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Biomedical subjects

C L Sheridan

Publications and source records attributed to C L Sheridan.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

The role of social desirability, negative affectivity, and female reproductive system symptoms in differences in reporting symptoms by men and women.

52 women and 38 men completed the Inventory of Health Status, Version 2, a measure of somatic health, and the Cornell Medical Index which provided separate scores for somatic and emotional health. The Personal Style Inventory was given, from which measures of Social Desirability and Negative Affectivity were utilized. Multiple regressions were done separately with scores on the Inventory of Health Status and the Cornell Emotional component, and scores on Social Desirability, Negative Affectivity, and sex as predictors. Scores on Social Desirability and Negative Affectivity were forced into the equation first. For the Inventory of Health Status, sex alone contributed significantly to the final equation. For scores on the Cornell Index's emotional component both sex and scores on negative affectivity had significant beta weights. Analysis of items from the Inventory of Health Status was done to examine the role of symptoms pertaining to women's reproductive system, and almost all the items that differed by sex were either clearly or possibly specific female reproductive items, e.g., "Abnormal menstruation." Similar analyses were not possible for the organic component of the Cornell Index, which has different items for reproductive systems of men and women. The complexity of the female reproductive system may play a central role in sex differences in symptom reporting and perhaps of emotional distress, but other interpretations are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Validation of a self-report measure of somatic health.

The primary purpose was to assess the validity of a new self-report inventory of general somatic health status. In addition, we sought to examine the influence of social desirability and negative affectivity on health reports and to learn whether asking respondents to report concrete, memorable aspects of illness episodes such as seeing a doctor or staying home in bed for all or most of a day would enhance validity. The somatic component of the Cornell Medical Index was used as a criterion measure of health status because that Index has been shown to reflect medical records with great accuracy. Scores on the new health inventory correlated highly with the Cornell somatic scores, and this relationship was independent of negative affectivity and social desirability. The addition of the "concrete, memorable" aspects of illness accounted for no additional variance in the Cornell Index somatic scores beyond that accounted for by mere reporting of the presence of the symptom or illness. This study offers evidence supporting the validity of the Inventory of Health Status as a predictor of somatic health independent of social desirability and negative affectivity and also indicates that a simple indication of whether the patient had the symptoms is sufficient.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Role of interproblem learning in interocular transfer.

The learning of a pattern discrimination may be divided into two components, one specific to the pattern task and another general to it and other tasks. The purpose of these experiments was to assess the degree to which these different components transfer interocularly, as well as to determine the effects of variations in prior acquisition on interocular transfer. In the first experiment, 28 albino rats were assigned to four equal groups that permitted assessment of the influences, on acquisition or interocular transfer of a pattern discrimination, of prior ipsi-ocular, contra-ocular, or sequential binocular training on a black-white task. Interocular savings were reduced by a factor of three when the black-white task (the general component) was acquired priorly, but there was no difference between the effects of prior contra-ocular training on black-white or pattern on subsequent monocular acquisition of the pattern task. Thus, all interocular transfer might be due to the general component. The second experiment, a partial replication, was performed to clarify whether information specific to the pattern task transferred interocularly. Again, interocular savings were reduced by a factor of three after prior black-white training. However, monocular acquisition of the pattern task facilitated subsequent contra-ocular learning of that same task more so than did prior monocular acquisition of a black-white task, indicating that some contribution is made to interocular savings by the information specific to the pattern task.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Detection of a deficit in visual discrimination of pattern following lesions of anterior cortex: role of type of motivation.

6 albino rats were trained under appetitive motivation to perform diametrically opposed visual discriminations of pattern via opposite eyes. Small lesions were subsequently placed unilaterally in anterior neocortex. Following a period of post-surgical recovery, subjects were re-trained on the diammetrically opposed discriminations in alternating 10-trial blocks. Every subject made more post-surgical errors on the discrimination mediated by the eye contralateral to the lesion. Since albino rats have virtually complete decussation of the visual system, this indicates selective impairment in mediation of performance of pattern discrimination in the part of the lesioned hemispheres. Thus, findings previously obtained in studies involving aversive motivation are general to appetitively motivated tasks.

Animals↗