Spontaneous alternation behavior in animals: A review

Factors affecting spontaneous alternation behavior (SAB) in animals, for example, age, gender and species studied; type of apparatus and cues employed; and neuro-anatomical, neuro-chemical and motivational status of the organism, were reviewed. Despite a myriad of experiments showing interesting main effects of such variables, little research has been performed assessing the interactive affects of these factors on alternation behavior. For example, psychologists test rats in central nervous system (CNS) lesion studies, whereas psychopharmacologists tend to assess SAB in mice. Most importantly, studies have not been reported investigating the possible interactions among species, brain lesions and drugs. This is an unfortunate omission since several important alternation models include propositions relating to cholinergic and/or serotonergic coding in the hippocampus. Examination of behavioral studies revealed the primary cue for alternation among invertebrates to be body turn, whereas vertebrates rely primarily on directional and odor cues. Reference to the seeking of stimulus change remains the most compelling motivational account of why animals manifest this ubiquitious and reliable behavior pattern. This review and the unpublished studies were supported by Research Grants MH16962, MH21288, and MH36491 from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Wake Forest University Research and Publication Fund.     

Computing stress

This article is based on a review of recent literature on “computing stress”; that is, on the psychological stress effects of working with computer systems. Current research into the sources of computer-related stress has tended to concentrate on those employees who operate Visual Display Units (VDUs), either on a full-time professional basis as word-processor (WP) operators, data-entry clerks, secretaries, or those dealing with enquiries from the public; or employees who use the VDU irregularly as part of their other duties. A few studies have looked at specific occupation groups, such as printers (Kalimo & Lepp?nen, 1985), information technology professionals (programers and analysts), process workers, and college students (Sproull, Kiesler, & Zubrow, 1984). Generally, however, research has been carried out on office workers, more often women, carrying out administrative tasks. An attempt is made to identify those potential work-related stressors that have been isolated by these studies, and also included are criticisms of the general methodologies used in many of them. The terms “visual display unit,” “visual display terminal,” VDU, VDT, and “terminal” are used interchangeably.     

Naturalistic psychophysics: thresholds of ducklings (Anas platyrynchos) and chicks (Gallus gallus) to tones that resemble mallard calls

Neonatal ducklings and chickens were tested for responsiveness to a pulsing pure tone that was as similar as possible to the mallard maternal alarm call. It is known that ducklings momentarily cease vocalizing when they hear the alarm call and that chicks do the same when they hear pure tones. The duration of peep suppression can thus be used as a measure of whether subjects of either species heard the stimulus. Chicks might not be as sensitive as ducklings to a mallard alarm call because the signal is less significant to them. An adaptive or staircase procedure was used to estimate absolute thresholds, and group psychometric functions were reconstructed for each species from the trial-by-trial data. Ducklings had lower thresholds than chickens as well as steeper psychometric functions to this stimulus. The results suggest that more sensitive and consistent behavioral responses can be elicited by naturalistic sounds than by more arbitrary acoustic stimuli.     

Factors Perceived as Helpful by the Members of Self-Help Groups: An Exploratory Study

The factors perceived as helpful by members of three different types of self-help groups are examined, using the 12 factors identified by Yalom as operative in group psychotherapy. Questionnaires were given to 45 members of self-help groups, asking for their views of the most and least helpful aspects of their experiences of their group, and for their judgement of its effectiveness. Results indicated that members of a group concerned with social and personal support in the face of a socially problematic situation (widowhood) found the experience of Universality to be the most helpful factor, while Self-Disclosure was least helpful. Members from a group for the physically sick (asthma sufferers) also reported the least helpful factor to be Self-Disclosure, but said that the most helpful factor was Guidance. By contrast, the group concerned with providing 'therapy' for depressives reported Cohesiveness to be most helpful, and Guidance to be least helpful. Comparison with other studies using similar methodologies with different group populations suggests that the factors likely to be effective in self-help groups for the socially unsupported and physically sick on the one hand, and for the psychologically disturbed on the other, may differ.     

