ISSN : 1229-067X
This study attempted to analyze the differences in coping responses according to individual's age and her situational appraisal of events in adulthood. The subjects were 100 young women, aged 25 to 39 years, and 100 middle-aged and old women, aged 50-65 years. Each of 200 women completed a questionnaire concerning their coping responses to a recent stressful life event categorized by herself as eigher a loss, a threat, or a challenge. Age and situational effect on coping were analyzed. The relationship between stressfulness, locus of control over the problem occurrence, personal controllability over the resolution of the problem and coping behavior were analyzed. Three types of coping functions, active, passive, and magical. based on the Gutmann's Ego Mastery Type were measured. The results revealed that age and situational appraisal had significant effect on coping responses : The older women coped in a more magical way than younger women, expecially in loss situations. Regardless of age. most of the women coped in an active way in challenge situations but in a passive or magical way in loss or threat situations. When it situation is appraised as stressful or uncontrollable, the magical way of coping is usually adopted. The sources of stress begin to change with advancing age. However, how the situation is appraised is the most potent factor in determining coping response rather than the source of stress or age per se.
This study compared frontalis electromyographic (EMC) biofeedback effect with progressive muscle relaxation training on the treatment of tension headache. In order to predict the treatment effects, 1he individual values of pretreatment levels of depression, anxiety and locus of control were investigated. Biofeedback group (N = 10) received contingent EMC feedback with instruction to lower muscle activity using the auditory feedback. Relaxation training group (N=10) was instructed to practice tape recorded progressive muscle relaxation procedure. All subjects were required to record their daily headache activities on the headache diary. It was hypothesized that biofeedback group would perform better on measures of EMC levels and headache index than relaxation training group. The results showed that both procedures were highly effective for reducing EMC levels and headache complaints, but the two groups did not show difference in the mutiple regression analyses indicated that the pretreatment levels of depression and locus of control account for 48% of the variance on headache improvement index in biofeedback group. On the other hand. in relaxation group pretreatment level, of anxiety and depression account for 50% of the variance on headache improvement index. Results are discussed in terms of notion that research for predictors of treatment effects is more needed than simple direct comparison of effects of EMC biofeedback with relaxation training. For long-term effect of each of these treatment, full follow-up study is suggentced.
The experiment examined the covariation of the event-frequency judgment and free recall response as a function of subject's school grade, gender, and test delay. Subjects were shown a series of animal names, one on each slide, and were then asked both to recall them and to estimate the frequency occurred (0, 1, 3, or 5 times). Half of the subjects had the free-recall test first, the other half the frequency-Judgment test first. The varibles of school grade (6th, 10th, and college students) and test delay (0, 1, or 7 days) produced similar results for free recall and frequency judgment; in general, the poorest performance was by the 6th grade students, the best performance was by the 10th grade students, and, as test delay being extended, performance was declined. The increment in frequency-judgment response from 6th graders to older subjects was the most significant result, presumably not reported previously. A variety of other effects and interactions were also found. The theoretical significance of the results were discussed with particular reference to its implications for the hypothesis that frequency judgment response would be automatic cognitive process.
Three related experiments were performed to investigate a phenomenon called consumer information overload. The effect of amount of information and physical property of information(verbal vs. pictorial) on choice accuracy and psychological states of subjects during choice process was examined. Although the two independent variables had no effects on the choice accuracy measured in terms of additive rule, it was found that the more information subjects received, the more they experienced psychological overload, and that verbal presentation of the information tended to make subjects experience overload more than pictorial presentation did. Next, more information, verbal presentation, and low level of pictualization likelihood affected memory recall negatively. Especially. the pictorial presentation of inforamation was more effective than verbal pre· sentation, in case the attributes presented were difficult to be pictualized. It was also found that subjects used various heuristics to defend overload experiences. They did not use entire information presented and spent much more time on each of information units as the amount of information increased. These results suggest that while consumers can always be overloaded in complex information circumstances. they are likely to utilize a variety of strategies to avoid being overloaded in real situations.
