Screening for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and co-morbid mental disorders among prison inmates.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder, which is associated with a number of psychiatric conditions, mostly personality disorder, substance misuse, anxiety and depression. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between ADHD symptoms and associated psychiatric conditions among prisoners. The participants were 90 male prisoners in Iceland who were assessed within 10 days of admission to the prison.

Interrogative suggestibility, compliance and false confessions among prisoners and their relationship with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms.

Background: Interrogative suggestibility and compliance are important psychological vulnerabilities during interrogation. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship of suggestibility and compliance with childhood and current symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Compliance has not been studied previously in relation to ADHD.

Does sensitivity to magnitude depend on the temporal distribution of reinforcement?

Our research addressed the question of whether sensitivity to relative reinforcer magnitude in concurrent chains depends on the distribution of reinforcer delays when the terminal-link schedules are equal. In Experiment 1, 12 pigeons responded in a two-component procedure. In both components, the initial links were concurrent variable-interval 40-s variable-interval 40-s, and the terminal links were both 20-s interval schedules in which responses were reinforced by either 4-s of grain in one, or 2-s of grain in the other.

Segmentation and the pairing hypothesis.

The effect of stimulus contiguity and response contingency on responding in chain schedules was examined in two experiments. In Experiment 1, four pigeons were trained on two simple three-link chain schedules that alternated within sessions. Initial links were correlated with a variable-interval 30s schedule, and middle and terminal links were correlated with interdependent variable-interval 30s variable-interval 30s schedules.

Does the terminal-link effect depend on duration or reinforcement rate?

Preference in concurrent chains for the richer terminal-link schedule becomes more extreme as the schedule values increase with their ratio held constant, a result known as the terminal-link effect. We report two experiments that attempt to determine whether this effect is related to terminal-link duration or the overall rate of reinforcement. These variables have been confounded in prior studies, but can be separated by comparing variable-duration schedules that end after a single reinforcer has been earned, with constant-duration schedules during which a variable number of reinforcers may be earned.