Psychiatry and Psychology Commons^™

Competition Between The Conditioned Rewarding Effects Of Cocaine And Novelty, Carmela M. Reichel, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Access to novelty might provide an alternative learning history that competes with conditioned drug reward. We tested this suggestion in rats using a place conditioning procedure with cocaine and novelty. In Experiment 1, rats were conditioned with cocaine to prefer one side of an apparatus. In a subsequent phase, cocaine exposure continued; however, on the unpaired side, separate group of rats had access to novel objects, cocaine injections, or saline with no objects. Pairings with novel objects or cocaine shifted a preference away from the cocaine-paired environment during drug-free and drug-challenge tests. Experiment 2 tested novelty’s impact when cocaine exposure …

Amphetamine Selectively Enhances Avoidance Responding To A Less Salient Stimulus In Rats, Ming Li, Wei He, Rebecca Munro

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This preclinical study examined the psychological processes affected by amphetamine that contribute to human psychosis. Using a novel avoidance conditioning paradigm involving two conditioned stimuli (CS) with varied salience, we found that acute amphetamine (1.5 mg/ kg, i.p.) selectively enhanced avoidance responding to a less salient stimulus, but not to a salient one. These findings suggest that elevated dopaminergic activity selectively enhances the attributions of motivational salience to a less salient stimulus, a process that may bear relevance to the development of human delusional thoughts.

Signs For The Future Of Civil Justice Research, Brian H. Bornstein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The chapters in the present volume [Civil Juries and Civil Justice (New York: Springer, 2008)] provide a number of signs for the future of civil justice research. Many of the signs are favorable and point to continued fruitful collaborations between legal and psychological researchers on pressing topics in the justice arena with important policy implications; yet the contributions also highlight several gaps in the literature, data limitations, and false steps. In other words, some of the signs are not-so-favorable, and there is still much work to be done. In this concluding commentary, I identify the major portents for the …

Rigid Thinking About Deformables: Do Children Sometimes Overgeneralize The Shape Bias?, Larissa K. Samuelson, Jessica S. Horst, Anne R. Schutte, Brandi N. Dobbertin

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Young children learning English are biased to attend to the shape of solid rigid objects when learning novel names. This study seeks further understanding of the processes that support this behavior by examining a previous finding that three-year-old children are also biased to generalize novel names for objects made from deformable materials by shape, even after the materials are made salient. In two experiments, we examined the noun generalizations of 72 two-, three- and four-year- old children with rigid and deformable stimuli. Data reveal that three-year-old, but not two- or four-year-old, children generalize names for deformable things by shape, and …

Generalizing The Dynamic Field Theory Of Spatial Cognition Across Real And Developmental Time Scales, Vanessa R. Simmering, John P. Spencer, Anne R. Schutte

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Within cognitive neuroscience, computational models are designed to provide insights into the organization of behavior while adhering to neural principles. These models should provide sufficient specificity to generate novel predictions while maintaining the generality needed to capture behavior across tasks and/or time scales. This paper presents one such model, the Dynamic Field Theory (DFT) of spatial cognition, showing new simulations that provide a demonstration proof that the theory generalizes across developmental changes in performance in four tasks—the Piagetian A-not-B task, a sandbox version of the A-not-B task, a canonical spatial recall task, and a position discrimination task. Model simulations demonstrate …

Basic And Applied Issues In Eyewitness Research: A Münsterberg Centennial Retrospective, Brian H. Bornstein, Christian Meissner

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Whether memory research should emphasize fundamental psychological theory in well-controlled laboratory settings (i.e. “basic” research) or practical questions in naturalistic settings (i.e. “applied” research) is a recurrent question in the field. The debate became especially prominent with the advent of the “everyday memory movement” in the 1980s (e.g. Banaji & Crowder, 1989; Neisser, 1978, 1991), but it dates back to the origins of experimental psychology itself (i.e. the basic approach espoused by Wundt and Titchener vs. the more applied perspective taken by Külpe, Ebbinghaus, Binet, James and others). The debate is particularly relevant to the subarea of eyewitness memory, which …

Role Of Affective Associations In The Planning And Habit Systems Of Decision-Making Related To Addiction, Marc T. Kiviniemi, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The model proposed by Redish et al. considers vulnerabilities within decision systems based on expectancy-value assumptions. Further understanding of processes leading to addiction can be gained by considering other inputs to decision-making, particularly affective associations with behaviors. This consideration suggests additional decision-making vulnerabilities that might explain addictive behaviors.

