Face scanning and responsiveness to social cues in infant rhesus monkeys.

Investigated the development of gaze aversion in 8 infant rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) by recording their visual fixations while they scanned pictures of monkey faces looking back at them and pictures of monkey faces looking away. During the 1st week of life, Ss inspected the 2 face-types equally. During Weeks 3 and 7, however, they inspected the faces looking back less than the faces looking away. The maturation of selective viewing was not paralleled by changes in scanning strategies (e.g., by a shift from scanning the contours of faces to fixations of internal details). The implications of early species-typical social awareness for social and perceptual development in rhesus monkeys are discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of relational invariants by newborns.

Two studies investigated (1) the ability of 40 newborns (aged less than 1 wk) to detect relational invariants (Exp I) and (2) whether infants perceive stimulus elements as a single pattern of figures rather than as 2 discrete figures in relationship (Exp II). In Exp I, Ss were evaluated in a habituation-recovery paradigm for evidence of the ability to detect an invariant identity or nonidentity relationship between components of a visual stimulus. Ss who were initially habituated to stimuli consisting of 2 identical elements recovered fixation when the elements were rearranged to be dissimilar and vice versa. Control Ss who continued to see the familiarized stimuli at test yielded no recovery. To determine whether Ss might have perceived the stimulus elements as a single pattern of figures rather than as 2 discrete figures in relationship, a 2nd study was conducted in which circles that enclosed each element (and which were presumed to unitize each) were removed at test. Because Ss in this condition recovered responding at test, it was concluded that the circles had been visible in the 1st experiment and that the elements may thus have been perceived as discrete. Overall findings are consistent with the Gibsonian view that infants are inherently disposed to detect invariant, higher-order relational information (i.e., information that specifies significant objective properties of the environment). (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of age, objects, and visual experience on affective responses of rhesus monkeys to strangers.

Studied the development of lipsmacking and grimacing, facial expressions associated with friendliness and fear, respectively, in 26 rhesus monkeys raised under 3 conditions that included visual exposure to (a) monkeys and people, (b) one monkey, (c) neither monkeys nor people. Ss were tested through Life Weeks 1–22 for responses to their mirror image or a human face. Age, stimulus configuration, and experience interacted in the development of the 2 responses. Lipsmacking generally occurred earlier than grimacing and was most frequently elicited by the face. Frequency of lipsmacking increased initially, then declined; in contrast, frequency of grimacing increased progressively throughout testing. Rearing conditions significantly affected age of first response, level of responsiveness, and stimulus differentiation. The most restricted group was oldest at first response, least responsive, and showed the weakest differentiation of stimuli; the most experienced group was at the opposite extreme on these comparisons. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Student locus of control and response to expectations about self and teacher.

85 female undergraduates with either an internal or external locus of control (LOC) (Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale) were used to investigate the relationship between LOC and responsivity to expectations regarding their own and their teacher's competence. Internal and external Ss, acting as students, were led to expect that they would perform well or poorly on a lesson and independently to expect that their teacher was competent or incompetent. After receiving a standardized lesson from a confederate acting as teacher, Ss' attitudes and performance were assessed. As predicted, internal Ss were more receptive to the expectation regarding self than external Ss. In contrast, the teacher expectation manipulation had no differential effect on internal and external Ss. Results suggest that students respond both to expectations about themselves and about their teacher and that LOC plays an important role in determining how an individual responds to such expectations. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of castration and replacement therapy on sexual behavior of adult male rhesuses.

Observed the sexual behavior of 10 male rhesus monkeys before and after castration and during replacement therapy with testosterone propionate. In 10 tests before castration, all of the Ss ejaculated at least once, and in Weeks 21-25 and 51-55 after castration, 50 and 30%, respectively, ejaculated at least once. In the 35 postcastration tests given over a 55-wk period, 2 males did not ejaculate. 50% of the Ss achieved intromission 1 yr after castration. The percentage of castrated Ss showing intromission and ejaculation and the frequency of these responses were higher than those reported for most nonprimate species but did not differ greatly from those reported for the dog. Within 1 wk testosterone propionate restored whatever aspects of behavior were affected to precastration levels. (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and perceived causation in social success and failure experiences: Disconfirmation of an attribution hypothesis in two experiments.

