Pavlovian conditioning and rule learning

The experiment reviewed here was an attempt to show that two differential Pavlovian conditioning designs, namely positive and negative patterning, can best be understood as rule learning. First, it is shown that positive patterning is equivalent to the logical rule of conjunction (AND) and that negative patterning is equivalent to the logical rule of exclusive disjunction (XOR). It is assumed that in order to learn both kinds of discrimination subjects learn to use the according rule. If this is the case, the observed differentiation should be independent of the number of reinforcements for each individual stimulus. Second, subjects should be able to transfer the rule to new stimuli. Forty human subjects were randomly divided into four groups (N=10 each). Two factors were manipulated independently between subjects: (1) positive vs negative patterning, and (2) 2 vs 4 pairs of trained stimuli. Second interval skin conductance responses were measured. During initial acquisition positive as well as negative patterning occurred independently of number of pairs of trained stimuli (with total amount of training kept constant). Furthermore, AND as well as XOR could be transfered to new stimuli.     

A possible association between HLA B-27 and vulnerability to schizophrenia

The frequency of HLA B-27 has been found to be increased in schizophrenic patients, especially in those with a positive family history of schizophrenia. In the present study, psychiatrically healthy arthropathic patients bearing HLA B-27 were found to have significantly higher P scores as compared to arthropathic patients without this antigen. Psychoticism could be seen as a trait of the personality at high-risk for schizophrenia. Thus, the present finding suggests an association between HLA B-27 and the genetic vulnerability to some forms of schizophrenia.     

Integration of Cognitive and Emotional Processing Predicts Poor and Good Outcomes of Psychotherapy

Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - With the aim of investigating analogies and differences between psychotherapeutic processes, ten good-outcome and ten poor-outcome cases were selected from a...     

Progress with Science and Religion Issues: Critical Questions and Suggestions

Progress with the marriage of science and religion is slowed by “sterile” controversies. Ways toward overcoming them are suggested here. These concern the metaphysical foundations of science and religion (science and spirituality, science and theology) with a specific emphasis on epistemology, ontology, anthropology, aims, methodological procedures, limitations of binary logic, and the use of other types of logic (in particular relational and contextual reasoning). Dialogues between science and religion can have positive practical societal relevance, and therefore need to progress faster. An enlargement of humanity's mental horizons and development—especially of epistemic cognition—seems to be called for in order to secure the future of a global intellectual culture. Suggestions for achieving this are included.     

State-dependent changes of prefrontal–posterior coupling in the context of affective processing: Susceptibility to humor

The aim of the present study was to examine whether interindividual differences in the coupling or decoupling of prefrontal and posterior cortices during the exposure to social–emotional information may predict an individual’s positive emotional responsiveness. Susceptibility to humor was assessed in a behavioral paradigm several weeks after the EEG recordings. State-dependent changes of prefrontal–posterior EEG beta coherence were recorded during stimulation with other people’s auditory expressions of cheerfulness and sadness. Greater decreases of coherence during the stimulation with positive affect expressions prospectively predicted greater positive emotional responsiveness, indicated by higher amusement ratings in response to cartoons and higher scores in a questionnaire measure of exhilarability. Greater increases of coherence during the stimulation with negative affect expressions did not predict perceived funniness but were related to shorter response latencies to the amusement ratings. The results further support the notion that a more loose prefrontal–posterior coupling may be related to loosening of control of the prefrontal cortex over incoming emotional information and, thus, to a propensity to deeper emotional involvement and a greater impact of perceptual input, whereas increased prefrontal–posterior coupling may be related to strong control and the propensity to protect oneself from becoming emotionally affected.     

From bad to worse: Symbolic equivalence and opposition in fear generalisation

The present study compared the impact of symbolic equivalence and opposition relations on fear generalisation. In a procedure using nonsense words, some stimuli became symbolically equivalent to an aversively conditioned stimulus while others were symbolically opposite. The generalisation of fear to symbolically related stimuli was then measured using behavioural avoidance, retrospective unconditioned stimulus expectancy and stimulus valence ratings. Equivalence relations facilitated fear generalisation while opposition relations constrained generalisation. The potential clinical implications of symbolic generalisation are discussed.     

Birds of a feather… Generalization of facial structures following massive familiarization

Three experiments examined the effects of symmetry and complexity, as facial structures, on the aesthetic judgments of faces, and how these effects are modulated by moderate or massive familiarization. Results showed that symmetrical faces were judged as more attractive than nonsymmetrical faces, and simple faces were judged as more attractive than complex faces—with complexity defined as the number of facial elements. Complexity in faces seemed to have overridden the usually positive effects of facial symmetry. Moreover, while moderate familiarization did not modulate the effects, massive familiarization to a specific face type resulted in structural generalization effects: participants provided higher aesthetic judgments to faces that were new, but similarly structured to those which they were familiarized. This latter result contrasts previous studies that have found structural contrast effects following familiarization to meaningless, abstract stimuli. Taken together, these results reflect the greater biological and social significance of faces as compared to other objects in the world. They also show that people are drawn to those with familiar characteristics.