Treatments such as electroconvulsive shock (ECS) impair later performance of learned responses if presented shortly after learning, but not if delayed for a sufficient time. These gradients are frequently termed retrograde amnesia and interpreted as reflecting a memory consolidation process. The present investigation was concerned with the relationship of the length of the gradient produced by a single ECS to the duration of the memory consolidation process. In the first experiment, rats were trained on a one-trial passive avoidance task and then presented with one of three ECS treatments. The treatments were five ECSs of 0.5 seconds duration spaced either 1 minute apart, 5 seconds apart, or in one continuous 2.5 second duration burst. The five ECSs spaced 1 minute apart were found to impair performance when presented immediately, 1 hour, 24 hours, and 48 hours but not 9 days after passive avoidance training. Five ECSs spaced 5 seconds apart impaired performance when presented immediately or 1 hour but not 24 hours after training. In contrast, the single 2.5 second duration ECS impaired performance when presented immediately but not 1 hour or longer after training. The impairments produced by the five ECSs spaced 1 minute apart at 1 hour and 24 hours were found to be permanent over 11 days. The second experiment examined whether the long gradient produced by five ECSs spaced 1 minute apart was qualitatively different from single ECS gradients. Five ECSs spaced 1 minute apart were presented following passive avoidance training to rats anesthetized with ether or sodium pentobarbital. In both cases, the series of ECSs still impaired performance when presented 1 or 24 hours but not 9 days following passive avoidance training. This finding does not provide support for a distinction between the gradients produced by a single ECS and a series of ECSs. These results were therefore interpreted as showing that the length of the gradient produced by a single ECS in a passive avoidance task is not a good estimate of the duration of time required for memory consolidation. In this passive avoidance task, consolidation appears to continue for a period of at least several days, while the gradient produced by a single ECS was less than 1 hour. In the third experiment, rats were trained on a one - trial appetitive taste and then presented with either five ECSs spaced 1 minute apart, or a single ECS of 0.5 seconds or 2.5 seconds duration. In contrast to the results in the passive avoidance task, the five ECSs paced 1 minute apart did not produce a longer gradient than a single ECS of either 0.5 or 2.5 seconds duration. All three treatments impaired performance when presented 15 seconds but not 1 hour after training. Several possible explanations for the different effects of the series of ECSs in the two tasks are considered, and it is concluded that this difference probably reflects differences between the memory consolidation processes in the two tasks. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

Proefschrift--Utrecht. / Bibliography: p. 187-207.

Looking back at the past twelve years, many would say that it appears Russia has lost the battle for liberal democratic reform. Among Russia watchers, the following question has been circulated: "Who lost Russia?" This debate has polarized most scholars into one of two camps: those who feel the reforms failed (the critics) and those who feel the reforms were a success (the supporters). This paper will explain why the Russian reforms failed. By filling in the holes left by current research, the author will demonstrate that the truth may lie somewhere in between the two opposing sides.

<p>Throughout the latter half of the 20^th century, many developing economies adopted a set of economic policies in order to transition to market economy. Reforms were introduced either simultaneously or gradually, fuelling the debate over whether the so-called shock-therapy reforms were more beneficial or less beneficial to growth than gradual reforms. This study focuses on the role of the mode of transition in determining the effectiveness of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). FDI is valuable for development in transition economies since it has often been a main source of investment for these types of economies. An empirical analysis was conducted using sixty transitioning countries, examining the growth up to sixteen years after the initial reform. The results indicate that there is some evidence of a difference in the effects of FDI inflows on GDP growth between the shock-therapy and gradual reformers.</p>

Throughout the latter half of the 20th century, many developing economies adopted a set of economic policies in order to transition to market economy. Reforms were introduced either simultaneously or gradually, fuelling the debate over whether the so-called shock-therapy reforms were more beneficial or less beneficial to growth than gradual reforms. This study focuses on the role of the mode of transition in determining the effectiveness of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). FDI is valuable for development in transition economies since it has often been a main source of investment for these types of economies. An empirical analysis was conducted using sixty transitioning countries, examining the growth up to sixteen years after the initial reform. The results indicate that there is some evidence of a difference in the effects of FDI inflows on GDP growth between the shock-therapy and gradual reformers.

The Word Association Test has been less frequently used in recent years with the advent and popularization of many new projective techniques. From a clinical viewpoint the method is limited in that it gives insufficient material for a description of the personality as a meaningful whole, individual administration is time consuming, and the tendency is to indicate the presence of an emotional disturbance without denoting the exact nature of that disturbance. A look at the Word Association Tests's long and respectable history will find that this test has been used clinically and experimentally by many prominent men. A survey of the history reveals no research has been done with this test and patients receiving electric shock treatment. It was for this reason that this project was undertaken.

