Lawrence Perlmuter

• MA PhD
• Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

Background Warfarin users are at increased risk for gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). History of GIB, stroke, cardiovascular or chronic kidney disease, age greater than 65 years, and drug interaction with proton pump inhibitors (PPI) have previously been identified as risk factors for GIB in warfarin users. We hypothesized that concomitant use of wa...

The gut with its variety of microbiota may serve as an etiological origin of diseases. Gut microbes may also play a role in the pathogenesis of diseases beyond their simple nutritional maintenance and support. For example, gut protein aggregation, possibly aided by microbes as well as nasal influences, might be linked to disease that may move to th...

To investigate whether perceptions of task difficulty on neuropsychological tests predicted academic achievement after controlling for glucose levels and depression. Participants were type 1 diabetic adolescents, with a mean age = 12.5 years (23 females and 16 males), seen at a northwest suburban Chicago hospital. The sample population was free of...

Subjects were presented a page of words containing either two or four words per line. A single word (target) on each line was to be learned. Results showed that, as in an earlier experiment (Perlmuter & Monty, 1982), directing attention to background words by allowing subjects to choose the target words enhanced the learning of background and targe...

When changing posture from supine to standing, an increase in systolic blood pressure (SBP) is necessary for optimal orthostatic blood pressure (BP) regulation. Poor orthostatic BP regulation has been correlated with negative mood and behavioral sequelae in adults and children. This may be explained by the common neurobiological mechanism associate...

The magnitude of increase in systolic blood pressure in response to the shift from supine to upright posture is considered to reflect the adequacy of orthostatic regulation. Orthostatic integrity is largely maintained by the interaction between the skeletal muscle pump, neurovascular compensation, neurohumoral effects, and cerebral blood flow regul...

In Experiment 1 eyelid conditioning was obtained for females but not for males, using an air puff capable of supporting 4 mm of mercury. In Experiment 2 thresholds for blinking to an air puff were obtained for 26 Ss, and 60 classical eyelid conditioning trials with an air puff US of 17 mm were administered. The rank order correlation between thresh...

Subjects were required to tally mentally the frequency of occurrence of a set of letters sequentially presented. In one condition, four different letters were presented repeatedly in a haphazard sequence and were tallied into four groups or categories. In the second, or “combination condition,” the identical four letters were tallied into only two...

Individuals who effectively regulate or mildly increase their systolic blood pressure (SBP) in response to an orthostatic challenge exhibit healthier affective status, cognitive functioning, and better quality of life. Thus, increased SBP in response to an orthostatic challenge serves as a proxy for several underlying changes. This study examined t...

Subclinical levels of orthostatic hypotension (OH) have been linked to a variety of emotional and behavioral outcomes across the life span. These connections are not surprising, given the multitude of correlated conditions, including autonomic control, cardiovascular functioning, baroreceptor activity, and dopamine and serotonin. The current study...

This paper will review literature that examines the psychological and neuropsychological correlates of orthostatic blood pressure regulation. The pattern of change in systolic blood pressure in response to the shift from supine to upright posture reflects the adequacy of orthostatic regulation. Orthostatic integrity involves the skeletal muscle pum...

Orthostatic hypotension is a decrease in systolic blood pressure of more than 20 mm Hg or a decrease in diastolic blood pressure of at least 10 mm Hg, within 3 minutes of changing from a supine to an upright position. The typical clinical presentation of orthostatic hypotension includes dizziness, syncope, blurry vision and loss of balance. Symptom...

The move from lying to standing is typically associated with a variety of physiological and neurohumoral changes, most especially a slight increase in systolic blood pressure (SBP). Decreased efficacy of the various mechanisms that control orthostatic blood pressure (BP) regulation may result in lightheadedness, dizziness, syncope, and cerebral hyp...

The postural shift from lying to standing may provide a challenge for maintaining adequate blood flow to the brain. Cerebral perfusion in response to the shift to upright posture is affected by a variety of factors including the health of the cardiovascular system and a slight increase in orthostatic systolic blood pressure (SBP). In this study, co...

