Felix Klajner

Human obesity, dieting, and anticipatory salivation to food

Abstract Two studies were conducted to investigate the anticipatory salivary response of obese and normal weight dieters and nondieters to palatable food presented visually and olfactorally. In the first study, dieters salivated more than did nondieters, although there were no differences in baseline salivation level, acute deprivation, or rated palatability of the food stimulus. Obesity per se did not contribute to the prediction of salivary response, once dieting was taken into account. These results were interpreted as consistent with a model of cephalic phase hyperresponsivity in individuals challenging their “set point” for weight. The second study examined the discriminative sensory control predicted by this model. Results with a palatable food stimulus replicated the pattern of the first study; with an unpalatable food stimulus, salivary response differences between dieters and nondieters were eliminated. Previous obese/normal differences in salivation to palatable food are interpreted as due to the prevalence of dieting among the obese.

Treatment of substance abuse by relaxation training: A review of its rationale, efficacy and mechanisms

The efficacy of relaxation training as a treatment for alcohol and drug abuse is reviewed, and directions for future research derived. Such use of relaxation procedures, notably progressive muscular relaxation and meditation, has been widespread and is premised on the assumptions that substance abuse is causally linked to anxiety and that anxiety can be reduced by relaxation training. However, the evidence suggests that such precipitating anxiety is limited to interpersonal-stress situations involving diminished perceived personal control over the stressor, and that alcohol and other drugs are often consumed for their euphoric rather than tranquilizing effects. Consequently, the empirical support for the effectiveness of relaxation training as a treatment for substance abuse in general is equivocal. As well, the existing outcome studies suffer from numerous methodological and conceptual inadequacies. In cases of demonstrated effectiveness, increased perceived control is a more plausible explanation than is decreased anxiety.

Salivation in Dieters and Don-dieters †

Research indicating an elevated salivary response to palatable food by dieters (as compared to nondieters of equal weight) is discussed, particularly as it conforms to obese/normal salivation differences, with implications for weight regulation processes. Consideration of dieters demands special attention to self-inhibitory influences affecting, and sometimes masking or reversing, the normal relation between salivation and eating.

Prevention of Drunk Driving

Casualties resulting from drunk driving extract an enormous toll from society. At least 30%, and up to 50%, of highway fatalities are related to excessive drinking (Cimburra, Warren, Bennett, Lucas, & Simpson, 1981; Filkins, Clark, Rosenblatt, Carlson, Kerlan, & Manson, 1970; Perrine, Waller, & Harris, 1971; Transport Canada, 1975; Waller, King, Nielson, & Turkel, 1970; Zylman, 1974), as are 9% to 13% of nonfatal traffic injuries and 5% of property-damage crashes (Borkenstein, Crowther, Shumate, Ziel, & Zylmand, 1964; Farris, Malone, & Lilliefors, 1976). The relatively low proportion of nonfatal and property-damage accidents should not obscure the fact that the actual number of such accidents is staggering. In the United States in 1975 there were an estimated 765,000 property-damage and 120,000 personal-injury accidents involving drivers with blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) of at least 100 mg ethanol/100 ml blood volume (.10%), as compared to 15,200 fatal crashes (Jones & Joscelyn, 1978). Jones and Joscelyn (1978) estimated that if these alcohol-related collisions could have been prevented, a cost savings of approximately 6.5 billion dollars would have resulted. When the composite costs of drunk driving to both individuals and society are considered (e.g., loss of income and property, medical care, legal proceedings, insurance, productivity, disfigurement, trauma, and death), there can be little argument that prevention of drunk driving should be a priority for legal and social planners. Yet, the prevention of drunk driving has persistently defied the efforts of highway safety planners, researchers, and clinicians alike, despite a sizeable expenditure of resources.