Novel effect of chronic corticosterone treatment on escape behavior in rats

Chronic administration of corticosterone in rats (4-35 mg/kg/day) produces a marked dose-dependent increase in the frequency of escape behavior observed when animals are held by the tail on a flat surface. The effect is fully developed after 3 days treatment. It is not the result of an increase in spontaneous motor activity since the hormone tends to reduce the latter behavior. Adrenalectomy decreases the escape behavior and tends to do so to a greater degree in rats subjected to chronic stress (restraint) than in nonstressed controls. The results suggest that endogenous corticosterone serves to maintain the above escape behavior during chronic stress.     

Effects of Control on the Stress Reactions of Commuters1

The effects of morning, rush hour commuting were examined in a quasi-experimental field study involving government-employed commuters (single and carpool drivers). Commuting stress was measured as a response to variations in how difficult it was for commuters to move from home to work. The mediation of these effects by two sources of control in the commuting situation also were assessed. Control was operationalized as control over the internal environment of the car (single versus carpool driver) and choice over routes taken to get to work. Among commuters with a high impedance route, driving to work was associated with significant increases in systolic and diastolic blood pressure and decreases in behavioral performance. The stress of commuting under high impedance conditions was reduced for single drivers relative to carpoolers. Under similar conditions of high impedance, however, having the option to select more than one route to get to work seemed to be more stressful than having only one route. The practical implications of these results are discussed.     

The role of causal connections in the retrieval of text

In two experiments, subjects read a series of passages, each containing two target concepts that appeared in widely separated positions within the passage. Following each passage, the time to retrieve each of these concepts was recorded. Several measures from both the Kintsch and van Dijk (1978) model and Trabasso and Sperry’s (1985) causal analysis were derived to predict retrieval time. Regression analyses showed that substantial proportions of variance were accounted for by measures derived from a causal analysis. Neither physical position nor measures based on the Kintsch and van Dijk model accounted for significant proportions of variance. Following Experiment 2, a reanalysis of O’Brien’s (1987) results revealed that the number of causal connections to an antecedent was a significant predictor of antecedent search time. Results are discussed in terms of a spread of activation through an integrated text representation in which causal connections play a major role.     

Evidence for a possible functional interaction between serotonergic and cholinergic mechanisms in memory retrieval

A total of three experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, the dose-dependent effects of the pretest administration of the serotonergic agonist alaproclate and the selective muscarinic cholinergic agonist oxotremorine, alone and in combination, were assessed in a one-trial inhibitory avoidance task. A clear dose-dependent enhancement of performance was demonstrated as a result of all three treatment conditions, which could not be explained in terms of nonspecific effects of the drugs on behavior in general. In addition, the facilitation of retrieval performance produced by the combined treatment of alaproclate and oxotremorine was observed at dose levels well below those observed following administration of either compound alone. In Experiment 2 attempts were made to block the enhancements of retention resulting from the different treatment conditions (alaproclate, oxotremorine, or the combination of alaproclate and oxotremorine) by pretreating the mice with either scopolamine (a muscarinic cholinergic antagonist) or quipazine (a serotonergic agonist). The results of these experiments indicate that (a) quipazine completely blocked the enhancement of retrieval resulting from alaproclate but not that following oxotremorine or oxotremorine in combination with alaproclate, while (b) scopolamine blocked the enhancement of retrieval resulting from oxotremorine alone as well as that resulting from alaproclate plus oxotremorine but failed to block the memory enhancement resulting from alaproclate. The present results lend further support to the view that both serotonin and acetylcholine play important roles in memory retrieval. More importantly, the results of the present series of experiments provide additional support for a functional interaction between the serotonergic and cholinergic nervous systems in the mediation of behavior.     

Ethnicity and bender visual motor gestalt test performance

This study compared differences in the Bender-Gestalt mean error scores of the 1,938 black, Hispanic, and white children in the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA) standardization sample. A two-way between groups unweighted means ANOVA was performed on the error scores for the seven age groups and for the three ethnic groups. Significant differences were found for both main effects. Black children performed lower than (a) white children at every age level and (b) Hispanic children at all except one age level. Hispanic children performed similarly to white children at all except two age levels. Results support those reported by other investigations, but do not offer any clues to account for the findings.     

Differences in women's and men's responses to domestic space

Men and women were surveyed about feelings toward and activities occurring in their own living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms. In general, women recalled more activities than men did over all the rooms. For the living room, women were more concerned with room size and feeling cramped. For the kitchen, women described baking, ironing, and clothes washing more frequently and showed more concern with cooking and tidying up. However, men made more references to eating when describing the kitchen, showed greater concern with design, decorating, and building for the kitchen and bedroom, and made more explicit references to use of the bathroom toilet. Other results did indicate that women and men were both highly sensitive to and aware of their living space.This research was conducted while the author was a research fellow at the Psychology Department of Kings College, University of Aberdeen in Scotland. The author wishes to thank the following individuals for their help during various stages of the project: Christopher Creed, Philip Greenway, John Simon, and Derek Wakelin.     

Adaptation to vertical displacement of the visual direction

Sixty Ss wore vertically displacing wedge prisms and adapted by looking at their feet for 10 min. Half of them did this while standing and the others in supine position. The latter condition produced adaptation measurable with a visual-motor test and with a test of egocentric localization, but on a purely motoric test no adaptation was apparent. Standing during the adaptation period produced no effect.     

Beidler’s theory and human taste stimulation

Beidler’s fundamental taste equation, relating response magnitude and stimulus concentration, was found to be a useful means of expressing data derived from chemoreception experiments with man. Seven L-amino acids and glycine were studied over a wide range in concentration. To a first approximation, the data are in accord with Beidler’s taste equation. Interestingly, the change in free energy (ΔF) for each stimulus was found to be small, in agreement with earlier published conclusions that the initial step in chemoreception is most likely one of adsorption. Several means of depicting these data are evaluated and their contribution to a better understanding of chemoreception is discussed.     

The relationship between sex-role orientation and resolution of eriksonian developmental crises

Sex Roles - A total of 139 female and 133 male undergraduates completed the Bem Sex-role Inventory and the Inventory of Psychosocial Development, a measure of resolution of Erikson's...