Extinction of response to urine odor as a consequence of vomeronasal organ removal in male guinea pigs.

The present authors (see record 1983-12216-001) previously showed that, over time, removal of the vomeronasal chemoreceptor organ (VNO) in male guinea pigs disrupted investigatory responses to conspecific odors. The present study, with 24 Ss, investigated whether this result reflected sequelae to surgical trauma or an extinction of the response due to lack of reinforcement. The VNO was surgically removed in 2 groups of Ss (A and B), and a 3rd group (C) experienced sham surgery. Beginning 3 wks following surgery, Ss in Groups A and C were given 2 standard urine-response tests/week for 24 wks. Initiation of testing of Group B Ss was delayed until Week 15 following surgery. Results indicate that (a) responses of Group A declined relative to those of Group C; (b) at the 1st postsurgical test, Group B was as responsive to urine as Group C and much more responsive than Group A; and (c) a decline in responses for Group B occurred during tests after Week 15. Data strongly support the extinction hypothesis. It is concluded that although the main olfactory system is capable of eliciting a high level of investigatory behavior in response to female urine odors, this response wanes in the absence of the VNO, perhaps due to a loss of reinforcing properties associated with VNO stimulation. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Visual masking and visual integration across saccadic eye movements.

Studied visual masking and visual integration across saccadic eye movements in 4 experiments. In a 5th experiment, 4 randomly chosen dots from a 3?×?5 dot matrix were presented in 1 fixation, and 4 different dots from the matrix were presented in a 2nd fixation. Ss reported the location of the missing dot. When the 1st display was presented just before the saccade (as in Exps I–III), Ss accurately specified the missing dot location when the dots were presented to the same region of the retina but not when they were presented in the same place in space. When the 1st display was presented well before the saccade (as in Exp IV), Ss performed poorly regardless of retinal or spatial overlap. Results indicate the existence of a short-lived retinotopic visual persistence but provide no support for a spatiotopic visual persistence capable of fusing the contents of successive fixations. It is concluded that transsaccadic integration depends instead on an abstract memory that accumulates position and identity information about the contents of successive fixations. Results are discussed in relation to the work by M. L. Davidson et al (see record 1974-10245-001). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structure temporelle du langage maternel adressé à des nourissons de trois mois.

Investigated the temporal structure of maternal speech addressed to 3-mo-old infants in 2 interactional contexts, one free interaction and at bathtime. A study was conducted with 8 21–29 yr old mothers and their normal infants (4 males, 4 females). Results show a temporal structure consisting of brief utterances with little duration variability in both contexts. Pauses between utterances were longer, especially at bathtime. Ss showed individual differences in utterance-pause ratios in the 2 contexts. Contrary to previous findings, only 29% of the utterance-pause pairs were structured in sequence. This specific temporal structure of maternal speech addressed to infants could play a role in dyadic interactions and in developing infants" language competencies. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictive accuracy and the effects of partial reinforcement on serial autoshaping.

Five experiments examined the influence of partial reinforcement on serial autoshaping in 120 male pigeons. In Exp I, Group 1 received 2 sequences of events: A followed by B followed by food, or A alone. Group 2 always received the AB sequence, reinforcement being presented on 50% of the trials. Ss responded more rapidly during A in Group 1. Exp II replicated this finding and confirmed that it was not due to differences in the density of the conditioning trials. A similar outcome was observed in Exp III, which also indicated that the differences between the groups were not due to differences in the reinforcing properties of B. Results are interpreted in terms of J. M. Pearce and G. Hall's (see record 1981-02676-001) model of Pavlovian learning, which states that responding during A in Group 1 was high because this stimulus is an inaccurate predictor of its immediate consequences. Results from Exps IV and V support and extend this analysis. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of preferences and processes of visual scanning in the human infant during the first 3 months of life.

Used corneal infrared photography to record the visual fixations of 24 infants (4-6 wks and 10-12 wks) exposed to simple geometric figures. Results indicate that Ss in both age groups showed decreasing fixation time to the feature that initially attracted most fixations. Young Ss limited their fixations to a smaller area of the visual field than did older Ss. This developmental change in dispersed scanning might be an essential factor in later figure preferences. There was no preference for specific features, closed figures, or any particular figure. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Categories of response to reunion with the parent at age 6: Predictable from infant attachment classifications and stable over a 1-month period.

