Duration discrimination of filled and empty auditory intervals: Cognitive and perceptual factors

Adult subjects were presented with two auditory stimuli per trial, and their task was to decide which of the two was longer in duration. An adaptive psychophysical procedure was used. In Experiments 1, 2, and 4, the base duration was 50 msec, whereas in Experiment 3, the base duration was 1 sec. In Experiments 1, 2, and 4, it was found that filled intervals (continuous tones) were discriminated more accurately than empty intervals (with onset and offset marked by clicks). It was concluded that this difference was perceptual rather than cognitive in nature, since performance on filled and empty intervals was not affected by increasing cognitive load in a dual-task procedure (Experiment 2) but was affected by backward masking (Experiment 4). In contrast, the results of Experiment 3 showed that duration discrimination of filled auditory intervals of longer duration was cognitively influenced, since performance was impaired by increasing cognitive load. Implications for notions of perceptual processing and timing mechanisms tanderlying differences in duration discrimination with filled and empty intervals are discussed.     

Manual discrimination of force using active finger motion

In these experiments, two plates were grasped between the thumb and forefinger and squeezed together along a linear track. An electromechanical system presented a constant resistance force during the squeeze up to a predetermined location on the track, whereupon the force effectively went to infinity (simulating a wall) or to zero (simulating a cliff). The task of the subject was to discriminate between two alternative levels of the constant resistance force (a reference level and a reference-plus-increment level). Results of these experiments indicate a just noticeable difference of roughly 7% of the reference force using a one-interval paradigm with trial-by-trial feedback over the ranges 2.5≤F _o≤10.0 newtons, 5≤D≤30 mm, 45≤S≤125 mm, and 25≤V≤160 mm/sec, whereF _o is the reference force,D is the distance squeezed,S is the initial finger-span, andV is the mean velocity of the squeeze. These results, based on tests with 5 subjects, are consistent with a wide range of previous results, some of which are associated with other body surfaces and muscle systems and many of which were obtained with different psychophysical methods.     

Lithium-mediated disruptions of latent inhibition: Overshadowing by the unconditioned stimulus in flavor conditioning

In a series of experiments, the ability of a single lithium preexposure to disrupt CS effectiveness was assessed using a latent inhibition procedure. Lithium preexposure administered proximal (90 min) to a saccharin familiarization trial reduced latent inhibition whereas a similar administration more distal (360 min) to flavor familiarization failed to do so. Additional experiments demonstrated that this socalled “US overshadowing” effect was not attributable to sensitization (Experiment 2), excitatory backward conditioning (Experiment 3), or state dependency (Experiment 4). The implications of US overshadowing for proximal US-preexposure effects are discussed.     

Problems with bootstrapping pearson correlations in very small bivariate samples

Efron'sMonte Carlo bootstrap algorithm is shown to cause degeneracies in Pearson'sr for sufficiently small samples. Two ways of preventing this problem when programming the bootstrap ofr are considered.     

Hippocampal deafferentation: transplantderived reinnervation and functional recovery

A brief review is provided of the capacity of neural tissue transplants to reinnervate the deafferented hippocampus and repair functional deficits induced by the lesion. The techniques for transplantation of solid pieces of embryonic septum, locus coeruleus or raphe nuclei, or tissue suspensions of embryonic septum, to the adult rat hippocampus are described. Such grafts manifest good long-term survival, provide a good reinnervation of the hippocampus that is histochemically and biochemically appropriate and specific, can establish ultrastructural synaptic contacts with the host, and are electrophysiologically active. Rats with septal grafts manifest recovery of the capacity to learn certain aspects of radial 8-arm maze, T-maze alternation and Morris water-maze tasks. Rats with locus coeruleus grafts manifest an amelioration of lesion-induced hyperactivity. It is concluded that neural tissue transplantation provides a powerful new tool in the study of the functional organization of the hippocampus and its various neurotransmitter-specific afferent systems.     

Premenstrual syndrom

Premenstrual syndrome is a condition with cyclical mood changes occurring in 30 % of the female population of fertile ages. The symptom development is very closely related to the luteal phase indicating the existence of one or more factors during the luteal phase that provoke mental symptoms in sensitive patients. This is further supported by the fact that hysterectomized women with no menstrual bleedings but with the ovarian hormone cycle continue to show cyclical mood changes without having the cycle phase. The nature of the symptom provocating factor is still unknown but the ovarian hormones progesterone and/or estradiol are suspected. This as certain women taking oral contraceptives and sequential postmenopausal estrogen-progestagen treatment achieve mood changes. Psychological and personality factors are probably also involved, at least in the degree of the mood change and the type of mood experienced.     

Constraints on strategy construction in a speeded discrimination task

In three experiments, subjects reported the identity of a word (above or below) that appeared above or below a fixation point. On some trials, a cue presented 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, or 1,000 msec before the word indicated the relation between position and identity (i.e., whether the dimensions were compatible, e.g., above/above and below/below, or conflicted, e.g., above/below and below/above). On the other trials, the cue was withheld (Experiment 2) or it bore no information about the relation between dimensions (Experiment 1 and 3). In each experiment, the cue reduced reaction time below the level of no-cue or neutral-cue controls, indicating strategic use of the relation between dimensions. Experiments 1 and 2 manipulated the number of potential cues that could occur in a block. A stronger cuing effect was found when one cue could occur (Experiment 2) than when two cues could occur (Experiment 1). Experiment 3 manipulated practice; it revealed that with practice the cuing effect reached asymptote at shorter delays. The asymptote itself did not change. Experiment 4 showed that cue-delay effects were independent of warning interval (warning interval and cue delay confounded in Experiment 1, 2, and 3). The experiments demonstrate construction and utilization of strategies; they show that construction is sensitive to constraints imposed by the subject's goals and abilities and by the structure of the task environment.     

Chronic effects of electrical stimulation of muscle on the fractionated components of audio response time

Six male volunteer subjects underwent five weeks (15 sessions) of electrical stimulation (ES) of the triceps brachii muscle (medial head), participated in a pretest, and five weekly post-treatment performance tests of an elbow extension task. Response time (RSP) was electronically fractionated into the two components of reaction time (RT): premotor reaction time (PMT) and motor reaction time (MT): and movement time (MVT) for 45 degrees of elbow extension. Acceleration characteristics of the movement were quantified via a piezoelectric accelerometer mounted on a specially-built mechanism that allowed the desired motion in a transverse plane. Statistical analysis did not indicate significant treatment effects on the criterion measures, however, a significant linear trend for MT and significant linear and quadratic trends for MVT were indicated. Neuromuscular adaptation to the passage of electric current through nerve and muscle tissue was indicated by a significant quadratic trend and significant differences between all weekly accumulative (treatment) voltages. An unexpected significant negative correlation between PMT and MT was considered cause for further study. The particular technique of ES administration, although it produced consistant changes in RSP components (Ward and Grabiner 1981) was not as effective as methods described by other investigators for increased human performance.