bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Adrenalin, emotional arousal and memory
Authors: CHRISTIANSON SVEN‐ÅKE , MJÖRNDAL TOM
Published: May 2008

Two experiments were designed to investigate the effects of emotional arousal on memory. Emotional arousal was induced via subcutaneous injections of adrenalin whilst subjects in the control conditions received saline injections. Memory performance was assessed by using recall (Experiment 1) and recognition (Experiment 2) tests. The study phase involved slide presentations of a neutral face accompanied by four verbal descriptors concerning the person's name, occupation, hobby, and personality. For each of the total 18 faces, subjects were asked to read each of the four descriptors aloud, concentrate on the face, and choose the one of the descriptors that was most appropriate to the face. Subjects were not aware that their memory for the verbal stimuli would be assessed during a subsequent retention test. Measurements of cardiac and palmar activity were made continuously during the slide presententation. In both experiments autonomic arousal data and self‐reports by the subjects revealed a higher level of emotional arousal in the adrenalin group as compared to the saline group. Despite this significant difference in state of emotional arousal, no signifcant differences in memory performance were found between the two groups in either experiment.
The relation between level of general knowledge and feeling‐of‐knowing: An adult age study
Authors: BÄCKMAN LARS , KARLSSON THOMAS
Published: May 2008

Younger and older adults were examined in recall and recognition of factual information varying in datedness. It was found that younger adults performed better for questions related to the time period 1970–1983, while the older adults performed better for questions related to the time period 1930–1950. The subjects also did confidence ratings of their “feeling‐of‐knowing” of the actual questions. On the basis of the cross‐over interaction between age and datedness, the relationship between the level of general knowledge and the ability to monitor the knowledge was investigated. Only minor differences were observed between the graphs describing recall and recognition performance as a function of feeling‐of‐knowing in the four age by datedness combinations. Thus, the results suggest that the ability to supervise context‐free semantic information may be intact despite an inferiority in level of knowledge. Comparisons were made between the results of the present study and those of previous studies on metamemory and episodic remembering.
Dissociation and self‐awareness in directed daydreaming
Authors: RÅMONTH SUSANNE M.
Published: May 2008

Self‐awareness, as the ability to be the observer of one's own cognitive. affective, and volitional states, was explored in directed daydreaming. Self‐awareness of varying complexity and depth was found in the dissociated ego states, which were experienced as relatively discontinuous with each other in space and time, and discontinuous with the subjects' usual experience of a cohesive self. An extreme expression of shallow self‐awareness was found for a few subjects who reported a fantasy with no experience of a self. The most elaborate form of self‐awareness, coconsciousness, was found for the majority of subjects in the two‐ego state group, where both of their ego states were associated with an identity feeling, and where one ego state evidenced full awareness of the thoughts and feelings of the other state. Coconsciousness was found to be a prerequisite for deep self‐awareness in directed daydreaming.
Phenomenological note on belief‐feeling and the relation between affect and belief
Authors: JUNGE KENNETH
Published: May 2008

It is asserted that there are two kinds of belief‐feeling, i.e., feeling (confident) that something is true or real. The difference between α‐feeling and β‐feeling of belief is analogous to the difference between having a sensory impression and merely imagining the impression. An α‐belief is a concomitant correlate of affect and it tends to be stronger than the corresponding β‐belief.
Relationship of quantitative EEG and cognitive test performance in patients with cardiac valvular disease
Authors: JUOLASMAA ANTERO , TOIVAKKA ERKKI , OUTAKOSKI JOUNI , SOTANIEMI KYOSTI , TIENARI PEKKA , HIRVENOJA REIJO
Published: May 2008

The relationship between computerized quantitative EEG (QEEG) and intellectual, memory and psychornotor test performance was studied in a series of 52 patients suffering from a cardiac valvular disease. After controlling the effect of age, several signifcant positive correlations were found between verbal intellectual and memory performances and the alpha mean frequency, as well as the total mean frequency of the EEG activity. Non‐verbal performances were more closely related to age than to brain electrical activity. Of the single test, Vocabulary had the closest connection with the QEEG parameters. No lateral asymmetry was foundin the QEEG—test performance correlations. The alpha mean frequency appeared most promising in studying the QEEG—intelligence relationships.
Taste/tactile cue discriminations in taste‐aversion learning foIIowing depletion of noradrenaIine
Authors: ARCHER TREVOR , CALLENHOLM NILS E. B. , JÄRBE TORBJÖRN U. C. , MINOR BRUCE G. , MOHAMMED ABDUL K.
Published: May 2008