Intravenous Nicotine Conditions A Place Preference In Rats Using An Unbiased Design, Jamie L. Wilkinson, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The rewarding effects of nicotine contribute to the chronic use of tobacco products. The place conditioning task, a widely used pre-clinical model to study drug reward, has lead to mixed results in rats when nicotine was administered subcutaneously or intraperitoneally; intravenously administered nicotine has not been examined. Further, much of the research demonstrating a nicotine-conditioned place preference in rats has used a biased design making these results susceptible to nonreward interpretations. The present study assessed whether intravenous (IV) nicotine would condition a place preference in an unbiased design and evaluated important behavioral parameters: nicotine dose, number of conditioning trials, and …

Individual Decision Making And The Evolutionary Roots Of Institutions, Richard Mcelreath, Robert Boyd, Gerd Gigerenzer, Andreas Glöckner, Peter Hammerstein, Robert Kurzban, Stefan Magen, Peter J. Richerson, Arthur Robson, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Just as many aspects of individual decisions are sometimes called "unconscious" or "automatic," we know that some institutions have evolved through "unconscious," nondeliberative mechanisms. Their function can also be largely nondeliberative, as in the case of some institutions that may structure behavior without requiring any reflection on the part of the participants. On the other hand, political institutions exist for the purpose of bringing deliberative mechanisms to bear on institutions in the hope of changing them for the better. The immense project of building an integrated explanation of institutions from individual brains to nations-has only barely begun. In this chapter, …

A Fruit In The Hand Or Two In The Bush? Divergent Risk Preferences In Chimpanzees And Bonobos, Sarah R. Heilbronner, Alexandra G. Rosati, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Brian Hare, Marc D. Hauser

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Human and non-human animals tend to avoid risky prospects. If such patterns of economic choice are adaptive, risk preferences should reflect the typical decision-making environments faced by organisms. However, this approach has not been widely used to examine the risk sensitivity in closely related species with different ecologies. Here, we experimentally examined risk-sensitive behavior in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus), closely related species whose distinct ecologies are thought to be the major selective force shaping their unique behavioral repertoires. Because chimpanzees exploit riskier food sources in the wild, we predicted that they would exhibit …

Getting Ready: Promoting School Readiness Through A Relationship-Based Partnership Model, Susan M. Sheridan, Christine Marvin, Lisa Knoche, Carolyn P. Edwards

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

School readiness is determined by the life experiences of young children between birth and enrollment in formal education programs. Early intervention and education programs designed to promote school readiness often focus on skills a child fails to demonstrate that are believed to be of importance to social and academic success. The Getting Ready model of early childhood intervention (Sheridan, Edwards, & Knoche, 2003) recognizes the transactional nature of young children’s development and the important role parents play in pre-school readiness and school-age success. In the Getting Ready model, collaborative partnerships between parents and professionals are encouraged to promote parent’s competence …

Crisis, What Crisis? Perception And Reality In Civil Justice, Brian H. Bornstein, Timothy R. Robicheaux

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

"Excessive litigation has created a crisis in America," according to an article on the Alexandria, Virginia-based Center for Individual Freedom’s website (Marcus, 2004).
This article was the first of 63,100 links retrieved in a February 16, 2007, Google.com search for the words ‘‘litigation crisis,’’ and a search for the word ‘‘tort reform’’ on the same day returned over a million results. Not every linked article was as bold about the current ‘‘litigation crisis’’ in the United States, and not every linked article promoted a need for tort reform, but the search demonstrates the current salience of these issues in the …

Procedural Justice In Family Conflict Resolution And Deviant Peer Group Involvement Among Adolescents: The Mediating Influence Of Peer Conflict, Jennifer Stuart, Mark Fondarco, Scott A. Miller, Veda Brown, Eve M. Brank

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The involvement of adolescents with deviant peer groups is one of the strongest proximal correlates to juvenile delinquency and stems from a variety of causes. Past research has linked ineffective parenting with peer variables, including deviant peer group involvement and peer conflict during adolescence. In this study, adolescents’ appraisals of procedural justice within the family (adolescents’ appraisals of how fairly they are treated by parents in the process of resolving family conflict) were examined as one aspect of effective parenting that may relate to deviant peer group involvement in early adolescence. Data from 1660 middle school students (ages 11-14, mean …

Trauma Exposure Influences Cue Elicited Affective Responses Among Smokers With And Without A History Of Major Depression, Dennis E. Mcchargue, Alicia K. Klanecky, Kate Walsh, David Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The current study tested the emotional reactivity of smokers with and without histories of major depression (MDD Hx) and trauma exposure (TE). Four counterbalanced conditions nested negative (e.g., dysphoric) or neutral mood inductions with in vivo versus control smoking paraphernalia cues (Neutral+Control; Neutral+Cigarette; Neg+Control; Neg+Cigarette). Mixed model analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) tested between and within subjects differences in negative affective symptoms pre- to post-exposure across four groups (TE+MDD Hx; TE only; MDD Hx only; no history). Results produced two notable effects. First, TE only individuals endorsed the greatest increase in depressive symptoms across both negative mood induction conditions (regardless of …

Stress And Eyewitness Memory, Ani A. Aharonian, Brian H. Bornstein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Stress exerts complex effects on eyewitness memory. On the whole, it has a negative effect, but this can be quite variable depending on the level of stress and the aspect of the witnessed event that one is trying to remember. Stress operates similarly in affecting person recognition (i.e., lineup performance) and recall of event details.

Patience, Jeffrey R. Stevens, David W. Stephens

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

What is patience? Humans and other animals often make decisions that trade off present and future benefits. Should a monkey eat an unripe fruit or wait for it to ripen? Should I purchase the iPhone at its debut or wait for the price to drop in a few months? In these dilemmas, large gains often require long waits, so decision makers must choose between a smaller, sooner reward and a larger, later reward.

It sometimes makes sense to choose the smaller, sooner alternative, for example in a very rich environment, but in many natural situations, waiting for the larger, later …

The Evolutionary Biology Of Decision Making, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Evolutionary and psychological approaches to decision making remain largely separate endeavors. Each offers necessary techniques and perspectives which, when integrated, will aid the study of decision making in both humans and nonhuman animals. The evolutionary focus on selection pressures highlights the goals of decisions and the conditions under which different selection processes likely influence decision making. An evolutionary view also suggests that fully rational decision processes do not likely exist in nature. The psychological view proposes that cognition is hierarchically built on lower- level processes. Evolutionary approaches to decision making have not considered the cognitive building blocks necessary to implement …

Infl Uence Of Nicotine On Positive Affect In Anhedonic Smokers, Jessica Werth Cook, Bonnie Spring, Dennis E. Mcchargue

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Rationale – The possibility that individuals administer nicotine to self-regulate persistent negative affect has received interest as a possible explanation for the high prevalence of affectively vulnerable smokers. Relatively overlooked, however, is the possibility that smokers might also self-administer nicotine to elevate low positive affect. Objectives – This study examined whether nicotine administration augmented anhedonic smokers’ positive affective response to a positive mood induction. Materials and methods – Fifty regular smokers (50% female) underwent two positive mood inductions during which they smoked either a nicotinized or denicotinized cigarette in counterbalanced order. Positive affect was assessed before and at two time …

Book Review: Using Psychology To Make A Difference, Brian H. Bornstein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This is a book whose time has come. It collects papers presented at a symposium on applied psychology held at Claremont Graduate University, and that is fitting, as Claremont has one of the leading programs in applied psychology. Most of the chapter authors (8 of 15) are themselves Claremont faculty, and the editors have also gathered a number of impressive outside contributors, such as Philip Zimbardo, Albert Bandura, Robert Rosenthal, Diane Halpern, Stanley Sue, and Elizabeth Loft us. What all these individuals have in common is an interest in using psychology to better the human condition and, in the words …

Child Maltreatment History And Subsequent Romantic Relationships: Exploring A Psychological Route To Dyadic Difficulties, David K. Dilillo, Terri Lewis, Andrea Di Loreto-Colgan

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

A sample of 174 college students involved in heterosexual dating relationships was studied lo investigate the role of psychological distress in mediating links between child maltreatment (CM) history and current couple functioning. Females, but not males, with a history of CM reported greater levels of psychological and relationship difficulties than did non-maltreated women. Psychological distress among females was also found to mediate associations between abuse history and various aspects of couple functioning including intimacy, sexuality. and conflict resolution. No such relationships were found for males. The implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Child Sexual Abuse, Andrea R. Perry, David K. Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Child sexual abuse (CSA), a social problem of endemic proportions, has existed in all historical eras and societies (Conte 1994; Fergusson and Mullen 1999; Wekerle and Wolfe 1996; Wolfe 1999). Since antiquity, anecdotal records (e.g., legal, artistic, philosophical, and literary accounts) have documented activities that would today be classified as CSA (deMause 1974; Kahr 1991; Olafson, Corwin, and Summit 1993). For instance, a sizable portion of adults in ancient Greek and Roman cultures openly engaged in what is now considered pederasty or rape (deMause 1974; Kahr 1991). Although adult-child sexual encounters have occurred throughout history, perceptions of such practices have …

Negative Mood Regulation Mediates The Relationship Between Distraction And Engagement In Pleasurable Activities Among College Smokers, Lee M. Cohen, Dennis E. Mcchargue, Holly E. R. Morrell

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Smoking for negative mood alleviation is a strong predictor of early smoking and early dependence among undergraduates. Little is known about whether adaptive cognitive coping processes (e.g., distraction) may help decrease the likelihood of student smoking for negative mood regulation. The present study tested the hypothesis that distraction would predict (a) greater engagement in adaptive pleasant pastimes and (b) lower rates of smoking behavior among undergraduates (n = 162, 41.9% female). We further assessed whether negative mood regulation expectations would explain both relationships. Results indicated that negative mood regulation fully mediated the relationship between distraction and engagement in pleasurable …

Fluoxetine, Smoking, And History Of Major Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Bonnie Spring, Neal Doran, Sherry Pagoto, Dennis E. Mcchargue, Jessica Werth Cook, Katherine Bailey, John Crayton, Donald Hedecker

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The study was a randomized placebo-controlled trial testing whether fluoxetine selectively enhances cessation for smokers with a history of depression. Euthymic smokers with (H+, n = 109) or without (H-, n = 138) a history of major depression received 60 mg fluoxetine or placebo plus group behavioral quit-smoking treatment for 12 weeks. Fluoxetine initially enhanced cessation for H+ smokers (p = .02) but subsequently impaired cessation regardless of depressive history. Six months after quit date, fluoxetine-treated participants were 3.3 times more likely to be smoking (p = .02). Further research is warranted to determine why high-dose fluoxetine produces …

Implementing Elements Of Evidence-Based Practice Into Scientist–Practitioner Training At The University Of Nebraska–Lincoln, David K. Dilillo, Dennis E. Mcchargue

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Evidence-based practice (EBP) has become the predominant model of training and is emerging as a common model of practice for many nonpsychology health care professions. Recognizing the relevance of EBP to psychology, the American Psychological Association (APA) developed and endorsed an official policy statement on EBP for the practice of professional psychology. There is now a pressing need to consider ways that EBP can inform scientist–practitioner training. The present article proposes clinical competencies associated with the practice of EBP, and describes initial efforts to implement elements of EBP into training at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. These efforts have occurred in …

Acculturation, Gender, And Alcohol Use Among Mexican American College Students, Marcela Raffaelli, Rosalie A. Torres Stone, Maria I. Iturbide, Meredith Mcginley, Gustavo Carlo, Lisa J. Crockett

