Insulin and dextrose effects on fixed-interval behavioral thermoregulation in albino rats

This study is a systematic replication of the effects of insulin doses on operant behavior reinforced (in an earlier study) by fixed-ratio schedules of microwave (MW) reinforcement. In this study, insulin and dextrose doses were administered (ip) prior to fixed-interval 2-min. schedules of MW reinforcement in rats tested in a cold environment. Six Sprague-Dawley rats were conditioned to regulate their thermal environment with 5-sec. exposures of MW radiation (SAR = 0.34 Watts/kg/(mW/cm2) under the FI-2' schedules. Humulin-regular insulin and 50% solutions of dextrose were administered (ip) alternately with saline control sessions for 8-hr. durations. A within-subjects, repeated-measures 4 x 8 x 3 factorial analysis of variance design showed that insulin doses suppressed operant responding for heat, which confirmed the results of the earlier study under a different schedule. In addition, high doses of dextrose had similar suppressing effects on operant responding for heat. The data are interpreted in terms of the discriminative properties of increased thermogenesis produced by the insulin and dextrose doses. The suppressing effects were more pronounced for the first two hours, yet they persisted for approximately six hours of the 8-hr. sessions.     

Target-size influences on reaction time with movement time controlled

The variable that affect motor programming time may be studied by changing the nature of the response and measuring the subsequent changes in reaction time (RT). One notion of motor programming suggests that aiming responses with reduced target size and/or increased target amplitude require more "complex" motor programs that require longer RTs. In a series of five experiments which movement time (MT) was experimentally varied target size neither influences RT when the movement amplitude was 2 or 30 cm nor when the target sizes differed by as much as a factor of 16:1. Increasing the movement amplitude from 15 to 30 cm also had no influence on RT. Movement time, however, did affect RT, with 200-msec movements having longer RTs than 120-msec movements. Target size and movement amplitude did not appear to be factors that influence programming time or program complexity.     

Cumulative consequences of stigma: Possessing multiple concealable stigmatized identities is associated with worse quality of life

Large health disparities exist between stigmatized and nonstigmatized groups. In addition to experiencing and anticipating greater discrimination, members of stigmatized groups also tend to demonstrate greater ruminative tendencies in response, which may lead to these poor health outcomes. Even among stigmatized groups, differences in the visibility of stigma lead to different mechanisms through which stigma takes its toll. Previous work has primarily focused on the impact of belonging to a single marginalized group; however, people often belong to multiple marginalized groups, and this likely affects both their health outcomes and their anticipation of stigma. In the current study, we focused on individuals with concealable stigmatized identities (CSIs)—socially stigmatized identities that are not immediately apparent to others—and created a measure of concealable marginalization that captures multiple group memberships. We predicted that those possessing a greater number of CSIs would anticipate more stigma from others, and, in turn, ruminate more about the stigma, which would negatively impact the health. Surveying N = 288 adults with CSIs, we found that possessing a greater number of marginalized concealable identities predicted worse self-reported physical quality of life. These relationships were partially mediated by greater anticipated stigma and brooding rumination in regard to their CSI. This work illuminates a more complete picture of how living with CSIs can take its toll on health.     

Developmental and content effects in reasoning with causal conditionals

Two predictions derived from Markovits and Barrouillet's (2001) developmental model of conditional reasoning were tested in a study in which 72 twelve-year-olds, 80 fifteen-year-olds, and 104 adults received a paper-and-pencil test of conditional reasoning with causal premises ("if cause P then effect Q"). First, we predicted that conditional premises would induce more correct uncertainty responses to the Affirmation of the consequent and Denial of the antecedent forms when the antecedent term is weakly associated to the consequent than when the two are strongly associated and that this effect would decrease with age. Second, uncertainty responding to the Denial of the antecedent form ("P is not true") should be easier when the formulation of the minor premise invites retrieval of alternate antecedents ("if something other than P is true"). The results were consistent with the hypotheses and indicate the importance of retrieval processes in understanding developmental patterns in conditional reasoning with familiar premises.     

Representation of the gender of human faces by infants: a preference for female

Six experiments based on visual preference procedures were conducted to examine gender categorization of female versus male faces by infants aged 3 to 4 months. In experiment 1, infants familiarized with male faces preferred a female face over a novel male face, but infants familiarized with female faces divided their attention between a male face and a novel female face. Experiment 2 demonstrated that these asymmetrical categorization results were likely due to a spontaneous preference for females. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that the preference for females was based on processing of the internal facial features in their upright orientation, and not the result of external hair cues or higher-contrast internal facial features. While experiments 1 through 4 were conducted with infants reared with female primary caregivers, experiment 5 provided evidence that infants reared with male primary caregivers tend to show a spontaneous preference for males. Experiment 6 showed that infants reared with female primary caregivers displayed recognition memory for individual females, but not males. These results suggest that representation of information about human faces by young infants may be influenced by the gender of the primary caregiver.     

Visual perception of orientation is categorical near vertical and continuous near horizontal

Four experiments were conducted to examine whether visual-orientation information is perceived categorically. In experiments 1 and 3, adult participants sorted oriented line stimuli into broad oblique and narrow vertical or horizontal categories. Experiments 2 and 4 showed that categorical discrimination of orientation occurred only near the vertical-oblique boundary. The data indicate that there is categorical perception near vertical and more continuous perception near horizontal. The results are relevant to the debate over whether categorical perception is derived from perceptual structure, verbal coding, or within-task learning. In addition, the asymmetrical perception of orientation around vertical and horizontal is consistent with the possibility that there may be differences in the functional significance of orientation near the two main axes.     

Framing social judgment: self-ingroup comparison and perceived discrimination

Members of disadvantaged groups often report that they are less vulnerable to discrimination than is the average member of their group. In two experiments, we examined how the framing of self-ingroup comparisons moderates this phenomenon. In Experiment 1, participants estimated the relative likelihood that either they, compared to the average member of their ingroup, would experience discrimination or that the average member of their ingroup, compared to themselves, would experience discrimination. In Experiment 2, a direct manipulation of self-ingroup similarity was added to this framing manipulation. Across the experiments, the results demonstrated that conditions highlighting differences between the individual and the group led participants to perceive themselves as much less vulnerable to discrimination than their group, relative to conditions highlighting similarities between the individual and the group.     

When ideology hurts: effects of belief in the protestant ethic and feeling overweight on the psychological well-being of women.

Two studies addressed the relationship between Protestant ethic (PE) ideology and psychological well-being for self-perceived overweight and normal weight women. In Study 1, PE beliefs interacted with self-perceived weight status: For very overweight women, higher PE beliefs were related to lower psychological well-being, whereas the opposite pattern emerged for normal weight women. The relationship of PE to well-being was not mediated by beliefs about controllability of weight or dislike of the overweight. In Study 2, either a PE ideology or an inclusive ideology was primed within the context of the stigma of overweight. For overweight participants, priming PE ideology led to decreased psychological well-being, whereas priming an inclusive ideology led to increased psychological well-being. Normal weight participants were unaffected. PE ideology as a vulnerability factor for the psychological well-being of the overweight is discussed.     

Examining the Experience of Undergoing Group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

This study used interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the lived experiences of five individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who underwent a group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention program to address their symptoms. Two master themes were identified: experiences and processes of change and reflections on change. For all participants, the degree of group cohesion or connectedness they established with group members emerged as highly important in facilitating therapeutic progress. A number of technical elements of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) were also notable therapeutic factors, including questioning/rationalizing maladaptive interpretations about intrusions. However, the commonality of non-specific group processes as key features for subsequent therapeutic change prompts the need for further research in dynamics within CBT group interventions for OCD.