THE LOCAL ORGANIZATION OF BEHAVIOR: DISCRIMINATION OF AND MEMORY FOR SIMPLE BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS

A procedure was developed to enable nonverbal organisms to report what they remember of the temporal organization of their recent behavior. A baseline behavior with known temporal structure was established by a concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedule for two temporal patterns of behavior (two different classes of reinforced interresponse times). The five pigeon subjects emitted these two temporal patterns on a center key and were occasionally given a short-term memory probe for their most-recently-emitted pattern. The probes consisted of symbolic delayed matching-to-sample tests, in which a response on a green side key was reinforced if the most recent pattern belonged to the shorter reinforced class, and a response to a red side key was reinforced if the most recent pattern belonged to the longer reinforced class. All subjects could report with over ninety percent accuracy what their most recently emitted behavioral pattern was when a retention interval separating the pattern from the memory probe was only .1 seconds. The retention interval was then manipulated, and it was found that recall for a pattern was frequently above chance after a delay of as much as eight seconds. Thus, pigeons can remember their most recent interresponse time not only right after it is emitted, but for several seconds thereafter. In other conditions, the patterns themselves were manipulated. It was found that as the patterns became more similar, discrimination became poorer. These results agree with the view that reinforcement tends to organize and integrate the local structure of behavior to the extent to which that structure is remembered.     

Discovering hidden time patterns in behavior: T-patterns and their detection

This article deals with the definition and detection of particular kinds of temporal patterns in behavior, which are sometimes obvious or well known, but other times difficult to detect, either directly or with standard statistical methods. Characteristics of well-known behavior patterns were abstracted and combined in order to define a scale-independent, hierarchical time pattern type, called aT-pattern. A corresponding detection algorithm was developed and implemented in a computer program, called Theme. The proposed pattern typology and detection algorithm are based on the definition and detection of a particular relationship between pairs of events in a time series, called acritical interval relation. The proposed bottom-up, level-by-level (or breadth-first) search algorithm is based on a binary tree of such relations. The algorithm first detects simpler patterns. Then, more complex and complete patterns evolve through the connection of simpler ones, pattern completeness competition, and pattern selection. Interindividual T-patterns in a quarter-hour interaction between two children are presented, showing that complex hidden T-patterns may be found by Theme in such behavioral streams. Finally, implications for studies of complexity, self-organization, and dynamic patterns are discussed.     

Reinforcement of behavioral patterns: shaping a scallop

Temporal patterns of key pecking by pigeons were shaped by a schedule in which the delivery of food was contingent upon a measure of the overall extent to which the temporal pattern of behavior within a 5-sec trial conformed to a required pattern. This pattern approximated a constant rate of change in the rate of key pecking throughout the 5-sec trial. In comparison with behavior maintained by a classical fixed-interval 5-sec schedule, the new schedule controlled a better approximation to a "scallop" within individual trials and greatly reduced intersubject variability. These results are consistent with the view that the delivery of a reinforcer after a behavioral pattern a few seconds in duration may strengthen the entire pattern as a unit, or operant. The response topography contiguous with reinforcement may be a negligible fraction of the strengthened operant. One implication of this view is that mean response rate for such brief responses as key pecks and lever presses is a byproduct of whatever patterns are strengthened, and generally will not reveal fundamental controlling relationships, whenever a reinforcer is not contiguous with all the behavior on which it is contingent.     

Dating Relationships and the Demand/Withdraw Pattern of Communication

This study examines whether afemale-demand/male-withdraw pattern occurs in datingrelationships and whether this response increases duringdiscussions of difficult topics. One hundred and eightindividuals (women = 60, men = 48) currently in a datingrelationship completed the Communication PatternsQuestionnaire, Short Form (CPQSF) regarding either adifficult or nondifficult discussion. The racialcomposition of the undergraduate student population at thetime the study was conducted was 68.8% Caucasian, 8.9%Hispanic, 8.9% International, 6.0% African American,5.6% Asian American, and 1.8% Native American (data on socioeconomic status were unavailable).Results show that dating couples do employ apredominantly female-demand/male-withdraw pattern, whichincreases in response to difficult discussions. However, this study also found that many dating couplesemployed male-demand/female-withdraw or equaldemand/withdraw patterns. Post hoc tests also showedthat couples exhibiting eitherfemale-demand/male-withdraw or male-demand/female-withdraw patterns weremore ingrained in specific negative behavior patterns,employed more demand/withdraw behaviors, and exhibitedless positive behaviors than couples with an equal demand/withdraw pattern.     