Two experiments were designed to test hypotheses derived from an attribution model of psychopathology as applied to social anxiety. In the 2 studies with 64 male undergraduates each, Ss first interacted with a female confederate who behaved either warmly (success) or coldly (failure) toward them. All Ss then interacted with a 2nd confederate who behaved warmly. It was predicted that high social anxiety (Social Avoidance and Distress Scale) would be associated with the internal attribution of social failure and the external attribution of social success (Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale). By contrast, it was predicted that low social anxiety would be associated with the internal attribution of social success and the external attribution of social failure. In Exp I, patterns of attribution were manipulated in normal Ss, and the effects of the manipulations were examined with respect to their subsequent social anxiety. In Exp II, the attributional patterns of high and low socially anxious men were examined in success and failure situations. Neither study provided any support for the hypothesis relating attibutional patterns to social anxiety. (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)     

Delayed figure reconstruction by a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and humans (Homo sapiens).

A chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) was trained to construct a copy of 3-element compound figures from a set of 9 elements. Delay intervals between sample offset and element presentation varied. The chimpanzee maintained accuracy at about 80% correct for a delay of 32 s, which was slightly higher than the mean of 4 human (Homo sapiens) Ss. Excellent visual reproductive memory in the chimpanzee as compared with that in humans was demonstrated. However, the nature of the reproductive memory was different in the 2 species in that humans better constructed meaningful figures, which represented food items, than meaningless ones, whereas the chimpanzee constructed these 2 types of figures with the same accuracy. This outcome suggests that the reproductive memory for meaningful figures of the chimpanzee may have been processed separately from symbolic processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attributional styles and life events in the classroom: Vulnerability and invulnerability to depressive mood reactions.

A core prediction of the reformulated model of learned helplessness and depression states that when confronted with the same negative life event, people who display a tendency to attribute negative outcomes to internal, stable, or global factors should be more likely to experience a depressive reaction than people who typically attribute negative outcomes to external, unstable, or specific factors. The present study tested that prediction with 227 undergraduates by determining whether the content of Ss' attributional styles at 1 point in time predicted the severity of their depressive response (Multiple Affect Adjective Check List) to receiving a low grade on an exam at a subsequent time. Consistent with the prediction, Ss with an internal or global attributional style for negative outcomes at Time 1 experienced a depressive response when confronted with a low grade; Ss with an external or specific attributional style were invulnerable to this response. In contrast to results for the internality and globality dimensions, Ss' scores along the stability attribution dimension were not correlated with the severity of their depressive response to the low grade. In the absence of a negative life event, Ss' generalized tendencies to make internal or global attributions for negative outcomes at Time 1 were not significantly correlated with their subsequent changes in depressive mood, although there was a nonsignificant positive correlation between severity of depressive response and the tendency to make global attributions for negative outcomes at Time l. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychological development of orphanage-reared infants: interventions with outcomes (Tehran)

This paper describes five successive interventions in the rearing of infants at an orphanage in Tehran, with their outcomes. The outcomes were assessed longitudinally. The first of the successive groups, here called "waves", numbered 15. These Ss constitute the controls. The only intervention consisted of examining the infants every other week during the first year and every fourth week thereafter with the ordinal, sensorimotor scales of Uzgiris and Hunt. The audio-visual intervention intended for the second wave of 10 infants was tape-recorded mother talk and music under the control of the infants and mobiles that the infants could activate. This plan was never adequately implemented because of inadequate supervision. The third wave of 10 infants got extra untutored human care. The fourth wave of 20 infants got the kind of audio-visual intervention originally intended for the second wave plus access to responsive inanimate materials. For the fifth wave, numbering 11, the infant-caretaker ratio was reduced to two or three to one and the caretakers were taught the Badger program supplemented with procedures to foster vocal imitation and semantic mastery of body parts, clothing, toys, and other objects and events regularly encountered. The results show that each successive wave, excepting the second, achieved the top steps of nearly all seven of the ordinal scales at mean ages younger than the preceding wave, and the fifth wave surpassed even home-reared American children from predominantly professional families in achieving the top steps on five of the seven scales. The findings show that infants need not advance along all branches simultaneously and that the kinds of experience encountered determine the branch along which advancement occurs. A number of theoretical implications are examined. Especially important is the idea that a dependable educational psychology for infancy and early childhood calls for much more knowledge than we now have of the kinds of experience that advance development along each of the various branches.     

Behavioral and hormonal responses to separation in infant rhesus monkeys and mothers.

