Fear behavior, fear imagery, and the psychophysiology of emotion: The problem of affective response integration.

Exp I compared the psychophysiological reactions of 25 Ss with 2 fears, focal phobia and social-performance anxiety. Ss were determined by questionnaire (e.g., Differential Personality Questionnaire, Fenz-Epstein Anxiety Scale) and interview to be at the high extreme of their respective fear reference groups. Each group was exposed to both its own and the other group's primary fear stress (i.e., a snake-exposure test and a public speaking performance). These same Ss were also instructed to imagine both types of fear situations as well as control scenes. Results indicate a different psychophysiological response for the 2 fear groups across the 2 fear contents. Thus, snake-phobic Ss showed greater arousal when exposed to a live snake than did socially anxious Ss. Despite significantly greater verbal reports of fear and arousal by socially anxious Ss, both fear groups showed a similar marked increase in physiological arousal during speech performance. Neither group generated a significant physiological reaction to either fear content during imagery assessment. Exp II examined emotional imagery with 40 undergraduates from the same 2 fear populations. An imagery pretraining program, based on the reinforcement of verbal report of somatic response content in imagery, led to a significant visceral arousal response during fear imagery. Response-trained Ss showed a pattern of heart rate change during imagery that varied between Ss and fear contents. Response-trained Ss also showed relatively greater concordance between verbal and visceral measures than did untrained Ss. (60 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors influencing ocular motility during the performance of cognitive tasks.

Examined the relationship between ocular motility and specific cognitive processes in 2 experiments, using 50 undergraduates. In Exp I, eye movements (EMs) were videotaped as Ss attempted to answer verbal, visuospatial, or musical questions. Visuospatial questions elicited a lower lateral EM rate (EMR) and fewer vertical EMs than did verbal or musical questions. Results support a model that attributes ocular quiescence to interference between visual imagery and visual perception. In Exp II, lateral EMs were recorded electrically as Ss attempted to answer low-, moderate-, and high-imagery questions that required either a constrained or an unconstrained memory search. Constrained questions elicited a lower EMR than did unconstrained questions even when the effect of imagery was eliminated. Stimulus materials for the experiments are appended. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhanced visual memory during hypnosis as mediated by hypnotic responsiveness and cognitive strategies.

Investigated the hypothesis that hypnosis has an enhancing effect on imagery processing, as mediated by hypnotic responsiveness and cognitive strategies. Four experiments with 112 undergraduates compared performance of low and high, or low, medium, and high hypnotically responsive Ss in waking and hypnosis conditions on a successive visual memory discrimination task that required detecting differences between successively presented picture pairs in which 1 member of the pair was slightly altered. Results reveal that hypnotically responsive Ss showed enhanced performance during hypnosis, whereas nonresponsive Ss did not. Hypnotic responsiveness correlated with enhanced performance during hypnosis only. RT was not affected by hypnosis. Ss reported enhanced imagery vividness on the self-report Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire during hypnosis. Two cognitive strategies appeared to mediate visual memory performance: (a) detail strategy, which involved the memorization and rehearsal of individual details for memory, and (b) holistic strategy, which involved looking at and remembering the whole picture with accompanying imagery. Both lows and highs reported similar detail-oriented strategies during waking; only highs shifted to a significantly more holistic strategy during hypnosis. (86 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive preparation and coping self-talk: Anxiety management during the stress of flying.

Investigated the effectiveness of 2 cognitive coping strategies, singly and in combination, in 56 undergraduate females with a reported fear of flying. Ss were assigned to 4 groups: preparatory information training, self-statement training, combined training, and pseudotreatment control and were flown aboard an 11-passenger aircraft for 2 flights. Half of the Ss flew with the door to the cockpit open, and the other half flew with the door closed. Each flight encountered a planned unexpected missed landing. Self-reports of anxiety were obtained before takeoff, during the flight, and after landing. Even though the cognitive-coping strategies were not differentially effective in reducing anxiety during the ongoing stress of flying, under serious threat (unexpected event), with the cockpit door open, self-talk and combined Ss coped better than information and control Ss. With the door closed, all groups increased in anxiety. At the final landing, with the door closed, self-statement-trained Ss increased in their self-reported anxiety. Results of a 4.5-mo follow-up on flight apprehension are discussed in terms of the effects of the treatment manipulations. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modification of avoidance behavior: Expectancy, autonomic reactivity, and verbal report.

