HIV infection--psychological coping and political reality

The authors warn against a trivialization of the AIDS problem and against the call for state control. Since sexuality is ultimately uncontrollable, they plead instead for the greater clarification of the conflicts which those who are infected with HIV and those who are not infected experience in dealing with each other. The continuing mystification of these conflicts would result in mutual jeopardy through acting-out.     

HIV infection: trauma and coping with trauma

The initial results of a German-Swedish research project demonstrate the at times active-resistant and at times passive-resigned approaches of AIDS patients toward their illness.     

Memory mechanisms in pigeons: evidence of base-rate neglect

In delayed matching to sample, once acquired, pigeons presumably choose comparisons according to their memory for (the strength of) the sample. When memory for the sample is sufficiently weak, comparison choice should depend on the history of reinforcement associated with each of the comparison stimuli. In the present research, pigeons acquired two matching tasks in which Sample S1 was associated with one comparison from each task, C1 and C3, whereas Sample S2 was associated with Comparison C2, and Sample S3 was associated with Comparison C4. As the retention interval increased, the pigeons showed a bias to choose the comparison (C1 or C3) associated with the more frequently occurring sample (S1). Thus, pigeons were sensitive also to the (irrelevant) likelihood that each of the samples was presented. The results suggest that pigeons may allow their reference memory for the overall sample frequency to influence comparison choice, independent of the comparison stimuli present.     

Failure to construct and transfer correct representations across probability problems

Previous studies carried out on "purely random" situations (with dice or poker chips) show the difficulties encountered by people in such situations, however simple they may be. In fact, in this type of situation, prior knowledge guides spontaneous representations, and the "errors" observed could be explained by the activation of "implicit models" which form the basis of erroneous representations. 42 statistically na?ve undergraduates were given several variants of a probability problem on which errors are common. In a learning phase, subjects were given four problems involving geometric figures which were pairwise related by complementarity and equivalence relations. In a subsequent transfer phase, they were given a fifth problem involving poker chips, which was structurally isomorphic to the fourth geometric-figures problem. The findings show that people do not realize the relations between problems, and that transfer occurred only for the subset of subjects who performed correctly on the training problems of the learning phase. These results appear to have some significant implications in teaching mathematical concepts.     

Mechanisms of motivation–cognition interaction: challenges and opportunities

Recent years have seen a rejuvenation of interest in studies of motivation–cognition interactions arising from many different areas of psychology and neuroscience. The present issue of Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience provides a sampling of some of the latest research from a number of these different areas. In this introductory article, we provide an overview of the current state of the field, in terms of key research developments and candidate neural mechanisms receiving focused investigation as potential sources of motivation–cognition interaction. However, our primary goal is conceptual: to highlight the distinct perspectives taken by different research areas, in terms of how motivation is defined, the relevant dimensions and dissociations that are emphasized, and the theoretical questions being targeted. Together, these distinctions present both challenges and opportunities for efforts aiming toward a more unified and cross-disciplinary approach. We identify a set of pressing research questions calling for this sort of cross-disciplinary approach, with the explicit goal of encouraging integrative and collaborative investigations directed toward them.