The counsellor trainee as client: Client process as a predictor of counselling skill acquisition.

This study was based on C. R. Rogers's (1951) proposition that openness to and expressiveness of inner experiencing relates to the individual's ability to be sensitive to and acceptant of others. 34 participants in a human relations training program were first interviewed by experienced therapists. The Ss' capacities to process themselves as clients were assessed by use of an experiencing scale developed by E. T. Gendlin and E. M. Tomlinson (1961), and a process measure of this scale was used as a predictor of counseling skill acquisition during the program. It was found that there was no relationship between the predictor and skill acquisition during the initial phase of the training program. However, between the middle and final phase of the program, the High Mode Experiencing Ss sustained their facilitative communication despite a shift of training focus to action-oriented skills, whereas the facilitative communication of the Low Mode Experiencing Ss deteriorated during this period. It is concluded that the capacity to process themselves as clients may have little bearing on whether or not trainees can achieve low levels of facilitative functioning when these skills are explicitly addressed. However, this variable may have considerable bearing on the extent to which trainees can maintain the empathic attitude while extending their total range of functioning. (French abstract) (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Striatal activation during acquisition of a cognitive skill.

The striatum is thought to play an essential role in the acquisition of a wide range of motor, perceptual, and cognitive skills, but neuroimaging has not yet demonstrated striatal activation during nonmotor skill learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed while participants learned probabilistic classification, a cognitive task known to rely on procedural memory early in learning and declarative memory later in learning. Multiple brain regions were active during probabilistic classification compared with a perceptual-motor control task, including bilateral frontal cortices, occipital cortex, and the right caudate nucleus in the striatum. The left hippocampus was less active bilaterally during probabilistic classification than during the control task, and the time course of this hippocampal deactivation paralleled the expected involvement of medial temporal structures based on behavioral studies of amnesic patients. Findings provide initial evidence for the role of frontostriatal systems in normal cognitive skill learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of the role of working memory in procedural skill acquisition.

On the basis of the ACT* production system theory of skill acquisition (Anderson, 1983a, 1987), I generated predictions concerning the role of two proposed classes of working-memory limitations in procedural learning. Individual differences analyses of a laboratory procedural learning task tested these predictions. As hypothesized, measures of controlled attention in working memory predicted initial declarative rule acquisition and proceduralization, and measures of automatic activation in working memory predicted indexes of later production composition and strengthening. Results supported a distinction between two working-memory capacity constructs that impose unique limits on processes of skill acquisition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability and change in adult personality over 12 and 20 years.

Investigated the stability and change of 15 personality traits as measured by the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule over 20–40 yrs of age, using both a method combining correlational and mean level statistics to assess individual longitudinal changes and comparisons of longitudinal, cross-sectional, and age-cohort analyses to differentiate maturational and generational influences. A sample of 92 undergraduates tested in the late 1950's and 85 undergraduates tested in 1965 were retested by mail in 1978. 113 undergraduates were also tested in 1978. Longitudinally, substantial stability was reflected on several traits including deference and endurance, general increases on such traits as achievement and autonomy, general decreases on such traits as affiliation and abasement, and varied changes on a small number of traits. Maturational trends generally were similar for men and women, but generational trends differed between the sexes and resulted in a lessening or convergence of sexual differences in personality since the 1950's. The use of biographical data to suggest causal antecedents of personality change generally proved unsuccessful. (55 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Knowledge structures and the acquisition of a complex skill.

The purpose of this study was to examine the viability of knowledge structures as an operationalization of learning in the context of a task that required a high degree of skill. Over the course of 3 days, 86 men participated in 9 training sessions and learned a complex video game. At the end of acquisition, participants' knowledge structures were assessed. After a 4-day nonpractice interval, trainees completed tests of skill retention and skill transfer. Findings indicated that the similarity of trainees' knowledge structures to an expert structure was correlated with skill acquisition and was predictive of skill retention and skill transfer. However, the magnitude of these effects was dependent on the method used to derive the expert referent structure. Moreover, knowledge structures mediated the relationship between general cognitive ability and skill-based performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An exploration of the emotional cascade model in borderline personality disorder.

