Attentional effects on concurrent psychophysical discriminations: Investigations of a sample-size model

In two experiments, a concurrent discrimination paradigm was used to study the effects of visual attention on psychophysical judgments and the consistency of these effects with a sample-size model in which attention influences the variance of the internal representation used to make psychophysical judgments. Two pairs of lines were presented simultaneously—one on each side of fixation—and subjects had to indicate for each pair separately whether or not the lines had the same length. Attention was manipulated by instructing subjects to pay 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, or 0% of their attention to the discrimination on one side, with the complementary amount of attention to the other side. In the first experiment, the relationship between attention and discrimination accuracy was consistent with the sample-size model both when attentional allocation varied from trial to trial and when it varied between blocks, and the relationship held over more widely varying attentional allocations than had previously been studied. In addition, discriminations were more accurate overall with varied than with blocked attentional allocation, suggesting that the two types of allocation do not merely differ in the degree to which attention is focused. The second experiment examined the effects of attentional allocation and stimulus variance, the latter being manipulated by randomly incrementing or decrementing line lengths. These manipulations had additive effects on total Thurstonian variance, and a version of the samplesize model gave an excellent quantitative fit to the obtained results. Besides supporting the samplesize model, the results of Experiment 2 suggest that criterion variance is at least as large as sensory variance and that criterion but not sensory variance increases with stimulus variance.     

A PRELIMINARY PROCEDURE FOR PREDICTING THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF REINFORCEMENT-BASED PROCEDURES

In the current investigation, a modification was made to the preference assessment described by Pace, Ivancic, Edwards, Iwata, and Page (1985) to predict the effects of stimuli when used in a differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior (DRO) schedule for 2 clients with severe self-injurious behavior (SIB) and profound mental retardation. Based on the results of the preference assessment, three types of stimuli were identified: (a) high-preference stimuli associated with high rates of SIB (HP/HS), (b) high-preference stimuli associated with relatively lower rates of SIB (HP/LS), and (c) low-preference stimuli associated with low rates of SIB (LP/LS). Consistent with the results of the preference assessment, the DRO schedule with HP/HS stimuli resulted in increased SIB, and the DRO schedule with LP/LS stimuli resulted in no changes in SIB. HP/LS stimuli were demonstrated reinforcers but did not result in a change in SIB when used in a DRO schedule. Thus, the stimulus preference assessment may be useful clinically in some situations for predicting both the beneficial and the negative side effects of stimuli in DRO procedures.     

Dual diagnosis: Clinical issues in the treatment of substance abuse,and affective,personality, and psychotic disorders

Co-morbidity of alcohol and substance with the spectrum of other psychiatric diagnoses is examined with specific emphasis on diagnostic indicators for anxiety and mood disorders. Diagnostic issues for the chemically dependent person are examined with the context of borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. Clinical research related to the dually-diagnosed patient is explored     

Discrimination of methadone and cocaine by pigeons without explicit discrimination training.

Pigeons were trained to peck a key on a variable-interval 2-min schedule of food reinforcement. Prior to each session, either 2.0 mg/kg methadone (n = 3), 3.0 mg/kg cocaine (n = 4), or 5.6 mg/kg cocaine (n = 2) was administered. When each pigeon's rate of pecking was stable, a range of doses of the training drug and saline were administered prior to 20-min extinction sessions separated by at least four training sessions. Rate of pecking during these extinction tests was generally an increasing function of dose, with the lowest rates obtained following saline and low doses and the highest rates obtained following doses near the training doses. Dose functions from pigeons trained with 5.6 mg/kg cocaine were steeper than those from pigeons trained with 3.0 mg/kg cocaine. Pigeons trained with methadone or 3.0 mg/kg cocaine were then given discrimination training, in which food reinforcement followed drug administration and 20-min extinction sessions followed saline administration. Rates of pecking under these conditions quickly diverged until near-zero rates were obtained following saline and high rates were obtained following drug. Discrimination training steepened dose functions for the training drugs, and the effects of several other substituted drugs depended on the pharmacology of the training drug. The pigeons trained with 5.6 mg/kg cocaine were tested with d-amphetamine, methadone, and morphine prior to discrimination training. d-Amphetamine increased rates dose dependently, and methadone and morphine did not. The results suggest that discriminative control by methadone and cocaine was established without explicit discrimination training.     

