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Results for “Choice Behavior”

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Further evidence for latent learning in hippocampal-lesioned rats.

Rats with substantial dorsolateral lesions to the hippocampal formation showed significant latent learning of a complex spatial maze. Their overall maze performance, however, was characteristically impaired. Behavior during the pre-exposure phase of the experiment was useful in predicting test maze behavior. Three measures in particular had predictive value: entrances into the maze alley leading to the final choice point, behavior at that choice point, and goal box entries.

Animals↗

Notes on prediction of behavioural change in evaluation of drug education.

Much drug education has, rightly or wrongly, been concerned, implicitly or explicitly, with affecting the probability of drug use. This note is concerned with the assumption, often underlying both the application of educational methods and their evaluation, that behaviour change is somehow caused by changes in attitude and can be predicted on the basis of changes in response to attitude scales. Evaluation results are discussed to demonstrate that attitude and behaviour do not necessarily co-vary as one might expect. A model of choice is outlined as a step towards a more adequate formulation that recognises the situational context of verbal and non-verbal behaviours.

Attitude↗

Natural choice in nonhuman primates.

In 5 experiments, 4 monkeys and 1 ape chose between 2 food sources, each held in 1 of the experimenter's hands while he stood in front of a cage. When choosing between 2 sources of the same food that differed in amount, preference for the larger amount decreased as the size of each good proportionately increased. A second finding was that subjects were indifferent between a 2-food mixture and a single food that was part of the mixture if the single food was the preferred food of the mixture, a result suggesting the less preferred food had no value. Experiment 6 replicated these effects in 4 additional monkeys. These effects may be incompatible with previous theorizing about animal choice and may reflect a cognitive difference between nonhuman primates and humans.

Animals↗

Adolescent sexuality and parent-adolescent processes: promoting healthy teen choices.

Trends in adolescent sexual health, the relation between parenting and adolescent sexual outcomes, and adolescent sexuality interventions with a parent component are reviewed. American adolescents have higher rates of unprotected sex and sexually transmitted infections contraction than adults and nine times the teen pregnancy rate of their European counterparts. Parenting efforts are related to adolescent sexual behavior. The review of 19 relevant programs supports the incorporation of theory and the ecological model in program design and evaluation.

Adolescent↗

Cognitive strategies employed in trying to arrange a first date.

This article deals with how adolescents go about making a date. It uses a funnelling approach to elicit information which is then studied in more detail in a series of further steps. Study 1 used a short survey to obtain data concerning subjects' (n=410) experience of dating. Thereafter, 47 of these subjects selected situations and actions relevant to their dating experience, from two specially prepared lists. Study 1 provided information concerning the relevance of the lists, their comprehensibility and the frequency with which subjects had encountered specific situations or actions. In Study 2, 287 subjects completed the survey, 73 were selected and given revised versions of the lists. After selecting situations and actions, they were interviewed concerning their choice. Subject's responses are discussed with respect to social cognitive development in adolescence.

Adolescent↗

Effects of choice making on the serious problem behaviors of students with severe handicaps.

This study assessed the impact of choice making on the serious problem behaviors of 3 students with severe autism and/or mental retardation. In the context of within-subject reversal designs, the results showed consistently reduced levels of problem behaviors (e.g., aggression) when the students were given opportunities to make choices among instructional tasks and reinforcers. Additional data showed no systematic differences in the rate of correct responding between the two conditions. The results are discussed in relation to the continuing search for effective, nonintrusive solutions to the occurrence of serious problem behavior.

Autistic Disorder↗

Control of choice by the spatial configuration of goals.

Rats gathered pellets from the tops of 15.5-cm-tall poles. In a matrix of poles, bait was located on the tops of poles arranged in either a square (Experiment 1) or linear (Experiment 2) configuration. The specific locations of baited poles varied unpredictably from trial to trial. The data show that the rats' choices were controlled by the spatial configuration of baited locations. This indicates that the rats represented the geometric pattern formed by the locations of food.

Animals↗

Concurrent schedules: short- and long-term effects of reinforcers.

Five pigeons were trained on concurrent variable-interval schedules in a switching-key procedure. The overall rate of reinforcement was constant in all conditions, and the ratios of reinforcers obtainable on the two alternatives were varied over seven levels. Each condition remained in effect for 65 sessions, and the last 50 sessions of data from each condition were analyzed. The most recently obtained reinforcer had the largest effect on current preference, but each of the eight previously obtained reinforcers had a small measurable effect. These effects were larger when the reinforcer ratio was more extreme. A longer term effect of reinforcement was also evident, which changed as a function of the reinforcer ratio arranged. More local analyses showed regularities at a reinforcer-by-reinforcer level and large transient movements in preference toward the just-reinforced alternative immediately following reinforcers, followed by a return to stable levels that were related to the reinforcer ratio in effect. The present data suggest that the variables that control choice have both short- and long-term effects and that the short-term effects increased when the reinforcer ratios arranged were more extreme.

Animals↗

Sexual excitement.