Four experiments were performed to investigate the effect of noradrenaline (NA) depletion, following systemic DSP4 treatment, upon a tastehactile discrimination in taste‐aversion learning. In Experiments 1 and2, noisy bottle (A) + lithium chloride pairings were alternated with saccharin (B) + saline pairings, and vice versa, during Phase I conditioning. The particular order of reinforcement presentation in each case was then reversed, so that a noisy bottle (A) + saline pairing was now altered with a saccharin (B) + lithium chloride pairing, etc., during Phase II (reversal) conditioning. In Experiments 3 and4, saccharin in noisy bottle (AB) + lithium chloride pairings alternated with either noisy bottle (A) + saline or saccharin (B) + saline pairings, and vice versa, during Phase I conditioning; the order of reinforcement presentation was then reversed, as above. None of the four experiments performed offered any evidence of impairments of the discrimination task as a result of NA depletion. These results are discussed in the context of associative preparedness and of discrimination learning in operant tasks and recent findings on compound conditioning, following the loss of NA.
Dark‐adaptation of the human rod system: A new hypothesis
Authors: STABELL ULF , STABELL BJØRN , NORDBY KNUT
Published: May 2008

Following a long, full bleach, rod dark‐adaptation curves from two normal trichromats were obtained with test fields of various size, exposure time and retinal eccentricity. The results show that there is a substantial region of threshold recovery with an approximately constant, linear slope of about 0.27 log per minute of dark‐adaptation, which is independent of the test variables. It is suggested that the increase in sensitivity during this constant, linear slope is completely determined by changes in the concentration of bleached rhodopsin. The relationship between change of relative threshold (T) and fraction of bleached rhodopsin (B) is given by T=B3,7. This exponential law is well described by the displacement of the equilibrium between the active and inactive states of an allosteric enzyme built as a tetrarner.
Risk, moral value of actions, and mood
Authors: SJÖBERG LENNART , WINROTH ELISABETH
Published: May 2008

In this article the acceptability of risk is related to the moral value of risky actions. Four widely different groups of subjects (clergy, MBA students, prison inmates and pregnant women) judged 20 individual and 20 collective acts with reference to acceptability of risk, moral value, and value and probability of negative and positive consequences. They also rated their current mood. Acceptability of risks was most strongly related to moral value, which thus was found to be an important determiner of acceptability of risk. A depressed mood was associated with a lenient attitude to risks. Societal acts were more negatively evaluated than individual acts. There was a strong positive correlation between values and probabilities of outcomes, both positive and negative.
Effects of positive emotional events on memory
Authors: CHRISTIANSON SVEN‐ÅKE
Published: May 2008

Memory of positive emotional events (erotic pictures) was investigated in a paradigm often used in laboratory simulations of amnesia. After viewing mildly erotic pictures in the middle of a series of slides of an otherwise neutral character (Experiment I), or neutral pictures surrounded by erotic slides (Experiment 2), subjects were tested for memory (recall and recognition) of verbal descriptors presented along with the pictures. Emotional responses were evaluated by means of measurements of cardiac activity, and self‐ratings of affect, and showed that a state of positive emotional arousal was induced to subjects presented with erotic pictures. While no difference in memory performance was obtained when erotic pictures were presented in a context of neutral pictures, an increase in performance was obtained when neutral pictures were presented in a context of erotic pictures. Furthermore, subjects presented with only neutral pictures showed a higher memory performance as compared with subjects presented with only erotic pictures. Taken together, the reults were interpreted as showing that not only negative emotional arousal, as has been shown by previous research, but also positive emotional arousal, has negative effects on memory performance in this type of design, due to attentional division and contextual affects.
Psychological versus physiological determinants of emotional arousal and its relationship to laboratory induced amnesia
Authors: CHRISTIANSON SVEN‐ÅKE , NILSSON LARS‐GÖRAN , MJÖRNDAL TOM , PERRIS CARLO , TJELLDEN GUNNAR
Published: May 2008

Psychological and physiological aspects of emotional arousal were studied concerning their possible roles in mediating amnesia. Subjects were presented with a series of slides consisting of photographs of faces, with each face accompanied by four verbal descriptors. For half of the subjects emotional arousal was induced by means of a source not related to the stimulus material; these subjects were injected with adrenalin and presented with neutral pictures throughout the series. For the other subjects the source of emotional arousal was associated with the stimulus material. These subjects were unexpectedly presented with traumatic slides in the middle of the series. Measurements of palmar, cardiac, and cortical activity were taken continuously during stimulus presentation. Memory performance was measured by means of a cued recall test of the verbal descriptors accompanying the faces. Physiological data as well as post‐experimental ratings by the subjects indicated that at the time of the study subjects under both sets of conditions were equally aroused emotionally. However, memory performance for those subjects presented with traumatic slides was clearly below the level of the subjects who were injected with adrenalin. These data suggest that amnesia is mediated by emotional arousal when the source of arousal is related to the to‐be‐remembered items rather than to high arousal per se (cf. Walker, 1958, 1967).
Effects of light and noise test stimuli on the open‐field behavior of Wistar rats
Authors: HIRSJÄRVI PAULA A. , JUNNILA MIRJA A.
Published: May 2008

