Debunking myths about self-quitting. Evidence from 10 prospective studies of persons who attempt to quit smoking by themselves

This article examines data from 10 longterm prospective studies (N greater than 5,000) in relation to key issues about the self-quitting of smoking, especially those discussed by Schachter. When a single attempt to quit was evaluated, self-quitters' success rates were no better than those reported for formal treatment programs. Light smokers (20 or less cigarettes per day) were 2.2 times more likely to quit than heavy smokers. The cyclical nature of quitting was also examined. There was a moderate rate (mdn = 2.7%) of long-term quitting initiated after the early months (expected quitting window) of these studies, but also a high rate (mdn = 24%) of relapsing for persons abstinent for six months. The number of previous unsuccessful quit attempts was unrelated to success in quitting. Finally, there were few occasional smokers (slips) among successful long-term quitters. We argue that quitting smoking is a dynamic process, not a discrete event.     

Memory deficits in compulsive checkers: replication and extension in a clinical sample

Thirteen checkers and twelve noncheckers, identified on the basis of their responses to the checking subscale of the Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI; Rachman and Hodgson, 1980), were recruited from a sample of 99 consecutive admissions to the outpatient department of a community mental health center. Consistent with our previous research with nonclinical samples of college students (Sher et al., 1983, 1984), checkers were found to show deficits in memory, especially recall for recently completed actions, compared to noncheckers. This result demonstrates the replicability of our previous findings across different types of samples and implicates deficits in memory for actions as a potentially important determinant of checking behavior. Assessment of spontaneous imagery associated with the anamnestic process suggested that checkers utilized less imagery, especially visual imagery, when recalling biographical information. Additional measures collected at the time of testing indicated that checkers were more neurotic and reported more psychological distress than noncheckers.     

Comment on Holloway and McNally's (1987) "Effects of Anxiety Sensitivity on the Response to Hyperventilation"

Holloway and McNally (1987) found that normals with high scores on the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), an instrument developed to assess beliefs regarding the adverse consequences of anxiety, reported more anxiety and more frequent and intense somatic sensations following hyperventilation than did normals with low scores on the ASI. They concluded that this result provides support for the construct validity of the ASI and thus for the construct of anxiety sensitivity. Nevertheless, we argue that (a) the developers of the ASI have conflated beliefs regarding the adverse consequences of anxiety with fear of these consequences, (b) the accumulated evidence for the construct validity of the ASI is weak, and (c) Holloway and McNally's design and analyses do not permit them to exclude the more parsimonious explanation that trait anxiety accounts for their findings. Implications for research on anxiety sensitivity are discussed.     

Effects of variable practice on retention and motor schema development in Down syndrome subjects

Portions of Schmidt's schema theory, the effects of variable practice on retention and ability to learn a novel motor task, were tested using Down syndrome subjects. 23 subjects ranged in mental and chronological ages from 3.0 to 5.1 yr. and 4.6 to 22 yr., respectively. IQs ranged from 32 to 62. The two throwing tasks were closed, discrete movements requiring no feedback or error detection during movement. Subjects were randomly assigned to a specific-practice, variable-practice, or control group. Specific group subjects practiced 100 trials from the test-target location. Variable-practice subjects also practiced 100 trials but from four different practice locations. The control group practiced an unrelated kicking activity. All subjects participated in identical pretests, posttests, and retention tests to assess accuracy on these throwing tasks. A standard archery target was used to score tosses. To examine the effects of practice on a novel task, two target conditions, or tasks, were employed. On Task A the subject tossed a bean bag at the archery target placed flat on the floor. For Task B, the novel task, the target was placed upright on the wall. Subjects were assigned higher scores for tosses landing closer to the center of the target. Analysis of variance indicated no significant differences between groups on Task A pretest or posttest. Significance was detected for the main effect of group for Task B. However, the Scheffé post hoc test indicated that the simple main effects were nonsignificant. This research did not support Schmidt's schema theory.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Fitness, attitude toward physical education, and self-concept of elementary school children

Elementary school children scoring in the highest and lowest 26% or 27% of their classes on the Texas Physical Fitness test were compared for attitude toward physical education and self-concept. Data were collected on the Children's Attitude Inventory Toward Physical Education, a Game of Pairs for Preferences Among School Subjects, and the Children's Self-concept Scale. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences on all tests between boys high in fitness, girls high in fitness, boys low in fitness, and girls low in fitness. Subsequent Scheffé tests indicated that highly fit girls had significantly higher attitude and self-concept scores than boys low in fitness. Highly fit boys had higher self-concepts than boys low in fitness. No other group comparisons were significant. Pearson correlations indicated nonsignificant associations between fitness and attitude and self-concept for the four groups.     

The effect of thalamic stimulation in processing of verbal stimuli in dichotic listening tasks: a case study

In dichotic listening tasks, the (dominant) right ear's superiority in processing verbal stimuli has been attributed to its direct anatomic connection with the left dominant hemisphere. The role played by extralinguistic factors, such as attention and functional tuning of the associated cortical structures, has not been carefully examined. This investigation was undertaken to evaluate the effects of the left thalamic electric stimulation on the processing (recognition and recall) of dichotically presented CVC verbal stimuli in a patient being treated for chronic pain. We report the positive effects of electric stimulation (confirmed by increased subcortical metabolic activity using SPECT, a brain imaging technique) on the processing of dichotically presented verbal stimuli.     

Semantic and phonological performance in adults learning novel object and action words

Twenty normal adults participated in two training sessions designed to teach eight novel object words and eight novel action words. Each subject received comprehension and production training and was probed at the end of each session to determine the ability to retrieve lexical items in a naming task. The probe data were also analyzed for phonological accuracy. Reaction time measures for the production probes were recorded to determine differences between action and object words in terms of retrieval difficulty. The results demonstrated a significant difference in early learning of action and object words during comprehension training and production training and in production probes. Object words tended to be learned more easily in both comprehension and production training, and they were retrieved correctly more often in production probes. There were no significant differences in the phonological accuracy between the word types. Reaction time data indicated significant differences in early as well as later learning between action and object words, with object words having significantly shorter rection times as compared with action words. Results are discussed in the context of prior research.     

The effect of prolonged practice of pursuit eye movement

Prolonged exposure to a reciprocating motion that is tracked by the eyes results in diminished extent of perceived motion. Investigation of this effect showed that it becomes manifest only in perceived motion that is caused by ocular pursuit, but that it is not an eye muscle effect. It may consist in a changed evaluation of eye movements. The results throw some light on the relations between the processes that are caused by different stimuli for motion.