The effect of prior acquisition of food aversion on the poisoned‐partner effect

It has been suggested that poisoned conspecifics function as aversive unconditioned stimuli for rats. The present study examined whether the prior acquisition of food aversion could enhance this effect. In phase 1, subjects were given pairings of cocoa‐flavored pellets and a toxin. In phase 2, they were given the cocoa‐flavored pellets and later presented with a poisoned or nonpoisoned conspecific. Subsequent testing involved a choice between the cocoa‐flavored pellets and regular pellets. Prior exposure to a poisoned conspecific prevented extinction of the conditioned aversion. In contrast, exposure to a nonpoisoned conspecific allowed extinction of the conditioned aversion. These findings suggest that a rat's reaction to a stressed conspecific is affected by their prior experience of aversive events.     

When fairness neither satisfies nor motivates: The role of risk aversion and uncertainty reduction in attenuating and reversing the fair process effect

It is widely acknowledged that procedural justice has many positive effects. However, some evidence suggests that procedural justice may not always have positive effects and may even have negative effects. We present three studies that vary in method and participant populations, including an archival study, a field study, and an experiment, using data provided by the general American population, Indian software engineers, and undergraduate students in the US. We demonstrate that key work-related variables such as people’s job satisfaction and performance depend on procedural justice, perceived uncertainty, and risk aversion such that risk seeking people react less positively and at times negatively to the same fair procedures that appeal to risk averse people. Our results suggest that one possible reason for these effects is that being treated fairly reduces people’s perception of uncertainty in the environment and while risk averse people find low uncertainty desirable and react positively to it, risk seeking people do not. We discuss the implications of our findings for theories of procedural justice including the uncertainty management model of fairness, the fair process effect, and fairness heuristic theory.     

Loss aversion in the eye and in the heart: The autonomic nervous system's responses to losses

The common view in psychology and neuroscience is that losses loom larger than gains, leading to a negativity bias in behavioral responses and Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) activation. However, evidence has accumulated that in decisions under risk and uncertainty individuals often impart similar weights to negative and positive outcomes. We examine the role of the ANS in decisions under uncertainty, and its consistency with the behavioral responses. In three studies, we show that losses lead to heightened autonomic responses, compared to equivalent gains (as indicated by pupil dilation and increased heart rate) even in situations where the average decision maker exhibits no loss aversion. Moreover, in the studied tasks autonomic responses were not associated with risk taking propensities. These results are interpreted by the hypothesis that losses signal the subjective importance of global outcome patterns. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dorsomedial pallium lesions impair taste aversion learning in goldfish

The present work shows that the dorsomedial telencephalic pallium of teleost fish, proposed as homologous to the amygdala of mammals, is involved in taste aversion learning (TAL). To analyze the behavioral properties of TAL in goldfish, in Experiment 1, we used a delayed procedure similar to that employed with mammals, which consists of the presentation of two flavors on different days, one followed by lithium chloride and the other by saline, both after a 10-min delay. The results showed that goldfish developed a strong aversion to the gustatory stimulus followed by visceral discomfort and that, as in mammals, this learning was rapidly acquired, highly flexible and maintained for a long time. Experiment 2 showed that dorsomedial pallium lesions and the ablation of the telencephalic lobes impaired the acquisition of taste aversion in goldfish, whereas damage to the dorsolateral pallium (hippocampus homologue) or cerebellar corpus did not produce significant changes in this learning. Experiment 3 showed that these TAL deficits were not due to a lesion-related disruption of taste discrimination; goldfish with telencephalon ablation were able to learn to distinguish between the two tested flavors in a differential conditioning procedure. These functional data demonstrate that the dorsomedial pallium in teleosts is, like the amygdala, an essential component of the telencephalon-dependent taste aversion memory system and provide further support concerning the homology between both structures.     

Broadening (and narrowing) the scope of brand relationships

The Attachment–Aversion Relationship Model proposed by Park, Eisingerich, and Park represents the latest in a series of attempts to expand, refine, and validate the increasingly popular concept of brand relationships. We find much value in the effort. We suggest, however, that researchers should avoid indiscriminate use of the term and focus on identifying the unique contribution that the notion of brand relationships can make to theory and practice. We also note how the present model could be expanded to achieve this objective.     

条件位置范式在疼痛研究领域的应用

在疼痛领域,基础研究传统上主要关注疼痛的感觉维度和诱发痛的机制,对疼痛的情绪维度和临床上更常见的自发痛研究较少,这造成了基础研究和临床应用的脱节.条件位置范式的诞生在一定程度上解决了这一问题.条件位置范式是研究药物奖赏和成瘾的经典范式.近10年来,它开始被应用到疼痛研究领域.本文系统总结了目前条件位置范式在疼痛领域的研究进展,主要包括应用条件位置厌恶范式研究疼痛情绪、应用条件位置偏爱范式探索自发痛机制以及进行镇痛药物筛选.最后,结合已有的研究,提出了未来条件位置范式在疼痛领域的应用方向.     