The effects of five difFerent stimulus situations on open‐field behavior were studied in male Wistar rats. The results show that each test situation is unique and yields a different behavioral pattern. This should be taken into account with applications of the open‐field method.
Dimensions of verbal denial in myocardial infarction: Correlates to 3 denial scales
Authors: HAVIK ODD E. , MELAND JOHN G.
Published: May 2008

The concept of denial in medical patients was reviewed, and problems in the past research on denial was noted. A questionnaire developed to assess different aspects of denial in myocardial infarction was tested in a group of 367 patients. A factor analysis of the questionnaire gave 3 independent factors, termed Denial of Illness, Denial of Impact, and Suppression. This finding gave support to the model that guided the construction of the questionnaire, and also casted some doubt on the validity of using either single specific or global criteria in assessing denial. Multiple regression analyses, including a series of medical, psychological and social variables, showed that social desirablity and external health locus of control contributed to the prediction of high scores on all 3 scales. Denial of Illness was furthermore associatd with less previous cardiac disease and a less severe index MI, whereas Denial of Impact was related to indicators of more optimistic attitudes. Suppression was related to indicators of lower socio‐economic status and less cardiac health knowledge. The 3 scales should be further examined in relation to outcome after a myocardial infarction.
Placebo, belief, and health. A cognitive–emotion model
Authors: LUNDH LARS‐GUNNAR
Published: May 2008

The present paper reviews empirical research on placebo effects, and presents a cognitive–emotional model of the psychological mechanisms involved. It is argued that illness often involves psychological aspects; people not only sense their signs of physical illness, but also interpret these signs, and respond emotionally to their interpretations. Cognitions of danger (e.g. fear of dying) produce anxiety, whereas cognitions of loss (e.g. loss of one's health) produce sadness or depression. It is argued that an important part of the placebo effect is due to the development of placebo beliefs (beliefs of the form “This treatment is going to cure me”), which may counteract the kind of cognitions that produce anxiety and depression; placebo beliefs produce emotional responses (hope, calm, etc.), which are antagonistic to depression and anxiety. Further, if anxiety and depression tend to affect a person's physical health negatively, placebo beliefs may be expected to have a positive influence on physical health. Placebo effects may occur not only with pure placebos (e.g. sugar pills), but with all kinds of medical and psychological treatments; even treatments that contain active ingredients of a non‐placebo nature may involve important placebo components. Placebo effects may vary in strength, depending on the therapist's behaviour (verbal information to the patient, enthusiasm, optimism, interest, etc.), and on the patient's idiosyncratic meaning structures (which invest various kinds of treatment with different placebo value).
Velocity concatenation and velocity as rate of position dissimilation
Authors: JUNGE KENNETH
Published: May 2008

If velocity is interpreted as rate of position dissimilation the model of dissimilarity previously developed (Junge, 1978) can be used to account for the relativistic concatenation rule for velocity (Einstein's rule).
Laughter: an empirical test of some reversal theory hypotheses
Authors: SVEBAK SVEN , APTER MICHAEL J.
Published: May 2008

Hypotheses derived from reversal theory on state‐specific responses to humorous material were tested by recruitment of 10 telic (serious minded) and 10 paratelic (playful) state‐dominant individuals from a larger sample of university students completing the Telic Dominance Scale. They were individually exposed to a comedy programme displayed on television in a psychophysiological laboratory. Polygraph record of respiration provided operational measurement of laughter. Subjects ratings were derived for felt and preferred level of arousal and for telidparatelic state in the laboratory situation. Results confirmed (1) that humorous material tends to induce the paratelic state, even in telic state‐dominant individuals, and (2) that frequency of laughter in the paratelic state is positively correlated with degree of felt arousal and with arousal preference, thus indicating a linear, rather than ditonic, relation of hedonic tone to felt arousal in this state.
Self‐assessment of quality of life in severe heart failure: An instrument for clinical use
Authors: WIKLUND INGELA , LINDVALL KAJ , SWEDBERG KARL , ZUPKIS ROBERT V.
Published: May 2008

Improvement in quality of life (QL) is a primary objective of medical care, and the natural consequence of efforts made in hospital or during convalescence. Pharmacological intervention usually gives relief of symptoms, but may introduce expected and unexpected adverse reactions. This paper presents a self‐administered questionnaire specially aimed to assess QL in severe heart failure. Compared with available instruments, the present questionnaire was designed to be simple and short, containing only 26 items. It was found to be relevant and comprehensive with satisfactory reliability and validity. The questionnaire includes somatic, emotional/cognitive aspects, life satisfaction and physical limitations. The questionnaire makes it possible to evaluate each subscale separately as well as altogether.
Teacher stress over an autumn term: relationships between subjective stress and catecholamine excretion during night rest
Authors: KINNUNEN ULLA
Published: May 2008

