The commodore 64 and an interface system for controlling operant chambers

This article describes the interfacing of a Commodore 64 computer with an operant chamber. Advantages of the Commodore 64 over the VIC-20 as a controller are listed, and a sample program using dual response levers is given.     

Interactions between goal-directed eye and arm movements: arguments for an interdependent motor control

The accuracy of movements of the arm directed toward a point in space was investigated in healthy human subjects. To study the influence of the eye movement itself, on the guidance of the arm in the absence of any visual context, subjects performed the goal-directed arm movements without visual feedback about the arm displacement and the target position. The subjects were asked either to keep their eyes centered or oriented toward a previously flashed target. The analysis of the distribution of the errors in arm final position in the two conditions suggests that the eye movement influences the final position adopted by the arm. It is postulated that an interaction exists between the eye and arm systems during the motor program elaboration phase.     

Algorithms and computations for foldedness of P-ideals in BCI-algebras

In this paper, we introduce the notion of n-folds P-ideals in BCI-algebras which is a natural generalization of P-ideals in BCI-algebras. Via the concept of fuzzy point, we establish several characterizations of n-fold and fuzzy n-fold P-ideals in BCI-algebras. Furthermore, we construct some algorithms for folding theory applied to P-ideals in BCI-algebras.     

The VIC-20 computer and an interface system for controlling operant chambers

In this article, we describe the interfacing of the VIC-20 microcomputer with an operant chamber. An example of an experiment with its corresponding BASIC program is presented.     

Learning nonadjacent dependencies: no need for algebraic-like computations

Is it possible to learn the relation between 2 nonadjacent events? M. Pena, L. L. Bonatti, M. Nespor, and J. Mehler (2002) claimed this to be possible, but only in conditions suggesting the involvement of algebraic-like computations. The present article reports simulation studies and experimental data showing that the observations on which Pena et al. grounded their reasoning were flawed by deep methodological inadequacies. When the invalid data are set aside, the available evidence fits exactly with the predictions of a theory relying on ubiquitous associative mechanisms. Because nonadjacent dependencies are frequent in natural language, this reappraisal has far-reaching implications for the current debate on the need for rule-based computations in human adaptation to complex structures.     

Cupid: A program for computations with probability distributions

This article describes Cupid, a program that performs computations with univariate probability distributions. Cupid can be useful in stochastic modeling and simulation, hypothesis testing, and examination of statistical procedures. The program runs on IBM-PC compatibles under the DOS operating system, and it is free for educational and noncommercial use.     

Neural computations of decision utility

How are decision alternatives represented in the primate brain? A recent study by Sugrue et al. sought to answer this question by integrating behavioral, computational and physiological methods in examining the choice patterns of monkeys placed in a dynamic foraging environment. They observed specific encoding of the relative value of alternatives by neurons in the parietal cortex, providing an important starting point for researchers interested in how value and probability are combined in the brain to arrive at decision outcomes.     

Primitive computations in speech processing

Previous research suggests that artificial-language learners exposed to quasi-continuous speech can learn that the first and the last syllables of words have to belong to distinct classes (e.g., Endress & Bonatti, 2007; Peña, Bonatti, Nespor, & Mehler, 2002). The mechanisms of these generalizations, however, are debated. Here we show that participants learn such generalizations only when the crucial syllables are in edge positions (i.e., the first and the last), but not when they are in medial positions (i.e., the second and the fourth in pentasyllabic items). In contrast to the generalizations, participants readily perform statistical analyses also in word middles. In analogy to sequential memory, we suggest that participants extract the generalizations using a simple but specific mechanism that encodes the positions of syllables that occur in edges. Simultaneously, they use another mechanism to track the syllable distribution in the speech streams. In contrast to previous accounts, this model explains why the generalizations are faster than the statistical computations, require additional cues, and break down under different conditions, and why they can be performed at all. We also show that that similar edge-based mechanisms may explain many results in artificial-grammar learning and also various linguistic observations.     

Stereovision: beyond disparity computations

One of the most powerful sources of information about three-dimensional (3-D) structure is provided by stereovision (or stereopsis). For over a century, theoretical and empirical investigations into this ability have focused on the role of binocular disparity in generating percepts of 3-D structure. Recent work in image segmentation demonstrates that stereovision can cause large changes in perceptual organization that cannot be understood on the basis of binocular disparity alone. It is argued that these phenomena reveal the need for theoretical tools beyond those that have dominated the study of visual perception over the past three decades.     

Effects of bandwidth feedback on the automatization of an arm movement sequence

We examined the effects of a bandwidth feedback manipulation on motor learning. Effects on movement accuracy, as well as on movement consistency, have been addressed in earlier studies. We have additionally investigated the effects on motor automatization. Because providing error feedback is believed to induce attentional control processes, we suppose that a bandwidth method should facilitate motor automatization. Participants (N = 48) were assigned to four groups: one control group and three intervention groups. Participants of the intervention groups practiced an arm movement sequence with 760 trials. The BW0-Group practiced with 100% frequency of feedback. For the BW10-Group, feedback was provided when the errors were larger than 10°. The YokedBW10-Group participants were matched to the feedback schedule of research twins from the BW10-Group. All groups performed pre-tests and retention tests with a secondary task paradigm to test for automaticity. The BW10-Group indicated a higher degree of automatization compared with the BW0-Group, which did not exhibit a change in automaticity. The comparison of the YokedBW10-Group, which also exhibited automatization, and the BW10-Group leads to the proposal that reduction of quantitative feedback frequency and additional positive feedback are responsible for the bandwidth effect. Differences in movement accuracy and consistency were not evident.     