Culturally Sensitive AIDS Educational Videos for African American Audiences: Effects of Source, Message, Receiver, and Context

The importance of using culturally sensitive educational materials in HIV-related interventions with racial and ethnic minority groups is widely recognized. However, little empirical research has been conducted to assess the relative effectiveness of different techniques for creating culturally sensitive AIDS educational videos. Two field experiments with three samples of African American adults (N = 174, 173, and 143) were conducted to assess how source characteristics (race of communicator), message characteristics (multicultural message vs. culturally specific message), and audience characteristics (racial distrust and AIDS-related distrust) influence proximate (perceptions of the message's credibility and attractiveness) and distal (AIDS-related attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral intentions) output variables for AIDS educational videos. In Study 1, an AIDS video with a culturally specific message was rated as more credible, more attractive, and of higher quality than was a video with a multicultural message. The multicultural message was rated less favorably when delivered by a White announcer than when the announcer was Black. In Study 2, the same pattern was replicated with a second community sample and a campus-based sample. Study 2 also indicated that a multicultural message might be more effective if delivered in a culturally specific context, namely, after audience members watch a culturally specific video. Minimal changes were observed in distal outcome variables. It is argued that influencing proximate output variables is necessary, though not sufficient, for effecting long-term change in AIDS-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.     

The power of faces: A review of John T. Lanzetta's research on facial expression and emotion

Provides a comprehensive review of John T. Lanzetta's research program on facial expression and emotion. After reviewing the study that initiated this research program (Lanzetta & Kleck, 1970), the program is described as developing along four distinct lines of research: (1) the role of facial expression in the modulation and self-regulation of emotion, (2) the evocative power of the face as an emotional stimulus, (3) the role of facial expression in empathy and counterempathy, and (4) the role of facial displays in human politics. Beyond reviewing the major studies and key findings to emerge from each of these lines, the progression of thought underlying the development of this research program as a whole and the interrelations among the individual research lines are also emphasized.     

The relationship between childhood violence and alcohol problems among men who batter: An empirical review and synthesis

The available literature indicates that: (a) experiences of childhood violence are associated with mediator variables, including antisocial behaviors and depressive symptomatology, that are themselves associated with development of alcohol problems and perpetration of partner violence for men in adulthood; (b) experiences of childhood violence and, more strongly, observation of interparental violence during childhood predict perpetration of partner violence in adulthood for males; (c) presence of partner violence is associated with certain types of alcohol problems for men; and (d) both partner violence and alcohol problems are associated with marital conflict. However, available research has often excluded important moderator variables, such as history of familial and parental alcohol problems and history of parental psychiatric disorders. Based on the available research, two indirect pathways between childhood violence and adulthood problems (i.e., alcohol problems and partner violence) are proposed as guides for future research in the areas of family violence and alcohol problems for men. Further, bidirectional associations between alcohol problems and partner violence are proposed. Finally, inclusion of important moderator and mediator variables in multivariate research designs is suggested.     

Understanding equality in health care: a Christian free-market approach.

This paper examines the arguments presented by the Roman Catholic Bishops in their 1993 Pastoral Resolution, Comprehensive Health Care Reform: Protecting Human Life, Promoting Human Dignity, Pursuing the Common Good, concerning health care reform. Focusing on the meaning of equality in health care and traditional Roman Catholic doctrine, it is argued that the Bishops fail to grasp the force of the differences among persons, the value of the market, and traditional scholastic arguments concerning obligatory and extraordinary health care. To attempt to equalize the distribution of health care would be ruinous. A more traditional understanding of Christian thought reveals an acceptance of inequality in health care distribution and a bias against using the secular state to coerce a solution to such concerns for social justice.     

The sampling distribution ofd′

The distribution of sample $\hat d's$ , although mathematically intractable, can be tabulated readily by computer. Such tabulations reveal a number of interesting properties of this distribution, including: (1) sample $\hat d's$ are biased, with an expected value that can be higher or lower than the true value, depending on the sample size, the true value itself, and the convention adopted for handling cases in which the sample $\hat d'$ is undefined; (2) the variance of $\hat d'$ also depends on the convention adopted for handling cases in which the sample $\hat d'$ is undefined and is in some cases poorly approximated by the standard approximation formula, (3) the standard formula for a confidence interval for $\hat d'$ is quite accurate with at least 50–100 trials per condition, but more accurate intervals can be obtained by direct computation with smaller samples.