Instructions as discriminative stimuli in verbal conditioning and awareness.

This investigation was to study the effects of preconditioning instructions and type of reinforcer on level of awareness and extent of conditioning. Prior to a conditioning task, Ss in different experimental groups were given varying degrees of information concerning the nature of the reinforcement and the reinforcement contingency. In some groups of Ss the reinforcement consisted of E saying "good" while in other experimental groups the Ss received points as reinforcement. The results indicated that the degree of conditioning and level of awareness were partially dependent upon the amount of information in the preconditioning instruction. However, in experimental groups where only partial information was given, Ss who received points conditioned better than Ss who received "good" even though there were no differences in the level of awareness. The nature of the response class was also found to be an important variable that affected the level of conditioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomic function in a cohort of children with diabetes

129 diabetic children in Avon County participated in a longitudinal study of the evolution of microvascular disease together with 129 age- and sex-matched controls. Diabetic children had mean (+/- SD) age 12.7 (+/- 3.4) years (range: 3.7-16.8), mean (+/- SD) diabetes duration 3.9 (+/- 3.2) years (range: 0.1-13.4) and mean (+/- SD) HbA1 11.1% (+/- 2.2) (range: 6.5-18.2). Cardiovascular autonomic function was studied by four heart rate (HR) tests using a computerized system of HR monitoring. As a group, diabetic children had higher mean HR (p = 0.0004) and reduced max/min HR ratio while standing (p = 0.001), compared with the control children. HR ratio while standing was the only variable related to diabetes duration (r = -0.20, p = 0.018), while no correlation of HR variables with glycaemic control was found. Twenty diabetic children (15.5%) had one abnormal HR test. Ten diabetic children (7.7%) demonstrated abnormality in two or more HR tests. When compared with the other diabetic children in the cohort, these ten children were found to be younger in age (mean age: 9.4 vs 12.0 yr, p = 0.05), but did not otherwise differ in terms of diabetes duration or glycaemic control. No pubertal or sex effect in the development of diabetic autonomic neuropathy was detected. These findings suggest that autonomic function may be impaired early in childhood diabetes, independent of the duration of the disease or the quality of glycaemic control.     

Incorporation of concern- and nonconcern-related verbal stimuli into dream content.

The hypothesis that cues related to Ss' current concerns can control attentional and cognitive processes during sleeping and dreaming was examined by presenting concern- and nonconcern-related verbal stimuli to 7 male undergraduates during sleep Stages 2 and REM. The taped dream reports were judged for stimulus incorporation by 2 independent raters. Results reveal that concern stimuli were incorporated significantly more often than nonconcern stimuli in REM, although low dream recall rates prevented assessment of whether this relationship also existed in Stage 2. This finding supports the results of other studies that indicate that responsiveness to auditory stimuli during sleeping and dreaming is largely dependent on the personal significance of the stimulus to the sleeper. It further suggests that sleeping Ss are capable of making more complex and subtle cognitive discriminations, based on the waking value of the stimulus to the S, than has previously been demonstrated. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomic origins of cardiac responses to nonsignal stimuli in the rat.

Heart rate (HR) and blood pressure responses to nonsignal auditory stimuli were measured in rats after saline or pharmacological blockade of the sympathetic or vagal innervation of the heart. HR responses to the low-intensity stimulus were predominantly deceleratory, whereas responses to the high-intensity stimulus were more notably acceleratory. Both stimuli elicited a biphasic pressor–depressor response, although potential baroreflex influences accounted for only a small proportion of the HR response variance. Deceleratory responses to the low-intensity stimulus were eliminated by scopolamine and thus appeared to be predominantly of vagal origin. Acceleratory response to the high-intensity stimulus appeared to be mediated primarily by sympathetic activation because it was substantially attenuated by the β? antagonist atenolol. Furthermore, HR responses to the low-intensity stimulus appeared to reflect coactivation of both sympathetic and vagal systems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual field differences in the recognition of verbal and nonverbal stimuli in man.

