Bizarre Effects Research Articles

Communication on energy: Who pays for the long-term costs of nuclear power?

The question in the title arises in making a fair comparison between a coal-fired station, which has no long-term costs, and a nuclear station, whose large long-term costs are discounted into insignificance by the present method of calculation. This problem was raised by the present author in his evidence to the Sizewell Inquiry, and has recently been discussed by the House of Commons Select Committee on Energy, who expressed grave disquiet that ‘the costs of decommissioning become almost irrelevant to the current economics of nuclear power’. The present article analyses the bizarre effects of long-term discounting, and suggests a method of making a fair and symmetrical comparison between coal-fired and nuclear stations.

Some conditions for the occurrence of the bizarreness effect in free recall

Existing literature on bizarreness effects in verbal learning mainly focuses on the common assumption that bizarre images are easier to recall than common ones. In so doing, however, researchers have obtained more negative than positive results. Further, among the few investigations that found this effect three used the same procedure and the same material in which a bizarre relationship between subject and object was achieved by substituting human beings for animals and vice versa. It was observed that a clear bizarreness effect may still be observed if inanimate sentences are constructed in accordance with the same principle of distorting typical relations (Expt 1). This effect remains, albeit in a milder form, when aspects of the original procedure are manipulated, such as eliminating complementary sentences (Expt 2) or abstract sentences (Expt 3) from the lists. This seems to demonstrate that the traditional opinion that bizarre images make the mnemonic task easier is, at least in part, true. Nevertheless, if one uses the procedure used by Merry & Graham (1978) and others with semantically unpredictable sentences, the bizarreness effect was attenuated and even normal sentences sometimes achieved higher scores (Expt 4). In general, these results reveal that bizarre sentences are more likely to result in better recall as regards number of nouns remembered, whereas the opposite is true as regards number of complete sentences remembered. This is consistent with the view that recall of normal sentences is facilitated by the unitization. These four experiments carried out with adult subjects demonstrate the generality of the bizarreness effect and some of the factors which contribute to it.

Children's noun-pair retention: Assessment of pictorial elaboration and bizarreness effects.

Children's noun-pair retention: Assessment of pictorial elaboration and bizarreness effects.

Children's noun-pair retention: Assessment of pictorial elaboration and bizarreness effects.

Children's noun-pair retention: Assessment of pictorial elaboration and bizarreness effects.

The bizarreness effect in a multitrial intentional learning task

There is a widespread popular belief that bizarre imagery facilitates learning more than nonbizarre imagery. However, most research has failed to support this view. Of the few experimenters who have reported a bizarreness effect, most have used designs involving incidental learning and only a single trial. The goal of the present experiment was to use the same materials as those who reported bizarreness to be effective, but to use them in an intentional task involving several trials. Another variable added was the presence or absence of cues during recall. In general, this intentional task produced the same results as previous incidental learning tasks. For free recall, bizarre materials produced significantly greater recall than nonbizarre ones, but this difference disappeared by Trial 3. For cued recall, in contrast, nonbizarre materials produced consistently greater recall.

Record linkage and the identification of long-term environmental hazards.

The long-term effects of toxic substances in man that have been discovered so far have involved gross relative risks or bizarre effects, or have stumbled upon by chance or because of special circumstances. These facts and some recent epidemiological evidence together suggest that a systematic approach with better methods would reveal the effects of many more toxic substances, particularly in manufacturing industry. Record linkage is a powerful tool because it makes possible the correlation of indicators of exposure with indicators of the biological effect of such exposure in the same persons or in their progeny even after considerable periods of time have elapsed. A system of linked records exists in England and Wales which is at present used by research workers to follow up samples of persons defined in various ways, e.g. in respect of exposure to a suspected toxic factor. In this way hypotheses about substances causing cancer or other lethal effects can be tested. It is suggested that there are two additional ways in which record linkage techniques could be used to identify substances with long-term toxic effects: the first would be by setting up a register of women employed in industry during pregnancy and linking this register to records of the occurrence of congenital malformations and of stillbirth or death in their children; the second would be to follow samples of workers in manufacturing industry, notably those engaged in the manufacture of products from raw materials including the chemical industry, to death and to the development of cancer. Regular analyses of material from these two systems of linked records would provide the basis for a monitoring system for certain gross effects of long-term toxic substances in man. There are two principal obstacles to further progress in this field. The first is the lack of a clear statement of public policy concerning the issues of confidentiality and informed consent in the use of identifiable personal records for medical research. A settlement is needed which defines the proper limits of their use in the interests of health with safeguards to privacy. The second obstacle is a lack of resources to improve the quality, accessibility and organization of the appropriate data.

