Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M J Dougher.
This symposium acknowledges that the dispute between cognitively oriented and behavior analytically oriented behavior therapists is, in fact, a paradigm clash and that the essential disagreements are "pre-analytic" in nature and are not resolvable by data alone.
Recent research in the area of stimulus equivalence suggests that transfer of function via members of stimulus equivalence classes may have relevance to human emotional responding and the development and generalization of certain psychological disorders. This study investigated the transfer of avoidance evoking functions through equivalence classes. Eight subjects were trained in the necessary relations for two-four member stimulus equivalence classes to emerge. Next, using an on-baseline classical conditioning procedure, one member of one class was paired with shock while one member of the other class was presented without shock. Then, while subjects engaged a key-press task, a differential, signalled avoidance task was introduced wherein shock was avoided if a response occurred to the stimulus previously associated with shock. The remaining stimuli from both classes were then presented. The behavior of all eight subjects showed the differential transfer of the avoidance evoking function. The clinical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed.
This article discusses a nomothetic functional strategy, termed logical functional analysis, as an approach to the refinement of the structural diagnostic categories of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (e.g., 4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). As heterogeneous diagnostic categories are more the norm than the exception in the DSM-IV, an argument is made for the identification of homogenous subgroups within diagnostic classes based on functional principles. Outlines of a logical functional analysis for 2 reinforcement-based disorders, alcoholism and pedophilia, are presented. The outlines show how topographically similar behavior patterns can serve different functions that are important to consider when making treatment decisions. The logical functional analysis is a strategy that helps practitioners to identify motivational conditions, antecedents, consequences, and concomitant behavioral repertoires associated with a given disorder. It also provides guidance for the selection of intervention strategies.
We describe an operant conditioning apparatus that uses computerized touch-screen technology and is designed for the versatile and highly controlled testing of rats in a potentially wide variety of behavioral paradigms. Although computer-controlled touch-screen systems have been developed for use with pigeons, monkeys, and humans, analogous technologies and methods have not yet been developed for rats. The development of a touch-screen system for rats could enhance the efficiency of behavioral research with rats, and may offer a unique tool for studying animal learning. In the first test of the utility of the apparatus, 3 Sprague-Dawley rats learned to activate the touch screen only after the touch-screen panel was made slightly movable. These animals then learned to discriminate visual stimuli presented on the computer monitor, but only after the food magazine and pellet dispenser were moved to the rear of the chamber opposite the stimulus display and response window. In a test of the utility of the modified apparatus, 6 Long-Evans rats learned to activate the touch screen and learned one of three different simple discriminations using computer-generated, visually presented stimuli. A basic method for training rats to activate the computer touch screen and for visual discrimination training is described. Results show that rats learned to activate the touch screen and discriminate visual stimuli presented on a computer monitor. Potential applications and advantages of the touch-screen-equipped rat operant conditioning chamber are discussed.
The exchange between Lee (1992) and Hawkins (1992) on the one hand and Bandura (present volume) on the other represents a far more fundamental disagreement than whether behavior-analytic or cognitive accounts of self-efficacy are more persuasive. The deeper disagreement is really a conflict between equally legitimate but incompatible world views and, thus, it is both ontological and epistemological in nature. The present paper argues that the disagreement can be traced to differences between mechanistic and contextual or relational scientific frameworks and involves such issues as basic scientific objectives, units of analysis, and differing perspectives on causation and explanation. These differences are briefly described.
UNLABELLED: A lack of theory-based nursing research exists in the area of vascular disease. Nursing research is critical to evaluate the effectiveness of specific nursing interventions with the patient population with peripheral vascular disease. This knowledge will strengthen the scientific basis for nursing practice. For the purpose of facilitating increased participation in nursing research by members of the Society for Vascular Nursing, the authors presented the following article, " RESEARCH: Conception to Completion," at the Tenth Annual Symposium in Chicago. The author's current research entitled, "The Effects of Nurse Follow-Up on Increasing Self Care in Patients With Peripheral Vascular Disease: A Prospective Randomized Study," is used as a prototype to illustrate the conceptual, empiric, and interpretive phases of the research process. As the Society for Vascular Nursing moves into its second decade, members will become more focused on research that will generate new knowledge and validate current practices as vascular specialists. There is a great need for the generation and dissemination of knowledge that will help nurses better understand adaptation to health and illness. From this knowledge must come clinical strategies that assist people to promote their own health or cope with illness and its effects on their lives. Vascular specialists must be at the forefront of this effort. Furthermore, the era of cost containment has resulted in increasing pressure to document what nurses do and the differences they make in the outcomes of patient care. The most important outcome of clinical nursing research is the potential benefit it offers to patients. This article will review the steps in conducting nursing research.
In two equivalence experiments, a "think aloud" procedure modeled after Ericsson and Simon's (1980) protocol analysis was implemented to examine subjects' covert verbal responses during matching to sample. The purpose was to identify variables that might explain individual differences in equivalence class formation. The results from Experiment 1 suggested that subjects who formed equivalence classes described the relations among stimuli, whereas those not showing equivalence described sample and comparison stimuli as unitary compounds. Because Experiment 1 only demonstrated a correlation between describing stimulus compounds and the absence of equivalence classes, a second study was conducted. In Experiment 2, equivalence class formation was brought under experimental control through pretraining manipulations that facilitated responding either to stimulus compounds or to relations among stimuli. The results demonstrated that a history of describing stimulus compounds, when compared with describing the relations among the stimuli, interfered with the emergence of stimulus equivalence. These findings clarify individual differences in stimulus equivalence. They also demonstrate the utility of analyzing verbal reports to identify possible variables that can be manipulated experimentally.