The relationships between subjective stress and catecholamine excretion during night rest were investigated in a group of 137 teachers. The research design was longitudinal and consisted of repeated assessment (six times in an autumn term) of the stress indicators. At the beginning of the term adrenaline excretion rate showed negative and at the end of the term positive correlations with subjective stress feelings. Cluster analysis revealed three stable profile types among the teachers, in which the stress indicators were related to each other in different ways. The subjective stress process was better reflected in noradrenaline excretion than in adrenaline excretion. The findings were interpreted to reflect the changes in the intensity of emotional arousal during the term.
Change of preferences under time pressure: choices and judgements
Authors: SVENSON OLA , EDLAND ANNE
Published: May 2008

Students made choices between student apartments judged to be equally attractive. When asked to choose the best apartment in each pair of alternatives, choices made by a group under time pressure were significantly different from those made by another group under no time pressure. The effect was so strong that preference reversals were obtained which could be explained by subjects over‐evaluating negative aspects on the most important attribute under time pressure.
Some metrical issues with meta‐analysis of therapy effects
Authors: LUND THORLEIF
Published: May 2008

Two metrical issues, both concerning the index of effect size used in meta‐analyses of therapy effects, are discussed with reference to such analyses. The first issue refers to use of the standard deviation of change scores as a metrical unit, and the conclusion is that the standard deviation of unadjusted post‐test scores should be used instead. The second issue concerns measurement errors, and it is argued that the metrical unit—irrespective of which kind of variability metric is chosen—should be corrected for such errors, hence expressing each therapy effect relative to an estimated true rather than observed unit. It is proposed that a set of metrical alternatives should be used in a meta‐analysis, so that the analysis is performed for each alternative and the results are compared across the alternatives.
Self‐focused attention and the experience of alcoholic intoxication1
Authors: ZUBER IRENA , SMARI JAKOB , NYSTEDT LARS , BERGMAN HANS
Published: May 2008

The present study investigates the relationship between self‐focused attention and the experience of emotional and bodily concomitants of alcoholic intoxication. It was hypothesized that self‐focused attention would amplify salient mood and bodily concomitants of intoxication after alcohol intake and counteract these concomitants after placebo treatment. Self‐focused attention was assessed by measures of private body consciousness, private self‐consciousness, and of self‐awareness. Since alcohol intake did not influence mood, it was not possible to test our main‐hypothesis linking self‐focused attention with the experience of mood concomitants of intoxication. As to bodily concomitants of intoxication a strong effect of alcohol intake was disclosed. Further analysis revealed the predicted relationship between self‐awareness and private body consciousness on one hand and the experience of bodily concomitants of intoxication, on the other. The relationship between private body consciousness and experience of bodily concomitants of intoxication was moderated by the amount of experience with alcohol. No significant relationship between private self‐consciousness and experience of bodily concomitants of intoxication was found.
The association between intelligence level and brain volume measures: a negative finding
Authors: TEASDALE T. W. , PAKKENBERG B.
Published: May 2008

Ratings of pre‐morbid intelligence level, derived from the hospital charts of 26 chronic schizophrenics, were correlated with the post‐mortem brain volume measures of cortex, white matter, central grey matter, and ventricles. Contrary to hypothesis, no significant correlations were found.
Semantic overlap between scale items may be a good thing: Reply to Smedslund
Authors: RAY J. J.
Published: May 2008

Smedslund has rediscovered the fact that the items of many scales are to various degrees semantically related. He is critical of this. It is pointed out that there is already an ongoing debate about how much semantic overlap there should be between items and it is claimed that such overlap is important in maximizing reliability. Too much overlap does however limit validity so proposals for formalizing the degree of overlap are briefly explored.
A cross‐cultural study of personality: Swedish and English children
Authors: EYSENCK S. B. G. , KNORRING ANNE‐LIIS VON , KNORRING LARS VON
Published: May 2008

Five hundred and thirty‐one Swedish boys and 559 Swedish girls completed the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (J.EPQ) translated into Swedish by the authors (A.‐L.v.K. and L.v.K.). Factor comparisons indicated virtually identical factors of Psychoticism (P) Extraversion (E), Neuroticism (N) and social desirability—Lie (L)—in Sweden as in England. Slight item additions produced scales with adequate reliabilities. Sex differences were in line with most studies, i.e. boys scoring higher than girlson Psychoticism (P) but lower on Neuroticism (N) and Lie (L). Finally, the only significant cross‐cultural difference between Swedish and Engish children proved to be on Neuroticism (N) where the Swedish children had much lower scores than the English children.
Perception of spatial order in extrafoveal vision
Authors: SAARINEN JUKKA
Published: May 2008

