HIV-1 Infection, Neuroendocrine Abnormalities, and Clinical Outcomes

Different lines of evidence suggest that human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection is complicated by a variety of adverse effects on neuroendocrine systems. Soon after the discovery of HIV-1, reports began to appear suggesting that a number of neurotransmitter and neuroendocrine activities were negatively impacted by this infection. In 1987 it was observed that fine-needle aspiration of the lung in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome resulted in syncopal reactions. Subsequently, an abnormality in the autonomic nervous system was reported in these patients. However, investigations in this area have remained limited due to the assumption that HIV-1-mediated activation of various endocrine systems was related to the major life stressor of living with a fatal disease. Evidence accumulated over the years has indicated, instead, that there are various other mechanisms in addition to life stressors that also play an important role in negatively impacting the neuroendocrine systems in this infection. This article examines various developments that have taken place in this area in order to provide avenues for future research.     

Do you remember proposing marriage to the Pepsi machine? False recollections from a campus walk

During a campus walk, participants were given familiar or bizarre action statements (e.g., “Check the Pepsi machine for change” vs. “Propose marriage to the Pepsi machine”) with instructions either to perform the actions or imagine performing the actions (Group 1) or to watch the experimenter perform the actions or imagine the experimenter performing the actions (Group 2). One day later, some actions were repeated, along with new actions, on a second walk. Two weeks later, the participants took a recognition test for actions presented during the first walk, and they specified whether a recognized action was imagined or performed. Imagining themselves or the experimenter performing familiar or bizarre actions just once led to false recollections of performance for both types of actions. This study extends previous research on imagination inflation by demonstrating that these false performance recollections can occur in a natural, real-life setting following just one imagining.     

Comparison of the Explicit Timing and Interspersal Interventions: Analysis of Problem Completion Rates,Student Preference,and Teacher Acceptability

Explicit timing and interspersal interventions were investigated using a within-subjects design with 45 third-grade students. A control assignment consisted of subtraction of a two digit number from a two digit number (i.e., target problem) and served as a baseline. An explicit timing assignment consisted of similar problems as those for the control assignment. The interspersal assignment consisted of similar problems as those for the control and explicit timing assignments with the addition of subtraction of a one digit number from a one digit number interspersed following every third target problem. Total problem completion rates, target problem completion rates, accuracy on target problems and students' rating regarding difficulty, time, effort, and preference between assignments for class work were collected. Student preference choices were analyzed for fit with the discrete task completion hypothesis. Three trials were administered. Results indicated that: (a) students completed more total problems during interspersal, (b) target problem completion rates were higher during explicit timing, (c) accuracy rates remained constant, (d) students rated the explicit timing assignment as requiring more time and being more difficult for all trials and as requiring more effort for trial 2 and 3, (e) students selected the interspersal assignment to do in class as compared to the explicit timing assignment for all trials, and (f) the data fit the discrete task completion hypothesis relatively well for all trials. Discussion focuses on comparing academic interventions based on problem completion rates, student preference, and acceptability data.     

Self- and cross-citations in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior: 1993-2003

Self- and cross-citations in JABA and JEAB from 1993 through 2003 were examined. Yearly mean levels of self-citation for JABA and JEAB were 34.9% and 33.2%, respectively. Overall, 7.8% of JABA citations were JEAB articles, and 0.6% of JEAB citations were JABA articles. The former value, but not the latter, is substantially higher than the cross-citation level reported for earlier years. The two JEAB articles most often cited in JABA were published over 20 years ago and are concerned with establishing operations and the matching law.     

An MMPI-2 scale to detect malingered depression (Md scale)

A specialized Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) validity scale was constructed to detect individuals who are knowledgeable about either depression or MMPI-2 detection strategies and who subsequently attempt to malinger depressive symptoms on the MMPI-2. The Malingered Depression (Md) scale consists of 32 items that discriminated college students who feigned depression from those who were genuinely depressed. Further information about the incremental validity and the utility of the Md scale was obtained in a cross-validation study with additional college students who feigned depression and a sample of students with clinically significant depressive symptoms. The results indicate that the Md scale possesses promising value in detecting malingered symptoms of depression.     

The Efficacy of an Integrated Theoretical Approach to Group Psychotherapy for Male Inmates

To assess the efficacy of an interpersonal process-oriented and cognitive-behavioral group psychotherapy program, 36 incarcerated male adults were assigned to either a treatment group (n = 20) or a no treatment control group (n = 16). Outcome measures consisted of paper-pencil self-report instruments, institutional behavioral data, and structured interviews with the group therapists (n = 3). Results indicated no significant changes in inmates' level of defensiveness, empathy, or institutional behavior; however, the inmates reported universally positive reactions to the treatment program. The group therapists also perceived the treatment program as efficacious, particularly in fostering a cohesive group atmosphere and increasing inmate responsibility for group leadership. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Phonotactic and Prosodic Effects on Word Segmentation in Infants

This research examines the issue of speech segmentation in 9-month-old infants. Two cues known to carry probabilistic information about word boundaries were investigated: Phonotactic regularity and prosodic pattern. The stimuli used in four head turn preference experiments were bisyllabic CVC.CVC nonwords bearing primary stress in either the first or the second syllable (strong/weak vs. weak/strong). Stimuli also differed with respect to the phonotactic nature of their cross-syllabic C.C cluster. Clusters had either a low probability of occurring at a word juncture in fluent speech and a high probability of occurring inside of words ("within-word" clusters) or a high probability of occurring at a word juncture and a low probability of occurring inside of words ("between-word" clusters). Our results show that (1) 9-month-olds are sensitive to how phonotactic sequences typically align with word boundaries, (2) altering the stress pattern of the stimuli reverses infants' preference for phonotactic cluster types, (3) the prosodic cue to segmentation is more strongly relied upon than the phonotactic cue, and (4) a preference for high-probability between-word phonotactic sequences can be obtained either by placing stress on the second syllable of the stimuli or by inserting a pause between syllables. The implications of these results are discussed in light of an integrated multiple-cue approach to speech segmentation in infancy.     

Fear-potentiated startle conditioning to explicit and contextual cues in Gulf War veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder

Aversive conditioning to explicit and contextual cues was examined in Gulf War veterans with and without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by use of the startle reflex methodology. Veterans participated in a differential aversive conditioning experiment consisting of 2 sessions separated by 4 or 5 days. Each session comprised two startle habituation periods, a preconditioning phase, a conditioning phase, and a postconditioning extinction test. In contrast to the non-PTSD group, the PTSD group showed a lack of differential startle response in the presence of a conditioned stimulus with or without an unconditioned stimulus in Session 1 and an increase in the baseline startle response during Session 2. The PTSD group also exhibited normal differential conditioning following reconditioning in Session 2. These data suggest that individuals with PTSD tend to generalize fear across stimuli and are sensitized by stress.