Demonstration of a socially transmitted flavor aversion in rats? Kuan and Colwill (1997) revisited

In each of three experiments that differed only in procedural detail, observer rats interacted with pairs of conspecific demonstrators, one fed a cocoa-flavored diet (Diet Coc) and the other a cinnamon-flavored diet (Diet Cin). Immediately after both members of a pair of demonstrators had been fed, and 5 min before they interacted with an observer or observers, one of the demonstrators was made ill by intraperitoneal injection with lithium chloride. After interacting with a pair of demonstrators for 15 min, each observer was allowed to choose between Diet Cin and Diet Coc for 22 h. In all three experiments, observer rats consumed as much Diet Cin after interacting simultaneously with both an ill demonstrator that had eaten Diet Cin and a healthy demonstrator that had eaten Diet Coc as after interacting simultaneously with both a healthy demonstrator that had eaten Diet Cin and an ill demonstrator that had eaten Diet Coc. These results raise questions about the generality of Kuan and Colwill’s (1997) demonstration of socially transmitted flavor aversions in Norway rats.     

Key Word Index Volume 4

Other Index

Key Word Index Volume 4     

A shift of attention may be necessary, but it is not sufficient, for the generation of the Simon effect

The Simon effect is the performance advantage for spatially corresponding, compared to non-corresponding, target-response ensembles when the location of the target is task irrelevant. In four experiments, we tested the predictions of the attention-shift account of the Simon effect. In all experiments, subjects made choice responses with respect to the identity of a central target that followed a spatially non-informative peripheral precue. The first experiment showed a Simon effect away from the precue when the precue was a go/no-go signal: responses to spatially non-corresponding precue-response pairs were faster than responses to spatially corresponding precue-response pairs. The results of the second experiment suggested that this “reverse” Simon effect was not due to inhibition. In the third experiment, a secondary working memory task required the encoding, and later recall, of “oddball” precues. Although the Simon effect was absent, larger Simon effects towards the precue (i.e., responses were faster to spatially corresponding, compared to non-corresponding, precue-response ensembles) were correlated with poorer performance on the memory task. In the last experiment, the identity of completely non-informative precues was congruent, incongruent, or unrelated to the identity of the target. With precues that were unrelated to the identity of the target, there was a Simon effect towards the precues. Conversely, the Simon effect occurred away from the precue when the identity of the precue was related to that of the target. The findings suggest that a shift of attention alone is not sufficient to produce the Simon effect. Rather, the shift of attention must originate from an intentionally defined object. The results are discussed within a framework that integrates the attention-shift and referential-coding hypotheses. Received: 2 December 1999 / Accepted: 23 March 2000     

The Factor Structure of the Beavers Interactional Scales

Confirmatory factor analysis and regression analyses of the Beavers Interactional Scales did not appear to support the model offered by its developers, namely, several specified family attributes contributing respectively to two global factors of Family Competence and Family Style. Moreover, regression analysis indicated that only three of 12 items predicted raters' assessments of Global Family Health, and one of seven items predicted Global Family Style. Individuals interested in the family dynamic centripetal/centrifugal might best think of that as a unitary entity and rate it accordingly.     

Postural stability and hand preference as constraints on one-handed catching performance in children

Effects of postural state and hand preference as constraints on 1-handed catching performance were investigated in different ability groups of children aged 9-10 years. On the basis of pretest data, the authors classified 48 participants into groups of good, intermediate, and poor catchers (n = 16 in each) and asked them to perform 1-handed catches with their preferred and nonpreferred hands while standing and sitting. The good catchers' performance was not affected by the imposed postural constraints but did improve when they used the preferred hand. A similar effect of hand preference was evident in the intermediate and poor catchers, but there was also an effect of postural constraint. Independent of hand preference, intermediate catchers' performance while seated improved significantly compared with that during standing. For poor catchers, there was an interaction between hand preference and posture; significant improvement was evident only when they used the preferred hand in the sitting condition. The finding that manipulation of posture and hand preference affected performance outcomes indicates that perceptual skill is not the only influence on catching performance in children. Manipulation of those key constraints may facilitate the acquisition of catching skill, but more research is needed to determine the permanence of those effects.     

