Voluntazy and automatic attentional control of visual working memory

Previous studies of attention-directing cues have focused largely on the effects of cuing on perceptual processes, but cuing may also influence the transfer of perceptual representations into visual working memory. In the present study, we examined this potential role of cues, using both predictive and non-predictive cues in the context of a visual working memory task. Each trial began with a cue, followed by an array of six colored squares, a delay interval, and then a probe square presented at th e location of one of the squares in the previous array. The subjects were required to indicate whether the color of the probe square was the same as the color of the square that had previously been presented at the same location. Performance on this working memory task was more accurate when the cued location was probed than when an uncued location was probed, even when the cued location was no more likely to be probed than any of the uncued locations. An additional experiment using the abrupt-onset paradigm of Yantis and Jonides (1984) yielded similar results. Thus, visual transients may automatically influence the transfer of perceptual representations into visual working memory.     

Decision making in dual-task environments: analysis of hemispheric competition effects

Performance degradations in multitasking situations have been reported frequently as a predictable effect of competition that arises from different processing demands whose hemispheric locations are too proximal. This model might be useful in explaining performance deficits in complex workplaces. To test this assertion, a laboratory study was designed to create an analogue of the processing demands required by a tactical decision-making task performed by 24 right-handed men. Vocalization, dichotic listening and decision-making performance were assessed under single- and dual-task conditions. The results were consistent with the predictions from hemispheric competition in the case of dichotic listening but not with vocalization. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for both research and systems design.     

The effect of ethanol on stress-induced tachycardia

A study was designed to answer the questions if low doses of ethanol would reduce stress induced increases in heart rates, if covariations would be observed between ethanol induced changes in heart rates and changes in emotional states and mental performance and if tolerance to ethanol or other personality factors would influence the ethanol induced cardiac effects. Forty-four male students with a history of high and low alcohol consumption according to questionnaire scores were matched for extraversion and neuroticism and then assigned to a group receiving either 0.8 g/kg of ethanol or a placebo drink. A stress condition of mental arithmetic was applied prior to and 45 minutes after ingestion of the drink. Heart rates and ratings of emotional states by adjective check lists were recorded before and after each stress session. A significant reduction of stress induced heart rate increases in both high and low drinking groups but no ethanol dependent change of resting heart rates were observed. Reductions of autonomic stress response by ethanol were weakly but positively correlated to respective reductions of affective stress responses and impairment of the quality of mental performance. High trait anxiety subjects seemed to benefit more from ethanol with respect to reductions of cardiac and emotional arousal than low anxious subjects.     

The unforgivable humiliation: A Dilemma in couples' treatment

Therapists sometimes encounter cases of intense marital discord in which the disaffected spouse seems unable to specify the reason for his or her discontent except in the vaguest, most general terms. Such cases may be extraordinarily difficult to treat, as the disaffected partner may seem impervious to any attempt at negotiation, to the point of dissolution of the marriage. The reason for the disaffected spouse's intransigence may seem unclear to the other spouse, to the therapist, and even to herself/himself. We hypothesize an explanation for this phenomenon in terms of the disaffected partner's experience of having suffered humiliation at the hands of the other spouse and offer a plan for treatment, citing case materials.     

World isolation and meaning in segmentation

The effect of meaning and isolation of words on the acquisition of segmentation of words in sentences was examined with an artificial miniature language composed of Mandarin Chinese quasi-elements. Forty undergraduate students participated in one of four groups: Word No Meaning, Word Meaning, Sentence No Meaning, or Sentence Meaning. In each group the subjects listened to the same set of words, either as isolated words or in sentences. Additionally, the meaning groups saw accompanying pictorial representations of isolated words or sentences. Pretest and posttest assessments indicated that isolation of words is a significant factor in word segmentation for an initial word set restricted in size when meaning is not provided. When meaning is provided, the isolation of words apparently does not influence word segmentation performance.     

