Perceptual interactions in two-word displays: familiarity and similarity effects

Previous studies have demonstrated the existence of perceptual interactions in the processing of two-word displays such as SAND LANE. When postcued to report one of the two words, subjects often make migration errors, in that the report of the specified word includes a letter of the other word (e.g., LAND or SANE instead of SAND). We find that migrations depend on the abstract, structural similarity of the strings, but not on the physical similarity; on whether the strings are words; and on whether the possible migration responses are words. We also rule out an interpretation of migration errors that attributes them to a guessing strategy. Our findings are interpreted in terms of models in which both strings simultaneously access high-level structural knowledge, that is, knowledge about what sequences of letters fit together to form familiar wholes.     

Fluctuations and phase symmetry in coordinated rhythmic movements

Pendular, clocking movements typify mammalian terrestrial locomotion. They can be investigated with a procedure in which people swing hand-held pendulums at the wrists, comfortably and rhythmically. Pendular, clocking behavior was examined for in-phase and out-of-phase coordinations. The periodic timing and powering of rhythmic movements in the comfort state follow from different laws (Kugler & Turvey, 1986). One law guides the assembling of the reference frame for "clocking." Another law guides the assembling of the muscular, escapement processes determining the cycle energy. Wing and Kristofferson's (1973) method for parsing periodic-timing variance into independent "clock" and "motor" sources was applied. Mean periodicity was unaffected by phase. "Clock" fluctuations, however, were larger out of phase than in phase. "Motor" fluctuations were indifferent to phase but reflected the departures of individual wrist-pendulum systems from their preferred periods. It appears that an intended phase relation is realized as a constraint on "clock" states. These states are more stable under the in-phase constraint than under the out-of-phase constraint.     

Multidimensional scaling reveals two dimensions of thermal pain

The Individual Differences Scaling (INDSCAL) model of multidimensional scaling was used to explore the dimensions of thermal pain. The observers made 66 similarity judgments to all pairs of 12 different thermal stimulus intensities ranging from zero to noxious. Analysis of the data revealed a two-dimensional group stimulus space. The major dimension ordered the stimuli with respect to their intensity. This quantitative, strength-of-sensation dimension may be interpreted as indicating how weak or strong a stimulus feels, apart from any secondary qualities of warmth or pain. The second dimension was related to the qualitative aspects of the stimuli. This bipolar dimension contained two attributes: a pain attribute ranging from just detectable warmth to painful, and a warm-hot attribute running from just detectable warmth to hot. This study demonstrates the utility of the INDSCAL approach to the understanding of pain and offers a new technique for answering the age-old question concerning the number and qualities of the dimensions underlying the pain experience.     

The Zeigarnik effect and intrinsic motivation: Are they the same?

The present study focused on delineating the parameters under which intrinsic motivation leads an individual to reengage an activity from those that result in the Zeigarnik effect. In a posttask free-choice period, participants not completing the experimental task displayed more reengagement behavior than participants completing the task (the Zeigarnik effect). When participants were also provided self-efficacious performance feedback via a prearranged competitive outcome manipulation, there was no evidence of the Zeigarnik effect, while there was support for intrinsic motivation from competent self-efficacious performance feedback. Results were discussed in terms of distinguishing between intrinsic motivation and the Zeigarnik effect as sources of reengagement motivation. It was concluded that, in the presence of self-efficacious performance feedback, the competent-incompetent impression was more salient than task-completion feedback.Preparation of this article was supported by Texas Christian University grant TCU/RF 5-23757.     

Weanlings' transfer of conditioned ethanol aversion from olfaction to ingestion depends on the unconditioned stimulus

Weanling (21-day-old) rats were exposed to an alcohol odor paired with either an interoceptive (apomorphine-induced illness) or exteroceptive (footshock-induced distress) reinforcer. Twenty-four hours later, ethanol preferences were measured in a locational olfactory test (ethanol vs lemon odor) or an ingestion test (5.6% v/v ethanol vs 0.25% v/v citric acid solution). Weanling rats expressed substantial olfactory aversions, independent of the reinforcer employed in conditioning. During the drinking test, however, only rats that had experienced the ethanol odor paired with internal malaise showed a significant reduction in the intake of the ethanol solution when compared to unpaired controls. Furthermore, rats that had experienced the ethanol odor paired with external distress drank significantly more of the ethanol solution than their controls. These results provide further evidence that olfactory experiences with ethanol can lead to changes in ethanol ingestion, and indicate that the nature of the unconditioned stimulus is critical in establishing the ingestive effect.     

Preserved spatial memory in old rats survives 10 months without training

Aged rats with extensive prior training on the radial maze retain the capacity for accurate spatial working memory (WM) for at least 3 months without practice. To investigate the temporal limits of this influence of prior experience we compared the reacquisition of spatial WM by a group of experienced 21.5-month-old rats to the original acquisition by naive 3-month-old rats. The aged rats had received 225 radial maze tests between 3 and 11 months of age. Despite 10 months without practice the old rats rapidly reacquired critical performance. Their reacquisition was markedly superior to original learning by the young rats, even when delays as long as 5 h were imposed between the rats' fourth and fifth choices during the daily tests in the eight-arm maze. Additional tests showed that neither young nor old rats employed a response strategy to maintain accurate spatial WM performance. Experience clearly confers long-lived protection against the otherwise deleterious effects of aging on spatial WM, but the mechanism by which this influence arises is unknown.     