Kainic acid (KA) was used to investigate the effects of lesion of the hippocampal CA3 cell field on blocking and latent inhibition in Experiment 1 and 3. In experiment 2, 6-0HDA was used to study the effects of norepinephrine (NE) depletion of hippocampal cell field on blocking. Subjects were 80 albino rats_ In Experiment 1 and 2, blocking paradigm was used. Subjects were allocated into hippocampal or Sham-operated group,. each of which was again divided into experimental or control group. Subjects in experimental group of both sham-operated and hippocampal rats were classically conditioned to a tone in stage 1. Subjects in control group were yoked to the animals in the experimental group and were simply put in the test chamber. In stage 2, compound CS (tone + light) was presented to all subjects and blocking was measured by the suppression ratio of licking during light presentation. In Experiment 3, latent inhibition paradigm was used. Subjects in this experiment were allocated into hippocampal or sham-operated group, each of which was again divided into pre-exposure or control group. In pre-exposure stage, subjects in pre-exposure group received 30 tone-alone presentations without being followed by shock. Subjects in the control group were simply put in the test chamber. In acquisition stage. tone was paired with shock for all subjects. In test stage, lone was presented and latent inhibition was measured. Results of Experiment 1 showed that the lesion of hippocampal CA3 field with KA severely attenuated blocking. Experiment 2 indicated that NE depletion of the hippocampal CA3 field with 6-0HDA attenuated blocking as well. And results of Experiment 3 showed that the lesion of hoppocampal CA3 fieid with KA did not affect latent inhibition. These results suggest that hippocampal CA3 field is involved in blocking, that NE is important neurotransmitter substance in this area Hppocampal CA3 field was not found to be involved in latent inhibition.
This study was conducted to determine whether lateral hypothalamus (LH) per se or dopaminergic fibers which originate in substantia nigra (SN) and pass through LH serve to facilitate responsiveness to external stimuli. For this, rats were trained to respond to a visual cue presented on the left or night side of front panel of a chamber. The cue signaled availability of brain stimulation reward. The rats were then subjected to two kinds of preference test. In one test cues were simultaneously presented in both sides, and in another presented in neither side. With this procedure, rats were tested while they were unilaterally self-stimulating SN. The rats were retested after the lesion of LH with kainic acid which is selective neurotoxin to neuronal perikarya. When SN was unilaterally stimulated, rats responded more to the visual cue presented on the side contralateral to brain stimulation than ipsilateral. Even if cell bodies of LH were lesioned, this effect was not affected. The results may be interpreted as an indication that nigrostriatal dopamminergic system which transverses LH rather than LH per se is concerned with sensorimotor functions.
Attention disorder in schizophrenia is described as an impairment of the ability to ignore irrelevant stimuli and to attend selectively to relevant stimuli, This study was carried out to examine the attention disorder in animals, Rats were injected with L-dopa, the Dopamine agonist, and then, the effect of L-dopa on their attention was investigated, In the first stage, rats were trained to learn one stimulus was irrelevant to the environment by a method of "Learned Irrelevancy", In the second stage, they were conditioned to a compound stimulus consisting of the irrelevant stimulus used in the first stage and new novel neutral stimulus, The level of attention to each stimulus was inferred from the level of conditioning, The effect of L-dopa was limited to each of the two stages to determine whether the attention disorder was owing to the effect of L-dopa on the first stage or on the second stage, The results showed that the administration of L-dopa influenced the process of second stage and the attention disorder occured as a consequence of the impairment of ignoring the irrelevant stimulus.
According to the studies of simul aneous measurment of heart rate and conditioned nictitating memberane response, the asymtotic level of heart rate conditioning could be attained only in 10-20 ·trials of the first session, whereas conditioned nictitating membrane response did not appear, yet. And recent studies have demonstrated that only 10-30 trials are enough to reach the asymtotic level of conditioning in one trial per day NMR paradigm. This number of trials are within the range of early portion of first session that does not show conditioned response in massive trials per session paradigms. So, the purpose of this study is to investigate the roles of initial trials of NMR with two experimental groups and one control group. Experimental group I received one CS A (tone)-US sessions in phase I and five CS A+CS B (Iight)-US sessions in phase II. Experimental group II received five CS A-US sessions in phase I and five CS A+CS B-US sessions in phase II. Control group received only five CS A+CS B-US sessions. Then, two test sessions, each of which contains 40 CS A and 40 CS B presentations without US, were followed to compare the levels of blocking among three groups and to find the evidence of learning in initial trials. Results showed that significant differnces of mean CR rate to CS B existed between control group and experimental groups I and II. It means there was an associative learning at the first session in experimental group I in spite of no CR performance. But it also means the learning was incomplete compared with the results of experimental group II. Resulis of the experments were explained in terms of performance factor and pre paratory and consummatory conditioning.
This study was to find out the distinction between schizophrenics and delinquents personality characteristics based on Eysenck's personality dimensions of psychoticism and extraversion-introversion. Only male adolescents under 20 years old were selected as subjects. The Korean EPO was administered to three gorups: 30 schizophrenics. 30 delinquents and 30 normals. Results showed that both schizophrenics and delinquents were characterized by higher P than controls. and that schizophrenics were more introverted than controls while delinquents were more extraverted than controls. In conclusion schizophrenics and deliquents show opposite trait on the E-I dimension but common trait on P dimension.