Time errors and differential sensation weighting

Sixteen pairs of successive tones, with different amplitude combinations, were presented with 16 combinations of tone duration and interstimulus interval. A separate group of 12 subjects was assigned to each presentation condition and made comparative loudness judgments for each of the pairs. Perceived within-pair loudness differences were scaled by a Thurstonian method using the subjective width of the "equal" category as the unit. The scale differences were well described by weighted linear combinations of the sensation magnitudes of the tones in the pairs. The time error can be regarded as an effect of this differential weighting. For the longer interstimulus intervals, the weight of the second tone was the greater, causing the usual inverse relation between time error and stimulus intensity level. For the shorter interstimulus intervals, these effects were reversed. An analysis of the pattern of weights led to the development of two models, one of which is a generalization of Michels and Helson's time error model. The weights could be interpreted as reflecting the differential efficiency of the loudness information from the two compared stimuli.     

Conflict play and its modification in the course of treating children

The authors report their experience with a special form of psychodrama for the treatment in small groups of neurotic children aged five to fifteen. The acting out of ambivalent, partly unconscious and restrained tendencies and inclinations by playing, i.e., by taking roles in spontaneous performances, is followed by alternation of identification in the group and, possibly, careful indirect verbalization by the therapeutist and/or group, of which the purpose is to arrive at a reorientation of the attitudes of patients and a consolidation of the newly won attitude.     

Cardiac autonomic reactivity and recovery in predicting carotid atherosclerosis: the cardiovascular risk in young Finns study.

The present study examined the association of cardiac autonomic task-induced reactivity and recovery to preclinical atherosclerosis. Thirty-three men and 33 women aged 24-39 years participated in the ongoing epidemiological Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns study. The authors measured heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), and preejection period (PEP) during the mental arithmetic and speech tasks in 1999. Carotid atherosclerosis was assessed by measuring the thickness of the common carotid artery intima-media complex (IMT) with ultrasound in 2001. Higher HR, RSA, and PEP reactivity were associated with lower IMT values even after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors (lipid levels, obesity, and blood pressure). In addition, better HR recovery after the mental arithmetic task was associated with lower IMT values, and this association persisted after all adjustments. Thus, higher task-induced cardiac autonomic reactivity and better HR recovery were related to less preclinical atherosclerosis. The authors concluded that cardiac pattern of reactivity and quick recovery may be associated with better cardiovascular health, and therefore all reactivity occurring in challenging situations should not automatically be considered as potentially pathological.     

Yes,they can! Efficient physical effort mobilization according to task difficulty in schizophrenia

The current literature has largely highlighted a deficit of effort-based decision-making for reward in schizophrenia. However, not all studies have dissociated effort from reward, while other studies emphasize that difficulty is the main determinant of effort rather than reward. In this study, 33 individuals with schizophrenia and 32 healthy controls were recruited to perform a decision-making isometric force task. According to motivational intensity theory, task difficulty (i.e., required force) but not reward was manipulated from easy to impossible. Accuracy between force exerted and force required, and choice to perform a task or not were our effort measures. Clinical variables including depression, defeatist beliefs, and apathy were assessed. Our results demonstrated that the schizophrenia group chose to perform easy, moderate, and difficult tasks and exerted the necessary effort to succeed similarly to the non-clinical group. No association between effort and clinical variables was found. Our findings provide new understandings related to effort mechanisms in schizophrenia.