The influence of nicotine dose and nicotine dose expectancy on the cognitive and subjective effects of cigarette smoking.

This study investigated the independent and interactive effects of nicotine dose and nicotine dose expectancy on smoking outcomes using a 2 (given nicotine vs. placebo) × 2 (told nicotine vs. placebo) Balanced Placebo Design (BPD). Smokers (N = 148) completed the Rapid Visual Information Processing Task (RVIP) and measures of smoking urge, mood, and cigarette ratings (e.g., satisfying) after smoking a nicotine or placebo cigarette crossed with instructions that the cigarette contained either nicotine or no nicotine. Nicotine cigarettes (0.6 mg nicotine) produced better sustained attention performance than placebos as indicated by RVIP reaction time, hits, and sensitivity (A′). Nicotine cigarettes also produced better mood and greater rewarding subjective effects of the cigarettes on 11 of 11 dimensions compared to placebos. Nicotine instructions resulted in fewer RVIP false alarms, better mood, and greater rewarding subjective effects of the cigarettes on 9 of 11 dimensions compared to placebo instructions. Nicotine dose by nicotine dose expectancy interactions were also observed for urge and tension-anxiety, such that the dose expectancy manipulation produced differential effects only among those who smoked placebo cigarettes. In contrast a significant interaction for self-reported vigor-activity demonstrated that the dose expectancy manipulation produced effects only among those who smoked nicotine cigarettes. This study provides additional evidence that nicotine improves cognitive performance, and provides initial evidence that denicotinized cigarettes smoked under the guise that they contain nicotine influence cognitive performance, albeit with less robust effects than nicotine. These data may inform the development of expectancy-based interventions for tobacco dependence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Revisiting Anna O.: A case of chemical dependence.

The famous clinical case of Anna O./Bertha Pappenheim, who was treated by Breuer from 1880 to 1882 and whose pathology was discussed by him and Freud in an 1895 article (J. Breuer & S. Freud, 1895/1955), is reviewed based on biographical information regarding the patient, which appeared from 1953 onward. The objective of this article is to show that, in order to better understand the case, the diagnosis of chloral hydrate and morphine dependence, as well as that of mood disorder (primary or drug induced), has to be taken into account. The method used is a careful literature review. The conclusion is that, based on all available data disclosed in recent years, these 3 diagnoses should be considered in this case, which is the most studied one in the history of psychoanalysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of instructions and modeling on self-disclosure.

Examined the relative effectiveness of modeling and instructional procedures in training college students to self-disclose. 48 male undergraduates were randomly assigned to 1 of the following instructional conditions: specific instructions to discuss personal feelings within specified topic areas, general instructions to discuss personal feelings within the same topics, or no instructions. Half of the Ss also listened to a model discussing his feelings within identical topic areas, and half did not receive a model. All Ss then participated in a brief monologue, which was scored for self-disclosure. Instructions and modeling, alone and in combination, increased the occurrence of self-disclosure, but the performance of the combination condition was not significantly greater than the performance of modeling or instructions alone. A post hoc analysis showed the instructional effect was due to the difference between specific instructions and no instructions. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Amphetamine sensitization: Nonassociative and associative components": Correction to Wang and Hsiao (2003).

Reports an error in "Amphetamine sensitization: Nonassociative and associative components" by Ying-Chou Wang and Sigmund Hsiao (Behavioral Neuroscience, 2003[Oct], Vol 117[5], 961-969). The institutional affiliation for Ying-Chou Wang is incomplete. The correct affiliation is Ching Kuo Institute of Management and Health and National Chung Cheng University. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2003-08567-009.) Rats, pretreated with amphetamine (AMPH, 1 mg/kg) or saline for 2 weeks, were challenged with AMPH (0.5 mg/kg) or saline following 1 week of abstinence, and locomotion was measured. In Experiments 1 and 2, the pretreatment occurred in various contexts (home cage, novel box, test box). Sensitization was observed only when pretreatment context and test context were the same; a context switch abolished sensitization. When rats anesthetized with chloral hydrate were pretreated with AMPH, sensitization was completely dependent on the pretreatment, but independent of context. This "zero context" condition isolated the basal level of excitation attributable to unconditioned neural change to determine the role of contextual input to be a modulator that enhances or inhibits sensitization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of sleep deprivation on performance in a simulated communication task.

