THE EFFECT OF INFORMATIONAL FEEDBACK ON FOOD INTAKE OF ADULT BURN PATIENTS

The effect of informational feedback on the protein and caloric consumption of burn patients was investigated using a multiple-baseline across subjects. The patients were four severely burned adult males who failed to consume sufficient foods to achieve prescribed levels of protein or kilocalories via standard burn unit procedures during recovery. Feedback consisted of informing patients of (a) their prescribed levels of protein and kilocalories, (b) the protein and kilocalorie content of hospital foods and beverages, and (c) their actual intake of protein and kilocalories. Following the provision of feedback, there was an increase in protein and kilocalorie intakes and in the number of days during which prescribed levels for protein and kilocalories were achieved. These results suggest that the informational feedback was effective for improving the oral caloric intake of burn patients.     

Effects of Acute Stress or Centrally Injected Interleukin-1beta on Neuropeptide Expression in the Immune System

Acute stress stimulates the expression and release of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) from the hypothalamus, and the pro-opiomelanocortin products beta-endorphin and ACTH from the anterior pituitary. These neuropeptides are also expressed in immune tissues, and it has been proposed that they may modulate immune responses to stress through paracrine mechanisms. We subjected rats to restraint stress or central injection of interleukin (IL)-1beta to determine whether these acute stimuli can alter the expression of neuropeptides in the spleen and thymus. Restraint stress significantly increased the contents of all these neuropeptides in thymic, but not splenic, extracts. A single icv injection of IL-1beta increased contents of CRH, AVP, ACTH and beta-endorphin in the spleens of both sham-operated and adrenalectomised (ADX) rats. IL-1beta increased thymic contents of CRH and ACTH in sham-operated rats but these increases were not observed in ADX rats. These results suggest that the effects of IL-1beta on neuropeptide expression in the spleen are independent of glucocorticoids, whereas IL-1beta stimulation of neuropeptide expression in the thymus is dependent on circulating glucocorticoids. There were significant correlations between increases in CRH, ACTH and beta-endorphin in the spleen, and between CRH and ACTH in the thymus, consistent with the suggestion that IL-1beta-induced increases in ACTH and beta-endorphin may be mediated through CRH. These results provide evidence that stressors can directly influence neuropeptide expression in immune tissues. Thus stress may influence immune functions through paracrine mechanisms involving locally synthesised neuropeptides as well as through activation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis.     

Acquisition of probabilities in anticipatory appraisals of stress

Processes involved in predicting stressor events were examined from the perspective of ‘associative memory models’. Subjects were exposed to alphabetic letters which supposedly represented electrical resistors used in audio equipment, in the guise of marketing research. Each letter presentation was followed either by a burst of aversive white noise, signifying ‘resistor failure’ during a brief surge of current, or by a green light, signifying ‘resistor effectiveness’. After a programmed series of presentations, subjects were asked to make several judgments about each resistor; analyses of these judgments focused on the comparative influence exerted by the alternate stimulus events. Regardless of the type of judgment (e.g. probability of future noise, frequency of earlier silent outcomes, and so on), the determining stimulus property was the cumulative frequency of earlier aversive outcomes. Moreover, the dominance of this property was not altered by manipulations designed to elevate the salience of equally relevant benign outcomes. Results were discussed with reference to models of categorical memory and predictive confidence. Circumstances under which stress predictions may be especially inaccurate were considered, as were implications of the present findings for studies of differences in categorical-frequency memory processes associated with ‘depresed mood’.     

Introduction to the Special Section on Cognitive Science and Psychological Assessment

This introduction to the Special Section on Cognitive Science and Psychological Assessment begins with a brief overview of cognitive science and its interface with the clinical assessment of cognitive functioning. Concepts and themes permeating the articles in this section are then taken up. Included are cognitive-model architectures and model parameters, differential emphasis on efficiency versus content of cognition, and implementation of stochastic and dynamical aspects of cognitive processes. Selected distinguishing attributes of the respective contributions are highlighted.     

Genuine and drug-induced synesthesia: A comparison

Despite some principal similarities, there is no systematic comparison between the different types of synesthesia (genuine, acquired and drug-induced). This comprehensive review compares the three principal types of synesthesia and focuses on their phenomenological features and their relation to different etiological models. Implications of this comparison for the validity of the different etiological models are discussed. Comparison of the three forms of synesthesia show many more differences than similarities. This is in contrast to their representation in the literature, where they are discussed in many respects as being virtually similar. Noteworthy is the much broader spectrum and intensity with the typical drug-induced synesthesias compared to genuine and acquired synesthesias. A major implication of the phenomenological comparison in regard to the etiological models is that genuine and acquired synesthesias point to morphological substrates, while drug-induced synesthesia appears to be based on functional changes of brain activity.     

The interplay of math anxiety and math competence for later performance

Social Psychology of Education - Math anxiety’s negative effects on performance are well-documented. The interplay of math anxiety and mathematical competence regarding later performance is...     

Burning With Envy? Dispositional and Situational Influences on Envy in Grandiose and Vulnerable Narcissism

Research on narcissism and envy suggests a variable relationship that may reflect differences between how vulnerable and grandiose narcissism relate to precursors of envy. Accordingly, we proposed a model in which dispositional envy and relative deprivation differentially mediate envy's association with narcissistic vulnerability, grandiosity, and entitlement. To test the model, 330 young adults completed dispositional measures of narcissism, entitlement, and envy; one week later, participants reported on deprivation and envy feelings toward a peer who outperformed others on an intelligence test for a cash prize (Study 1) or earned higher monetary payouts in a betting game (Study 2). In both studies, structural equation modeling broadly supported the proposed model. Vulnerable narcissism robustly predicted episodic envy via dispositional envy. Entitlement—a narcissistic facet common to grandiosity and vulnerability—was a significant indirect predictor via relative deprivation. Study 2 also found that (a) the grandiose leadership/authority facet indirectly curbed envy feelings via dispositional envy, and (b) episodic envy contributed to schadenfreude feelings, which promoted efforts to sabotage a successful rival. Whereas vulnerable narcissists appear dispositionally envy‐prone, grandiose narcissists may be dispositionally protected. Both, however, are susceptible to envy through entitlement when relative deprivation is encountered.     

VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS COGNITION: A COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH TO SELF-UNDERSTANDING IN THREE MONOTHEIST CONTEXTS

This study considered representations of divine and human others in the self-understanding of monotheists from three religions. Self-understanding was conceptualized on the basis of semantic and episodic knowledge in narrative response data. Given the importance of social context in the formation of cognitive schemas, the project emphasized self-understanding in a comparative religious design. The sample included sixty nominated religious exemplars who responded to a structured interview. Schemas were subsequently mapped for Jews, Muslims, and Christians by comparison of self and other representations in a computational model known as latent semantic analysis (LSA). Findings indicated that representation of the divine is far removed from parents in cognitive schemas for all participants. Unlike Jews and Christians, Muslims appear to represent human others on the basis of self-understanding which principally references the divine. When considered in a computational semantic space, exemplars generally represent the self in a manner corresponding with divine and peer figures.