Marital conflict and marital intimacy: an integrative psychodynamic-behavioral-systemic model.

A conceptual model of some of the intrapsychic and interpersonal forces that stimulate and maintain repetitive, nonproductive marital conflict behavior is presented. In this model, concepts derived from psychoanalytic and social-learning theory and integrated within a family systems framework. Implications for conjoint therapy with conflictual couples are discussed.     

Reality orientation with psychogeriatric patients

To date, all empirical studies of Reality Orientation have been carried out as part of a ward or group programme in which, in addition to the orientation procedure, patients have been exposed to a variety of other physical and social activities. It is argued that the efficacy of providing information about time, place and person alone, and its generalization to other forms of behaviour, remain unknown. Results of three single case studies suggest that providing such information can increase orientation and that generalization to other forms of behaviour does occur.     

Contrasts in visual responsiveness and emotional arousal between rhesus monkeys raised with living and those raised with inanimate substitute mothers.

Rhesus monkeys were raised with dogs or inanimate surrogates in outdoor cages which provided them with complex, highly varied visual surroundings. Visual responsiveness to a variety of colored transparencies was investigated in three experiments, completed when the monkeys were between 18 and 30 mo old. Results indicated that the frequency and duration of looking at slides was significantly higher for dog-raised than for inanimate-surrogate-raised monkeys and that dog-raised monkeys were much more responsive to the novelty, complexity, ansal were obtained during the final experiment. Heart rate, vocalization, and changes in plasma cortisol were higher for monkeys raised with dogs. The frequency of most self-directed behaviors, however, was higher for monkeys raised with inanimate surrogates. Differences between rearing groups can only be the result of contrasts in attributes of the substitute mothers.     

Thiamin deprivation in ventromedial hypothalamic hyperphagic rats: anorexia, specificity of food aversion, and a dietary consideration.

The anorexic consequence of thiamin deprivation was investigated in ventromedial hypothalamic (VMH) hyperphagic rats under either high-fat or low-fat thiamin-free diet conditions. The low-fat diet maintained feeding significantly longer in thiamin-deprived VMH rats than in intact rats, whereas the hig-fat diet sustained feeding in thiamin-deficient intact rats and accelerated anorexia onset in vitamin B1 deprived VMH rats. This effect was noted under both ad lib and pair-feeding conditions. Thiamin-deprived VMH rats subjected to weight control developed anorexia sooner than intact subjects regardless of the diet employed. The VMH rats fed a high-fat diet failed to resume feeding after thiamin readministration, which was interpreted as a permanent aversion to this diet. The relation between dietary intake and conditioned taste aversion is discussed with reference to the VMH and intact rat.     

Reversal of innate aversions: attempts to induce a preference for chili peppers in rats.

Although humans frequently develop preferences for innately unpalatable bitter or irritant substances, such preferences are extremely rare in animals. An attempt was made to understand the nature of this difference by systematic experiments with laboratory rats, with chili pepper as the unpalatable substance. In parallel with major aspects of the human experience with chili pepper, rats were exposed to it as a flavoring in all their food for periods up to 11 mo from birth, without significant preference enhancement. Gradual introduction of chili into the diet also had no effect, nor did a series of poisoning and safety experiences designed to teach the rats that only chili-flavored foods were safe to eat. A sequence of seven pairings of chili-flavored diet with prompt recovery from thiamine deficiency did significantly attenuate the innate aversion and may have induced a chili preference in at least one case. Extensive experience with chili did not reliably make rats much less sensitive to its oral effects. The only reliable way to eliminate chili aversion in rats is to destroy their chemical irritant sense, which was accomplished in one group of rats. It is concluded that in contrast to humans, it is extremely difficult to reverse innate aversions in rats.     

Modulation of behavioral inhibition in appetitive extinction following manipulation of adrenal steroids in rats: implications for involvement of the hippocampus.