"Twenty Ss were tested for their ability to receive and send complex instructions in a simulated communication situation following 55 and 70 hr. without sleep. The ability to receive showed a significant decrement, but the ability to send did not. The time required to send instructions and the number of errors corrected spontaneously increased significantly. In the case of sending, high-intelligence Ss showed greater decrement than low-intelligence Ss." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediated stimulus generalization and words connoting mood.

90 words connoting mood were scaled for degree of elation or depression. 70 of the words were selected as the stimuli in a study of mediated stimulus generalization. For 2 groups of men and 2 groups of women the training stimuli were extremely elated words, and for 2 different groups of men and women, the training stimuli were extremely depressed words. In each of the 2 groups for both sexes, one group was reinforced for whispering and the other for shouting. After training all groups received a generalization series consisting of words varying in degree of elation or depression. Ss trained to shout elated and whisper depressed stimuli produced steeper mediated stimulus generalization gradients than Ss trained to whisper elated and shout depressed stimuli. The Shout-Depressed group produced partially inverted gradients. The results were consistent with an asymmetrical Matching Principle: with connotative stimuli there is a strong tendency to make an intense response to an intense stimulus and a moderate tendency to make a weak response to a weak stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivation levels and the marihuana high.

Assigned randomly 112 male 18–30 yr olds to 8 groups, with 14 Ss per group. For each of 2 drug conditions (no drug and marihuana), there were 4 motivation conditions. In the 1st motivation group, the Ss were merely given instructions concerning how to perform on each dependent measure. The 2nd motivation group was given the additional instructions to "try as hard as possible" on each measure. The 3rd motivation group could earn a small amount of money, contingent on the performance of the dependent measures. The 4th group could earn a substantial amount of money contingent upon task performance. Time perception, choice reaction time, and a paired-associate memory task were used as dependent measures. Results indicate a significant, detrimental drug effect on all measures and a significant motivation effect on the reaction time measure. Examination of the data suggests that the drug effect occurred because of the ineffectiveness of the motivation manipulation with the marihuana Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling and instructions in training for counselor empathy.

Assessed the relative contributions of modeling and instructions to training of counselor empathy in a factorial design incorporating 2 instruction conditions (instructions or no instructions) and 3 modeling conditions (high-empathy model, low-empathy model, or no model). Ss were 68 clergymen from various religious denominations. Ss wrote responses to a taped client in Phase 1, a training phase, and conducted an interview with a client (actor) in Phase 2, a generalization phase. Instructions had no effect on empathy offered by Ss, but Ss hearing a high-empathy model showed significantly higher empathy in Phase 1 responses than all other Ss. Findings were not significant in Phase 2. Reasons for lack of generalization and implications for further research and training are noted. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnosis, task-motivating instructions, and learning performance.

40 Ss, including 30 who had been previously rated as suggestible and 10 as nonsuggestible, were pretested and then retested on equivalent forms of 3 learning tasks: digit symbol substitution, memory for words, and abstract reasoning. All Ss received the pretests in the same way. The 30 suggestible Ss were retested under 1 of the following 3 experimental treatments with 10 Ss assigned at random to each treatment: task-motivating instructions, hypnotic induction procedure with task-motivating instructions, and control. The 10 nonsuggestible Ss were retested under a task-motivating-instructions treatment. Analyses of covariance indicated that (a) task-motivating instructions given alone or following a hypnotic induction procedure did not significantly affect performance on the memory for words or abstract reasoning tasks; and (b) task-motivating instructions produced a comparable enhancement of performance on the digit symbol substitution task in hypnotized and nonhypnotized Ss and in suggestible and nonsuggestible Ss. (33 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Serotonergic and cholinergic involvement in habituation of activity and spontaneous alternation of rats in a maze.

