Achievement striving, social class, and test anxiety.

It was hypothesized that compared to working-class Ss, middle-class Ss would show little improvement in test performance under financial incentive. Tests used were a simple motor test and an intelligence test. Ss were high school juniors and seniors. Results with both tests support the hypothesis that middle-class test performance is more highly generalized and less subject to improvement through increased striving for material reward. "The main difference between the two groups seems to be that while working-class striving and performance tend to rise uniformly in response to reward stimuli, in the middle-class reward-induced increases in striving may either raise the level of performance or touch off anxiety responses that lower it." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Level versus pattern of neuropsychological performance among schizophrenic and diffusely brain-damaged patients.

Differences in both mean level and pattern of neuropsychological test performance were examined among groups of carefully screened schizophrenic and acute and chronic diffusely brain-damaged patients (24 Ss in each group). This was done separately for the WAIS subtests and the 12 average impairment rating (AIR) variables derived from the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery. The schizophrenics performed at a significantly higher level than brain-damaged Ss on both test batteries. Subsequent deficit pattern analyses and coefficients of profile pattern similarity revealed very little difference among the 3 groups in their patterns of performance on the WAIS and AIR batteries. Discriminant function analyses were employed to estimate the diagnostic utility of level vs pattern of performance on the WAIS and AIR in discriminating schizophrenics from brain-damaged Ss. Results suggest that mean level of performance can be used to discriminate clearly defined schizophrenic and diffusely brain-damaged groups, but that pattern analysis offers little additional information. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characterization of stability of performance in patients with traumatic brain injury: Variability and consistency on reaction time tests.

The stability of performance of reaction times (RTs) on 3 visual discrimination tasks was assessed in patients with varying severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and in matched control Ss. Results were analyzed for group and individual variability and consistency of performance over time. There was significantly greater intersubject (group) variability in the TBI group. Individual patients (intrasubject) tended to be more variable in performance and less consistent over time than control Ss, but this occurred only with specific measures, which suggests that increased lack of stability in performance is not a general impairment after brain damage but requires specific analyses for identification of performance differences. This intrasubject variability was indepedent of test–retest and split-half test reliability. No obvious factors such as severity of brain injury were related to the variability and inconsistency of performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verbal and visuospatial performance in male alcoholics: A test of the premature-aging hypothesis.

Tested the premature-aging hypothesis of generalized dysfunction, using a paired-associate learning test that has separate verbal and visuospatial subtests of the same structure and method. Ss were 36 hospitalized White male chronic alcoholics (mean age 42.4 yrs), 36 control Ss (mean age 42.5 yrs), and 24 elderly Ss (mean age 71.4 yrs). Ss were also administered the Shipley Institute of Living Scale for Measuring Intellectual Impairment and Memory-for-Designs test. Results show that elderly control Ss performed significantly worse than middle-aged control Ss on both learning subtests. For Ss between 30 and 80 yrs of age, increasing age resulted in increasing errors. According to the generalized dysfunction hypothesis, the performance of alcoholics should be similar to that of the elderly, showing impairment compared to control Ss on both learning tests. However, alcoholics performed at the same level as the middle-aged control Ss on verbal learning and were significantly poorer on visuospatial learning. The generalized dysfunction version of the premature-aging hypothesis for performance of alcoholics on neuropsychological tests was not supported. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early neuropsychological change in HIV infection.

The neuropsychological and psychosocial functioning of 15 Ss infected with HIV+ was examined. Performance by the HIV+ Ss was compared with that of 15 at-risk HIV– Ss. Relative to the HIV– Ss, the HIV+ Ss were impaired on measures of attention, verbal fluency, and visual memory. The pattern of deficit exhibited by the HIV+ Ss was suggestive of a subcortical dysfunction. Despite this, the HIV+ Ss did not exhibit greater levels of psychosocial impairment. There was no relationship between depression and neuropsychological test performance for the HIV+ Ss. The development of specific criteria for defining impairment when assessing the neuropsychological consequences of HIV infection is recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nitrogen narcosis measured by dual-task performance.