This study was designed to evaluate the association between BMI and classroom effort in third to fifth grade, ages seven through 12. Teachers, completely blinded and unaware of the study at the time of their classroom evaluations, provided reports of academic performance and effort. Boys and girls (n = 45), which are members of an ethnically divers...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the functional relationship between subsyndromal orthostatic blood pressure regulation and motor skills in 3-5 year old children. It is known that the efficiency of orthostatic blood pressure regulation is affected by a variety of processes, most especially neurohumoral as well as sympathetic nervous sys...

Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is regarded as a decrease primarily in systolic blood pressure on changing position from supine to erect. Based on clinical criteria, it is characterized by a decrease in systolic pressure of 20 mmHg and diastolic pressure of 10 mmHg within 1 to 3 minutes of standing after being supine. It is most prevalent in, although...

BACKGROUND: Relatively low birth weight is associated with elevated heart rate and increased circulation of catecholamines and overall higher sympathetic activation in children. Increased levels of each of these variables in turn may promote poorer systolic blood pressure regulation in response to an orthostatic challenge. The present study examine...

The reason for cognitive deterioration in diabetes mellitus (DM) remains unknown. One suggestion is that despite elevated glucose levels, patients with DM generally have difficulty utilizing glucose during cognitive tasks. This assumption was tested in the present study. Male outpatients with DM (n = 46; age 52-85 years) were administered a series...

We thank Dr. Clark and concur with his appropriate comments about the severity of hypoglycemic symptoms in type 1 diabetic subjects (1,2). The glycemic thresholds to activate the neuroendocrine, autonomic nervous …

The increase in orthostatic systolic blood pressure associated with the shift in posture from lying to standing requires several compensatory mechanisms to ensure adequate cerebral perfusion. Decreased efficiency in the various mechanisms controlling orthostatic blood pressure regulation can result in dizziness, lightheadedness, and syncope. The de...

The age-related rate of cognitive decline in patients with diabetes mellitus has received relatively little attention. In this cross-sectional study, Caucasian (N = 145) and African American (N = 25) males with diabetes mellitus were recruited to examine age-related changes in cognitive performance. It is known that African Americans with diabetes...

This study examined cognitive function in males with type 2 diabetes who drank light to moderate levels of alcohol in comparison to abstainers. Patients who abstained from alcohol use (Abstainer; N = 99) were compared to patients who were current drinkers (Drinker; N = 20) with respect to demographic, clinical, and cognitive variables. There were n...

In a cross-sectional study, the effects of disease duration of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) were examined along with parent history of DM on disease-related outcome variables. Specifically, the moderating role of parent history of DM on outcome variables was examined. Participants were 53 male veterans with DM. Chart reviews and self-reports were...

The primary indices of diabetes mellitus (DM), including hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and fasting glucose, appear to be only moderately predictive of the cognitive impairments exhibited by patients with DM. There is evidence that in DM the ability to utilize glucose is compromised and the authors hypothesized that this difficulty might be relevant to the...

Greater frequency of involvement with sedentary leisure activities may be associated with better disease outcomes. In this study, the frequency of engagement in sedentary leisure activities served as a construct employed to reflect the possible association between motivation and adherence with diabetic regimen. Up to a point, the higher frequency o...

To evaluate whether insulin pump therapy [continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII)] is associated with a lower frequency of disordered eating, better glycemic control, and improved quality of life and self-efficacy compared to multiple daily injections (MDI) in adolescent females with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). This cross-sectional stu...

Research in Japan and the United States has demonstrated that learning and memory may be improved when individuals are permitted to choose materials to be learned. In Japanese studies, the effects appear to be limited to the specific materials actually chosen, whereas in the United States, choice enhances recall of chosen as well as other materials...

Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy (PEG) is a widely used technique for enteral feeding in nursing home patients. Several factors including malnutrition, hypoalbuminemia, older age, number of co-morbidities and cognitive impairment adversely affect survival. This study evaluated the relative impact of age, serum albumin, number of co-morbid illnes...

