Multivariate genetic analysis of specific cognitive abilities in the Colorado adoption project at age 7

A multivariate hierarchical model of specific cognitive abilities was fitted to data from 7-year-old adopted and nonadopted sibling pairs in the Colorado Adoption Project in order to assess differential genetic influence on specific mental abilities. Model fitting results and Schmid-Leiman (Schmid & Leiman, 1957) transformations reveal significant heritable variation for verbal, spatial, and memory factors independent of general cognitive ability for the eight ability tests examined. In contrast, environmental influences are primarily measure-specific. The results suggest genetic effects in middle childhood that differentially influence mental ability scores.     

Soul Healing: A Model of Feminist Therapy

A feminist psychospiritual model of therapy that can be used in working with clients who value the spiritual dimension in their lives is offered. The history, philosophy, and work of Women for a New World, a multidisciplinary team of women representing the areas of psychology, religious education, and the arts is presented. Using examples drawn from the developmental history of our retreat-workshop paradigm and from some of our programs, including a weekend retreat for women and a day of reflection for persons affected by AIDS (including family and friends of those with AIDS), the metaphor of therapy as soul healing is developed.     

The Pinocchio Syndrome: Lying and Its Impact on the Counseling Process

Surprisingly little has been written in the counseling journals on the topic of lying: that is, why some clients consciously choose to be either dishonest with their counselors or deliberately hold back (i.e., keep secrets) important information from their counselors. This article discusses the dynamics of lying and offers suggestions to counselors on how to work with clients who lie.     

Impairment of spontaneous alternation performance by an NMDA antagonist: attenuation with non-NMDA treatments.

N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists disrupt learning on a variety of tasks. Previous findings indicate that glucose, naloxone, and physostigmine ameliorate learning deficits produced by several treatments. The present experiment examines whether these agents also reverse the amnestic effects of NMDA receptor blockade. Mice were tested for spontaneous alternation performance in a Y-maze. The animals received either saline or the NMDA antagonist, NPC 12626 (35 mg/kg, IP), 50 min prior to testing and received an additional injection of saline, glucose, naloxone, or physostigmine 30 min prior to testing. NPC 12626 significantly decreased alternation scores. Glucose (250 mg/kg), physostigmine (0.01 mg/kg), and naloxone (1 mg/kg) reversed the effects of NPC 12626. Thus, impairments of learning after NMDA receptor blockade share with other amnestic conditions the susceptibility to attenuation by glucose, naloxone, and physostigmine.     

Reinstatement of latent inhibition following a reminder treatment in a conditioned taste aversion paradigm.

Reminder treatments have been shown to facilitate the retrieval of a variety of conditioned responses. Whether or not similar results would occur with an experimental paradigm which involves primarily memory for a stimulus, i.e., where no particular response is specified, is unclear. Accordingly, using Sprague-Dawley rats, we employed a latent inhibition paradigm with a long (10 days) retention interval between sucrose (CS) preexposure and sucrose-illness pairing (training). The results demonstrated a loss of latent inhibition following the 10-day retention interval suggesting "forgetting" of the CS preexposure. However, placing a single reminder exposure to the CS within the preexposure-to-training interval reinstated the preexposure effect. Controls indicated that in the absence of the initial preexposure the reminder per se did not produce latent inhibition. Thus, a reminder can reinstate a stimulus attribute (flavor representation) and explicit conditioned responses.     

An ephemeral sex pheromone in the urine of female house mice (Mus domesticus).

From previous research, the ultrasonic vocalizations of male mice (Mus domesticus) to female mouse urine were hypothesized to be learned as a result of classical conditioning during adult heterosexual encounters. According to this interpretation, a previously neutral conditioned stimulus in female urine comes to elicit vocalizations as a result of its association with some other unknown unconditioned stimulus associated with adult females. However, the research from which this hypothesis was derived utilized urine collected from females housed in metabolic cages. Three experiments further examined the classical conditioning hypothesis using two types of female urine: (i) metabolic-cage-collected urine and (ii) freshly voided urine. Experiment 1 demonstrated that, in contrast to vocalizations to metabolic-cage-collected urine, adult heterosexual experience was not necessary for males to vocalize to freshly voided female urine. In addition, unlike metabolic-cage-collected urine (Experiment 3), freshly voided urine remained a potent stimulus for eliciting vocalizations during repeated testing (Experiments 2 and 3). Finally, freshly voided urine appeared to cause a previously neutral stimulus (cotton swab) to acquire ultrasound eliciting properties (Experiment 2). We suggest from these findings that two chemosignals that elicit vocalizations from males may exist in female mouse urine: (i) a potent, but volatile or easily degraded, unconditioned stimulus to which males vocalize without sexual experience and (ii) a nonvolatile, chemically stable conditioned stimulus.     

A social-cognitive,attributional model of personal goals: An empirical evaluation

A model of cognitive and affective antecedents and consequences of personal goals, which integrates constructs from social-cognitive and attribution theories, was examined. Data were gathered before and after course examinations in a large university class. Hierarchical and moderated regression analyses supported the model indicating that (1) relationships between self-efficacy, goals, and performance were positive during repeated trials over 4 1/2 months in a naturally occurring setting; (2) the stability dimension of causal attributions moderated the relationship between goal-performance discrepancies and self-efficacy; and (3) the locus of causality dimension of causal attributions moderated the relationship between goal-performance discrepancies and affective responses.We thank Susan Ashford, Jim Austin, Donald Fedor, Ruth Kanfer, Edwin Locke, Paul Nystrom, Donna Randall, Christina Shalley, Masoud Yasai-Ardekani and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article. We also thank Eric Dietenberger for his help with graphics.