Evaluated the effects of manipulated cognitive expectancy on avoidance behavior in an experimental paradigm that simulated systematic desensitization. 72 female undergraduates with moderate fear of spiders were divided among 4 expectancy conditions ranging from a set to improve to a set that fear would increase. 2 measures of electrodermal activity were continuously recorded while the Ss, who relaxed in a reclining chair, were exposed to a preserved tarantula. Results indicate that both overt avoidance behavior and 2 verbal indexes were differentially affected by expectancy and that no relationship between avoidance behavior and autonomic reactivity was evident. It is concluded that the processes which mediate systematic desensitization can not adequately be explained by the counterconditioning model alone. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lateralized brain damage, intelligence, and memory: A failure to find sex differences.

Tested the validity of findings by J. McGlone (1977) of a difference in the sexes in the cognitive sequelae of lateralized brain damage. The present study tested 28 male and 17 female patients with left and right hemisphere infarcts. Although Ss with left and right hemisphere infarcts showed differential impairment on measures of visual and verbal memory and on Performance scale IQ of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), there were no differences between male and female Ss. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hemisphere-specific interference in dichotic listening: Task variables and individual differences.

In Exps I and II, 214 right-handed college students were required to identify dichotically presented CV syllables with either no concurrent memory (CM) load or with a CM load of 6 low-imagery nouns. Based on performance on their initial set of no-load trials, Ss were assigned to either a right-, left-, or no-ear advantage (REA, LEA, or NEA) group. Results for the REA group were similar to the results of previous studies of visual laterality and concurrent activity: Introducing a CM load of 6 words reduced recognition of right-ear CVs but not left-ear CVs. Furthermore, these effects persisted across 2 blocks of no-load and memory-load trials. This Memory Load?×?Ear interaction was weaker in the NEA group and tended to be reversed in the LEA group. About 10% of Ss showed a consistent LEA for CV recognition, and, for these Ss, introducing a CM load of 6 words reduced recognition of left-ear CVs but did not change the recognition of right-ear CVs. Again, these effects persisted across 2 blocks of no-load and memory load trials. Exp III (48 Ss) was similar to Exps I and II except that the CM task involved nonsense shapes that could probably be processed by either hemisphere. Introducing this concurrent nonverbal memory task did not reduce the recognition of either right- or left-ear CVs. Results indicate that the verbal nature of the concurrent task appears to be critical, as in previous visual laterality experiments. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Spatial and verbal abilities in children's crossmodal recognition: A dual coding approach.

Conducted 2 experiments to study the relative importance of visuospatial (VSAs) and verbal referential abilities (VRAs) to 184 English-speaking children's (aged 4 yrs 11 mo to 8 yrs) crossmodal performance under imagery, naming, and control instructions. Using the Minnesota Paper Form(s) Board Test Revised, imagery instructions induced Ss to implement a visual imagery strategy that depended primarily on VSA, whereas naming instructions promoted use of a naming strategy that depended relatively more on VRA. No instructions resulted in use of a verbal/naming strategy similar to that used by naming Ss. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive function in asymptomatic HIV-1 infection: The effects of age, education, ethnicity, and depression.

Examined whether individuals with asymptomatic HIV-1 infection exhibit subtle cognitive deficits relative to healthy seronegative control Ss. 122 symptomatic seropositive homosexual and bisexual White men were compared with 59 seronegative homosexual or bisexual men (all Ss aged 20–71 yrs) on a battery of neuropsychological tests. Age, education, ethnicity, and depression were controlled as potential confounding variables. Seropositive Ss performed below seronegative controls on measures of verbal fluency, recall of logical discourse material (younger seropositive Ss only), and arithmetic. No group differences were found on visuospatial measures, abstract reasoning, attention, or set shifting. Ethnicity (Hispanic vs non-Hispanic) and education effects were observed only on select language measures. Depression did not adversely affect performance scores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social modeling, cognitive structuring, and self-management strategies on affective self-disclosure.

Assessed immediate and delayed effects of social modeling, cognitive structuring, and 2 self-management strategies for increasing affective self-disclosure in 48 undergraduate males. Ss were randomly assigned to (a) social modeling, (b) cognitive structuring, (c) attention placebo, or (d) no-training control groups. Following training, Ss took a performance test and 2 pencil-and-paper measures. With this treatment used as a blocking variable, Ss were then randomly assigned to (a) goal-directed behavior, (b) self-reinforcement, or (c) no-training control groups. A delayed posttest was administered 3 wks later. Results indicate that social modeling and cognitive structuring had immediate effects on affective self-disclosure. Also, a combination of social learning and self-management strategies was more effective over time than any single treatment or no treatment at all. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of graphic analogies of concepts in chemistry on learning and attitudes.

