Self-report and physiological changes accompanying repeated imagining of a phobic scene.

Twenty female subjects were selected from a larger subject pool on the basis of their scores to the ‘snakes’ item on the Geer (1965) Fear Survey Schedule. Ten of the subjects were selected as phobic; the other ten were non-phobic controls. Heart rate, skin conductance and self-reports of fear and imagery vividness were continuously monitored while subjects repeatedly imagined a prescribed snake scene for a total of 15 trials. The phobic group reported more overall fear to the images. Further, while the nonphobic subjects reported progressively less fear over trials, the phobic subjects reported progressively more fear. The groups did not differ in rated imagery vividness. However, heart rate responses to the image differentiated the two groups. The non-phobic subjects showed a progression from cardiac acceleration in the early trials to a biphasic response pattern, deceleration preceding acceleration, in the later trials. In contrast, the phobic subjects demonstrated sustained acceleration in the later trials. The groups did not differ in skin conductance response amplitude.     

Creating names for things

Ten subjects rendered names for each of 168 novel entities. The entities were quite varied. Naming strategies in this task situation were assessed with several dependent measures: (1) the structural form of the name expression (compound noun, lexically modified noun, etc.), (2) the content analysis of the name (i.e., into morphological patterns that directly convey content properties of referents), (3) statistical measures (number of syllables), and (4) comments and ratings elicited from participants. Several general strategies were induced.This is a shortened version of Carroll (1979a).     

Development in moral judgment as indicated by rejection of lower-stage statements

Previous failures of preference rating scales to identify developmental differences in moral judgment may have occurred because the focus was on acceptance of high-stage reasons rather than on consistent rejection of lower-stage reasons. Attention focused on seventh-, ninth-, and eleventh-grade students' (N = 178) rejection of the lower-stage statements that they presumably comprehend but have to varying degrees dropped from their spontaneous-production repertoire. Students rated the adequacy of the reasons presented in statements written to exemplify Kohlberg's stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Ratings of Stage 1, 2, 3, and 4 statements showed clear age discrimination (all p's < .001). As in previous preference studies, higher-stage items produced no significant age differences. Implications for evaluation of change studies were noted.     

A durable recording and feedback system

A durable low-cost data-recording and feedback system is described. Data transcribed with a special pen onto a plastic sheet can be removed only with two solvents. These data can be displayed for feedback purposes without fear of destruction.     

Failure to obtain a generation effect during naturalistic learning

Memory & Cognition - Many experiments have obtained a generation effect (GE)with various kinds of laboratory items. Six of the present seven experiments failed to find a GE when the responses...     

Olfactory Information Processing and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

It has been suggested that olfactory information processing is impaired in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. However, the existing evidence is not wholly in accordance with this notion. Patients with epileptogenic foci in the left temporal lobe, the right temporal lobe, or other brain regions were compared with normal control subjects in the identification and retention of common odors. All three patient groups were substantially and equally impaired in verbally labelling the odors in question. The patients with epilepsy associated with the left temporal lobe or with nontemporal regions showed no sign of any impairment on a test of immediate recognition memory for common odors. However, the patients with epilepsy associated with the right temporal lobe showed a specific disturbance in their retention of nameable odors. It is suggested that the latter patients were selectively impaired in their retrieval of the episodic memories which provide the context for the encoding of distinctive odors.     

Consent to mental health treatment: a theoretical analysis of coercion, freedom, and control

Research has shown that substantial numbers of mental health patients may be coerced into 'voluntary' treatment. This article examines the concept of coercion to address the concerns of social scientists, treatment providers, and policy makers to know when coercion into treatment has occurred. This logically takes precedence over the second important question of whether or not coercion is desirable in some situations. A review of the scientific research on coercion and related topics of freedom, control, and choice leads to a theoretical framework in which coercion is defined in terms of opportunities to choose among courses of action. Implications of this analysis are drawn for mental health service delivery, mental health policy, and mental health research.     

Contextual effects on metaphor comprehension in reading

Subjects read target sentences preceded by either short or long context that induced either a metaphoric or a literal target reading. As had been found by Ortony, Schallert, Reynolds, and Antos (1978), metaphoric targets were comprehended about as quickly as literals when context was long, but more slowly than literals when context was short. The latter result may have been due to the failure of computing a conceptual relationship between short context and metaphoric target; targets unrelated to prior context took as long to comprehend as metaphoric targets. Another experiment showed that metaphorically expressed targets were read more quickly when they followed metaphorically expressed context than when they followed literal context, but literal targets were read quickest when they followed literal context. These results are discussed within a schema framework and within a “process priming” hypothesis.     

Monitoring the future: object and source memory for real and imagined events

In these experiments a memory‐monitoring decision is made, whereby subjects must decide not only whether or not to‐be‐learned stimuli will be remembered—the focus of all of the past research into the Judgement of Learning (JOL)—but also whether they will be able to assess the source of those stimuli, as assessed by a new measure, Judgement of Source (JOS). In Experiment 1 subjects had to judge whether they would remember the occurrence and the source of items that were either seen or imagined. Although seen items were better remembered and sourced than imagined, subjects were unable to predict this outcome: they underestimated their ability to recall seen items and overestimated their ability to recall imagined items. In Experiment 2 subjects had to discriminate between self‐performed or other‐performed enacted or imagined events. We expected that the motor cues associated with overt performance should provide more sensory information than had the visual input in Experiment 1, and this should help subjects to discriminate between real and imagined items. As predicted, JOL magnitude showed that subjects were now able to predict accurately that they would recall more enacted events than imagined events. JOS magnitude showed that subjects incorrectly predicted that self‐enactment would assist source memory compared to imagination. However, it was the source of other‐focused events which was more accurately remembered. The results are discussed in terms of Koriat's (1997) view about cue utility in making JOLs. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.