CER suppression, passive-avoidance learning, and stress-induced suppression of drinking in the Syracuse high- and low-avoidance strains of rats (Rattus norvegicus)

The Syracuse strains of Long-Evans rats were selectively bred for good (SHA) or poor (SLA) avoidance learning in a two-way shuttle box, which resulted in a phenotypic difference that is correlated with behavior patterns indicative of emotional reactivity, SLA animals showing evidence of greater emotional reactivity than SHA animals. The first three experiments examined conditioned suppression of bar pressing and compared paired and unpaired conditioned- and unconditioned-stimulus presentations to evaluate the influence of conditioning versus primary aversive stimulation on baseline responding. SLA animals acquired conditioned suppression faster than SHA animals and also showed greater suppression of baseline responding than SHA animals. In Experiment 4, SLA animals learned a passive-avoidance task faster than SHA animals. In Experiment 5, SLA animals showed greater stress-induced suppression of drinking a weak quinine solution than SHA animals. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that SLA animals are more emotionally reactive than SHA animals.     

Assessing compliance to home relaxation: A simple technology for a critical problem

A simple, low-cost, and reliable technology for assessing compliance with relaxation practice in the natural environment is presented. Brief, audible cue tones are overdubbed onto selected client relaxation tapes, which are ordered by the therapist and then played in sequence by the client. The presence/absence or number of cue tones on each tape in the sequence is self-monitored, thereby providing the therapist with a record for objectively assessing whether or not the tapes were used as instructed. A clinical case example is presented to illustrate use of the procedure. Finally, advantages and limitations of the procedure are discussed.A portion of this paper (clinical case study) was presented at the meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, November 1980, New York. This research was partly supported by the Medical Research Service of the Veterans Administration. The authors wish to express their appreciation to Leonard H. Epstein for his support and stimulation in the early development of this and related projects.     

The perception of multiple simultaneously presented forms as a function of foveal spacing

Using five capital letters as the form stimuli and tachistoscopic presentation, an exposure duration was determined for each S that yielded 80% identification accuracy when single letter displays were presented. Then the increment in exposure duration necessary for a correct identification of all letters on a display on 80% of the trials was determined for 2, 3, and 4 letter displays. In view of evidence that perceptual independence breaks down when stimuli are spaced much closer than 1° apart in the fovea, the effect of different foveal spacing of the form stimuli in the display was studied. Spacings of 1/2, 3/4, and 1° of angle were employed. Less than a 30% increment in exposure duration was necessary to recognize 2 form displays at the same accuracy level as single form. But no further increase in exposure duration was necessary to recognize 3 and 4 form displays at the same accuracy criterion. Evidence for positive correlation of sensory perceptual error for forms spaced less than 1° apart in the fovea was found.     

Psychosocial Predictors of Young Adolescent Cigarette Smoking: A Sixteen-Month,Three-Wave Longitudinal Study1

Understanding the psychosocial factors that predict cigarette smoking onset in young people is of crucial importance for prevention efforts. The present study examined prospective psychosocial predictors of smoking in a three-wave longitudinal data set. Similar in design to an earlier study by Chassin, Presson, Sherman, Corty, and Olshavsky (1984), the present study replicated their work, and extended it by (a) using composite predictors derived from exploratory factor analysis, (b) including prior behavior as a predictor, (c) using a design extended over three waves of data collection, and (d) using a sample composed primarily of urban teenagers. Subjects were 3295 7th-grade students at the beginning of the study. The subjects completed a questionnaire containing items tapping cigarette smoking behavior and psychosocial items that have previously been shown to predict smoking behavior. Forty-one psychosocial items on the Wave 1 (initial) questionnaire were factor analyzed, and five factors were retained. Subscale scores were constructed based on these factors and were used as predictors. Regression analyses were performed using the subscales and pretest smoking frequency to predict a continuous measure of smoking, and discriminant analyses were performed to predict transitions between qualitative levels of smoking. Prior smoking behavior was the most important predictor of future smoking. Four of the subscales, Social Disapproval, Risk Taking/Rebelliousness, Perceived Smoking Prevalence, and Motivation to Comply, were significant predictors. One subscale, Physical Consequences from Smoking, was not predictive of smoking in any of the analyses. The effect sizes cross-validated well. It is suggested that an integrative model of smoking initiation developed by Flay, d'Avernas, Best, Kersell, and Ryan (1983) best summarizes the results of the present study.