Food-related stimuli increase desire to eat in hungry and satiated human subjects

In the present study, the effect of food-related cues on the desire to eat chocolate in hungry and satiated subjects was investigated. Subjects (n=46) were randomly assigned to either a hungry or satiated group and then assigned to a group receiving one of the following stimuli: taste (2 M&Ms), sight (a photograph of M&Ms), cognition (a passage describin M&Ms), or control (no stimulus). In each testing session, subjects rated their desire to eat chocolate before and after the 90-s presentation of the particular stimulus. Each subject was then given a half pound of M&Ms so that actual consumption could also be measured. Results indicated that, following the presentation of the sight and taste stimuli, the subjects’ desire to eat chocolate was significantly increased. Furthermore, no differences in chocolate consumption due to state of hunger or type of food-related stimulus presented were found.     

The effects of adaptation to gratings on the perceived orientation of single lines

Subjects were adapted for 45 s to a 5 cycle per degree grating, tilted 10° from the vertical, and at one of four levels of luminance contrast. Estimates of the slope of the grating, or of a single line which replaced the grating, were obtained before and after the period of adaptation by the subject's setting of a single reference line which was located 3° from the edge of the grating. In Experiment I the fixation area was at the centre of the grating, so that half of the grating fell on each retinal hemifield. The reference line was set to a tilt further from the vertical following the period of adaptation, indicating either a change in the apparent orientation of the grating or the reference line. In Experiment II, where the fixation area was midway between the grating and the reference line, so that line and grating appeared in different hemifields, settings indicated no change in the tilt of the grating. In Experiment III, where the fixation area was again midway between grating and setting line, but where the grating was replaced by a single line after the adaptation period, settings indicated that the line had decreased in apparent tilt. The results of the three experiments indicate that while gratings either do not normalize or do so to an insignificant extent they produce a substantial amount of normalization on a single line. Comparison of the results of Experiments I and II shows that spread of this effect outside the directly adapted area is less across the naso-temporal division of the retina than within the same hemifield.     

Methodological pitfalls in predicting counseling success

Prediction models employing multiple linear regression of raw scores, multiple linear regression of factor scores, the single best predictor, and a nine-point decision rule index were compared. The subjects were 296 clients undergoing vocational counseling and evaluation. Predictor variables included performance ratings, demographic variables, and WAIS subtest scores; the criterion was employment status upon program completion. The least statistically sophisticated model, employing the single best predictor, was the most successful approach. Considerable shrinkage in power of prediction was demonstrated upon cross-validation particularly for multiple linear regression of raw scores model, indicating the necessity of cross-validating prediction schemes. Additional suggestions are made to those designing prediction studies.     

A scale for the psychological magnitude of number

A scale of the “psychological magnitude” of number was constructed from similarity ratings of the 45 number pairs that can be obtained from a set of 10 integers. A nonmetric analysis of these similarity ratings showed that “psychological number” was a power function of number.     

Rat data which suggest alcoholic beverages should be swallowed during chemical aversion therapy,not just tasted

There were four pretraining procedures: A, in which rats drank sugar water prior to lithium sickness: P. in which sugar water was passed over the tongue prior to lithium sickness: Li, in which no taste experience preceded lithium sickness: NPT. in which the rats were exposed neither to the sugar water nor to lithium sickness. Lithium was then used to produce aversions to some other solution by dividing each of the pretraining groups into four subgroups. The solutions were novel NaCl, novel vinegar, novel alcohol, or familiar alcohol. Regardless of which solution was made aversive. the A pretraining procedure produced the strongest aversions and the Li procedure produced the weakest aversions. In the final phase, the preference for sugar water was tested. The A procedure produced far stronger aversions than the P procedure.     

Acuity of sound localisation: a topography of auditory space. III. Monaural hearing conditions

A study is reported in which the acuity of azimuth and elevation discrimination under monaural listening conditions was measured. Six subjects localised a sound source (white noise through a speaker) which varied in position over a range of elevations (-40 degrees to +40 degrees) and azimuths (0 degrees to 180 degrees), at 10 degrees intervals, on the left side of the head. Monaural listening conditions were established by the fitting of an ear defender and one earmuff to the right ear. The absolute and algebraic, azimuth and elevation errors were measured for all subjects at each position of the source. The results indicate that all subjects suffered a marked reduction of azimuth acuity under monaural conditions, although a coarse capacity to discriminate azimuth still remained. Considerable between-subject variability was observed. Front/back discrimination was retained, although it was slightly impaired compared to that observed under normal listening conditions. Elevation discrimination was, on the whole, quite good under monaural conditions. However, a comparison of the performance of these subjects under monaural conditions with that observed under normal listening conditions indicated that some reduction in elevation localisation acuity occurred in the frontal quadrants in the median plane and in the upper quadrants of more lateral source positions. The reduction in acuity seen in these regions is attributed to the loss of information from the pinna of the occluded ear rather than to the observed reduction in azimuth error. The results provide partial support for the binaural pinna disparity model.     

Primary grade children's memory for parts of speech.

Developmental differences in elementary school (kindergarten, first and second grade) children's free recall for parts of speech were investigated using sentences with normal and scrambled word order. The children were presented four sentences with normal syntax and four sentences with scrambled word order. There were significant effects of age, syntax, and rate of presentation; these replicated previous research. The unusual finding was that the kindergarten children, when presented with scrambled word strings, recalled more verbs than either the first or second grade children. It was hypothesized that this occurred because either the kindergarten children failed to detect the scrambled nature of syntaxless strings, or there is a change in the comprehension strategies which de-emphasizes the role of the verb.     

Response bias in category and magnitude estimation of difference and similarity for loudness and pitch

Interval scales of sensory magnitude were derived from magnitude and category estimates of loudness differences, loudness similarities, pitch differences, and pitch similarities. In each of the four loudness experiments, a loudness scale was constructed from a nonmetric analysis of the rank order of the judgments. The four loudness scales so constructed were found to be equivalent to one another and indicated that loudness was a power function of sound pressure with an exponent of .29. A similar analysis for the four pitch experiments found the pitch scales derived in each case to be equivalent to one another and linear with the mel scale of pitch. Thus the same sensory and similarities for two distinct perceptual continua. For both pitch and loudness, these sensory scales were used to generate scales of sensory differences. A comparison of the category and magnitude estimates of sensory differences with the scale of sensory differences derived from the nonmetric analyses indicated the presence of significant response biases in both category and magnitude estimation procedures.