Relative rate of response and relative magnitude of reinforcement in multiple schedules

Pigeons were trained on a multiple schedule in which the duration of access to grain reinforcement was varied independently in the two components. The relative response rate in one component was an increasing function of the relative duration of reinforcement in that component. The similarity of this interaction to that found in multiple schedules of different reinforcement frequency is discussed. Extinction data were also similar to those obtained after training on multiple schedules of different reinforcement frequency.     

What Causes Humans to Begin and End A Meal? A Role for Memory for What Has Been Eaten, as Evidenced by A Study of Multiple Meal Eating in Amnesic Patients

Although many factors have been proposed and studied as causes of onset and termination of meals by humans, little attention has been paid to memory for what has previously been eaten. We propose that a principal determinant of meal onset and cessation in humans is memory of when a last meal was eaten and how much was consumed. Knowledge that one has just eaten a culturally defined complete meal may be sufficient grounds for refusal of further food. This hypothesis was tested by studying two densely amnesic patients who had almost no explicit memory for events that occurred more than a minute ago, and who, in particular, usually failed to remember that they had just eaten a meal. Both patients (on three occasions each) readily consumed a second lunch when it was offered 10 to 30 min after completion of the first meal, and usually began to consume a third meal when it was offered 10 to 30 min after completion of the second meal. These findings suggest that memory for what has recently been eaten is a substantial contributor to the onset or cessation of eating of a meal.     

Implications of Mothers' Personality for Their Parenting and Their Young Children's Developmental Outcomes

ABSTRACT Using.a recent model (Watson, Clark, & Harkness, 1994), we examined implications of mothers' personality ( N = 103) for parenting and children's developmental outcomes, using multiple personality self-reports, lengthy, repeated naturalistic observations, and mothers' reports about-parenting and their child. Mothers high in negative emotionality and disagreeable-ness showed more negative affect and their chidren were more defiant and angry; they also reported more power assertive and less nurturant parenting, as well as less secure attachment, more behavioral problems, and.lower internalizatton of rules in their children. Mothers high in constraint and California Psychological Inventory (CPI) socialization reported more secure attachment and better internalization of rules; CPI socialization also correlated negatively with observed maternal verbal power assertion and children's defiance and anger, and positively with compliance. Regression analyses indicated that mothers' personality, particularly negative emotionality and socialization, influenced broadly conceptualized adaptive child outcomes, even after the influence of parenting was controlled.     

Coping strategies and psychological distress in cancer patients before autologous bone marrow transplant

The increased use of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) to treat a variety of cancers has led researchers to study psychological functioning of BMT patients. The majority of studies conducted, however, has focused on adjustment after transplantation. Cancer patients' use of coping strategies before undergoing this procedure may also relate to levels of psychological distress. Our aims were (1) to provide normative coping data, controlling for situation-specific variables with a homogeneous sample, targeted stressor, and fixed time point, using the Ways of Coping Questionnaire; and (2) to identify coping strategies associated with distress before high-dose chemotherapy. Subjects were 49 patients scheduled to receive high-dose chemotherapy and an autologous bone marrow transplant. Consistent with previous coping research, we found that escape-avoidance was related to psychological distress on several measures. Item endorsement analyses of the escape-avoidance subscale suggest that patients may have used more passive than active avoidance strategies. Subsequent participation in a longitudinal study was not affected by initial levels of avoidant coping.     

The psychological significance of changes in skin temperature

Thirty-two female undergraduates were presented with varied, mildly stressful incentives while the temperatures of their face and hands were recorded with infrared telethermography. There was an increase of hand skin temperature to film clips intended to generate a happy affect but cooling to threatening personal questions. There was no significant skin temperature change in response to cognitive tasks or fear eliciting film clips. Larger temperature changes occurred on the hands than on the face, and most subjects were cooler on the left side of the face and the left hand than on the right side of face and right hand.     

A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF SOMATIC AND EMOTIONAL SYMPTOMS OF PREGNANCY

Using a prospective design, this study examined somatic and emotional symptoms of planned pregnancy in a sample of 162 healthy women. All women participated in a baseline (prepregnancy) interview. Seventy women became pregnant and were assessed at each trimester; the 92 nonpregnant controls were interviewed 3, 6, and 9 months after their baseline interview. All participants also completed the Anxiety and Depression subscales of the Symptom Checklist–Revised (SCL 90-R). No significant group differences were found at baseline. As expected, however, pregnant women reported significantly more instances of digestive symptoms (nausea, vomiting, heartburn), fatigue, and moodiness than nonpregnant controls. Discriminant-function analyses found that in the context of all symptom variables, nausea and fatigue were the primary distinguishing features of the first trimester. In the second and third trimester, fatigue and heartburn contributed to the distinction of pregnant and nonpregnant women. Although pregnancy precipitates many physical and psychological changes in this sample of women who had planned pregnancies, our results did not support the notion that pregnancy is either a time of significant emotional turmoil or of heightened emotional well-being.     

Reinforcement and the organization of behavior in golden hamsters: Punishment of three action patterns

Golden hamsters received free shock (Experiment 1) or they were partially (Experiments 2 and 3) or continuously (Experiments 4 and 5) punished with mild electric shock for face washing, open rearing, or scrabbling. Punishment immediately and enduringly reduced the time engaged in scrabbling and the number and length of its bouts. Face washing was also clearly associated with shock, since effects specific to the contingency between face washing and shock were retained when shock was discontinued, but under some conditions punishment increased the number of bouts of face washing. Open rearing was the most refractory of the three activities to suppression and showed least evidence of retaining the effects of punishment. This pattern of results differs from that found previously when food reinforcement was given for the same activities. It is discussed in terms of constraints on performance of learned associations by a variety of response-specific and reinforcer-specific motivational factors.