Studied the effects of drug administration to 220 male Sprague-Dawley rats on spontaneous alternation (SA) in a -maze which Ss were permitted to freely explore for 8-min sessions. Results show that SA was not affected by administration of methysergide or the serotonin (5-HT) depletors DL-chloroamphetamine (PCA) and DL-p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA). However, either LSD, or d-amphetamine in combination with methysergide, PCA, or PCPA interfered with SA. Scopolamine also disrupted SA, but pretreatment with 5-hydroxytryptophan or amphetamine blocked this action. Amphetamine reversal of the scopolamine-induced disruption of SA did not occur in Ss depleted of 5-HT or pretreated with methysergide. Amphetamine disrupted habituation of exploratory activity alone or after PCPA or PCA. PCPA or PCA alone did not affect habituation. Scopolamine interfered with habituation of activity. Methysergide caused an increase in the initial activity level, while LSD produced a dose-dependent decrease. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and the experimental arousal of affiliation need.

Small groups of college Ss were placed in a 1-way vision observation room; the instructions structured the situation so that personal anxiety was presumed to be high. Other groups were purposefully not exposed to anxiety-producing instructions. Level of anxiety was measured by self-rating scales; need for affiliation was assessed through TAT cards. It was assumed that degree of anxiety would be positively related to degree of need affiliation. Ss high in need affiliation did rate themselves higher in anxiety when placed in the anxiety-producing situation; in the non-anxiety-producing situation, affiliation need was unrelated to anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of mood on self-appraisal of health status.

Investigated the effects of temporary mood on the self-perception of health status in 2 experiments, using 44 and 90 undergraduates, respectively. In Exp I, Ss viewed 1 of 2 videotapes designed to induce either positive or negative mood and were asked to imagine an illness-related scenario and to provide judgments concerning their health status. Positive-induction Ss judged their health more favorably than negative-induction Ss. In Exp II, Ss viewed 1 of 2 mood induction tapes, and some Ss were asked to imagine either an illness-related scenario or illness-unrelated scenario. A 3rd group was given no instructions. Data are consistent with the notion that negative mood can affect subjective appraisals of health by increasing the accessibility of illness-related memories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physiological need, set, and visual duration threshold.

The interaction between the effect of deprivation level and set-inducing instructions on the thresholds of need-related words is investigated by presenting tachistoscopically to two groups of Ss, one group soon after mealtime and the other after about 9 hours food and water deprivation, a list of neutral words and then a list of need-related words, half of the Ss in each group receiving set instructions before the second list. The results indicate that while Ss given set instructions exhibit a significantly lower threshold for need-related words than did non-set groups, there is no difference in performance between satiated and deprived Ss, even among Ss not given set instructions. A second study, similar to the first, save that the set variable is eliminated and the words presented in mixed order showed no differences in the threshold for need-related words in the two groups of Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of regulating emotions on cognitive performance: What is costly for young adults is not so costly for older adults.

The authors examined whether instructions to regulate emotions after a disgust-inducing film clip created an equally costly cognitive load across adulthood. Young and older adults across all instructional conditions initially demonstrated increased working memory performance after mood induction, typical of practice effects. Age-group differences emerged at the 2nd postinduction trial. When instructed to down-regulate disgust feelings, older adults' performance continually increased, whereas young adults' performance dropped. Instructions to maintain disgust did not affect working memory performance. Consistent with claims that older adults are more effective at regulating emotions, findings indicate that intentional down-regulation of negative emotions may be less costly in older age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of task instructions and contingency on the development of phasic heart rate control and its correlates.

Examined the effects of 2 heart rate (HR) control task instructions, 2 response-feedback contingencies (contingent, noncontingent), and practice on patterns of cardiac, respiratory, and somatomotor (forearm electromyogram (EMG)) responses. 40 undergraduate women, assigned either to 2 HR contingent or to 2 HR noncontingent (yoked control) groups, were employed in a mixed design in which the contingency and instruction variables were manipulated between Ss, and trials constituted the within-Ss variable. Task instructions were either to increase HR as much as possible or to increase HR specifically by 13 bpm, both within a 3-sec period. The former instructions led to a significant acquisition function in HR over the 70 trials and also to reliable acquisition functions in forearm EMG activity and respiration frequency. Instructions to increase HR specifically by 13 bpm likewise led to a significant acquisition function in HR control, in terms of approximation of the target range, and the HR changes in this group were also embedded in a complex of respiratory and somatomotor responses. Ss who received response-contingent feedback did not perform better on either HR task than those who received noncontingent feedback, nor did the contingency variable affect the overall patterns of responding to any convincing extent. (French abstract) (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual monitoring performance in three subgroups of male delinquents.