Two hyperbaric studies tested detrimental effects of 188-ft sea water gauge (fswg) air pressure. In each experiment, 8 males aged 22–32 yrs, qualified for hyperbaric exposures, executed single-task controls of a choice reaction time (RT) task and a pursuit tracking task, as well as their dual-task combinations. All tasks were tested 0, 10, and 188 fswg. Exp I was designed to measure the effects of nitrogen narcosis on 2 successive weekly dives. No improvement specific to the 188 fswg depth was found on the 2nd dive. It is concluded that the prior exposure did not result in measurable adaptation to narcosis. At 188 fswg, the rate of information transmission in the choice RT task was slowed and tracking error increased. Dual-task requirements resulted in poorer tracking but left choice RT performance unaffected. In Exp II, half of the Ss stopped at 19 fswg before proceeding to depth. They showed a decrement in performance at 188 fswg equal to, or greater than, that found for the remaining Ss, who used the standard procedure of descending to depth directly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of two methods of training in a complex task by means of task stimulation.

"Improvement in performance with training in a complex task of radar air traffic control was compared under a condition of constant high input load during training vs. a condition of graduated input load during training… . The test performance of Ss trained under constant high input load was significantly superior on several criteria to that of Ss trained under the graduated input load condition." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4LE65K. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Encouragement, anxiety, and test performance.

"To determine the effect of encouragement on the individual test performance of Ss with varying amounts of anxiety, two anxiety scales were first administered to a sample of college students… three groups of Ss were selected and designated low-, medium-, and high-anxiety. To each S was individually administered the MacQuarrie Test for Mechanical Ability… . On the basis of scores on this test, each anxiety category was divided into two equated groups. Six weeks later the test was again individually administered to each S, this time encouraging comments being offered between subtests to one group in each category but not to the other. Two-tailed t tests revealed only one significant finding: the performance of the low-anxiety Ss displayed increased variability under encouragement." 23 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of marijuana on divergent and convergent production cognitive tests.

In a study of the effects of cannabis on cognitive functioning, several cognitive and psychomotor tests were administered to 4 groups of male college Ss (84 Ss): (a) a high-dose group [equivalent to 6 mg of Δ–9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)], (b) a low-dose group (equivalent to 3 mg of THC), (c) a placebo group, and (d) a control group. Cannabis was smoked in the form of marihuana. Even Ss who received the low dose showed impairment on the WAIS Block Design test and the Memory-for-Designs Test. High-dose Ss gave an impaired performance on several other cognitive tests; however, on some cognitive tests, mainly those measuring divergent production and oral fluency, low-dose Ss performed the best and high-dose Ss performed the worst. Consequently, there is a possibility, requiring further exploration, that cannabis at low dose levels can act as a stimulant and can improve performance on certain tests. (69 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual sampling after lesions of the superior colliculus in rats.

In 2 experiments with 20 male black-hooded rats, Ss with bilateral lesions of the superior colliculus showed significantly poorer relearning of a horizontal/vertical stripe discrimination than control Ss. In Exp I, all Ss showed disruption of performance when a stimulus–response (S–R) separation was introduced by raising the stimuli above the site of responding. However, colliculectomized Ss were much more disturbed by the S–R separation than were control Ss. In Exp II, all Ss showed lower performance levels when conflicting patterns were introduced into the upper portion of the stimulus doors, but this time Ss with collicular lesions were less disturbed than controls. It is suggested (a) that when the stimulus and response sites are discontinuous, rats must make an appropriate orienting response to effectively sample the visual stimuli and (b) that lesions of the superior colliculus alter performance by interfering with this orienting behavior. The impairment in relearning is attributed to the absence of preoperative overtraining on the discrimination task. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Subject, experimenter, and situational variables in research on anxiety.

