The effects of acute stress on Pavlovian-instrumental transfer in rats

Pavlovian stimuli invigorate ongoing instrumental action, a phenomenon termed the Pavlovian–instrumental transfer (PIT) effect. Acute stressors can markedly enhance the release of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), and CRF injection into the nucleus accumbens increases the PIT effect. However, it is unknown whether acute stressors by themselves would amplify the PIT effect. Here, we examined the effects of acute stressors on PIT. Rats first received Pavlovian and instrumental training, and then the impact of the Pavlovian stimuli on instrumental responding was analyzed in the subsequent PIT test. Acute stressors were applied prior to the PIT test. Because the effects of acute stressors critically depend on stressor type and time of day, we used two acute stressors that involved one or several distinct stressors (denoted here as “single” vs. “multiple” stressors) applied either in the light or the dark period of the light:dark cycle. The results revealed that single and multiple stressors applied in the light period did not alter the PIT effect—that is, the ability of an appetitive Pavlovian stimulus to enhance leverpressing—or the basal leverpress rate. When applied in the dark period, single and multiple stressors also did not alter the PIT effect, but they did markedly reduce the basal leverpress rate. Diazepam pretreatment did not counteract the declines in basal instrumental responding in the PIT test that were induced by either a single or multiple stressors. Our findings suggest that acute stressors were unable to amplify the incentive salience of reward-predictive Pavlovian stimuli to activate instrumental responding, but, depending on the time of day of stressor exposure, they did reduce basal instrumental responding.     

Effects of September 11 on patients with obsessive compulsive disorder

Effects of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the USA were investigated in 25 patients with obsessive compulsive disorder and 27 normal controls 4-6 months after the attacks. Participants completed a 15-item questionnaire to retrospectively assess changes in mood, cognition, behavior and somatic complaints since September 11, 2001. Overall, both patients with obsessive compulsive disorder and normal controls reported minor changes in mood, behavior and somatic complaints. However, normal controls reported severe to extreme initial impact, slightly more cognitive symptoms (uncertainty about the future, intrusive recollections and greater desire to be with loved ones) and a slightly greater degree of overall impact on emotion and behavior at 1, 2 and 3 months after September 11 than did patients with obsessive compulsive disorder. Results support previous research that has found a relatively minor lasting impact of September 11 on both clinical and normal populations. Differences in cognition and coping mechanisms between normal controls and patients with obsessive compulsive disorder are proposed.     

Homotopy and heterotopy and the bilateral field advantage in the Dimond paradigm

Pairs of homotopic and heterotopic visual bilateral stimuli and pairs of unilateral visual stimuli were presented to 12 normal right-handed university students requiring a key press if they were of the same form. As predicted from the known histology of the corpus callosum (massive preponderance of homotopic fibers), homotopic presentations yielded significantly faster reaction times than heterotopic stimulations. Bilateral pairs of stimuli were also advantaged in comparison with unilateral trials, replicating Sereno and Kosslyn [Sereno, A. B., & Kosslyn, S. M. (1991). Discrimination within and between hemifields: a new constraint on theories of attention. Neuropsychologia, 29, 659-675]. Moreover, certain attentional processes have never been investigated in the Dimond paradigm and this study provides evidence to the effect that discriminative reaction times to stimulus pairs are strongly influenced by their proximity to the fixation point. In similar previous experiments, the homotopy/heterotopy observation and the bilateral field advantage may have been distorted by that particular confound, as well as several others.     

Impaired control of visual attention in schizophrenia

To investigate attentional impairment in schizophrenia, the authors examined the performance of 22 patients with schizophrenia and 16 healthy control subjects in 4 visual search tasks that varied in perceptual requirements and in the need for precise attentional control. The rate of search was slowed in the patients in all tasks. However, the degree of slowing was largest in tasks requiring precise attentional control and smallest in tasks that were perceptually difficult but required less attentional control. This pattern of results indicates that the primary impairment of attention in schizophrenia lies in the control of attention and not in the selection processes that operate once attention has been directed to an object.     