Examined the effects of social stimuli on behavioral and physiological responses in 9 infant rhesus monkeys, 8 Ss at 4–6 mo (Exp I) and 7 of the original Ss and an additional S at age 8–10 mo (Exp II). Infants and mothers were removed from the social group and housed as dyads. Following this period, infants were removed and separated under 4 counterbalanced conditions: (a) totally isolated—placed in a holding cage for 24 hrs; (b) mother present, no contact—housed in a single cage in view of their mother, no contact; (c) mother present, contact—similar to above, with mother in proximity to the infant; and (d) peer present—separated but in proximity to a peer. In Exp I, infants rarely vocalized when totally isolated but showed high rates of vocalization in the presence of the mother, both with and without contact. In the mother-present conditions, they failed to show a plasma cortisol response. In contrast, totally isolated infants showed a significant elevation in plasma cortisol. In Exp II, these infants were separated for 3 days under 2 conditions: mother present and totally isolated. Results support and extend the findings of Exp I, indicating that age was not a factor in modulating response to separation. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An early and a late developing system for learning and retention in infant monkeys.

Separate groups of rhesus monkeys of different ages were tested in delayed nonmatching-to-sample and 24-hr concurrent discrimination-learning tasks considered to be measures of recognition memory and habit-formation systems, respectively, in an ontogenetic comparison of the development of these 2 systems. In Exp I, the visual-recognition abilities of 17 3-, 6-, or 12-mo-old Ss were measured, while 7 3-mo-old Ss were compared to adult controls on a discrimination-learning task in Exp II. Results show that infant Ss failed to learn the nonmatching task until they were approximately 4 mo old. With further maturation, learning ability gradually improved, but did not reach adult levels of proficiency even when Ss were 1 yr old. Postlearning evaluation with long delays and lists confirmed this slow ontogenetic development of recognition memory to adult levels of function. By contrast, 3–4 mo old Ss learned to discriminate long lists of object-pairs nearly as quickly as adults, despite 24-hr intertrial intervals. This striking dissociation in the ability of infants on the 2 tasks closely resembles the dissociation previously found in adults rendered amnesic by limbic lesions. Findings suggest that, whereas the nonlimbic habit system matures early in infancy, the limbic-dependent memory system develops more slowly. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective monitoring of physical sensations.

Two experiments demonstrated that the experience of physical sensations is the result of hypothesis-guided selective search and encoding. In Exp I with 38 undergraduates, Ss listened to a stimulus that was said to increase, decrease, or have no effect on skin temperature. Results indicate that Ss selectively monitored only those changes in skin temperature congruent with the experimentally induced hypotheses, thus resulting in self-reports of change in skin temperature in the suggested directions. Two replications using heart rate (HR) and nasal congestion, which imposed search strategies, produced comparable results. In Exp II with 31 Ss, Ss viewed a heartbeat chart and assessed the degree to which a hypothetical drug influenced a target person's HR. Perceptions of change in HR were influenced by both experimentally induced hypotheses as well as Ss' perceptions of their own HR. That is, if prior to the experiment Ss believed their own pulse was accelerated, they were more likely to perceive the graphed heartbeat accelerating as well. Findings point to parallels between perception of internal state and the external environment. Finally, the roles of hypothesis-guided selective search are extended to placebo effectiveness. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Type of information, familiarity, and the reduction of crowding stress.

Two studies (108 college students) focused on the effectiveness of various types of information in different contexts. Two informational foci (i.e., external and internal) were employed, and Ss were either familiar or unfamiliar with a potentially stressful setting. It was assumed that one's degree of familiarity with the context would render different types of concerns more salient and that these would more effectively be met by one type of information than by the other. Exp I found that situational information was more effective than emotional information for unfamiliar Ss, whose primary concerns in the setting were external. In contrast, emotional information was effective in reducing stress and facilitating performance for familiar Ss, whose concerns were primarily internal; but situational information was also effective for these individuals. Results of Exp II indicate that situational information, if accurate, not only can serve a reinforcing "consensual validation" function that addresses people's general concerns about the "reasonableness" of their responses, but can also reduce distress. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resolving the relationships between placebos, misattribution, and insomnia: An individual-differences perspective.

Hypothesized that insomniacs who are more attentive to internal bodily processes would be more apt to yield a reverse placebo effect (i.e., go to sleep faster when given an "arousal" placebo and vice versa), whereas those attentive to external stimuli would be more likely to be directly influenced by the suggested effects of the placebo. 30 insomniac college students completed trait measures of private body consciousness, private self-consciousness, and self-esteem. Ss were given placebos to take before bedtime and were told that the capsules had arousing or relaxing side effects. As predicted, Ss with high private body consciousness exhibited a stronger reverse placebo effect than did Ss low on this dimension. Subsequent analyses revealed that this effect was entirely attributable to the low- rather than to the high-self-esteem Ss. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of attributions for success on the alleviation of learned helplessness and depression.