3 organismic variables, test anxiety of Ss and of Es, and sex of S were manipulated in a verbal-learning situation. 2 siuational variables, preliminary differential-motivating instructions, and success-failure reports were also studied. High test anxious Ss performed at lower level than did low test anxious Ss, and females were superior to males. Female Ss performed best when run by low test anxious Es. Many significant interactions involving both organismic and situational variables were obtained. The results strongly indicate the need for investigations which simultaneously manipulate these variables in psychological experiments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of context manipulation on memory and reversal learning in rats with hippocampal lesions.

Conducted 3 experiments with 83 male Long-Evans rats to investigate (a) the memory of hippocampus-damaged Ss, and (b) their ability to modify response strategies in relation to the influence of familiar contextual cues. In Exp I, groups of hippocampal and control Ss learned a simultaneous discrimination habit and were subsequently tested for its retention under variable contextual conditions. All groups recalled the discrimination response to an equally high level when testing conditions were constant throughout, but the hippocampal group showed impaired memory when contextual stimuli at recall testing did not conform to those of original learning. Results of Exp II indicate that the hippocampal impairment was not simply the result of introducing novel stimuli. In Exp III, Ss were administered a reversal learning task with contextual stimuli varied between the 2 tests. The typically observed impairment of hippocampal Ss on this task was reduced by contrasting contextual conditions. Results are seen to support a context-retrieval interpretation of hippocampal function. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance of normal and organic brain-damaged subjects on the Canter Background Interference Procedure test as a function of drive.

Examines the effect of increasing levels of drive on performance on the Canter Background Interference Procedure (Canter BIP), a modification of the Bender-Gestalt test. Ss were 30 brain-damaged and 60 normal adults. Drive was manipulated by the use of an array of intersecting curved lines (BIP paper) on a 2nd administration of the Bender-Gestalt test, and by threat and actual delivery of electric shock. As hypothesized, a U-shaped function was obtained for normal Ss in which initial increases in drive produced improvement in performance, but further increases resulted in decrements. As was also hypothesized, a linear relationship was obtained with the organic Ss in which all increases in drive level produced decrements in performance. Results were viewed as consistent with a motivational interpretation of the BIP effect. (29 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual ability, response interference, and arousal in withdrawn and active schizophrenics.

Conducted 2 studies to assess 225 female schizophrenics' conceptual organization under conditions of low and high arousal and low and high response interference. Ss were classified as either active or withdrawn on Venables's Activity-Withdrawal scale. Arousal was manipulated by having Ss maintain grip pressure on a dynamometer. Besides revealing less ability of schizophrenics to benefit from increases in conceptual organization of input, results reveal important differences between active and withdrawn schizophrenics. In addition to conceptual organization deficiencies, withdrawns exhibited response interference problems under standard conditions and showed trends indicating further deterioration of both conceptual organization and response interference with increased arousal. In contrast, actives showed neither severe response interference nor increased deterioration with increased arousal. One aspect of actives' performance improved with heightened arousal, suggesting that these Ss function normally at a suboptimal level of arousal. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The basis of test predictions for text material.

Investigated the relationship between test predictions and test performance for text material. Ss predicted test performance or made judgments about ease of comprehension both before and after reading short expository texts. As Ss gained more information about texts, the correlations between predictions and performance increased. Generally, test predictions were better predictors of test performance than were ease of comprehension ratings. Exps 2 and 3 showed that Ss use domain familiarity in their test predictions, but this declines from before to after reading. Increased accuracy of test predictions from before to after reading was interpreted as indicating that Ss use specific information gained from reading texts to make accurate predictions about their future test performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sensitivity to low doses of ethanol and pentobarbital in mice selected for sensitivity to hypnotic doses of ethanol.

