Decelerative cardiac responsiveness to acoustical stimulation in the near term fetus.

Human fetal cardiac responses (36-39 weeks gestational age) to brief, repeated vocal stimuli (male or female voice uttering the same sentence), given at 90-95 dB SPL ex utero (around 20-30 dB less in utero) during a state of low fetal heart rate (FHR) variability, were examined using highly conservative statistical criteria taking into account each subject's prestimulus FHR variability. Subjects exposed to either of the two stimuli displayed significantly more decelerative heart rate (HR) changes compared to control subjects receiving no stimulation. The decelerative changes started during the first seconds following the onset of stimulation and reached their amplitude peak within 10 or 20 sec, depending on the subject. The direction--HR acceleration or deceleration--and the amplitude of the response depended on prestimulus HR variability only, not on prestimulus level. No major difference was found between the effects of the two voices. The data are compared to previous studies demonstrating fetal decelerative changes to acoustic stimuli of less than 105 dB SPL. The choice of an objective criterion to define an HR response and the possible orienting response nature of the decelerative change are discussed.     

Relationships of work stressors with aggression,withdrawal, theft and substance use: An exploratory study

Based on findings from the domain of organizational frustration, the conceptual similarity between stress and frustration, and the functional similarity between frustrated events and work stressors, the relationships of behaviours (aggression, withdrawal, theft and substance use) with work stressors and affective reactions were investigated. Relations between reported stressors and behaviours were strongest for the more directly aggressive actions (sabotage, interpersonal aggression, and hostility and complaints), and for intention to quit. Relations with theft and absence were modest. None of the stressors correlated with reported substance use at work. Among the relations between affective reactions and the reported behaviours, anger and job satisfaction correlated with all behaviours except substance use at work. Hierarchical regression results further showed that the observed associations between stressors and behaviours were not attributed to affective variables for most cases.     

Parental interpersonal perceptual style,child adjustment,and parent—Child interactions

This research examined relationships between parental interpersonal perceptual style (IPS)—the extent to which they are biased in their perceptions of children's behaviors—and (a) the adjustment of their own children and (b) parent-child interactions. In two studies, groups of parents first viewed a videotape of a male or female target child interacting with an adult in a playroom and then completed a behavior checklist about the target child that measured their IPS. In Study 1, parents' (especially fathers') IPS was found to be related to interaction between them and their 5-to7-year-old child; for example, the less negatively biased the father was, the more likely the child was to openly display antagonistic behavior toward his or her parents. In Study 2, fathers' (but not mothers') IPS was found to be related to the teacher- and peer-assessed level of psychosocial adjustment of their own third-grade child; fathers of problem children tended to be more negatively biased in their perceptions than were fathers of either adequate or highly adjusted children. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the role that person perception processes play in family functioning and child development.This article is an adaptation of a paper presented as part of a symposium held during the 1977 meeting of the American Psychological Association. This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant No. 24250, Adult Perceptions and Child Behavior Dysfunctions.We wish to thank Linda Oiacomo and Phyllis Watts for their help. We also wish to thank the numerous students who provided invaluable assistance by collecting, coding, and scoring the data. The cooperation of the administration and staff of the Lansing, Michigan, School District, especially Eva Evans and Richard Benjamin, and the administration and staff of the East Lansing, Michigan, School District, especially Robert Docking and Warren Starr, is also very gratefully acknowledged.     

Movements of attention across the visual field

Vocal reaction times were measured for targets presented at three distances from fixation. The targets were preceded by a cue, and the time interval between the cue and the target (stimulus-onset asynchrony; SOA) was varied. For each peripheral distance, the reaction time function initially declined as SOA was increased and then reached asymptote. The further the target from fixation, the longer the SOA at which the function reached asymptote. The asymptotic SOA values were taken as a measure of the time it takes attention to reach a given target. Comparisons of these values for the three peripheral distances permitted estimating the velocity of attention movements. These measurements suggest that when summoned by a peripheral cue, attention travels through space at a constant velocity of about 1 degree per 8 msec.     

Language in right-handers with right-hemisphere lesions: A preliminary study including anatomical, genetic, and social factors

A comprehensive test battery was devised to study the effects of right hemisphere lesions on the speech and language of “nonaphasic” dextrals. Data were thus obtained for 62 subjects, 20 of them neurologically healthy and 42 with a focal right hemisphere lesion resulting from a cerebro-vascular accident. A preliminary global analysis of these data is reported. Anomalies were observed in 33 brain-damaged subjects. Although discreet in all cases, these anomalies were shown to have various degrees of severity. Given the population submitted to this study, the subject most likely to show such anomalies was defined, genetically, as a right-handed adult with a family history of ambidextrality or left-handedness and, socially, as one with a relatively limited education. The implications of these findings are discussed together with the problem of the anatomo-clinical correlations of language disorders resulting from right hemisphere lesions in “nonaphasic” dextrals.     

One-trial long-lasting food-aversion learning in wild Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata)

We examined how Japanese monkeys in the wild formed an aversion to food which had been paired with poison. Ten monkeys of various ages and both sexes were chosen as subjects from 105 members of the Shiga-A1 troop at Jigokudani in Shiga Heights in Japan. We gave almond nuts to each subject. Once a monkey ate 10-20 almond nuts, he was captured and moved into an injection cage. Seven experimental subjects were injected intravenously with cyclophosphamide (20 mg/kg). Three control subjects received the same treatment except that they were injected with physiological saline. About 1 hour later, all subjects were released into the troop. The tests for conditioned aversions were conducted during the next 2 days. In the tests, the experimental subjects would not eat almond nuts, while the control subjects showed no hesitation in eating them. Five of the seven experimental subjects retained perfectly the aversion to almond nuts in tests conducted 1 month and 3 months later. The one-trial long-lasting food-aversion learning shown by the wild Japanese monkeys is discussed in terms of their feeding strategy. These results also suggest that food-aversion conditioning has potential as a nonlethal method for controlling crop-raiding monkeys.