Stimulus aspects of aversive controls: the effects of response contingent shock

A tone ending with electrical shock was periodically presented to pigeons while they pecked a key for food. Pairs of birds were run simultaneously under a yoked program which insured that both birds received the same number and temporal distribution of shocks. For one of the birds, shock was always initiated by a peck; for the other, shock was unavoidable. Both procedures led to reduced rates of pecking in the presence of the tone, and gradients of stimulus generalization were obtained. But the effects of response contingent shock extinguished more rapidly than the effects of unavoidable shock. In general, birds exposed to unavoidable shock tended to respond at intermediate rates throughout tone, whereas those exposed to response contingent shock ceased to peck for part or all of the tone period.     

Sequential response effects in the white rat during conditioning and extinction on a DRL schedule,

Sequential IRT data were obtained for three rats on a DRL 60-sec reinforcement schedule. It was found that first-order sequential dependencies exist under this schedule, including the partial dependence of the length of any given IRT on the length of the preceding IRT. The sequential analysis also served to extend the finding in the literature, based on frequency distributions, that the likelihood of a reinforced IRT is greater after a reinforced IRT than a non-reinforced IRT. Rapid extinction and reconditioning were obtained.     

Escape behavior under continuous reinforcement as a function of aversive light intensity

In 11 male albino rats, lever-pressing responses, maintained under a CRF escape schedule with light as the aversive stimulus, were examined at each of five intensities, viz., 2.5, 18, 105, 190, and 386 ft-C. The function relating reciprocal of latency of the escape response to aversive light intensity passed through a maximum.     

Development of behavioral compensation to the effects of scopolamine during fixed-interval reinforcement

Rats were injected with scopolamine before every daily session of water reinforcement on a fixed-interval (FI) schedule. Initially the drug decreased the rate of responding. Control injections of scopolamine following each session did not. Over 119 sessions, the typical FI performance developed more slowly in the animals drugged before the sessions. Their rates of responding increased from session to session, to a level slightly greater than that of the animals drugged after the sessions. Their rates did not increase. The effects of injections before the session were not duplicated by increasing the deprivation of animals drugged after the session.     

Critical flicker fusion in normal elderly subjects; a cross-sectional community study

Critical Flicker Fusion Thresholds (CFFTs) were measured in 644 elderly people identified from community-based general practice records, and the relationship of CFFT with age was investigated. The CFFT was measured using the method of limits with mean scores for three ascending (flicker/fusion) and three descending (fusion/flicker) presentations being recorded. The difference between the ascending and descending means was found to be significantly correlated with age (r=−0.131,P<0.001) and may reflect a reduced sensitivity of the Central Nervous System to suprathreshold flicker with increasing age. The results suggest that CFFT measurement has an important role to play in gerontological research as an objective measure of cognitive aspects of the ageing process.     

Evaluation of visual display surfaces by real users early in the design stage

Groups of non-computer scientists were tested to evaluate the potential of an as yet non-existent interactive terminal with a screen diagonal of one meter. A simulated large image terminal provided limited realistic interactions using software developed to give close proximity to the predicted visual effect. Subjective responses from 101 subjects were elicited from a questionnaire designed to evaluate specific aspects of the “terminal” in use. From this data, two types of screen (lenticular and plain) and two types of interaction devices (touch and remote pointer) were analyzed experimentally using a two-way factorial design. Potential end-users provided positive feedback concerning future use of the Large Image Terminal. Building a realistic mock-up revealed screen contaminations which would not have been discovered until a much later stage. Although statistical analysis of screen evaluations was equivocal, the questionnaire was sufficiently penetrating to separate the positive and negative features. This methodology was invaluable in guiding the design process. Copies of the questionnaire may be obtained from the authors at the Heriot-Watt address.     

Overt integrity tests versus personality-based measures of delinquency: An empirical comparis

Erratum

Overt integrity tests versus personality-based measures of delinquency: An empirical comparis     

Psychiatry under tyranny: A report on the political abuse of Romanian psychiatry during the ceausescu years

Romanians suffered incredible deprivations of every sort during the decades of Communist dictatorship. Most of the country’s 1,000 psychiatrists, and most of their patients, were victimized by the political system. A few psychiatrists actively engaged in practices amounting to torture. Many, however, became willing or unwilling participants in the political abuse of their profession. Such political abuses were fostered by abusive legislation and abusive law enforcement by the secret police. Abuses included: mass detentions in psychiatric hospitals of dissidents and political undesirables; abusive interpretation of the laws in detaining persons not suffering from mental illness; false, politically motivated diagnoses and treatment; and detention in secret facilities. While there are honest efforts to come to grips with the past, to compensate victims of psychiatric abuse, and to institute proceedings against abusers, there is also much resistance to reform. Reform-minded Romanian psychiatrists deserve the support of their western colleagues in the effort to restore Romanian psychiatry. In particular, professional colleagues all over the world are asked to comment on the draft law currently pending before the Romanian parliament, which is intended to restore the rule of law to the practice of psychiatry in Romania. Report of a consultative mission to Bucharest, on behalf of the Geneva Initiave on Psychiatry, 7 June to 12 June 1992, by Nanci Adler, Historian-Sovietologist, Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; G.O.W. Mueller, Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice, Rutgers — The State University of New Jersey, U.S.A.; Mohammed Ayat, Professor of Criminology and Penal Law, Université de Fes, Faculté des Sciences Juridiques, Economiques et Sociales, FEs, Morocco. The Geneva Initiative on Psychiatry is a nongovernmental, nonprofit organization, dedicated to the introduction and preservation of ethical practices in the psychiatric profession, in accordance with medical ethics, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and U.N. standards and guidelines. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the organization is currently providing technical and financial assistance to the newly established free, independent, democratic psychiatric associations in Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and other countries. The General Secretary of the organization is Robert van Voren; the board is composed of professionals from some twenty countries. This article was based on meetings at governmental and parliamentary offices, nongovernmental organizations, and embassies as well psychiatric institutions with, among others, the following persons: Dr. Lucian Alexandrescu, V-P Radu Ciuceanu, Mr. Comsa, Proc. Gen’l. Ulpiu Cereceanu, Mr. Nistor Cristea, Mr. Dinu Ianculescu, Prof. Dr. George Ionescu, Miss Cristina Luzoscu, Dr. Zaharia Nicolae, Mr. Iancu Petrescu, Dr. Dan Prelipcianu, Min. Mircea Ionescu-Quintus, Dr. Aurel Romila, Av. Nicolae Stefanescu-Draganesti, Dir. Dr. Tomescu, Dr. Alexandru Trifan, Dr. Valeriu Tuculescu, and numerous victims, diplomats, and Romanian citizens.     

Depression in patients with spinal cord injuries: A synthesis of cognitive and somatic processes

Depression in some patients with spinal cord injuries may be clinically significant and, when present, should be treated to decrease morbidity including decreased physical functioning. Depression associated with spinal cord injury (SCI) may be misevaluated, due to (1) nonspecific multifactorial production of depression symptoms and (2) SCI-specific decrease in somatic sensory central nervous system input. The Somatic Suppression Hypothesis suggests that SCI patients have difficulty experiencing any intense emotion because of suppression of physiological arousal. In addition, cognitive processes that may reduce depression in SCI patients include: (1) attribution of somatic symptoms of depression to medical (biological) causes, (2) realistic, positive expectations for physical improvement, and (3) the perception that the disability of the SCI is only minimally related to the patient’s self-care after complete evaluation. Health personnel should accept lack of depression in SCI, and should encourage positive realistic expectations of recovery.