Describes the development of a system for classifying attachment organization at age 6 on the basis of study of children's responses to unstructured reunions with parents. In a study of 33 families, 6th-year attachment classifications to mother were highly predictable from infancy attachment classifications to mother (84%), with Ss secure in infancy identified as secure on reunion at age 6 (Group B); and Ss insecure-avoidant in infancy identified as insecure-avoidant (Group A); Ss who were insecure-disorganized/disoriented identified as controlling of the parent (Group D). Lower predictability (61%) was found for attachment to father. An insecure-ambivalent (Group C) 6th-year classification was developed following the Berkeley study. In a 2nd study of child–mother dyads, (N?=?50), 62% of Ss were stable in (A, B, C, and D) classification across a 1-mo interval. When D children were reassigned to their best-fitting alternative A, B, or C categories, stability was high both for major classifications (A + B + C?=?86%) and for 7 subclassifications (A1, A2, B1/B2, B3, B4, C1, C2?=?76%). Avoidance of mother was stable across the 5-yr and the 1-mo periods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Searching for a target in a random arrangement of names: An eye fixation analysis.

Investigated the eye fixations used in searching for names in map-like displays in 4 experiments with 61 university students. A typical display was a random arrangement of 20 names, all of which were in the same type style and point size. Compared with data from searching for symbols, 2 differences emerged: Exps I and II showed there was little or no tendency to fixate names that resembled the target. When Ss moved their eyes, they simply followed a search path characteristic of the individual. Secondly, fixation times were not constant, but were consistently longer on names that resembled the target. Exp IV showed that fixation times were longer on displays with names set in a small type size. Peripheral vision is important in placing fixations, but information that is potentially available in peripheral vision is not always used when searching. Practical implications for map design are considered. (French abstract) (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The time course of word frequency and case alternation effects on fixation times in reading: Evidence for lexical control of eye movements.

Participants' eye movements were monitored while they read sentences in which high-frequency and low-frequency target words were presented either in normal font (e.g., account) or case alternated (e.g., aCcOuNt). The influence of the word frequency and case alternation manipulations on fixation times was examined. Although both manipulations had comparable effects on standard first-pass fixation measures, word frequency, but not case alternation was found to influence the duration of the first fixation in trials with multiple first-pass fixations. Assuming that lexical processing is more often incomplete at the termination of the first in multiple first-pass fixations than at the end of single first-pass fixations, the present findings provide strong evidence for an influence of word frequency on early lexical processing. Importantly, such a demonstration of a fast acting influence of a lexical variable on fixation times satisfies a critical prerequisite for establishing lexical control of eye movements in reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discriminative shock-avoidance learning of an autonomic response under curare.

Assigned 16 curarized, artificially respirated male Sprague-Dawley albino rats to 2 groups of 8 Ss each, rewarded for intestinal contraction (C) or relaxation (R), respectively. Each S received a predetermined series of CS+, CS-, and blank (B) trials, the latter involving no stimulation. On CS+ trials, Ss in Group C received a noxious electric shock to the tail for episodes of intestinal relaxation, while those in Group R received the shock for episodes of intestinal contraction. Results indicate that both groups spent significantly greater amounts of time, both toward the end of acquisition and during extinction, in the intestinal state for which they were rewarded, manifesting stimulus-specific escape and avoidance learning. In Exp. II with 4 curarized Ss, no consistent unconditioned effects on intestinal motility were observed as a result of shock application or shock offset. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infants' reactions to perceptual paradox during mother–infant interaction.

36 3-mo-old infants interacted with their mothers under conditions in which they could see and hear their mothers (correlated auditory plus visual information: A?+?V), see but not hear their mothers (V), and hear but not see their mothers (A); the latter 2 conditions are termed perceptual paradox. The interactions were videotaped, and the Ss' behavior was judged by naive observers who used a subjective 7-point rating scale of infant affect. For 2 groups of Ss, 3 1-min presentations of the A?+?V condition were alternated with 3 1-min presentations of either A (Group 1) or V (Group 2) conditions. In both groups, Ss were judged as being more distressed during unimodal presentations than during bimodal presentations. In a 3rd group, unimodal (A) presentations were alternated with unimodal (V) presentations. Ss in this group were significantly more distressed when they could hear but not see their mothers than when they could see but not hear their mothers. Results demonstrate the suitability of global subjective ratings of affective state in studies of infant perception. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical access during eye fixations in reading: Effects of word-initial letter sequence.

