CONTINGENT PAYMENT PROCEDURES FOR SMOKING REDUCTION AND CESSATION

We assessed the ability of a combined contingent reinforcement and intensive monitoring procedure to promote and sustain temporary smoking cessation among 34 hired research volunteers, and the ability of a smoking reduction test to predict the subsequent initiation of abstinence. During the 5-day cutdown test, subjects were paid from $0 to $6 per day depending on the extent of reduction from baseline CO levels. During the abstinence test, breath samples were obtained three times daily and subjects were paid $4 for each CO reading ≤11 ppm. Sixty-eight percent of subjects initiated abstinence. Of the breath samples collected during the abstinence test (91% of scheduled samples), 96.5% were ≤11 ppm and 80.5% were ≤8 ppm. Subjects who earned more money during the cutdown test were more likely to abstain (r = ?0.51, p < .001). Contingent reinforcement and intensive monitoring procedures appear to have usefulness for analog studies of smoking reduction and cessation.     

Rise time and formant transition duration in the discrimination of speech sounds: the Ba-Wa distinction in developmental dyslexia

Across languages, children with developmental dyslexia have a specific difficulty with the neural representation of the sound structure (phonological structure) of speech. One likely cause of their difficulties with phonology is a perceptual difficulty in auditory temporal processing (Tallal, 1980). Tallal (1980) proposed that basic auditory processing of brief, rapidly successive acoustic changes is compromised in dyslexia, thereby affecting phonetic discrimination (e.g. discriminating /b/ from /d/) via impaired discrimination of formant transitions (rapid acoustic changes in frequency and intensity). However, an alternative auditory temporal hypothesis is that the basic auditory processing of the slower amplitude modulation cues in speech is compromised (Goswami et al., 2002). Here, we contrast children's perception of a synthetic speech contrast (ba/wa) when it is based on the speed of the rate of change of frequency information (formant transition duration) versus the speed of the rate of change of amplitude modulation (rise time). We show that children with dyslexia have excellent phonetic discrimination based on formant transition duration, but poor phonetic discrimination based on envelope cues. The results explain why phonetic discrimination may be allophonic in developmental dyslexia (Serniclaes et al., 2004), and suggest new avenues for the remediation of developmental dyslexia.     

Spousal Influence on CPAP Adherence: Applications of Health‐related Social Control

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is one of the most prevalent sleep disorders in the United Sates and is a risk factor for poor health outcomes. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is an effective treatment for OSA, but adherence rates are poor. Although the spouses of patients with OSA have high potential to influence adherence, there has been minimal research to date. The purpose of this review is to summarize key findings regarding spousal influence on health‐related behavior change and treatment adherence from other medical fields (e.g., type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease) in which this line of inquiry has been more thoroughly developed. Recommendations are presented to guide future research investigating spousal influence on CPAP adherence based on findings from other patient populations. In particular, we emphasize the use of spousal health‐related social control as it applies to adherence and provide guidance regarding conceptual and methodological moderators.     

Cognitive-behavioural health-promotion intervention increases fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity among South African adolescents: a cluster-randomised controlled trial

Rates of chronic diseases are high among Black South Africans but few studies have tested cognitive-behavioural health-promotion interventions to reduce this problem. We tested the efficacy of such an intervention among adolescents in a cluster-randomised controlled trial. We randomly selected 9 of 17 matched pairs of schools and randomised one school in each pair to the cognitive-behavioural health-promotion intervention designed to encourage health-related behaviours and the other to a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk-reduction intervention that served as the control. Interventions were based on social cognitive theory, the theory of planned behaviour and qualitative data from the target population. Data collectors, blind to participants' intervention, administered confidential assessments at baseline and 3, 6 and 12 months post-intervention. Primary outcomes were fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity. Participants were 1057 grade 6 learners (mean age = 12.4 years), with 96.7% retained at 12-month follow-up. Generalised estimating equations revealed that averaged over the follow-ups, a greater percentage of health-promotion intervention participants than HIV/STD control participants met 5-a-Day fruit and vegetable and physical activity guidelines. The intervention also increased health-promotion knowledge, attitude and intention, but did not decrease substance use or substance-use attitude and intention. The findings suggest that theory based and contextually appropriate interventions may increase health behaviours among young adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Decision-Making and Interaction by Families with and without A Drug-Abusing Child

As part of a larger study, the authors replicated Ferreira and Winter's ( 2 ) study of family interaction and decision-making using families with a drug-abusing child. Ferreira and Winter compared normal families and families with a child diagnosed as schizophrenic, delinquent, or maladjusted.     

Physiological arousal in the context of a specified anticipatory period and experimentally induced expectancy for shock

Anticipatory and reactive components of skin conductance and heart rate were assessed under different levels of shock expectancy. Sixty college males received two shock and two nonshock trials of a 12-light count-up where shock occurred at the eighth light. Expectancies were experimentally induced via 20 preliminary trials during which a red light substituted for shock. The red light appeared on 18/20, 10/20, and 2/20 preliminary trials for 90, 50, and 10% expectancy groups, respectively. Prior to each test trial, subjects estimated the likelihood of receiving shock. Major findings were that: (a) mean probability estimates corresponded closely with values provided by preliminary trials; (b) tonic skin conductance during anticipation was higher with greater expectancy for shock; (c) phasic change in skin conductance to the count-up lights was greatest in the 90% group during anticipation; and (d) reactivity at impact tended to be greater with higher anticipatory arousal. The relationship of event probability to stress was discussed with respect to length of the anticipatory periods and methods used to establish expectancies.     

Problem behavior maintained by a precurrent relation

Differential reinforcement of alternative behavior is a well-established treatment for problem behavior in which the functional reinforcer is delivered after the occurrence of a replacement behavior and withheld after the occurrence of problem behavior. However, sometimes problem behavior continues to occur under these conditions, raising a question as to why problem behavior might maintain when its reinforcer is withheld. This study examined the possibility that problem behavior could be maintained indirectly in a precurrent relation. A functional analysis was conducted to identify a response-response relation between self-injurious behavior (SIB) and an alternative response. The results suggest that SIB was maintained by its relation with the alternative response.