The role of attention in the localization of odors to the mouth

Odors can be perceived as arising from the environment or as part of a flavor located in the mouth. One factor that may dictate where an odor is perceived to be is concurrent gustatory stimulation in the mouth. A taste may impair the ability to attend to an odor, especially if they are perceptually similar. Alternatively, salient mouth-based features of a flavor might command attention at the expense of smell. Experiment 1 and 2, using different stimulus sets, explored the impact of perceptually similar and dissimilar pairings of tastes in the mouth and odors at the nose. In each case, these were followed by judgments of the odor's location (mouth vs. nose). Perceptual similarity had no impact on localization judgments. Experiment 3 then manipulated the salience of the olfactory and gustatory cues and showed that each could independently shift the perceived location of an odorant-salient olfactory cues toward the nose and gustatory cues toward the mouth. These findings suggest that the salient features of a flavor may command attention at the expense of olfaction and, thereby, contribute to oral localization, with implications for flavor binding.     

Olfactory test performance and its relationship with the perceived location of odors

Odors are generally perceived as arising via the nose when sniffed and as part of an orally located flavor during ingestion. The perceived location of an odor may in part be an attentional phenomenon, with concurrent oral stimulation occurring at the expense of access to the olfactory channel. Two predictions were derived from this account: (a) tasks dependent on a capacity to attend to the olfactory channel--odor discrimination and naming--should be adversely affected by oral localization; and (b) tasks not dependent upon a capacity to attend--incidental learning/recognition memory--should not. Using a procedure to generate oral localization, in which odors were presented via the nose with concurrent oral stimulation (sucrose, a viscous fluid or water), greater reported oral localization was associated with poorer odor discrimination and naming, but not with recognition memory performance. These results support the notion that attentional processes contribute to oral localization of odors by reducing the capacity to attend to the olfactory channel.     

The stigma of having a parent with mental illness: Genetic attributions and associative stigma

Children often report associative stigma because they are ‘contaminated’ by association with a parent who has a mental illness. An exploratory study was conducted to investigate the role of genetic attributions in the aetiology of associative stigma. The first hypothesis was that genetic attributions would predict associative stigma over and above the contribution of biochemical and stressful‐event attributions, while the second hypothesis was that the relationship between genetic attributions and associative stigma would be mediated by the perceived likelihood that children would develop the same disorder as their parents. Two‐hundred‐and‐two individuals were asked to read a hypothetical scenario describing a teenage girl whose mother had been diagnosed with either schizophrenia or depression. Both hypotheses were supported. The findings of the study have implications for a number of professions working in the community such as teachers and psychologists. Additional avenues for future research are also explored.     

Experimental Studies of Children's Learning

This article compares John Dewey's theory of inquiry with Jean Piaget's analysis of the mechanisms implied in the increase of knowledge. The sources for this paper are Dewey's studies on logic and the theory of inquiry and Piaget's historical-critical and psychogenetic investigations. Three major conclusions result from the comparison: first, there are significant convergences between the two theories; second, Piaget's developmental analysis makes explicit what is programmatic in Dewey's investigations; and, finally, Piaget is incorrect in characterizing Dewey's pragmatism as a method that does not meet the criteria of intelligent activity.     

When does anxiety help or hinder cognitive test performance? The role of working memory capacity

Cognitive interference theories (e.g. attentional control theory, processing efficiency theory) suggest that high levels of trait anxiety predict adverse effects on the performance of cognitive tasks, particularly those that make high demands on cognitive resources. We tested an interaction hypothesis to determine whether a combination of high anxiety and low working memory capacity (WMC) would predict variance in demanding cognitive test scores. Ninety six adolescents (12‐ to 14‐years‐old) participated in the study, which measured self‐report levels of trait anxiety, working memory, and cognitive test performance. As hypothesized, we found that the anxiety‐WMC interaction explained a significant amount of variance in cognitive test performance (ΔR² .07, p < .01). Trait anxiety was unrelated to cognitive test performance for those adolescents with average WMC scores (β = .13, p > .10). In contrast, trait anxiety was negatively related to test performance in adolescents with low WMC (β = ?.35, p < .05) and positively related to test performance in those with high WMC (β = .49, p < .01). The results of this study suggest that WMC moderates the relationship between anxiety and cognitive test performance and may be a determinant factor in explaining some discrepancies found in the literature. Further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms involved.     

