The Elusiveness of Gustatory Potentiation of an Environmental Aversion

Two experiments investigated conditions that influence whether or not the presence of a flavor cue potentiates acquisition of an environmental aversion. Experiments 1 and 2 exposed rats to either a salient sucrose flavor or nonsalient water with black box-illness pairings. Half of the rats in the sucrose and water treatment groups became ill after exposure to the black chamber in their home cage. The other half of the rats in the two treatment conditions became ill in the black box. The results of each study indicated that a strong environmental aversion was established when illness was associated with exposure to the black box. The aversiveness of the black chamber was indicated by both less time spent in the black side and reduced intake in the black chamber. The presence of sucrose during conditioning did produce a stronger black box aversion than did water. Reliable potentiation of the environmental aversion, however, was seen only when the illness experience occurred in the black chamber but not when illness occurred in the home cage. A weaker aversion to the black chamber was also found in the water groups when illness occurred shortly after experience with the black box than when illness immediately followed exposure to the black chamber.

     

Is Posner's "beam" the same as Treisman's "glue"?: On the relation between visual orienting and feature integration theory

In the present study we investigated whether the visually allocated "beam" studied by Posner and others is the same visual attentional resource that performs the role of feature integration in Treisman's model. Subjects were cued to attend to a certain spatial location by a visual cue, and performance at expected and unexpected stimulus locations was compared. Subjects searched for a target letter (R) with distractor letters that either could give rise to illusory conjunctions (PQ) or could not (PB). Results from three separate experiments showed that orienting attention in response to central cues (endogenous orienting) showed similar effects for both conjunction and feature search. However, when attention was oriented with peripheral visual cues (exogenous orienting), conjunction search showed larger effects of attention than did feature search. It is suggested that the attentional systems that are oriented in response to central and peripheral cues may not be the same and that only the latter performs a role in feature integration. Possibilities for future research are discussed.     

Distance distortions in children's cognitive maps: an examination of the information storage model

Second graders (mean age = 7-8), fourth graders (mean age = 9-8), and sixth graders (mean age = 11-11) walked two paths located in and around their school. Children in the Unsegmented condition estimated the distance and time taken to walk a path that was relatively undifferentiated in terms of the number of qualitatively different areas of the school through which it passed. Children in the Segmented condition made the same estimates for a path that went through different areas (segments) of the school (i.e., cafeteria, hall, vestibule, and outside the building). Children at all three grade levels estimated that the distance traversed in the Segmented condition was longer than the distance in the Unsegmented condition. This difference was not significant on the time measure. It was concluded that (1) paths with a large number of segments are perceived as being longer than paths of the same length with fewer segments, (2) distances along paths with few segments are underestimated, (3) distances along paths with many segments may be overestimated as a function of developmental level, and (4) only younger children may have used time to estimate distance.     

Birth order and introversion-extraversion

The relationship between birth order and introversion-extraversion was investigated. Subjects were 70 male and 77 female undergraduates, all from three-child families. The measure of introversion employed was the Social Introversion Scale (Scale 0) of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. A two-way analysis of variance indicated that first borns were more introverted than either middle-horns or last-horns, with no difference between the latter two groups. It was suggested that inconsistent results in this area may be due to the use of different measures of introversion.     

USE OF THE GATB “G” SCORE FOR PREDICTING ACHIEVEMENT ON THE GED

The present study investigates the relationship of the GATB “G” with the GED. Practical and theoretical implications are involved. Making use of samples from the Las Vegas, Nevada population, the study compares scores of individuals administered the GED and GATB. A substantial correlation for prediction purposes was devised to illustrate the use of the GATB “G” to predict, by interval, an individual's position on the GED. The expectancy table helps guide the Vocational Counselor with a constructive tool whereby he advises the next steps of action for an educationally deficient or proficient client. The study recommends further replications to determine if such studies could guide agency policies whereby vocational counseling practice is improved and agency testing costs reduced.     

Isolation-induced aggression in newly hatched ducklings.

Newly hatched Khaki Campbell ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) were initially housed in pairs and subsequently transferred to isolated housing conditions. Subjects living with another bird displayed filial behavior and little aggression upon encountering another duckling in a test arena. In contrast, ducklings housed in isolation exhibited aggressive pecking in addition to filial behavior when another duckling was subsequently encountered. In Experiment 2, ducklings were housed with an imprinting object (i.e., an object that elicits attachment behavior), but they were otherwise isolated from other birds. These subjects displayed little aggression when they were subsequently reunited with a conspecific, indicating that the aggression-precluding effects of social housing are not limited to the particular social stimulus with which the ducklings are housed. In Experiment 3, ducklings were again housed with an imprinting object, but this time the object was behind glass, thereby precluding tactile contact with it. Since these birds also exhibited little aggression when reunited with a conspecific, it is apparent that visual stimulation from an imprinting object is sufficient in itself to preclude subsequent aggression. These findings suggest that stimulation that elicits attachment behavior is the critical factor mediating isolation-induced aggression.