Disconfirmed hedonic expectations produce perceptual contrast, not assimilation

In studies of hedonic ratings, contrast is the usual result when expectations about test stimuli are produced through the presentation of context stimuli, whereas assimilation is the usual result when expectations about test stimuli are produced through labeling, advertising, or the relaying of information to the subject about the test stimuli. Both procedures produce expectations that are subsequently violated, but the outcomes are different. The present studies demonstrate that both assimilation and contrast can occur even when expectations are produced by verbal labels and the degree of violation of the expectation is held constant. One factor determining whether assimilation or contrast occurs appears to be the certainty of the expectation. Expectations that convey certainty are produced by methods that lead to social influence on subjects' ratings, producing assimilation. When social influence is not a factor and subjects give judgments influenced only by the perceived hedonic value of the stimulus, contrast is the result.     

Use of an analog task to study effects of diazepam on taste perception, consummatory behaviors, and risk taking in a social context

In the present study, the authors examined the effects of diazepam (Valium) on various physical, social, and emotional variables within the framework of a task designed to test risk-taking behavior. Participants received either 10 mg of diazepam or a placebo. After the participants tasted strong-flavored liquids, they were able to engage in a risky behavior (i.e., drinking from a confederate's "used" water bottle). Half the participants received additional verbal pressure to drink from the bottle. The authors expected that diazepam would increase health-risk behavior, but the results were inconsistent with that prediction. The second goal of the experiment was to explore diazepam's effects on arousal, mood, social anxiety, and taste. Diazepam users exhibited differences in taste perception and social anxiety, which might in part explain the health-risk results.     

Comprehension of Idioms by Children with Learning Disabilities: Metaphoric Transparency and Syntactic Frozenness

Third and fifth grade children with and without learning disabilities participated in this study. Syntactically frozen and flexible idioms and transparent and opaque idioms were used as stimuli to examine the ability to identify the correct idiom and to explain idiom meanings. Grade and diagnostic category affected performance on the explanation task but not on the forced choice task. Idiom type was also a factor affecting comprehension and explanation. Literal responses occurred rarely and were more likely to occur on the forced choice task.     

Training educators to implement functional analyses

The present study examined the use of an instructional workshop for training educators to conduct functional analyses. Results indicated that 2 of 3 participants met the accuracy criterion following group training, whereas 1 participant required direct verbal feedback. During generalization probes, one participant accurately conducted sessions with a student in her classroom.     

First-trial adaptation to prism exposure: artifact of visual capture

Terminal target-pointing error on the 1st trial of exposure to optical displacement is usually less than is expected from the optical displacement magnitude. The authors confirmed 1st-trial adaptation in the task of pointing toward optically displaced targets while visual feedback was delayed until movement completion. Measurement of head-shoulder posture while participants (N = 24) viewed the optically displaced field revealed that their shoulders felt turned in the direction opposite to the displacement (visual capture), accounting for all but about 4% to 10% of 1st-trial adaptation. First-trial adaptation was unrelated to realignment aftereffects. First-trial adaptation is largely an artifact of the asymmetry of the structured visual field produced by optical displacement, which induces a felt body rotation, thereby reducing the effective optical displacement.     

Contextual modulation of N400 amplitude to lexically ambiguous words

Though much is known about the N400 component, an event-related EEG potential that is sensitive to semantic manipulations, it is unclear whether modulations of N400 amplitude reflect automatic processing, controlled processing, or both. We examined this issue using a semantic judgment task that manipulated local and global contextual cues. Word triplets (prime-noun-target, e.g., finance-bank-money) were sequentially presented on a computer screen (500 ms duration, 1000 ms stimulus onset asynchrony), in which the second word was a homograph. The first word (prime) created a neutral-, dominant-meaning- or subordinate-meaning-biased "global context," and the third word (target) created a dominant- or subordinate-biased "local context" that was either congruent or incongruent with the "global context" established by the first prime word. Participants were instructed to read all three words but to decide only whether the second and third words were semantically related. Event-related potentials (ERPs), specifically the N400, were recorded to the third terminal word. N400 amplitudes evoked by dominant meaning-related third words incongruent with the globally biased subordinate context (e.g., river-bridge-money) were significantly more negative than dominant endings in neutral contexts (e.g., taxi-bank-money), but not different from unrelated filler triplets. In addition, there was some indication that left hemisphere, temporal-parietal electrode sites were associated with greater N400 negativity for dominant targets in conflicting subordinate global contexts than homologous right hemisphere electrode sites, the latter of which showed significant activation to subordinate meanings in cooperating contexts. Thus, N400 amplitude was more affected by global than local context suggesting that controlled processes may take priority over automatic processes in modulating N400 amplitude, especially for left hemisphere electrode sites.     

Ethics review of social, behavioral, and economic research: where should we go from here?

It is not unusual for researchers to complain about institutional review board (IRB) oversight, but social scientists have a unique set of objections to the work of ethics committees. In an effort to better understand the problems associated with ethics review of social, behavioral, and economic sciences (SBES) research, this article examinees 3 different aspects of research ethics committees: (a) the composition of review boards; (b) the guidelines used by these boards to review SBES--and in particular, behavioral health--research; and (c) the actual deliberations of IRBs. The article concludes with recommendations for changes in the review process and with suggestions for filling the gaps in knowledge about the way IRBs work.     

Mental balance and well-being: building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology

Clinical psychology has focused primarily on the diagnosis and treatment of mental disease, and only recently has scientific attention turned to understanding and cultivating positive mental health. The Buddhist tradition, on the other hand, has focused for over 2,500 years on cultivating exceptional states of mental well-being as well as identifying and treating psychological problems. This article attempts to draw on centuries of Buddhist experiential and theoretical inquiry as well as current Western experimental research to highlight specific themes that are particularly relevant to exploring the nature of mental health. Specifically, the authors discuss the nature of mental well-being and then present an innovative model of how to attain such well-being through the cultivation of four types of mental balance: conative, attentional, cognitive, and affective.     

Analysis and treatment of problem behavior evoked by music

The present study investigated the effects of differential negative reinforcement of other behavior (DNRO) on problem behavior evoked by music in a 7-year-old child with pervasive developmental disorder. Following an auditory stimulus assessment, DNRO was used to reduce problem behavior to near-zero levels. Results are discussed in terms of identifying establishing operations to govern treatment options and the use of negative reinforcement when arbitrarily imposed positive reinforcers do not compete with escape from auditory stimulation.