Perception of spatial order in central and extrafoveal vision was investigated by means of a task in which observers judged the relative position of a target line segment in a briefly flashed array of six line segments. The line arrays were size‐scaled in extrafoveal vision according to the cortical magnification factor derived from the cone and ganglion cell distributions across the human retina, i.e. the stimulus representations in the striate cortex were of equal size in central and eccentric vision. In central vision, observers could judge the relative position of the target with high accuracy but in extrafoveal vision the task was more difficult, especially with short interline distances. However, performance was well above chance level also in extrafoveal vision.
Sex differences in severity and type of aphasia1
Authors: SUNDET KJETIL
Published: May 2008

A review of the literature on sex differences in aphasia reveals contradictory findings with limited clinical relevance. To some degree, sex is reported to interact with age, localization of lesion and recovery rate. Women more often than men have fluent speech and suffer from posterior lesions. They are reported to be older and they seem to improve more on expressive tasks. In the present study a sample of left hemisphere injured aphasic stroke patients, 124 male and 80 female, was analysed for sex differences in degree and type of aphasia. A significant sex difference was found with a higher incidence of female than male patients among severely impaired fluent aphasics (Wernicke's aphasia). It is suggested that sociobiological models of differential development and the influence of sex‐role behaviour and cognitive strategies, should be given more attention in further research if explanatory models of observed sex differences in cognitive functioning and aphasia are to be developed.
Noise, S‐R compatibility and hand dominance
Authors: SMITH ANDREW
Published: May 2008

The present study investigated the importance of task parameters in determining the effects of noise on performance, with interest focusing on variables which influence response selection and execution. The results of the first experiment showed that noise had an effect on response selection, slowing reaction times when an incompatible response had to be made. In contrast to this, the second experiment showed that noise had no effect on the speed of controlled movements and did not change the difference between movements made with the preferred and non‐preferred hands.
Dimensions of hypnotic depth: an exploratory study
Authors: VASSEND OLAV
Published: May 2008

Hypnotic depth, hypnotic susceptibility, and the relationship between the two were studied in two separate samples. In the first study, 45 aubjects were tested on the Creative Imagination Scale (CIS) and the induction part (i.e. the eye closure item) of the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale, Form A (SHSS:A). Retrospective depth reports were taken, and hypnotic responsiveness scores on the CIS was assessed. The results demonstrated significantly higher depth scores for the SHSS:A (eye closure) than for the CIS. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between hypnotic susceptibility and depth score on the CIS. In the second study, 19 subjects were again tested on the CIS and the eye closure item of the SHSS:A. As in the first study, spontaneous depth estimates were elicited. In addition, the subjects were required to estimate their experiences retrospectively according to three distinct operationalizations of hypnotic depth, i.e. depth in terms of bodily relaxation, absorption, and dissociation. Analysis of variance revealed a highly significant effect for depth measures, and a significant depth measure by hypnosis method interaction effect. Hypnotic depth defined as bodily relaxation produced the highest score, followed by absorption. The mean scores were lowest for spontaneous depth and dissociation. Again, significant correlations between susceptibility and depth reports were found.
The statistical regression phenomenon: I. A metamodel
Authors: LUND THORLEIF
Published: May 2008

A metamodel for the traditional regression concept—consisting of two general parts—is proposed. The first part contains the basic and general definition of the concept, together with the central assumptions. The phenomenon is essentially defined as a conditional trend, predicted within a linear and bivariate regression system for a specified population, and as a function of the imperfectness of the correlation and of the extremeness of the selected score. The second part of the metamodel consists of special cases of the regression phenomenon, which are defined with respect to various psychometrical/distributional aspects, to various “sources” which reduce the correlation coefficient, and to observed and true scores. Also, the general features of the metamodel are elaborated, and correct and incorrect interpretations are pointed out.
Neonatal imitation of tongue protrusion and mouth opening: Methodological aspects and evidence of early individual differences
Authors: HEIMANN MIKAEL , NELSON KEITH E. , SCHALLER JOSEPH
Published: May 2008

The present work examines imitation of mouth opening and tongue protrusion in 32 full‐term infants at three different occasions: When the infants are two to three days, three weeks, and three months old. The analysis focuses (1) on individual differences in imitative behaviour and (2) on how to operationalize the infants' responses. The overall group analysis revealed that imitation of tongue protrusion was statistically significant for both two‐ to three‐day‐old and three‐week‐old infants but not when the children had become three months old. No statistically significant effect was observed for imitation of mouth opening. Two different imitation indexes were constructed in order to assess individual differences in early imitative behaviour. Results show that short‐term stability in imitative tendencies exists between the first and second observation. The results further reveal that methodological factors must be seriously considered when studying neonatal imitation: the overall imitation found for tongue protrusion is demonstrated to be dependent on how the infants' responses are coded.
Concept formation in non‐verbal categorization tasks in brain‐damaged patients with and without aphasia
Authors: HJELMQUIST ELISABETH K. E.
Published: May 2008