Administered a questionnaire measuring psychopathic, neurotic, and subcultural delinquency to 268 male delinquents. 3 groups of 15 Ss each were formed from Ss who scored above the mean on 1 scale and below the mean on the other 2. It was predicted that the more psychopathic Ss would show a greater performance decrement on a vigilance task. A significant effect was found between groups and a significant decrement over trials for signals detected and RTs; psychopathic Ss performed consistently poorer than the other 2 groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of meditation-relaxation on anxiety and depression in a geriatric population.

36 female volunteers (aged 63–79 yrs) participated in a 20-wk study on the effects of meditation-relaxation on symptoms of anxiety and depression. 83% of the Ss were widows and were selected because of complaints of anxiety, nervousness, tension, fatigue, insomnia, sadness, and somatic complaints. Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: relaxation-meditation, relaxation-meditation with a 10-wk follow-up consisting of instructions to practice on a daily basis using relaxation-meditation tapes, and a pseudo-relaxation control group. The treatment groups received 1 wk of baseline evaluation, 10 wks of 30-min training sessions, and a 10-wk follow-up, with taped relaxation sessions for the 2nd group. The control group followed an identical schedule for 10 wks but did not participate in the follow-up. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Self-Rating Depression Scale were administered prior to treatment, at the end of training, and at the end of the follow-up period. In comparison to the control group, the treatment groups manifested a significant pre–posttreatment decrement for both state and trait anxiety. The practice group continued to show a decrement in state anxiety, while the no-practice group exhibited a return toward baseline levels. However, trait anxiety continued to decrease for both groups. When questions that correlated highly with anxiety and somatic symptoms were removed and analyzed separately, a significant pre- to posttreatment decrement in depression was noted. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Relative Effectiveness of Instructions, Agreements, and Reinforcement in Behavioral Contracts with Alcoholics": Erratum.

Reports an error in the article "Relative Effectiveness of Instructions, Agreements, and Reinforcement in Behavioral Contracts with Alcoholics" by Peter M. Miller, Michel Hersen, and Richard M. Eisler in the October 1974 issue. The affiliation for Michel Hersen should be changed to read: Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.(The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1975-03756-001). Evaluated the effects of the components of behavioral contracting on drinking in 40 chronic alcoholics. Ss were divided into 4 groups matched on age, education, length of problem drinking, and initial operant drinking responses. They were then exposed to 1 of the following conditions: (a) verbal instructions to limit alcohol consumption, (b) signed written agreement to limit consumption, (c) verbal instructions plus reinforcement for compliance, and (d) signed agreement plus reinforcement. Pre- and postoperant analog drinking sessions, in which leverpressing was reinforced with alcohol on a fixed ratio reinforcement schedule, served to assess effects of the experimental conditions. Results indicate that while instructions and signed agreements had limited influence on drinking, both groups receiving reinforcement for compliance significantly decreased their operant drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of external evaluation on artistic creativity.

Examined the conditions under which the imposition of an extrinsic constraint upon performance of an activity can lead to decrements in creativity. 95 female undergraduates worked on an art activity either with or without the expectation of external evaluation. In addition, Ss were asked to focus on either the creative or the technical aspects of the activity or they were given no specific focus. Finally, some Ss expecting evaluation were given explicit instructions on how to make their artworks. As predicted, Ss in the evaluation groups produced artworks significantly lower on judged creativity than did Ss in the nonevaluation control groups. The only evaluation group for which this pattern was reversed had received explicit instructions on how to make artworks that would be judged creative. A possible reconciliation of these 2 disparate results is proposed, and practical implications are discussed. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)