A flavor paired with lithium chloride blocks the formation of a pentobarbital-lithium chloride association

Thirsty rats were used in order to determine whether a vinegar solution, which had been paired with an injection of lithium chloride, could block the formation of an association between a pentobarbital- and a lithium chloride-induced state. During phase 1 the rats in the blocking group had a 2.0% vinegar solution paired with an injection of 240 mg/kg of lithium chloride, during phase 2 these rats were reexposed to the vinegar prior to each injection of 20 mg/kg of pentobarbital and 240 mg/kg of lithium chloride, and during phase 3 these rats were given access to a novel 0.75% saccharin solution and were injected with pentobarbital after saccharin removal. Animals with this history did not form an association between the pentobarbital- and lithium chloride-induced states during phase 2 as evidenced by their refusal to consume the saccharin solution over repeated pairings of saccharin with pentobarbital during phase 3. Control groups that received forward pairings of pentobarbital and lithium chloride, in the absence of a previously conditioned vinegar solution during phase 2, formed an association between pentobarbital and lithium chloride. These findings indicate that drug states and flavors can interfere with each others' capacity to predict the occurrence of lithium chloride.     

Response

The Psychologisation of the Church: on Jack Dominian's review of J.G. Sullivan's book 'Journey to Freedom: The Path to Self-Esteem for the Priesthood and Religious Life' (May, pp. 258—9).     

The myth of regaining control: Ostracism increases superstitious tendencies

Whether and how interpersonal experiences predispose people to show superstitious tendencies have been largely unexamined by past studies. By adopting a multimethod approach, three studies tested (a) whether ostracism increases superstitious tendencies through thwarted perceived control, (b) whether the dispositional need for closure moderates the effect of ostracism on superstitious tendencies and (c) whether restoring ostracized people's thwarted control weakens their superstitious tendencies. The results revealed that ostracized participants had higher superstitious tendencies than nonostracized participants did (Studies 1–3). Moreover, thwarted control mediated the effect of ostracism on superstitious tendencies (Study 2). In addition, the dispositional need for closure moderated the effect of ostracism on superstitious tendencies, such that the effect was stronger among participants with a high need for closure (Studies 1–2). Finally, restoring ostracized participants' perceived control weakened the effect of ostracism on superstitious tendencies (Study 3). Altogether, these findings feature the essential role of thwarted perceived control in understanding the link between ostracism and superstitious tendencies and the implication of control restoration in weakening the link. They also highlight the importance of dispositional characteristics in moderating people's responses to superstitions following ostracism and related forms of interpersonal maltreatment.     

A relay driver and contact closure sensing interface for an LSI-11 DRV11 parallel I/O board

A simple input and output circuit is described that allows users to sense contact closures and to drive relays from a Digital Equipment Corporation LSI-11 DRV 11 parallel interface board or a signal-compatible equivalent.     

A simple LSI-11 system for real-time control,interevent time storage,and data analysis

A simple laboratory computer system based on a Digital Equipment Corporation LSI-11, floppy disk, DRV11 parallel input-output board, and the RT-11 operating system is described. Interface to experimental devices is provided through a lab-built relay driver and relay closure sensing interface. An extensive high-level software package provides an easy-to-use control language (e.g., stimuli can be controlled with a simple “TURN ON” or “TURN OFF” instruction) and easy-to-use FORTRAN subroutines for data exploration (e.g., “IFIND” searches a data file for a particular event). The control software automatically generates, codes, and stores a complete log of every input and output event and its time of occurrence in each of five simultaneously running experiments. This provides the capability to reanalyze data in light of hypotheses not available when the experiment was designed. The FORTRAN subroutine library for data exploration provides a conditional and iterative search facility to sift out events or sets of events from the data file for analysis. Standard FORTRAN statements perform arithmetic operations on the resulting data.     

Network Structure of Callous-Unemotional Traits and Conduct Disorder Symptoms Among At-Risk Youth: Multi-Informant Reports and Gender Differences

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Network analytic techniques examine how items used to measure underlying constructs are related to one another and identify core characteristics....