Financial and practical implications of counselling psychology training: A student survey

It is common knowledge that students make considerable sacrifices in order to pursue a course of study, and there is no reason to belive that counselling psychology trainees are any differnt in this regrd. The results are presented of a survey of 56 postgraduate students in the greater London area which addressed some of the practical and financial implications of counselling psychology training. While none of the respondents was registered on a BPS recognised course, the majority intended to become Chartered Counselling Psychologists. Many t rainees had considerable debts as a consequence of having to pay tution fees, for personal psychological counselling and in some cases to for the supervision of their practical work with clients. Most trainees found that they had to set up their own practice placements, which were unpaid, and had difficulty doing so. The majority of respondents devoted, on average, 30 hours per week to their studies while nearly 60% had a paid job (not related to counselling) to help them cover their expenses. Inplications are discussed for conunselling psychology training in the 1990's and beyond.     

On the interdependence of cognition and emotion

Affect and cognition have long been treated as independent entities, but in the current review we suggest that affect and cognition are in fact highly interdependent. We open the article by discussing three classic views for the independence of affect. These are (i) the affective independence hypothesis, that emotion is processed independently from cognition, (ii) the affective primacy hypothesis, that evaluative processing precedes semantic processing, and (iii) the affective automaticity hypothesis, that affectively potent stimuli commandeer attention and evaluation is automatic. We argue that affect is not independent from cognition, that affect is not primary to cognition, nor is affect automatically elicited. The second half of the paper discusses several instances of how affect influences cognition. We review experiments showing affective involvement in perception, semantic activation, and attitude activation. We conclude that one function of affect is to regulate cognitive processing.     

A STELLA-II teaching simulation of the dynamics of action model

Although the Atkinson and Birch (1970) dynamics of action model of behavior is included in many textbooks, the details of the model are left out. To facilitate the teaching of the full theory, the conceptual model is outlined, research findings are reviewed, and a simulation model using STELLA-II is presented. STELLA-II, an icon-based program, provides a visual representation of the model that students can follow, with graphical and tabular output and animation of the rise and fall of parameter values.     

Perception–production relationships and phase correction in synchronization with two-interval rhythms

Two experiments investigated the effects of interval duration ratio on perception of local timing perturbations, accuracy of rhythm production, and phase correction in musicians listening to or tapping in synchrony with cyclically repeated auditory two-interval rhythms. Ratios ranged from simple (1:2) to complex (7:11, 5:13), and from small (5:13 = 0.38) to large (6:7 = 0.86). Rhythm production and perception exhibited similar ratio-dependent biases: rhythms with small ratios were produced with increased ratios, and timing perturbations in these rhythms tended to be harder to detect when they locally increased the ratio than when they reduced it. The opposite held for rhythms with large ratios. This demonstrates a close relation between rhythm perception and production. Unexpectedly, however, the neutral “attractor” was not the simplest ratio (1:2 = 0.50) but a complex ratio near 4:7 (= 0.57). Phase correction in response to perturbations was generally rapid and did not show the ratio-dependent biases observed in rhythm perception and production. Thus, phase correction operates efficiently and autonomously even in synchronization with rhythms exhibiting complex interval ratios.     

Age-related differences in head and trunk coordination during walking

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of ageing on the pattern and structure of head and trunk accelerations during walking. Head and trunk accelerations of young (n=8; mean=23 years, SD=4 years) and elderly (n=8; mean=74 years, SD=3 years) individuals were measured using triaxial accelerometers while performing preferred speed walking. Accelerations were examined using power-spectral analysis and measures of signal smoothness, regularity and coupling. No differences in walking speed or signal regularity were detected between age groups. Compared to the young participants, the elderly had (1) a greater proportion of signal power above 6 Hz for the trunk, (2) a smaller difference in signal smoothness between the trunk and head, (3) less signal smoothness in the mediolateral direction, and (4) a greater degree of directional coupling for the head compared to the trunk. Overall these results suggest that the pattern of head accelerations was relatively unaffected by age, and that both age groups achieved similar levels of head stability despite differences in trunk acceleration characteristics. The manner in which head stability was achieved differed between age groups, with the elderly employing an upper body coordination strategy that enhanced coupling between acceleration directions of the head compared to the trunk. The findings of this study also suggest that an absence of age-related differences in signal complexity at one level of postural system, combined with differences at another level, may provide information about the way in which the motor system prioritises postural control during gait.     

When quantity trumps number: discrimination experiments in cotton-top tamarins (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Saguinus oedipus</Emphasis>) and common marmosets (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Callithrix jacchus</Emphasis>)

The capacity for non-linguistic, numerical discrimination has been well characterized in non-human animals, with recent studies providing careful controls for non-numerical confounds such as continuous extent, density, and quantity. More poorly understood are the conditions under which animals use numerical versus non-numerical quantification, and the nature of the relation between these two systems. Here we test whether cotton-top tamarins and common marmosets can discriminate between two quantities on the basis of the amount of food rather than on number. In three experiments, we show that when choosing between arrays containing different numbers and sizes of food objects, both species based their decisions on the amount of food with only minor influences of numerical information. Further, we find that subjects successfully discriminated between two quantities differing by a 2:3 or greater ratio, which is consistent with the ratio limits found for numerical discrimination with this species. These studies demonstrate that non-human primates possess mechanisms that enable quantification of total amount, in addition to the numerical representations demonstrated in previous studies, with both types of quantification subject to similar processing limits.     

The relationship of momentary anger and impulsivity to bulimic behavior

Past research has suggested that negative affect may be a causal factor for eating disordered behaviors. More specifically, research has shown that anger appears to be one aspect of negative affect that is particularly relevant in bulimic patients. Previous studies have also shown that the relationship between negative affect and eating disordered behaviors may partially depend upon personality variables such as impulsivity. The present study examined whether the relationship between anger and eating disordered behaviors is moderated by impulsivity. Subjects completed an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol for an average of 2 weeks. Findings revealed that overall antecedent anger level and the variability of antecedent anger predicted binge-eating episodes and that these relationships were moderated by participants' level of impulsivity. These findings suggest that personality variables impact the way that anger and eating behaviors relate. They also suggest that the variability of antecedent anger may be a fruitful avenue for future research for those interested in causal variables associated with bulimia nervosa.     

Expression of flavor preference depends on type of test and on recent drinking history

The persistence of a conditioned flavor preference was examined in 3 experiments. All contained an initial acquisition phase in which half the rats were given almond odor mixed with sucrose (AS) in some sessions and water (W) only in other sessions, whereas the other half (controls) were given explicitly unpaired exposures to almond (A) and sucrose (S) in separate sessions. Subsequent 2-bottle choice tests revealed a persistent preference for A, despite extinction exposure to A or S, but this depended on the choice offered on test: Exposure to A did not extinguish the preference for A over W but did reduce the preference for AS over S; conversely, exposure to S did not extinguish the preference for AS over S but did reduce the preference for A over W. These results indicate that flavor preferences can be resistant to extinction procedures but suggest that the expression of such preferences in choice tests depends on an adaptation-level process.