Patterns of memory failure after scopolamine treatment: implications for cholinergic hypotheses of dementia

To test the idea that scopolamine provides a suitable pharmacological model of the memory defects associated with cortical or subcortical dementias, we assessed memory on a battery of tasks in healthy young normal subjects who received 0.5 mg scopolamine, 0.1-0.2 mg glycopyrrolate or physiological saline, once each on three separate occasions, and compared the pattern of memory failure induced by scopolamine to that observed on the same tasks in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or Huntington's disease (HD). In agreement with previous reports, scopolamine impaired acquisition and delayed recall of a 14-word list and disrupted retention on the Brown-Peterson distractor task, whereas the peripherally active anticholinergic glycopyrrolate was without effect. However, under scopolamine the pattern of errors made on these memory tasks was quite different from that seen in patients with AD. Scopolamine did not increase the number of false positive errors on delayed recognition of the word list and also failed to increase the number of prior-item intrusions on the Brown-Peterson task. Also, scopolamine did not impair learning of a symbol-digit paired-associate task, and did not reduce the number of words retrieved or increase the number of words repeated on a standardized verbal fluency test. When the effects of scopolamine on memory were compared to the pattern of impairments observed in demented patients with HD, several differences were found. Although scopolamine clearly produces deficits on some measures of anterograde memory, the present findings question whether anticholinergic drugs adequately mimic the full range of memory impairments observed in cortical or subcortical dementias.     

Successive, simultaneous, and anticipatory contrast in the consumption of saccharin solutions

Contrast effects were obtained in rats in the consumption of saccharin solutions in three different paradigms. Degree of negative contrast varied as a function of concentration disparity, but not equally in the three procedures. Successive negative contrast occurred following shifts from 0.15% to either 0.075% or 0.05% saccharin but did not occur following shifts to 0.10% or 0.125% saccharin. Some degree of simultaneous contrast was obtained with all four concentration disparities. Anticipatory contrast, where the intake of the first substance is suppressed by a more preferred second substance, occurred only in the case of the 0.05%-0.15% difference in concentrations. It was suggested that the several contrast paradigms engage somewhat different psychological processes differentially involving emotional, sensory, and associative mechanisms, but all lead to behavior based on relative value. A modification of Toates's (1981) incentive model of ingestive behavior was suggested to incorporate relativity effects based on both associative and nonassociative factors in the consumption of both nutritive and nonnutritive substances.     

Initial environment influences amphetamine-induced stereotypy: subsequently environment change has little effect

Saline-treated and amphetamine-treated (7 mg/kg, ip, immediate) male rats from a Sprague-Dawley substrain were observed in two test environments designed to elicit different investigative responses in normal rats. Snout contact with the substrate was generated by placing the rat in a small enclosed cage. Absence of snout contact was induced by placement of the rat on a square elevated platform. Detailed ethological records were kept of locomotion, rearing, sitting, grooming, gnawing, and sleeping throughout the 90-min session. Amphetamine-treated rats incorporated environmentally contingent bodily postures into their forms of stereotyped behavior. The postures were characteristic of those evinced initially by the saline-treated rats in the same test environment. The control rats showed appropriate changes in their investigative behavior when the apparatus was changed at 10 and at 30 min postinjection. The amphetamine-treated rats, however, were completely unresponsive to such changes at 30 min and only partially so at 10 min postinjection. It was concluded that there is a temporal gradient of decreasing readiness to modify repetitive behavior after a single, large dose of amphetamine.     

An evaluation of the family adaptability and cohesion evaluation scales and the circumplex model

Two basic assumptions of the Circumplex Model of family systems were evaluated: (1) Healthy families evidence balanced degrees of cohesion and adaptability, whereas problem families evidence extreme degrees, and (2) families with balanced degrees of cohesion and adaptability possess more positive communication skills than families with extreme degrees. Subjects were 58 mother-son dyads from father-absent families. In 29 of the families the adolescent was a juvenile offender, while in the remaining families there was no history of arrest or psychiatric referral. The dyads completed the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales (FACES) and an unrevealed differences interaction task. FACES was highly proficient at differentiating delinquent from nondelinquent families. Moreover, in families with balanced degrees of cohesion and adaptability, the mothers' communication was significantly more supportive and explicit, and the dyads evidenced significantly greater warmth and affection than dyads with extreme degrees.This research was supported by funding to the Department of Psychology at Memphis State University granted through the Centers of Excellence Program of the State of Tennessee. We thank the staff of the Memphis-Metro Youth Diversion Project for their consideration and assistance.