Learning and reminiscence in the pursuit rotor performance of normal and depressed subjects

Ten depressed in-patients were compared, after careful age- and sex-matching, with 12 normal controls on a pursuit tracking task which was performed for two 5-min periods, separated by a 10-min rest. The depressives performed significantly worse than the controls, but both groups showed within and between session improvements. This suggests that the depressive state adversely affects the performance but not the learning of a motor skill. Analysis of performance into high and low frequency components showed that the patients had specific difficulty in following high frequency target movements. This inability to follow high frequency movements was significantly correlated with tapping rate for the patient group, implying that both these measures reflect slowed motor responsivity. The result suggests that factors which interfere with the execution of a motor skill (i.e. motor retardation) do not necessarily interfere with the learning of that skill.     

Relationship between facial expressiveness and sympathetic activation in emotion: a critical review, with emphasis on modeling underlying mechanisms and individual differences.

Two important questions bearing on personality processes and individual differences are how do facial expressiveness and sympathetic activation vary as a function of the intensity of an emotional stimulus, and what is the functional mechanism underlying facial expressiveness and sympathetic activation in emotion? A formulation is proposed that is based on 2 propositions: (a) All strong emotions result in some degree of activation of the organism (i.e., principle of stimulus dynamism) and (b) there are individual differences in the gain (amplification) operating on the facial expressive and sympathetic response channels (i.e., principle of individual response uniqueness). This formulation organizes much of the existing data on internalizers and externalizers and yields novel predictions regarding the subpopulation labeled as generalizers.     

Aggression in boys with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder: Methylphenidate effects on naturalistically observed aggression,response to provocation,and social information processing

High and low-aggressive boys with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were compared and the effects of methylphenidate were examined on measures from three domains of aggression: (1) directly observed verbal and nonverbal aggressive behaviors exhibited in the context of a day treatment program, (2) aggressive responding when provoked during a laboratory task, and (3) social information processing patterns exhibited on tasks designed to tap the putative cognitive components of aggression. The high-aggressive (HA) and low-aggressive (LA) subgroups differed significantly on observational measures of aggression and on the laboratory provocation task, but the HA group showed more deviant cognitions on only one of the numerous measures of social information processing. Regarding medication effects on the direct observation measures, methylphenidate decreased aggression for both subgroups. On the laboratory provocation task, methylphenidate had only minimal effects. Significant drug effects were obtained on only two recall social information processing measures.     

Personality,dream content and dream coping style

One hundred and thirty Ss completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and a Dream Analysis Questionnaire (DAQ), based on retrospective recall. Differential dream content was self-rated on three parameters: frequency, duration and intensity. Factor analyses identified three specific dimensions of dreaming: ‘Personal Avoidance’, ‘Eroticism’ and ‘Adventuresomeness’. It was clear that, on the frequency and image-intensity categories, dream content related overwhelmingly to Neuroticism. Personality , as measured, was clearly related to the salience (e.g. clarity of imagery, emotionality) of dreams. Given the specificity of dream content, the results suggest the presence of a person-specific coping style, primarily affective in nature. The findings are discussed in light of the continuum or parallel model of the dream-waking cycle. Implications for the cognitive modification of aberrant dream images or fantasy processes are briefly reviewed.