Transposition: A reevaluation.

Theories of transposition are evaluated in terms of the available empirical data. The most often cited model, that of Spence (1937), is found to be adequate in its explanation of simple transposition and the distance effect. It encounters difficulty in explaining or incorporating the findings of: intermediate size, simultaneous versus successive discrimination, contrast and background effects, and mediated transposition. Other models are considered, with adaptation-level approaches providing the most adequate alternative to the Spence position. (3 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioned taste aversions and neophobia in rats with hippocampal lesions.

In Exp I extensive hippocampal lesions retarded, but did not prohibit, the conditioning of a strong taste aversion to physiological saline (the CS) in 16 male Holtzman albino rats when illness (the UCS) was induced by apomorphine injection 15 min following ingestion of the saline. In Exp II hippocampal lesions reduced the aversiveness of novelty in a drinking fluid for 21 thirsty Ss. It is suggested that the mild impairment of taste aversion learning in Ss with hippocampal lesions was not the result of destruction of mnemonic mechanisms that serve to span the long CS-UCS interval but rather that the reduced intensity of the aversion resulted from a lesion-altered neophobic disposition that weakened the saliency of the novel flavor CS. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress and consumption: Inescapable shock, neophobia, and quinine finickiness in rats.

Exposure to inescapable shock has been shown to result in reduced consumption of quinine in water (the finickiness effect) in rats. In the present experiment, (1) a clear difference in finickiness occurred between male adult rats exposed to inescapable shock and those exposed to escapable shock (the first such demonstration), (2) finickiness was reinstated 20 days later, and (3) finickiness was eliminated by quinine exposure prior to treatment. The 1st 2 results support the role of uncontrollability and/or unpredictability in finickiness and extend its potential impact to long-term consequences. This allows greater potential for the modeling of long-term effects, such as eating disorders and depression in humans. The finding that preexposure to quinine eliminated finickiness is contrary to current accounts of the effect. Accounts of finickiness are proposed in terms of classically conditioned aversions, bitterness, and neuropeptide control of ingestion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Demonstrations of neophobia and enhanced neophobia in the albino rat.

Studied the conditions under which neophobia and enhanced neophobia occur in the albino rat in 5 experiments with a total of 160 male albino rats. Neophobia to a .1% saccharin solution was demonstrated in a 10-min single-bottle test. This neophobia was enhanced by pairing water ingestion with a radiation exposure of 100 r or an injection of LiCl 24 hrs prior to the saccharin test. In addition, it was found that the differences in consumption of saccharin in a 10-min single-bottle test due to neophobia and enhanced neophobia were produced by consistent differences in drinking rates which appeared early in the 10-min period. The disappearance of neophobia and enhanced neophobia in a 1-hr single-bottle test suggested that the effects of neophobia and enhanced neophobia are short-lived and are best measured in a brief single-bottle test. Enhanced neophobia was not found when 2 days of water drinking were interposed between LiCl poisoning and saccharin testing. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reevaluation of the relation between estrogen and emotionality in female rats.

It has been hypothesized that the emotionality of the female rat is reduced at estrus. In confirmation of previous research, the present 5 experiments with 112 Ss show that administration of estradiol benzoate (20 mug/kg) to female rats of the Maudsley Reactive (MR) strain increased open-field activity and decreased open-field defecation. In addition, ovariectomy increased open-field defecation in MR females. Supporting the generality of these findings, hormone administration reduced open-field defecation and increased open-field activity in intact females of a genetically heterogeneous background. Additional studies suggest that the decrease in open-field defecation at estrus is dependent on estrogenic suppression of food intake. Hormone replacement decreased food intake in the period preceding the open-field test, and colonic contents were also lower in rats treated with estradiol benzoate plus progesterone immediately after the completion of the open-field test. These changes were seen in both MR and genetically heterogeneous females. It is concluded that the decrease in open-field defecation at estrus may be mediated by a reduction in food intake and a consequent decrease in colonic contents and that the validity of the defecation response as a measure of emotionality may be seriously questioned under these circumstances. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extrinsic incentives and token-based programs: A reevaluation.