Assessed sensitivity to low doses of ethanol and pentobarbital in mice that had been selectively bred with respect to ethanol sleep time (the length of time an animal remains on its back following a hypnotic dose of ethanol). The hypothesis investigated was that short-sleep (SS) Ss might be more sensitive than long-sleep (LS) Ss to excitatory effects produced by low doses of depressants. In support of this hypothesis, SS Ss were more active in an open-field test after ethanol than were LS Ss. Two experiments were conducted, using 88 LS and 88 SS Ss. The lines did not differ in performance on a rotating-rod apparatus after these same doses of ethanol, suggesting that the difference in open-field activity was not attributable to a greater impairment of locomotor activity in LS Ss. A similar difference in the open-field activity of the selected lines was observed with pentobarbital. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal attributions, expectations, and task performance.

College students' performance on each of 2 chemistry tests (n?=?253 on the 1st test and 233 on the 2nd test) was classified as a success (or failure) if it met (or failed to meet) a minimum criterion of success that each S set prior to taking each test. Using a paired-comparison technique, Ss attributed their performance on each test to ability, effort, luck, and task difficulty. Among Ss who succeeded on the tests, expected and actual future performance were positively related to attributions to high ability and negatively related to attributions to good luck. Among Ss who experienced failure, expected performance was positively related to attributions to low effort and negatively related to attributions to low ability. Results of these analyses are related to D. T. Hall's (1976) model of psychological success. In addition, although expectations were strongly related to subsequent performance, the relationship was substantially weakened when prior performance and ability attributions were held constant. The implications of this finding for understanding expectancy perceptions are discussed. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social support as a moderator of the aftereffects of stress in female psychiatric inpatients.

Assessed the impact of social support on poststressor cognitive impairment to provide a laboratory test of the buffering hypothesis of social support. High or low support was operationalized as the warm or the neutral behavior of an experimenter in an interview that preceded the experimental stressor, high or low task load (TL). Ss were 32 nonpsychotic female psychiatric inpatients (mean age 28 yrs). The predicted interaction was found on a poststressor anagram task. The performance of low-TL Ss was not markedly affected by the interview condition, whereas high-TL Ss performed significantly better in the warm interview condition. Heart rate data also supported the hypothesized buffering role of support. It is concluded that training in interpersonal skills required to mobilize social support might provide patients with some protection against the effects of stressful events. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pretest expectancies and cognitive impairment in alcoholics.

Alcoholics' neurological deficits have been attributed to cognitive impairment associated with brain dysfunction. Because alcoholics perceive themselves as impaired in higher cognitive functions, we investigated the alternative hypothesis that their deficits are predicted by lowered expectancies for successful performance. Ss were 48 male, middle-aged Veterans Administration inpatient alcoholics and 36 community controls. Subjects completed a standard series of neuropsychological tests. Before taking each test, Ss were asked how well they expected to do on that test in relation to members of their community. As predicted, means for the overall measures of expectancies and perfomance were significantly lower for alcoholics than for control Ss. Although expectancies were significantly correlated with performance, regression analyses indicated they could not account for the obtained performance differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory complaint and memory performance in the depressed elderly.

Compared depressed and nondepressed elderly Ss recruited in the context of a large epidemiological study of health on measures of self-reported memory disturbance and an objective index of memory performance (free recall). Three groups were studied: (a) 26 Ss (mean age 71.56 yrs) meeting Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for major depression, (b) 25 Ss (mean age 72.16 yrs) with high levels of self-reported depressive symptoms who did not meet RDC for major depression, and (c) 26 Ss (mean age 71.81 yrs) with low levels of self-reported depressive symptoms. Ss with high depression symptom levels reported significantly higher levels of memory complaint than did Ss with low symptom levels, but there were no differences in self-reported memory disturbance as a function of depression diagnosis. There were no significant differences between groups on the free-recall measure, either as a function of symptom level or diagnosis. It is argued that symptom severity rather than diagnosis of depression is important in determining impairment in depressed elderly people. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)