German students’ current choice of profession in the field of psychotherapy

The psychoanalytic societies in Germany as in many other countries are concerned by a decline in the number of candidates for full psychoanalytic training. While this situation is partly attributable to changes both in society and in educational and healthcare systems, it is questionable whether psychoanalytic training institutions have yet found adequate responses to it. Under the banner of ‘evidence‐based treatment’, behaviour therapy has come to be widely disseminated, with major implications for the teaching of different psychotherapy paradigms at universities. To investigate the determinants of this trend in the specific German situation, a large‐scale, multi‐method exploratory study supported by IPA's DPPT programme was undertaken, focusing on the reasons given by a population (N = 679) of German psychology, medical, and education students for embarking on training in psychoanalysis or behaviour therapy. The results suggest that behaviour therapy is more compatible with the prevailing scientific understanding and with current societal and cultural trends, owing in part to inadequacies or bias in university teaching of the various paradigms of psychotherapy. While most of the psychology students expressed a preference for behavioural training, the psychotherapy option proved less attractive for their counterparts in the fields of medicine and education. Semi‐standardized qualitative interviews were used to gain a deeper understanding of the students’ decisions for or against training in a specific paradigm, and led to the identification of seven decision‐making prototypes. Possible reasons for the students’ decisions are discussed, and concrete proposals and recommendations are presented.     

Effects of stress on defensive aggression and dominance in a water competition test

Water-deprived rats in a pair competing for a single source of water quickly establish a firm relationship during which one rat drinks consistently more (dominant) than the other (submissive) animal. This relationship is formed during the first competition and is very stable during subsequent tests. Exposure of dominant rats to a severe (18 hrs immobilization), but not a mild (2 hrs immobilization), stressor reduced markedly aggressive behavior and inverted transiently the dominant submissive relationship of the pairs. Exposure of submissive rats to the severe stressor resulted in only minor reductions of aggressive behavior in these animals. Prestress anxiety predicted stress effects in the dominant animals in that high-anxious animals lost more dominant behavior and weight during stress as compared with low-anxious rats. Thus, severe stress can transiently reduce dominant but not submissive behavior during water competition and high-anxious rats are more prone to lose their aggressive behavior.     

Electroencephalographic responses to photic stimulation in habitual smokers and nonsmokers.

Two studies are reported in which electroencephalograms (EEGs) of habitual cigarette smokers and of nonsmokers were taken before and after they were required to smoke a cigarette. The EEGs were scored for incidence of EEG "driving" responses to photic stimulation, an index that appears to reflect the balance between central adrenergic and cholinergic nervous systems. The findings suggest that smokers tend to have a central autonomic balance less in favor of adrenergic functioning than do nonsmokers. Cigarette smoking may alleviate a possible central adrenergic insufficiency of smokers. These findings suggest a solution to "Nesbitt's paradox," which has reference to the fact that while nicotine is a central adrenergic stimulant, smokers describe the effect of smoking in sedational terms (i.e., as relaxing or calming).     

The effects of perspective alterations on apparent size and distance scales

Ss made magnitude estimations first of the areas, then of the distances, of four circles presented at five distances within an enclosed box 9 ft long. There were three viewing situations: the box had parallel walls, converging walls, or diverging walls. The variations in perspective cues influenced the apparent distance scales: with converging and parallel walls, apparent distance grew as the 1.4 power of physical distance; with diverging walls, it grew as the .95 power. Apparent area was related to distance differently in the three conditions: with converging walls, apparent area increased with distance; with parallel and diverging walls, apparent area decreased with distance. Apparent area was thus not related to changes in physical distance as the apparent distance effects would predict. In each condition, the ratio of apparent area to apparent distance (S′/D′) was a monotonie increasing function of retinal angle θ, but the rate of growth varied among the three conditions. The failure of θ D′ to define a unique value of S′ across conditions indicates that the size-distance invariance hypothesis is inadequate to predict the outcome of this experiment.