Trial spacing is a determinant of cue interaction

Four conditioned lick suppression experiments with rats examined the effect of trial spacing on cue interaction. Experiments 1 and 2 found overshadowing to be eliminated with massed compound stimulus-outcome pairings and the usual trial spacing effect to be reversed with compound acquisition trials. Experiment 3 found that whether acquisition compound-outcome pairings were massed or spaced determined the effect of posttraining extinction treatment. Extinction of the overshadowing cue reduced responding following massed training and increased responding following spaced training. Extinction of the context decreased responding following massed training. Experiment 4 found the conditioning and devaluation results to be associative and stimulus specific. These results are in accord with the extended comparator hypothesis (J. C. Denniston, H. I. Savastano, & R. R. Miller, 2001).     

Selective attention determines emotional responses to novel visual stimuli

Distinct complex brain systems support selective attention and emotion, but connections between them suggest that human behavior should reflect reciprocal interactions of these systems. Although there is ample evidence that emotional stimuli modulate attentional processes, it is not known whether attention influences emotional behavior. Here we show that evaluation of the emotional tone (cheery/dreary) of complex but meaningless visual patterns can be modulated by the prior attentional state (attending vs. ignoring) used to process each pattern in a visual selection task. Previously ignored patterns were evaluated more negatively than either previously attended or novel patterns. Furthermore, this emotional devaluation of distracting stimuli was robust across different emotional contexts and response scales. Finding that negative affective responses are specifically generated for ignored stimuli points to a new functional role for attention and elaborates the link between attention and emotion. This finding also casts doubt on the conventional marketing wisdom that any exposure is good exposure.     

Discrete varieties of care in the clinical pastoral tradition: continuing the dialogue

In the current cultural context, clinically trained ministers, lay and ordained, offer themselves to troubled souls through at least three distinct varieties of assistance: pastoral care, pastoral counseling, and pastoral psychotherapy. This essay delineates three accepted disciplines, emphasizing the importance of ascertaining, and perhaps re-evaluating, the particular needs and desires of persons who are in physical, mental, or spiritual distress. "Pastoral care," "pastoral counseling," and "pastoral psychotherapy" each play an important role in fulfilling the traditional mandate for "the cure of souls."     

An approach to the ethics of cloning humans via an examination of the ethical issues pertaining to the use of any tool

Those procedures which, at some future date, could constitute the operations resulting in the cloning of a human being are defined as a tool. As humans have been using tools for some two million years, sets of rules or ethics have been devised to make sure that tools are used to promote the maximum benefit and cause the minimum harm. It would, therefore, seem appropriate to consider the human cloning process as one such tool and approach the ethical issues which might govern its use in a manner which has been informed by how we have approached similar instances of new tool development. In this we can be guided by a range of thought experiments and practical considerations. When we combine these two facilities we may conclude that there are some benefits to be gained by the use of the human cloning tool, while there are other aspects of the use of the tool that need to be carefully controlled and regulated. An outline of a pragmatic approach to the initial uses of the tool is described.     

AUGMENTING SIMPLIFIED HABIT REVERSAL IN THE TREATMENT OF ORAL-DIGITAL HABITS EXHIBITED BY INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

We investigated whether a simplified habit reversal treatment eliminates fingernail biting and related oral-digital habits exhibited by individuals with mild to moderate mental retardation. Although simplified habit reversal did little to decrease the target behaviors for 3 of 4 participants, simplified habit reversal plus additional treatment procedures decreased the behavior to near-zero levels for all participants. These procedures included remote prompting, remote contingencies involving differential reinforcement plus response cost, and differential reinforcement of nail growth. Limitations of habit reversal for individuals with mental retardation along with directions for future research involving therapist-mediated treatment procedures, particularly those involving remote prompting and remote contingencies, are discussed.     

Female juvenile delinquency, motherhood, and the intergenerational transmission of aggression and antisocial behavior

The current study explored the intergenerational transmission of aggression and antisocial behavior by examining mothers' juvenile delinquency, their pregnancies, and its impact on their children's aggressive behavior. The sample consisted of the first 181 biological mothers recruited as part of the Vancouver Longitudinal Study on the Psychosocial Development of Children (British Columbia, Canada). Results indicated that mothers who were juvenile delinquents were more likely to experience social adversity, to use substances during pregnancy and to offend in adulthood. Furthermore, mothers who reported juvenile delinquency had children who were more physically aggressive and had an earlier onset of physical aggression. This pattern of association held when controlling for sociodemographics, social adversities, prenatal substance exposure, and criminal involvement in adulthood. The study findings highlighted the importance of understanding the role and impact of female delinquency and motherhood on the intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior.