Test of two hypotheses about summation of rewarding brain stimulation.

Results of a study with male hooded Long-Evans rats indicate that trains of rewarding brain stimulation are maximally effective when the interpulse interval is short and effectiveness declines progressively as the interval is increased. This could be due to reduced facilitation of each pulse by the previous pulse, or it could be due to simple addition of pulses in a leaky system. Measurements of the relative effectiveness of pulses at different interpulse intervals fit the theoretical curve for leaky integration better than they fit the curve for pulse interfacilitation. The best fit value for the leakage time constant is .29 sec, which is consistent with other published data and has implications for the type of pathway involved in reward. (French summary) (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for pain and the delayed effects of distraction.

In spite of the popular belief that distraction is effective in coping with pain, there is evidence that a neutral distractor does not reduce people's reports of pain. However, it may be that distraction's effect is not detectable in immediate ratings, when the need to rate the pain forces the sufferer to concentrate on it. Instead, after a delay, when the pain itself is gone and the person must base the judgment on a memory of the event, having been distracted may attenuate the recalled pain. An experiment with 72 undergraduate participants tested this proposition, with 1 group highly distracted during cold-pressor pain and 1 group slightly distracted. Half of each group rated the pain immediately, and half waited 10 min after the event to rate the pain. The participants who gave immediate ratings showed no effect of distraction, but for participants who waited 10 min before giving their ratings, high distraction led to reduced reports of pain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention, distraction, and cold-pressor pain.

Compared the effects of distracting oneself from, vs attending to, the sensations produced by cold-pressor stimulation. Exp I (35 undergraduates) revealed that distraction was a better coping strategy than attention to sensations when Ss were asked to report pain threshold and tolerance. Exps II and III (75 Ss) examined the hypothesis that distraction is effective because persons hold a commonsense belief in the benefits of distraction as a coping device. Neither experiment supported the commonsense hypothesis as an explanation for Exp I's results. In Exp IV, 39 male Ss were assigned to either distraction, attention, or no-instruction conditions and asked to report their distress during a 4-min cold-pressor trial. Distraction reduced distress early in the trial, but attention to sensations was a superior strategy for the last 2 min. It is proposed that distraction and attention to sensations may be differentially effective depending on the duration of the painful stimulus. Possible mediating processes underlying the 2 strategies are discussed. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences in cognition: The role of distraction control.

The ability to ignore or control the processing of distracting information may underlie many age-related and individual differences in cognitive abilities. Using a large sample of adults aged 18 to 87 years, this article presents data examining the mediating role of distraction control in the relationship between age and higher order cognition. The reading with distraction task (Connelly, Hasher, & Zacks, 1991) has been used as a measure of the access function of distraction control. Results of this study suggest that distraction control, as measured by this paradigm, plays an important role in mediating age-related effects on measures of working memory and matrix reasoning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological androgyny and sex role flexibility: A test of two hypotheses.

In a conceptual replication and extension of a study by S. L. Bem and E. Lenney (1976), 90 male and 118 female college students rated their comfort in and preference for performing several series of masculine, feminine, and neutral activities. Correlations between ratings and scores on the masculinity (instrumentality) and femininity (expressiveness) scales of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) of J. T. Spence and R. L. Helmreich (1978) tended to be theoretically reasonable in sign but in each sex were low in magnitude and only occasionally significant. Classification of Ss into 4 PAQ groups (androgynous, masculine, feminine, and undifferentiated) on their joint masculinity and femininity scores revealed that androgynous and masculine Ss of both sexes had higher comfort ratings, independent of type of task, than did feminine and undifferentiated Ss, suggesting the importance of instrumentality and expressiveness per se. For forced-choice preference ratings, significant differences were found only in males, masculine Ss having a stronger preference for sex-typed tasks than those in other categorical groups. The PAQ variable, however, accounted for only a small percentage of the variance. The data support the Spence-Helmreich hypotheses that the PAQ and similar instruments are largely measures of instrumental and expressive personality traits rather than sex roles and that these personality dimensions are only minimally related to many sex role behaviors. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Collective induction: Effects of multiple hypotheses and multiple evidence in two problem domains.

This article proposes that collective induction is improved more by multiple evidence than by multiple hypotheses. In Experiment 1, 4-person cooperative groups solved rule induction problems. In 9 conditions, they proposed 1, 2, or 4 hypotheses and selected evidence on 1, 2, or 4 arrays, on each trial. Correct hypotheses increased with multiple evidence but not with multiple hypotheses. Conversely, nonplausible hypotheses increased with multiple hypotheses but not with multiple evidence. In Experiment 2, 4-person cooperative groups solved a random mapping of the letters A–J to the numbers 0–9. On each trial, they proposed 2 or 2 equations in letters (e.g., A?+?D?≠??), learned the answer in letters (e.g., A?+?D?=?G), and proposed 1 or 2 hypotheses (e.g., A?=?5). Performance was improved by multiple equations (evidence) but not by multiple hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Joint relation of experience and ability with job performance: Test of three hypotheses.

Data from four different jobs (N?=?1,474) were used to evaluate three hypotheses of the joint relation of job experience and general mental ability to job performance as measured by (a) work sample measures, (b) job knowledge measures, and (c) supervisory ratings of job performance. The divergence hypothesis predicts an increasing difference and the convergence hypothesis predicts a decreasing difference in the job performance of high- and low-mental-ability employees as employees gain increasing experience on the job. The noninteractive hypothesis, by contrast, predicts that the performance difference will be constant over time. For all three measures of job performance, results supported the noninteractive hypothesis. Also, consistent with the noninteractive hypothesis, correlational analyses showed essentially constant validities for general mental ability (measured earlier) out to 5 years of experience on the job. In addition to their theoretical implications, these findings have an important practical implication: They indicate that the concerns that employment test validities may decrease over time, complicating estimates of selection utility, are probably unwarranted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learned helplessness and depression in a clinical population: A test of two behavioral hypotheses.

Conducted a study to extend the learned helplessness phenomenon to a clinical population and to test the competing hypotheses of M. E. Seligman (1975) and P. M. Lewinsohn (1974). 96 male hospitalized psychiatric and medical patients were divided into 3 levels of depression according to their scores on the Short Form of the Beck Depression Inventory. Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 experimental conditions: (a) One group was treated with an 80-db tone, which could be terminated by making an active response; (b) a 2nd group was treated with the tone with a passive escape contingency; (c) a 3rd group was treated with an inescapable tone; and (d) a no-noise group served as a control. After treatment, Ss were tested on an anagram-solving task. Inescapable noise produced as much deficit in the low-depressed Ss as was present in the depressed no-noise control Ss. Passive escape Ss did as well as active escape Ss. Results replicate the learned helplessness phenomenon in a group of clinical depressives and support Seligman's model of depression. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pain and pain control.

The past few years have seen a renewed and burgeoning interest in pain and its control. Whereas in previous years emphasis had been placed mainly on the sensory aspects of pain, recent approaches have viewed pain as a complex phenomenon composed of both sensory and motivational dimensions. Control of acute and chronic pain often involves dealing with the motivational aspects of pain perception rather than with the sensory components. Psychological variables play a key role in this effort. This article reviews the major theories of pain perception and the relevance of psychological variables, the important area of pain measurement, the correlates of pain perception, and the major behavioral attempts at manipulating pain perception. (7 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Audioanalgesia in the control of experimental pain.

Investigated the moderating effects of choice and preference of music on pain perception. 90 students (aged 17–35 yrs) initially rated and ranked 6 musical selections, from most-to-least preferred in a context unrelated to pain testing. In the experiment proper, Ss received 3 trials of finger-pressure pain of which the 1st and 3rd trial involved no-treatment. Following baseline, half of the Ss (Choice condition) were asked to rate and rank the previous 6 musical selections and the remaining Ss were not required to do so (No-Choice). One-third of Ss in each of these groups were assigned either their most-preferred, least-preferred or no music during trial 2. Ss receiving their preferred music reported greater control, expected pain reductions and actual pain reductions compared to groups receiving their least-preferred music or no music. While choice failed to interact with preference, expectancies, coping cognitions and the annoying and relaxing qualities of the music were moderate predictors of reported pain change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analgesic effects of posthypnotic suggestions and virtual reality distraction on thermal pain.

The individual and combined effects of posthypnotic suggestion (PHS) and virtual reality distraction (VRD) on experimentally induced thermal pain were examined using a 2 × 2, between-groups design. After receiving baseline thermal pain, each participant received hypnosis or no hypnosis, followed by VRD or no VRD during another pain stimulus. Consistent with the hypothesis that hypnosis and VRD work via different mechanisms, results show that posthypnotic analgesia was moderated by hypnotizability but VRD analgesia was not. The impact of PHSs for analgesia was specific to high hypnotizables, whereas VRD was effective independent of hypnotizability. Results also show a nonsignificant but predicted pattern for high hypnotizables: Audio hypnosis combined with VRD reduced worst pain 22% more and pain unpleasantness 25% more than did VRD alone. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chronic pain and distraction: an experimental investigation into the role of sustained and shifting attention in the processing of chronic persistent pain

This work examines the general principle of whether production of embryonic muscle fibres is invariably linked to sites of innervation, as we have previously reported in small rodent muscles (Duxson et al. [1989] Development 107:743-750). The experimental strategy has been to make a detailed electron microscopic analysis of the formation of new myotubes in a large muscle having multiple, discrete innervation zones. The particular model system is the guinea pig sternomastoid muscle, a strap-like, parallel-fibred muscle with four distinct endplate bands, both in the embryo and the adult. Primary myotubes in the developing muscle extended from tendon to tendon of the muscle and were innervated at each of the multiple endplate zones. Each point of innervation of the primary myotubes was a focus around which many new secondary myotubes formed, and each secondary myotube was approximately centred on one of the innervation sites of its supporting primary myotube. This confirms our previous report, in rat IVth lumbrical muscle, of an invariable association between sites of formation of new secondary myotubes and sites of innervation. We suggest that, in vivo, nerve terminals either directly induce the initial myoblast fusions which give rise to new secondary myotubes, or induce some precondition for fusion. An alternative hypothesis is that a common patterning influence in the muscle localizes both innervation and secondary myotube formation to the same zone. The pattern of secondary myotube production in the embryo has important implications for the size and final architecture of muscles in larger animals, and some of these are discussed.     

Attentional control of emotional distraction in rapid serial visual presentation.

Temperament research has highlighted the importance of attentional control in both emotion regulation and as a predictor of psychopathology. Enhanced susceptibility to emotional distraction is a key feature of mood disturbance. Whereas many studies have examined the influence of individual differences in anxiety on the disruptive effects of emotional distractors, individual differences in attentional control have been largely neglected. Here we examine, within healthy volunteers, the relative contributions of individual differences in self-reported anxiety and attentional control to distractibility caused by emotional or neutral faces distractors occurring prior to neutral face targets during rapid serial visual presentation. Participants with good attentional control were less affected by both neutral and emotional distractors than participants with poorer attentional control. More pronounced distraction deficits were seen for emotional relative to neutral distractors in individuals with poor attentional control. In contrast state anxiety was not associated with increased emotional distraction. Our findings suggest a protective role of attentional control mechanisms in minimizing the influence of emotional distraction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Active and passive distraction using a head-mounted display helmet: Effects on cold pressor pain in children.

Objective: The current study tested the effectiveness of interactive versus passive distraction that was delivered via a virtual reality type head-mounted display helmet for children experiencing cold pressor pain. Design: Forty children, aged 5 to 13 years, underwent 1 or 2 baseline cold pressor trials followed by interactive distraction and passive distraction trials in counterbalanced order. Main Outcome Measures: Pain threshold and pain tolerance. Results: Children who experienced either passive or interactive distraction demonstrated significant improvements in both pain tolerance and pain threshold relative to their baseline scores. In contrast, children who underwent a second cold pressor trial without distraction showed no significant improvements in pain tolerance or threshold. Conclusion: Although both distraction conditions were effective, the interactive distraction condition was significantly more effective. Implications for the treatment of children's distress during painful medical procedures are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selectivity in distraction by irrelevant featural singletons: Evidence for two forms of attentional capture.

Four experiments addressed the degree of top-down control over attentional capture in visual search for featural singletons. In a modified spatial cuing paradigm, the spatial relationship and featural similarity of target and distractor singletons were systematically varied. Contrary to previous studies, all 4 experiments showed that when searching for a singleton target, an irrelevant featural singleton captures spatial attention only when defined by the same feature value as the target. Experiments 2, 3, and 4 provided a potential explanation for the discrepancy with previous studies by showing that irrelevant singletons can produce distraction effects that are dissociable from shifts of spatial attention. The results suggest the existence of 2 distinct forms of attentional capture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of suggestion and distraction on reported pain in subjects high and low on hypnotic susceptibility.

84 18–30 yr old undergraduates high or low in hypnotic susceptibility (the Carleton University Responsiveness to Suggestion Scale) immersed an arm in ice water on 2 separate trials. Within susceptibility levels, Ss were randomly assigned to 3 groups, with an equal number in each group. Between trials, Ss in 1 group were administered a suggestion to imagine their hand as numb and insensitive, those in a 2nd group practiced a distraction task to be used during the 2nd trial (shadowing words), and those in a 3rd group (controls) received no special instructions. The suggestion significantly lowered rated pain in high but not in low susceptibles. Contrary to dissociation accounts of hypnotic susceptibility and suggested analgesia, low-susceptible shadowers showed as much reduction in rated pain as high susceptibles given suggestion. The social psychology of the experimental pain assessment situation is discussed. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recruitment sources and posthire outcomes for job applicants and new hires: A test of two hypotheses.

This study, unlike most recruitment source research, tested for and ruled out the contaminating effects of prescreening and self-selection bias by examining applicants and new hires for nursing positions (S. L. Rynes and A. E. Barber, 1990). Consistent with the predictions of A. Rees (1966) and J. C. Ullman (1966), recruitment sources reached differently qualified applicants in terms of nursing experience and education which, in turn, were valid predictors of subsequent nurse performance. In a similar manner, recruitment sources produced sharply different levels of prehire knowledge, which was inversely related to voluntary turnover after 1 yr. However, contrary to both hypotheses, prehire knowledge, education, and experience did not mediate the relationship between recruitment sources and posthire outcomes. Recruitment sources with greater prehire knowledge did not always result in lower voluntary turnover. Likewise, despite recruitment source differences in nursing experience and education, recruitment sources were not related to nursing performance. Finally, the extent to which applicants use multiple recruitment sources was investigated, and the methodological problem that this creates for recruitment source research was discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Advance organizers: Delay hypotheses.

Three experiments examined the utility of inserting a delay between the reading of an advance organizer and its related text. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that the insertion of a delay resulted in a more facilitative effect on readers' passage recall than reading the organizer and then immediately turning to the to-be-learned passage. Experiments 2 and 3 examined two competing hypotheses put forth to account for the facilitative effects of the delay. The results of both experiments supported an "accessibility" hypothesis based on the work of D. Dellarosa and L. E. Bourne (see record 1987-09369-001) but did not support a "rehearsal" hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-efficacy and perceived control: Cognitive mediators of pain tolerance.

The cold-pressor task was used with 102 female undergraduates in 2 experiments to determine (a) whether self-efficacy has validity as a true causal determinant of behavior change or is a correlate of change that has already occurred and (b) how perceptions of control and self-efficacy interact to determine choice behavior, persistence, and the impact of an aversive stimulus. Results of Experiment 1 indicate that self-efficacy expectations affected performance beyond what would have been expected from past performance alone. Changes in self-efficacy expectations predicted changes in cold-pressor tolerance. These findings suggest that self-efficacy expectations can be causal determinants of behavior in an aversive situation. Results of Experiment 2 indicate that self-efficacy was separable from control and that performance was best if both high levels of perceived control and self-efficacy were present. These findings support the notion that self-efficacy expectations can mediate the desirability of providing control, in that those who benefit most from control are those who are most confident they can exercise it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)