The effects of satiation after first— and second-order appetitive conditioning in rats

Rats received first- and second-order conditioning based on a food unconditional stimulus (US). The effects of postconditioning satiation on the performance of detailed behavioral components of general activity evoked by first- and second-order conditional stimuli (CSs) were then assessed in extinction tests. Satiation reduced the frequency of all components of general activity evoked by first-order CSs but had little or no effects on behaviors evoked by second-order CSs. These results are consistent with earlier suggestions that first-but not second-order conditional responding is mediated by a representation of the US and that a major effect of satiation is to devalue that representation.     

Reinforcement of eye movement with concurrent schedules

Human macrosaccadic eye movements to two areas of a four-dial display were conditioned by concurrent variable-interval schedules of signals. Reinforcers (signals) were delivered to the two right-hand dials on one schedule and to the two left-hand dials on another, independent schedule. The use of a changeover delay between crossover eye movements and reinforcement had the effect of changing the pattern of scanning from fixating four dials in succession or in a Z-shaped pattern to scanning vertically the dials on either side with fewer crossovers. In the presence of a changeover delay, subjects matched relative eye-movement rates and relative reinforcement rates on each schedule. Rate of crossover eye movements, with a changeover delay in effect, was also inversely related to the difference in reinforcements arranged by the concurrent schedules. The results suggest that for stimuli whose critical components are arranged spatially, conditioned eye movements play an important part in selective stimulus control.     

Sequential effects in absolute judgments of loudness

The effects of preceding stimuli on the judgments of current stimuli were examined in a study using absolute judgments of loudness with feedback. It was found that the response on a given trial was dependent on the stimuli in the preceding sequence of at least five trials. Both assimilation and contrast effects were observed. The form of the dependency of a response on a prior stimulus was a function of the ordinal position of the stimulus in the preceding sequence of trials. The stimulus on the immediately preceding trial had an assimilative effect on the response and preceding stimuli two to five trials removed all showed a contrast effect on a given response. The extent to which these preceding stimuli contributed to the contrast effect was an increasing function of their recency. The reversal of the dependency of the response, from assimilation to the stimulus one trial back, to contrast with the stimuli two and more trials back, indicates a unique function of the immediately preceding stimulus in this task. Since there was a reduction in the variance of responses to those stimuli similar in value to the immediately preceding stimulus, it is proposed that the stimulus and feedback on the last trial were remembered and used asa standardin judging the presented stimulus. A model is presented in which it is assumed that the memory of the magnitude of the immediately preceding stimulus is contaminated in specified ways by prior stimuli in the series. The empirical findings of assimilation and contrastare expected consequences of the proposed memorial processes.     

Rapid recovery from aphasia: a detailed language analysis

The paper presents a daily analysis of the language recovery of a patient who was globally aphasic at the time of her first observation and who had recovered language, as measured by the Western Aphasia Battery, at the time of her discharge 14 days later. The paper emphasizes the relatively regular growth of normal syntactic, lexical, and pragmatic features coupled with similar regular decreases in aphasic features. Observations of both phenomena are necessary to describe language recovery.     

Spontaneous configuring in conditioned flavor aversion

A series of experiments investigated spontaneous configuring using the conditioned flavor aversion paradigm with rat subjects. In Experiment 1, extended training of a two-flavor compound stimulus did not produce spontaneous differentiation of conditioned responding to that compound and its elements. In Experiment 2 we found that extended nonreinforced exposure to a compound stimulus generated spontaneous element-compound differentiation when the elements were later conditioned. Rats that received extended preexposure to the compound showed less conditioned responding to the compound than to either of its elements. However, rats that had not received preexposure to the compound showed greater conditioned responding to the compound than to either of its elements (summation). In Experiment 3, nonreinforced preexposure to the compound stimulus prior to minimal reinforced compound training produced spontaneous compound-element differentiation, but extended reinforced compound training eliminated that differentiation. In Experiment 4, extended partial reinforcement training with a compound produced differentiation of the compound from its elements. Implications of these data for the mechanisms responsible for spontaneous configuring and for the summation assumptions common to most learning theories are discussed.     

Improving specific autobiographical memory in older adults: impacts on mood,social problem solving,and functional limitations

Older adults have difficulty recalling specific autobiographical events. This over-general memory style is a vulnerability factor for depression. Two groups receiving interventions that have previously been successful at reducing over-general memory in depressed populations were compared to a control group. Participants were healthy older adults aged ≥70 years: memory specificity training (MEST; n = 22), life review (n = 22), and control group (n = 22). There were significant improvements in autobiographical memory specificity in the MEST and life review groups at post-training, relative to the control group, suggesting that over-general memory can be reduced in older adults. Change in social problem solving ability and functional limitations were related to change in autobiographical memory specificity, supporting the suggested role of specific retrieval in generating solutions to social problems and maintaining independence. Qualitative analysis of participants’ feedback revealed that life review may be more appropriate for older adults, possibly because it involves integrating specific memories into a positive narrative.     

The influence of associability changes in negative patterning and other discriminations

Normal rats showed faster learning of a serial negative patterning (NP) discrimination (X+, A+, X-->A-) than of a comparable feature negative (FN) discrimination (A+, X-->A-). This advantage was absent in rats with lesions of the amygdala central nucleus. Earlier data indicated that this brain lesion interferes with surprise-induced increases in attention specified by the Pearce-Hall model (J. M. Pearce & G. Hall, 1980). In the NP task, but not the FN task, omission of the reinforcer after X on X-->A- trials was surprising. A variation of the NP task (NPX), in which X was reinforced on both X+ and X-->A- trials, was learned more rapidly than the NP task. Lesioned rats were unimpaired in learning the NPX task. Evaluation of the lesion effects and the results of posttraining transfer tests suggested that the NP advantage involved attentional processes, whereas the NPX advantage was based on the acquisition of inhibitory control by aspects of excitation conditioned to X.     

Don't stand so close to me: the effects fo self-construal in interpersonal closeness

Abstract— Three studies investigated the effects of self-construal activation on behavior conducive to interpersonal proximity. Study 1 revealed that compared with control participants, participants who were primed with the independent (or personal) self sat further away from where they anticipated another person would sit in a waiting room. Results of Study 2 indicated that participants primed with the interdependent (or social) self sat closer to the anticipated other person than did those primed with the independent self. Finally, Study 3 used the chronic self-construal of participants to predict the seating distance in dyadic settings. Results showed that greater independence of participants' self-construals was associated with greater spatial distance during the interaction. Together, the studies provide clear evidence that self-construal activation automatically influences interpersonal behavior as reflected in the actual distance between the self and others. Results are discussed in terms of the functions and motives connected to self-construals.