Bizarreness versus interaction of mental images as determinants of learning

Previous studies of the effect of bizarreness and interaction of mental images upon learning are subject to criticisms that the two variables are either confounded or not effectively manipulated. An attempt was made to separate the effects of these variables by presenting pictures along with word pairs. The pictures showed the words of each pair (a) interacting and bizarre, (b) interacting and nonbizarre, (c) noninteracting and bizarre, or (d) noninteracting and nonbizarre. A control group saw only the word pairs. Subjects were given one learning trial followed by a recall test. Bizarreness had no effect upon recall performance. In comparison with the no-picture control, interacting pictures produced superior performance whereas noninteracting pictures resulted in lower performance.

Handbook of Drug Interactions.

Drug Interactions—Clinical Significance of Drug—Drug Interactions and Drug Effects on Clinical Laboratory Results.By Philip D Hansten, Pharm D. Price, $9.50. Pp 437. Lea & Febiger, Washington Sq, Philadelphia 19106, 1971. The phenomenon of the interaction of drugs taken with therapeutic intent is far from new. Only the importance of drug interaction upon thehuman organismis new. One of the reasons why drug interaction has not been accorded the importance it deserves is that methods of assessing it have not been developed; another, that untoward or bizarre effects may not have been thought of as due to the interaction of drugs. A motto, such asdrug interaction, is needed to stimulate people to consider it as a possible explanation of unexpected happenings or to sharpen observation on unaccustomed effects certain drugs may have. An added impetus was given to this subject by the study of side effects of drugs.

Provoked ovulation or long-delayed pseudopregnancy from coital stimuli in barbiturate-blocked rats.

When spontaneous release of the ovulation quota of hypophysial gonadotropin was blocked in female rats by pentobarbital or phenobarbital on 2 successive days, 91 of 170 (53.5 %) copulated when placed with potent males during the night following proestrus, indicating that estrous behavior does not depend on the proestrous surge of ovulating hormone. Among 74 females that copulated, 14 (19%) became pregnant as the result of ovulations clearly invoked by the copulatory stimulus. This confirms other evidence that “reflex” ovulation can occur in rats under special conditions. In the remaining animals copulation had 2 bizarre effects: 1) The current set of graafian follicles became atretic instead of ovulating on the third night as expected. 2) Pseudopregnancy usually followed the formation of new corpora lutea during the next cyclic estrus 5 or 6 days after the copulatory stimulus. Thus, information from the stimulus was apparently retained within the central nervous system long after being received. Whether p...

ANTIEMETIC PROPHYLAXIS IN ADENOTONSILLECTOMIES; A DOUBLE-BLIND STUDY.

POSTOPERATIVE VOMITING is a frightening and sometimes hazardous experience for a child. If the administration of an antiemetic could significantly decrease the incidence of these symptoms without introducing new hazards, then it would seem to be a reasonable addition to preoperative medication. The safety of the medication is a prime consideration. Trimethobenzamide (Tigan) hydrochloride, an antiemetic introduced in 1959, has been widely used for the control of postoperative emesis. 1-3 It is without the bizarre side effects sometimes experienced with other antiemetics. 4 The purpose of this study was to determine whether, when administered prophylactically, it would decrease emesis sufficiently to warrant its use. For objective drug evaluation the double-blind study is a standard technique. While such studies are not always feasible or advisable, there are certain situations in which they can be used to ascertain drug effectiveness without compromising therapeutic or other needs of the patient. One such situation

Double exposure—A bizarre effect

Double exposure—A bizarre effect

New technique for corrective surgery of nasal tip.

