Frontal lobe dysfunction and memory impairment in patients with chronic progressive multiple sclerosis

Deficits in semantic encoding have been described in patients with frontal lobe disease who also show memory impairments. As a group, patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) exhibit memory impairment, fail to make effective use of semantic encoding to aid memory, and perform poorly on verbal fluency and concept formation tests which are sensitive to frontal lobe damage. In the present study the semantic encoding capacity of MS patients was measured using a modification of Wicken's release from proactive interference (PI) paradigm. Individual patients varied considerably in the severity of their impairments on verbal fluency, verbal recognition memory and on Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, but even patients who evidenced both memory impairment and signs of frontal lobe dysfunction showed normal release from PI after a categorical shift. Memory disturbances in MS are unlikely to result from an incapacity for semantic encoding, which seems preserved in MS, but may arise instead from deficits in processing information rapidly.     

Forecasting the impact of the federal sentencing guidelines

The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, which created the U.S. Sentencing Commission, required that the commisson consider prison capacity in drafting sentencing guidelines. As part of the commission's efforts to meet this requirement, we developed a computer simulation capable of projecting the impact of the commission's guidelines on future sentences and prison populations. According to our projections, “straight” probation sentences will be reduced significantly under the guidelines. However, reducing the use of probation will generate only modest demands on the prisons, and then mostly for community corrections phased in over the course of 5 years. We also project that, while average time served for violent offenses will increase substantially, average time served for most property crimes will remain largely the same. Finally, while we forecast that federal prison populations will grow markedly by the end of this century, this is more a result of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 and the career offender provision of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 than a result of the guidelines.     

Sex differences in spontaneous alternation and open-field behavior of hamsters: Habituation differences

With a minimal intratrial interval, male golden hamsters spontaneously alternated significantly less often in a T-maze than females. Since there was no sex difference in choice latencies, the alternation difference could not be accounted for by longer intertrial intervals experienced by males. Instead, the difference was ascribed to faster rates of habituation to novelty in females because they showed greater between-sessions declines in open-field ambulation than males. From an analysis of rearing scores it was concluded that attempts to escape from the apparatus may have been the principal motivating influence in both the T-maze and open field.     

Perioral somatosensory determinants of nursing behavior in Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Prior to assuming the upright crouching posture over their pups during nursing bouts, lactating rats typically engage in several oral behaviors, including nuzzling, licking and rearranging pups. By acutely depriving dams of various aspects of perioral stimulation from pups (with anesthesia of the mystacial pads or of the tongue, with mouth suturing, or with muzzling), we found the following: (1) Distal stimulation from pups maintains proximity-seeking behavior, but is insufficient to stimulate nursing behavior. (2) Lack of tongue feedback decreases pup licking and hastens the onset of crouching. (3) Snout, but not tongue, contact with pups is required for hovering over them. (4) The position of the dam while hovering over her litter enables the pups to gain access to her ventrum, thereby provoking her upright, crouching posture. (5) Older pups are capable of bypassing the dam's perioral attentions and stimulating crouching directly by burrowing under the dam's ventrum.     

Relationship of racial stressors to blood pressure responses and anger expression in black college students

The physiological effects of racism, as a stressor, were examined as they related to blood pressure (BP) and anger experiences in Black college students. Current research has failed to consider the stressful effects of racism as a factor contributing to the higher incidence of essential hypertension among Blacks. Twenty-seven Black college students viewed three excerpts showing racist situations involving Blacks; anger-provoking, nonracist situations; and neutral situations. After each scene, BP was taken, and a mood checklist was administered. The Framingham Anger Scale and the Anger Expression Scale were administered. Analyses revealed that BP significantly increased during the presentation of racist stimuli but not of anger-provoking or neutral stimuli. Self-reports of state anger, as measured by the mood checklist, were significant for both the anger-provoking and racist stimuli. BP scores were significantly correlated to the two trait anger measures. Exposure to racist stimuli was associated with BP increases among Blacks. Such cumulative exposure to racism may have important implications for the etiology of essential hypertension.     

Marital adjustment among rural couples: The role of expressiveness

This study examined the relationship between marital adjustment and husbands' and wives' instrumentalness and expressiveness. Eighty-five rural couples completed the Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses indicated that husbands' expressiveness was the sole predictor of both husbands' and wives' marital adjustment. Results are compared to previous research findings with urban couples. Implications of the findings for gender-related patterns of socialization are also discussed.     

The impact of drug screening on selection decisions

This paper discusses the use of drug screening for employee selection decisions. Common methods of drug screening are described, and a recent study of drug screening accuracy is summarized. It is argued that drug screening is subject to the same standards as are other selection procedures, and that human resource professionals must assume responsibility for understanding the potential problems associated with drug screening. Issues relevant to determining the benefits of drug screening are discussed, and an illustration of the impact of drug screening on decision accuracy is presented. It is suggested that, in many instances, the value of drug screening in the selection process may be low enough to warrant serious concern. Implications for human resource research and practice are noted.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 95th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in New York; August 31, 1987. The authors would like to thank Michael Bramel for his assistance in locating and summarizing some of the medical literature cited, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.