IBM PC/XT/AT and PS/2 Turbo Pascal timing with extended resolution

A Turbo Pascal timer with accuracy beyond 1 msec is described. Unlike some previous timers, this one does not interfere with the time-of-day clock, and works well on an unmodified IBM PC/XT.     

Digital speech recording and playback system using a multiprocessor architecture

This paper describes a digital speech recording system capable of digitizing, storing, and playing back speech signals of arbitrary duration. The maximum duration for continuous speech processing is limited only by disk storage capacity. The system is based on a multiprocessor architecture, with a main processor responsible for file processing and outboard processor I/O control. As implemented, the main processor is a DEC LSI-11/23 microcomputer with 1 MB of main memory and a large-capacity Winchester disk. The outboard processor is an Intel 8085 with 2K local memory for speech buffering. Digitization is accomplished using logarithmic PCM at 8-kHz sampling frequency. Interprocessor communication is achieved with a 16-bit parallel data bus, and the necessary electrical connections and handshaking signals are discussed in detail. The local software modules are described, with attention given to timing and communications protocol considerations.     

Turbo Pascal timing routines for the IBM microcomputer family

Two Turbo Pascal (versions 3.0 and 4.0) software timers for the IBM microcomputer family are described: one with a 55-msec resolution and another with a 1-msec resolution. Both can be implemented without additional hardware requirements. The 55-msec timer makes use of the system-time-of-day clock; the 1-msec timer is a Turbo Pascal translation of the timer described by Bührer, Sparrer, and Weitkunat (1987). The logic of each timer is shown by a short demonstration program.     

A hierarchical LSI-11 system for real-time control,interevent time storage,and data analysis

A general-purpose laboratory computer system using two Digital Equipment Corporation LSI-11 s in a master-slave relationship is described. The implementation includes hardware to install an LSI-11 as a slave parallel processor, to provide special-purpose functions such as a real-time clock and a 4K FIFO interprocessor buffer, and to establish a bus that permits the use of inexpensive interfaces to experimental equipment. The slave processor generates a complete log of each input or output event. Data in the form of the time of each event are continuously passed through the FIFO to a foreground task in the main LSI-11, which in turn stores the raw data on a hard disk. A macro library allows the easy development of experimentcontrol programs. A library of FORTRAN routines provides a pointer-based conditional and iterative search facility that can sift out any specifiable event or set of events from the data records for subsequent analysis. This computer system provides the user with an inexpensive facility to run up to 32 simultaneous experiments with complete data logging in foreground while program development, analysis, and word processing are concurrently being done in background.     

CORE: Computer-controlled operant reinforcement

A Pascal-based system and software is described for computer reinforcement of operant responding (CORE). CORE allows a single microcomputer to control up to eight different work stations simultaneously, on one of several schedules. The user need not be familiar with Pascal, although modifications of the programs require a good working knowledge. The system is menu-driven and interacts with the user in a question-and-answer format. The user can select a variety of experimental parameters, for example, session and reinforcement duration, delay, and type of reinforcement schedule. During run-time, CORE provides frequently updated on-screen graphics (Cumulative Records or Interresponse Time Distributions) and counter display. Permanently stored data and information from other counters may also be displayed or printed from the disk. Presently, three programs are implemented for a variety of related reinforcement schedules (e.g., fixed ratio, variable ratio, fixed interval, variable interval, alternation).     

Tape-recording data for a cumulative recorder and for programming interval schedules

A simple method for recording discrete events with a cassette tape recorder is described. Since the converter for the recorder is inexpensive, data for several subjects can be recorded simultaneously. The recorder-converter can also be used to program interval schedules. Cassette recorded responses for a subject can be played into a cumulative recorder.     

