Recent stressful life events and young children's school adjustment

A group of 211 first-to fourth-grade children who had experienced one or more recent stressful life events were compared to a demographically matched sample of 211 children who had not experienced such events on measures of school adjustment problems and competencies. Stressful life events were found to be associated with the presence of more serious school adjustment problems and fewer competencies. Those associations were strongest for children who had experienced multiple recent stressful events. The importance of preventive interventions for this at-risk group was emphasized and future research steps in the area were considered.     

Selective association in conditioned stress-induced analgesia: functional differences in interoceptive and exteroceptive sensory pathways

Rats were used to determine whether stress-induced analgesia (SIA) can be produced by conditioning with interoceptive stimuli (LiCl) as with exteroceptive stimuli (footshock). SIA was measured using a tail-flick test. As expected, unavoidable footshock as well as conditioning with footshock produced SIA. In contrast, conditioning with LiCl failed to cause SIA. The findings support the notion of functional differences in neural substrates for conditioning by exteroceptive and interoceptive cue.     

Differential ethanol olfactory experiences affect ethanol ingestion in preweanlings but not in older rats

Preweanling (21 days old) and adult (60-80 days old) rats were exposed to ethanol odor either paired with the early stages of apomorphine-induced toxicosis, paired with the recovery from toxicosis, or unpaired with the induction of distress. Twenty four hours later, ethanol preferences were measured in a spatial olfactory test (ethanol vs lemon odor) or a drinking test (5.6% v/v ethanol vs 0.25% w/v citric acid solutions). During the olfactory test both young and adult rats expressed substantial ethanol odor aversions when previously exposed to this odor paired with toxicosis. However, changes in ethanol intake became apparent only in preweanling subjects. Preweanlings which received the ethanol odor paired with illness drank significantly less of the ethanol solution relative to controls, while subjects experiencing the odor paired with recovery from distress significantly increased their consumption of the ethanol solution. These prior aversive and appetitive olfactory experiences had no effect upon ethanol intake in adult rats. These results implicate both an ontogenetic and a sensorial factor in the regulation of ethanol intake.     

Suppression of corticosterone synthesis alters the behavior of hippocampally lesioned rats

The suppression of corticosterone synthesis with metyrapone (25 mg/kg) reduced the hyperactivity and altered the exploratory activity of hippocampally lesioned animals (HPC) in the open field to the level of cortical and sham controls (Experiment 1). In a second experiment, corticosterone (600 micrograms/kg) pretreatment 2 h, but not 1 h, before metyrapone partially restored the hyperactivity of HPC animals that had been decreased by the corticosteroid-suppressant drug. Alterations in exploratory behavior induced by metyrapone were also prevented by corticosterone pretreatment. The results suggest that the suppression of corticosterone in hippocampally lesioned animals produces a normalization of behavior that can be prevented by pretreatment with corticosterone.     

Causal internalization of academic performance as a function of self-esteem and performance satisfaction

In the present investigation, we integrated self-theories (specifically, theories of cognitive consistency and self-esteem) with attribution theory. Our intent was to clarify the effects of different levels of self-esteem and performance satisfaction on causal internalization of academic performance. Subjects were 162 university students who attributed causality for their individual performances on a midterm examination. Attributions to four internal and four external causal sources were analyzed with a 2 × 2 (Self-Concept × Performance Satisfaction) MANOVA and with follow-up univariate F ratios. Most of the findings support the predictions based on self-esteem theory; i.e., satisfaction with performance, rather than consistency of performance with self-esteem, served as the primary influence on internalization of causality, with students internalizing satisfying outcomes more than dissatisfying outcomes. Cognitive-consistency theory and B. Weiner's (1979, Journal of Educational Psychology, 71, 3–25) attribution proposal regarding maintenance of a stable self-concept also received support, as attributions to the internal and stable causal sources of ability and general effort were a function of an interaction of self-esteem and performance satisfaction. Hence, neither self-theory adequately anticipated the effects of self-esteem and performance satisfaction on causal internalization. Rather, a consolidation of theories is needed to explain the results.     

Sex roles and depression: A preliminary investigation of the direction of causality

The present study examined the direction of the relation between sex role self-concept and depression. A total of 23 males and 32 females were given the Personal Attributes Questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory at two times separated by a 3-month interval. Results of a cross-lagged panel correlational analysis found no evidence for sex role orientation as a cause of depression. Instead, the data suggested that emotional well being precedes self-perceived instrumentality, but the influence of third variables could not be overlooked. The implications of these data are discussed with particular reference to the need for more complex theoretical formulations of the relation between self-perceived instrumentality and adjustment.     

Separability and integrality of global and local levels of hierarchical patterns

We used a constrained classification task to examine the perceptual relations between global and local levels in hierarchical patterns composed of many, relatively small elements and those composed of few, relatively large elements. In Experiments 1 and 3 subjects were asked to make classifications based on "form" or "texture." In Experiments 2 and 4 they were asked to classify according to the "shape" of the configuration or the elements. The results indicate that configural and elemental levels are perceptually separable for many-element patterns when processed as form and texture: Subjects could attend to either level without being affected by variation along the irrelevant dimension. However, when the same many-element patterns were processed for global and local shape, subjects could not selectively attend to either level. For few-element patterns, global configuration and local elements appeared to be perceptually integral dimensions. These results are relevant to two issues: the global precedence hypothesis and the explanations of integral and separable dimensions.     

Distributed memory and the representation of general and specific information

We describe a distributed model of information processing and memory and apply it to the representation of general and specific information. The model consists of a large number of simple processing elements which send excitatory and inhibitory signals to each other via modifiable connections. Information processing is thought of as the process whereby patterns of activation are formed over the units in the model through their excitatory and inhibitory interactions. The memory trace of a processing event is the change or increment to the strengths of the interconnections that results from the processing event. The traces of separate events are superimposed on each other in the values of the connection strengths that result from the entire set of traces stored in the memory. The model is applied to a number of findings related to the question of whether we store abstract representations or an enumeration of specific experiences in memory. The model simulates the results of a number of important experiments which have been taken as evidence for the enumeration of specific experiences. At the same time, it shows how the functional equivalent of abstract representations--prototypes, logogens, and even rules--can emerge from the superposition of traces of specific experiences, when the conditions are right for this to happen. In essence, the model captures the structure present in a set of input patterns; thus, it behaves as though it had learned prototypes or rules, to the extent that the structure of the environment it has learned about can be captured by describing it in terms of these abstractions.     

A computational analysis of mental image generation: evidence from functional dissociations in split-brain patients

Recent efforts to build computer simulation models of mental imagery have suggested that imagery is not a unitary phenomenon. Rather, such efforts have led to a modular analysis of the image-generation process, with separate modules that can activate visual memories, inspect parts of imaged patterns, and arrange separate parts into a composite image. This idea was supported by the finding of functional dissociations between the kinds of imagery tasks that could be performed in the left and right cerebral hemispheres of two patients who had previously undergone surgical transection of their corpus callosa. The left hemisphere in both subjects could inspect imaged patterns and could generate single and multipart images. In contrast, although the right hemisphere could inspect imaged patterns and could generate images of overall shape, it had difficulty in generating multipart images. The results suggest a deficit in the module that arranges parts into a composite. The observed pattern of deficits and abilities implied that this module is not used in language, visual perception, or drawing. Furthermore, the results suggest that the basis for this deficit is not a difficulty in simply remembering visual details or engaging in sequential processing.