Prawn-in-a-tube procedure: habituation or associative learning in cuttlefish?

The prawn-in-a-tube procedure (J. B. Messenger, 1973a) has been used almost exclusively to study associative learning in cuttlefish. In two experiments, the authors sought to determine whether the decline in attack responses observed in this procedure was best accounted for by habituation or associative learning. Results of Experiment 1 revealed an asymmetrical stimulus-specificity effect that could be interpreted as either an instance of habituation or of associative learning. Results of Experiment 2 demonstrated that the response decline could not be reversed following the presentation of a dishabituatory stimulus. The combined results of these experiments support the conclusion that the response decline is best viewed as a resulting of associative processes. The authors considered whether the response decline represents extinction or passive avoidance.     

Diagnosis and prevention of atherosclerotic cerebral infarction

Atherosclerotic disease accounts for approximately 25% of ischemic strokes. Atherosclerotic stroke is caused mainly by embolic events from the carotid artery bifurcation or the aortic arch, although intracranial thrombosis can occur, more often in African Americans, Asians, and diabetes patients. Primary prevention of stroke is critical for patients with risk factors for atherosclerosis, including hypertension, diabetes, smoking and hypercholesterolemia. Stroke can be prevented in patients with established atherosclerotic disease by identification and management of patients with carotid artery stenosis by non-invasive testing. Particular attention must be paid to patients with transient symptoms of brain ischemia.     

Linking Religious Upbringing to Young Adult Moral Formation

Recent scholarship has conceptualized morality in terms of multidimensional, intuitive traits that influence what people regard as right or wrong. Ample literature shows that religious factors are closely related to moral traits. However, little research has explored links between religious upbringing and adult moral outcomes. This study uses longitudinal data from the National Study of Youth and Religion to examine how diverse forms of religious socialization in adolescence are related to two well-validated social-scientific conceptions of morality in young adulthood: Haidt's moral foundations and Schwartz’ values typology. Using regression analyses and Lindeman, Merenda, and Gold (LMG) decomposition methods, I show that different aspects of religious upbringing are linked to the development of both moral foundations and values. Religious factors play a stronger role than either sociodemographics or parent political ideology in predicting young adult moral characteristics. Results highlight the centrality of religious upbringing to the state and trajectory of the population-level moral structure.     

Relatives Children Say

In an experiment designed to elicit restrictive relatives clauses, 28 children ranging in age from 2:2 to 3:10 provided a corpus of communicatively appropriate relative clauses. In evaluating this corpus, we found that most children produced mostly adult relative clauses most of the time. Detailed study of these utterances uncovered a few error patterns, which we analyzed in light of several considerations (e.g., the overall frequency of an error type, its distribution across children and items, its relation to the construction under study, and the similarity of the error to what children do elsewhere). Only one error pattern, namely some children's production of inappropriate relative pronouns, is argued to reflect a systematic feature of language development. We conclude that children's ability to represent the syntactic structure of the embedded clause is on target very early.     

CONTRASTS AND INTERACTIONS REDUX:

Abstract— This reply to Abelson (this issue) and Petty, Fabrigar, Wegener, and Priester (this issue) is couched within the framework of five basic principles advising that we (1) hang on to what we predicted long enough to test it ( Tarzan's leap ), (2) be wary of beguiling statistical designs that may not address the question of interest (the Sirens' song), (3) not allow well-worn habits of thinking to ensnare our perceptions ( Lavoisier's crease ), (4) weigh the possibility of more than one correct hypothesis ( the dayyan's decree ), and (5) not confuse unplanned with planned contrasts ( the archer's aim ).     

Dementia and agitation in nursing home residents: how are they related?

The link between agitated behaviors and cognitive functioning in 408 nursing home residents was examined. Results showed that cognitively impaired residents manifested aggressive behaviors (e.g., cursing, hitting) and physically nonaggressive behaviors (e.g., pacing). The highest levels of physically nonaggressive behaviors were manifested by those residents who presented intermediate levels of impairment in their performance of activities of daily living. Cognitively intact residents exhibited verbally agitated behaviors (e.g., complaining). These findings have important implications for caregivers of agitated nursing home residents.     

Intergenerational effects of the Holocaust: patterns of engagement in the mother-daughter relationship

The present study explored the quality of engagement between mothers and adult daughters. Daughters of Holocaust survivors, European immigrants, and nonimmigrants were compared on mothers' protectiveness and care during their daughters' first 16 years, and on daughters' individuation from the family of origin. The survivor group perceived themselves as less individuated from both their parents than the other two groups. However, daughters in the three groups reported feeling equally intimate with their parents. There were no significant group differences found on intergenerational intimidation or competing loyalties. There was a tendency for mothers in the survivor group to be perceived as more indulgently protective. These findings suggest that the relationship between survivor mothers and their daughters may be characterized by a lower degree of individuation, though not at the cost of intimacy.     

Effects of Applicant's Adverse Medical History on College Students' Ratings of Job Applications1

The purpose of this experiment was to determine if the existence of high blood pressure or allergies would decrease the likelihood of a person obtaining a job. Forty-eight college students rated hypothetical job applicants with allergies, high blood pressure, or no adverse physical condition for either a high-stress manager trainee position or a low-stress bookkeeper position. For the manager trainee position, applicants with either high blood pressure or allergies were rated significantly lower than the applicants with no adverse physical condition. For the bookkeeper position there were no significant differences between the ratings of the individuals with the different physical conditions. These results suggest that any adverse physical condition may have a negative prototype associated with it; however, a job applicant's physical condition may have different consequences depending upon the type of job for which he/she is applying. The effect of the stress level of the different jobs on the ratings was discussed.