While the learned helplessness effect has been reliably found in dogs and other species (e.g., cats, mice, fish, and humans), it has been somewhat difficult to obtain in rats. In addition, it has been demonstrated that electroconvulsive shock (ECS) reverses learned helplessness in dogs, but ECS induced reversal has not been demonstrated in the rat. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was twofold: (1) to determine if the learned helplessness effect could be reliably demonstrated in rats; and (2) if so, will a single ECS attenuate this phenomenon. If it could be shown that ECS attenuates helplessness, then two purposes would be served: (a) it would extend the generality of learned helplessness theory by indicating additional parallels between dog helplessness and rat helplessness; and (b) it would expand the parallels between learned helplessness and human depression, thereby increasing the validity of the learned helplessness model of depression. In Experiment 1, rats were randomly assigned to one of three groups: escape, yoked-inescapable, and no shock control. Each rat in the escape group received 80 trials of unsignaled escapable shock. The escape group rats were required to perform a progressive fixed-ratio bar press to escape shock. The yoked-inescapable group received exactly the same intensity, frequency, and duration of shock its escape partner received; but no response would escape shock. The no-shock control group received only pre-exposure to the training apparatus. The following day all rats were tested on a FR-2 shuttlebox escape/avoidance task. After test, half the rats in each group were given a single ECS and then were retested 24 hours later in the shuttlebox. The learned helplessness effect was clearly demonstrated during the test phase. In addition, a single ECS attenuated the learned helplessness effect in rats. In Experiment 2 rats were given training exactly as described in Experiment 1. Following training, one-third of the rats in the escape and yoked-inescapable groups were given a single ECS immediately, one-third were given a single ECS 23.5 hours later, and one-third received no treatment. In the no-shock control group one-third of the rats were given a single ECS 24 hours prior to test, one-third of the rats were given ECS 30 minutes prior to test, and one-third of the rats were not given ECS. Then, all rats were tested 24 hours following training. The test session was identical to the test session in Experiment 1. The learned helplessness effect was clearly demonstrated during test in the NO-ECS condition. In addition, it was demonstrated that ECS attenuates or reverses learned helplessness training when given immediately following training. Delayed ECS also reverses helplessness, but less dramatically than immediate ECS. In both experiments the criteria which characterize learned helplessness were matched: (1) Failure to initiate the escape response in the presence of shock; (2) failure to maintain escape behavior even after occasional escape response occur; and (3) that conditions 1 and 2 above are a result of inescapability and not a result of shock per se. In addition, since ECS attenuates helplessness, the generality of helplessness theory was extended to rats, and the validity of learned helplessness model of depression was strengthened. / Doctor of Philosophy

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 77 pages. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: Looking back at the past twelve years, many would say that it appears Russia has lost the battle for liberal democratic reform. Among Russia watchers, the following question has been circulated: "Who lost Russia?" This debate has polarized most scholars into one of two camps: those who feel the reforms failed (the critics) and those who feel the reforms were a success (the supporters). This paper will explain why the Russian reforms failed. By filling in the holes left by current research, the author will demonstrate that the truth may lie somewhere in between the two opposing sides. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The current study investigated the efficacy of Wolpe's original (1954) paradigm of anxiety-relief conditioning. The procedure consisted of administering a mildly aversive electric shock to a subject for several seconds until the subject said the word "Relax," and the shock was terminated. Repeated pairings were claimed by Wolpe to condition physiological relief to the cue word, "Relax," which could then be employed in order to reduce anxiety in various anxiety provoking situations. Since there does not appear to be a generally accepted theoretical rationale to account for the reported efficacy of anxiety-relief conditioning, several theoretical rationales were discussed. In addition, a distinction was made between the anxiety-relief paradigm described by Wolpe (1954) and the aversion-relief paradigm employed by subsequent investigators (Gaupp, Stern, & Galbraith, 1972; Solyom, McClure, Heseltine, Ledwidge, & Solyom, 1972; Thorpe, Schmidt, Brown, & Castell, 1964). It was suggested that this distinction might be used to account for the failure of the current investigation to support the efficacy of anxiety-relief conditioning, as a review of the major study supporting its efficacy (Turnage & Wenrich, 1974) indicated that aversion-relief, rather than anxiety-relief, may have been employed. In the absence of strong supportive evidence for the efficacy of Wolpe's anxiety-relief paradigm, the need for further research elucidating the relevant parameters was discussed, and specific areas requiring more intensive study were delineated.

The main theme of this study is to analyze the Soviet economic theoretical debate in the period 1985 – 1991. This period of reconstruction gave possibilities of a more free debate. In the period up to 1989/90 the directive from the Central Committee of the Communist Party was to defend the socialist economic system and its supremacy over market economics. However, certain market economic ideas were deemed as functioning methods also in a planned economic system. One of the conclusions in this thesis is that the Soviet economists failed to solve some central theoretical problems in the Soviet economy and as consequence their thinking failed to have a stabilizing effect on the socialist economic theory. The Achilles heel was how to apply the labour theory of value on a planned economy. In 1990 and 1991 the discussion was very free and now a transition to market economy was accepted by the economists. The main issue between the Soviet economists became now whether a gradual transition to market economy was to be preferred to shock therapy. The majority of the economists recommended a gradual transition. Scholars have emphasized that old stationary structures are important in Russian and Soviet history. A conclusion in this thesis is that such structures seemed to have played a role in Soviet and Russian theoretical thinking in the period 1985 – 1991.