The role of spatial-frequency channels in the perception of local and global structure

Adaptation and reaction-time techniques were used to examine the role of different spatial-frequency channels in the perception of local and global structure. Subjects were shown figures consisting of a large C composed of smaller Cs and asked to identify the orientation of either the global C or its local elements. Prior to performing the task subjects were adapted to different spatial frequencies and the effect on subsequent performance was assessed. Two main results were found. First, the adapting frequency that most affected the global task was often lower than that most affecting the local task, suggesting that high and low frequencies independently code the structure of an image. Second, reaction time to global figures was often faster than to local figures at all levels of detectability, again suggesting a role of low-frequency channels in global processing.     

Static depiction of movement

A number of pictorial devices were compared in order to assess their relative effectiveness in depicting events. Effectiveness, as measured by a rating task, did not seem to be a function of the classification of a device as natural or metaphorical. Rather, it depended on whether a given device highlighted a distinctive aspect of a particular event (running, jumping, or moving), or simply modified the event. This observation was buttressed by the existence in a forced-choice task of a category boundary for depictions of running (pictures with a certain device were seen as running, those without it were not) but not for moving or jumping. Even preschool children displayed some understanding of metaphorical devices. They chose figures with those devices as running faster than the experimental standard. Results are discussed in the context of Kennedy's characterization of pictorial metaphors and Gibson's framework for understanding the relationship between pictorial and environmental information.     

A short version of a spatial activity questionnaire

Newcombe, Bandura, and Taylor developed a questionnaire measuring participation in space-related activities. The activities were classified as masculine, feminine, or neutral in gender stereotyping. A short version of this questionnaire was developed based on an item analysis of the responses by 485 introductory psychology students (236 women and 249 men). The 10 masculine, 10 feminine, and 10 neutral items chosen for the short form were given to 60 subjects (28 women and 32 men), along with a measure of spatial performance (Piaget's water-level task). Reliabilities (by coefficient alpha) were .79, .77, and .75, for the masculine, feminine, and neutral activity subscales, respectively. As with the original scale, women had a greater preference than men for feminine activities, men had a greater preference than women for masculine activities, and women and men had an equal preference for neutral activities. Masculine activity preference was associated with better water-level performance, with the relationship significantly stronger for women (r=.50) than for men (r=.10). Uses for the questionnaire in research on sex-related differences in spatial performance are suggested.     

Gender and sex role differences in the perception of social support

This study examined the relationships among support types (i.e., emotional, instrumental, and nonintimate social participation), gender, sex role orientation, and stress level among college undergraduates (N=253). Dependent variables included need, perceived availability, and satisfaction with support. Sex differences were found only in emotional support, with men reporting less need, perceived availability, and marginally less satisfaction than women. The only gender by sex role interaction was on need for emotional support. Traditional sex-typed men reported less need than traditional women, whereas there was no difference between androgynous men and women. While sex differences do exist for emotional support, the effects of sex role orientation on perceptions of social support appears to be somewhat circumscribed.     

Norms for employed daughters' and sons' behavior toward frail older parents

This study examined whether norms that concerning assisting frail older parents were different for daughters than for sons when the adult children are members of dual-earner couples. Data were gathered by telephone interviews from a probability sample of 315 adults residing in western Alabama. Of the 18 statements presented, statistically significant differences between the expectations for daughters and sons occurred in only three cases (help with housework, meal preparation, and yard work), suggesting substantial support for norms of equalitarianism. Further, there were few differences between the expectations held by females and by males for daughters and sons. Generally, the results suggested strong support for behaviors that facilitate the independent living of both adult children and their frail older parents.The authors acknowledge with thanks the assistance of the University of Alabama's Capstone Poll, which collected the data for this study.     

RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE, ARCHETYPES, AND THE NEUROPHYSIOLOGY OF EMOTIONS

Abstract. Established religions integrate a society's everyday secular realities with humankind's numinous experience of the holy. Powerful emotions nourish the cultural expression of the archetypes propelling the "ritual dances" of art, sport, and technocracy. During sacred moments such as mother-infant or adult bonding, neuroendocrine triggers activate lifelong ties. The cultural canon of the left cortex contrasts with the intuitive right. Brainstem "switches" alternate the left's cool, extraverted, sympathetic drive for control with the right's "warm" attachment behavior and dreaming sleep. Psychic trauma damages flexibility with resultant alexithymic blindness to emotions and archetypes. Substance abuse and narcissistic overemphasis on control ensue.