Sexual excitement depends on a scenario the person to be aroused has been writing since childhood. The story is an adventure, an autobiography disguised as fiction, in which the hero/heroine hides crucial intrapsychic conflicts, mysteries, screen memories of actual traumatic events and the resolution of these elements into a happy ending, best celebrated by orgasm. The function of the fantasy is to take these painful experiences and convert them to pleasure-triumph. In order to sharpen excitement-the vibration between the fear of original traumas repeating and the hope of a pleasurable conclusion this time-one introduces into the story elements of risk (approximations of the trauma) meant to prevent boredom and safety factors (sub-limnal signals to the storyteller that the risk are not truly dangerous). Sexual fantasy can be studied by means of a person's daydreams (including those chosen in magazines, books, plays, television, movies, and outright pornography), masturbatory behavior, object choice, foreplay, techniques of intercourse, or postcoital behavior.

Fantasy↗

Does RO 15-4513 reverse the anxiolytic effects of ethanol by its intrinsic properties?

In order to better understand the antagonistic effects of the partial inverse agonist of benzodiazepine receptors, RO 15-4513, against the disinhibitory action of ethanol, we examined the effects of RO 15-4513 at a dose (2.0 mg/kg) that did not alter locomotor activity, given alone or in combination with ethanol, on the behavior of mice confronted with the light/dark choice procedure and the staircase test. At this dose, RO 15-4513 given alone was found to have slight anxiogenic properties and when given in combination with ethanol, to completely reverse the disinhibitory effects of ethanol. Since we previously observed postictal depression after higher doses of RO 15-4513 given alone and antagonistic effects of these same doses on the action of ethanol, it can be suggested that the antagonistic effects of RO 15-4513 against ethanol are due to its anxiogenic or depressive properties depending on doses. However, this hypothesis can only be regarded as being in early stages of development at the present time since these results do not parallel with those of several other studies and the question whether the antagonistic action of RO 15-4513 against ethanol is additive or interactive remains open.

Animals↗

Self-efficacy and health education.

Bandura's theory of self-efficacy has been applied in many areas of health education including smoking cessation, pain control, eating problems, cardiac rehabilitation, and adherence to regimens. Consequently, self-efficacy has emerged as an important concept with which health educators should be familiar. Self-efficacy refers to one's belief in the ability to do a specific behavior. Self-efficacy is a principle connection between knowledge and action since the belief that one can do a behavior usually occurs before one actually attempts the behavior. Self-efficacy also affects the choice of behavior, settings in which behaviors are performed, and the amount of effort and persistence to be spent on performance of a specific task. This article will examine self-efficacy theory, describe sources of self-efficacy, and present applications of self-efficacy theory.

Female↗

Behavior of young children with Down syndrome before the mirror: exploration.

Exploratory behaviors of Down Syndrome (DS) and Nondelayed (ND) young children between the mental ages of 16 and 32 months were examined in 4 situations involving finding things seen in a large standing mirror: free play, marked face, finding the reflected mother, and finding a reflected toy. Behaviors coded from videotape included observing the self making faces, kissing the mirror, patting the mirror, comparing a person or object with the mirror image, looking behind the mirror, touching own body, and staring at another's image. Both ND and DS children used these behaviors and were able to adapt their choice of behaviors to demands of particular tasks. However, DS and ND children differed in number, type, and frequency of exploratory behaviors. DS children used a greater variety of behaviors and used them more frequently than ND children. DS children used a less focused selection of behaviors, and behaviors involving switching attention were performed only by ND children. For most behavior examined, mental and chronological age were not related to amount of exploration. Results are interpreted in terms of the role of different behaviors in exploration of the mirror.

Body Image↗

Neural substrates of choice selection in adults and adolescents: development of the ventrolateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices.

A heightened propensity for risk-taking and poor decision-making underlies the peak morbidity and mortality rates reported during adolescence. Delayed maturation of cortical structures during the adolescent years has been proposed as a possible explanation for this observation. Here, we test the hypothesis of adolescent delayed maturation by using fMRI during a monetary decision-making task that directly examines risk-taking behavior during choice selection. Orbitofrontal/ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (OFC/VLPFC) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were examined selectively since both have been implicated in reward-related processes, cognitive control, and resolution of conflicting decisions. Group comparisons revealed greater activation in the OFC/VLPFC (BA 47) and dorsal ACC (BA 32) in adults than adolescents when making risky selections. Furthermore, reduced activity in these areas correlated with greater risk-taking performance in adolescents and in the combined group. Consistent with predictions, these results suggest that adolescents engage prefrontal regulatory structures to a lesser extent than adults when making risky economic choices.

Adolescent↗

Consumer illness careers: an investigation of allergy sufferers and their universe of medical choices.

The concept of the consumer illness career with a focus on allergies is introduced and developed by the authors in terms of a trajectory of five stages over time, the related product-service unities or constellations--including health care treatments and remedies--and various situational and trait factors that influence the course of a consumer's response to his or her disease. Next, they investigate the career's holistic nature and thematic content in an in-depth study of allergy sufferers. The study indicates that allergy sufferers engage ina wide range of strategic behaviors and choices associated with coping with their allergies, much of which can be captured in terms of patterned themes. Finally, the authors offer research, managerial, and public policy implications.

Adult↗