Generality and topic specificity of cognitive styles

A multitrait-multimethod strategy was used to assess eight structural properties of cognition applied to several classes of objects by 88 university students in Boulder, Colorado, United States, and 80 university students in Kyoto and Otsu, Japan. Each cognitive style was found to display some degree of generality over object classes and also some degree of class specificity. It is concluded that cognitive style depends on the subject, the class of objects considered, and an interaction between the two.     

The rapid-smoking technique: Some physiological effects

The effects of rapid smoking on the blood pressure, pulse rate and cardiac functioning of 58 smokers (30 women and 28 men) are reported. All subjects were healthy volunteers, 45 were under 40 yr of age, the remaining 13 between 40 and 50 yr. They received between 6 and 12 rapid smoking sessions. It was found that, in both the under and over 40 age groups, blood pressure levels and pulse rates increased significantly following rapid smoking sessions. There were, however, significant decreases between sessions and no evidence of a cumulative effect of successive rapid smoking sessions. Some qualitative changes in cardiac functioning were observed, namely the appearance of T wave flattening and S-T depression. None of the changes were considered to be of sufficient magnitude to necessitate exclusion from the programme, but confirm the need to monitor closely the physiological functioning of persons undergoing rapid smoking.     

Generalized multivariate lens model analysis for complex human inference tasks

A generalized multivariate lens model is presented which will permit the analysis of complex human inference tasks. Such tasks, occurring in their natural ecology, may involve judgments or decisions on multiple criteria and/ or where the influence of theoretically interesting partitions or augmentations of cue profiles needs to be systematically delineated. The generalized model incorporates the standard, hierarchical, and fully partialed lens models, the initial elaborations of which were made by N. J. Castellan (1972, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 8, 242–261) and T. R. Stewart (1976, Psychometrika, 41, 101–120). Both multivariate and univariate lens model equations are presented within a common notational system. An example which demonstrates some aspects of the generalized model is discussed in detail. Other potential applications for the model are outlined.     

Movements or targets: What makes an action in action–effect learning?

According to ideomotor theory, actions become linked to the sensory feedback they contingently produce, so that anticipating the feedback automatically evokes the action it typically results from. Numerous recent studies have provided evidence in favour of such action–effect learning but left an important issue unresolved. It remains unspecified to what extent action–effect learning is based on associating effect-representations to representations of the performed movements or to representations of the targets at which the behaviour aimed at. Two experiments were designed to clarify this issue. In an acquisition phase, participants learned the contingency between key presses and effect tones. In a following test phase, key–effect and movement–effect relations were orthogonally assessed by changing the hand–key mapping for one half of the participants. Experiment 1 showed precedence for target–effect over movement–effect learning in a forced-choice RT task. In Experiment 2, target–effect learning was also shown to influence the outcome of response selection in a free-choice task. Altogether, the data indicate that both movement–effect and target–effect associations contribute to the formation of action–effect linkages—provided that movements and targets are likewise contingently related to the effects.     

Similar effects of visual perception and imagery on simple reaction time

A longstanding issue is whether perception and mental imagery share similar cognitive and neural mechanisms. To cast further light on this problem, we compared the effects of real and mentally generated visual stimuli on simple reaction time (RT). In five experiments, we tested the effects of difference in luminance, contrast, spatial frequency, motion, and orientation. With the intriguing exception of spatial frequency, in all other tasks perception and imagery showed qualitatively similar effects. An increase in luminance, contrast, and visual motion yielded a decrease in RT for both visually presented and imagined stimuli. In contrast, gratings of low spatial frequency were responded to more quickly than those of higher spatial frequency only for visually presented stimuli. Thus, the present study shows that basic dependent variables exert similar effects on visual RT either when retinally presented or when imagined. Of course, this evidence does not necessarily imply analogous mechanisms for perception and imagery, and a note of caution in such respect is suggested by the large difference in RT between the two operations. However, the present results undoubtedly provide support for some overlap between the structural representation of perception and imagery.     

Correcting distorted perception of sleep in insomnia: a novel behavioural experiment?