To test the effects of graphic presentation on learning complex concepts, 2 versions of a lesson on concepts in electrochemistry were designed to elaborate conceptual and topographic information either verbally or pictorially. A PLATO IV computer terminal presented the lesson to 40 undergraduates, who were randomly assigned to the verbal or graphic condition. Tests designed to assess knowledge, comprehension, and application of concepts revealed that external imagery resulted in significantly better learning. Ss also found the graphics versions to be more enjoyable as indicated by semantic differential measures and had a more positive general attitude toward that version. Ss in the external imagery treatment reported experiencing more mental imagery suggesting that the positive effects of pictures may be due to the internal processing that they elicit. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-modal and intramodal transfer as predictors of mental development in full-term and preterm infants.

25 full-term (FT) and 33 preterm (PT) infants who had participated in studies of cross-modal (CM) and intramodal (IM) transfer at 12 mo of age were seen at older ages to assess the predictive validity of these early measures for later cognition. FT Ss were administered the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 24 mo of age; PT Ss were administered these scales at 12 and 24 mo of age, the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (Form L-M) at 34 and 40 mo of age, and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Revised and the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration at 6 yrs of age. For FT Ss, both 12-mo measures were significantly related to 24-mo Bayley Mental Development Index (MDI) scores; for PT Ss, both 12-mo measures were related not only to 24-mo Bayley MDI but to each subsequent measure of cognitive outcome through 6 yrs. 12-mo IM scores were highly correlated with the 6-yr assessment of visual–motor integration. A measure of object permanence obtained at 12 mo was also related to cognitive outcome, but not so consistently as were the other 2 12-mo measures. Although parental education was a significant predictor beginning at 24 mo, multiple regression analyses indicated that the CM and the IM measures substantially increased the percentage of variance in outcome that could be accounted for by parental education alone. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive strategies, experimenter modeling, and expectation in the attenuation of pain.

Obtained verbal reports of pain from 120 female undergraduates during a base-level pretest and also during a posttest conducted under 1 of several experimental treatments. The pain stimulus was a heavy weight applied to a finger for 2 min. During the posttest, Ss who had been asked to utilize cognitive strategies for reducing pain (i.e., to imagine pleasant events or to imagine the finger as insensitive) showed a reduction in pain as compared to uninstructed control Ss. Ss led to expect a reduction in pain, but not provided with cognitive strategies, also showed reduced pain during the posttest compared to controls, but the reduction was smaller than for Ss using cognitive strategies. An E modeling procedure, used with half of the Ss under each experimental treatment, was effective in reducing verbal reports of pain only for Ss with high pretest levels who were asked to imagine pleasant events. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of mnemonic instructions on paired-associate recognition memory for faces or names.

96 undergraduates (4 experimental and 2 control groups) learned 2 lists of 10 pairs of number-faces or number-names. Experimental Ss learned the 2nd list under a mnemonic rhyme condition. 1/2 of the experimental Ss used imagery as a mediator while the remainder were given verbal mediation sets. Ss took longer to learn faces than names and longer to learn under mnemonic than control conditions. On recognition tests, faces evoked slower latency responses than names, whereas mnemonic sets, in particular imagery as opposed to verbal, reduced response time. Names were recognized better than faces, mnemonics improved recognition scores, and recognition of faces but not of names was facilitated by the mnemonics. Control-group data show that results are not attributable to practice effects. Questionnaire reports of learning strategies are also examined. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping skills training: An evaluation of a psychoeducational program in a community mental health setting.

40 21–60 yr old clients of a community mental health center were randomly assigned to either a coping-skills training program based explicitly on a psychoeducational model or a group-counseling control condition. Ss in the psychoeducational program were provided with 30 hrs of instruction and training in progressive relaxation, anxiety management, social skills, and self-reinforcement procedures. Group-counseling control Ss received an equal amount of attention devoted to analyzing personal problems with anxiety and interpersonal relations but with no direct skills training. Significant differences between the 2 groups on measures of general anxiety, fear, and assertiveness emerged immediately after treatment and at a 3-mo follow-up. Further analyses revealed that Ss were similar in terms of major demographic characteristics to clients who did not volunteer for training, that a greater percentage of program Ss than control Ss scored in the range of a sample of "normal" Ss on 2 of the 4 dependent measures, and that fewer program Ss were hospitalized within 1 yr after participation than were control Ss. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interaction of individual differences with visual and verbal elaboration instructions.