The study of thinking in patients with aphasic language impairments has long since been considered as means for learning about neuropsychological processes. In the present investigation, a non‐verbal categorization task was used, requiring the subjects to sort several common objects according to different principles. The experimental group consisted of aphasic patients with motor and sensory aphasia. Two control groups were used, one consisting of normal subjects and the other of non‐aphasic patients with injuries in the right hemisphere of the brain. The sorting behaviour was analysed according to several aspects. The final product of the categorization was assessed, as well as the behavioural processes observed during the sorting. The results were expressed in terms of different conceptual levels achieved. The results of the investigation showed that the aphasics were significantly inferior to normal controls both quantitatively and qualitatively in all sorting aspects. Possible mechanisms underlying the deficiences in the sorting behaviour of the two aphasic groups were discussed.
Lateralization of defence mechanisms in a visual half‐field paradigm
Authors: CARLSSON INGEGERD
Published: May 2008

A percept–genetic test of defence mechanisms (the Meta‐Contrast Technique) was given to 169 undergraduate students. Subjects were divided into three groups: two visual half‐field groups and one group tested in the regular way. In was hypothesized that the visual field groups would differ from one another and from the control group. An ANOVA showed that the left and right visual half‐field conditions differed significantly, as hypothesized. Clear regressive signs were more common in the left visual half‐field group, whereas isolation and repression were more common in the right. Furthermore, the visual half‐field conditions differed in certain respects from the control group. It was concluded that processes in both hemispheres are important for complex psychological functions.
Shaping of rule‐governed behaviour
Authors: SVARTDAL FRODE
Published: May 2008

Over an experimental session of 80 trials, subjects counted brief auditory stimuli (“clicks”) in stimulus presentation periods and indicated the number counted by pressing a key the corresponding number of times in subsequent response periods. “Correct” answers resulted in feedback. Unknown to the subjects, the feedback criterion was based on speed of pressing rather than on the correct number of presses. Speed of pressing was modified by response consequences when feedback was made dependent on pressing faster or slower than baseline speed. Modification of speed occurred independently of rules and without the subjects' ability to describe contingency or response requirements. The results suggest that non‐verbal contingencies may have a shaping effect on non‐salient and non‐described attributes of rule‐governed behaviour, and it is argued that this may be an important control mechanism of low‐level behavioural attributes that are unlikely to be guided by verbal discriminative stimuli.
Action and emotion in everyday life1
Authors: SJÖBERG LENNART , MAGNEBERG RUTGER
Published: May 2008

This study of naturally occurring behaviour employed a “beeper technique” to investigate the actions carried out by 152 subjects in eight different groups, viz. adult students, employed students who were also parents, unemployed, art students, doctoral students, alcoholics, retired people and a control group. Actions were sampled for seven subsequent days, five times per day between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. at randomly selected occasions. Each action was rated on a number of variables, shortly after it was sampled (median delay approximately 10 min). Some of the findings were: Time allocation corresponded well with national estimates. Being under siruationai control was highly aversive. Instrumental and consummatory orientations correlated positively. The background variables were, on the whole, only rather weakly related to action ratings, but it was found that women and retired persons tended to report a higher level of well‐being.
Personality organization defined by DMT and the Structural Interview
Authors: ARMELIUS BENGT‐ÅKE , SUNDBOM ELISABET , FRANSSON PER , KULLGREN GUNNAR
Published: May 2008

The psychoanalytic concept of Personality Organization (PO) may be operationalized by means of a Structural Interview as well as by means of psychological tests. The present study utilized the Structural Interview and a protective test called the Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) to operationalize the PO concept on a sample of 50 psychiatric inpatients. The reliability of the PO judgements were found to be acceptable for both the Structural Interview and the DMT. The validity, which was estimated as the correlation between the two methods, was also found to be substantial. The conclusion is that the concept of PO may be reliably operationalized for psychiatric patients and seems to have concurrent validity. Both the DMT and the Structural Interview may be used for differential diagnosis of PO.
Rorschach‐profile in panic disorder
Authors: ROSENBERG NICOLE K. , ANDERSEN RUTH
Published: May 2008

The Rorschach test was applied to four groups: 41 Panic Disorder (PD), 14 Major Depression (MD), 11 Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and 18 normal subjects. The aims were to describe the test profile of PD patients and to discuss implications for cognitive processing ability and personality structure. A hypothesis of a borderline personality structure in PD patients, based on psychodynamic literature, was tested, but was not unambiguously supported. A “loose”, borderline‐like personality structure and disturbances in processing abilities, however, characterized PD‐patients. The normal subjects surprisingly provided many Fabulized Combinations, a response type, considered suspect of borderline pathology, but also showed more signs of integrative and synthesizing abilities than the other groups.
Type A behaviour in pre‐school children: Interrater reliability, stability over six months and subcomponents
Authors: LUNDBERG ULF , WESTERMARK OLOF , RASCH BIRGITTA
Published: May 2008

