Anterograde amnesia for Pavlovian fear conditioning and the role of one-trial overshadowing: effects of preconditioning exposures to morphine in the rat

Four experiments studied anterograde deficits in Pavlovian fear conditioning following prolonged exposure to the mu-opioid receptor agonist morphine. Injections of morphine produced temporally graded anterograde amnesia characterized by deficits in contextual and conditioned-stimulus (CS) conditioning 1 or 7 days and selective impairment in CS conditioning 21 days after last injection. This anterograde deficit in conditioning did not recover across a retention interval, was absent when rats were tested immediately after conditioning, and required the presence of an auditory CS. These results suggest that anterograde deficits in Pavlovian fear conditioning emerged from differences in susceptibility to 1-trial overshadowing of context by CS.     

Brief Report: Exposure to Muscular Male Models Decreases Men’s Body Satisfaction

The current study was designed to examine the effect of exposure to muscular ideal bodies on body satisfaction in men. College men (N= 104) at a medium-sized mid-south university completed the Body Assessment (BA)scale, which measures body satisfaction, before and after exposure to either muscular or nonmuscular advertisements. BA scores were examined using a repeated measures (pre and post) ANOVA with muscularity of image (view images of muscular men vs. view images ofaverage men) as the between-participants factor. Results indicated that men’s self-rated body satisfaction decreased after viewing images of muscular men but did not change after viewing images of average men. Thus, it appears that men’s body satisfaction may be influenced by exposure to brief images of muscular models. These results are congruent with results of previous investigations of the effects of viewing images of thin models on women’s body satisfaction.     

A vision research apparatus for broad luminance range displays.

Lightness, the perceived gray shade of a surface, and the perception of self-luminous surfaces--that is, surfaces that appear to glow--have most often been studied with paper displays and computer-generated stimuli presented on CRT monitors. Although both methods are often effective, experiments that require a wide range of luminance values in the same display are often difficult to conduct with paper and computer displays alone. Also, color mode appearance is often an issue when surface color perception is the topic of research; CRT monitors are essentially light sources themselves and often appear in the luminous mode of color appearance. Here, we describe an apparatus in which the target is an undetected aperture whose luminance is adjustable. Whereas a typical CRT monitor offers a luminance range of about 100:1, much broader luminance ranges are possible with the described apparatus. Unlike a CRT monitor, the stimulus background will always appear in the surface mode of color perception, and the target(s) can appear as either surface colors or luminous colors. Apparatus modifications are possible, including the addition of a stereoscope or an embedded CRT for creating an adjustable region that is computer controlled.     

The Expanded Version of the Inferential Confusion Questionnaire: Further Development and Validation in Clinical and Non-Clinical Samples

The current study represents the further development and validation of an expanded version of the Inferential Confusion Questionnaire (ICQ-EV) in non-clinical and clinical samples. Inferential confusion seems to be particularly relevant to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and is defined as a failure to recognize the unrealistic nature of obsessions due to a subjective form of reasoning. Factor analysis of the item-set of the ICQ-EV indicated a one-dimensional solution in non-clinical and clinical samples. It was hypothesized that inferential confusion as measured by the ICQ-EV would be particularly relevant to participants with OCD. Results confirmed convergent validity with strong relationships between the ICQ-EV and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in all samples independent of other cognitive domains and general distress. In addition, those with OCD scored higher on the ICQ-EV than non-clinical controls and a mixed anxiety disorder group so confirming group-criterion validity. Finally, the ICQ-EV also showed clinical validity with change in ICQ-EV scores during treatment significantly related to successful treatment outcome.     

Reply to Josipovic: Duality and non-duality in meditation research

We agree with Josipovic that a fundamental differentiating feature of meditation techniques is whether they remain within the dualistic subject–object cognitive structure, or they transcend this structure to reveal an underlying level of non-dual awareness. Further discussion is needed to delineate the basic non-dual experience in meditation, where all phenomenal content is absent, from the more advanced experience of non-duality in daily life, where phenomenal content is obviously present as well. In this discussion, it is important to recognize that the experiencer–object relation makes the experience dual or non-dual, rather than the nature of the object experienced.     

Elaborating a simpler theory of anchoring

Within the classic anchoring paradigm, in which respondents are forced to consider provided numbers as possible responses to a target judgment, Wegener et al. (2008) proposed that cognitive load affects the psychological mechanism by which these anchors influence judgments. We propose, instead, that level of cognitive resources does not fundamentally affect how anchoring works, but only whether respondents can access other considerations that bear on the target judgment. Though we share the authors' view that environmental circumstances can influence the relative contribution of associative and deliberative inputs in judgments, we contend that cognitive load primarily affects the types of information that respondents consider, not the manner by which a focal element is processed.