Short-term memory in the pigeon: relative recency

Three pigeons pecked for food in an experiment in which each trial consisted of two phases. The first phase consisted of a pattern of three successively illuminated, randomly selected left or right keys. A subject was required to peck each of the lighted keys as they appeared. Thus, in the first phase, a subject emitted a pattern of three left- or right-key pecks. Over trials, all eight possible patterns appeared. A time interval separated the first phase from the second phase, which began with presentation of a randomly selected one of three cues. A reinforcer was delivered in the second phase if a subject pecked the side key that had appeared in the first phase in an ordinal position corresponding to the cue presented in the second phase. That is, the three cues probed a pigeon's memory for the side key it had pecked first, second, or third, in the first phase of a trial. The results show that a pigeon can remember for more than 4 sec the order in which it has just seen and pecked two lighted keys: a pigeon can remember the temporal organization or pattern of events in its recent environment. Consequently, the functional stimulus present when a reinforcer is delivered may include a subject's short-term memory for the temporal organization of recent events, such as the pattern of its own recent behavior. This possibility is consistent with a molecular analysis of operant behavior focusing on local patterns of behavior.     

教师积极反馈与初一学生挫折反应模式的关系研究

目的：探究学生所具有的不同挫折反应模式是否会影响到教师对他们的反馈行为,以及进一步探究教师不同反馈类型如何影响持有不同反应模式的学生,为教师进行有针对性的教学反馈提供依据。 方法：研究1以102名初中教师为被试,采用角色扮演法,探究初中教师对学生的积极反馈行为是否会因学生挫折反应模式的不同而不同。研究2以291名初一学生为被试,采用集体施测的方法,探讨不同的积极反馈方式是否对不同挫折反应模式被试的后续反应产生不同的影响。 结果发现：（1）教师对无助反应模式的学生给予更多的个人积极反馈,而对掌握反应模式的学生给予更多的过程积极反馈;（2）个人积极反馈对无助反应模式的学生有更加消极的影响,而对于掌握反应模式的学生并无显著影响;（3）过程反馈和简单结果反馈有助于改善无助反应模式学生的后续反应;（4）过程积极反馈对两种反应模式的学生均未产生消极或积极影响。 结论：教师对无助反应模式的学生给予更多的个人积极反馈,而教师的个人积极反馈对无助反应模式的学生会产生更加消极的影响。     

Diagnosis of Schizophrenia by Rorschach Patterns

In the belief that the diagnostic validity of Rorschach methods would gain from formalizing the judgmental processes of clinicians, 14 score patterns were constructed from eight Rorschach variables, each pattern designed to characterize patients in one of three broad diagnostic categories, Schizophrenic, Borderline Psychotic, or “Other.” A random sample of 196 patients of a VA mental hygiene clinic was drawn from clinic files. The “pattern diagnoses” obtained by applying the pattern system to their Rorschach scores were found significantly related to diagnoses formulated by the examining psychologists and by the clinic intake staff. More patients diagnosed schizophrenic by the pattern method engaged in autistic behavior than patients with other pattern diagnoses. The diagnostic efficiency of the pattern method, measured in terms of ability to reach a definite diagnosis, proportion of correct diagnoses, and proportion of false positive errors, did not differ significantly from the diagnostic efficiency of the psychological examiners, and differed significantly from the psychiatrists' diagnostic efficiency only in producing more “indeterminate” diagnoses. The diagnostic validity of the patterns was considered to be established, but their usefulness as a clinical tool depends heavily on population base rates and the relative costs of false positive and false negative diagnostic errors.     

Interval patterning and auditory gap detection

Pattern effects associated with the perception of the temporal microstructure of auditory signals were examined. Temporal changes, or gaps, were introduced into auditory interval patterns produced by a sequence of pulses. Discrimination thresholds for positive, and for negative, gaps were obtained as a function of the surrounding pattern of intervals. Gap thresholds increase with the slope of the surrounding interval pattern. Gap thresholds are smaller when the gap interval represents an extension, rather than a reversal, of the surrounding pattern. The results are in agreement with Heise and Miller’s thresholds of tonal isolation from repeated melodies, and with Mangelsdorf’s visual extrapolation thresholds of point-of-collision. The agreement of results from diverse test situations suggests a non-specifiC., general patterning effect upon discontinuity thresholds.     