Treatment with medications affecting dopaminergic and serotonergic mechanisms: effects on fluency and anxiety in persons who stutter

Medications with dopamine antagonist properties, such as haloperidol, and those with serotonin reuptake inhibitor properties, such as clomipramine, have been shown to improve fluency. To examine the degree to which each of these two pharmacological mechanisms might independently affect fluency, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, paroxetine, and a selective dopamine (D-2) antagonist, pimozide, were evaluated. Both types of medications also affect mood and anxiety, factors that could influence fluency levels. Therefore, we also evaluated the medications’ effects on generalized and speech-related anxiety and the relationships between changes in anxiety and changes in fluency in 11 subjects with a history of developmental stuttering. The randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled crossover study that was designed had to be terminated prior to completion due to severe side effects following withdrawal from paroxetine. Even with a reduced sample size (n = 6), significant improvement in percent fluent speaking time (p = 0.02) was found using a telephone task between baseline and pimozide (n = 6), with average duration of dysfluencies significantly shorter (p = 0.04) but no significant difference in the estimated number of dysfluencies per minute. This significant improvement was associated with non-significant increases in generalized anxiety, but non-significant decreases in speech-related anxiety. No significant differences were found in fluency between baseline and paroxetine (n = 5). These preliminary results suggest that fluency improvement is more likely to be mediated by dopaminergic rather than serotonergic mechanisms. Due to its side effects, however, pimozide may be considered a risk for treatment of stuttering.

Educational objectives: As a result of reading this paper the reader will describe and explain: (1) how medications may affect fluency and the rationale for selecting medications for treatment trials; (2) the interrelationship between fluency and anxiety; and (3) factors important in developing clinical trials using medications.     

Opposed left and right brain hemisphere contributions to sexual drive: a multiple lesion case analysis

Brain topographical studies of normal men have have shown that sexual excitation is asymmetric in the brain hemispheres. Group studies of patients with unilateral epileptic foci and other studies of patients with unilateral brain lesions have come to the same conclusion. The present study reviewed previously published single case reports of patients with frank hypo or hypersexuality subsequent to a unilateral brain lesion. Hyposexual patients tended to have left hemisphere lesions (primarily of the temporal lobe), and hypersexual patients tended to have right hemisphere lesions (primarily of the temporal lobe) (p < 0.05). We interpret this double dissociation as part of a more general phenomenon of psychic tone similarly dissociated with regard to hemispheric control, including mood, psychomotor baseline, speech rate, and even immunity. The behavioral significance of this psychic tone is to modulate approach versus avoidance behavior.     

Comments on Immune Aspects of the Geschwind-Behan-Galaburda Model and of the Article of Bryden, Mcmanus, and Bulman-Fleming

The goal of this article is to reconsider the links among immune disorders, testosterone, and left-handedness made originally by Geschwind and Behan (1982) and by Geschwind and Galaburda (1985). We demonstrate that an excess of testosterone in utero is not a prerequisite for immune disorders, because of its destructive action on thymus, and that allergy and autoimmune disorders are not primarily thyme-dependent but B-lymphocyte-dependent. We furthermore study the HLA proposed by Yeo and Gangestad (1993) and retained by Bryden, McManus, and Bulman-Fleming as a possible variable that could explain, in replacement of testosterone, the link among allergy, asthma, and ulcerative colitis. We conclude that the HLA of lefthanders and the meta-analysis of Bryden et al. do not fit together as well as hoped for.     

Balm in Gilead: Spiritual Dimensions in Counseling African American Women

The authors describe African American cultural and spiritual traditions that are the bedrock for therapeutic work with this population. Through the use of a clinical case, they link African American women's emotional issues with healing interventions borrowed from their rich heritage of religious and spiritual rituals and practices.     

Constructing New Realities: Integrating Womanist Traditions in Pastoral Counseling with African-American Women

Womanist cultural and spiritual themes are rich resources for pastoral counseling with African-American women. The authors describe womanist cultural themes, present a case example of an African-American woman struggling with identity issues, and provide specific strategies for incorporating womanist cultural and spiritual patterns in counseling African-American women. Counseling Psychology and Counselor Education atCounseling Psychology and Counselor Education at