Perceptual learning in maze discriminations

In Experiment 1, rats were trained on a discrimination between rubber- and sandpaper-covered arms of a maze after one group had been pre-exposed to these intra-maze cues. Pre-exposure facilitated subsequent discrimination learning, unless the discrimination was made easier by adding further discriminative stimuli, when it now significantly retarded learning. In Experiment 2, rats were trained on an extra-maze spatial discrimination, again after one group, but not another, had been pre-exposed to the extra-maze landmarks. Here too, pre-exposure facilitated subsequent discrimination learning, unless the discrimination was made substantially easier by arranging that the two arms between which rats had to choose were always separated by 135°. The results of both experiments can be explained by supposing that perceptual learning depends on the presence of features common to S+ and S-.     

A Test of the Consensus and Distinctiveness Attribution Principles in Victims of Disaster1

The present research was designed to test the hypothesis that perceptions of consensus about the collective experience of psychological problems, as well as the distinctive presence of a community disaster, would affect attributions of externality about such problems. Specifically, it was hypothesized that (1) higher levels of consensus would be associated with greater external attributions of causality, (2) attributions would be more external if the problem began after the disaster (high distinctiveness) than before the disaster, and (3) the occurrence of the disaster would magnify the positive relationship between high consensus and external causality attributions, because of the presence of a distinctive and salient external event. These hypotheses were tested with victims of a flash flood. Results supported the interaction prediction (Hypothesis 3) for the problem of depression, but not for anxiety. In addition, for depression and anxiety, greater consensus was indirectly associated with greater externality, regardless of distinctiveness (Hypothesis 1). However, for somatization, none of the hypotheses were supported. The results are discussed in terms of the applied implications for postdisaster intervention programs to reduce psychopathology.     

FUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING TO REDUCE CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR: MAINTENANCE AND APPLICATION IN NEW SETTINGS

We evaluated the initial effectiveness, maintenance, and transferability of the results of functional communication training as an intervention for the challenging behaviors exhibited by 3 students. Assessment indicated that escape from academic demands was involved in the maintenance of the challenging behaviors. Social attention was also implicated as controlling the behavior of 1 student. The intervention involved teaching alternative assistance-seeking and attention-getting phrases to the students in an effort to replace challenging behavior with these verbal equivalents. Multiple baseline data collected across the 3 students indicated that not only did the intervention substantially reduce challenging behavior but also that these results transferred across new tasks, environments, and teachers, and were generally maintained from 18 to 24 months following the introduction of functional communication training. These results are discussed in light of recent efforts to develop effective interventions for severe challenging behavior and to understand the processes underlying transfer and maintenance of intervention effects.     

Parent-daughter discussions to discourage tobacco use: feasibility and content.

Parents engaged their 6th- and 8th-grade daughters in a conversation about tobacco. The parents were guided by a pamphlet designed to encourage effective family communication about tobacco. Conversations were audiotaped for later coding. Evidence is presented that such parent-daughter conversations about tobacco use can be successfully carried out in a nonaversive manner. Overall, the conversations were perceived to have gone well, with very little conflict reported. Further, the daughters reported that the parental advice was helpful and they did not resist receiving such advice. Among the topics suggested by the pamphlet, the following were most frequently discussed: consequences of smoking as experienced by friends and relatives, difficulty of quitting, promotional tactics of tobacco companies, making rules about tobacco use, and deciding on the consequences of rules adherence or violation. Other frequently discussed topics, which were not covered in the pamphlet, may also be appropriate for parent-daughter conversations: diminished physical attractiveness and body-image issues, how to resist peer pressure, and health risks.     

Odogenic change of blood coagulation in humans.

The blood coagulation time as an integral sign of human homeostasis is revealed to be influenced by conscious or unconscious olfactory stimuli through autonomic mechanisms. The hemostasis of subjects with predominance of sympathetic activity is more sensitive to the olfactory stimuli than that of subjects with vagal prevalence. The effects of the olfactory stimuli upon hemostasis in humans support the viewpoint that simultaneous information and physico-chemical processes act together in parallel to play and important role in life activities of human organism (Simonov, 1981; Sudakov, 1995). Emotions, therefore, are essential in the transfer of information from the environment (Anokhin, 1966; Miltner et al., 1994). It is not excluded that even very weak stimuli which are subthreshold for conscious perception might be informational for the organism as those engaging emotional response.     

Association of heart rate and heart-rate variability with scores on the emotion profile index in patients with acute coronary heart disease.

We investigated the link between the eight basic emotions named by Plutchik and heart rate, heart-rate variability in the 114 patients, 86 men and 28 women (M = 53.8 yr., SD = 8.0) with acute coronary heart disease during the initial 24-hr. stay in the coronary care unit and again at hospital discharge. Variability in heart rate was significantly positively associated with scores on Trust (the emotional state acceptance) at hospital admission and discharge in the patients with unstable angina and non-Q-wave infarction, on Aggression in the patients with unstable angina at hospital discharge and at hospital admission in the patients with non-Q-wave infarction. There was inverse relation on Timid (the emotional state fear) and Gregarious (joy) at hospital admission and on Distrust (disgust or rejection), Depressed (sadness), and Dyscontrol (impulsiveness) at hospital discharge in the patient with non-Q-wave infarction. There was no significant association between heart-rate variability and the scores on the Emotion Profile Index in the patients with anterior and posterior myocardial infarction. There was no statistically significant association between heart rate and scores on the Emotion Profile Index in the patients with acute coronary disease at hospital admission and discharge. Our results suggest psychological interventions that enhance emotional states represented by the Trust and Aggression scales and minimize those represented by Depressed, Dyscontrol, Timid, and Distrust scales could have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular function in the patients with unstable angina and non-Q-wave infarction in a hospital setting.     

The semantic side of decision making

The research reported in this paper follows the perspective that decision making is a meaningful act that conveys information. Furthermore, the potential meanings associated with decision options may affect the decisions themselves. This idea is examined in the contexts of compensation, donation, and exchange. In general, judgments were relation dependent and meaning dependent. Furthermore, the results show nonmonotonicities and limited substitutability in a pattern that challenges straightforward ways of mapping decisions onto a common currency of utility.