Acquisition of avoidance dispositions by social learning.

In line with the experiments on social learning in animals by imitation, this experiment sought to determine whether rats could learn to respond to the non-behavioral cues of other rats. The "cue" was to hear the squeal of another rat in a painful (shock) situation. When the squeal of the rat was paired with shocking the S a CR could be elicited; not so without shock. Rats also responded differentially to the cue whether in a black or white alley, or whether they were or were not permitted to escape. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4EK12M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental attempts to produce phenylketonuria in animals: A critical review.

Studies attempting to produce PKU in animals are extensively reviewed. While some studies claim to have produced and consequently even prevented PKU in animals, such claims were found to be unjustified at this stage of research. Behavioral and biochemical criteria for assessing PKU are discussed along with certain methodological problems inherent in such work. The experimental production of PKU, on the other hand, offers an important model for the study of the relations between development, intellectual functioning, and biochemistry. (2 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychology of pain.

Reviews the book, Psychology of pain edited by Richard A. Sternbach (1978). This book is a repository for scholarly accounts of each of the principal roots of progress in understanding, measuring, and managing clinical pain. This book does a clear, lucid and comprehensive job of relating neurophysiological with the critically important social/cultural factors about pain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variability Discrimination in Humans and Animals: Implications for Adaptive Action.

Both humans and animals live in a rich world of events. Some events repeat themselves, whereas others constantly change. The authors propose that discriminating this stability, sameness, and uniformity from change, differentness, and diversity is fundamental to adaptive action. Evidence from many areas of behavioral science indicates that the discrimination of and preference for stimulus variability affects both human and animal action. Recent comparative research with humans and animals illustrates a promising approach to the study of these issues. Discovering and understanding the behavioral and neural processes related to stimulus variability and its consequences for behavior offer distinctive challenges and important new opportunities for psychologists and neuroscientists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of randomized clinical trials in rehabilitation psychology.

Purpose: This article provides rehabilitation psychology researchers and clinicians with a tutorial approach to randomized clinical trials (RCTs), their basic assumptions and requirements, and a discussion of their potential applications and limitations to their use in rehabilitation and, more specifically, in rehabilitation psychology. Research Method/Design: The authors begin by reviewing a brief history and development of RCTs, definitions and considerations for clinical trials, and ethical issues. An overview of methodological issues related to designing trials including randomization and blinding, subject selection, and protocol development is provided. Results: The authors emphasize the need to establish clear and concise study objectives and to explicitly define interventions and expected outcomes. Conclusions/Implications: A summary is provided of the main points made by those supporting the use of RCTs versus those who highlight their limitations. Taking these into account, recommendations are made regarding the use of RCTs in addressing relevant needs in clinical practice and research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of neonatal striate lesions and visual experience on form discrimination in the rat.

In two experiments the behaviour of light- and dark-reared infant- and adult-operated striate rats was compared on four discrimination tasks and a variety of related transfer and discrimination reversal tests. Infant-operated rats learned all of the discriminations significantly faster and with less failure than did adult-operated animals. Post-operative rearing condition was not found to play a significant role in this performance difference due to age of operation. Though results of transfer tests for neonatal striate animals were comparable to those of controls, results of initial discrimination (and reversal) revealed significant differences in performance between infant operates and control groups. These results are discussed in terms of specification of the nature of the partial "recovery" of sensory and non-sensory functions by the neonatal operate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A reply to Levitt's comments.

Levitt's critique (see 37: 8096) indicates that he missed the main point of the paradigm, and that he misinterpreted a variety of other matters. An effort is made to clarify the issues involved by citing sections of the original article and by further discussion when necessary. Particular emphasis is placed upon the paradigm as a method for testing theories of psychopathology which assume genotypic-phenotypic relationships. The need for proper control groups is reiterated, and the paradigm is viewed as an attempt to bring the data of clinical and experimentat methods closer into congruence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Needs of Clinical Students.

Comments that the existence of the so-called "scientist-professional" model in clinical psychology is rooted in the fact that graduate education must inevitably be based on a fundamental imbalance between the number of students to be taught and the number of professors to teach them. It is asserted that experimental psychologists must teach their material to graduate classes and clinical students are required to take these experimental courses and the author hopes that the new humanistic departments of psychology may be more receptive the needs of clinical students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual depth discrimination in animals.