IN RHINOPLASTY correction of nasal tip has challenged surgical skill and esthetic sense of surgeons. It is, in effect, axiomatic that the tip makes nose. It can also be said that most of imperfections in a rhinoplasty are readily discernible in reconstructed tip. One may ask: What are surgical and esthetic errors and mistakes in failures to approximate perfect nasal tip ? The pinched-in surgical tip is not only esthetically inadequate but also, as a rule, functionally imperfect. The sacrifice of cartilage or vestibular skin or mucosa, with healing followed by contracture-induced synechiae between lateral crus and septum or columella and, in some cases, between lateral nasal wall, septum, and mesial crura, often gives a bizarre effect. The production of alar clefts, alar collapse, vestibular stenosis or artesia, dimples and dents in alae, web-like cicatrices in vestibule, and scar

BLAST CONCUSSION INJURY

Two hundred persons exposed to the effects of air blast produced by high explosives have been studied. Adequate clinical facilities were available and the injuries were not complicated by flying splinters, so that an unusual opportunity was presented to study the effects of blast concussion on human beings. Complete follow-up studies have been possible. A correlation of the position of the men in relation to the explosive charge with the injuries sustained is of considerable interest. As was to be anticipated, the closer the individual to the explosion, the greater the injury. This was not always true, however, for bizarre effects were noted. One fortunate man who was standing between 2 men fatally injured, 1 of whom was found 42 feet from his original position, escaped uninjured except for perforations of the tympanic membranes. Another man was thrown 15 feet and turned completely around in midair and yet had minor

The distribution of potential of ventricular origin below the diaphragm and in the esophagus

1. 1. The pattern of ventricular potential variation distributed to the left leg, which Wolferth, Livezey, and Wood called the diaphragmatic pattern, is likewise distributed to the anterior and posterior surfaces of the abdomen below the umbilicus, and to the jejunum and the duodenum. It is distributed to the stomach, although, in certain cases, particularly when the exploring electrode is moved to a position directly under and near the heart, the pattern is not faithfully maintained. 2. 2. The amplitude of potential variations does not tend to change materially between a position as near the heart as the pyloric region of the stomach and as far away as the left leg. Decrement between the heart and the posterior surface of the back, however, tends to be greater than that between the heart and the left leg. There is appreciable decrement between the fundus and the pyloric end of the stomach. 3. 3. The pattern of ventricular potential variations recorded with the exploring electrode in the esophagus at the auricular level is similar in its general characteristics to the pattern obtained when an exploring electrode is placed within a ventricular cavity. When an exploring electrode is placed at the lower end of the esophagus, the pattern recorded may resemble either the pattern with widespread distribution below the diaphragm or the “endocardial pattern” recorded at the auricular level, or it may be intermediate in form between these two. 4. 4. When an electrode is placed either in the stomach or esophagus in positions close to the heart, bizarre electrocardiograms are occasionally obtained. These bizarre effects are attributed to movement of the electrode by the heart. 5. 5. The lower end of the esophagus, as judged from a series of controls, is an unfavorable position for the application of the exploring electrode in clinical electrocardiography because of the diversity of patterns found in normals and the apparently hopeless task of standardization of curves for that area. The “endocardial pattern” of potential variation recorded at the auricular level of the esophagus deserves further investigation. 6. 6. We have found no position, or combination of positions, for the application of an exploring electrode below the diaphragm, either on the body surface or within the lumen of the digestive tract, which is superior to the left leg for the study of ventricular electrical activity, although any position below the level of the umbilicus can be used to demonstrate the same pattern.