The emotional cascade model proposes that the emotional and behavioral dysregulation of individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) may be fundamentally linked through emotional cascades, vicious cycles of intense rumination and negative affect that may induce aversive emotional states. In order to reduce this aversive emotion, dysregulated behaviors such as non-suicidal self-injury may then be used as distractions from intense rumination. This study explored emotional cascades in a sample enriched with participants meeting diagnostic criteria for BPD. The first part of the study explored a structural equation model that examined the mediational effects of emotional cascades on the relationship between BPD symptoms and dysregulated behavior and found evidence for full mediation, even after controlling for symptoms of depression and other Cluster B disorders. The second part of the study examined the effects of a rumination induction conducted with the intention of eliciting emotional cascades in those diagnosed with BPD. The results demonstrated that individuals with BPD experienced greater reactivity and intensity of negative affect, but not of positive affect, following the procedure—even when controlling for current depressive symptoms. Future directions and clinical implications for the emotional cascade model are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dual learning processes in interactive skill acquisition.

Acquisition of interactive skills involves the use of internal and external cues. Experiment 1 showed that when actions were interdependent, learning was effective with and without external cues in the single-task condition but was effective only with the presence of external cues in the dual-task condition. In the dual-task condition, actions closer to the feedback were learned faster than actions farther away but this difference was reversed in the single-task condition. Experiment 2 tested how knowledge acquired in single and dual-task conditions would transfer to a new reward structure. Results confirmed the two forms of learning mediated by the secondary task: A declarative memory encoding process that simultaneously assigned credits to actions and a reinforcement-learning process that slowly propagated credits backward from the feedback. The results showed that both forms of learning were engaged during training, but only at the response selection stage, one form of knowledge may dominate over the other depending on the availability of attentional resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Activity valence as a function of mood change.

Investigated variation of activity evaluations as a function of affective change. 32 depressed and 36 nondepressed college students were exposed to 1 of 3 mood induction conditions, including depressive, elated, or neutral statements. Additionally, each S rated several activities for degree of pleasantness before and after mood manipulations. Affect-induction procedures were successful in changing or intensifying characteristic mood. For both groups, the induction of negative affect significantly decreased the enjoyableness attributed to activities, the induction of positive affect significantly elevated activity evaluations, and a neutral induction did not significantly change activity ratings. Contrary to predictions, depressed and nondepressed Ss did not differ in their initial evaluations of activities, indicating that they may approach activities with similar expectations of reinforcement. Implication for P. M. Lewinsohn's (1974, 1975) model of depression are discussed. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rate of stereotyped body rocking of severe retardates as a function of frustation of goal-directed behavior.

Assigned 17 male and 1 female retarded body rockers to 3 groups: 2 groups differing in terms of the number of reinforcements received for level pulling prior to frustration, and the 3rd serving as a control for changes in rate of stereotypy over time. After a prefrustration measure of stereotypy was obtained, the 2 experimental groups were exposed to a situation (frustration) on each of 4 days in which the goal-directed level-pulling response was blocked. Stereotypy rate and activity level were recorded during prefrustration and frustration periods. Results indicate that frustration was associated with increased rate of stereotypy. The increase in stereotypy as a consequence of frustration was directly related to the number of reinforcements prior to the blocking of goal-directed behavior. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in personality as a function of college attendance or work experience.

Administered the 16 PF to 105 females and 113 males who took a job immediately after leaving high school (work group) and 177 females and 178 males who entered college immediately after high school graduation (college group). All Ss were tested twice on the 16 PF both during their senior high school year (1965) and 5 yr. later (1970). Analyses of variance were performed for each of the personality factors treated as dependent variables and with groups and occasions as factors in these analyses. Three kinds of results were observed: (a) a set of selective traits that differentiated the college and work groups initially; (b) changes in certain personality traits that were related to the treatment effects experienced by the 2 groups (i.e., college or job); and (c) age trend effects common to both groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extent of opinion change as a function of amount of change advocated.

"Three different degrees of change in opinion were advocated by communications presented in such a way as to be independent of the recipient's own position." Communications advocating most extreme change had the greatest influence, those advocating moderate change had the next greatest influence, and those advocating the smallest change had the least influence. At the same time the ratio of change produced to that advocated declined, average amounts of change being 58%, 62%, and 88%, respectively, of the amount of change advocated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age differences in strategic behavior during a computation-based skill acquisition task.

