“Lying” in the pigeon

Two pigeons were taught to use symbols to communicate information about hidden colors to each other. When reporting red was more generously reinforced than reporting yellow or green, both birds passed through a period in which they “lied” by reporting another color as red.     

Human, free-operant avoidance of “time out” from monetary reinforcement

To assess the aversive effects of withdrawing monetary reinforcement, human subjects were exposed to a free-operant avoidance procedure in which periods of no reinforcement occurred if the subject failed to respond, and each response postponed withdrawal of reinforcement. Avoidance behavior was developed either through specific instructions about the consequence of responding or through preliminary escape-avoidance training. In all cases, rates of response were found to be a positively accelerated function of decreases in the duration by which responding postponed reinforcement withdrawal. The findings with respect to the function relating avoidance behavior to the interval of postponement were viewed as similar to those obtained when shock is used as the aversive event in free-operant avoidance conditioning.     

Discrimination learning with and without “errors”

Responses to S− (“errors”) are not a necessary condition for the formation of an operant discrimination of color. Errors do not occur if discrimination training begins early in conditioning and if S+ and S− initially differ with respect to brightness, duration and wavelength. After training starts, S−'s duration and brightness is progressively increased until S+ and S− differ only with respect to wavelength. Errors do occur if training starts after much conditioning in the presence of S+ has occurred or if S+ and S− differ only with respect to wavelength throughout training. Performance following discrimination learning without errors lacks three characteristics that are found following learning with errors. Only those birds that learned the discrimination with errors showed (1) “emotional” responses in the presence of S−, (2) an increase in the rate (or a decrease in the latency) of its response to S+, and (3) occasional bursts of responses to S−.     

工作反刍及其“双刃剑”效应

工作反刍指在没有要求其出现的情境下, 有意识的、重复发生的工作方面的相关想法, 分为工作相关情感反刍与工作相关问题解决沉思两个维度。工作反刍对个体健康、工作及幸福感的影响有“双刃剑”效应。持续性认知理论、压力认知激活模型与认知资源视角理论, 可以解释该效应的内在机制。未来研究应分析影响双刃剑效应的边界条件, 寻求减少消极效应、增加积极效应的途径, 拓展其双刃剑效应心理机制的分析视角和该效应的作用层面。     

Overt “mediating” behavior during temporally spaced responding

A rat was trained on a schedule that programmed reinforcements only when a minimum waiting time between successive responses was exceeded (DRL schedule). It was observed to fill much of the pause between lever presses with a stereotyped behavioral chain: it would take its tail in its mouth and nibble it. This behavior was shown to be functionally related to the efficiency with which the subject spaced its responses. It is thought to have served as mediating behavior, providing discriminating stimuli for appropriate lever presses.     

Attention and “visual field dependency” in the pigeon

Three pigeons were trained in an upright conditioning chamber to peck a key transilluminated by a vertical line. This training was followed by a line orientation generalization test. During the test, the chamber was tilted laterally 22.5 degrees from upright. The chamber floor remained horizontal with respect to gravity. Under these conditions, the subjects responded more often in the presence of a visually vertical (parallel to chamber walls) line orientation than in the presence of a gravitationally vertical line orientation. Subsequent reinforcement of pecking in the presence of a line that was always gravitationally vertical but not always visually vertical temporarily abolished this "visual field dependency" and resulted in generalization gradients with peak responding in the presence of the gravitationally vertical line orientation. The results are discussed in terms of selective attention to the gravitational and visual components of line orientation.     

The conditioning of textual responses using “extrinsic” reinforcers

Six 4-year-old Ss were presented with a textual program consisting of 26 words arranged so the word stimuli were gradually combined into sentences and then short “stories.” Three Ss were given the No-Reinforcement condition first, and only social reinforcers were presented. They were switched to the Reinforcement condition as soon as they requested discontinuance of the activity. The other three Ss were given Reinforcement—No Reinforcement—Reinforcement treatments. The No-Reinforcement treatment in this case lasted until S requested discontinuance of the activity. The reinforcers were mixed edibles and trinkets, as well as tokens backed up by small plastic toys on a 1:24 ratio. The unit of response was the number of new texts acquired as a result of each of the 45-min experimental sessions. It was demonstrated that the program, procedure, and reinforcement conditions produced curves which are analogous to those produced in common operant-conditioning procedures. The results indicate that other operant principles may be studied in this significant area of human behavior, with important practical consequences.     

