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Biomedical subjects

R Buehler

Publications and source records attributed to R Buehler.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

People focus on optimistic scenarios and disregard pessimistic scenarios while predicting task completion times.

Task completion plans normally resemble best-case scenarios and yield overly optimistic predictions of completion times. The authors induced participants to generate more pessimistic scenarios and examined completion predictions. Participants described a pessimistic scenario of task completion either alone or with an optimistic scenario. Pessimistic scenarios did not affect predictions or accuracy and were consistently rated less plausible than optimistic scenarios (Experiments 1-3). Experiment 4 independently manipulated scenario plausibility and optimism. Plausibility moderated the impact of optimistic, but not pessimistic, scenarios. Experiment 5 supported a motivational explanation of the tendency to disregard pessimistic scenarios regardless of their plausibility. People took pessimistic scenarios into account when predicting someone else's completion times. The authors conclude that pessimistic-scenario generation may not be an effective debiasing technique for personal predictions.

Affect↗
PubMed1999

Frequency, probability, and prediction: easy solutions to cognitive illusions?

Many errors in probabilistic judgment have been attributed to people's inability to think in statistical terms when faced with information about a single case. Prior theoretical analyses and empirical results imply that the errors associated with case-specific reasoning may be reduced when people make frequentistic predictions about a set of cases. In studies of three previously identified cognitive biases, we find that frequency-based predictions are different from-but no better than-case-specific judgments of probability. First, in studies of the "planning fallacy, " we compare the accuracy of aggregate frequency and case-specific probability judgments in predictions of students' real-life projects. When aggregate and single-case predictions are collected from different respondents, there is little difference between the two: Both are overly optimistic and show little predictive validity. However, in within-subject comparisons, the aggregate judgments are significantly more conservative than the single-case predictions, though still optimistically biased. Results from studies of overconfidence in general knowledge and base rate neglect in categorical prediction underline a general conclusion. Frequentistic predictions made for sets of events are no more statistically sophisticated, nor more accurate, than predictions made for individual events using subjective probability.

Bayes Theorem↗
PubMed1998

The impact of negative affect on autobiographical memory: the role of self-focused attention to moods.

Five studies examined how self-focused attention affects the impact of negative moods on autobiographical memory. It was proposed that self-focused attention to moods may increase the likelihood of both mood-congruent recall and mood-incongruent recall and that the type of recall effect that occurs will depend on the manner in which people focus on their moods. In these studies, participants were led to experience negative or neutral moods, exposed to a manipulation designed to affect some aspect of their attention to their moods, and then asked to report memories. This research revealed that when people adopt a reflective orientation to their moods, they are more likely to engage in mood-incongruent recall; in contrast, when they adopt a ruminative orientation to their moods, they are more likely to engage in mood-congruent recall. Thus, the way in which people focus on their moods moderates the relation between mood and memory.

Affect↗
PubMed1998

Assessing the accuracy of conflicting autobiographical memories.

We examined criteria that rememberers and neutral audiences use to validate conflicting memories. In Experiment 1, rememberers described an incident that they recalled differently from someone else from their own and the other person's perspective. Rememberers and audiences then evaluated the accuracy of statements in both accounts, explained their accuracy ratings, and appraised the qualities of the memories. In Experiment 2, dyads who possessed conflicting memories of a shared past episode evaluated each other's recollections. In both studies, rememberers rated their own recollections as more accurate than other people's and based their judgments primarily on the internal coherence of the memories. Rememberers used consensus more frequently and sensory detail less often to evaluate other people's memories than their own. Audiences (Experiment 1) reported examining the consistency between the accounts and their own experiences; they also used consensus and normative behavior to a greater extent than rememberers. In both studies, rememberers judged their own accounts to be more detailed and coherent. Their ratings of detail and coherence predicted their ratings of accuracy.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

How do individuals remember their past statements?

It was hypothesized that when it is difficult for people to remember what they said previously, they may use their sense of familiarity with a statement to determine whether it is one they expressed. In 3 experiments, Ss were asked to state whether they had witnessed certain objects in a previous slide presentation; they responded aloud with experimentally mandated statements. The familiarity of target statements was varied, independent of whether they were expressed, through extraneous presentations of the pertinent objects. Later, Ss tried to determine whether (Experiments 1 and 2), or how frequently (Experiment 3), they expressed the target statements. Results supported the hypothesis: Ss were more likely to remember making statements concerning the more familiar objects than the less familiar objects.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Significance of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) as a marker of hepatic centrilobular injury: a biochemical and immunohistochemical study.

Since we demonstrated previously that alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) is distributed predominantly in zone 3 of the hepatic acinus, we have investigated the usefulness of determinations of serum ADH activity in the assessment of hepatic injuries. The measurement of serum ADH activity appears to be useful for the detection of acute and early centrilobular hepatic damage, as deduced from the results obtained from experimental hepatic injuries produced by bromobenzene, hypoxia and acute administration of ethanol. Whereas serum ADH activity increased slightly after the generation of an acute ethanol load in rats which were given ethanol chronically, the hepatic content of ADH tended to decrease. Moreover, a rather selective reduction of hepatic ADH activity was found in zone 3 of the hepatic acinus. Thus, it is conceivable that chronic alcoholic injury to the liver may result in persistent release of ADH from hepatocytes resulting in a relatively low elevation of the level of the enzyme in the blood, rather than a sudden release of the enzyme leading to a sharp increase in the serum enzyme activity.

Alanine Transaminase↗
PubMed1982

Immunohistochemical localization of human liver alcohol dehydrogenase in liver tissue, cultured fibroblasts, and HeLa cells.

Human liver alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH, EC 1.1.1.1) was purified by double ternary complex affinity chromatography on Sepharose-4-(3-[N-6 aminocaproyl]aminopropyl) pyrazole. The purified enzyme preparation still contains several isoenzymes reflecting the isoenzyme composition of the starting material. Antibodies against this mixture of isoenzymes were elicited in rabbits. The specificity of the antiserum was tested by double immunodiffusion, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunoprecipitation of ADH enzymatic activity, and adsorption to ADH, which was immobilized to Ultrogel AcA 44 by the use of glutardialdehyde as the coupling agent. Protein-A peroxidase with diaminobenzidine or amino ethyl carbazole as substrate, served to detect binding of anti-human liver ADH antibodies in human liver thin sections, cultured human skin and lung fibroblasts, and HeLa cells. Fluorescein-conjugated antibodies were also used in direct immunofluorescence on liver tissue. In the human liver, ADH was found to be localized in the cytoplasm of hepatocytes. Differences in the staining intensity of hepatocytes may reflect differences in ADH content. Strongly stained hepatocytes were localized mainly around the central veins. Perinuclear staining is often seen, especially in the more lightly stained cells. Human skin and lung fibroblasts, as well as HeLa cells, all exhibited positive staining for ADH. The pattern was identical to that found in hepatocytes, although the staining intensity was much weaker, indicating a lower ADH content.

Alcohol Oxidoreductases↗