"The capacity to react discriminatively to the distance of visual stimulus appears to characterize a great many species, ranging from insects to primates. Especially in the case of insects, birds, and rats, it is evident that displacement of the images on the retinal mosaic is a very important factor in depth discrimination." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reinforced Variability in Animals and People: Implications for Adaptive Action.

Although reinforcement often leads to repetitive, even stereotyped responding, that is not a necessary outcome. When it depends on variations, reinforcement results in responding that is diverse, novel, indeed unpredictable, with distributions sometimes approaching those of a random process. This article reviews evidence for the powerful and precise control by reinforcement over behavioral variability, evidence obtained from human and animal-model studies, and implications of such control. For example, reinforcement of variability facilitates learning of complex new responses, aids problem solving, and may contribute to creativity. Depression and autism are characterized by abnormally repetitive behaviors, but individuals afflicted with such psychopathologies can learn to vary their behaviors when reinforced for so doing. And reinforced variability may help to solve a basic puzzle concerning the nature of voluntary action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Implications of 'Psychological Injuries' for Clinical Psychology Training Programs.

This paper uses the psychological and legal concept of "psychological injury" as an illustration of the evolving market for psychological knowledge and of necessary changes in the graduate and internship training of clinical psychologists. Our current graduate and internship training fails many of our students through neglecting important areas of knowledge and experience. In this paper, I discuss the importance of exposing graduate students to: a) the economics of mental health; b) professional roles involving knowledge dissemination outside traditional academia; c) information needs of direct and indirect consumers of psychological knowledge; and, d) communication skills necessary when interacting with nonpsychologists. Suggestions are made for the improvement of our graduate training programs, including more explicit acknowledgement of the likely career paths of most of our graduates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section: Contextualizing significance testing in clinical trials.

The presentation and interpretation of clinical trial data is of crucial importance to psychotherapy research and practice. This introduction briefly describes how this Special Section on significance testing in clinical trials came about, as well as some of the content included in the articles. Between the original theoretical article and the four invited comments, this Special Section provides a concise and accessible overview of current thinking regarding the limitations of clinical trial data, particularly significance testing, as well as improvements and supplements to these analyses that may benefit both psychotherapy research and those who use this information in applied practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Economic and Ethical Implications for the Psychological Profession.

Discusses the economic and ethical implications of the psychological profession. More people aspire to careers in this field than in other areas of study. If one studies birthrates, school attendance projections, graduate program participation, interest patterns, and the increase in accredited university psychology departments, it is clear that there will be an oversupply of academicians for whom no university place exists. Research funding is very quickly disappearing, due to lack of federal funds. Salaries are a reflection of the supply, and we are beginning to see its effect in employment settings. Psychology has become an oversold subject of study. Without unique qualities, namely, academic training and research-in conjunction with clinical training-psychology has no independent professional identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Les limites de la méthode expérimentale en psychologie sociale et clinique.

Psychology is a science clearly capable of contributing greatly towards solutions for many individual and social problems which accompany the technological and economical upheavals in today's society. The growth of clinical and social research, within the domain of psychology, has been remarkable over recent decades. However, when analyzing the methods of research employed in psychological studies the question arise as to whether these methods (which derive mainly from traditional laboratory methodology) are really proficient enough to aid in the understanding of the problem being studied. Given the complexity and, especially, the lability of psychological phenomena there are many indications for a change in the methods used in psychological research. It would certainly be advantageous to contemplate turning towards observation methods and computer simulation, as are often used within the sciences of meteorology and astronomy, instead of continuing to apply methods of an experimental nature. This kind of change in approach, however, poses several problems. Two of the most salient difficulties involve the traditional way in which research methods are taught in the schools and the evaluation criteria used by granting agencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are normal healthy research volunteers psychologically healthy? A pilot investigation.

