On becoming neutral: effects of experimental neutralizing reconsidered

Behaviour Research and Therapy 34 (1996) 889–898 found that writing out a negative thought produced anxiety and an urge to neutralize the thought, that instructing participants to neutralize the thought reduced anxiety/neutralization urge in the short run (i.e. within 2 min), but that in the control group 20 min without instruction was attended by the same reduction in anxiety/urge to neutralize (“natural decay”). The observations were made with pariticipants who scored high on “thought action fusion” and the experiment was set up as exerimental model of obsessions. We repeated the study with participants that were not selected on thought action fusion. All the findings reported by Behaviour Research and Therapy 34 (1996) 889–898 were replicated. Correlational analysis indicated that the strength of the effect was not related to scores on scales measuring “thought action fusion”. Behaviour Research and Therapy 34 (1996) 889–898 did not assess whether non-neutralizing was followed by immediate reductions in distress. We did assess this and found that the larger part of the immediate reduction of distress after neutralization also occurs when no neutralization instruction is given. The effects of neutralization instructions in the present type of experiment are considerably less powerful than suggested earlier.     

Is stimulus persistence affected by eye movements?

Summary When an eye movement intervenes between the presentation of a target and a mask, the mask has its effect on material projected on the same retinal position. Davidson, Fox, and Dick (1973) reported, however, that the mask appears to be positioned in real space, a suggestion which implies integration of visible information across the eye movement. The present note argues that their conclusion does not follow from their data.     

Intracerebroventricular injection of anti-prolactin serum suppresses excessive grooming of pituitary homografted rats

Rats with endogenous hyperprolactinaemia, as induced by pituitary homografts under the kidney capsule, displayed increased grooming behavior as compared to that of sham-operated animals. Twelve days after surgery, intracerebroventricular injection of anti-prolactin serum (dilution 1:100, 1 microliter) suppressed the excessive grooming of homografted rats. These observations suggest that prolactin from a peripheral source may reach the central nervous system to affect brain mechanisms involved in grooming behavior.