Time-shared feeding and drinking

Barbary doves were tested in an operant situation in which they characteristically alternate between feeding and drinking. The experimental findings may be summarized as follows: (1) the cumulative distribution of the intervals between feeding bouts is little affected by reward rates; (2) a lock-on index is correlated with reward rate, but is not affected by altering reward rate per se, as long as the overall rate of ingestion remains the same; (3) when a primarily hungry animal is interrupted while feeding, or a primarily thirsty animal while drinking, the behaviour is resumed after the interruption; (4) when a primarily hungry animal is interrupted while drinking, or a primarily thirsty animal while feeding, the behaviour is resumed after a short interruption, but changes to the alternative behaviour following a long interruption; (5) titration of interruption period in the dominant region of the motivational state space is always stable, but becomes unstable if the dominance changes, or if the titrating criteria are reversed. From this evidence it is concluded that feeding and drinking can be time-shared in a manner analogous to that found in computers.     

A two year follow-up study of public vocational school graduates

A 2-year follow-up study of public vocational school graduates revealed that the graduates successfully obtained jobs. Among the factors deemed important by both graduates and employer, communication skills were mentioned as vital. Counseling and preparation in getting along with others were perceived by graduates as inferior. Except for cooperative work program graduates, adjustment to an 8 hr workday caused some problems.     

Obsessive ruminations : a controlled trial of thought-stopping technique

Thought-stopping treatment for obsessive ruminations was described by Wolpe and Lazarus (1966) and more recently there have been several case-reports in some of which components of the method were unsystematically varied (Stern, 1970; Kumar et al., 1971; Yamagami, 1971). The present study examined one of these variables while holding constant the other components. When thought-stopping is given, the subject is usually relaxed (using a standard set of instructions to relax his muscles) and then asked to ruminate about the obsessive thought. The therapist then shouts ‘Stop’ while making a sudden noise at the same time. At this point the patient is told that he must stop thinking his obsessive idea ; after a pause, this interruption is repeated several times until the obsessional rumination ceases. This procedure was compared to a similar technique in which the patient imagined a neutral (‘control’) thought instead of an obsessive one prior to the onset of the ‘stop’ instruction. In every other way the two procedures were identical.     

Effects of temporal placement of response prevention on extinction of avoidance in rats

Two experiments investigated the effects of prior extinction trials upon the effectiveness of response prevention procedures (flooding) in facilitating extinction of avoidance in rats. The results showed that both prior CS only extinction trials and response prevention independently hastened extinction and that response prevention is enhanced if prior extinction has already taken place. The results were interpreted as being consistent with a relaxation interpretation of extinction of avoidance behavior providing a ‘distraction’ or ‘attention shift’ factor is incorporated into theory.