Corticosterone, the principal glucocorticoid in the rat, binds selectively to the CA1 pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus where the hormone has been demonstrated to exert a moderate chronic suppression of spontaneous activity. In the first experiment of the current study, the functional behavioral significance of this hormone--brain interaction was investigated in the extinction of an appetitive runway response in normal rats and those with lesions of the hippocampus. During extinction, half of the animals in each group were given daily subcutaneous injections of corticosterone. Whie the classical retardation effect of hippocampal lesions on appetitive extinction was replicated, hormone treatment was without effect in normal or hippocampally damaged subjects. The absence of a hormone effect in normals was primarily attributed to a saturated limited-binding system operating in the normal animal. Experiment 2 tested this notion, repeating the first experiment, with adrenal-ectomized (ADX), ADX + corticosterone replacement, and normal groups of animals. Adrenalectomy produced a striking facilitation of extinction which was speculated to be the result of a hyperactive inhibitory neural organ free from an inhibitory endocrine feedback. Corticosterone treatment normalized the progress of extinction in ADX animals, providing support for the afore-mentioned speculation. In the normal animal, it appears that a stress-induced surge in hormone level interacts with a limited-capacity neural binding to produce a transient dynamic range of behavioral disinhibition, perhaps promoting persistence during initial stages of frustrative nonreward in moderate stress tasks.     

Brain transections selectively alter ingestion and behavioral activation in neonatal rats

Food-deprived neonatal rats actively ingest milk that is infused into their mouths through intraoral cannulas. This ingestion is accompanied by behavioral activation. The involvement of various brain regions in ingestion and activation was examined by making transections along the neuraxis from the olfactory bulbs to the anterior pons in 2-day-old rats. Following a 24-hr deprivation period, a series of oral milk infusions was given, and milk intake and activity were measured. Intake was severely reduced only in animals with diencephalic transections. Cuts in front of or behind the diencephalon resulted in normal or slightly decreased intake. In contrast, activity tended to decline as the level of the transection became more caudal. Thus ingestion and its accompanying behavioral activation could be separated neuroanatomically. These results suggest that two brain mechanisms are involved in the ingestive response of the infant rat, one in the diencephalon and another caudal to the mesencephalon. However, behavioral activation appears less discretely organized, involving most of the neuraxis.     

EVALUATION OF BIOFEEDBACK IN THE TREATMENT OF BORDERLINE ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION1

Direct biofeedback of blood pressure was compared with frontal EMG biofeedback and with self-instructed relaxation for the treatment of essential hypertension in a controlled group outcome study. Patients were followed up for four months after the end of treatment. Generalization of treatment effects was assessed through pre- and posttreatment measurements of blood pressure under clinical conditions in a physician's office. There were no significant reductions in diastolic blood pressure. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) of the patients receiving blood pressure biofeedback decreased 8.1 mm mercury (p = 0.07) and the SBP of the patients in the relaxation condition decreased 9.5 mm mercury (p = 0.05). In the generalization measures, there were significant reductions in SBP for the relaxation group. The results are discussed in terms of the general lack of replicability within the area of biofeedback treatment of hypertension.     

Effects of medial preoptic-anterior hypothalamic lesions on development of sociosexual behavior in dogs

Bilateral medial preoptic-anterior hypothalamic lesions in adult male dogs eliminate or impair copulatory behavior and reduce urine-marking responses but do not affect aggressive behavior. The present study examined the emergence of the adult forms of these same male sociosexual behavioral patterns when the lesions are made prior to puberty. The subjects were allowed to interact with male peers during development. Animals with lesions had reduced frequence of juvenile mounting and an almost total absence of male copulatory activity in adulthood. Urine-marking and aggressive behavior in the juvenile and adult periods were not affected by the lesions. The findings reveal a sparing of function with regard to urine-marking but not sexual behavior.     

OVERJUSTIFICATION EFFECTS IN TOKEN ECONOMIES

This study tested the relevance to clinical token economies of the overjustification hypothesis that tangible reward interferes with intrinsic interest in target behaviors and causes such behaviors to be less probable following a period of reinforcement than preceding such a period. The study was carried out in an ongoing token economy for chronic psychiatric patients. Alternated over an 8-week period were weeks of token and no-token reward for one of the program's target behaviors, toothbrushing. Two different amounts of token reward were employed in order to examine whether reward magnitude might influence the presence or extent of overjustification effects. Little evidence was found for the presence of overjustification effects in token economies. However, maintenance of toothbrushing was greater in no-token weeks following weeks of low amounts of token reward than in no-token weeks following weeks of higher amounts of reward. The importance of such complex functional relationships is discussed.