A review of theories of human amnesia

Six theories of human amnesia are examined. Each is categorized according to the processing ability that is conceived to underlie the amnesic deficit. The theories fall into one of four categories: consolidation, retrieval, semantic encoding, and context encoding deficit theories. The recently proposed context encoding deficit theories are found to offer the most satisfactory account of the human amnesic syndrome. It is suggested that the other theoretical approaches are best viewed as special cases of these context encoding deficit theories.     

Perceived aversiveness of recommended solution and locus of control as determinants of response to danger

As determined by their scores on Rotter's Locus of Control scale (Psychological Monographs, 1966, 80 (1, Whole No. 609)), internal and external subjects were exposed either to a high-, low-, or no-fear message on the dangers of exposure to a sunlamp. It was recommended to half the subjects in each condition that they apply a cream which was described as producing minimal skin irritation (low aversiveness), while half the subjects received recommendations to apply a cream described as producing considerable skin irritation (high aversiveness). It was predicted that (a) a high-fear message would be more effective than a low-fear message in getting subjects to use the cream, especially when the recommended behavior was perceived as low in aversivensss; and (b) a high-fear message would be more effective than a low fear message for subjects classified as internals. The second prediction was confirmed, and the first was tentatively supported. Results were interpreted in terms of the perceptual processes which may mediate the relationship between fear and action. The findings did not support the fear-drive model.     

Attention and distractibility during reading in hyperactive boys

Nonhyperactive and clinically defined hyperactive boys were administered reading tasks under quiet and distracting conditions. Hyperactive boys were less attentive to task relevant stimuli and more attentive to task irrelevant stimuli than their controls. Our results demonstrate that the previous findings of inattentiveness among hyperactive boys on laboratory tasks can be generalized to more typical school activities such as reading.     

Static and dynamic factors in the perception of rotary motion

Direction of rotation and static slant judgments were collected for a series of outline plane forms in four experiments with 106 subjects. Direction was judged more accurately for forms displaying the same perspective gradients as trapezoids, but with right-angled contours, than for trapezoids. There were no consistent differences among these forms in judged slant. Direction of rotation judgments were affected by a static false interposition cue, with interposition increasing the proportion of veridical judgments when placed in conflict with a relative size gradient and decreasing this proportion when a size gradient was absent. Both a dynamic factor (contour angle change) and a static factor (misperceived relative distance of the vertical sides) were found to affect perceived direction of rotation, with direction judgments based primarily on the dynamic factor.     

Effects of text variables on eye movements in reading

Eye movement patterns in four atypical text formats were examined. Regressive eye movements were a sensitive indicator of reading disruption due to the textual manipulations of type (all capitals vs unusual) and margin (justification vs nonjustification). The capitals nonjustified format was easiest to read while the unusual justified format was most difficult. Reading speed was a less sensitive measure than regressions.     

Revenge versus forgiveness/forbearance in response to narrative-simulated victimization

The authors engaged men and women (N = 120) who read one of two versions of a dramatic narrative in which the narrator became HIV-positive following heterosexual intercourse with an AIDS-infected partner. Assuming the role of the narrator, the participants completed two situation-instigated criterion measures as a response to becoming HIV-infected, indicated whom they blamed for their predicament, and completed two "trait" predictor measures-negative affect and response to perceived victimization in everyday life. Trait victimization response and blaming the sexual partner were strongly associated with high rather than low negative affect. Reasons for the reluctance to blame the sexual partner and seek revenge were discussed, and recommendations were made to develop less problematic simulated victimization narratives.     

Evaluating teaching and students’ learning of academic research ethics

A team of philosophers and scientists at Dartmouth College worked for three years to create, train faculty and pilot test an adequate and exportable class in research methods for graduate students of science and engineering. Developing and testing methods for evaluating students’ progress in learning research ethics were part of the project goals. Failure of methods tried in the first year led to the refinement of methods for the second year. These were used successfully in the pilot course and in one university setting external to Dartmouth. The process of development and justification for the final methods are discussed here.     

Habituation of orienting responses as a function of “instructional set”

Electrodermal and plethysmographic recordings were obtained from three groups of alcoholic patients. The groups differed with respect to instructions given for response to a series of words spoken by the experimenter. Group A was told to report verbally their first associations for each word presented. Group B received instructions to think of an association for each word without reporting it. Group C was to respond to each word by repeating it after it was spoken by the experimenter. The instructions did not have the predicted differing effects upon rate of EDR habituation. However, the over-all amplitude of EDR was lower for Group B than for Group A or C. We observed very little habituation of the plethysmographic OR as measured by per cent of subjects responding to each word. As with the EDR data, Group B shows less responsivity, i.e., this group produced significantly fewer plethysmographic responses over all words than did either of the other two groups. The relative importance of association and of verbal responding to a stimulus word for eliciting autonomic responses was considered.     

Perioral anesthesia disrupts maternal behavior during early lactation in Long-Evans rats

The role of perioral somatosensory stimulation from pups in maternal behavior was investigated in lactating Long-Evans rats (Rattus norvegicus) during early lactation by local anesthesia of the mystacial pads with lidocaine, which blocks conduction in the infraorbital nerve. It was concluded that (1) acute perioral anesthesia markedly inhibited pup retrieval when the subjects had no formal pretreatment retrieval experience. Further, these dams displayed little tolerance to the lidocaine treatment when they were tested repeatedly. (2) The severity of the effects of perioral anesthesia on retrieval was dependent upon prior experience and the testing situation. Following pretreatment retrieval experience, and in a test cage with dark and light compartments which provided a strong incentive to retrieve, 80% of lidocaine-injected dams did retrieve. However, retrieval efficiency was impaired by perioral anesthesia, largely due to increased time in contact with pups prior to each retrieval and to increased carrying time. (3) Perioral anesthesia also inhibited pup licking, but not self-grooming, suggesting that the former, but not the latter, is largely under peripheral stimulus control and that deficits in maternal oral activities cannot be due to impairment of mouth opening and use. (4) The onset of nursing behavior was delayed until after the recovery of snout sensations and retrieval. This suggests that a maternal behavior not directly involving the mouth is nonetheless dependent upon the dam's receipt of perioral tactile input from pups.     

James hillman (1926-2011)

Presents an obituary for James Hillman. James Hillman, the third child of Madeline and Julian Hillman, died of metastatic bone cancer at his home in Thompson, Connecticut, on October 27, 2011. The parent of "archetypal psychology," he was born on April 12, 1926, at the Breakers, a then-opulent hotel founded by his family that overlooked the boardwalk and beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey. With an extensive footing in the classics and classical humanism, Jim established the foundations for his emerging archetypal psychology. With archetypal psychology, he was to move away from a dependence on the concept of a personal ego in favor of larger sources that relied on his notion of variegated identity. He proposed a profusion of mythical images that emerge under the rubric of "soul." Soul stands as an appellation indicating a deepening of psychic events, such as when dreams, chaos, and "pathologizing" (the struggles of imagination) are most experienced. For Hillman, psychology could not be taken as a separate discipline isolated from mythology, literature, art, philosophy, politics, religion, natural science, and the ordinary affairs of individuals. Hillman envisioned archetypes as processes that bear evidence to personal suffering and, in so doing, prompt the expansion of compassion. In 1975, Jim was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his book Re-Visioning Psychology (Harper & Row). In addition to many other citations, Jim had the high honor in 2001 of receiving the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).