Factors Related to Inconsistent Career Preferences

A sample of entering college freshmen was divided into 2 groups on the basis of the consistency or inconsistency of their first and second career preferences. The two groups were compared on several family and personal factors in order to identify variables that are related to inconsistencies in career preferences. The groups were observed to be somewhat different in the general level of their academic ability and the degree to which their interests were supported by SVIB results. No significant family differences between the two groups were observed. These findings were tentatively interpreted as implying that the inconsistency of career preference was more likely to be the result of the student's recognition of his limited abilities than the other variables examined in this study.     

Self-image of punk rock and nonpunk rock juvenile delinquents

The purpose of this study was to provide some understanding of punk rockers. Although they have received media attention in the depiction of their unusual hair and clothing styles, there is limited information about their personalities. In this study a delinquent group of punk rockers was compared with a delinquent group of nonpunk rockers on self-image, a personality factor related to teenagers' mental health and adjustment. Each group consisted of 20 subjects, 15 males and 5 females, aged 14 to 17. Subjects were administered a Screening Questionnaire, the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ), and the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) while detained at a Southern California juvenile hall. Interest in the CPI was focused on the Socialization (So) scale. A one-way analysis of variance was conducted on each of the five OSIQ dimensions. No significant differences were found between the groups. The importance of these findings is that even though punk rockers may look and act unusual, they may actually be similar to other groups. Due to possibly invalid CPI test protocols a t test and content analysis of the CPI So scale was conducted. The t test was significant and the chi-square analyses were significant on two questions of the CPI So scale. This suggests that there may be differences between the groups in terms of family dynamics. Professionals can utilize these findings in their work with this misunderstood segment of society.     

Brain catecholamines and memory modulation: effects of footshock, amygdala implantation, and stimulation

The results of previous studies indicate that the extent of a transient decline in brain norepinephrine (NE) levels shortly after training and administration of any of several memory modulating treatments is correlated with later retention performance. The present experiment assessed such changes after one-trial inhibitory (passive) avoidance training and, in addition, measured concentration changes in 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG), the major metabolite of brain NE, as well as dopamine (DA) and epinephrine (EPI) levels. The results indicate that the decreases in brain NE after footshock are accompanied by an increase in MHPG, thus providing additional evidence that brain NE is released after training. DA levels were unchanged after training; brainstem EPI levels increased after the training footshock, but forebrain EPI levels were unchanged. A second experiment examined brain catecholamine levels in animals which received post-training electrical stimulation of the amygdala. The findings of this experiment indicate that the amygdala damage which accompanies electrode implantation apparently results in a chronic change in whole brain NE levels and metabolism. After amygdala, NE concentrations in both brainstem and forebrain samples were reduced by 20% and MHPG was increased by 22-34%. Furthermore, NE levels were not responsive to training in implanted animals. Thus, brain NE levels after training were not predictive of retention performance in amygdala-implanted or -stimulated animals. However, the significance of such findings for understanding the possible role of central NE in memory storage is complicated by the severe modification of the dynamics of brain aminergic systems in animals bearing amygdala electrodes.     

Epinephrine facilitation of appetitive learning: attenuation with adrenergic receptor antagonists

Previous studies using aversive training tasks have reported that retention is enhanced by post-training administration of epinephrine. This study investigated the effects of post-training administration of epinephrine on retention of an appetitive task. The results indicate that epinephrine can enhance retention performance in an appetitive task of both rats and mice. Pretraining injections of propranolol and phenoxybenzamine, alpha- and beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists, attenuate the memory-enhancing effects of epinephrine. These results are consistent with the view that release of peripheral epinephrine may regulate storage of new information and may mediate memory modulation produced by a variety of treatments.     

Motivational deficits in schizophrenia relate to abnormalities in cortical learning rate signals

Individuals from across the psychosis spectrum display impairments in reinforcement learning. In some individuals, these deficits may result from aberrations in reward prediction error (RPE) signaling, conveyed by dopaminergic projections to the ventral striatum (VS). However, there is mounting evidence that VS RPE signals are relatively intact in medicated people with schizophrenia (PSZ). We hypothesized that, in PSZ, reinforcement learning deficits often are not related to RPE signaling per se but rather their impact on learning and behavior (i.e., learning rate modulation), due to dysfunction in anterior cingulate and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC). Twenty-six PSZ and 23 healthy volunteers completed a probabilistic reinforcement learning paradigm with occasional, sudden, shifts in contingencies. Using computational modeling, we found evidence of an impairment in trial-wise learning rate modulation (α) in PSZ before and after a reinforcement contingency shift, expressed most in PSZ with more severe motivational deficits. In a subsample of 22 PSZ and 22 healthy volunteers, we found little evidence for between-group differences in VS RPE and dmPFC learning rate signals, as measured with fMRI. However, a follow-up psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed decreased dmPFC-VS connectivity concurrent with learning rate modulation, most prominently in individuals with the most severe motivational deficits. These findings point to an impairment in learning rate modulation in PSZ, leading to a reduced ability to adjust task behavior in response to unexpected outcomes. At the level of the brain, learning rate modulation deficits may be associated with decreased involvement of the dmPFC within a greater RL network.     

Learning and forgetting in schizophrenia

Recent studies of patients with schizophrenia have consistently demonstrated marked deficits on measures of initial learning. However, contradictory results have been reported concerning retention and forgetting. The present study examined the level of initial and delayed recall of stories and visual figures in a group of 76 patients with schizophrenia and 51 normal controls. Schizophrenia patients demonstrated marked impairments in initial and delayed recall as well as significantly worse percentage retention scores. However, schizophrenia patients and healthy controls individually matched on level of initial recall had nearly identical delayed recall performance. The results suggest a primary deficit in the initial acquisition of information rather than an accelerated rate of forgetting in schizophrenia.     

An open-label trial of bromocriptine in nonfluent aphasia: a qualitative analysis of word storage and retrieval

Anomia is a commonly found in aphasia and has been attributed to a loss of representations (storage deficit) or to a loss of access to these representations (retrieval deficit). Bromocriptine, a dopamine agonist, was tested on four patients, two men and two women, with nonfluent aphasia. The patients were tested in an open-label ABBA design using a stochastic model that measured the degree of storage and retrieval deficits. All patients showed significant improvements in word retrieval. Bromocriptine may be a useful adjunct in the treatment of selected patients with a nonfluent aphasia in which retrieval deficits play a major role.