Crisis prevention and intervention training for psychiatric hospital staff

A 5-day course designed to train psychiatric hospital staff verbal and physical methods of preventing violence and injury when dealing with upset patients was taught to 89 staff from maximum and less secure wards. Compared to no-treatment controls, experimental subjects improved significantly on four tests of crisis-related tests and knowledge. Questionnaire and self-report measures from staff and patients on the training wards also indicated positive course effects. Assault frequencies decreased immediately after the course and staff injuries on experimental wards were reduced after the course relative to control wards.     

Pavlov,psychoanalysis, and neuroses

Pavlov’s discovery of experiment neurosis was serendipitous, yet it was made under the influence of Breuer and Freud’s case of Anna O. In 1914, Pavlov’s disciple N. R. Shenger-Krestovnikova, exploring the limits of visual discrimination in dogs, noticed that when the discrimination was difficult, the dogs’ behavior became disorganized. Pavlov drew an analogy between the condition of Shenger-Krestovnikova’s dogs and their disorganized behavior with Anna O.’s situation and her neurotic reaction. Pavlov concluded that he had demonstrated in the laboratory the elements of neurosis in animals and human alike. Schilder’s criticism of his position, his later study of human neuroses in clinical settings, and the views of Janet may have induced Pavlov to differentiate between animal and human neuroses.     

Semantic integration: Effects of imagery,enaction, and sentence repetition training on prereaders' recall for pictograph sentences

This study examines the effectiveness of an integrative imagery strategy in contrast to more concrete enaction and repetition strategies for improving kindergarten children's recall of pictograph sentences. The training groups were taught in two brief sessions to read the pictograph sequences as sentences and then to imagine the sentence's action (sentence imagery), act out the sentence using toys (sentence enaction), or repeat each sentence twice (sentence repetition). After training, the enaction group significantly outperformed the imagery and sentence repetition groups, which outperformed a repetition control group. Two weeks later, the imagery and enaction groups no longer differed significantly in recall and both groups significantly outperformed the repetition control group. The imagery group alone significantly outperformed the repetition control group on a no-toys generalization test. Implications of the results concerning strategy training of young children, the effectiveness of imagery strategies, and experimental design are discussed.     

Temporal properties of human information processing: Tests of discrete versus continuous models

Cognitive psychologists have characterized the temporal properties of human information processing in terms of discrete and continuous models. Discrete models postulate that component mental processes transmit a finite number of intermittent outputs (quanta) of information over time, whereas continuous models postulate that information is transmitted in a gradual fashion. These postulates may be tested by using an adaptive response-priming procedure and analysis of reaction-time mixture distributions. Three experiments based on this procedure and analysis are reported. The experiments involved varying the temporal interval between the onsets of a prime stimulus and a subsequent test stimulus to which a response had to be made. Reaction time was measured as a function of the duration of the priming interval and the type of prime stimulus. Discrete models predict that manipulations of the priming interval should yield a family of reaction-time mixture distributions formed from a finite number of underlying basis distributions, corresponding to distinct preparatory states. Continuous models make a different prediction. Goodness-of-fit tests between these predictions and the data supported either the discrete or the continuous models, depending on the nature of the stimuli and responses being used. When there were only two alternative responses and the stimulus-response mapping was a compatible one, discrete models with two or three states of preparation fit the results best. For larger response sets with an incompatible stimulus-response mapping, a continuous model fit some of the data better. These results are relevant to the interpretation of reaction-time data in a variety of contexts and to the analysis of speed-accuracy trade-offs in mental processes.     

Stimulus specificity in avoidance learning

The present experiments address the issue of stimulus specificity in fear and avoidance learning. First, it was established that light stimuli are effective warning signals (WS) in shuttle avoidance. Then light stimuli were shown to produce conditioned suppression in the conditioned emotional response situation comparable to that produced by noise conditioned stimuli. Finally, the effectiveness of noise onset and noise offset as feedback signals was tested. This was assessed under conditions of immediate and delayed termination of a light WS. Delayed termination of a light WS interfered with avoidance learning and the introduction of noise offset as a feedback signal enhanced it. The only demonstration of stimulus specificity was the failure of noise onset to function as a feedback signal.     

BINGE DRINKING AMONG AMERICAN COLLEGE WOMEN

This study examines data from questionnaires to establish the prevalence and correlates of women's binge drinking, defined as four or more drinks per episode, at women's colleges ( n = 508) and at coeducational colleges ( n = 9,624). Results showed that women at women's colleges binged less frequently, had fewer alcohol-related problems, experienced fewer negative effects of others' drinking, and were less likely to drink and drive. The correlates of binge drinking were similar for the two groups of women. The differences appear to be related not to the quantity or amount of socializing but to its quality. The absence of fraternities and coeducational dormitories, the reduced likelihood of a party-centered lifestyle, and self-selection factors at women's colleges all may contribute to a healthier environment for women. Interventions designed to lower the risk of college binge drinking should further explore the peer-group contexts in which problem drinking is reduced.