Asymmetric interference between sex and emotion in face perception

Previous research with speeded-response interference tasks modeled on the Garner paradigm has demonstrated that task-irrelevant variations in either emotional expression or facial speech do not interfere with identity judgments, but irrelevant variations in identity do interfere with expression and facial speech judgments. Sex, like identity, is a relatively invariant aspect of faces. Drawing on a recent model of face processing according to which invariant and changeable aspects of faces are represented in separate neurological systems, we predicted asymmetric interference between sex and emotion classification. The results of Experiment 1, in which the Garner paradigm was employed, confirmed this prediction: Emotion classifications were influenced by the sex of the faces, but sex classifications remained relatively unaffected by facial expression. A second experiment, in which the difficulty of the tasks was equated, corroborated these findings, indicating that differences in processing speed cannot account for the asymmetric relationship between facial emotion and sex processing. A third experiment revealed the same pattern of asymmetric interference through the use of a variant of the Simon paradigm. To the extent that Garner interference and Simon interference indicate interactions at perceptual and response-selection stages of processing, respectively, a challenge for face processing models is to show how the same asymmetric pattern of interference could occur at these different stages. The implications of these findings for the functional independence of the different components of face processing are discussed.     

Does selective attention influence the octave illusion?

The octave illusion occurs when each ear receives a sequence of tones alternating by one octave, but with different frequencies in each ear. Most listeners report a high pitch in one ear alternating with a low pitch in the opposite ear. Deutsch and Roll proposed an influential suppression model of the illusion in which the pitch is determined by ear dominance, while the location of this pitch is determined by high-frequency dominance. Deutsch later suggested that this unusual division between 'what' and 'where' mechanisms is facilitated by sequential interactions within the eliciting sequence. A recent study has raised doubts about the suppression model and the role of sequential interactions in the illusion (Chambers et al, 2002 Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 28 1288-1302). Here, we examined whether this previous null effect of sequential interactions may have arisen because of uncontrolled influences of selective attention. The results reveal no evidence of a link between selective attention and sequential interactions, thus consolidating doubts about the validity of the suppression model.     

Selective and nonselective transfer: positive and negative priming in a multiple-task environment

Processing of a probe stimulus can be affected either positively or negatively by presenting a related stimulus immediately before it. According to structural accounts, such effects occur because processing of the prime activates or inhibits the mental representation of the probe before it is presented. In contrast, transfer-appropriate processing accounts suggest that success in processing a probe depends on resources made available by earlier experiences of related stimuli. The authors manipulated the similarity between the prime and probe on color, lexical status, and orthographic structure, requiring either lexical decision or color identification on each. The authors observed a complex pattern of positive and negative transfer that cannot easily be explained through activation-inhibition of mental structures. Instead, that pattern provides evidence in favor of transfer-appropriate processing.     

Sex Differences in Social Support and Self-Efficacy Within a Recovery Community

This study examined similarities and differences in social support and self-efficacy for abstinence between women and men recovering from substance addiction. The sample consisted of 87 residents of Oxford House (OH) self-run, community-based recovery homes. Analyses revealed similarities between women and men in terms of the composition and utilization of support networks and abstinence self-efficacy. Also, for both sexes, length of residency in OH was significantly related to decreased social support for alcohol and drug use and increased self-efficacy for abstinence. However, multiple-group SEM analyses demonstrated that social support for alcohol/drug use fully mediated the link between length of residency and abstinence self-efficacy for women, but not for men. Findings suggest that the process of gaining self-efficacy to remain abstinent is distinct for women and men, and that social support plays a different role in women's recovery than it does in men's.