Effects of GABA modulators on the repeated acquisition of response sequences in squirrel monkeys

The present study investigated the effects of positive and negative GABA(A) modulators under three different baselines of repeated acquisition in squirrel monkeys in which the monkeys acquired a three-response sequence on three keys under a second-order fixed-ratio (FR) schedule of food reinforcement. In two of these baselines, the second-order FR schedule and the discriminative stimuli for the response sequence were manipulated ("chain-strained" and "tandem-strained"). In the third baseline condition, response-independent tail shock was presented during acquisition of the response sequence. All of these baselines maintained high error levels and produced slow rates of acquisition. Under both the chain-strained and tandem-strained conditions, the positive GABA(A) modulator triazolam (0.0032-0.1 mg/kg) and the negative GABA(A) modulators beta-CCE (ethyl-beta-carboline-3-carboxylate; 0.01-1 mg/kg), beta-CCM (methyl-beta-carboline-3-carboxylate; 0.0032-0.1 mg/kg), and FG-7142 (methyl-beta-carboline-3-carboxamide; 0.18-10 mg/kg) dose-dependently decreased overall response rate compared to administration of saline (control). Under the same two conditions, triazolam and the negative GABA(A) modulators also increased the percentage of errors; however, the effects on accuracy frequently depended on the baseline condition and the particular modulator. In contrast, triazolam only decreased errors and enhanced acquisition in the presence of concurrent response-independent tail shock when compared to saline administration under this condition. The neutral GABA(A) modulator, flumazenil (1 mg/kg), had no effect on rate or accuracy of responding when administered alone, but antagonized the rate-decreasing and error-increasing effects produced by the negative GABA(A) modulators. Together, these data suggest that the effects of both the positive and negative GABAA modulators on acquisition can be similar in squirrel monkeys (i.e., both types of modulator may produce rate-decreasing and error-increasing effects) and that their effects on acquisition depend, in part, on the environmental conditions maintaining acquisition.     

Reduced discriminability following perceptual learning with odours

In this experiment, the effects of prior experience on odour perception and discrimination were explored. Participants repeatedly sniffed a mixture composed of two odours, AX, as well as smelling two further odours alone, B and Y. After this training phase, participants were asked to rate the similarity of the odours A and X, B and Y, and a non-exposed pair C and Z. A and X were judged as significantly more alike than the other pairs. Exactly the same pattern emerged on a second test, in which participants were asked to select the odd odour out of sets of three. It was consistently harder for participants to pick the odd odour when the stimuli were drawn from the AX pair (eg A versus AX versus AX). Not only do these findings demonstrate that prior experience can affect odour perception, a finding not predicted by theories of odour perception based solely upon the physiochemical properties of odours, they also suggest that experience can act to selectively decrease discriminability.     

Systems for multivariate monitoring of behavioral status over time

Decision-theoretic criteria are presented for optimizing the information gathered from a series of interviews over time. It is shown that the optimum interviewing strategy depends strongly on assumptions about the covariation of behavior over time. Standard interviewing strategies, including the major-problem/target-complaints approach, are optimal only under extreme assumptions about behavior. An interviewing strategy based on dynamic programming is presented that will provide optimal information return from a series of interviews under assumptions that are realistic for mental health applications. A system using this approach can tailor its interviewing strategy to adapt to differences in interview content, item importance, and individual response patterns, selecting the optimally informative questions to ask each subject at each point in time. Simulation results show that this approach achieves a 34% reduction in the false negatives obtained with the major-problem/target-complaints method, and, depending on the acceptable error rate, a reduction of 47 % or more in the questions that are needed in standard interviewing.     

Early receptive and productive language skills in preterm and full-term 8-month-old infants

Early receptive and productive language skills were examined for preterm low birthweight infants and full-term normal birthweight infants from middle-class homes. Nineteen preterm infants and 19 full-term infants were observed in a laboratory setting at the gestationally corrected age of 8 months. To avoid the frequent confound between prematurity and low socioeconomic status, mothers of the two groups of infants were matched on educational levels. Regression analyses were used to assess the relative influence of infant cognitive skills, infant sociability, infant birth status, and the mothers' language input as possible predictors of infant receptive language and vocal behavior. Receptive language skills were associated with higher cognitive performance, greater sociability, and preterm birth. Productive language skills were associated with higher cognitive performance. On the basis of this research, the prognosis for language development in preterm infants raised in middle-class homes appears to be excellent.This research was aided by Social and Behavioral Sciences Research grant No. 12-11 from the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and supported by DHHS Grant HD03352. Computing was provided by the Waisman Center Computing Facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Donna Boylan, Sue DaPra, Maria Kleczewski, Michal Rubin, Susan Silverber, and Paula VanLaanan assisted with data collection.