Further analysis of sensory inattention following lateral hypothalamic damage in rats.

Reports results of 2 experiments with a total of 14 Sprague-Dawley albino, 17 Charles-River albino, and 8 Long-Evans hooded rats. Ss with lateral hypothalamic damage had severe impairments in orienting to sensory stimuli and in using their limbs. When damage was unilateral, these deficits occurred only on the side contralateral to the lesion. Bilateral damage caused bilateral sensorimotor impairments which were involved in the early postoperative deficits in feeding and killing. Sensorimotor capacities recovered gradually and in a predictable fashion. Several aspects of the sequence of recovery were parallel to the ontogeny of sensorimotor capacities. Finally, these impairments seemed to be associated with damage to an area in the ventrolateral hypothalamus-subcapsular area, where pallidohypothalamic and amygdalohypothalamic fibers reportedly pass. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic amnesia, disorganized recall, and inattention.

High susceptible (Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility) hypnotic and high and low susceptible nonhypnotic (controls) undergraduates learned a categorized word list to a stringent criterion. The hypnotic Ss were given an amnesia suggestion for the list, and the controls attempted to recall while simultaneously distracting themselves by counting backwards in writing (i.e., dual task). Clustering of recall was measured immediately before, during, and after the suggestion/dual task period. Ss in the 3 treatments who exhibited recall decrements during the suggestion/dual task period showed corresponding and equivalent breakdowns in clustering (i.e., disorganized recall) at this time. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the recall deficits and disorganized recall characteristic of hypnotic amnesia result from a failure to attend to the task of target recall during the suggestion period. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness as conditioned inattention to the target stimulus.

Learned helplessness theory explains the impaired performance that follows exposure to uncontrollable outcomes by assuming learned expectation of response-outcome independence that is transferred between tasks. Recent evidence has shown that introducing a second neutral stimulus, contingent on the offset of the uncontrollable stimulus, removes the subsequent interference. This finding has been claimed to support the view that the interference is a result of conditioned inattention rather than of the expectation of response-outcome independence. The conflicting explanations were examined in a series of 4 experiments, using a total of 202 students (undergraduates and nursing and physiotherapy students), that varied induction procedures (passive exposure or inescapability) and stimulus quality (aversive or nonaversive). All 4 experiments found the predicted interference, but only 1, in which passive exposure was combined with an aversive stimulus, obtained results supporting the conditioned inattention hypothesis. It is concluded that learned helplessness probably involves more than a single mechanism and that the passive exposure procedure may not be appropriate for demonstrating genuine helplessness deficits. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validation of inattention/overactivity and aggression ratings with classroom observations.

Examined the differential validity of teacher ratings on the Inattention/Overactivity and Aggression subscales of the Conners Teacher Rating Scale among 48 clinic-referred male Ss (mean age 10.9 yrs). Teacher ratings were correlated with observations undertaken in 3 classroom settings: large group work, small group work, and independent seat work. Results indicate that teachers were able to differentiate significantly between Ss externalizing behaviors in the classroom settings. Possible reasons for conflicting findings in previous research are discussed. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of neonatal dopamine depletion on sensory inhibition in the rat

Central dopamine systems appear to play an important role in sensory information processing. In particular, the filtering (or gating) of repetitive auditory stimuli is modulated by pharmacological manipulations that affect dopaminergic neurotransmission. The present study further addressed the role of dopamine in auditory gating. Three-day-old male Sprague-Dawley rats, pretreated with desipramine, received intracisternal injections of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA; 75 micrograms in 10 microliters) or the vehicle. At 4 months of age the rats were implanted for evoked potential recording and auditory gating was assessed using a paired click paradigm. Neonatally administered 6-OHDA did not alter gating in the adult rats. However, unlike for the control group, systemic amphetamine (1.83 mg/kg, IP) failed to disrupt gating in the treated rats. Apomorphine (1.0 mg/kg, SC) disrupted gating in both groups. Neonatal 6-OHDA treatment caused significant reductions in dopamine levels in the striatum, nucleus accumbens, and substantia nigra/ventral tegmental regions. There was an inverse relationship between substantia nigra/ ventral tegmental area dopamine levels and auditory gating. Overall, the results suggest that amphetamine-induced auditory gating loss requires presynaptic dopamine release, but that the deficiency occurs through postsynaptic dopamine receptor activation.     

Cultural blindness or selective inattention?

Comments on the article by F. Rothbaum et al (see record 2000-02781-001), which highlighted evidence of cultural variations in, and noted ways in which attachment theory is laden with Western values and meaning in comparisons of the US and Japan. According to the present authors, any claim to cross-cultural validity of a theory can only be considered a bold but tentative hypothesis. It is shown here that Rothbaum et al cited existing empirical studies on attachment in Japan only selectively, and, in so doing, Rothbaum et al neglected important evidence in favor of the validity of attachment theory in the Japanese context. The Japanese case is not yet a falsification of the nomological network that constitutes attachment theory's claim to cross-cultural validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception without attention: Evidence of grouping under conditions of inattention.

