Reinforcer pathology,probabilistic choice,and medication adherence in patients with multiple sclerosis

The reinforcer pathology model posits that core behavioral economic mechanisms, including delay discounting and behavioral economic demand, underlie adverse health decisions and related clinical disorders. Extensions beyond substance use disorder and obesity, however, are limited. Using a reinforcer pathology framework, this study evaluates medical adherence decisions in patients with multiple sclerosis. Participants completed behavioral economic measures, including delay discounting, probability discounting, and a medication purchase task. A medical decision-making task was also used to evaluate how sensitivity to mild side effect risk and efficacy contributed to the likelihood of taking a hypothetical disease-modifying therapy. Less steep delay discounting and more intense (greater) medication demand were independently associated with greater adherence to the medication decision-making procedure. More generally, the pattern of interrelations between the medication-specific and general behavioral economic metrics was consistent with and contributes to the reinforcer pathology model. Additional research is warranted to expand these models to different populations and health behaviors, including those of a positive health orientation (i.e., medication adherence).     

The simplex in pair comparisons

A model of individual differences in pair comparisons is developed, assuming the affective values to have a quasi-simplex structure. Procedures for fitting the model to data are suggested. An empirical example is given for one of the procedures.This research was supported by a grant from the University Research Council, Vanderbilt University.     

Looking time: Experimenter and instruction effects

A 2 by 3 factorial design was used to investigate the effects of the instructions and the presence of E on looking time. Two hundred thirty-nine college students viewed 30 colored stimuli of landscapes, single objects, and arrays of objects under three different sets of instructions, with E either present or absent while S viewed the stimuli. The results demonstrated that E’s presence depressed the time spent looking at the stimuli Evidence was also found suggesting that ambiguity in the typical instructions given Ss in looking-time experiments may result in artifactually long looking times. It was concluded that a more appropriate situation to investigate looking time would (1) utilize sham GSR instructions to reduce S’s uncertainty concerning the experiment’s purpose, and (2) arrange for E’s absence while S is viewing the stimuli     

REPEATED MEMORY OF ORAL PROSE IN GHANA AND NEW YORK1

On a lu en anglais un court passage de prose à difféients groupes d'étudiants ghanéens et new yorkais. Ensuite, et par trois fois, on leur demande de dire ce qu'ils ont retenu. Le premier rappel a lieu après 30–45 minutes, le second et le troisiàme après plusieurs semaines. On a utilisé trois histoires différentes, mais chaque groupe de sujets n'en entendait qu'une seule. Les résultats montrent que, conformément à L'idée que la tradition orale est plus forte en Afrique Occidentale qu'à New York, les étudiants ghanéens retenaient mieux que les américains. Pour deux des histoires, on a enregistré peu de perte de rétention des thèmes entre le 1^er et le 3^e rappel; pour la troisiéme, entre le 2^e et le 3^e rappel. Mais la capacité à reteñir les thèmes de L'histoire ne s'explique pas uniquement par puré routine de mémoire. On peut penser que L'ordonnancement de L'histoire, loin de constituer un obstacle comme c'est souvent le cas quand on doit retenir dans L'ordre des faits sans liaison entre eux, favorisait ici la rétention des thèmes.     

College Major Choice and Personal Adjustment

This investigation focused on the differences in reported personal adjustment problems between freshmen students who made a congruent college major choice and students who made an incongruent choice. Personal adjustment was defined operationally with the Mooney Problem Checklist. Congruent and incongruent college major choice groups were defined operationally using the Vocational Preference Inventory. In the analysis of variance of the adjustment scores, the interaction term involving congruence of major choice and sex and the test for the main effect of sex were not significant. The test for the main effect of congruence was found to be significant. Subjects who had made a congruent college major choice reported fewer personal adjustment problems when compared to subjects in the incongruent group.     

Reaction time as a function of the intensity and probability of occurrence of vibrotactile signals

Three Ss made judgments of the presence or absence of a burst of 60-cps vibration onthe index fingertip.The probability of S’s reporting the presence of a signal was found to be influenced by signal probability and signal intensity. Mean reaction time for reporting the presence of a signal decreased as a function of signal intensity and signal probability whereas mean reaction time for reporting the absence of a signal increased as a function of signal intensity and signal probability. On trials where no signal was presented mean R T for reporting a signal decreased with increases in the signal probability whereas mean RT for reporting the absence of a signal increased with increases in signal probability. The results were interpreted as support for the hypothesis that S’s decision time was longer the closer on the sensory continuum a particular observation was to his criterion.     

Relative distance of lights: An extension of Bugelski’s findings

Three lights in various orientations were presented to two trained Ss. The Ss adjusted the three lights until they appeared equidistant. The results supported earlier work of a similar nature, in that the higher light was perceived as closer and horizontal separation between lights produced no significant differences in depth settings. The phenomenon was shown to occur with monocular vision, fixated vision, large angular separation of the stimuli, and with different directions of regard with respect to the fixation point. The relationship to other research is discussed.     

Sex differences in the duration of visual attention

Normal adult males and females looked at a series of photographs containing either a single adult male or female. Ss viewed each picture for as long as they wished. Assuming that measures of the duration of attention would reflect Ss attraction for the opposite sex, it was hypothesized that Ss would spend relatively more time viewing photographs of the opposite sex. The results failed to support the hypothesis. Although males did not differentially attend to the stimuli, females looked significantly longer at the females than they did at the males. The results were interpreted in terms of the “overt sexual content” of the stimuli and socially conditioned attentiveness and inattentiveness.