The role of social supports in the bereavement process of surviving spouses of suicide and natural deaths.

This report examines the changing role of social supports in the bereavement of spouses of elderly suicide and natural deaths, focusing on differences and similarities in relation to gender, time, and mode of death. Measurements were obtained 4 times after death (within 2 months, at 6 months, at 12 months, and at 2 to 2 1/2 years) on 79% of the 108 survivors of elderly suicide, 89% of the 199 natural death survivors, and 79% of the nonbereaved controls. The results indicated that the suicide survivors received significantly less emotional support for their feelings of depression and grief than the natural death survivors, and that they did not confide in the persons in their network any more than the nonbereaved controls did. Women report receiving more support overall than men. A low spot in social supports occurred at the 6-month point after loss for both bereaved groups, but primarily in practical help received by natural death survivors. By the end of the second year, both practical and emotional supports had increased to at least the same level as immediately after death.     

Latent inhibition, context specificity, and context familiarity

In two appetitive licking experiments, thirsty rats were pre-exposed to two stimuli prior to conditioning sessions in which one or both of these stimuli were paired with water. Consistent with other results, latent inhibition was disrupted when conditioning took place in a context different from that in which stimulus pre-exposure had occurred. But in animals given prior exposure to the context of stimulus pre-exposure before the start of stimulus pre-exposure, substantial and equivalent latent inhibition was evident whether or not there was a change of context between stimulus pre-exposure and conditioning. These results are discussed in terms of current theories of latent inhibition.     

Book reviews

Campbell, B. A., Hayne, H., & Richardson, R. (Eds.) (1992). Attention and information processing in infants and adults. Perspectives from human and animal research. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Pp. viii + 360. ISBN 0-8058-0782-9. £54.95 (Hbk).

McFarland, D. (1993). Animal behaviour: Psychobiology, ethology and evolution (2nd ed.). Harlow: Longrnan Scientific and Technical. Pp. xiv + 585. ISBN 0-582-06721-9. £23.99 (Pbk).

Ward, J. P., & Hopkins, W.D. (Eds.) (1993). Primate laterality: Current behavioral evidence of primate asymmetries. New York/Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Pp. xii + 356. ISBN 0-387-97961-1 13-540-97961-1. £34.50 (Pbk).

Zentall, T. R. (Ed.). (1993). Animal cognition. A tribute to Donafd A. Riley. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Pp. xiv + 369. ISBN 0-8058-1 184-2. £22.95 (Pbk); ISBN 0-8058-1 183-4. £53.50 (Hbk).

Roitblatt, H. L., Herman, L. M., & Nachtigall, P.E. (Eds.) (1993). Language and communication. Comparative perspectives. Hillsdale, NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Pp. xvi + 502. ISBN 0-8058-0947-3. £26.95 (Pbk); ISBN 0-8058-0946-5. £59.95 (Hbk).

Bradshaw, J. L, & Rogers, L.J. (1993). The evolution of lateral asymmetries, language, roo1 use, and intellect. San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Pp. xiii + 463. ISBN 0-12-124560-8. £58.00 (Hbk).

Ten Cate, C., Slater, P. J. B., & Kruijt, J. P. (Eds.) (1993). Song learning and imprinting. An inquiry into mechanisms of behavioural development. Amsterdam: Netherlands Zoology Society. Pp. 234. £13.00 (Pbk).     

Program Context,Sensation Seeking,and Attention to Televised Anti-Drug Public Service Announcements

This study examined effects of message and program sensation value, sensation seeking, and drug use on visual attention to televised anti-drug public service announcements (PSAs) among 318 18–22-year-olds, who were placed individually in a simulated home environment with the opportunity to read from print media selections and/or watch a half-hour TV program including two presentations of the test PSA. The TV program was high or low in sensation value. High sensation seekers paid greater attention to high sensation value programming and to PSA embedded in such programming, whereas low sensation seekers paid greater attention to PSA embedded in low sensation value programs. Ongoing attention to a program may help to sustain attention to a subsequent PSA. The findings relate to an activation model of information exposure and indicate that program sensation value and sensation seeking are important factors to be considered in the placement oftelevised drug abuse prevention messages.