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Prior research with non-college samples of Mexican Americans has demonstrated that gender moderates the association between acculturation and alcohol use. We replicated this finding in a college student sample and attempted to account for the differential impact of acculturation on Mexican American men and women by examining the mediating effects of social context, family conflict and psychological functioning. Participants were 148 Mexican Americans (67% female; M age 23 years) from three state universities in California and Texas who completed self-report surveys. In multivariate analyses controlling for age, maternal education, living situation, and site, linguistic acculturation was associated with increased alcohol …

The Evolutionary Origins Of Human Patience: Temporal Preferences In Chimpanzees, Bonobos, And Human Adults, Alexandra G. Rosati, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Brian Hare, Marc D. Hauser

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

To make adaptive choices, individuals must sometimes exhibit patience, forgoing immediate benefits to acquire more valuable future rewards [1–3]. Although humans account for future consequences when making temporal decisions [4], many animal species wait only a few seconds for delayed benefits [5– 10]. Current research thus suggests a phylogenetic gap between patient humans and impulsive, present-oriented animals [9, 11], a distinction with implications for our understanding of economic decision making [12] and the origins of human cooperation [13]. On the basis of a series of experimental results, we reject this conclusion. First, bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees ( …

Nicotine As A Conditioned Stimulus: Impact Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Medications, Carmela M. Reichel, Jessica D. Linkugel, Rick A. Bevins

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

People diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at an increased risk to start smoking and have greater difficulty quitting. Nicotine, one of the principal addictive components of tobacco smoke, functioned as a conditioned stimulus (CS) for intermittent sucrose delivery in a Pavlovian drug discrimination task with rats. This study compared the ability of commonly prescribed ADHD medications (i.e., methylphenidate, atomoxetine, and bupropion) and additional dopamine reuptake inhibitors (i.e., cocaine and GBR 12909) to substitute for the CS effects of nicotine. Atomoxetine was also used to antagonize these CS effects. Rats acquired the discrimination as evidenced by increased dipper entries in …

Perceiving The Relationship Between Discrete And Continuous Data: A Comparison Of Sonified Data Display Formats, Carina M. Mccormick, John H. Flowers

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study compared the effectiveness of two auditory display designs for conveying the relationship between discrete and continuous data. Participants judged the relationship between simulated data representing “sea temperature,” (a continuous variable) and “storm occurrence” (a categorical variable) by rating the strength of covariation between these variables and qualitatively describing the relationship for one of two types of auditory displays. One format integrated the representation of storms and sea temperature into a single pitch-varying “stream” by signaling storms occurrence by momentary amplitude and timbre changes. The other format presented the storm occurrence information as atonal percussive events separate from the …

A Specialized Domestic Violence Court In South Carolina: An Example Of Procedural Justice For Victims And Defendants, Angela R. Gover, Eve M. Brank, John M. Macdonald

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The current research details interviews with 50 victims and 50 defendants who participated in a specialized criminal domestic violence court in Lexington County, South Carolina. These victims and defendants indicated satisfaction with their court experiences, thought the process allowed them to voice their views, felt they were treated with respect, and were generally satisfied with the outcome of their cases. Court observations and interviews with court personnel confirmed that this court has successfully incorporated victims and defendants into the decision-making process while also providing a fair system to address the issue of violence against women.

Unique And Combined Contributions Of Multiple Child Abuse Types And Abuse Severity To Adult Trauma Symptomatology, John C. Clemmons, Kate Walsh, David K. Dilillo, Terri L. Messman-Moore

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Studies have documented the co-occurrence and cumulative impact of multiple types of child maltreatment on later psychosocial difficulties. Other research suggests that child abuse characteristics indicative of severity may also increase risk of later adjustment problems. However, little effort has been made to examine the co-occurrence of both multiple types of maltreatment and abuse severity within a single study. The present investigation examines self-reported child maltreatment and adult functioning in a geographically diverse sample of 1,396 undergraduate students. Results indicate that experiencing multiple types of maltreatment is positively associated with more severe abuse. Although increased maltreatment types and more severe …