Investigated the effects of attributions for success on the alleviation of mood and performance deficits of 104 19–60 yr old clinically depressed inpatients. Ss were assigned to either an acutely depressed group or an improved depressed group that was exposed to a learned helplessness induction procedure. Ss received 80% positive feedback on a task allegedly measuring social intelligence. Concurrently, Ss were exposed to experimental manipulations designed to induce attributions of this experience to 1 of 4 types of causes (internal–general, internal–specific, external–general, external–specific). Following this task, Ss' mood, expectancies, and anagram performance were assessed. Results indicate that helpless and depressed Ss who received the internal attribution manipulations reported less depressed mood than Ss in the external attribution conditions. Similarly, Ss in the general attribution conditions performed better and reported higher expectancies for success on the anagrams than Ss in the specific attribution conditions. Results are supportive of an attribution theory model of learned helplessness and depression. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Locus of control and attention during meditation.

20 undergraduates were assigned to an internal or external group on the basis of scores on Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale. A meditation task required Ss to focus their attention on an actual stimulus or an imagined stimulus while recording intruding thoughts by pressing a button on a counter. Results show that an internal locus of control was related to fewer intrusions than an external locus and that the actual stimulus resulted in fewer intrusions than did the imagined stimulus. Results suggest that performance in meditation, and possibly in other self-control procedures, may be influenced by individual differences in deployment of attention. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Configural" conditioning in discrete-trial bar pressing.

Conducted 3 experiments with a total of 64 male Sprague-Dawley rats to compare responses to stimulus compounds and their elements. No loss was found when Ss responded to the elements of a repeatedly reinforced stimulus compound. When Ss were explicitly trained to discriminate between a compound and its elements, successful learning occurred regardless of whether the compound or the elements were reinforced. Addition of an explicit stimulus common to the compound and its elements retarded rather than facilitated the discrimination. Replacement of 1 element in a compound by another of similar intensity and associative strength disrupted performance. Findings rule out a number of interpretations of AB configural conditioning paradigms, but suggest that there is a unique stimulus element and limitations on the total associative strength of the compound. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self–nonself-segregation and reality monitoring.

Three experiments with 144 female undergraduates tested the hypothesis that field-independent (FI) Ss would be better reality monitors and would be better able to separate the self from the nonself than field-dependent (FD) Ss. It is noted that, according to M. K. Johnson and C. L. Raye (see record 1981-06694-001), reality monitoring is the process of determining whether a memory originated in thought processes (internal) or in perception (external). Ss' field dependence–independence was determined with the Group Embedded Figures Test. In Exp I, FD and FI Ss were asked to discriminate between internal and external sources of memories. FI Ss were more accurate at identifying the origin of their memories and made fewer reality monitoring confusions than FD Ss. When Ss were asked to discriminate between 2 external sources of memories in Exp II or between 2 internal sources of memories in Exp III, FI Ss did not show the source discrimination advantage. Recognition memory also varied across experiments, with FI Ss showing an advantage in some (Exps I and II) but not all (Exp III) cases. Findings are discussed in terms of an overreliance by FD Ss on the sensory, semantic, and contextual detail characteristic of externally derived memories and little awareness by these Ss of their own cognitive operations. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of structured and unstructured leader roles on internal and external group participants

This study assessed the impact of structured and unstructured leader roles on measures of outcome for Ss who differed on the pretest dimension "locus of control." On the basis of their pretest locus of control scores, Ss were assigned to a structured or an unstructured marathon group. The treatment in the two 16-hour -arathons consisted of a defined series of exercises; the only difference between the two groups was the degree of leader control over member participation. As predicted, internal Ss in the unstructured group rated the leader and the group more psoitively than did external Ss, while the reverse responsivity occured in the structured group. Significant Locus of Control X Treatment interactions indicated that internal and external Ss reflected differential shifts in general anxiety, general depression, and locus of control as a function of treatment. The relationship between changes in self-actualization and locus of control and changes in conflict-handling styles and negative affects differed as a function of locus of control and treatment condition. The overall results coupled with prior findings tentatively support the appropriateness of an unstructured leader role for internal scores and a structured leader role for external scorers.