The MED-PC experimental apparatus programming system

MED-PC is a software system that implements the MEDSTATE NOTATION dialect of state notation on IBM PC and compatible computers equipped with MED Associates interfacing. It provides a programming environment in which users can write short programs in a specialized language to control and record the events of operant and classical conditioning experiments. As many as eight experimental stations, each with up to 8 inputs and 32 outputs, running the same or different experimental procedures, may be active simultaneously. The system provides a standard set of run-time features, including mechanisms for displaying real-time data, simulation of responses, manipulation of array and variable contents, and writing of disk files. The system is based upon polling techniques, and is implemented as a translator that generates Pascal units, which are then linked to previously compiled Pascal routines.     

The display and animation of full-color images in real time on the Macintosh computer

Techniques for displaying and animating full-color and gray-scale images in real time are illustrated with Pascal examples. The Palette Manager procedures included in the Macintosh Toolbox are used to circumvent the speed limitations inherent in drawing and redrawing images on the Macintosh’s video display. With the technique of palette animation, images of arbitrary size and complexity can be displayed easily and animated at the scan rate of the video monitor. The routines described here are based on Toolbox procedures available on any Macintosh with color video capabilities.     

Fully automated psychiatric diagnosis: Some new possibilities

A fully automated psychiatric diagnostic system is outlined that would rely on picture-preference items rather than verbal ones and that would involve a tailored approach rather than conventional “brute-strength” testing. The conditions under which such a system can diagnose patients in a way that might arouse their interest and cooperation are discussed. These include a set of diagnostic categories (perhaps a subset from DSM-III), availability of a single-frame video disk unit allowing random access to each frame, a microprocessor system with a memory capacity of about 32,000 bytes, known base rates of the population of interest, and known probabilities of a particular response to the items for each diagnostic category. Some futuristic extensions of the proposed system are suggested.     

Computer simulation with DATASIM

A general purpose program is described for generating, analyzing, and graphing simulated data for experimental, multivariate, and contingency table designs. Applications include simulating actual or hypothetical research studies, conducting Monte Carlo investigations of the consequences of violating assumptions on statistical tests, generating randomized data sets for students to analyze and interpret as homework, and performing simulations demonstrating sampling theory. Data sets may be generated that have normal or nonnormal distributions, independent or correlated observations, and equal or unequal sample sizes. Data-analysis capabilities include one-way, two-way, and three-way ANOVA with any combination of independent- and correlated-groups factors, as well as simple-effects analyses, multiple pairwise comparisons, linear contrasts, and trend analyses.     

A VGA tachistoscope

A set of tachistoscope-emulation functions for IBM-PC-compatible computers equipped with the VGA display controller is described. C or Pascal programs including these functions can easily produce multifield tachistoscopic presentations of colored text.     

Screen control and timing routines for the IBM microcomputer family using a high-level language

Procedures are described for the IBM PC/AT and compatibles that measure an event’s duration with millisecond accuracy and that synchronize stimulus presentation with the vertical-retrace signal. The software is written in Turbo Pascal (Versions 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0; Borland International, Inc., 1984, 1985, 1987). Difficulties reflecting differences among video controller cards are also presented.     

Pattern recognition of behavioral events in the nonhuman primate

A computerized pattern recognition system has been developed that is capable of identifying 40 separate spontaneously occurring behavioral acts of the primateMacaca fascicularis. The system, called PROBE (pattern recognition of behavioral events), is described in detail. In its present stage of development, PROBE classifies behavioral activity with a reliability comparable to trained human observers. The potential applications for and improvements to the PROBE system are discussed.     

The mini and micro as intelligent terminals

A PDP-8 has been linked by the telephone to an IBM 370 using the conventional OS/8 and CMS operating systems. Data acquired in on-line experiments are transferred, and analysis programs and batch jobs are submitted, directly from the PDP-8 disk to CMS. A subset of the system is used on an Intercept Jr. microcomputer when the PDP-8 is not free.     

M.T.S.: An adaptable microcomputer-based testing system

An Apple II + computer-based human testing system is described. The system, which was developed using the Pascal language, provides library units of low-level procedures to rapidly access a clock, collect responses, control video output, control a touch-sensitive monitor, and display high-resolution graphics. Built-in hardware and software checks provide a high degree of system reliability. Use of easily altered text files for control of trials within a task and inclusion of and ordering of tasks within a session allows the system to be readily adapted.     

