Threshold tracking for assessment of long-term adaptation and sensitization in pain perception

To assess temporal variations in the perception of "phasic" heat pain stimuli a psychophysical tracking procedure was developed that enables repeated assessment of the pain threshold at short intervals. This "double-tracking" procedure produces two tracking curves simultaneously, one that approaches the pain threshold gradually from above, the other from below. The threshold for phasic heat pain was measured in 80 tracking trials with stimuli at temperatures near the pain threshold. Concurrently, the threshold for "tonic" heat pain was determined after every 20 tracking trials with a stimulus adjustment procedure. Eleven healthy subjects (age: 26.4 yr. +/- 6.0) participated in 2 sessions each. Phasic stimulation near the pain threshold did not produce any trends in either of the two threshold measures. Hence there was no long-term adaptation or sensitization. However, there were random variations (random walks) in the tracking curves, which we interpret as resulting from a stochastic relationship between stimulus and sensation. In agreement with other reports, discrimination seemed to be better at painful than at nonpainful temperatures.     

Distributed and massed practice effects on motor performance and learning of autistic children

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of massed and distributed practice upon the learning by 8 autistic children of rotary pursuit tracking at 20 rpm. The massed practice group of four completed 10 30-sec. trials with 5-sec. rests for 10 consecutive days on the Photoelectric Pursuit Rotor. The distributed practice group completed 10 30-sec. trials with 30-sec. rests for 10 consecutive days on the same device. The results of a 2 x 10 x 10 (group x practice days x trials) analysis of variance with repeated measures on the last two factors indicated that learning occurred for both groups but no differences between groups were significant. It is suggested that further investigations into the applicability of motor learning principles to special populations be conducted using larger groups.     

Acquisition of self-control of a novel muscular activity with EMG and video feedback

To examine the acquisition of voluntary control of a novel muscular activity from the initial stage to the self-control stage, the m. auricularis posterior, which had generally degenerated and had nearly lost its function of drawing an auricle backward in the human body, was selected as a target muscle to be studied. One female undergraduate student who could not move her auricles intentionally was required to activate her left m. auricularis posterior and underwent rest, pretest, training, and posttest sessions once a day for five days. At the subject's request, the electromyograph (EMG) from her left m. auricularis posterior on an oscillograph was provided for her as the feedback signal on each training trial. The picture of her left ear on television was handled in the same way. The EMG measures indicated that the subject could learn to activate her left m. auricularis posterior differentially. The number of training trials on which the subject requested the feedback signals suggested that EMG feedback signal was more useful to her than the video and that the usefulness of the feedback signals varied as the training sessions advanced. It was also concluded from analysis of the self-report data that the acquisition process of self-control of a novel muscular activity could be divided into at least four stages.     

On the concept of language in some recent theories of meaning

The work on this paper was done in the research project V ra begrepp om spr k supported byHumanistisk-samhälls-vetenskapliga forskningsr det. I am indebted to Per Martin-Löf, Hans Ruin, Pär Segerdahl, and Sven Öhman for valuable comments on a previous version of this paper. Thanks to the comments of the anonymous referee I was able to improve some formulations in the paper.     

Actions, intentions, and consequences: the doctrine of double effect

One interpretation of the doctrine of double effect (DDE) holds that in situations in which good can be secured for some only if others suffer harm, the pursuit of a good tends to be less acceptable when a resulting harm is intended as a means rather than when it is merely foreseen. The doctrine captures certain moral intuitions about pairs of cases which have the same consequential profiles but in which the character of the intention differs. Quinn examines the DDE using three pairs of contrasting cases, two of which are medical examples: the "Direction of Resources" case and the "Guinea Pig" case, both involving allocation of life-saving resources, and the "Craniotomy" case and the "Hysterectomy" case, both involving fetal vs. maternal life. He concludes that the DDE "embodies our sense that certain forms of forced strategic subordination are especially inappropriate among free and equal agents."     

