of treatment for alcoholism.     

Comparative evaluations of reward dimensions in honey bees: evidence from two-alternative forced choice proboscis-extension conditioning

A major challenge in understanding choice behaviour is determining how subjects evaluate alternatives that differ along multiple dimensions. Of particular interest is whether similar dimensions are compared to each other or whether each alternative is assigned an absolute value (utility). We assumed that choice proportions would follow Weber’s effect, according to which discrimination is proportional to relative difference (difference/mean). We tested honey bees in a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) paradigm of proboscis-extension response (PER) conditioning. Subjects were conditioned over six trials to associate each of two odours with sucrose solution rewards and then tested in a choice trial between the two alternatives. Each group of subjects was tested in one treatment, and there were four treatments in each of six experiments. Rewards differed in delay, duration of feeding, and sucrose concentration. In each treatment, the high-profitability alternative was better than the low-profitability alternative along a single dimension, but between treatments of each experiment values in another dimension monotonically increased. Proboscis-response proportions during the conditioning phase tended to be greater for the high-profitability alternative, and choice proportions for it in the choice phase ranged between 0.72 and 0.89 in the 24 treatments. We show for the first time that harnessed bees are sensitive to reward delay. Preferences did not differ statistically between the different treatments of any of the experiments. The results support comparative evaluation of alternatives and are pertinent to multi-attribute choice, with implications for context-dependent preferences. We also discuss the potential advantages of the 2AFC PER simultaneous choice assay.     

Analysis of treatments to alleviate forgetting in rats

Two experiments with rats investigated the effectiveness of prior-cuing treatments for alleviating forgetting of aversive conditioning. The aim was to see which retrieval cues would be most effective within different contexts. Experiment 1 examined the contexts of classical fear conditioning and instrumental avoidance training. The results indicated that the response components were sufficient to reinstate avoidance training, whereas the unconditioned stimulus (US) was most effective for classical fear conditioning. In Experiment 1, the reinforcer per se was ineffective in reinstating instrumental avoidance training. Experiment 2 manipulated the training context and found that the US could be made an effective prior-cuing treatment for instrumental training if classical conditioning components were more prevalent during training. These results are interpreted to mean that a "critical context" must be reinstated by the cuing treatment if this treatment is to promote retrieval of the memory.     

Abstract thinking increases one’s sense of power

One’s subjective sense of power often has greater influence on behavior than the amount of power one actually possesses. We propose that this sense of power may be determined in part by one’s style of information processing. As abstract thought is less constraining than concrete thought, and having power leads to more abstract thought [Smith, P. K., & Trope, Y. (2006). You focus on the forest when you’re in charge of the trees: Power priming and abstract information processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 578-596.], we predicted that thinking more abstractly would make one feel more powerful. Indeed, in four experiments, abstract thought led to a greater sense of power, greater preference for high-power roles, and more feelings of control over the environment, relative to both a concrete-thought and a control condition. This bidirectional relationship between power and abstract thinking suggests one way in which power hierarchies may be unintentionally perpetuated.     

Self‐esteem as a source of evaluative conditioning

This study was designed to examine whether self‐esteem can be used as a source of evaluative conditioning, and whether implicit or explicit self‐esteem was more predictive of the evaluative conditioning effect. Moreover, the role of contingency awareness in the acquisition of the evaluative conditioning effect was also examined. Words related to the self and a general other were served as unconditioned stimuli (USs) in the evaluative conditioning process in order to see whether the evaluation could be transferred to neutral, abstract paintings after 10 times of pairing. An evaluative conditioning effect was demonstrated in that the evaluation of the paintings became more positive after repeatedly paired with words about the self but not words about general others. Implicit self‐esteem predicted the magnitude of the evaluative conditioning effect, while the association between explicit self‐esteem and the evaluative conditioning effect was nonsignificant, both with and without the effect of contingency awareness being controlled for. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Memory Consolidation for Contextual and Auditory Fear Conditioning Is Dependent on Protein Synthesis, PKA, and MAP Kinase

Fear conditioning has received extensive experimental attention. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that underlie fear memory consolidation. Previous studies have shown that long-term potentiation (LTP) exists in pathways known to be relevant to fear conditioning and that fear conditioning modifies neural processing in these pathways in a manner similar to LTP induction. The present experiments examined whether inhibition of protein synthesis, PKA, and MAP kinase activity, treatments that block LTP, also interfere with the consolidation of fear conditioning. Rats were injected intraventricularly with Anisomycin (100 or 300 μg), Rp-cAMPS (90 or 180 μg), or PD098059 (1 or 3 μg) prior to conditioning and assessed for retention of contextual and auditory fear memory both within an hour and 24 hr later. Results indicated that injection of these compounds selectively interfered with long-term memory for contextual and auditory fear, while leaving short-term memory intact. Additional control groups indicated that this effect was likely due to impaired memory consolidation rather than to nonspecific effects of the drugs on fear expression. Results suggest that fear conditioning and LTP may share common molecular mechanisms.     

感知运动信息在概念表征中的作用

研究概念的表征问题对理解概念的本质非常重要,传统认知和具身认知视角下的概念表征理论争议的焦点在于感觉运动信息在表征中的作用。传统认知视角下的离身认知认为感知觉运动信息会转化成抽象的符号,概念表征不包含感知觉运动信息。概念表征的具身观点认为感知觉运动信息是概念表征的基础。对感知运动信息在概念表征中起作用这一命题已经达成共识。未来研究应该关注感知运动信息起作用的机制,以及抽象概念表征等问题,进一步完善发展概念表征理论。     

场独立/场依存对超媒体学习的影响:模糊容忍性的调节作用

以285名大学生为被试,自编超媒体学习系统,考察模糊容忍性在场独立/场依存和超媒体学习成绩间关系的调节作用。发现:(1)控制其他变量后,场独立倾向和模糊容忍性间呈显著负相关;(2)控制其他变量后,模糊容忍性显著正向预测超媒体学习成绩;(3)在场独立/场依存对超媒体学习成绩的影响中,模糊容忍性起到了调节作用。结果表明,模糊容忍性能够"补偿"场依存型学习者在超媒体学习中的认知"弱势"。