刻板印象信息表征的模式及其功能

从积极、中性、消极三种不同效价的刻板印象出发,采用回忆—练习范式和再认范式探讨了刻板印象表征中的信息组织模式及其功能。研究表明,不论刻板印象的效价如何,刻板印象的内容都是按照效价一致的原则组织的,即积极信息与积极信息紧密的组织在一起,消极信息与消极信息紧密的组织在一起。这种组织信息的模式在社会认知过程中起着一种平行的促进—抑制作用,从而使人们只需利用较少的认知资源便迅速对某一靶子形成一种评价一致的印象     

Implicit affective evaluation of visual symmetry

Symmetry and beauty are strongly linked, but is the positive response to visual symmetry automatic? We used the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure the valence of visual regularities in the absence of overt judgments. In our first experiment, participants classified dot patterns as random or having an axis of reflection, and words as positive or negative. When the same button was used to report reflection and positive words, responses were faster than when the same button was used to report reflection and negative words. We take this association to indicate an implicit preference for reflectional patterns. In subsequent experiments, a reflected pattern was preferred to a rotation or translation, and a rotational pattern was preferred to random patterns. In some cases these results were not in agreement with verbally reported preferences, but implicit preferences were always predicted by the speed at which patterns could be identified. We conclude that the IAT can unearth an automatic affective response produced by perceptual fluency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

The Influence of Temporal Orientation and Affective Frame on use of Ethical Decision-Making Strategies

This study examined the role of temporal orientation and affective frame in the execution of ethical decision-making strategies. In reflecting on a past experience or imagining a future experience, participants thought about experiences that they considered either positive or negative. The participants recorded their thinking about that experience by responding to several questions, and their responses were content-analyzed for the use of ethical decision-making strategies. The findings indicated that a future temporal orientation was associated with greater strategy use. Likewise, a positive affective frame was associated with greater strategy use. Future orientation may permit better strategy execution than a past orientation because it facilitates more objective, balanced contemplation of the reflected-upon situation, and minimizes potential self-threat associated with past behavior. A positive affective frame likely improves strategy execution because it facilitates active analysis of the experience. Future directions and implications of these findings are discussed.     

The Influence of Temporal Orientation and Affective Frame on Use of Ethical Decision-Making Strategies

This study examined the role of temporal orientation and affective frame in the execution of ethical decision-making strategies. In reflecting on a past experience or imagining a future experience, participants thought about experiences that they considered either positive or negative. The participants recorded their thinking about that experience by responding to several questions, and their responses were content-analyzed for the use of ethical decision-making strategies. The findings indicated that a future temporal orientation was associated with greater strategy use. Likewise, a positive affective frame was associated with greater strategy use. Future orientation may permit better strategy execution than a past orientation because it facilitates more objective, balanced contemplation of the reflected-upon situation and minimizes potential self-threat associated with past behavior. A positive affective frame likely improves strategy execution because it facilitates active analysis of the experience. Future directions and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Exteroceptive control of fixed-interval responding

Two pigeons were exposed to several fixed-interval schedules of food reinforcement. In some cases, exteroceptive stimuli associated with the passage of time were present. Such visual "clock" stimuli were found to gain almost complete control over the behavior, although at the longest fixed interval studied, the superposition of a new temporal discrimination upon the visual discrimination was observed. Where clock stimuli were made contingent upon the birds' behavior, a new form of responding was generated. This behavior was discussed in terms of positive and negative response-tendencies resulting from several stimulus factors: Some of these functioned as S(Delta)'s and secondary negative reinforcers; some functioned as S(D)'s and secondary positive reinforcers; and some were ambiguous with respect to reinforcement conditions. A "pure temporal" discrimination was superimposed upon these factors, but its exact nature was indeterminate from the present data.     

The local organization of behavior: dissociations between a pigeon's behavior and self-reports of that behavior

The purpose of the experiment was to study the relation between what an organism does in a setting that demands temporal patterning of behavior and what it reports it has done. More specifically, a pigeon produced two classes, shorter and longer, of temporal patterns of key pecks (interresponse times) on a center key. Occasionally, a symbolic matching-to-sample probe arranged on side keys asked the pigeon whether its most recent pattern was a shorter or longer one. The longer reinforced pattern was always three times as long as the shorter one and the two patterns were reinforced equally often. Absolute duration of reinforced patterns was varied. In some conditions, interresponse-time distributions on the center key were bimodal, indicating a clear behavioral adaptation to the contingency, yet a bird did not report very well by appropriate side-key responding what its most recent interresponse time had been. In other conditions, the interresponse-time distributions were less clearly bimodal, yet a bird reported more accurately its previous interresponse time as shorter or longer. Thus, there was a dissociation between how well behavior on the center key conformed to the schedule requirement and how well a bird reported what it was doing on the center key. In addition, as absolute duration of the reinforced patterns was increased, a bird categorized its most recent pattern less well even as its preference for the shorter pattern increased dramatically. These results were interpreted as an example of the phenomenon of dissociation between tacit knowledge and knowledge.     

Analyzing temporal patterns of infant sleep and negative affective behavior: a comparison between different statistical models

Objective

Variability in infant sleep and negative affective behavior (NAB) is a developmental phenomenon that has long been of interest to researchers and clinicians. However, analyses and delineation of such temporal patterns were often limited to basic statistical approaches, which may prevent adequate identification of meaningful variation within these patterns. Modern statistical procedures such as additive models may detect specific patterns of temporal variation in infant behavior more effectively.