Tested the constraint hypothesis, which states that lexical access in reading is initiated on the basis of word-initial letter information obtainable in the parafoveal region, in 2 experiments. Ss were 36 college students with normal vision. Eye movements were monitored while Ss read sentences containing target words whose initial trigram (Exp I) or bigram (Exp II) imposed either a high or a low degree of constraint in the lexicon. In contradiction to the hypothesis, high-constraint words (e.g., dwarf) received longer fixations than did low-constraint words (e.g., clown), despite the fact that high-constraint words have an initial letter sequence shared by few other words in the lexicon. A comparison of fixation times in viewing conditions with and without parafoveal letter information showed that the amount of decrease in target fixation time due to prior parafoveal availability was the same for high- and low-constraint targets. It is concluded that increased familiarity of word-initial letter sequence is beneficial to lexical access and that familiarity affects the efficiency of foveal but not parafoveal processing. A list of the sentences used in the 2 experiments is appended. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Slowness and the preceding preparatory interval effect in schizophrenia.

Measured the reaction times (RTs) of 25 schizophrenic (SCZ), 69 matched normal, and 14 bipolar Ss to a tone preceded by a preparatory interval (PI) of varying length. RTs increase when the PI for the immediately preceding trial (PPI) is longer than the PI for the current trial. Several studies have shown that this PPI effect is heightened in schizophrenia. The authors replicated this finding. However, they found that the size of the PPI effect within groups increased with overall slowness and that the least squares regression line relating the PPI effect difference score to overall slowness did not differ between groups, nor did SCZ Ss' regression line differ from that of normal Ss. Group differences on the PPI effect were also analyzed by taking residuals for members of all groups from the normal Ss' regression line of the PPI effect difference score on overall slowness. Groups did not differ on these residuals, nor did SCZ Ss differ from normal Ss. The authors conclude that the heightening of the PPI effect in schizophrenia is like that observed in equally slow normal Ss. This finding suggests that the PPI effect does not appear to be a promising marker of a distinctive SCZ pathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Configural analysis of summation in autoshaping.

In 4 experiments, pigeons received autoshaping with various combinations of three stimuli, A, B, and C, before test trials in which responding during all three stimuli, ABC, was compared with that during a three-element control compound, DEF, which had been consistently paired with food. Pairing A, B, and C individually with food resulted in similar rates of responding during ABC and DEF (Experiments 1 and 2). Responding was faster, however, during ABC than during DEF after training in which food was signaled by the pairs of stimuli (AB, AC, and BC; Experiment 1). Responding was also faster during ABC than during DEF after training involving reinforced (+) and nonreinforced (°) trials of the form ABC+ A° BC°, followed by A+ BC+ (Experiment 2), or AB+ BC+ B° (Experiments 3 and 4). The results are consistent with those of a configural analysis of summation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental changes in infants' visual response to temporal frequency.

Investigated the development of visual responsiveness to variations in temporal frequency in 6 studies that were conducted when infants were at 4 and 6 mo of age. Groups of 12 infants each were tested in each study. In the 1st 2 studies, Ss viewed pairs of identical check patterns flashing at 2, 4, and 8 Hz, and their visual preferences were observed. When rate covaried with duty cycle (overall intensity), both age groups exhibited differential fixation as a function of frequency. To find out whether intensity variations were responsible for these results, intensity variations were eliminated (by equating duty cycle at 50%), and only frequency was varied. This manipulation resulted in the elimination of the previously observed differential response in the 4-mo-olds but had no effect on the 6-mo-olds' differential response. As a final check on the role of intensity, overall intensity was varied while temporal frequency was kept constant. Results show that 4-mo-old Ss continued to respond differentially whereas 6-mo-olds did not. These data show that at 4 mo of age Ss attended to the overall intensity of stimulation and ignored its temporal characteristics, whereas at 6 mo of age they no longer attended to the overall intensity and instead attended to temporal frequency per se. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactive effects of training condition and septal lesions on perseverative responding in the rat.

In a study with 30 male Wistar rats, Ss that had received septal lesions either prior to acquisition of a position habit (Group SAR) or immediately after position habit acquisition (Group SR) were tested on 2 reversals of the task. Compared with control-operated Ss, both groups of Ss with septal lesions exhibited position-habit reversal deficits. The 2 groups with septal lesions could not be distinguished in terms of the total number of errors made during reversal learning, but could be distinguished on the basis of the type of error committed. Compared with Group SR, Group SAR made significantly more perseverative errors on the 1st reversal and significantly fewer perseverative errors on the 2nd reversal. Group SR made significantly more nonperseverative errors than Group SAR on both reversals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sequential attributional feedback and children's achievement behaviors.

