Immediate and delayed punishment of human behavior by loss of reinforcement

Young adult humans pressed a key to obtain money. When responding was punished by presentation of a stimulus signifying that money was lost, response frequencies decreased and response latencies increased. Since these changes did not increase relative earnings, the aversive properties of loss of reinforcement were manifested independently or reinforcement gain. When loss punishment was delayed for either 10, 20, or 40 sec the extent of suppression was found to vary inversely with the response-punishment interval. Subsequent manipulations indicated that the effectiveness of delayed punishment was increased when the response also produced immediate conditioned punishment, i.e., a stimulus paired with the delayed loss stimulus. Instructions about the response-punishment contingency had similar effects. The findings were consistent with animal studies of delayed shock punishment, insofar as a similar delay-of-punishment gradient was observed, and with studies of delayed positive reinforcement, insofar as mediation through conditioned punishment (or instructions) increased the effectiveness of delayed punishment.     

Relation of the verbal transformation and the phonemic restoration effects

This study examined the relationship between illusory changes of repeated words (“verbal transformations” or VTs) and illusory presence of phonemes replaced by noise (“phonemic restorations” or PhRs). Separate groups of 20 subjects were each presented with one of four taped variations of the repeated stimulus word “magistrate”: stimulus intact (MAGISTRATE); speech sound “s” removed and replaced with a silent gap (MAGI TRATE); speech sound “s” removed and replaced with a louder extraneous sound (MAGI¹TRATE); syllable “gis” removed and replaced with a louder extraneous sound (MA⁷¹TRATE). The stimuli MAGI¹TRATE and MA⁷¹TRATE evoked PhRs, and with these stimuli, the phonetic changes corresponding to VTs were concentrated at the perceptually restored portions of the word. It is suggested that both PhRs and VTs are related directly to perceptual processes employed normally for the correction of errors and resolution of ambiguities in speech. Other effects of PhRs upon VTs are described and implications of these findings for mechanisms underlying speech perception are discussed.     

Auditory temporal discrimination by trained listeners

Previous reports from this laboratory have shown that untrained listeners cannot name the order of sounds in extended sequences of unrelated items such as hisses, tones, and buzzes at item durations of 200 msec, even though identification of order for the sounds of speech and music is accomplished readily at much shorter item durations. The present study indicates that under appropriate conditions subjects can be trained to distinguish between and to identify permuted orders within sequences of nonrelated sounds each lasting only 10 msec or less. Evidence is presented suggesting that much of what passes for direct identification of order is actually based on prior identification of a larger pattern. Two principal mechanisms seem to mediate discrimination of auditory temporal order: (1) fine resolution (requiring prior training) permitting identification of over-all patterns and capable of operating with item durations of only a few msec; (2) coarse resolution (special prior training not required) allowing naming of order of items having minimal durations usually above 200 msec for unfamiliar sequences.     

The smoked plastic screen: An alternative to the one-way mirror

A double thickness, smoked plastic screen is presented as an alternative to the one-way mirror. Relative to the glass mirror, the use of the plastic screen provides a safe, nondistracting, durable, light weight, and inexpensive method for unobserved viewing without an appreciable loss in light transmission.     

The effects of task and practice on search for invisibly displaced objects

The ability to successfully search for an invisibly displaced object is frequently assumed to relate to the emergence of mental representation at around 2 years of age. However, little is known about what is actually being measured in the typical “stage 6” object permanence search task. Two studies examined the effects of task factors and practice on invisible displacements and systematic search tasks to show that simple variations in ways of hiding an object change the child's ability to find it. Experiment 1 compared two common methods of presenting invisible displacements items to 36 children, approximately 2 years of age. One task was significantly easier than the other, despite the fact that they contained identical items that varied only in their order of presentation. Experiment 2 tested the effects of short-term practice on 18- and 24-month-olds' success on invisible displacements trials and on two systematic search tasks. Results indicate that too little practice inhibited performance in 18-month-olds, but that practice beyond an optimum level did not further affect their scores. In contrast, 24-month-olds continued to benefit from increased practice until they reached the maximum possible score. The findings are interpreted to mean that invisible displacements tasks may require only sensorimotor search strategies rather than representation. The findings also have implications for (a) research that attempts to relate object permanence to other variables and (b) programs that use object permanence as an assessment or screening measure.     

