Two experiments tested the prediction that providing the viewer with information about abstract and semi-abstract paintings, in the form of titles and descriptions, would increase the paintings' perceived meaningfulness and hedonic value. The meaningfulness prediction was supported in both experiments. The results of one experiment, using a between-participants design, failed to support the hedonic value prediction, but the results of the other, using a within-participants design, supported the prediction. Failure to find an effect of information on hedonic value in other experiments may result from the use of between-participants designs that are relatively insensitive to the effects of different evaluative conditions. The results are discussed in the light of the 'effort after meaning' theory that part of the pleasure derived from looking at a painting stems from making a successful interpretation of it and picking up the artist's message.

The effects of presenting titles along with abstract and semi-abstract paintings was examined in two experiments. In the first. subjects rated twenty paintings for meaningfulness, pleasingness. interestingness. abstractness or complexity, in a between-subjects design. and either with or without titles. The titles increased rated meaningfulness and decreased rated abstractness but had no effect upon pleasingness (hedonic value) and the other measures. In the second experiment, it was shown that only the paintings' actual titles. and not bogus ones, increased their meaningfulness. The results are discussed in terms of the notion that titles are an aid to meaningful interpretation of paintings. The finding that titles increased meaningfulness but did not affect hedonic value is inconsistent with the theory that the hedonic value of paintings is linked to cognitive processes associated with the interpretation of their meaning. 61 01997, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.

Two main theories of the relationship between exploratory behaviour and anxiety or fearfulness are: (a) ‘Two‐factor theory’, according to which novel stimuli evoke both curiosity and fear/anxiety, with exploration as the outcome of competing tendencies to approach and avoid, and (b) the ‘Halliday‐Lester theory’, where the fear aroused by novelty results in either approach (low fear) or avoidance (high fear). Relevant evidence comes from animal studies varying fear by manipulating either environmental or intrinsic factors. This evidence is largely compatible with the two‐factor theory and some results which have been presented as critical support for the Halliday‐Lester theory are actually equivocal.

Four major types of hypothesis concerned with the mediation of the effects of handling or otherwise treating infant rodents are reviewed, together with sonic evidence bearing on them. Existing experiments do not allow a clear statement of the possible roles of (a) tactile stimulation (direct action), (6) hypothermia, (c) maternal behavior, and (d) stress. These hypotheses may not be mutually incompatible, and some possible lines of synthesis are suggested. Conceptual problems attaching to them are emphasized with regard to the choice between a relatively nonspecific theory ("total stimulus input," "stress") or two or more separate mechanisms (hypothermia, tactile stimulation). The solution may come from a clearer understanding of the physiological systems affected by treatment.