Author biographies

Philip Pullman has repeatedly drawn attention to his commitment to 'realism' in the writing of his trilogy His Dark Materials. In this paper, which considers Volume 1, and which will be followed by papers on the succeeding volumes, we explore the meaning of this in the domain of psychic reality. We argue that Pullman writes in the tradition of children's literature which explores children's emotional development. His heroine, Lyra, embarks on a journey which involves learning to differentiate between untrustworthy and dependable parental figures. The magical features of the story allow for fluidity in exploring unconscious phantasy and dreamworlds. The 'fantasy' genre of the story allows its author at the same time to explore many aspects of the contemporary world and its problems, and thus offers its readers an experience of intellectual as well as emotional adventure. Philip Pullman machte wiederholt auf seine Verpflichtung an 'Realismus' in seinem Schreiben der Trilogie His dark Materials aufmerksam. In diesem Artikel, der den ersten Band betrachtet und dem weitere Artikel über die folgenden Bände folgen werden, erforschen wir die Bedeutung dieser Ausssage im Bereich der psychischen Realität. Wir argumentieren, dass Pullman in der Tradition der Kinderliteratur schreibt, die die emotionale Entwicklung von Kindern exploriert. Seine Heldin Lyra tritt eine Reise an, die beinhaltet zu lernen, wie man zwischen unzuverlässigen und verlässlichen Elternfiguren unterscheidet. Die magischen Anteile der Geschichte erlauben eine Fluidität, um unbewusste Phantasie und Traumwelten zu explorieren. Das 'Phantasie'genre der Geschichte erlaubt dem Autor, viele Aspekte der zeitgenössischen Welt und ihre Probleme zu explorieren und bietet den Lesern ein Erlebnis sowohl eines intellektuellen wie auch emotionalen Abenteuers. Dans plusieurs passages de sa trilogie À la Croisée des Chemins (His Dark Materials), Philip Pullman attire l'attention de ses lecteurs sur son parti pris de «réalisme». Dans cet article, qui traite du premier tome et qui sera suivi d'autres commentaires sur les tomes restants, les auteurs en explorent la signification pour la réalité psychique; selon eux, les textes de P. Pullman prennent place dans la tradition de la littérature enfantine ayant pour thème le développement émotionnel de l'enfant. Lyra, héroïne du récit, s'embarque pour un voyage qui, pour partie, exige qu'elle apprenne À différencier les figures parentales qui ne sont pas dignes de confiance de celles qui sont autrement plus fiables. Les aspects magiques de l'histoire permettent une certaine fluidité dans l'exploration des phantasmes inconscients et du monde onirique. Puisqu'il s'agit d'un récit «fantastique», le romancier peut s'autoriser À explorer plusieurs aspects du monde contemporain et des problèmes qui s'y manifestent; ce faisant, il propose À ses lecteurs de vivre une aventure non seulement émotionnelle mais aussi intellectuelle. L'autore ha ripetutamente sottolineato la sua fedelta' al 'realismo' nella stesura della trilogia His dark materials. In questo articolo, che esamina il volume 1, e che sara' seguito da altri articoli sui volumi successivi, gli autori esplorano che cosa questo significhi in termini psichici. Gli autori sostengono che gli scritti di Pullman si collochino nell'ambito della tradizione della letteratura infantile nella quale viene esplorato lo sviluppo emotivo dei bambini. L'eroina del libro, Lyra, intraprende un viaggio nel quale imparera' a distinguere tra figure genitoriali di cui non ci si puo' fidare e altre da cui si puo' dipendere. Le caratteristiche magiche del romanzo danno fluidita' all'esplorazione delle fantasie inconscie e del mondo dei sogni. Allo stesso tempo, il genere 'fantastico' della storia da' la possibilita' all'autore di esplorare molti degli aspetti del mondo contemporaneo e dei suoi problemi, dando quindi al lettore la possibilita' di un'esperienza intellettuale oltre che di un'avventura emotiva.     

Association of Fine Motor Loss and Allodynia in Fibromyalgia: An fNIRS Study

Recent studies showed that fine motor control dysfunction was observed in fibromyalgia (FM) syndrome as well as allodynia. However, brain signatures of this association still remain unclear. In this study, finger tapping task (FTT) and median nerve stimulation (MNS) were applied to both hands of 15 FM patients and healthy controls (HC) to understand this relationship. Hemodynamic activity was measured simultaneously using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Experiments were analyzed separately by using 2x2 repeated measures ANOVA. Results for the FTT experiment revealed that HC showed higher activity than FM patients in bilateral superior parietal gyrus (SPG), left supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and right somatosensory cortex (SI). Furthermore, right-hand FTT resulted in higher activity than left-hand FTT in left SPG, left SI and right motor cortex (MI). In the MNS experiment, FM patients showed higher activity than HC in bilateral SPG, right SMG, right SI and right middle frontal gyrus (MFG). Negative correlation was observed in left SPG between FTT and MNS activities. Besides, MNS activity in left SPG was negatively correlated with left-hand pain threshold.This study revealed that left SPG might be an important indicator to associate fine motor loss and allodynia in FM.     

Autobiographical Memory in Patients with Tinnitus

Studies on psychiatric patients have found that their memories of the past are often unspecific and overgeneral, but the extent to which this is the case for patients with somatic problems has so far only been examined in patients with chronic pain and in patients with diabetes. The present study investigated autobiographical memories in 19 tinnitus patients and 19 controls without tinnitus. Participants were administered the autobiographical memory test (AMT), the Controlled word association test, and self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and tinnitus distress. Compared to control participants, tinnitus patients had difficulty retrieving specific memories and showed longer retrieval latencies. Additionally, tinnitus patients had fewer specific memories to positive cue words. While AMT responses were associated with depression scores, the difference between controls and patients remained significant for positive cue words after controlling for depression scores. Results suggest that cognitive components should be an integral element of the psychological management of tinnitus. The use in future studies of experimental methods such as AMT in health psychology is encouraged.     

Gone but not forgotten: A new look at difficult cases

Many treatments never seem to get off the ground. They end almost as quickly as they begin. These are often treatments of borderline, narcissistic or psychotic patients. While it is easy to dismiss these cases as failed, or unanalysable, they are valuable to study. One such case is presented.