Hiring bias and the disabled interviewee: Effects of manipulating work history and disability information of the disabled job applicant

Ninety MBA students were randomly assigned to one of six experimental conditions in a 3(levels of disability) × 2(levels of employment history) design. Levels of disability (Physical, Psychiatric, and No Disability) and levels of employment history (Good and Poor) were manipulated by giving the subjects bogus information on a job application form prior to hearing a taped job interview. Subjects then rated the quality of the interview and stated the probability that they would hire the interviewee. Evaluations of the interview and hiring probabilities were different between the experimental groups. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Stimulus generalization of auto-shaped key-pecking following interdimensional and extradimensional training

In three experiments, groups of pigeons were tested for wavelength generalization of auto-shaped key-pecking following different types of training. In Experiment I, one group received auto-shape trials with a 555-nm CS. Another group received auto-shape trials with a 555-nm CS and a white CS. A third group received auto-shape trials with a 555-nm CS and a white CS, except the white CS was nonreinforced. The third group yielded the sharpest gradient, whereas the second group yielded the flattest gradient. In Experiment II, one group received auto-shape trials with a 555-nm CS. A second group received auto-shape trials with a 555-nm CS and a compound CS consisting of a vertical white line on a 555-nm background. A third group received auto-shape trials with a 555-nm CS and a compound CS, except that the compound was nonreinforced. The third group yielded the sharpest wavelength gradient, whereas the second group yielded the flattest. In Experiment III, exposure differences to 555 nm in Experiment II resulting from differential speeds of auto-shape acquisition were controlled by the use of an ITI manipulation. Amount of exposure to 555 nm was shown not to be responsible for the results of Experiment II.     

The abstraction and generalization of dot patterns

The Ss were trained on patterns representing different levels of distortion and transferred to test trials containing the old training patterns, the prototype patterns, and new distortions. Training on low levels of distortion consistently produced superior performance on all test patterns except the most distorted ones. The results also showed that the prototypes and low distortion-level test patterns of meaningful concepts were identified more often than prototypes and low distortion-level test patterns of meaningless concepts but the reverse was true for highly distorted test patterns. Training with patterns whose average dot positions corresponded to the original positions of the dots in the prototypes and to two different levels of distortion of training patterns did not facilitate transfer of any abstractions formed.     

The effect of training procedures on the overlearning reversal effect in young children

The performance of 80 preschool children on a reversal problem was studied as a function of amount of training and type of training procedure used during acquisition and reversal. In the extinction phase of reversal learning, subjects given a correction procedure during the reversal problem made fewer perseverative errors than subjects given noncorrection. In the reversal midplateau phase of reversal learning, overtraining facilitated reversal learning for subjects receiving noncorrection during the acquistion problem, but not for subjects receiving correction. A shift in training procedure between acquisition and reversal increased the number of subjects who reached criterion immediately after perseveration. Since these results are difficult to explain in terms of traditional learning theories, an alternative response-switching strategy explanation was proposed.     

The effect of auditory input on cerebral laterality

Cerebral laterality was examined for third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade deaf and hearing subjects. The experimental task involved the processing of word and picture stimuli presented singly to the right and left visual hemifields. The analyses indicated the deaf children were faster than the hearing children in overall processing efficiency, and that they performed differently in regard to hemispheric lateralization. The deaf children processed the stimuli more efficiently in the right hemisphere, while the hearing children demonstrated a left-hemisphere proficiency. This finding is discussed in terms of the hypothesis that cerebral lateralization is influenced by auditory processing.     