Timed magnitude comparisons of numerical and nonnumerical expressions of uncertainty

Two experiments involving paired comparisons of numerical and nonnumerical expressions of uncertainty are reported. Subjects were timed under two opposing sets of instructions ("choose higher probability" vs. "choose lower probability"). Numerical comparisons were consistently faster and easier than their nonnumerical counterparts. Consistent distance and congruity effects were obtained, illustrating that both numerical and nonnumerical expressions of uncertainty contain subjective magnitude information, and suggesting that similar processes are employed in manipulating and comparing numerical and verbal terms. To account for the general pattern of results obtained, Holyoak's reference point model (1978) was generalized by explicitly including the vagueness of the nonnumerical expressions. This generalized model is based on the notion that probability expressions can be represented by membership functions (Wallsten, Budescu, Rapoport, Zwick, & Forsyth, 1986) from which measures of location for each word, and measures of overlap for each pair can be derived. A good level of fit was obtained for this model at the individual level.     

The effect of control and predictability in learned helplessness

The present 2 x 2 study deals with the influence of controllability and predictability of an aversive noise stimulus on a subsequent learning task. Eighty-four subjects participated in two experiments. In correspondence with the concept of learned helplessness, controllability was shown to be the dominant factor in the first experiment. In the second experiment, a modified test task was used in which both factors were shown to act in specific ways: The main influence of controllability is upon response measures (latency, omission), whereas unpredictability retardates learning of new predictive connections. The results are discussed in terms of contingency learning.     

Retrieval plus scanning: Does it occur?

In the two experiments reported here, we tested the retrieval-plus-scan model of delayed probe recognition by adding a second probe 2 sec after subjects had responded to the first probe. According to this model, the list items should still be in consciousness from the first probe at the time of the second probe. Consequently, on tests in which the first probe had been tested immediately, we expected to find the same pattern of performance on both first and second probes. On tests in which the first probe came after a filled delay, we expected the first-probe data to show the effects of retrieval and proactive interference. These effects should not be present on the second probe. The results of the first-probe data in both experiments were consistent with the retrieval-plus-scan model. The second-probe data did not fit the model, however. In the first experiment, the second probe on what had been delayed first-probe trials still produced intercept differences, indicating the presence of retrieval. In the second experiment, the effects of proactive interference were still present on the second probe. It is suggested that these results not only invalidate the retrieval-plus-scan model for delayed probe recognition but that they, along with other results, cast doubt on a scanning operation in immediate probe recognition.     

Toward a synergism of rural development and community psychology

Conclusion The community psychologist should be attuned to the phenomenon that deprived communities are not always attracted by goals that are understandable to the middle-class power structure. Persons in a constant battle against poverty settle at first for immediate visible gains. An increase in the number of children getting lunch at school is tangible; a revision of the curriculum to produce better competence in mathematics is not quite so tangible.I thank Prof. L. M. Noth, Professor and Head, Community Medicine, AIIMS, New Delhi, and Officer In Charge, Comprehensive Rural Health Service Project, Ballabgarh, for encouraging me to initiate and demonstrate community activities at Panehrakhurd, when I was associated with AIIMS. Thanks also to Mr. Parma Nand and Mr. Gurmeet Lal, President and General Secretary, respectively, of Dr. Ambdkar Mission Society Sofipind for their kind cooperation in trying out the developmental work.     

Ratings of kinetic depth in multidot displays

Subjects saw kinetic depth displays whose shape (sphere or cylinder) was defined by luminous dots distributed randomly on the surface or in the volume of the object. Subjects rated perceived 3-D depth, rigidity, and coherence. Despite individual differences, all 3 ratings increased with the number of dots. Dots in the volume yielded ratings equal to or greater than surface dots. Each rating varied with 3 of 4 factors (shape, distribution, numerosity, and perspective), but the ratings either between trials or between conditions were often uncorrelated. Object shape affected rigidity but not depth ratings. Veridically perceived polar displays had slightly lower rigidity but higher depth ratings than parallel projection displays. (Reversed polar displays were always grossly nonrigid.) The interaction of ratings and stimulus parameters requires theories and experiments in which different KDE ratings are not treated interchangeably.