The present study attempts to delineate the role of hemispheric activation in depression and pain. It was hypothesized that the right hemisphere is specialized to become activated by and to process negative affective stimuli, and that this specialization may play a role in the co-occurrence of depression and pain. The relationship between depression, experimental pain, and cerebral laterality was investigated in 16 depressed and 16 nondepressed, right-handed, female students. Cerebral laterality was measured via tasks assessing visual and auditory biases, and pain was assessed via a cold pressor task. The proposition that the right hemisphere mediates the co-occurrence of pain and depression was not supported, but specific findings did suggest that the right hemisphere may play a unique role in pain perception. Data from the visual task indicated that prior exposure to pain results in increased right hemisphere activation as indicated by a left visual field bias. Pain perception was a complex function of mood, preceding tasks, and the hand tested, and it was suggested that exposure to a typical right-hemisphere task increased the left side lateralization of pain in nondepressed subjects. Implications of these findings are discussed for coexisting problems of pain and depression and for the lateralization of pain in disorders judged to involve a significant psychogenic component.
Although covert sensitization is a widely and diversely employed clinical technique, there is no generally accepted conceptual guideline for its implementation. Consequently, there is considerable variability in the way covert sensitization procedures are employed, which may account for the reported inconsistency in its clinical effectiveness. The present study is an analogue experimental test of a conceptual account of covert sensitization that is based upon classical conditioning. The classical conditioning procedure is viewed as affecting operant target behaviors by altering the reinforcer effectiveness of target stimuli. This was explicitly tested by examining the effects of covert sensitization on subjects' preference for sexual stimuli in an operant choice paradigm. The results support the conceptual account.
Several lines of inquiry provide converging evidence for a critical role for the right cerebral hemisphere in negative affective experiences. This research includes the assessment of affective consequences of both focal cerebral lesions and pharmacological inactivation of one or the other hemisphere, as well as experimental and physiological techniques assessing differential hemispheric activation. The specific nature of right hemispheric involvement is conceptualized as a tendency to become activated by aversive experiences, and once activated, to process stimuli in a manner consistent with the right hemisphere's more negative affective tone. A theory of right hemisphere involvement in depressive affect is presented in detail and its relevance to clinical phenomena, e.g., the co-occurrence of depression and pain, and sex differences in depression, is examined, as is congruence with cognitive theories of depression.
A contingent response that previously increased self-injurious air-swallowing (aerophagia) by a profoundly mentally retarded woman (Holburn & Dougher, 1985) was shown to decrease her air-swallowing when the response was presented in accord with the response deprivation/satiation hypothesis, which suggests that any free-operant response can serve as a reinforcer or a punisher depending upon specific contigency arrangements. The results offer an explanation for the earlier increase in air-swallowing.
This study investigated the relationship between measured levels of masculinity-femininity, social desirability, and responsivity to pain in men and women. The literature suggests that the two personality variables might provide an explanation for the common findings of higher pain thresholds and tolerances in men than in women. A significant interaction was found between masculinity-femininity and sex for pain thresholds. Analysis of this interaction indicated that for men, but not women, there was a significant correlation between masculinity-femininity and pain, where higher masculinity was associated with higher pain thresholds. However, this finding did not account for the sex difference in pain threshold. The sex of the subject remained a significant predictor of both pain thresholds and tolerances after allowing for the influence of masculinity-femininity, social desirability, and their associated interactions.
Attempts were made to eliminate the aerophagia (pathological air-swallowing) exhibited by two profoundly retarded clients in a state residential institution. In Experiment 1, a positive-practice overcorrection procedure (coactive mouth-covering) tripled the frequency of a female's air-swallowing and subsequent time-out failed to reduce it below free-operant levels. In Experiment 2, further unsuccessful attempts were made to reduce air-swallowing by the same subject using additional time-out procedures. For a second subject (Experiment 3), increased durations of positive-practice overcorrection produced corresponding reductions in air-swallowing. After physical opposition to treatment, overcorrection was withdrawn, resulting in near-baseline responding. Multiple baselines in each experiment showed no transfer effect. Findings were discussed with reference to investigators who reported negative side-effects of overcorrection and overcame them through continued experimental analysis.
Subjects who had completed a smoking cessation program were contacted at 3- and 4-month follow-up to assess self-reported frequency of daily cigarette smoking. Subjects were randomly assigned to a reactive or non-reactive condition of telephone contact in obtaining the self-report. In the reactive condition, the telephone caller seeking self-report identified herself as an assistant in the original smoking cessation treatment program. In the non-reactive condition the telephone caller identified herself as an employee of a firm conducting a market research survey of the use of various consumer products. There were no statistically significant differences between the conditions in either self-report of abstinence or absolute frequency of daily cigarette consumption.
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Transcutaneous nerve stimulation (TNS) applied both ipsilaterally and contralaterally with a tonic pain stimulus was compared to a control condition to determine its effect on pain reports. The ipsilateral TNS condition significantly reduced ratings and increased pain thresholds relative to the contralateral and control conditions which did not significantly differ from each other. A Signal Detection Theory analysis of the data was employed to assess the sensitivity and response bias effects of the treatment conditions. Ipsilateral TNS significantly reduced pain sensitivity and response bias in the direction of showing a lesser tendency to report pain. The effects of ipsilateral TNS were most pronounced at the higher levels of stimulation. The results are consistent with Gate Control Theory which holds that ipsilateral TNS attenuates painful sensation. Most importantly, these results support the efficacy of TNS for the treatment of clinical pain.
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