Throwing action from full-cue and motion-only video-models of an arm movement sequence

The purpose of this study was to determine whether videotaped demonstrations of an action which displayed only the motion pattern of a model's limb as compared with one which showed both form and motion provide sufficient information for modelling a given pattern of movement. Video-demonstrations of an arm-movement sequence which ended with a throwing action were shown to adult subjects whose task was to model precisely what they saw. Each demonstration lasted 6 sec. and was shown 6 times. It portrayed the arm of a model, who held a small ball, performing a sequence of movements (flexion and extension of the elbow) which ended in the ball being thrown about 2.5 m with a 'darts-style' action. Three types of demonstration were presented: one showed the whole arm in dark clothing against a light-coloured background, another showed the arm as the relative motion of patches of light situated at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints, and the third showed the arm as the relative motion of the upper and lower segments of the arm represented by strips of light-reflectant material. These were the stimuli for the between-groups experimental conditions. Goniometry techniques were used to compare the performance of subjects relative to the model. Analysis showed that the order of the preparatory sequence was correctly produced after 4 trials under all conditions. Range of arm movement in projecting the ball closely approximated that of the model after 4 trials in all conditions. The time taken for the arm to project the ball remained constant across trials under all conditions and was always slower than the demonstrated cadence.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Subliminal psychodynamic activation: an experiment controlling for major possible confounding influences outlined by Fudin

40 and 48 subjects participated in two separate experiments aimed at reproducing the subliminal psychodynamic activation (SPA) phenomenon and taking into account the major methodological critique by Fudin (1986, 1990). Subjects were first exposed either to a full or one of all possible partial symbiotic messages and then to their anagram equivalents. Confounding and irrelevant influences were controlled; the results indicate that only the full symbiotic message improved motor performance. This strongly suggests that subjects encode the meaning of the full message and supports an interpretation in terms of an alleviation of an internal symbiotic conflict leading to a state of calmness conducive to improved motor performance.     

Cognitive strategies for controlling emotional contagion

This study examined strategies for limiting susceptibility to “catching” negative emotions from others. Participants watched 3 videos of happy or sad individuals, as though they were therapists interacting with clients. The entire process was videotaped. Emotional contagion was measured by facial affect and self‐reports. Prior to viewing the videos, participants were assigned one of 4 cognitive strategies: (a) empathic imagery; (b) dissociation; (c) reflection; or (d) no instruction (control). Empathic imagery was expected to increase contagion vs. the control, while dissociation and reflection were expected to decrease contagion. Results indicated that only dissociation decreased contagion on both measures.     

Kinematic information feedback for learning a rapid arm movement

The experiments reported examine the notion that knowledge of results (KR) about the outcome of a response does not provide the necessary information for optimizing performance in many skilled activities. The effect of traditional KR was contrasted with various kinematic feedback parameters in the acquisition of a single degree of freedom response requiring the minimization of movement time. Experiment 1 showed that the presentation of discrete kinematic information feedback (peak accelaration, time to peak accelaration, and velocity at the target location) did not facilitate performance over movement-time KR. Experiment 2 revealed that presentation of a computer generated velocity-time representation of the movement as terminal information feedback improved performance over movement-time KR. This facilitation occured even without knowledge of the kinematics for optimal performance. The findings suggest that the task criterion specifies the appropriate information feedback for skill learning in that the information feedback must match the constraints imposed upon response output.     

A simple method to record arm positioning movements in man with an Apple computer

This paper describes a simple method to record arm positioning movements in humans, via the game paddle entry of an Apple computer. A machine language subroutine reads the successive positions of a rotating potentiometer, with an angular accuracy of .5 deg and a time interval between two measures of 2.5 msec, and stores them sequentially in RAM memory. These measures can be retrieved for further computations of movement parameters.     

Neonatal finger and arm movements as determined by a social and an object context

What kind of hand and finger movements are newborn infants preoccupied with, and how are these movements organized and controlled? These questions were studied in two experiments under three conditions: a social condition, in which the mother (in expt 1) or the experimenter (in expt 2) sat face to face with the infant; an object condition, in which a ball moving slowly and irregularly was presented to the infant; and a baseline condition (in expt 1) without ball or mother present. The size of the ball and the distance to it was chosen so that it approximately corresponded to the visual angle of the head of the model. Twenty-six neonates participated in the study ranging from 2 to 6 days of age at the time of observation. All infants were in an alert, optimal awake state during the experiments. The infants' finger movements were scored from video recordings. The result revealed a large variety of relatively independent finger movements. It was found that finger movements differed both in quantity and quality between the three conditions. There were many more finger movements in the social condition than in the object and baseline conditions. In addition, there were relatively more transitional finger movements and flexions of the hand in the social condition, and relatively more thumb-index finger activity and extensions of the hand in the object condition. Finally, the arms were more often forward extended in the object condition than in the social condition. The results support the notion that neonates show different modes of functioning towards people and objects.     

A general-purpose microcomputer configuration for controlling experiments

The circuitry required for connecting a KIM-1 microcomputer to devices in the experimental environment is shown together with an example of programming the microcomputer to control such devices. The experimental example involves sensory preconditioning of the nictitating membrane of the rabbit.