Microcomputer-assisted relaxation

The present pilot study was designed to test the effectiveness of a microcomputer program developed by the authors to induce relaxation and focused attention, which are common to most clinical stress-reduction and hypnotic procedures. A nonclinical sample of 20 adults used the program on an APPLE IIc computer in two 30-min. sessions in a within-subjects design. Repeated measures analyses of variance showed significant decreases in the Spielberger State Anxiety Scale and on a visual analog anxiety scale. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed.     

Effects of figure-ground reversal on the visual-perceptual and visuo-motor performances of cerebral palsied and normal children

Individuals with brain damage often encounter visual perceptual and visuo-motor difficulties. Studies have indicated an improvement in exceptional individuals' performances when the colors of figure-ground materials were reversed. Effects of reversals were studied for spastic cerebral palsied and normal children's scores on the Developmental Test of Visual-motor Integration and the Motor-free Visual Perception Test. Normal children performed better than the cerebral palsied children on all tests; the cerebral palsied children performed best on the reversed-format Motor-free Visual Perception Test. Reversal affected neither group's scores on visual-motor integration.     

Control in memory for movement cues by mentally retarded children

The study was designed to determine the desirability of providing external prompts (1) to use a mnemonic to enhance accuracy of recall and (2) to use response 'priming' in memory for spatial location by mentally retarded persons. Two groups of 40 mentally retarded boys and girls and two groups of 40 MA-matched nonretarded children were compared for accuracy in the recall of movement on an arm-positioning task. No differences were found between mentally retarded subjects and MA-matched subjects treated under the same conditions. However, all groups were unable to make spontaneous control adjustments to accommodate the covert manipulations made just prior to recall. By providing response primes, appropriate performance adjustments were made by all groups, resulting in a significant improvement in accuracy of recall. These findings serve to reaffirm earlier reports showing remarkable similarity between the mentally retarded and MA-matched nonretarded subjects.     

Longitudinal changes in time estimation in affective disorders: a preliminary study

8 patients with hospital diagnoses of major affective disorder were studied by repeated measurements of time estimation using the three different methods of metronome adjustment, verbal estimation and operative estimation (production) of short time intervals. Retrospective estimations of longer intervals were also studied. The diagnoses were evaluated according to DSM III criteria. The degree of mental disturbance was rated with subscales of the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale. Earlier findings had indicated that manic patients tend to overestimate short time intervals and that some depressed patients underestimated time, but some investigators have reported different results. A longitudinal study could possibly support the earlier findings if the time estimations should vary with the clinical states of the patients. Such a variation was suggested by the results of 5 of the 8 patients. In several cases there were statistically significant correlations between the results of time estimations and the rating scores. This partly supports earlier findings. Associations between time estimations and changes in clinical state seem to be present in some cases of major affective disorders. Operative estimations were best correlated with ratings in most cases.     

Exner's Four Square: useful index in appraisal of learning disability?

Rorschach protocols, focusing on Exner's Four Square, were obtained for 14 boys who had been referred for a second opinion following an initial diagnosis as learning disabled. The findings indicated wide diversity, suggesting that a significant proportion of students manifest fundamental problems which are not essentially cognitive in nature. For these students, traditional psychoeducational decisions may be inappropriate and unproductive.     

Effects of a paradoxical intervention on a child's anxiety about sleep- and sports-related performance

A paradoxical instruction was used to treat a 10-yr.-old boy's complaint of crying when unable to sleep and the daytime equivalent of fearing the public display of crying when failing at sports performances. The instruction resolved both the sleep disturbance and the public crying. The results suggest that, like adults, children may experience anxiety about sleep difficulties and that paradoxical intention may have promise for the treatment of some children's insomnia.     

Compliance with homework to employ self-instructions in controlling ice water pain: an analogue to counseling

40 women were taught to use self-statements to cope with pain caused by ice water. The trainer used four different strategies for reassigning a homework task of using self-statements to cope with pain produced by immersing one hand in ice water. The strategies were equally effective in eliciting compliance with the homework assignment.     

The effect of cuing after backward conditioning trials

Rats were given backward pairings of a tone (CS) and shock (US) and were then tested for response to the CS in a lick suppression test. Animals given a cuing or reminder treatment prior to the test exhibited enhanced suppression in the presence of the tone relative to a variety of control conditions. The cue-induced suppression enhancement did not appear to result from sensitization or short-term motivational changes nor did it seem to depend on second-order conditioning of the test context. The effect appeared more robust as the number of backward conditioning trials preceding the cue increased. The results were discussed in terms of current explanations of backward conditioning effects.