Side effects of extinction: prevalence of bursting and aggression during the treatment of self-injurious behavior

Findings from basic and applied research suggest that treatment with operant extinction may produce adverse side effects; two of these commonly noted are an increase in the frequency of the target response (extinction burst) and an increase in aggression (extinction-induced aggression). Although extinction is often used to treat problem behavior in clinical settings, few applied studies have examined the prevalence of these side effects or their possible attenuation with other operant procedures. An analysis of 41 data sets for individuals who received treatment for self-injurious behavior indicated that extinction bursts or increases in aggression occurred in nearly one half of the cases. The prevalence of bursting and aggression was substantially lower when extinction was implemented as part of a treatment package rather than as the sole intervention.     

Ontological Parity and/or Ordinality?

The principles of ontological parity and ordinality have distinct functions in Buchler's ontology. Ontological parity could be independently subscribed to, whereas ordinality signals the positive conception of the nature of reality as irreducibly complex or indefinitely related, which Buchler's metaphysical system seeks to articulate. Both principles inform Buchler's system, but each has a distinctive function. They are not, I suggest, necessarily at odds with one another, as some critics claim. I do identify several difficulties that follow from (1) the level of generality claimed by Buchler and (2) the claim of irreducible complexity or indefinite relatedness.     

Who knows what about contempt: A reply to Izard and Haynes

Izard and Haynes question our findings and claims for disovery because they did not consider the difference between a one-to-one and one-to-many relationship between a sign (the facial expression) and what it signifies (a message about emotion). Clarifying this matter not only shows that the disagreement between us is more apparent than real, but more importantly highlights what remains to be discovered about which emotional states are signaled by which facial expressions.     

Hypnotic susceptibility, visual distraction, and reports of Necker cube apparent reversals

Subjects, either susceptible (n = 50) or resistant (n = 50) to hypnotic suggestion, were asked to report on frequency of apparent reversals (ARs) to the Necker cube illusion. Such reports were made in the presence or absence of various types of visual, geometric surrounds (squares, triangles, crosses, or parallelograms). In agreement with a number of previous experiments, susceptible subjects reported perceiving more ARs than did resistant subjects. This difference held whether visual surrounds were present or absent. The presence of surrounds did serve to reduce AR reports regardless of hypnotic susceptibility level. The results are examined in terms of the ability of subjects to selectively attend when confronted with potential visual distractors.     

Temporal constraints in the control of prehensile movement

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the control of the manipulation (i.e., finger-thumb aperture) and transportation (i.e., wrist velocity) components in prehensile movement (Jeannerod, 1981, 1984). In all experiments, subjects were seated and instructed to grasp a dowel mounted on a joystick following a discrete movement over a set distance. Thus, the amount of dowel movement following the grasp could be determined. In Experiment 1, the tolerance (i.e., the amount of allowable dowel movement) was manipulated using a computer-generated boundary around the dowel. The results indicated that the transportation component changed dependent on the tolerance condition, and there were trends that maximum aperture was also affected. Experiment 2 manipulated both tolerance and dowel size (i.e., diameter) factorially in a within-subject design. Dowel size affected only the manipulation component, supporting Jeannerod's (1981) earlier work, but tolerance clearly influenced both components. Experiment 3 investigated Wing, Turton, and Fraser's (1986) proposition that speed of movement influences aperture size. Distance and movement time were combined factorially to produce conditions with different average velocities. Maximum aperture was dependent on the movement time rather than the speed of movement. The relation between the control of the components was examined by using a new method of calculating within-trial correlations between aperture size and wrist velocity in Experiments 2 and 3. The correlations were related to the temporal aspects of the movement with higher correlations in the rapid movement time conditions. Also, the temporal occurrence of maximum aperture remained invariant across the different movement conditions. In general, the results suggest a strong functional linkage between the two components, which may be dependent on the temporal characteristics of the movement.     

Memory complaint and memory performance in the depressed elderly

Depressed and nondepressed elderly subjects recruited in the context of a large epidemiological study of health were compared on measures of self-reported memory disturbance and an objective index of memory performance (free recall). Three groups were studied including (a) subjects meeting Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for major depression, (b) subjects with high levels of self-reported depressive symptoms who did not meet RDC for major depression, and (c) subjects with low levels of self-reported depressive symptoms. Subjects with high depression symptom levels reported significantly higher levels of memory complaint than did subjects with low symptom levels. However, there were no differences in self-reported memory disturbance as a function of depression diagnosis. Further, there were no significant differences between groups on the free-recall measure, either as a function of symptom level or diagnosis. It is argued that symptom severity rather than diagnosis of depression is important in determining impairment in depressed elderly people.     

Eidetic-like imagery in hypnosis: rare but there

The production of eidetic-like imagery during hypnosis in subjects with high but not low hypnotizability was supported in three separate experiments using nonfakable stereograms (Julesz, 1971; Gummerman, Gray, & Wilson, 1972). In Experiment 1, 6 (25%) of 24 stringently chosen, high hypnotizables were able to perceive one of the superimposed stereograms (presented monocularly) during conditions of standard hypnosis or hypnotic age regression, or under both conditions, but not during waking. In Experiments 2 and 3, low and high hypnotizables were presented stereograms in an alternating, monocular fashion (one-half to each eye). In Experiment 2, 10% of the high hypnotizables perceived one or more stereograms in hypnosis or age regression, but not during waking. In Experiment 3, none of the 17 low hypnotizables reported correct stereograms, but 6 of the 23 high hypnotizables (26%) did. Relationships between imagery performance and visuo-spatial abilities were investigated. Results support the general hypothesis that hypnosis enhances imaginal processing of information to be remembered that is a literal or untransformed representation.     

Introduction to the Special Theme Issue on Health Disparities,Trauma, Disruptive and Criminal Behaviors and the Adolescent Brain: Conference Collaborators,Major Developments in Conference Planning,and Overview of the Articles

ABSTRACT

The November 21, 2015, conference Health Disparities, Trauma, Disruptive and Criminal Behaviors and the Adolescent Brain, examined the national problem of youth incarceration by exploring research on the adolescent brain, trauma, poverty, racism, health disparities and mental health treatment. This special theme issue of the Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy provides an opportunity for selected authors to contribute original articles that capture their contributions to the conference event. The purpose of this article is to provide an introduction to this special theme issue. This article provides an overview of the following: the roots of the conference, including the role of numerous collaborators; specific major developments that contributed to the evolution of the conference focus; and a brief overview of the actual articles that have been selected for inclusion in the theme issue.