Patients with primary insomnia overestimate their sleep onset latency (SOL) and underestimate their total sleep time (TST). The present study aimed to test the utility of a novel behavioural experiment designed to correct distorted perception of sleep among patients diagnosed with primary insomnia. Individuals with primary insomnia were asked to wear an actigraph and keep a sleep diary for three nights. On the following day, half were shown the discrepancy between the data recorded on the actigraph and their sleep diary (Shown-Discrepancy Group), the other half were not shown the discrepancy (No-Demonstration Group). Participants were then asked to wear the actigraph and keep a sleep diary for three further nights. Following the behavioural experiment, the Shown-Discrepancy Group estimated their SOL more accurately and reported less anxiety and preoccupation about sleep compared to the No-Demonstration Group. The theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

A stress management programme for Crohn's disease

The present study was designed to assess the effectiveness of techniques of behavioural assessment and treatment of Crohn's disease (CD). On the assumption that stress events have a pronounced influence on the life of Crohn's patients, we proposed stress management treatment. This is intended to control stress and improve patients' personal and social competence. Forty-five patients with Crohn's disease were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups, two experimental groups: stress management and self-directed stress management, and a control group: conventional medical treatment. The subjects underwent eight individual sessions which were specific to each condition. All subjects completed symptom monitoring diaries. The subjects who received training in stress management experienced a significant post-treatment reduction of tiredness (P < 0.1), constipation (P < 0.1), abdominal pain (P < 0.5) and distended abdomen (P < 0.5). The subjects who received training in self-directed stress management experienced a significant reduction in tiredness (P < 0.1) and abdominal pain (P < 0.5). No significant changes were observed in symptomatology in the conventional medical treatment group. Similar results were obtained in the 12 month follow-up.     

The Role of Religion and Spirituality in Medical Patients in Germany

Using the new developed SpREUK questionnaire (version 1.0b), we examined how German patients (n = 129) with cancer, multiple sclerosis and other diseases view the impact of spirituality and religiosity (SpR) on their health and how they cope with illness. Patients with both a religious and spiritual attitude (32%) had significantly higher values in the sub-scales dealing with the search for meaningful support, and the stabilizing effects of SpR than patients without such attitudes (20%), while patients with a non-spiritual religious attitude (35%) had lower perception of the beneficial effects of their SpR and had significantly lower scores in the search for meaningful support sub-scale. Just half of the non-spiritual religious group and 42% of religious patients are convinced that finding an access to a spiritual source has a positive influence on their illness.     

Behavioural development in a matching-to-sample task and token use by an infant chimpanzee reared by his mother

We investigated the behavioural and cognitive development of a captive male infant chimpanzee, Ayumu, raised by his mother, Ai. Here we report Ayumu's achievements up to the age of 2 years and 3 months, in the context of complex computer-controlled tasks. From soon after birth, Ayumu had been present during an experiment performed by his mother. The task consisted of two phases, a matching-to-sample task in which she received token rewards, and the insertion of these tokens into a vending machine to obtain food rewards. Ayumu himself received no reward or encouragement from humans for any of the actions he exhibited during the experiment. At the age of 9 months and 3 weeks, Ayumu performed his first matching-to-sample trial. At around 1 year and 3 months, he began to perform them consistently. Also during this period, he frequently stole food rewards from his mother. At 2 years and 3 months, Ayumu succeeded for the first time in inserting a token into the vending machine. Once he had succeeded in using a token, he performed both phases of the task in sequence 20 times consecutively. The infant's behaviour was not shaped by food rewards but by a strong motivation to copy his mother's behaviour. Our observations of Ayumu thus mirror the learning processes shown by wild chimpanzees.     

Comparing the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist: Is Small Beautiful?

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a brief behavioral screening questionnaire that can be completed in 5 minutes by the parents or teachers of children aged 4 to 16; there is a self-report version for 11- to 16-year-olds. In this study, mothers completed the SDQ and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) on 132 children aged 4 through 7 and drawn from psychiatric and dental clinics. Scores from the SDQ and CBCL were highly correlated and equally able to discriminate psychiatric from dental cases. As judged against a semistructured interview, the SDQ was significantly better than the CBCL at detecting inattention and hyperactivity, and at least as good at detecting internalizing and externalizing problems. Mothers of low-risk children were twice as likely to prefer the SDQ.