Using pavlovian higher-order conditioning paradigms to investigate the neural substrates of emotional learning and memory

In first-order Pavlovian conditioning, learning is acquired by pairing a conditioned stimulus (CS) with an intrinsically motivating unconditioned stimulus (US; e.g., food or shock). In higher-order Pavlovian conditioning (sensory preconditioning and second-order conditioning), the CS is paired with a stimulus that has motivational value that is acquired rather than intrinsic. This review describes some of the ways higher-order conditioning paradigms can be used to elucidate substrates of learning and memory, primarily focusing on fear conditioning. First-order conditioning, second-order conditioning, and sensory preconditioning allow for the controlled demonstration of three distinct forms of memory, the neural substrates of which can thus be analyzed. Higher-order conditioning phenomena allow one to distinguish more precisely between processes involved in transmission of sensory or motor information and processes involved in the plasticity underlying learning. Finally, higher-order conditioning paradigms may also allow one to distinguish between processes involved in behavioral expression of memory retrieval versus processes involved in memory retrieval itself.     

The role of preparatory muscular tension in the size-weight illusion

Muscle action potentials were recorded from lifting muscles during the foreperiod before lifts of large and small objects when the size-weight illusion occurred. There were increases in tension throughout the foreperiod of both lifts, culminating in a large increase following the instruction to lift. The increases were greater before lifts of the large can, supporting the peripheral theory of comparative weight judgment. The “set to lift” effect was shown to exist in the action potentials before the foreperiod of the second lift when compared to those just prior to the lift of the first can.     

Selling the female image as mental patient

Tabulations of the sex and role (patient, helping professional, other) of all human images found in advertisements for psychoactive drugs in one half of the issues of The American Journal of Psychiatry from years 1963 to 1974 were made. Women were found to be portrayed as mentally ill significantly more often than men, while the images of men were used more frequently as doctors and others. These phenomena were discussed with references to attribution, suggestion, self-fulfilling prophecy, role playing, and the tendency to hospitalize, drug, and diagnose women as mentally ill.This article is based in part on a paper presented at the 83nd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, September 1, 1975     

Adventitious reinforcement in free-operant discrimination

The discriminative performance of rats trained under conditions in which their responses to S? postponed the appearance of S+, both for themselves and for yoked-control animals, was found to be superior to the performance of the controls in two rather different experiments. The results demonstrate the pervasiveness of adventitious reinforcement in free-operant discrimination.     

What Makes Politicians “Religious”? How Identity Congruence Shapes Religious Evaluations

How do Americans evaluate politicians’ religiosity? We theorize extra-religious “identity congruence,” the perceived correspondence between others’ group identities and our own, will powerfully shape evaluations. We test this expectation using data from two large, nationally representative surveys that ask Americans to rate the religiosity of prominent politicians. Consistent with our theory, the strongest predictors of how Americans rate politicians’ religiosity are their congruence on party identification and ideological identity as well as expected alignments with racial identity and Christian nationalism. Respondents’ religious characteristics are relatively weak predictors. And these trends hold regardless of Americans’ knowledge of leaders’ professed religious identity. Patterns are consistent with our theory even when we split samples by party. When we compare ratings between politicians who are widely regarded as irreligious to those who are regarded as conventionally religious, partisan congruence and racial identity largely mitigate the religious advantage of the latter. Racial identity also moderates congruence on key factors. Finally, identity congruence on party, ideology, and Christian nationalism follows expected patterns even among secular Americans for whom “religious” less intuitively implies “my group.” In a time of growing identity-alignment along partisan, ideological, racial, and religious lines, extra-religious “identity congruence” powerfully shapes how Americans evaluate politicians’ religiosity.     

EFFECTS OF HIGH-PROBABILITY REQUESTS ON THE ACQUISITION AND GENERALIZATION OF RESPONSES TO REQUESTS IN YOUNG CHILDREN WITH BEHAVIOR DISORDERS

The failure to respond to requests in young children often is maintained by the reactions of the adults that encounter this behavior. This failure to respond to requests has been identified as a primary reason for the children's exclusion from community, social, and instructional opportunities. Numerous interventions that target the failure to respond have consisted of punishment and reinforcement procedures. More recently, antecedent interventions have focused on changing the context in which a request is delivered. In the current study, high-probability requests were provided as an antecedent to delivering a low-probability request. The requests were delivered by multiple trainers in an attempt to produce generalized appropriate responding to adults who did not use the high-probability sequence. Results showed an immediate increase in appropriate responding in 2 children when the intervention was delivered. In addition, when the intervention was implemented by more than one adult, spontaneous increases in responding also were observed toward adults who had never implemented the request sequence. Improvements in responding to requests were maintained after the intervention was discontinued.     

Laboratory instruments in the history of psychology

The importance of laboratory instruments as sources for the writing of the history of psychology is stressed, and illustrated through the use of examples where their study has been profitable. Most importantly, the role of the Hipp chronoscope in the reaction-time experiment is discussed, and the importance of various changes introduced into its design by James McKeen Cattell is shown. A photograph, first exhibited by the Department of Psychology of Clark University at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago is included, and further illustrates the importance of these instruments to historians.