Most new drug development in Phase I clinical trials relies on the use of "normal healthy research volunteers" (NHRVs); however, little is known about the personality functioning of these volunteers. Determining whether NHRVs are similar to or different from individuals with "normal" personalities can impact participant recruitment, group assignment, and statistical interpretation of study results. This pilot study was undertaken to gain insight into the demographics, personality functioning, and potential psychopathology of the volunteers who participated in a Phase I confinement clinical drug trial. NHRVs (N=28) in an all-male, Phase I clinical trial completed a battery of questions, including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Fifty percent of the sample showed clinically significant elevations on at least one of the scales. Current findings need to be replicated and expanded through future research. Results must be interpreted with caution because of the small, all-male sample. This preliminary study suggests that there is a difference in personality functioning between NHRVs and the general population. In addition, NHRVs may purposefully distort or conceal self-report information when participating in studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Historically grounding the practice of psychology: Implications for professional training.

The author explores 3 ways the history of psychology can be made relevant to professional training in clinical psychology. Focusing on the practitioner-scholar model of clinical professional training, he argues that 3 central facets of historical understanding can be wedded to existing goals of professional training: (a) providing an interdisciplinary context for psychology, (b) addressing concerns about humans in the field, and (c) mediating theory-practice tensions that often exist in professional training. Suggestions are also made for encouraging historical understanding as essential to fostering critical self-reflection among students preparing for careers in professional psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rats, man, and the welfare state.

The possible relationship between social securities and the incidence of various noncurable diseases is discussed. Paralleling the development of the welfare state there is a great incidence in the occurrence of a variety of physical and mental diseases. Sometime between 1840 and 1850 albino forms of the Norway rat were introduced into the research laboratory; it thus was subject to domestication. Comparisons between the domesticated and the wild Norway rat are summarized; typically the differences favor the wild rat. In the domesticated animals adrenal glands are smaller and less effective, the thyroid less active, the brain smaller and perhaps less effective as indicated by evidence of greater susceptibility to audiogenic seizure. In the protected environment it is the tamer, more gentle, that survive; "'natural selection' does not always operate to eliminate weaker individuals." In the domesticated state "a greater variety of abnormal strains may appear and propagate themselves." Parallels in man are cited: as a consequence of legislation, increased energy resources and medical advances, less strong and less vigorous individuals are aided to survive and perpetuate their special defects in increasing numbers of individuals. It is possible that "the process of evolution can be influenced, that man has reached the state at which he can do something about his destiny." 60 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect sizes for growth-modeling analysis for controlled clinical trials in the same metric as for classical analysis.

The use of growth-modeling analysis (GMA)—including hierarchical linear models, latent growth models, and general estimating equations—to evaluate interventions in psychology, psychiatry, and prevention science has grown rapidly over the last decade. However, an effect size associated with the difference between the trajectories of the intervention and control groups that captures the treatment effect is rarely reported. This article first reviews 2 classes of formulas for effect sizes associated with classical repeated-measures designs that use the standard deviation of either change scores or raw scores for the denominator. It then broadens the scope to subsume GMA and demonstrates that the independent groups, within-subjects, pretest–posttest control-group, and GMA designs all estimate the same effect size when the standard deviation of raw scores is uniformly used. Finally, the article shows that the correct effect size for treatment efficacy in GMA—the difference between the estimated means of the 2 groups at end of study (determined from the coefficient for the slope difference and length of study) divided by the baseline standard deviation—is not reported in clinical trials. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discrimination of structure: I. Implications for connectionist theories of discrimination learning.

In each of 4 experiments animals were given a structural discrimination task that involved visual patterns composed of identical features, but the spatial relations among the features were different for reinforced and nonreinforced trials. In Experiment 1 the stimuli were pairs of colored circles, and pigeons were required to discriminate between patterns that were the mirror image of each other. A related task was given to rats in Experiment 2. Subjects solved these discriminations. For Experiment 3, some pigeons were given a discrimination similar to that used in Experiment 1, which they solved, whereas others received a comparable task but with 3 colored circles present on every trial, which they failed to solve. The findings from Experiment 3 were replicated in Experiment 4 using different patterns. The results are difficult to explain by certain connectionist theories of discrimination learning, unless they are modified to take account of the way in which compound stimuli are structured. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implications of Being "Clinical".

Comment on David Lynn's letter, "On Being 'Clinical' with Colleagues" (American Psychologist, May, 1956). I believe this letter was both necessary and timely. It is also my belief that the practice so cogently analyzed indicates the existence of a more serious situation--a situation that we would do well to look at more closely. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)