Many theories of visual perception assume that before attention is allocated within a scene, visual information is parsed according to the Gestalt principles of organization. This assumption has been challenged by experiments in which participants were unable to identify what Gestalt grouping patterns had occurred in the background of primary-task displays (A. Mack, B. Tang, R. Tuma, S. Kahn, & I. Rock, 1992). In the present study, participants reported which of 2 horizontal lines was longer. Dots in the background, if grouped, formed displays similar to the Ponzo illusion (Experiments 1 and 2) or the Müller-Lyer illusion (Experiment 3). Despite inaccurate reports of what the patterns were, participants' responses on the line-length discrimination task were clearly affected by the 2 illusions. These results suggest that Gestalt grouping does occur without attention but that the patterns thus formed may not be encoded in memory without attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity in the positive illusory bias.

The present study examined the relationships among gender, inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, depressive symptoms, and biases in perceptions of scholastic competence in children. Participants were 38 children with predominantly inattentive symptoms (IA), 59 children with predominantly hyperactive/impulsive symptoms or a combination of hyperactivity/impulsivity and inattention (HICB), and 83 control (CTL) children. HICB children overestimated their scholastic competence more than IA children when reading and math achievement scores were used as criteria and more than CTL children when math achievement and teacher perceptions of children's competence were used as criteria. IA children generally did not differ from CTL children with regard to estimations of competence. Regression analyses suggested that positive illusory self- perceptions are associated with more severe hyperactivity/impulsivity, but not more severe inattention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic and environmental influences on ADHD symptom dimensions of inattention and hyperactivity: A meta-analysis.

Behavioral genetic investigations have consistently demonstrated large genetic influences for the core symptom dimensions of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), namely inattention (INATT) and hyperactivity (HYP). Yet little is known regarding potential similarities and differences in the type of genetic influence (i.e., additive vs. nonadditive) on INATT and HYP. As these symptom dimensions form the basis of the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders subtype classification system, evidence of differential genetic influences would have important implications for research investigating causal mechanisms for ADHD. The current meta-analysis aimed to investigate the nature of etiological influences for INATT and HYP by comparing the type and magnitude of genetic and environmental influences each. A comprehensive literature search yielded 79 twin and adoption studies of INATT and/or HYP. Of these, 13 samples of INATT and 9 samples of HYP were retained for analysis. Results indicated that both dimensions were highly heritable (genetic factors accounted for 71% and 73% of the variance in INATT and HYP, respectively). However, the 2 dimensions were distinct as to the type of genetic influence. Dominant genetic effects were significantly larger for INATT than for HYP, whereas additive genetic effects were larger for HYP than for INATT. Estimates of unique environmental effects were small to moderate and shared environmental effects were negligible for both symptom dimensions. The pattern of results generally persisted across several moderating factors, including gender, age, informant, and measurement method. These findings highlight the need for future studies to disambiguate INATT and HYP when investigating the causal mechanisms, and particularly genetic influences, behind ADHD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relation between 3-year-old children's skills and their hyperactivity, inattention, and aggression.

This study examines the relation between 3-year-old children's (N = 280) symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and aggression and their cognitive, motor, and preacademic skills. When the authors controlled for other types of attention and behavior problems, maternal ratings of hyperactivity and teacher ratings of inattention were uniquely and moderately associated with children's lower cognitive and preacademic skills. The few modest, simple associations between maternal ratings of aggression and children's skills were no longer significant when hyperactivity and inattention were controlled. This suggests that cognitive and preacademic problems among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms may begin to emerge as early as age 3. The results highlight the importance of examining the association between different types of behavior problems and young children's skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fimbrial lesions and sensory preconditioning.

Examined the effects of fimbrial and cortical lesions on sensory preconditioning in 36 New Zealand albino rabbits. Damage to the cortex or the fimbria had no apparent effect on the acquisition of CRs. However, fimbrial lesions virtually abolished the effects of preconditioning, whereas cortical lesions had no significant effect. Because fimbrial damage disrupts hippocampal output, findings indicate that the hippocampus is vital to learning functions other than spatial cognition or working memory. Results are considered to be most compatible with the idea that the hippocampus is involved in "marking" biologically important portions of the temporal environment. A temporal mapping system involving the hippocampus may be critical to the formation of an association between the 2 conditional stimuli in sensory preconditioning. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discriminative sensory preconditioning.

