Development of species identification in ducklings: II. Experimental prevention of perceptual deficit caused by embryonic auditory deprivation.

Devocalized-isolated ducklings are relatively insensitive to the higher frequencies in their species' maternal call 24 hr after hatching. To assess the efficacy of various sounds in preventing this high-frequency perceptual deficit, devocalized-isolated embryos were exposed to one of three calls and tested with normal versus high-frequency attenuated maternal calls 24 hr after hatching. The embryonic vocalization (contact-contentment call) that most closely matched the region of the devocalized ducklings' greatest insensitivity (1,500-2,500 Hz) proved most efficacious in remedying (preventing) the high-frequency perceptual deficit. Exposure to the embryonic alarm-distress call was somewhat effective, whereas exposure to low-frequency white noise was not effective at all. This finding suggests that the normal development of innate behavior is partially dependent upon prior experience as well as upon intrinsic processes of neural maturation. Although normally occurring embryonic auditory experience does not induce the preference for the maternal call in this species, such experience does contribute to the sharpness of the discriminative basis of the preference 24 hr after hatching.     

Behavioral Indicators of Interpersonal Attraction1

The laboratory study of attraction is based almost exclusively on verbal measures of the dependent variable. Various findings suggest that the physical distance separating two individuals indicates the degree of attraction between them. In two experiments, attitude similarity between a subject and two stooges was manipulated. Females were more attracted to and sat more closely beside a similar than a dissimilar stranger (p < .01); males were more attracted to and sat directly across from a similar rather than a dissimilar stranger (p < .02).     

A facilitative effect of punishment on unpunished behavior

The key pecking of two pigeons was reinforced on a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement during the presentation of each of two stimuli. In various phases of the experiment, punishment followed every response emitted in the presence of one of the stimuli. In general, when the rate of punished responding changed during the presentation of one stimulus, the rate of unpunished responding during the other stimulus changed in the opposite direction. This sort of change in rate is an example of behavioral contrast. When punishment was introduced, the rate of punished responding decreased and the rate of unpunished responding increased as functions of shock intensity. When the rate of previously punished responding increased after the termination of the shock, the rate of the always unpunished responding decreased. When the procedure correlated with a red key was changed from variable-interval reinforcement and punishment for each response to extinction and no punishment, the rate of reinforced responding during presentations of a green key decreased and then increased while the rate of the previously punished responding during red first increased and then decreased during extinction.     

On choosing between bets

Most attempts to account for the way persons choose between bets emphasize the use which is made of information about their basic attributes, i.e. the gains and losses which might be incurred and their respective probabilities. In experimental investigations of betting behaviour this is usually the only information which the subjects are given (e.g. Edwards, 1955; Hurst and Siegel, 1956). Everyday observation suggests, however, that if given the opportunity subjects will also use information about the outcome of bets. In the experiments to be reported, experimental subjects were told what gains had accrued from three bets in the past, the purpose being to see how this information affected their betting.     

Amorality

Actions are usually grouped into one of several moral categories. Familiar ones include the morally required, the morally permitted, and the morally prohibited. These categories have been expanded and/or refined to include the supererogatory and the “suberogatory”. Some eschew deontic categories such as the above, but nevertheless allow the existence of two comparative moral categories, i.e., the morally better or morally worse. At the risk of adding to the clutter, I want to explore the possibility of yet a further category, viz., amoral action, or actions that, strictly speaking, lack any moral status whatsoever. I think admitting the existence of amoral actions is not only plausible in its own right, but has consequences for our understanding the nature of moral obligation.     

Why Does Disaster Recovery Work Influence Mental Health?: Pathways through Physical Health and Household Income

Disaster recovery work increases risk for mental health problems, yet the mechanisms underlying this association are unclear. We explored links from recovery work to post‐traumatic stress (PTS), major depression (MD), and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms through physical health symptoms and household income in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. As part of the NIEHS GuLF STUDY, participants (N = 10,141) reported on cleanup work activities, spill‐related physical health symptoms, and household income at baseline, and mental health symptoms an average of 14.69 weeks (SD = 16.79) thereafter. Cleanup work participation was associated with higher physical health symptoms, which in turn were associated with higher PTS, MD, and GAD symptoms. Similar pattern of results were found in models including workers only and investigating the influence of longer work duration and higher work‐related oil exposure on mental health symptoms. In addition, longer worker duration and higher work‐related oil exposure were associated with higher household income, which in turn was associated with lower MD and GAD symptoms. These findings suggest that physical health symptoms contribute to workers’ risk for mental health symptoms, while higher household income, potentially from more extensive work, might mitigate risk.     

Schopenhauer on the ethics of suicide

The concept of death is of special importance in Schopenhauer's metaphysics of appearance and Will. Death for Schopenhauer is the aim and purpose of life, that toward which life is directed, and the denial of the individual will to life. Despite his profound pessimism, Schopenhauer vehemently rejects suicide as an unworthy affirmation of the will to life by those who seek to escape rather than seek nondiscursive knowledge of Will in suffering. The only manner of self-destruction Schopenhauer finds philosophically acceptable is the ascetic saint's death by starvation. Here the individual will to life is so completely mastered as to refuse even the most basic desire for nourishment, and thereby passes into nonexistence in complete renunciation of the individual will. Schopenhauer's attitude toward suicide nevertheless embodies an inconsistency. If, as Schopenhauer believes, the aim of life is death, and death is an unreal aspect of the world as appearance, then there appears to be no justification why the philosopher should not rush headlong into it - not to affirm the will to life in an abject effort to avoid suffering, but in order to fulfill life's purpose by ending it for distinctly philosophical reasons immediately upon arriving at an understanding of the appearance-reality distinction.