Investigated (a) to what extent the typical effects of elaboration instructions and the imagery characteristics of verbal material would obtain for foreign-language/English word pairs and (b) to what extent individual differences would moderate these effects. To explore these issues, verbal fluency, visualization ability, and instructions were factorially varied between Ss, and the imagery characteristics of the response terms were varied within Ss. 48 university students were selected for participation in the experiment on the basis of their performance on psychometric tests. The result of most interest was the crossover interaction between verbal fluency and elaboration instructions. Results are discussed in terms of Aptitude?×?Treatment interactions and the importance of individual differences in decisions regarding instructional methods. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of aptitudes, strategy training, and task facets on spatial task performance.

A pilot study, with 8 high school students, demonstrated that 3 item characteristics accounted for most of the variation in item difficulty in a paper-folding task: number of folds, number of obscured folds, and number of asymmetric folds. Retrospective reports suggested that Ss employed 2 strategies when attempting to solve these items: a visualization strategy and an analytic strategy. In the main experiment, these 2 strategies were demonstrated via motion picture models; 24 Ss received visualization training, and 24 received analytic training. Training effects of the demonstration films were compared with a performance feedback condition given to 8 Ss. All Ss performed 74 paper-folding items and 60 surface development transfer items following treatment. Error and latency data suggested that the treatments affected strategy selection and efficiency on both tasks. Treatment effects depended on item characteristics and response mode as well as on Ss' fluid-analytic/visualization and verbal abilities, as assessed by the Concept Mastery Test, WAIS Vocabulary test, and Raven Progressive Matrices. Sex differences were also noted, with verbal ability being important in the performance of females but not males. Implications for a process theory of human abilities are discussed. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuropsychological performance and positive and negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Examined cognitive functions in 11 positive-symptom (mean age 36 yrs), 10 negative-symptom (mean age 33.8 yrs), and 23 mixed-symptom (mean age 31.4 yrs) schizophrenics; 15 bipolar patients (mean age 34.7 yrs); and 12 normal controls (mean age 34.8 yrs) to explore the relation between symptoms and performance. Ss were administered a neuropsychological test battery including the Purdue Pegboard, the Revised Visual Retention Test, and the Block Design subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS—R). Group comparisons revealed generalized deficits in schizophrenics. Positive-symptom schizophrenics scored below normal Ss and negative-symptom Ss on 2 measures tapping verbal memory. Multiple regression analyses revealed that negative symptom ratings were inversely associated with performance on visual-motor tasks, whereas positive symptoms were inversely associated with verbal memory performance. Findings are not consistent with the notion that cognitive deficits are uniquely associated with negative symptoms. Instead, results suggest that there may be specific cognitive correlates of both the positive and negative symptom dimensions. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Treatment of phobic disorders using cognitive and exposure methods: A self-efficacy analysis.

Examined predictions derived from self-efficacy theory in comparing the effects of exposure and cognitive interventions with simple phobics. 22 phobics (25–64 yrs) with fears of either heights, elevators, or darkness were assigned to either guided exposure (GE) or cognitive restructuring (CR) treatments. GE was found significantly superior to CR in enhancing approach behavior, increasing level and strength of self-efficacy, reducing subjective fear, and decreasing physiological reactivity to imagined phobic scenes. High correlations were found between approach behavior and self-efficacy ratings for both groups. GE produced marked improvements in Ss' ability to cope with phobic situations in daily life. CR induced reported improvements in social functioning. At a 1-mo follow-up the results remained much the same. Five additional sessions of GE were then offered to Ss in the CR condition, producing results comparable to those of the original GE group. At a 6-mo follow-up all gains were maintained with further reductions in subjective fear for all GE Ss. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of transgressor, damage, and type of presentation on kindergarten children's moral judgments.

Assessed the role of cognitive conflict (damage vs respect for adults) in 64 kindergartners' moral judgments, using both verbal and videotape presentation techniques. In contrast to a previous study by C. Peterson et al (1974), the present Ss' moral judgments were not affected by the age of the transgressor. Ss in the videotape condition based their judgments on intention, while Ss in the verbal condition based their judgments on damage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)