Tachistoscopically presented verbal and nonverbal stimuli to 16 normal right-handed 18-25 yr old males in the left and right visual fields. Verbal stimuli were 3-letter nonsense words. Nonverbal stimuli were 4 groups of random shapes in a 2 * 2 design in which the dimensions of verbal association value and complexity were independently varied to assess the influence of each as determinants of field differences. Results confirm earlier findings of a right-field superiority for verbal stimuli; however, a clear left-field superiority was found only for certain nonverbal stimuli (the high-complexity shapes). Association value produced a significant main effect but no differential field effect. Results are discussed in terms of the association between these field differences and reciprocal specialization of functions in the human cerebral hemispheres. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial and verbal components of the act of recall.

Presents research showing that while an S is recalling a line diagram he can more readily signal information about that diagram by speaking than by spatially monitored output (e.g., pointing to correct items in a column of symbols). When recalling a sentence, he can more readily signal information about that sentence by spatially monitored output than by speaking. These results suggest that spatial and verbal information is recalled and processed in a modality-specific manner. Recall of verbal information is most readily disrupted by concurrent vocal activity; recall of spatial information is most readily disrupted by concurrent spatially monitored activity. This differential conflict occurs even though the concurrent activity is a recoding of the information that is being recalled. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hemispheric lateralization of perception and memory for emotional verbal stimuli in normal individuals.

The purposes of this study were to extend the literature on lateralization of perception of emotional verbal stimuli in normal individuals, including a test of both the right hemisphere and valence models, and to investigate predictions from these models regarding lateralization of memory for emotional verbal stimuli in normal individuals, an area that, to our knowledge, has not been investigated. Seventy-nine undergraduates were presented lateralized positive, negative, and neutral English words and nonwords. Participants were then asked to freely recall the presented words and, after a 20-min delay, to recognize the words. Recognition memory data provided strong support for the valence model. In addition, free-recall and perception data provided partial support for this model. The literature on the lateralization of processing emotional verbal and nonverbal material is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Similarities and differences between normal and psychotic subjects in responses to verbal stimuli.

Individuals receive so much verbal stimulation that one would expect verbal response habits to be greatly overlearned, yet clinical data suggests an almost complete breakdown in verbal behavior of psychotics. In the present study, affective ratings, m data, and associative data were gathered from normal and psychotic Ss. Patients, as compared with normals, rate words as affectively better, produce lower m values and more idiosyncratic associations to verbal stimuli. Beneath these apparent differences between the 2 groups there exists a surprisingly substantial core of similarity. This core of similarity suggests that verbal response habits do not break down in psychosis to as large a degree as is generally believed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual and verbal metaphors among children with typical language and language disorders

Twelve children with language disorders and 12 control subjects were presented with a series of 24 photographic plates from the Metaphoric Triads Test and asked to explain all possible pairings. They also performed a similar task, matched for content, using verbally prepared stimuli. For each trial, one pairing had been designed to make highly probable a metaphoric pairing. Control subjects provided significantly more metaphoric accounts of pairings than children with language disorders, regardless of modality. In addition, photographic plates elicited significantly more metaphoric pairings than verbal preparations. No significant interactions were observed. The findings are discussed from the perspectives of (1) generalized symbolic function and (2) verbal mediation function. The authors call for more research on the role of verbal mediation in metaphoric reasoning.     

Negativism in verbal and nonverbal responses of autistic children.

Studied negativism in 9 autistic, 9 behavior-disturbed, and 9 normal 5-12 yr olds in 3 different stimulus conditions (verbal requests for verbal responses, verbal requests for nonverbal responses, and nonverbal requests for nonverbal responses). Each condition included 2 tasks, which were requested 15 consecutive times. Ss demonstrated that they could perform the tasks before testing, and their responses were scored according to the similarity between the response and the request. Results demonstrate that the autistic and behavior-disturbed Ss responded similarly, except when requests required verbal responses, in which case the autistic Ss were much more negative. Results suggest applications to diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of oral deprivation on responses to subliminal and supraliminal verbal food stimuli.