Determined how the sequence of ability and effort attributional feedback influenced task motivation, attributions for success, self-efficacy, and skillful performance in 80 elementary school Ss (aged 8 yrs 2 mo to 10 yrs 5 mo) in 2 experiments. In Exp I, 40 Ss lacking subtraction skills received training and problem-solved over 4 sessions. During the problem solving, Group 1 (ability-ability) periodically received ability feedback; Group 2 (effort-effort) received little effort feedback; Group 3 (ability-effort) was given ability feedback during the 1st 2 sessions and effort feedback during the last 2; Group 4 (effort-ability) had this sequence reversed. In Exp II, 40 Ss (chosen with the same criteria as in Exp I) followed the same procedures except they were asked about their perceptions of success or failure following training. Results for both experiments show that Ss in Groups 1 and 3 developed higher ability attributions, self-efficacy, and subtraction skills compared with Ss in Groups 2 and 4. The sequence of attributional feedback did not differentially affect motivation, effort attributions, or perceptions of training successes. (42 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The reduction of uncertainty concerning future pain.

Ss received series of electric shocks to the forearm in which the temporal schedule and the sequence of shock intensities were associated with varying levels of randomness or uncertainty. The Ss were permitted an instrumental response which produced, in advance, information concerning 1 or both of these aspects of the shocks. Such information functioned as a strong positive reinforcement for most Ss. Instrumental response rate was a significant increasing function of the degree of uncertainty associated with the shock series, and occurred significantly more often for information concerning the temporal occurrence of shock than for its intensity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Slowness and the preceding preparatory interval effect in schizophrenia": Correction.

Reports an error in the original article by M. B. Miller et al (Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1993[Feb], Vol 102[1], 145–251). Three "hats' were left out of the equations on page 150. The corrected passage is presented. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1993-25729-001.) Measured the reaction times (RTs) of 25 schizophrenic (SCZ), 69 matched normal, and 14 bipolar Ss to a tone preceded by a preparatory interval (PI) of varying length. RTs increase when the PI for the immediately preceding trial (PPI) is longer than the PI for the current trial. Several studies have shown that this PPI effect is heightened in schizophrenia. The authors replicated this finding. However, they found that the size of the PPI effect within groups increased with overall slowness and that the least squares regression line relating the PPI effect difference score to overall slowness did not differ between groups, nor did SCZ Ss' regression line differ from that of normal Ss. Group differences on the PPI effect were also analyzed by taking residuals for members of all groups from the normal Ss' regression line of the PPI effect difference score on overall slowness.… (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Picture perception: Effects of luminance on available information and information-extraction rate.

Three experiments with 255 undergraduates and a 4th in which the author and 2 colleagues served as Ss showed that complex visual stimuli—pictures and digit arrays—were remembered better when shown at high luminance (LM) than at low LM. Evidence was found for the possibilities that lowering LM reduced the amount of available information in the stimulus and that lowering LM reduced the rate at which the information was extracted from the stimulus. When stimuli were presented at durations short enough to permit only a single eye fixation, LM affected only the rate at which information was extracted. Decreasing LM by a factor of 100 caused information to be extracted more slowly by a factor that ranged, over experiments, from 1.4 to 2.0. When pictures were presented at durations long enough to permit multiple fixations, however, LM affected the total amount of extractable information. In a 5th experiment, with 4 undergraduates, converging evidence was sought for the proposition that within the 1st eye fixation on a picture, LM affects the rate of information extraction. If this proposition is correct and the 1st eye fixation lasts until some criterion amount of information is extracted, then fixation duration should increase with decreasing LM. This prediction was confirmed. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing models of delayed sequence discrimination in pigeons: The advance key procedure.

In 2-event delayed sequence discrimination (DSD) training, one arrangement (temporal order) of 2 sample stimuli is the positive sequence and the remaining are the negative sequences for keypecking during a subsequent test stimulus. Three models of the DSD task were tested in 2 experiments with 8 White Carneaux pigeons. In Exp I Ss were allowed to terminate a trial by pecking the "advance key" during the sample stimuli or to let the test stimulus progress to the next trial. In the absence of a peck to the advance key, the trial continued to the completion of the test stimulus. In Exp II, Ss were forced to choose actively between advancing to the next trial and continuing through the current trial. Choice between the advance and continue keys was required with the occurrence of each of the successive sample stimuli and the test stimulus. Although the addition of forced choice resulted in more uniform effects, Ss were able to identify negative sample sequences with the occurrence of the 1st negative sample event in both experiments. Results support the prospective memory model but not the retrospective and hybrid models of temporal sequence recognition in the 2-event DSD task. (French abstract) (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)