Method

Hundred and twenty-one mothers were asked to record different behaviors of their 4–44 weeks old healthy infants by diaries for three days consecutively. Circadian patterns as well as individual trajectories and day-to-day variability of infant sleep and NAB were modeled with generalized linear models (GLMs) including a linear and quadratic polynomial for time, a GLM with a polynomial of the 8th order, a GLM with a harmonic function, a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) with a polynomial of the 8th order, a generalized additive model, and a generalized additive mixed model (GAMM).

Results

The semi-parametric model GAMM was found to fit the data of infant sleep better than any other parametric model used. GLMM with a polynomial of the 8th order and GAMM modeled temporal patterns of infant NAB equally well, although the GLMM exhibited a slightly better model fit while GAMM was easier to interpret. Besides the well-known evening clustering in infant NAB we found a significant second peak in NAB around midday that was not affected by the constant decline in the amounts of NAB across the 3-day study period.

Conclusion

Using advanced statistical procedures (GAMM and GLMM) even small variations and phenomena in infant behavior can be reliably detected. Future studies investigating variability and temporal patterns in infant variables may benefit from these statistical approaches.     

Self-esteem,need for approval,and reactions to personal evaluations

In accordance with theoretical predictions concerning the reactions of high and low self-esteem individuals, Ss with low self-esteem scores showed an increase in liking for a positive evaluator of self and a decrease in liking for a negative evaluator of self. Ss with high self-esteem scores and low Marlowe-Crowne scores did not show a significant change in liking for either a positive or negative evaluator of self. Ss with high self-esteem scores and high Marlowe-Crowne scores showed a pattern of reaction similar to that of low self-esteem Ss. It was suggested that a sizable percentage of high self-esteem scorers should be reclassified as low self-esteem. This subgroup seems to obtain high scores on a self-esteem inventory by presenting themselves in an overly favorable as opposed to honest manner (the defining characteristic of a high Marlowe-Crowne scorer) but shows behavior patterns similar to low self-esteem individuals.     

Approach-withdrawal and cerebral asymmetry: emotional expression and brain physiology. I

In this experiment, we combined the measurement of observable facial behavior with simultaneous measures of brain electrical activity to assess patterns of hemispheric activation in different regions during the experience of happiness and disgust. Disgust was found to be associated with right-sided activation in the frontal and anterior temporal regions compared with the happy condition. Happiness was accompanied by left-sided activation in the anterior temporal region compared with disgust. No differences in asymmetry were found between emotions in the central and parietal regions. When data aggregated across positive films were compared to aggregate negative film data, no reliable differences in brain activity were found. These findings illustrate the utility of using facial behavior to verify the presence of emotion, are consistent with the notion of emotion-specific physiological patterning, and underscore the importance of anterior cerebral asymmetries for emotions associated with approach and withdrawal.     

Showing-off and aggression in young children

Showing off or display behavior of children has gained little attention in child psychology research, while in the ethological literature the same behavior is a well known phenomenon. To see what role display behavior plays in peer-peer interaction compared to threat and physical aggression, the behavior of 18 children between 3 and 6 years of age was recorded over an entire school year. The frequencies of display behavior, threat and physical aggression were examined and related to the amount of attention a child received from his peers. The attention-rank had proved to be highly related to leadership abilities as well as dominance in children. The results show interesting similarities between the frequency and temporal patterns of display and threat behavior and the attention children pay to each other. Furthermore, older children with more kindergarten experience as well as high status children show a different temporal pattern (high frequencies after holidays and low frequencies before) as well as a higher frequency of display and threat behavior than younger and low status children. Physical aggression is related to attention-rank but shows quite a different temporal pattern. It seems that display or showing off behavior serves as a strategy for children to get high regard in the group.     

Independent temporal and pitch structures in determination of musical phrases

In two experiments we addressed the roles of temporal and pitch structures in judgments of melodic phrases. Musical excerpts were rated on how good or complete a phrase they made. In Experiment 1, trials in the temporal condition retained the original temporal pattern but were equitonal; trials in the pitch condition retained the original pitch pattern but were equitemporal; and trials in the melody condition contained both temporal and pitch patterns. In Experiment 2, one pattern (pitch or temporal) was shifted in phase and recombined with the other pattern to create the pitch and temporal conditions. In the melody condition, both patterns were shifted together. In both experiments, ratings in the temporal and pitch conditions were uncorrelated, and the melody condition ratings were accurately predicted by a linear combination of the pitch and temporal condition ratings. These results were consistent across musicians with varying levels of experience.