The effect of 2 kinds of oral deprivation on reactions to a subliminal and supraliminal food stimulus was investigated. Varying hours of food deprivation (1-5 or more) constituted the 1st independent variable; smoking frequency constituted the 2nd. Different groups of Ss were exposed to a word list preceded by: (a) no stimulus, (b) the subliminal stimulus CHEESE, and (c) the supraliminal stimulus CHEESE. The stimulus word was associatively linked to 10 of the words on the recall list. Relative recall of stimulus-related associates was a function of hours of deprivation in the subliminal and supraliminal conditions, and a function of smoking frequency in the subliminal condition. Other nutritional and oral variables were also investigated. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Common and distinctive features of verbal and pictorial stimuli as determinants of psychophysiological responsivity.

The present study focuses on the relation between stimulus features and psychophysiological responsivity by using a modified version of the information detection paradigm. Compound pictorial and verbal stimuli were used as the relevant stimuli that Ss were instructed to memorize. Skin conductance responses were measured during the subsequent presentation of a sequence of test stimuli. We hypothesized that the electrodermal responsivity to the critical stimulus would reflect the degree it matches the relevant one. The results indicated that when the critical stimulus was identical to the relevant stimulus, responsivity was maximal. Neutral stimuli produced minimal responsivity, and critical stimuli that only partially matched the relevant one produced intermediate levels of responsivity (in spite of the subjects' awareness of the differences between the critical and the relevant stimuli). Comparison of the geometric and contrast models for similarity showed that the pattern of responsivity violated the minimality and symmetry assumptions of the geometric model. The relation between cognitive processes and psychophysiological responsivity is discussed, as are implications for the application of the guilty knowledge technique for detecting information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Word recognition cues used in matching verbal stimuli within and between auditory and visual modalities.

Administered a matching-to-sample task to 60 first graders under 4 conditions, 2 intra- and 2 intermodal. The 5 matching cues (letters and segments) were used differentially within the 4 conditions with the initial segment selected most frequently in all conditions. The 5 cues were also used differentially across the 4 task conditions. Cue choice was related to reading achievement in the visual-to-visual matching condition, with the good readers using the final word segment cue significantly more often than the initial and final consonant cue. The reading achievement of those selecting the reversal, initial word segment, or final word segment did not differ. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of growth in verbal abilities among children with autism spectrum disorder.

Verbal skills were assessed at approximately ages 2, 3, 5, and 9 years for 206 children with a clinical diagnosis of autism (n = 98), pervasive developmental disorders-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS; n = 58), or nonspectrum developmental disabilities (n = 50). Growth curve analyses were used to analyze verbal skills trajectories over time. Nonverbal IQ and joint attention emerged as strong positive predictors of verbal outcome. The gap between the autism and other 2 groups widened with time as the latter improved at a higher rate. However, there was considerable variability within diagnostic groups. Children with autism most at risk for more serious language impairments later in life can be identified with considerable accuracy at a very young age, while improvement can range from minimal to dramatic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Complexity of adult verbal behavior in a dyadic situation with retarded children.

The purpose of the study was to observe the verbal behavior of young normal adults assembled with retarded children characterized in advance as either high (H) or low (L) with a standardized language test. Each adult was asked to "interview" 1 child at a time for ? hr. 6 adults interviewed 4 different H children and the 6 other adults interviewed 4 different L children. A measure of the child's verbal output during the interview confirmed usefulness of the language test to classify children in advance. Adults assembled with L children had a significantly lower average type-token ratio than those assembled with H children. Measures of the complexity and number of adult questions did not show any significant differences between H and L children. Possible implications of adult reactions to retarded children were briefly discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are Arabic and verbal numbers processed in different ways?

Four experiments were conducted in order to examine effects of notation--Arabic and verbal numbers--on relevant and irrelevant numerical processing. In Experiment 1, notation interacted with the numerical distance effect, and irrelevant physical size affected numerical processing (i.e., size congruity effect) for both notations but to a lesser degree for verbal numbers. In contrast, size congruity had no effect when verbal numbers were the irrelevant dimension. In Experiments 2 and 3, different parameters that could possibly affect the results, such as discriminability and variability (Experiment 2) and the block design (Experiment 3), were controlled. The results replicated the effects obtained in Experiment 1. In Experiment 4, in which physical size was made more difficult to process, size congruity for irrelevant verbal numbers was observed. The present results imply that notation affects numerical processing and that Arabic and verbal numbers are represented separately, and thus it is suggested that current models of numerical processing should have separate comparison mechanisms for verbal and Arabic numbers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)