Analgesic and opioid involvement in the shock-elicited activity and escape deficits produced by inescapable shock

Three experiments examined the involvement of analgesic processes and endogenous opioids in the production of the shuttlebox escape acquisition and unconditioned activity deficits which follow exposure to inescapable shock. Experiment 1 found that the opiate antagonist naltrexone administered before the inescapable shock session interfered with the shuttlebox escape acquisition deficit which would normally follow. Experiment 2 found naltrexone to completely prevent the unconditioned activity deficit. The final experiment revealed that dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid which abolishes the analgesia produced by inescapable shock, reversed the activity deficit. These results indicate that endogenous opioids may be involved in the production of both the escape acquisition and activity deficits. They also suggest that the analgesia produced by these opioids may participate in the mediation of the activity deficit, even though analgesia is not involved in producing the shuttlebox acquisition deficit.     

Configural conditioning in the CER: Loss of element strength after repeated reinforced compound CS trials

Different groups of rats received different numbers of compound CS (light/noise) conditioning trials in the CER procedure. The amount of suppression evident to the single elements of the compound decreased as a function of the number of previous compound trials. This loss of CR strength was interpreted as a configuring effect. Further experimental comparisons indicated that the configuring effect could not be readily explained in terms of a generalization decrement or a stimulus novelty hypothesis.     

Toward a Lutheran Response to Christian Zionism1

Abstract : The following article discusses the Christian Zionist movement, and emphasizes the danger it poses to facilitating peace in the Middle East. The author argues that it is a political movement built on a particular theological system, that of premillenial dispensationalism. This particular system also is discussed in detail, including its origins and its contemporary manifestations. The article concludes with some suggestions for how a Lutheran theological perspective might constructively engage Christian Zionism in the service of promoting a vision of hope for the future.     

The use of a portable delayed auditory feedback unit in stuttering therapy

A portable on-the-body delayed auditory feedback was used in the establishment and transfer modes of fluent speech in a stutterer while he was on the Monterey Fluency Program. The performance of the client was compared with a “standard” population of stutterers. The portable DAF was comparable to the larger DAF in establishment and superior in transfer with minimal behavioral and technical problems. Use and potential value of the portable DAF in transfer and maintenance phases of therapy are discussed.     

The impact of family,peers, and educational personnel upon career decision making

This study examined the amount of support, encouragement, and discouragement women received from the important people in their lives when they considered enrolling in a male-traditional vocational course. Data were collected from 470 women enrolled in California vocational training programs. Approximately equal numbers of women in male-dominated (Nontraditionals) and female-dominated programs (Traditionals) completed the self-administered questionnaire. Among those in female-traditional programs, 117 had considered taking a nontraditional program, but never did (Considereds). Data were analyzed for each of these three groups. Results revealed the Nontraditionals consistently received more support and enocuragement than did the Traditionals. However, the only significant support differences between the Nontraditionals and Considereds were in terms of the males in their lives. The Considereds and Traditionals also expected more discouragement than the Nontraditionals indicated they had actually received. Recommendations are made to improve educational quality and to foster equality of educational opportunity.     

Immunization of opioid analgesia: Effects of prior escapable shock on subsequent shock-induced and morphine-induced antinociception

In Experiment 1, it was shown that experience with escapable foot shock 4 hr prior to a session of 80 inescapable tail shocks prevented the occurrence of an analgesic response normally observed immediately following the tail shock. It has been suggested by J. W. Grau, R. L. Hyson, S. F. Maier, J. Madden, and J. D. Barchas (Science, 1981, 213, 1409–1411) that the analgesia that occurs following this number of inescapable tail shocks is mediated by endogenous opioid systems. To further explore the influence of escapable shock on opiate-mediated analgesia, Experiment 2 examined the effects of prior escapable shock on the long-term analgesia reaction that occurs upon brief exposure to shock 20 hr after morphine administration. Rats were given escapable shock, inescapable shock, or no shock 4 hr prior to a morphine injection. Twenty hours following the injection, all subjects received 5 brief foot shocks and were then immediately given tail-flick analgesia tests. Subjects which received inescapable shock or no shock prior to the morphine injection displayed a significant analgesic response. However, subjects which received escapable shock prior to morphine were not analgesic following brief exposure to shock. Thus, escapable shock seems to directly influence the activation of opioid analgesia systems.     

Update: School-age stutterers

Field-test data is reported on 48 school-age stutterers evaluated with the Assessment of Fluency in School-Age Children during the 1980–1981 school year in East-Central Ohio, which is largely rural in character with small industrial cities. The data answers questions proposed in 1977 regarding issues relating to the identification of young stutterers, their awareness of disfluent speech, and management problems in a school setting.     

Individual Differences in visual imagery and spatial ability

Spatial ability is generally assumed to involve construction, transformation, and interpretation of mental images. To explore the relationship between spatial ability and both image quality and image process efficiency, 79 subjects performed eight spatial tests, completed three imagery questionnaires, and participated in six laboratory tasks. These laboratory tasks were devised to measure image quality and the efficiency of image generation, image rotation, image scanning, adding and subtracting detail in images, and integration of images. Although ratings of imagery control and vividness were unrelated to spatial test performance, laboratory measures of process efficiency and image quality were strongly related to spatial test performance and weakly related to one another. A structural equation model identified a single spatial factor, Visualization ability, that can be decomposed into unique variance plus a linear combination of measures of image quality and image process efficiency. An interpretation of this model is that successful performance on spatial tests requires maintenance of a high-quality image and efficient image transformation and inspection processes.