Water drinking induced in sheep by angiotensin--a physiological or pharmacological effect?

The effect of val5-angiotensin II amide on water drinking in sheep was studied against a background of comprehensive data on arterial blood and cerebrospinal fluid angiotensin II levels in sheep under a variety of physiological conditions. Physiological range of blood angiotensin II concentration is 1-100 ng/100 ml. Intravenous infusion of angiotensin II within the physiological range did not increase water drinking. Intracarotid infusion of angiotensin II, or injection into third ventricle or hypothalamus, consistently caused immediate drinking of large amounts of water. Dosages necessary for effect were in the supraphysiological range. Quantitative examination of data in sheep and other species suggests that a physiological role for angiotensin II in thirst is not proved.     

Word association and the acquisition of reading

Two studies relating reading ability to word association responses were carried out. The first involved early readers and matched control children from pre-first-grade classes. There were 29 early readers and 29 nonreading controls matched for age, sex, and IQ. The early readers were found to give significantly more paradigmatic, or same-form-class, responses than the controls. The second study related reading ability, mental age, and word association responses in developmentally delayed teen-agers and young adults, and pre-first-grade children who varied in reading ability. With partial correlation reading ability was found to be related to paradigmatic responding, while mental age was not significantly related. These results indicate that reading acquisition may change word association responses in children through a reorganizing process in the lexicon.The authors would like to thank the Halifax and Dartmouth School Boards for their cooperation. We would also like to thank Paul Cable of Special Education, and the principals and teachers: Beth Conrad, Karen Duerdan, Elaine Fram, Peter Montgomery, Wayne Serebrin, and Bill Schipilow. Their help was greatly appreciated. An earlier version of study 1 was presented at the American Psychological Association meeting in Los Angeles, August 1981.     

Interoceptive conditioning through repeated suppression of morphine-abstinence

Experimental evaluation of Wikler’s interoceptive conditioning hypothesis of relapse to opioid use in ex-addicts requires a preliminary study of the degree of physical dependence produced by two methods of drug administration. Wistar rats were made physically dependent on morphine by single daily intravenous injections or by a continuous i.v. infusion. Rats received the same total daily dose regardless of administration schedule. The initial daily morphine dose was 20 mg/kg, and was increased every fourth day by 20 mg/kg, until a dose of 200 mg/kg per day was reached. The rats were maintained at the highest dose level for 18 days, at which time morphine was discontinued. Body weight and water intake were the primary variables measured during addiction, maintenance, and abstinence phases of the study. Equivalent and parallel changes in mean weight and water intake in injection and infusion rats indicate equivalent degrees of physical dependence were developed. This finding allows separation of the contribution of conditioning factors and of protracted abstinence in facilitating opioid self-administration in formerly-dependent organisms.     

Threat and social-choice: when eye size matters

The Environmental Security Hypothesis (T. F. Pettijohn II & A. Tesser, 1999) indicates that as environmental threat increases, the desirability of persons with neotenous features should decrease. In 2 experiments (Ns = 96, 80), the authors tested this hypothesis and a mediation account that was based on the attributions made about neotenous and mature-featured others. In each experiment, the authors manipulated threat and gave participants the choice of a neotenous (increased eye-size) or mature (decreased eye-size) female partner. The authors tested mediation in Study 1 by experimentally uncoupling attributions from facial features and in Study 2 by manipulating the participant's dependence on his or her partner. Both studies provided evidence for the Environmental Security Hypothesis: Preference for partners with neotenous facial features decreased under high threat. Support for the role of attributions as mediators was mixed. An alternative interpretation of the results indicates the possibility that responses to facial features may depend on nonconscious processing.     

How similar is similar enough? Job profile similarity benchmarks using occupational information network data

Job comparison research is critical to many human resources initiatives, such as transporting validity evidence. Job analysis methods often focus on critical attribute (e.g., tasks, work behaviors) overlap when assessing similarity, but profile similarity metrics represent an alternative or complementary approach for job comparisons. This paper utilizes Occupational Information Network (O*NET) data to establish a distribution of job profile correlations across all job pairs for five attributes – generalized work activities, knowledge, skills, abilities, and work styles. These correlations represent effect sizes, or degree of shared variance between jobs. Practitioners may reference these correlational distributions as benchmarks for gauging the practical significance of the observed degree of similarity between two jobs of interest compared to the broader world of work.     

Multiple Memory Processes Following Training That a Food Is Inedible in Aplysia

In many organisms, memory after training can be separated into a number of processes. We now report that separable memory processes are also initiated by a training procedure affecting Aplysia feeding behavior, a model system for examining the neural mechanisms underlying the regulation of a complex behavior. Four distinct memory process were identified: (1) a very short-term memory that declines within 15 min, (2) a short-term memory that persists for 0.5–1.0 hr, (3) an intermediate-term memory, observed 4 hr after training, and (4) a long-term memory that is seen only after a 12- to 24-hr delay. The four memory processes can be distinguished by the different training procedures that are required to elicit them. A single 5-min training session is sufficient to elicit the very short-term memory. However, a longer training session that continues until the animal stops responding to food is needed to elicit short-term memory. Intermediate-term memory is observed only after a spaced training procedure (three 5-min training sessions separated by 30-min intervals). A single 5-min training session that does not cause either short-term or intermediate-term memory is sufficient to induce long-term memory, indicating that short- and long-term memory are independent, parallel processes. Short- and long-term memory can also be separated by the effects of a post-training experience. Long-term, but not short-term, memory can be attenuated by cooling animals immediately after training. Cooling before the training does not affect either the training or the subsequent short- or long-term memory.     

Citizen participation and emprowerment: The case of local environmental hazards

Local environmental hazards place millions of citizens at risk of physical, emotional, and financial harm. While the discovery of such hazards can be fundamentally disempowering for individuals and communities, few scholars have examined the dynamics of empowerment in this context. We explore the relationships among forms of empowerment, citizen participation, and local environmental hazards, and offer a model of the processes of empowerment and disempowerment appropriate to a broad range of citizen issues. On the basis of this analysis we recommend a partnership approach to community decision making that is designed both to reduce the likelihood that local environmental hazards will develop and to minimize the disempowering impact of any threats that do occur.