Distraction and facilitation--two faces of the same coin?

Unexpected and task-irrelevant sounds can capture our attention and may cause distraction effects reflected by impaired performance in a primary task unrelated to the perturbing sound. The present auditory-visual oddball study examines the effect of the informational content of a sound on the performance in a visual discrimination task. The informational content was modulated by varying the sound-target interval and the probability of target occurrence. Effects of informational content were examined with two types of distractors: a burst of white noise (deviant) and environmental sounds (novel). Behavioral results reveal the following. (1) Novel and deviant sounds do not necessarily cause behavioral distraction effects when they are uninformative with respect to both time and probability of occurrence of a visual target. (2) Novel, but not deviant, sounds cause an unspecific bias toward facilitation. (3) The informational content of task-irrelevant sounds speeds reaction times, indicating the use of information not directly related to the task for enhancing performance. (4) It is suggested that performance in deviant and novel trials is the sum of the costs of attentional orienting and benefits of information as well as benefits of unspecific activation for novels.     

Orgasm Frequency Predicts Desire and Expectation for Orgasm: Assessing the Orgasm Gap within Mixed-Sex Couples

While previous research has established the existence of an orgasm gap between men and women, research exploring this phenomenon within dyadic samples of mixed-sex couples has been limited. The current study aims to investigate the impact of this orgasm disparity on novel sexual outcomes for couples, including desire and expectation for orgasm. We conducted secondary data analyses on a sample of 104 sexually active mixed-sex couples using an online Qualtrics panel (M_age?=?43.9 years; 94.2% heterosexual; 79.3% White). Cisgender men and women within the couple reported on their sexual satisfaction, orgasm frequency, desired orgasm frequency, expectation for how often people should orgasm (“orgasm expectation”), and perceptions of their partner’s orgasm frequency. An orgasm gap emerged, and men significantly underreported the size of the orgasm gap in their relationships. In a dyadic path model, men’s and women’s own orgasm frequency positively predicted their desire and expectation for orgasm. Additionally, women’s orgasm frequency predicted men’s orgasm expectation. This relationship between orgasm frequencies and expectancies may partially explain women’s lower orgasm importance compared to men. A cycle of orgasm inequality within relationships may be perpetuated when women who experience less frequent orgasms lower their desire and expectation for orgasm. Sex educators, activists, and therapists should work to improve entitlement to sexual pleasure and orgasm, particularly for women who wish to increase their orgasm frequency.

     

Memory consolidation for the discrimination of frequency-modulated tones in mongolian gerbils is sensitive to protein-synthesis inhibitors applied to the auditory cortex

Differential conditioning of Mongolian gerbils to linearly frequency-modulated tones (FM) has recently received experimental attention. In the study of the role of cerebral protein synthesis for FM discrimination memory, gerbils received post-training bilateral injections of anisomycin into the auditory cortex under light halothane anesthesia. Compared with saline-treated controls, anisomycin-treated gerbils showed a discrimination decrement during the subsequent three days of training. They markedly improved their performance within training sessions, but started each session at low levels. When repeatedly trained gerbils received post-session injections of anisomycin, discrimination performance during subsequent sessions was similar to the pre-injection performance, indicating that retention, retrieval, reconsolidation, and expression of the established reaction were not affected. However, the improvement of a partially established discrimination reaction was impaired after this treatment. Intracortical injections of emetine confirmed this finding. Neither drug affected FM discrimination learning when given several days before the initial training. Our results suggest that protein-synthesis inhibitors applied to the auditory cortex of gerbils during the post-acquisition phase interfered with learning and memory-related aspects of FM processing. The resulting deficit was evident for a number of post-injection training days. This effect was probably due to impaired consolidation, i.e., processes required for long-term stabilization or retrieval of the memory trace while leaving short-term memory intact.     

Smoking Behavior Development and Modification: An Empirical Application of Three Social Psychological Theories1

Three major social psychological theories were applied to data obtained in interviews with a random sample of 50 exsmokers and 50 smokers. The objective was to test the utility of these theories with respect to smoking behavior development and change. The results provided strong support for the hypotheses derived from reference group theory and partial support for the cognitive dissonance and psychoanalytic hypotheses.     

The similarity-attraction relationship: Is there an ideal one?

It is proposed that we are attracted to similar individuals because: (1) such individuals are similar to our ideals and (2) such individuals are similar to ourselves. Previous studies have employed a similarity manipulation which has confounded these two components. When the components are separated, similarity to the ideal was expected to exert a major influence and similarity to the self a minor influence on attraction. A series of experiments orthogonally manipulated similarity to self and similarity to ideal with a new technique involving content-free dimensions. The results indicated a consistent main effect for ideal similarity on liking and no consistent main effect for similarity to the self. Finally, the results also indicated that given any two of the three variables—similarity to self, similarity to ideal, and own self to own ideal discrepancy—subjects seemed able to infer the other or third variable in a fairly logical fashion.     

The processing of presuppositional information contained in sentences: electrophysiological correlates.

In an attempt to observe how the brain processes presuppositional information, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 12 scalp electrodes placed over the left and right hemispheres of 10 adult subjects as they listened to sentences that contained either factive or nonfactive verbs. The stimulus sentences had been time-compressed to a duration of less than 1.25 sec, allowing ERPs to be recorded over their entire length. A Principal Components Analysis/Analysis of Variance procedure provided evidence that the brain responses could discriminate between factive and nonfactive conditions. It was concluded that the processing of presupposition represents a multidimensional phenomenon that changes across cortical space and time.     

Preventing mental illness through existential principles

A case is made for the dysfunctional attributes of traditional marital relationships conceptually based upon the material principle of scarcity. The application of the existential principle of abundance is put forth for the purpose of developing genuine mutual support, personal awareness, and authenticity leading to the prevention of mental illness.     

The Trouble with Nominalism

Philosophical Studies -     

Stimulus control of EMG burst duration in human locomotion

To better understand constraints on EMG activity, burst duration was restricted for the rectus femoris (RF) muscle as subjects walked on a motor-driven treadmill. Once in each step cycle (touchdown to touchdown of the left foot) a computer-activated light discriminated a short burst (if green) and silence (if red). All four subjects rapidly met the criterion of 90% success in 50 cycles for a burst 100–300 msec long within a performance duration, PDUR, of 700 msec. In contrast, two of the four failed to reduce the burst to conform to a 100–200 msec requirement. Several variables were ruled out as bearing on these between-subject performance differences: (1) complete failure to produce a short burst within the PDUR, since many were successful; (2) a differential effect upon subjects of two “reinforcer” types (a high tone after success and a low tone after failure, or else audible EMG biofeedback before the high or low tone); (3) appreciable differences in cycle duration or swing/stance ratios; (4) the presence or absence of concomitant activity in other leg muscles whose EMG was recorded. The frequent failure to accurately terminate the burst was suggested to be due to a greater susceptibility, whether reflexive or conditioned, to simulation arising in the contracting RF muscle itself.