Alcohol self-administration by rats in the presence of a tangible object

The authors used the sucrose-substitution procedure to train operant self-administration of a 10% alcohol solution in 8 Long-Evans rats. After they established stable responding, they began a 10-session baseline. A 10-session experimental phase followed the baseline phase. During the experimental phase, the authors placed a large glass marble in the center of the experimental chambers before self-administration sessions. The presence of the marble decreased the rats' responding and alcohol intake significantly. The authors discussed the results in terms of distraction and the effects of concurrently available reinforcers on alcohol self-administration.     

Representation and execution of vocal motor programs for expert singing of tonal melodies

Three experiments were conducted to study motor programs used by expert singers to produce short tonal melodies. Each experiment involved a response-priming procedure in which singers prepared to sing a primary melody but on 50% of trials had to switch and sing a different (secondary) melody instead. In Experiment 1, secondary melodies in the same key as the primary melody were easier to produce than secondary melodies in a different key. Experiment 2 showed that it was the initial note rather than key per se that affected production of secondary melodies. In Experiment 3, secondary melodies involving exact transpositions were easier to sing than secondary melodies with a different contour than the primary melody. Also, switches between the keys of C and G were easier than those between C and E. Taken together, these results suggest that the initial note of a melody may be the most important element in the motor program, that key is represented in a hierarchical form, and that melodic contour is represented as a series of exact semitone offsets.     

Correspondence among observer ratings of Rorschach,Big Five Model,and DSM-IV personality disorder constructs

Observer ratings were collected using instruments designed to measure the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) personality disorders (Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4+ [PDQ-4+]; Hyler, 1994), the Big Five model (B5M; Goldberg's [1999] International Personality Item Pool), and Rorschach-derived constructs. For the latter, we revised the Rorschach Rating Scale (Meyer, Bates, & Gacono, 1999) to lower its reading level and renamed it the Rorschach Construct Scale (RCS) to emphasize its reliance on rated constructs. The RCS consists of 6 factors. Joint factor analysis of RCS, PDQ-4+, and B5M items also resulted in 6 factors: Self-Centeredly Exploitative, Poor Ego Resiliency, Extraversion, Task Conscientiousness, Openness to Ideas, and Emotional and Expressive Constriction. The first 2 factors received high loadings from RCS, PDQ-4+, and B5M variables. The sixth factor received high loadings from just RCS variables.     

Processing of extrafoveal objects during multiple-object naming

In 3 experiments, the authors investigated the extent to which objects that are about to be named are processed prior to fixation. Participants named pairs or triplets of objects. One of the objects, initially seen extrafoveally (the interloper), was replaced by a different object (the target) during the saccade toward it. The interloper-target pairs were identical or unrelated objects or visually and conceptually unrelated objects with homophonous names (e.g., animal- baseball bat). The mean latencies and gaze durations for the targets were shorter in the identity and homophone conditions than in the unrelated condition. This was true when participants viewed a fixation mark until the interloper appeared and when they fixated on another object and prepared to name it while viewing the interloper. These results imply that objects that are about to be named may undergo far-reaching processing, including access to their names, prior to fixation.     

Exploring possible ethnic differences and bias in the Rorschach Comprehensive System

In this study I conducted a series of analyses to explore potential ethnic bias in Rorschach Comprehensive System variables using a consecutive series of 432 patients evaluated in 1 setting. The simple association between 188 scores and ethnicity revealed no significant findings after matching on several salient demographic variables. Next, 17 analyses of convergent validity found no evidence for differential validity and no evidence for slope bias. For 13 analyses, there was also no evidence for intercept bias. However, with 4 variables predicting psychotic disorders, regression lines favored minorities and worked against European Americans. These findings are the opposite of what should be seen if the Rorschach was biased against minorities and most likely emerged for statistical reasons related to unmeasured confounds. Finally, principal components analyses revealed no evidence of ethnic bias in the Rorschach's internal structure. Although these findings need to be replicated, the available data support using the Comprehensive System across ethnic groups.     

An examination of interrater reliability for scoring the Rorschach Comprehensive System in eight data sets

In this article, we describe interrater reliability for the Comprehensive System (CS; Exner. 1993) in 8 relatively large samples, including (a) students, (b) experienced re- searchers, (c) clinicians, (d) clinicians and then researchers, (e) a composite clinical sample (i.e., a to d), and 3 samples in which randomly generated erroneous scores were substituted for (f) 10%, (g) 20%, or (h) 30% of the original responses. Across samples, 133 to 143 statistically stable CS scores had excellent reliability, with median intraclass correlations of.85, .96, .97, .95, .93, .95, .89, and .82, respectively. We also demonstrate reliability findings from this study closely match the results derived from a synthesis of prior research, CS summary scores are more reliable than scores assigned to individual responses, small samples are more likely to generate unstable and lower reliability estimates, and Meyer's (1997a) procedures for estimating response segment reliability were accurate. The CS can be scored reliably, but because scoring is the result of coder skills clinicians must conscientiously monitor their accuracy.     

Ratings of pleasantness and intensity for beverages served in containers congruent and incongruent with expectancy

Pleasantness and intensity ratings of beverages served in containers congruent and incongruent with expectancy were assessed. Past research has shown that the violation of food expectancies, e.g., color, taste, temperature, leads to more negative evaluations of food. Thus, it was hypothesized that beverages sampled from a container incongruent with expectancy, e.g., beer from a coffee cup, would be rated less favorably than the same beverage sampled from a container congruent with expectancy, e.g., beer from a beer bottle. 61 participants evaluated three beverages (beer, orange juice, and hot chocolate) in three containers (bottle, glass, and cup) using 11-point rating scales for pleasantness and intensity. Analysis indicated beverages were rated as significantly more pleasant in containers congruent with expectancy, as well as rated more intense when presented in bottles. These results further address the effects of violating expectations on producing negative hedonic evaluations.     

Virtually perfect time sharing in dual-task performance: uncorking the central cognitive bottleneck

A fundamental issue for psychological science concerns the extent to which people can simultaneously perform two perceptual-motor tasks. Some theorists have hypothesized that such dual-task performance is severely and persistently constrained by a central cognitive 'bottleneck,' whereas others have hypothesized that skilled procedural decision making and response selection for two or more tasks can proceed at the same time under adaptive executive control. The three experiments reported here support this latter hypothesis. Their results show that after relatively modest amounts of practice, at least some participants achieve virtually perfect time sharing in the dual-task performance of basic choice reaction tasks. The results also show that observed interference between tasks can be modulated by instructions about differential task priorities and personal preferences for daring (concurrent) or cautious (successive) scheduling of tasks. Given this outcome, future research should investigate exactly when and how such sophisticated skills in dual-task performance are acquired.     

Essentialist Beliefs About Bodily Transplants in the United States and India

Psychological essentialism is the belief that some internal, unseen essence or force determines the common outward appearances and behaviors of category members. We investigated whether reasoning about transplants of bodily elements showed evidence of essentialist thinking. Both Americans and Indians endorsed the possibility of transplants conferring donors' personality, behavior, and luck on recipients, consistent with essentialism. Respondents also endorsed essentialist effects even when denying that transplants would change a recipient's category membership (e.g., predicting that a recipient of a pig's heart would act more pig‐like but denying that the recipient would become a pig). This finding runs counter to predictions from the strongest version of the “minimalist” position (Strevens,2000), an alternative to essentialism. Finally, studies asking about a broader range of donor‐to‐recipient transfers indicated that Indians essentialized more types of transfers than Americans, but neither sample essentialized monetary transfer. This suggests that results from bodily transplant conditions reflect genuine essentialism rather than broader magical thinking.