Type A behaviour was measured in 250 boys and 245 girls (ages 3–7) using a Swedish version of Matthews' Youth Test for Health (MYTH). In addition, speech and voice characteristics (speed, loudness, response latency) were measured. Each child was independently rated by two play group leaders and measurements were repeated after a six month interval. Interrater reliability (first session) was 0.76 for both sexes and did not change with the age of the child. Boys obtained significantly (p < 0.0001) higher scores than girls. Correlations over the six month period were 0.64 and 0.60 (p < 0.001) for the two possible combinations of different raters and slightly higher (0.75 and 0.68, p < 0.001) when the same rater was used. Two components of Type A behaviour were identified from a factor analysis of the data: impatience and competitiveness, and they accounted for 57% of the total variance. As for the total scale, boys obtained significantly higher scores than girls on both subscales. Scores on the competitiveness scale increased systematically with age. Speech and voice characteristics correlated significantly with Type A scores (total Type A behaviour: r= 0.50, using different raters, and 0.71, using the same raters, p < 0.001) and, once again, boys obtained significantly (p < 0.001) higher scores than girls. The results are in close agreement with the American findings from the original scale. It was concluded that the scale provides a reliable and valid instrument for measuring Type A or Type A‐like behaviours in pre‐school children.
Mice selectively bred for an open field activity increase after maze learning
Authors: KVIST S. BEATRICE M. , SELANDER RITVA‐KAJSA
Published: May 2008

A unidirectional selective breeding experiment performed over six generations resulted in a line of mice (S6), which differed from the maintained unselected Swiss albino strain, called normal (N) strain, in the following respects: S6 mice increased their open field activity after maze learning significantly more than N mice. S6 mice ambulated more and exhibited more thigmotactic behaviour in a circular open field than N mice. S6 mice were superior than N mice in regard to maze learning capacity. Finally, S6 mice were interpreted as significantly less emotional according to their defecation, more responsive to novelty according to their urine pattern and more aggressive than N mice.
On the relation between justification of solution method and correctness of solution in statistical problem solving
Authors: ALLWOOD CARL MARTIN
Published: May 2008

The relation between the justification of a choice of solution method and the correctness of that choice in statistical problem solving was investigated. In the first of two studies 16 subjects were asked to think aloud while solving two statistical problems. The results showed that an incorrect choice of solution method was more common when subjects did not justify their choice of solution as compared to when they justified their choice with domain‐specific knowledge. Study 2 employed an experimental design. A group of 20 subjects were instructed to provide a justification for each choice of solution method, while another group of 20 subjects received no such instructions. The results showed no difference between the groups with respect to number of correct choices of solution method. A qualitative analysis of the justifications in the instructed group showed that the justifications for incorrect solution methods were more often incorrect than subjects’ justifications for correct solution methods. The results in Study 2 suggested that the association found between incorrect choice of solution method and lack of justification in Study 1 was not in the first place due to a strategical deficiency on the part of the subjects but due to a lack of domain‐specific knowledge.
Disconfirmatory feedback in families of schizophrenics
Authors: HOLTE ARNE , WICHSTRØM LARS
Published: May 2008

A new approach to the study of family commmunication and psychopathology, in particular schizophrenia, using Saugstad's theory about use of language as its point of departure is presented. Conflicts between family members were observed and measured using a new unrevealed difference technique, the Colour Conflict Method (CCM). Communication was analysed in terms of continuous feedback processes, using the new computerized method, Confirmation‐Disconfirmation Coding System (CONDIS). Feedback mechanisms in the internal communication of families of schizophrenics, normals, and non‐schizophrenic pathological controls (n= 21) are described. The findings show that families of schizophrenics lack the ability to adapt their communication to changing situational requirements. When conflicts were introduced, families of schizophrenics—in contrast to non‐schizophrenics within the extended schizophrenia spectrum and normals—increased their frequency of disconfirmatory feedback reactions instead of expressing disagreements openly. This was due to active disqualifications occuring between the parents and from the parents towards their schizophrenic offspring, who reacted with incomprehensible egocentric communication acts.
Facial reactions to auditory stimuli: Sex differences
Authors: DIMBERG ULF
Published: May 2008

This study explored whether males and females differ in facial muscle activity when exposed to tone stimuli with different intensity. Males and females were repeatedly exposed to 95 dB and 75 dB 1000 Hz tones while their facial electromyographic (EMG) activity from corrugator and zygomatic muscle regions were measured. Skin conductance responses were also measured.