Criticizes F. M. Levine and G. Fasnacht's (see record 1975-07966-001) recommendation against the use of token programs (TPs) and extrinsic incentives in attribution theory and generalization research. Most TPs cited by Levine and Fasnacht successfully produced behavior change, had few observable adverse effects on Ss or their behavior, and required substantial improvement only in their procedures for programming generalization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive desensitization and avoidance behavior: A reevaluation.

Attempted to partially replicate and extend a study by S. Valins and A. Ray (see record 1968-04107-001) on the effects of false heart rate feedback on avoidance behavior. In the previous study, Ss reporting a fear of snakes saw slides of snakes while hearing either meaningless sounds or bogus heart rate feedback indicating they were not afraid of snakes. The present study with 30 female undergraduates replicated these conditions while including a no-treatment control and a group of Ss led to believe that snakes did affect them. Actual heart rate was monitored during the sessions and posttreatment interviews were conducted to more fully assess Ss' reactions. Analyses failed to reveal significant between-group differences on any of the outcome indices of fear. This was attributed to the apparent failure of experimental Ss to reevaluate their fear on the basis of their heart rate feedback. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk taking and vocational choice: A reevaluation.

Tested whether Ss preferring high levels of risk tend to choose high-risk occupations more often than low-risk occupations when asked to choose between them. Three separate risk-taking measures were used to divide 96 college freshmen and sophomores into high and low risk takers. Degree of occupational risk was defined by having Ss rate occupational titles according to perceived vocational success and probable income. Three Type III analyses of variance, one for each risk-taking measure, were carried out on the number of high-risk occupations chosen. Results show that risk-taking preferences were not significantly related to Ss' vocational choices on the selection tasks. Subsequent analyses compared the risk preferences of vocationally decided and undecided Ss, but no significant differences were found. The relationship of findings to previous research is discussed. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transfer in artificial grammar learning: A reevaluation.

This article covers methodological and theoretical issues in artificial grammar learning. Arguments that such tasks are mediated by abstract knowledge (e.g., A. S. Reber, see record 1991-00330-001) are based primarily on evidence from transfer experiments, where the surface vocabulary is changed between learning and test items. Because of a number of methodological concerns, the small magnitudes of artificial grammar learning effects generally are difficult to interpret. Possible solutions are offered here. Furthermore, even reliable transfer effects imply neither that subjects have acquired abstract knowledge of the underlying grammar nor that they are performing a process of abstract analogy from memorized whole exemplars. Models that learn only surface fragments of the training stimuli and perform abstraction at test rather than during learning are wholly consistent with transfer phenomena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Base-rate neglect in ALCOVE: A critical reevaluation.

A recent hybrid model of categorization (Attention Learning Covering Map [ALCOVE]; J. K. Kruschke, 1992) has combined the most desirable properties of exemplar models with a connectionist architecture and learning rule. A critically important property of ALCOVE is its apparent ability to account for base-rate neglect, a phenomenon beyond the purview of previous exemplar models. This article reexamines ALCOVE's base-rate neglect predictions and shows that they are confined to a very limited set of circumstances. In most cases, ALCOVE is unable to produce base-rate neglect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Polymorphism of transferrin found in the laboratory rat and wild rats in Japan

Polymorphism of the transferrin locus (Tf) was found in the laboratory rat and wild rats in Japan by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Two phenotypes, "a" and "b," were distinguished in homozygotes. It is suggested that these are controlled by autosomal codominant alleles. In 10 laboratory strains, only the IS strain showed the a type. This allele found in the IS strain was broadly distributed in Japanese wild rats. It is considered to be derived from a wild rat in Japan. Linkage relationship between Tf and Alp-1 was not established.     

Episodic and semantic memory in posthypnotic amnesia: A reevaluation.

J. F. Kihlstrom (see record 1980-11245-001) hypothesized that posthypnotic amnesia involved a dissociation between episodic and semantic components of memory. The present study tested an alternative hypothesis that Kihlstrom's findings resulted from experimental demands conveyed by the wording of the amnesia suggestion he employed. It was hypothesized that hypnotically amnesic Ss would show performance deficits on semantic and episodic memory tasks if expectations for such deficits were subtly conveyed to them. Using 2 treatment conditions, 60 undergraduates were divided into susceptibility groups. Condition 1 replicated Kihlstrom's experiment; in Condition 2, Ss were given an alternative hypnotic suggestion. It was found that Ss could be induced to show only episodic impairments (thereby replicating Kihlstrom) or both episodic and semantic impairments (contrary to Kihlstrom) by subtly varying the wording of amnesia suggestions. Findings are inconsistent with a dissociation hypothesis. Instead, they support the notion that hypnotic amnesia is a strategic enactment strongly influenced by expectations generated in the amnesia testing situation. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schizophrenia and the scanning cognitive control: A reevaluation.