The experience of self-awareness and its relation to level of self-consciousness: An experiential sampling study

The present research studied self-awareness by utilizing experiential sampling methodology, which allows for the random sampling of individuals' thoughts and feelings as they go about their normal daily activities. Neither Study 1 nor 2 found a relation between private or public self-awareness and negative affect. However, attention to private self-aspects was generally more positive and less ruminative for low as opposed to high private self-conscious subjects, and awareness of oneself as a social object was generally more positive but less important for low as opposed to high public self-conscious subjects. What may have accounted for the negative relation between private self-consciousness and average affect was that low private self-conscious subjects were more likely to attend to their private self-aspects if they were pleasant than if they were unpleasant, while high private self-conscious subjects' degree of private self-awareness was unrelated to whether the content of this state was pleasant or not. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that low private self-conscious individuals engage in a more selective type of self-attention when in the private self-aware state than do high private self-conscious individuals. Regarding the relation between self-awareness and social context, both studies found that the presence of others results in a heightened public self-awareness. However, even though subjects were more attentive to public self-aspects when with others than when alone, in general, they were more attentive to their “private self” than to their “public self”. Results are discussed in terms of current self-awareness theory.     

The relationship between birth stress and writing hand posture

Variations in handwriting posture (inverted versus noninverted) were measured in 1203 individuals for whom birth histories, based upon retrospective maternal reports, were available. A history of birth complications was associated with an increased incidence of inverted handwriting posture. Effects interacted with sex and hand preference; the largest difference in handwriting posture between the birth-stressed and non-birth-stressed groups occurred in left-handers and in males.     

The role of lateral masking and orthographic structure in letter and word recognition.

The present experiments evaluated the contribution of orthographic structure and lateral masking in the perception of letter, word, and nonword test displays. Performance was tested in a backward recognition masking experiment in which a masking stimulus followed the test display after a variable blank interstimulus interval. In agreement with previous findings across different experiments, words were recognized better than single letterd at short interstimulus intervals, but the opposite was the case at long intervals. Performance on the nonwords resembled performance on letters at short masking intervals and performance on words at long masking intervals. The quantitative results were described by a processing model that incorporates the effects of lateral masking and orthographic structure in the dynamic processing of letter strings. Lateral masking tends to lower the potential perceptibility of letters whereas orthographic structure can reduce the uncertainty of the candidate letters in the letter sequence. The present model predicts that the quantitative contribution of each of these processes to performance is critically dependent upon the processing time available before the onset of the masking stimulus.     

Generality of persistence: The role of stimulus and response factors in persistence to punishment

Previous research has shown that intermittent punishment of a response increases its persistence to continuous punishment and that intermittent punishment training in one situation produces persistence to continuous punishment in other situations. Experiment 1 showed that as long as the instrumental response and punishing stimulus were held constant from intermittent to continuous punishment marked differences between these situations had no decremental effect on persistence. Experiment 2 showed that intermittent punishment training of one response resulted in substantial persistence to continuous punishment of a different and apparently incompatible response and that such response change had no more than a marginal effect on persistence. The results were seen as requiring some revision to the traditional conditioning-model interpretation of persistence to punishment.     

Maintenance and generalization of a semantic rehearsal strategy in educable mentally retarded children

Two groups of 11- to 12-year-old educable mentally retarded children, equated on the basis of a free recall pretest, were given a series of lists for free recall. Approximately half the subjects were trained in the use of a strategy designed to induce deeper level semantic encoding and the discovery of categorical relationships and half constituted a “no-training” control group with standard free recall instructions. The subjects received either related or unrelated lists during the training phase and related or unrelated lists during two post-tests, immediately following and 1 week after training. There was evidence not only that the semantic strategy was maintained over the 1-week delay, but that it also generalized to word lists unlike those used during training. The degree of generalization was greater for those subjects receiving related lists during training.