Return of fear: The role of inhibition

In a previous study investigating the relationship between subjective, physiological and behavioural changes during treatment of specific phobias, a marked between-session increase was found in subjective fear after high, but not after low intensity phobic stimulation although the groups showed similar fear ratings and heart rates immediately after treatment (Grey et al, 1979). It was hypothesized that the high intensity stimulation led to ‘treatment fatigue’; a state of deactivation, the recovery from which led to a return of fear.In this study high intensity in vivo stimulation was used for the treatment of phobic subjects under conditions of distributed and massed practice. No differences emerged between treatment conditions. A small group of Ss with a conspicuously high heart rate (mean level 120 bpm) when rating zero fear, showed a significant increase in fear after one week's interval, although they had shown similar improvement to the Ss during treatment. Subjects in both treatment conditions showed lower heart rate at all post-treatment assessments than pre-treatment. The high initial heart rate Ss continued to have higher heart rate than other Ss throughout the experiment, although they showed a decrease after treatment. It was only these Ss with desynchronously high heart rate, i.e. high heart rate with zero fear ratings, who suffered a return of fear, whereas high heart rate during high fear did not predict either response to treatment or return of fear. A further finding was a lack of correlation between the behavioural and physiological indices of fear, namely, between distance and heart rate at high levels of fear.     

Extraversion,neuroticism, psychoticism and self-reported delinquency: Evidence from eight separate samples

Eight separate samples of high school and university students (Total N = 410) in Britain and Canada were used to test predictions from Eysenck's theory that delinquents should be high scorers on scales of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. Self-report paper- and pencil-questionnaire measures of both personality and delinquency were administered under conditions that ensured anonymity. The evidence showed clear support for a relationship between high delinquency scores and high scores on both extraversion and psychoticism. These relationships held up across diverse samples and different ways of analyzing the data. No support was found for a relationship between delinquency scores and the dimension of neuroticism.     

The voice of confidence: Paralinguistic cues and audience evaluation

A standard speaker read linguistically confident and doubtful texts in a confident or doubtful voice. A computer-based acoustic analysis of the four tapes showed that paralinguistic confidence was expressed by increased loudness of voice, rapid rate of speech, and infrequent, short pauses. Under some conditions, higher pitch levels and greater pitch and energy fluctuations in the voice were related to paralinguistic confidence. In a 2 × 2 design, observers perceived and used these cues to attribute confidence and related personality traits to the speaker. Both text and voice cues are related to confidence ratings; in addition, the two types of cue are related to differing personality attributes.     

The effects of a discriminative cue and an incompatible activity on generalized imitation

Four noncompliant retardates were observed in a generalized imitation study. Two variables were studied: provision of a competing reinforced activity, and use of a cue to aid discrimination between reinforced and nonreinforced imitations. Both variables were found to increase the rate of discrimination between the two sets of stimuli. Greatest discrimination occurred when both cue and alternative task were present. Discrimination decreased when the variables were removed. Results are interpreted as implying that imitation of nonreinforced cues in generalized imitation procedures varies with the degree to which reinforcement is available for other activity, as well as with the complexity of the discrimination problem. These results help indicate conditions under which the generalized imitation effect may be observed in more naturalistic settings.     

Short-term memory in the pigeon with presentation time precisely controlled

Delayed matching-to-sample was studied in the pigeon using a procedure which precisely controlled the presentation time of the sample stimulus. Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that (a) accuracy of matching increased as a negatively accelerated function of presentation time, (b) accuracy declined when an interstimulus interval was introduced between successive presentations of the sample stimulus, and (c) the rate at which accurate matching was restored after an interstimulus interval was greatest when the initial presentation of the sample was short and the interval was long. It was concluded that a theory of STM based on the growth and decay of trace strength could account adequately for all of these findings. Experiment 3 studied trace interaction by presenting two sample stimuli first in succession and then simultaneously for choice. Predictions from trace competition theory about the specific lengths of presentation of these stimuli at which choice of the second stimulus should be 50% or deviate systematically below 50% were not supported. It appears that a recency mechanism in addition to competition is necessary to explain trace interaction effects.     

Extraversion and reactions to cognitive inconsistency

Two studies are reported which test the hypothesis that extraverts are more tolerant of cognitive inconsistency than are introverts. The first study tested this prediction in the context of Heider's balance model. While degree of extraversion did not moderate reactions to imbalance, extraverts did show less aversion to interpersonal disagreement than introverts. When coupled with other recently published data this suggests that extraverts find arousing social situations less aversive than introverts. In support of the main hypothesis, the second experiment showed that extraverts changed their attitudes less than introverts as a result of writing an essay which was counter to their own attitude under conditions where they had high perceived freedom of choice.     

Auditory-verbal short-term memory impairment and conduction aphasia

The specific impairment of performance on repetition tasks has classically been identified with conduction aphasia. It is argued that this impairment can be subdivided and a deficit in span performance distinguished from that of the reproduction of single words. An explanation of the span deficit in terms of auditory-verbal short-term memory is preferred to hypotheses involving disconnections or damage to order retention systems. It is shown that a short-term memory component is present in many patients previously classified as conduction aphasics.     

Treatment of dental fears by imaginal flooding and rehearsal of coping behaviour

All combinations of high versus low arousal imaginal flooding, and coping versus no-coping imaginal rehearsal, were compared in the modification of dental fear. About one half of all subjects seen successfully completed dental treatment, although significant differences were found between groups in anxiety reduction before and during dental examination, which favoured the low arousal flooding groups. Coping rehearsal did not influence anxiety, but interacted with arousal level of flooding to determine subsequent dental attendance. The results suggest that flooding without coping rehearsal had little effect at high levels of arousal, but good results at low levels. Flooding with coping rehearsal on the other hand, had mixed results. At high arousal levels avoidance was reduced but not anxiety, while at low levels anxiety was reduced but not avoidance. The implications for further research on coping rehearsal are discussed.     

Memory for lists of spatial events in the rat

Three experiments are reported in which rats were presented with lists of spatial events or responses in distinct visual contexts, and retention subsequently was measured for the events occuring at each serial position. In Experiments 1 and 2, lists contained different numbers of forced choices on successively presented T-mazes, and memory for each serial position was tested on each trial. In Experiment 3, lists were made up of different numbers of forced entries into randomly ordered arms on the eight-arm radial maze, and memory for one serial position was probed on each trial. All three experiments yielded serial position curves which demonstrated recency effects but no primacy effects. Comparisons of retention for different list lengths within each experiment indicated that retention of shorter lists was equivalent to retention of the final items of longer lists and superior to retention of the initial items on longer lists. This pattern of results indicated that there was no evidence of proactive inhibition in the serial position curves. Analysis of input and output interference effects and the results of control tests suggested that both retroactive inhibition and time-based forgetting processes were responsible for recency effects.