Although estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) alleviates depressed moods in postmenopausal women, it is not known whether ERT is equally effective in reducing affective and somatic depressive complaints. One of the authors' goals in this study was to examine possible differences between women receiving and not receiving ERT. The authors studied a gro...

The onset and subsequent management of diabetes can challenge one's sense of control. Sense of control can also be affected by the biological changes accompanying normal pubertal development. The negative impact on one's sense of control may be further exacerbated when both events (i.e., diabetes and puberty) occur in relatively close temporal prox...

Changes in systolic blood pressure following the consumption of a standard meal were measured. We hypothesized that larger postprandial drops in systolic blood pressure would be associated with elevated subsyndromal depressive symptomatology. Following an overnight fast, individuals consumed a liquid meal. Blood pressure and pulse were measured pre...

To evaluate the effects of parents' avoidant illness behaviors on their adult children's adjustment to arthritis. Men and women attending a rheumatology clinic completed arthritis health status questionnaires and described how their parents generally responded to their own minor illnesses. Some participants rated their parents as never avoiding rou...

This investigation was designed to determine who would benefit most from enhanced motivation, increased awareness of control, and the opportunity to make choices in substance abuse treatment. Thirty males and 21 females participated in treatment planning, goal setting, and determining methadone dosage level. Subjects were assigned at random to the...

With the exception of the pioneering interventional studies of Langer and Rodin (1976; Rodin & Langer, 1977; Rodin, Timko, & Harris, 1985), most of the research that has investigated the relationship between perceptions of control and aging have utilized self-reports to determine the extent to which advancing age is associated with changes in perce...

This initial study examines cognitive function in individuals with asymptomatic orthostatic hypotension. Cerebral hypoperfusion accompanying repeated episodes of orthostatic hypotension may eventually produce some cerebral structural deterioration which, depending on foci, could compromise cognitive function. Subjects (aged 55 to 74 years) were rel...

Cognitive performance on a number of tasks is poorer in individuals with non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) than in age-matched nondiabetics. In this study, diabetic and nondiabetic individuals, 55-74 years of age, learned target words, half of which were self-chosen and the remainder assigned. To evaluate susceptibility to background...

In non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, performance of complex cognitive tasks requiring the storage and retrieval of new information is poorer than in age-matched controls. By contrast, performance of less demanding tasks such as immediate memory and simple reaction time is essentially equivalent for NIDDM patients and controls. This pattern p...

Sodium chloride and sucrose gustatory recognition thresholds, suprathreshold taste intensity function, and sucrose suprathreshold taste preference in healthy adult males with removable artificial dentition were compared with persons having natural dentition. In addition, several inorganic salivary constituents were evaluated for their possible rela...

Patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) are likely to show selective cognitive decrements relative to age-matched controls—a relationship that has been shown in some but not all studies (cf., Mattlar, Falck, Ronnemaa & Hyyppa, 1985; Perlmuter et al., 1984). While such decrements in cognitive performance might be the result of...

Provides a firm theoretical grounding for the increasing movement of cognitive psychologists, neuropsychologists and their students beyond the laboratory, in an attempt to understand human cognitive abilities as they are manifested in natural contexts. The pros and cons of the laboratory and the real world - the problems of generalizability versus...

Missing natural teeth have been associated with a reduced acceptability for the taste and texture of hard foods as well as with an increase in the perceived difficulty of chewing these foods. The present study examined the role of the personality variables extroversion and anxiety in modulating the relationship between dentition status, masticatory...

This report summarizes several years of research on how offering subjects a choice of task parameters leads to a perception of control over their environment, which in turn can lead to improved task performance. The development of a theoretical explanation of the phenomenon is traced, and implications for the design of displays are deduced and illu...

Motivational levels are elevated when individuals believe that they have control over tasks and over behavioral outcomes. When individuals are permitted to make choices, their perception of control increases. In addition, by enhancing motivation, the exercise of choice facilitates performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. However, with advancing...

Noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) is associated with decrements in several cognitive functions. Among the variables that apparently contribute to the decline in cognitive performance is poor glucose control, as measured by hemoglobin A1c. Elevated levels of triglycerides in diabetics may also contribute to this cognitive decline throug...