The authors evaluated mechanistic and metacognitive accounts of age differences in strategy transitions during skill acquisition. Old and young participants were trained on a task involving a shift from performing a novel arithmetic algorithm to responding via associative recognition of equation–solution pairings. The strategy shift was manipulated by task instructions that either (a) equally focused on speed and accuracy, (b) encouraged retrieval use as a method toward fast responding, or (c) offered monetary incentives for fast retrieval-based performance. Monetary incentives produced a more rapid shift to retrieval relative to standard instructions; older adults showed a greater incentives effect on retrieval use than younger adults. Monetary incentives encouraged retrieval use and response time improvements despite accuracy costs (a speed–accuracy tradeoff). The pattern of results suggested a role of metacognitive and volitional factors in retrieval shift, indicating that an associative learning deficit cannot fully account for older adults’ delayed strategy shift. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bi-stability of movement coordination as a function of skill level and task difficulty.

This study investigated whether the level of practice interacts with the initial conditions (here manipulated as preparatory movements) and task difficulty (ball angular velocity and friction) in determining the stability of movement coordination for a roller ball motor task. Practice level and task difficulty were manipulated as two control parameters that theoretically were hypothesized to change the threshold for the transition between task success and failure. The findings showed bi-stability and hysteresis in the coordination mode as a manifestation of dependence on the initial conditions. The transition from failure to success in the roller ball task as a function of practice time can be modeled as a saddle-node bifurcation corresponding to a first order phase transition. It is proposed that task difficulty acts as a control parameter that is a dual to skill level and that also effectively compensates for practice time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention value as a function of illuminant color change.

A 16-dial panel was tested with a check-reading task (to detect deviations) for the effect of illumination changes to aid detection of errors. In one situation (R), from 1 through 8 error dials were presented under constant red illumination. In the other situation (RG) error dials were accompanied by a change in illuminant from red to green. "(a) Differences between response times and also variability of response under the R and RG situations were significant; (b) three times as many errors were committed under the R situation; (c) no significant sex differences were present under either the R or RG situation." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality change as a function of volunteer experience in a psychiatric hospital.

Tested 416 college students for degree of moral tolerance and self-acceptance before and after completing undergraduate psychology courses. 16 of the students concurrently did volunteer work in mental hospitals. The within-Ss analysis indicates the volunteer experience did not significantly change the moral tolerance scores, whereas it did result in greater self-acceptance scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Continuity and change in personality.

Examines the stability and resistance to change of "cognitive constructions about ourselves and the world" and cognitive styles in problem solving. The mind is presented as creating and maintaining a "perception of continuity even in the face of perpetual observed changes in actual behavior." Questions are raised regarding correlations between new cognitive style measures, IQ (as measured by WISC), and RT. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Configural response learning: The acquisition of a nonpredictive motor skill.

This study examined the representational nature of configural response learning using a task that required simultaneous keypresses with 2 or 3 fingers, similar to the production of chords on the piano. If the benefits of learning are related to the retrieval of individual stimulus-response mappings, performance should depend on the frequencies of the individual responses forming each chord. Alternatively, learning may involve the encoding of configural information concerning the relationship between the chord elements. In Experiment 1, training was restricted to a subset of the 120 possible 3-element chords. Probe blocks included the practiced chords, chords composed of novel configurations of practiced elements (reconfigured), and chords that contained a new element (new). Practiced chords were performed faster than reconfigured chords, indicating learning involves the encoding of configural information. Experiment 2 showed that learning was not restricted to configurations within each hand. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrated that learning was largely response based. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-sequential analysis of adult personality.

The 16 PF was administered 4 times over an 8-yr period to 331 men and women aged 54–70 yrs at the 1st measurement to examine age/cohort and sex differences in personality. A repeated-measures ANOVA indicated several main effects for sex but few age/cohort, time, or interaction effects. Results suggest that adult personality and sex differences tend to be stable in the middle years. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consistency of the adult personality.

Data "… concerning consistency of selected personality variables in the adult personality" were studied in a sample originally composed of 300 engaged couples. "Each of these 600 individuals was assessed with an elaborate battery of techniques including anthropometric measures, blood groupings, a battery of psychological tests, and a 36-variable personality rating scale." Retesting occurred after a lapse of 16 to 18 years. "Our findings indicate that significant changes in the human personality may continue to occur during the years of adulthood. Such changes… are potentially of sufficient magnitude to offer a basis of fact for those who hope for continued psychological growth during the adult years." 20 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)