In recent studies it has been inferred from performance on perceptual tasks, that paranoid schizophrenics showed extensive scanning and nonparanoid schizophrenics showed minimal scanning. Eye movements during free-search and size-judgment tasks were recorded for 14 paranoid and 14 nonparanoid schizophrenics, 14 psychotic depressives, and 14 control Ss. Medicated Ss showed lower eyemovement rate and fixation rate than nonmedicated Ss and controls, but there were no significant differences due to schizophrenia. There was a significant interaction between patient type and medication for size-judgment means, but all such differences were reduced to nonsignificance by training. Even after training, Ss showed greater variability in size judgments than controls. Results failed to support the notion of extensive or minimal scanning behavior of schizophrenics. Errors by the psychotic patients in making size judgments were not correlated with scanning behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Religiosity and mental health: A critical reevaluation and meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis of 24 studies on the relationship between religiosity and personality revealed no support for the preconception that religiousness is necessarily correlated with psychopathology; but it also showed only slightly positive correlates of religion. Better specification of concepts and methods of measuring religiosity are alleviating the problem of ambiguity in research results and suggest that religion reflects a multidimensional phenomenon that has positive and negative aspects. Clinical education, practice, and research need revision so that professionals will be better informed of the evidence, more open to the study of such variables, and more efficacious in their work with individuals who approach life from a religious perspective. (73 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Riots and reevaluation.

Suggests relevant actions, derived from psychological research on operant conditioning and conformity, that could be taken to counter the violence and racial hatred between Blacks and Whites. The application of psychology to these problems could help to reduce apathy and ensure that the majority view is expressed. (0 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attendance behavior: A reevaluation of Latham and Pursell's conclusions.

G. P. Latham and E. D. Pursell (see record 1975-24318-001) suggested that the traditional focus on absenteeism may have been misguided. They argued that absenteeism is not a behavior but rather the absence of behavior; therefore, it would be better to be concerned with attendance rather than absenteeism. They presented data purported to demonstrate that attendance is a more reliable measure than absenteeism as well as more appealing theoretically. It is concluded in the present paper that attendance measures have few theoretical advantages over absenteeism measures and that the differences in reliability are limited. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of basolateral amygdala lesions on neophobia, learned taste aversions, and sodium appetite in rats.

Reports results of 8 experiments with a total of 327 male Sprague-Dawley rats. Lesions to the basolateral amygdala produced permanent impairment in Ss' ability to learn a taste aversion. When lesions were administered after Ss had already learned an aversion, there was complete loss of the aversion. Ss with amygdala lesions also had a diminished neophobic response when presented with a novel solution and showed a more generalized aversion to water after a sucrose-sickness trial. Whether a solution was novel or familiar affected the learning of an aversion for controls more than it did for Ss with amygdala lesions. Ss with amygdala damage also showed less sodium appetite than normals in response to desoxycorticosterone acetate injections. These results indicate that rats with amygdala lesions have deficits in recognizing the significance of stimuli. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Backward conditioning: A reevaluation of the empirical evidence.

Comments that there is an apparent discrepancy between the widespread view that backward conditioning does not occur and the experimental evidence that suggests that it does. Backward pairing of CSs and UCSs frequently has resulted in effects similar to those produced by forward pairing, and results of several recent experiments have established that such effects cannot be attributed to factors other than stimulus pairing per se. Surprisingly, even some of the earlier experiments that provided the basis for the current skepticism concerning backward conditioning provide evidence of its existence. The failure to recognize backward conditioning as a legitimate phenomenon seems to reflect theoretical biases rather than a paucity of empirical evidence. Thus, backward conditioning and its properties merit renewed interest and reexamination. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)