Two studies were conducted in order to apply the mindlessness/mindfulness theory to the realm of successful treatment for alcoholism and successful aging. According to the theory, one's initial exposure to events should have enduring effects on subsequent behavior if the information available at that time were mind-lessly accepted; that is, if the...

In a group of 64 non-insulin-dependent diabetic females, a significant positive correlation between Zung self-rated depression scores and objective measurements of diabetic peripheral neuropathy was limited to those women with Zung scores greater than 50 (depressed group, n = 12). In the overall group, there was no significant linear or quadratic r...

Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is present in 7-10% of the aged. This disease appears to be associated with an acceleration of the aging process and results in compromised performance on learning and memory tasks. The present study used a verbal fluency test to examine semantic memory performance in two age groups (55-64 and 65-74 years) of...

Non-insulin dependent diabetes in older adults is associated with elevated depression and a greater decline in certain aspects of cognitive functioning than is found with normal aging. This study sought to determine whether diabetics report more memory complaints in carrying out their daily activities, and if memory self-assessments are reflective...

Non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus is predominantly a disease of aging, with more than 70 percent of non-insulin-dependent (type II) diabetic patients older than 55 years of age. The prevalence of macrovascular, microvascular, and neurologic complications in outpatients with type II diabetes between the ages of 55 and 74 was compared with that...

While it has been widely speculated that the mensuration process may have reactive features, little systematic research has examined its effects on behavior. Empirical findings appear to be in dispute. In studies reported in the present paper, the effects of the measurement of depression on subsequent behaviors were examined in order to help clarif...

Non-insulin-dependent (type II) diabetics over the age of 55 comprise most of the diabetic population and are at considerable risk for the development of both macrovascular and microvascular complications. We studied the prevalence of retinopathy and its association with putative risk factors for its development in an elderly (55- to 75-yr-old) pop...

The purpose of this experiment was to examine the effects of choice and environmental control on the development of the perception of control. The results showed that the perception of control develops from an opportunity to make choices. More deliberate (slower) decisions resulted in an increase in the perception of control, and these perceptual e...

A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine whether normal, age-related declines in cognitive function are accelerated in non-insulin-dependent (type II) diabetes mellitus. Study participants ranged in age from 55 to 74 years. Results indicate that cognitive function is inferior in the patients with type II diabetes compared with a comparabl...

It has been proposed that control over the environment increases the perception of control, thereby enhancing motivation. Revesman and Perlmuter (1981) found that when subjects were permitted to choose response terms to be learned on a paired-associate task, decision latencies were faster if the announcement of the desired option caused the screen...

A new technique for enhancing perceived control was described and tested. Briefly it is a technique that requires subjects to maintain awareness of making choices by focusing their attention on the rejected alternatives. Participants were required to monitor their behavior for three weeks focusing upon a single activity each day. One group focused...

Subjects were given a page of words containing either two or four words per line. A single word (target) on each line was to be learned. Results showed that directing attention to background words by allowing subjects to choose the target word enhanced the incidental learning of those background items and learning of the target items as well. Possi...

The perception of control may be established if an individual is provided with an opportunity to choose and if the outcome of the choice is moderately uncertain. In turn, perceived control has been shown to enhance motivation and performance. In the present experiment, the effects of uncertainty about environmental control were examined by measurin...

Permitting subjects to choose materials to be learned on a task enhances performance on that task. These results support the idea that choice increases the learner's perception of control, thereby enhancing motivation and performance. The purpose of the present experiments was to determine whether choosing responses to be learned on a paired-associ...

Two experiments, with 100 and 176 undergraduates as Ss, studied the hypothesis that it is not the choice of words per se that leads to improved performance in a paired-associate learning task but the extent to which the S develops a perception of control in the situation. It was found that Ss who were offered an attractive or meaningful choice perf...

Recognition memory for matrices of 0s and 1s was examined as a function of the number of elements (complexity) and density of those elements within the matrix. It was found that with greater density and lesser complexity, recognition performance improved. This result contradicts an earlier finding of Green and Purohit, who concluded that the more c...