Describes an experiment in which 32 male hooded rats received either 7, 14, 28, or 56 pairings of a tone with a light and an equal number of unpaired tones of a different frequency. After then pairing the light with footshock in CER training, the ability of each tone to suppress drinking was tested. The paired tone yielded significantly more suppression than the unpaired tone. Suppression was an increasing function of number of presentations for the paired tone and a decreasing function for the unpaired tone. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Backward sensory preconditioning.

In Experiments 1 and 2, rats received initial training in which two neutral events were presented as a serial compound (A?→?X). Subsequent training with A as a signal for shock was found to endow X with the ability to evoke the conditioned response of suppression. Experiment 2 also showed that responding to X was diminished if, prior to testing, Stimulus A underwent extinction. Two possible mechanisms for these findings are considered: (a) that X elicits responding through the associative chain X-A-shock, and (b) that A activates a representation of X that gains direct associative strength during conditioning with A and loses it during extinction of A. Experiment 3 demonstrated that an X-shock association established after initial A?→?X training can be extinguished by nonreinforced presentations of A. These results suggest that associatively evoked representations of stimuli can enter into associations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does civil inattention exist in pedestrian passing?

Four studies tested E. Goffman's (1963) rule of civil inattention in pedestrian passing—that pedestrians look at a distance to recognize the legitimacy of the other person and then look away to indicate that no special attention is intended. The 1st 2 studies filmed natural pedestrian passing and found no lowering of the head or averting of the gaze as pedestrians approached each other on a college campus. In the 3rd study, 18 undergraduates rated slide sequences of predicted normal and deviant pedestrian passes. Contrary to the predictions of the civil inattention rule, a continuous stare and no looking followed by a sudden look at a close distance were rated as the most polite, most friendly, and most natural of the sequences. Finally, in the 4th study, confederates who passed Ss on the street found that persons did not lower their heads or avert their gaze as they approached. The failure of multiple methods to find the civil inattention rule in operation suggests that it does not exist. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Noradrenaline and sensory preconditioning in the rat.

Two experiments investigated the effect of noradrenaline (NA) depletion following intraperitoneal administration of the neurotoxin N-2-chloroethyl-N-ethyl-2-bromobenzylamine ({dsp4}[50 mg/kg]) on sensory preconditioning in male Sprague-Dawley rats. For sensory preconditioning, a saccharin taste conditioned stimulus (CS?) and a special type of drinking bottle (noisy bottle) were paired during Phase 1. During Phase 2, the noisy bottle (CS?) was paired with lithium chloride, and during Phase 3 the aversion to saccharin (CS?) was tested in saccharin preference tests. {dsp4} treatment disrupted Ss' ability to form sensory preconditioning, and this effect could not be explained on the basis of enhanced neophobia, stimulus generalization, or a deficit in 1st-order conditioning in {dsp4}-treated Ss. Findings are discussed in relation to issues of associative learning such as contextual control of latent inhibition and extinction. Data suggest that NA-depleted rats fail to form associations between the CS? and CS? during sensory preconditioning and are consisitent with other data from compound conditioning experiments on the functional role of NA in learning and memory. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnotic susceptibility and the sensory evoked response.

Studied relationships between hypnotic susceptibility and the vertex late component of the sensory evoked response (SER) in 30 undergraduates. Ss were classified as high or low susceptibles according to scores on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. The visual and auditory evoked responses were recorded under conditions of selective visual and auditory attention. When they were instructed to selectively attend to stimuli, Ss high in hypnotic susceptibility produced larger SERs than Ss low in hypnotic susceptibility, who showed an opposite pattern, with the largest evoked responses occurring to stimuli they were instructed to ignore. Results are discussed in terms of possible attentional mechanisms in hypnosis and a possible explanation for conflicting results in the literature dealing with the effects of attention upon the SER. (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associations in second-order conditioning and sensory preconditioning.

Conducted 4 experiments using a CER procedure with a total of 120 male Sprague-Dawley rats. Exp. I-III provided demonstrations of 2nd-order fear conditioning and suggest that 2-order conditioning was unaffected by extinction of the 1st-order stimulus upon which it was based. In an analogous sensory preconditioning procedure in Exp. IV, extinction of the 1st-order stimulus did affect responding to the secondary stimulus. Results are inconsistent with an interpretation of 2nd-order conditioning in terms of associations between the 1st- and 2nd-order stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A review of sensory preconditioning.

Research employing the sensory preconditioning (SPC) paradigm is examined in the light of 3 questions: (a) can SPC be dealt with by learning theory, (b) if so, what principles does it follow, (c) what problems does the theorist face in integrating the SPC data into his system? The author concludes that SPC, tentatively, can be considered as a phenomenon in learning and that there is a need for further research in determining the principles SPC follows. A suggested paradigm for such research is presented. Finally, one problem the theorist must face is that reinforcement, as classically defined, is an unnecessary condition for SPC to be effective. At the moment, a more tenable approach would be a Hebbian-type view or an S-S analysis. 28 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)