Positive and negative patterning in human causal learning

Investigations of patterning discriminations by nonhuman animals have generally found that positive patterning is easier to learn than negative patterning. Studies of patterning discriminations in human causal learning tasks have failed to document any differences between positive and negative patterning. In the present study, human participants predicted an outcome on trials involving either a compound cue or its elements. Positive and negative patterning problems were successfully solved in a within-subjects design; negative patterning problems proved to be more difficult when an additional, 50% contingent cue was included (Experiment 2), but not when it was excluded (Experiment 1). Possible reasons for these results are discussed. The discussion concludes with an analysis of exemplar models (e.g., Pearce, 1994) of human causal learning and considers the conditions under which these models do and do not anticipate our results.     

MOOD AND WELL-BEING IN CONSECUTIVE MENSTRUAL CYCLES Methodological and Theoretical Implications

The level of consistency of cyclical change in well-being between consecutive menstrual cycles has important methodological, clinical, and theoretical implications. In this study, 109 women completed daily diaries of mood and physical well-being for two consecutive menstrual cycles. Scores in equivalent cycle phases were highly correlated, but the degree and direction of change from the pre-post menstrual phase were less consistent between cycles. Physical experiences proved more consistent across cycles than did emotional ones. Only 5.4% (nonsteroidal contraceptive users) and 7.8% (oral contraceptive users) of Cycle 2 emotional score variance could be accounted for by Cycle 1 scores compared to 15% and 22%, respectively, for physical scores. The data indicate that premenstrual experiences vary between menstrual cycles, and suggest that they cannot be adequately explained on the basis of simple biological determinism. Methodological and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.     

Infant psychopathology during the first year of life and its return during adolescence and adulthood

This is a presentation of different clinical cases having in common severe infantile traumatic events during the first year of life. From the disappearance of mother and father during Latin-American dictatorships, to another patient who hallucinates that bats fly out of his cheeks, this paper tries to bring light into the difficult times of these patients and how the analysts worked with infantile parts of the self which were inside the adult patients.