It was found that 95 dB but not 75 dB tones evoked increased corrugator activity. This effect differed significantly between males and females. Thus, it was only females that reacted with a significant increased corrugator response to the high intensity tone. While facial responses differed between the sexes, the skin conductance response patterns did not. Consistent with previous research it is concluded that females are more facially expressive than are males.
Gentled and non‐handled rats in a stressful open‐field situation; differences in performance
Authors: HIRSJÄRVI PAULA A. , JUNNILA MIRJA A. , VÄLIAHO TEUVO U.
Published: May 2008

Open‐field behaviour of individually gentled and non‐handled adult Wistar rats in a stressful test situation (loud noise with bright light) was studied. The behaviour on the whole of the two groups differed significantly. While the gentled rats showed mainly signs of stress and explorativity, signs of fear beside stress and, on later trials, explorativity were typical of the non‐handled animals. On later trials the behaviour of the non‐handled rats neared to that of the gentled ones. In the behaviour of the gentled rats there was but little change as a function of trials. We suggest that individual gentling, beside minimizing fear of human contact, also increases the stability of the rat's reactions.
The role of age on reactivity and memory for emotional pictures
Authors: CHRISTIANSON SVEN‐ÅKE , FÄLLMAN LARS
Published: May 2008

The purpose of this study was to investigate subjects’ reactivity to emotional pictures and their recollection of these pictures, and to examine these two factors as they relate to age. Adolescents and young adults were shown emotionally arousing scenic pictures for long (4‐s) and very brief (50‐ms) durations. Recognition of the pictures and recall and recognition of words presented along with the pictures were assessed both immediately after the presentation and six weeks later. The results showed that very negative pictures are retained better than neutral or even positive pictures, and that very negative pictures reduce memory for associated information. It was also found that adolescents show a somewhat lower reactivity to very negative pictures and a higher degree of retention of these pictures than adults. The results are discussed in relation to (a) habituation effects, (b) strategies that subjects might develop to block emotional involvement, and (c) the notion that watching violence might serve as a powerful prime to socially undesirable behaviour.
Integration and cue overlap in recognition failure of recallable words
Authors: SANDBERG KARL W.
Published: May 2008

A highly systematic relation between the conditional probability of recognition given recall and the overall recognition hit rate has been demonstrated in a wide variety of experiments. A function describing this relationship was developed by Tulving & Wiseman (1975). Exceptions to this function have, in retrospect, been interpreted in terms of (a) a low integration between cue and target items, or (b) a high cue overlap between the two tests involved: recognition and recall. The experiment reported was designed to evaluate the joint and the separate contributions from integration and cue overlap for obtaining conformity with and exception from the Tulving‐Wiseman function. In line with the predictions made, the results showed that these two factors in combination can account for data that fit the function and for exceptions above the function. In relative terms, the contribution from integration was somewhat more pronounced than that from cue overlap.
Night‐rest urinary catecholamine excretion in relation to aspects of free time, work and background data in a teacher group
Authors: KINNUNEN ULLA , VIHKO VEIKKO
Published: May 2008

Free time, work and background data were related to night‐rest catecholamine excretion rates in a teacher group (n= 137) during an autumn term. The explained interindividual variance increased slightly towards the end of the term. Adrenaline excretion was predicted better than noradrenaline, notedly by coffee consumption, amount of physical activity, and subjective stress feelings which explained 16% of the variance in adrenaline excretion during night rest. However, the results indicated that the differences in catecholamine excretion during night rest remained mostly unpredictable.
Visual speech processing: Word‐decoding and word‐discrimination related to sentence‐based speechreading and hearing‐impairment
Authors: LYXELL BJÖRN , RÖNNBERG JERKER
Published: May 2008

Two aspects of visual speech processing in speechreading (word decoding and word discrimination) were tested in a group of 24 normal hearing and a group of 20 hearing‐impaired subjects. Word decoding and word discrimination performance were independent of factors related to the impairment, both in a quantitative and a qualitative sense. Decoding skill, but not discrimination skill, was associated with sentence‐based speechreading. The results were interpreted such that, in order to represent a critical component process in sentence‐based speechreading, the visual speech perception task must entail lexically induced processing as a task‐demand. The theoretical status of the word decoding task as one operationalization of a speech decoding module was discussed (Fodor, 1983). An error analysis of performance in the word decoding/discrimination tasks suggested that the perception of heard stimuli, as well as the perception of lipped stimuli, were critically dependent on the same features; that is, the temporally initial phonetic segment of the word (cf. Marslen‐Wilson, 1987). Implications for a theory of visual speech perception were discussed.
Relationships between perceptual defence reactions and subjective tendencies in the phenomenal representation of facial displays of affect
Authors: BENGTSSON HANS
Published: May 2008

The present study examines if non‐veridical reports of a stimulus‐motif presented below the threshold for correct recognition are related to subjective tendencies in the ordinary perception of thermatically related stimuli. Sixty‐four subjects were tested with the standard picture of Kragh's Defence Mechanism Test (DMT) which reflects a theme of aggression and threat. Stimulus‐inadequate reporte of the picture‐motif were related to the subject's phenomenal representation of video‐recorded facial displays of anger, fear, sadness, and joy. The results demonstrate a correspondence between the individual's perceptual distortions, eliminations, or additions to the threatening subliminal stimulus and his or her phenomenal representation of the supraliminal affective stimuli.