Playgroup therapy in the junior school: I. method and general problems

Part of a controlled trial of various types of mental health intervention in ordinary junior schools consisted of asystematic application of non-directive play therapy. In thispaper, the problems of setting up and running 17 groups in six different junior schools are discussed. It is concluded that while running groups in schools is not easy, and conditions arefarfrom ideal, it can be successfully carried out given good-will and adequate staff support.     

Factorial validity of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale

The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was developed in previous research to measure a general dimension of alexithymia with three inter correlated factors. These three factors reflect distinct facets of the alexithymia construct: (1) difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing them from the bodily sensations of emotion, (2) difficulty describing feelings to others, and (3) an externally orientated style of thinking. This study tested the three-factor model for the TAS-20, using confirmatory factor analysis, in separate samples of young adults from Germany, Canada, and the United States. The previously established three-factor model was found to be replicable in all three samples. In addition, the full TAS-20 and its three factors demonstrated adequate internal reliability in all three samples. Although evaluation of the convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity of the TAS-20 is required in diverse cultural groups, the present results provide evidence for the factorial validity and internal reliability of the TAS-20.     

The effect of edge orientation and movement direction on the apparent misalignment of collinear bars

Four experiments on apparent misalignment of oblique collinear bars are reported. The data from the first three experiments showed that the misalignment was slight but significant when no direction other than that of the bars themselves was delineated and about double when the vertical was delineated by movements of the adjustable bar. When the vertical was delineated by both these movements and the ends of the bars (or by vertical parallel lines), the misalignment was more than six times greater. Conversely, it was reduced when the bar ends delineated the vertical and bar movements delineated the direction at right angles to the bars. The data from a fourth experiment showed that the inner pair of edges were closely involved in apparent misalignment and that the outer ends were not. The relationship between the misalignment effect with bars and the Poggendorif figure (oblique lines separated by parallels), the delineation of direction by edges and movement, and the implications of these data for an explanation are discussed.     

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.     

Moveable Cues: a Practical Method for Reducing Context-Dependent Forgetting

In three experiments subjects studied a list of words under incidental learning conditions. Their explicit memory was tested using free recall. Relearning to criterion was also measured in Experiment 3. Testing took place at intervals after the study period of either 1 hour or 48 hours, and in the same or in a different environment. In all experiments either one or two ambient environmental context cues were present at study, which were then either present or not present at test. Ambient cues were found to reduce context-dependent forgetting, and practical uses of this method in applied settings are discussed. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Validation of the dimensional factor structure of the personality psychopathology five in clinical and nonclinical samples

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to determine whether the latent structure underlying the items composing the MMPI-2 Personality Psychopathology Five scales (PSY-5; Harkness, McNulty, & Ben-Porath, 1995) is representative of the theoretical model that informed their construction. Results from the CFA revealed a good fit between the hypothesized five-factor model and the obtained latent factor structure in both clinical (n = 284) and nonclinical (n = 351) samples. Moreover, the PSY-5 model proved to be a better fit than a random five-factor model and a one-factor model. Correlations between the PSY-5 scales and a set of MMPI-2 (DSM-IV) personality disorder scales provided additional evidence of convergent and discriminant validity.     

Effect of prior exposure to a lithium- and an amphetamine-paired flavor on the acoustic startle response in rats

The experiments reported here evaluated the hypothesis that an amphetamine-paired flavor elicits conditioned fear-arousal, whereas a lithium-paired flavor elicits conditioned nausea-disgust by examining the effect of prior flavor exposure on an acoustic startle reaction (ASR). Exposure to a lithium-paired flavor by intraoral infusion, either immediately prior to a startle session (Experiment 1) or during a startle session (Experiments 2 and 3), resulted in a blunted ASR. In contrast, intraoral infusion of an amphetamine-paired flavor resulted in a potentiated ASR. The blunted ASR produced by exposure to a lithium-paired flavor dramatically reversed to a potentiated ASR when rats were pretreated with the antiemetic drug ondansetron prior to the saccharin-lithium pairing (Experiment 3). The findings shed light on a mechanism by which rewarding drugs produce conditioned taste avoidance in rats.