Personality and the topography of the conditioned eyelid response

One-hundred and four women were tested on an eyelid conditioning paradigm in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design where two levels of US intensity (1 vs 3 p.s.i.) were balanced against two rest pause interpolations (after 25 and after 50 trials), and the presence or absence of a warning stimulus prior to CS-US presentation. Subjects were later classified as high, low or intermediate extraverts on the basis of a personality questionnaire. A very detailed analysis of conditioned responses was carried out, using both simple and composite measures including work-ratio, utility-ratio, CR frequency, peak latency, peak amplitude, response area and effective response area, degree of avoidance amplitude and latency, etc. Major findings related to similar effects of high intensity US vs low intensity US, and introversion vs extraversion; introverts react as if they were responding to more intense stimuli than extraverts. This finding cuts across other parameter variables, and supports Eysenck's formulation of personality-conditioning relationships in terms of higher cortical arousal in introverts as compared with extraverts.     

The influence of psychoticism and extraversion on classical eyelid conditioning using a paraorbital shock UCS

An experiment is described in which the effects of Psychoticism and Extraversion on classical eyelid conditioning were examined using a balanced design involving two levels of paraorbital shock intensity and two levels of response threshold. Questionnaire measures of Anxiety and Impulsivity were also analysed together with subjective ratings of the UCS. Results were broadly consistent with Eysenck's personality theory in that subjects scoring high on Psychoticism demonstrated lower levels of conditioning.     

Human classical conditioning

Recent reports of failure to obtain blocking in human galvanic skin response (GSR) conditioning, together with our own equivocal results with eyelid conditioning, have motivated us to re-examine the status of the conditioned stimulus (CS) in human conditioning studies. The issues raised by compound stimuli, by contextual cues and occasion setting stimuli, and by cross-modal transfer are considered in the light of data from our laboratories. These data include observations on the interchangeability of stimulus modalities during acquisition, the use of varying information loads embedded in occasion setting displays, the comparison of alternative blocking designs and the analysis of response topography in relation to stimulus variability. They suggested that an adequate account of the CS in human conditioning studies must recognize that it is dynamically processed and reprocessed both during and after acquisition.     

Comprehension of indirect requests by persons with fluent aphasia

This study examined the judgments and response latencies of 10 participants with aphasia and 10 participants without aphasia for responses to indirect requests. Modals such as can and should were drawn from 5 indirect request categories. There was a significant difference in judgment errors and response latency between participants with and without aphasia. There were no significant differences between aphasic participants' judgments for literal versus nonliteral contrasts. There was a significant effect among the modals and among the categories of indirect requests. Response latency reflected aphasic participants' understanding of these indirect requests.     

The role of playing and efference in the recall location and distance cues in short-term motor memory

Previous studies have suggested that the superior accuracy of preselected (subject-defined) over constrained (experimenter-defined) movements is due to both the availability of a movement plan and efferent-command information. The present experiment examined the contribution of the planning and efferent components to the preselection effect in a location and a distance task. The availability of a movement plan was manipulated by providing preselected and constrained groups of subjects with a rehearsal movement. Furthermore, the amount of efferent information available was varied by requiring both active and passive rehearsal movements. The results suggested that while strategy alone is responsible for the superiority of preselected location, both strategy and efferent information underlie the superiority of preselected distance reproduction.     

Articulatory suppression and the treatment of insomnia

The prominence of intrusive thoughts in insomnia suggests the relevance of cognitive techniques to control them. It is suggested that the technique of Articulatory Suppression derived from Baddeley's model of Working Memory provides a relevant approach. The technique is presented as it was developed with a preliminary uncontrolled case series. A single-case experiment is then reported in which Articulatory Suppression was compared with other techniques. The preliminary indications are that it may be particularly helpful for sleep maintenance problems.     

Newborn behavioral observations system in rural Pakistan: A feasibility and acceptability study

The Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) system is a relationship-based tool that helps parents recognize their infant's competencies and learn their behavioral cues, with the goals of enhancing parental responsiveness and satisfaction in the infant-parent relationship. In our study, a pediatrician integrated the NBO into 44 pediatric health care visits of infants in rural Pakistan villages, under the remote guidance of two U.S.-based child psychiatrists. A clinician then gave the mothers a survey about their experience of the NBO and found that the mothers were highly satisfied, reporting greater appreciation of their infant's strengths, greater understanding of their infant's behavioral cues, stronger attachment to their infant, and greater self-confidence as a mother. In their consideration of these results, the authors explore cultural reasons for the mothers’ responses and generate hypotheses to inform an outcome study of a similar intervention. This was a feasibility and acceptability study and was not randomized, had no control group, and did not use objective measures of outcome.     

A Constellation of Stigmas: Intersectional Stigma Management and the Professional Dominatrix

In this article, we explore stigma management among dominatrices, a relatively understudied profession within the literature on sex work. Our analysis is based on in-depth interviews with current and former dominatrices and published memoirs and blogs written by women who have worked in the industry. We argue that the professional dominatrix occupies a unique position within the sex industry, responding to stigma directed toward her both as a sex worker and practitioner of sadomasochism. Our research has implications for understanding the management of intersecting stigmas and the relationship between stigma management and social ideologies of gender, sexuality, and sex work.