There has been an increasing emphasis in psychology on the perception of control over one''s environment and its effect on behavior and performance. In the present experiment, subjects were allowed to choose material they would like to learn if given the opportunity, or allowed to choose material for others to learn. Their learning of a nonchosen (...

In two experiments, subjects were required to impose different levels of organization on randomly ordered letters. In a between-subject design, the subject was to identify the letter in the set coming first in the alphabet or to reorganize the set into an alphabetic sequence. In a within-subject design, presentation of the letters was followed by a...

Conducted 2 experiments in paired-associate learning in which 20 undergraduates were permitted to choose their responses from alternatives following the procedure of L. C. Perlmuter, R. A. Monty, and G. A. Kimble . The other 20 Ss were forced to learn the responses chosen by their yoked masters. Both groups of Ss were forced to learn an interposed...

Notes previous experiments showing that if Ss choose responses from among alternatives, subsequent paired-associate learning is facilitated if the choosing occurs in the presence of the respective stimuli. Choosing in the absence of the stimuli does not facilitate performance. In experiments with university students (N = 122), choosing the stimuli...

Investigated the effect of giving 120 undergraduates the opportunity to choose the response materials they wish to learn in a paired-associate task. A paradigm was used which manipulated the amount of choice allowed during the selection procedure and the locus or point at which choice took place. Results show that locus of choice was an extremely p...

Examined the effect of giving Ss the opportunity to choose learning materials in a paired-associate paradigm. 4 studies using high- and low-meaning materials and employing between- and within-Ss designs were conducted with 40 undergraduates in the 1st 2 and 21 Ss in the others. Use of a between-Ss design showed that A-B learning was facilitated by...

Conducted 3 paired-associate learning experiments with a total of 120 male and female undergraduates. Under some conditions, a-b learning was facilitated when ss chose responses to be learned on a subsequent a-b list. Ss who chose their a-b responses and were subsequently forced to learn a competing set of material (a-c) showed a relatively greater...

The problem of volition is partly a verbal problem, as the extent to which it has been ignored by experimental psychologists seems to imply. However, the attributes of such behavior suggest a variety of empirical approaches, some of which are reviewed. 3 new experiments, designed to demonstrate certain of these properties, are presented. These expe...

3 groups of undergraduate Ss were run in an experiment in which they were required to say a word which was repeatedly presented. Prior to the onset of the word a tone of either .3-, 1.2-, or 2.1-sec duration was presented and results indicated that Ss learned to respond in anticipation of the word. The percentage of conditioned or anticipatory resp...

TESTED THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE FAILURE TO OBTAIN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING WITH SIMULTANEOUS PRESENTATIONS OF CS AND UCS MAY BE THE RESULT OF THE INADVERTENT USE OF A PARTIAL SCHEDULE OF REINFORCEMENT IN 2 EXPERIMENTS WITH 50 STUDENTS. IN 1 EXPERIMENT THE TEST OCCURRED IN EXTINCTION; IN THE OTHER DURING SUBSEQUENT ACQUISITION. RESULTS OF EXP. I SUPPO...

80 HUMAN SS WERE CONDITIONED, 1/2 WITH A BETWEEN-SS PROCEDURE AND 1/2 WITH A WITHIN-SS PROCEDURE IN AN EYELID-CONDITIONING EXPERIMENT WHERE THE INTERSTIMULUS INTERVAL (ISI) WAS EITHER .5 OR 1.2 SEC. OVERALL LEVEL OF CONDITIONING WAS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER IN BETWEEN-SS GROUPS. IN THE WITHIN-SS PROCEDURE, CONDITIONING WAS SIGNIFICANTLY INFERIOR AT THE...

Conditioned eyelid performance of a group receiving half their CSs in each ear was not different from a group receiving all the CSs in a single ear. In Exp. 2 a comparison of performance to a (red light) CS was made between a group receiving half their trials to an auditory CS and half to a visual CS as contrasted with a group receiving half their...