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Biomedical subjects

A B Levey

Publications and source records attributed to A B Levey.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Articulatory suppression and the treatment of insomnia.

The prominence of intrusive thoughts in insomnia suggests the relevance of cognitive techniques to control them. It is suggested that the technique of Articulatory Suppression derived from Baddeley's model of Working Memory provides a relevant approach. The technique is presented as it was developed with a preliminary uncontrolled case series. A single-case experiment is then reported in which Articulatory Suppression was compared with other techniques. The preliminary indications are that it may be particularly helpful for sleep maintenance problems.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Blocking observed in human eyelid conditioning.

Four eyelid conditioning experiments designed to be comparable to rabbit nictitating membrane (NMR) studies examined the blocking phenomenon in humans. All experiments utilized a within-subjects design, with Stage 1 of discrimination, Stage 2 of compound training, and a final test stage comparing responding to the blocked and non-blocked CSs. In two of the experiments (1 and 4) the comparison was made within subjects over all extinction trials. In Experiment 3 the test phase consisted of further reinforced training of the blocked and non-blocked CSs. These three experiments produced evidence of blocking when all extinction trials were entered into the analysis. Experiment 2, which involved a between-subjects comparison, failed to demonstrate the blocking effect. Wide variability both between and within subjects obscured the experimental effects. Post-experimental questionnaires designed to assess awareness of stimulus relations failed to identify a subjective blocking effect and showed no relationship to conditioned eyelid responding.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Propositional knowledge and mere responding.

This commentary examines views recently offered by Furedy and Riley (1987) on the nature of classical conditioning. Their analysis identifies propositional learning as a component of conditioning separate from response acquisition. They reserve to this component the label cognitive on the epistemological grounds of falsifiability. We suggest that this analysis does not do justice to the concept of cognition in human conditioning. In particular it limits the scope of propositional knowledge to a formal role in the conditioning paradigm and ignores the recent development of propositional models in cognitive science. In seeking to integrate their propositional account with animal conditioning theory they usefully map their two processes on to the conditioned response/instrumental response distinction proposed by Gormezano and Kehoe (1975). However, their propositional contingency interpretation of the Rescorla and Wagner (1972) theory ignores the essentially associative mechanism used in the model to account for interevent relations.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Classical conditioning in a cognitive era.

Classical conditioning as a body of laboratory techniques and the phenomena which they have generated has a long history in behavioural science. Today, the emphasis on cognitive processes which has overtaken behavioural science threatens to displace the older technology. This paper examines those aspects of classical conditioning which might be expected to contribute a useful supplement to the cognitive description of human functioning. It is suggested that the emphasis on individual differences and on the modulation of affect and preference constitutes the core of this contribution.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMed1988

Hypnosis and daycase anaesthesia. A study to reduce pre-operative anxiety and intra-operative anaesthetic requirements.

Fifty-two female patients who underwent gynaecological operations as day cases received either a short pre-operative hypnotic induction or a brief discussion of equal duration. Hypnotized patients who underwent vaginal termination of pregnancy required significantly less methohexitone for induction of anaesthesia. They were also significantly more relaxed as judged by their visual analogue scores for anxiety. Less than half of the patients were satisfied with their knowledge about the operative procedure even after discussions with the surgeon and anaesthetist. A significant correlation was found between anxiety and perceived knowledge of procedures. The results suggest that pre-operative hypnosis can provide a quick and effective way to reduce pre-operative patient anxiety and anaesthetic requirements for gynaecological daycase surgery.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Estimating suicide risk among attempted suicides: I. The development of new clinical scales.

A discriminant function analysis was carried out to separate a sample of 75 suicides from a sample of 146 attempted suicides, on which comprehensive clinical and social data were recorded on an identical schedule. Two sets of discriminating items (with 18 and 6 variables) correctly classified 91 per cent and 83 per cent of the two samples in their respective groups. The results provide a basis for examining the usefulness of these variables as predictors of future suicide in people who have attempted suicide.

Health↗
PubMed1965

Efficiency of the conditioned eyelid response.

A method for estimating directly the efficiency of the conditioned eyelid response is capable of reflecting marked chaniges in response efficiency during acquisition of the conditioned response. conditioned response.

Adult↗