The CODE: A revised battery for coping and defense and its relations to subjective health

A condensed test battery (the CODE) based on the Utrecht Coping List (UCL) and part of the Defense Mechanisms Inventory (DMI) has been developed to assess coping and defense in large population studies. It was tested for reliability and validity in students and back pain patients. Principal components factor analysis of the subscales of the UCL and DMI in the student sample revealed two coping clusters: “Instrumental mastery-oriented coping” and “Emotion-focused coping” and two defensive clusters: “Cognitive defense” and “Defensive hostility”. “Instrumental mastery-oriented coping” was negatively related to subjective health complaints measured with Ursins Health Inventory (UHI). The back pain patients were clearly different from the students, using less coping and more defensive strategies. They had more subjective health complaints that showed negative correlations with “Instrumental mastery-oriented coping”. The CODE is a comprehensive battery that may be valid for large population studies of psychological determinants of muscle pain and other subjective health problems.     

Temporal factors in visual perception as related to aging

Older Ss, in the age range 30–55 years, were compared on certain temporal characteristics of visual perception. Experiment I confirmed a previous finding that older adults required an appreciably longer exposure duration to identify forms, even when equated with younger adults on standard measures of visual acuity. Experiment 2 found that older adults have a longer critical duration over which time-intensity reciprocity holds for form identification. The results were discussed in terms of such concepts of psychological time as the psychological moment.     

Are nominal same-different matches slower due to differences in level of processing or to response competition?

Eriksen, O’Hara, and Eriksen (1982) have proposed that the latency advantage ofsame overdifferent judgments when the match is based upon physical identity is due to differential amounts of response competition between the responses by which the judgment ofsame ordifferent is signified. Responses of “different” are slowed by a high level of priming in the competing response signifyingsame. In the present experiment, the response competition model is extended to nominal matches and in particular to what Proctor 1198D has termed the “name-physieal disparity”—a pair of letters are more rapidly judged to have the same name if they are the same ease (e.g., a a) than if they are in different eases (e.g., A a). While response competition effects were found to occur in nominal matches of this kind, the name-physieal disparity was greater than could be attributed solely to response competition. Evidence was obtained that part of the name-physieal disparity could be attributed to the subject’s having two chances to make a-nominal raatch when the letter pair was identical both physically and in name. The match could be made either on the basis of the physical or the name code. It was assumed that name and physical codes were processed at least partially independently.     

Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task

During a 1-sec tachistoscopic exposure, Ss responded with a right or left leverpress to a single target letter from the sets H and K or S and C. The target always appeared directly above the fixation cross. Experimentally varied were the types of noise letters (response compatible or incompatible) flanking the target and the spacing between the letters in the display. In all noise conditions, reaction time (RT) decreased as between-letter spacing increased. However, noise letters of the opposite response set were found to impair RT significantly more than same response set noise, while mixed noise letters belonging to neither set but having set-related features produced intermediate impairment. Differences between two target-alone control conditions, one presented intermixed with noise-condition trials and one presented separately in blocks, gave evidence of a preparatory set on the part of Ss to inhibit responses to the noise letters. It was concluded that S cannot prevent processing of noise letters occurring within about 1 deg of the target due to the nature of processing channel capacity and must inhibit his response until he is able to discriminate exactly which letter is in the target position. This discrimination is more difficult and time consuming at closer spacings, and inhibition is more difficult when noise letters indicate the opposite response from the targe     

Target redundancy in visual search: Do repetitions of the target within thedisplay impair processing?

Two experiments tested the predictions from Bjork and Murray’s (1977) extension of Estes’ (1972, 1974) interactive channels model that repetition of a target within a display should, under certain conditions, impair or slow processing. These predictions were contrasted with those of the continuous flow model (Eriksen & Schultz, 1979) that, under the same conditions, repetitions should not impair processing and might possibly facilitate it. Experiment 1 evaluated the relative effects of feature similarity, variable target-noise spacing, and perceptual segregation in a response competition paradigm. In general, results favored the continuous flow conception and competition among internal recognition responses, and no evidence was found for impaired performance due to target repetitions. However, questions concerning possible facilitation arising from redundancy led to Experiment 2. In that experiment, trials were blocked by spacing or noise type. Again, target redundancy did not impair performance relative to the single target control. However, no facilitation effects were found.     

Effect of voluntary exercise on open-field behavior and on aggression in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR)

In the present study we investigated the influence of voluntary exercise on exploratory behavior and on aggression in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR). Twenty-four SHR (8 weeks old) were randomly assigned to either an exercise group or a sedentary control group. The animals in the exercise group exhibited a spontaneous wheel running activity of 5-6 km/day during 6 weeks. The characteristic hyperexploratory behavior of SHR was lowered in the exercise group (p less than .001) as compared to the control group. The runners also showed a tendency for less aggression. In the postexercise period, when the runners' wheels were locked, the exercise group had a significant rise in aggression (p less than .01) vs the controls. The exploratory behavior returned immediately to the level of the controls, but we found no further increase in any of the parameters measured. However, the runners showed a type of displaced aggression exhibited as digging and biting in the test cage. This evidence suggests that voluntary exercise lowers the hyperexploratory behavior and aggression in the SHR and that an abrupt stop in exercise gives an "abstinence" reaction.