A real-time multiuser foreground,single-user background system for the PDP-9 computer

We have developed a software system for a PDP-9, with fixed head disk, to allow up to 16 remote laboratories to use the central PDP-9 facility for their experimental data acquisition and control needs. Timesharing is performed on a “demand” basis, using the hardware automatic priority-interrupt option. The real-time acquisition and control aspects are separated from the data reduction in the foreground by using a batch process foreground mainstream. The background is used primarily as a systems device for program updates and communications with a CDC terminal connected to a CDC 6600 computer. The philosophy, both software and hardware, developed for this heterogeneous user environment will be discussed.     

Review of Living Walden Two: B. F. Skinner's Behaviorist Utopia and Experimental Communities

Kuhlmann''s Living Walden Two (2005) offers a social history of the actual experimental communities that were inspired by Skinner''s (1948) utopian novel. In the course of her examination, the author presents a reasonably accurate overview of the key cultural design elements described in the novel, of behavioral philosophy applied to cultural design, and of the academic reaction to the behavioral philosophy embodied in the fictional community. She is critical of several key behavioral tenets, but generally remains analytical rather than emotional. Kuhlmann concludes that contextual and individual factors undermined the capacity of most of the experimental communities inspired by Walden Two to sustain themselves.     

Hegel,the Trinity,and the ‘I’

The main goal of this paper is to argue the relevance of Hegel’s notion of the Trinity with respect to two aspects of Hegel’s idealism: the overcoming of subjectivism and his conception of the ‘I’. I contend that these two aspects are interconnected and that the Trinity is important to Hegel’s strategy for addressing these questions. I first address the problem of subjectivism by considering Hegel’s thought against the background of modern philosophy. I argue that the recognitive structure of Hegel’s idealism led him to give the Trinity a decisive role in his philosophical account. Next, I discuss the Trinity by analysing the three divine persons. This analysis paves the way for the conclusion, where I argue that the Trinity represents a model for re-thinking the ‘I’ in a way that overcomes a ‘naïve realist’ and a ‘subjective’ account of the self. I suggest that Hegel’s absolute idealism can be conceived as an approach to the ‘I’ that considers the role of acts of mutual recognition for the genesis of self-conscious thought, and that the Trinity is the Darstellung of the relational and recognitive structure of the ‘I’.     

Multivariate data analysis in empirical research

The interpretive benefits of employing multivariate analysis methods on experimental data with more than one dependent variable are described heuristically and illustrated on a set of data from a simply designed experiment in physiological psychology. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) is performed on the 9 dependent variables contained in the sample data and on the four composites derived from a principal components analysis (PCA) of the variability of the nine. A linear discriminant analysis (LDA) is conducted following both MANOVA results, and 5 methods of determining the “important” dependent variables in the experimental-control group difference are presented and discussed in terms of the data at hand.     

A computer simulation/mathematical model of learning: Extension of DMOD from appetitive to aversive situations

The computer simulation/mathematical model called DMOD, which can simulate over 35 different phenomena in appetitive discrete-trial and simple free-operant situations, has been extended to include aversive discrete-trial situations. Learning (V) is calculated using a three-parameter equation \(\Delta V = \alpha \beta (\lambda - \bar V)\) (see Daly & Daly, 1982; Rescorla & Wagner, 1972). The equation is applied to three possible goal events in the appetitive (e.g., food) case and to three in the aversive (e.g., shock) case. The original goal event can be present, absent, or reintroduced; in the appetitive situation, these events condition approach (Vap), avoidance (Vav), and courage (Vcc), respectively. In the aversive situation, the events condition avoidance (Vav*), approach (Vap*), and cowardice (Vcc*), respectively. The model was developed in simple learning situations and subsequently was applied to complex situations. It can account for such diverse phenomena as contrast effects after reward shifts, greater persistence following partial than following continuous reinforcement, and a preference for predictable appetitive and predictable aversive events. Application of the aversive version of the model to “reward” shifts is described.