序列依赖效应——一种全新的“历史效应”

自2014年来, 研究者在视觉加工中发现一种全新的历史效应——序列依赖效应(当前刺激加工向先前刺激方向偏移的吸引性加工偏差)。近期研究发现：该效应广泛存在于视觉加工的各个层面(既包括朝向、空间位置、数量等低级特征, 也包括身份、吸引力、美感等高级属性); 其来源极为复杂(包括感觉编码、高级皮层的反馈调节、工作记忆、决策模板、感知与决策的级联等), 反映出不同层次的过往加工痕迹向当前认知的投射。针对该效应的典型特征、影响因素、认知与神经机制, 已涌现大量研究, 同时也存在严重争论, 亟待研究者深入探讨和厘清。     

Behavior stability and response rate as functions of reinforcement probability on “random ratio” schedules,

A random ratio schedule is one under which every ordinally specified response has the same probability of reinforcement as any other. Data have been gathered at several values of this type of schedule, using a separate group of pigeons for each schedule value and giving prolonged exposure to each value. No simple relationship was found between response rate and reinforcement probability. In general aspect group data from the present experiment agree with those from a single organism study cited. It was shown that 40 to 50 days of exposure to random ratio schedules yields fairly asymptotic response rate data. The tabulated raw data, and the results of some statistical manipulations, have been deposited with the American Documentation Institute.     

组织中个体主动性行为“利与弊”

个体主动性行为是组织中个体主动做出的面向未来和面向变革的工作行为, 近年来成为组织行为研究领域的重要议题。从现有研究来看: (1)在研究主题上, 多数研究发现了个体主动性行为可以带来正向结果, 个别学者也注意到了个体主动性行为的代价; (2)在分析视角上, 主要包括个体主动性行为对个体层面和组织情境层面的正向与负向影响; (3)在理论机制上, 个体主动性行为的“利弊”效应可用优势互补理论、自我决定理论和归因理论来解释。未来研究可着重进行以下理论整合: (1)从个体主动性行为类型出发, 基于智慧主动性的视角揭示其内在机制; (2)从主动性行为者和观察者特征两面性的视角, 实证探讨其背后机理; (3)从主动性行为主客体特征的发展视角进行动态研究。     

The Meaning of “Existence” and the Contingency of Sense

In this paper I argue first for a revisionary ontology, that is, for an understanding of “existence” as the property of a field not to be empty. In this context, I distinguish between “metaphysics” (the theory of totality or of fundamental reality) and “ontology” (the systematic investigation into the meaning of “existence”). In the second part, I provide a sketch for a corresponding revisionary theory of the modalities in light of the new ontology proposed.     

Rate-change effects with equal potential reinforcements during the “warning” stimulus

Two pre-schedule-change stimuli were superimposed on the same VI baseline and were thereby equated with respect to reinforcement potential. One such stimulus preceded a transition to an extinction schedule or a VI schedule of lower reinforcement frequency while the other preceded a transition to a VI schedule of higher reinforcement frequency. It was found that response rate during the warning stimulus was greater preceding the transition to the lower reinforcement frequency than it was preceding the transition to the higher reinforcement frequency. That difference was often evidenced by an absolute increase and decrease in rate, in conformity with previous findings on the topic. The present experiment extends previous findings in several ways, including the presentation of quantitative estimates of the effects.     

Differential response rates correlated with the presence of “neutral” stimuli

Five out of six rats, pressing a lever for food reinforcement, showed differential rates of responding that were correlated with the presence of a buzzer, under conditions where the buzzer might have been assumed to be neutral. The effect was demonstrated when the presence versus absence of the buzzer distinguished the components of Mult FI 2 min FI 2 min, as well as when the buzzer was present throughout entire sessions of simple FI 2 min for n/2 of every n such sessions. The cause of the phenomenon was not determined.     

Further observations on overt “mediating” behavior and the discrimination of time

When the lever-pressing behavior of five rats was maintained by a DRL schedule (reinforcement was scheduled only when a specified waiting time between successive responses was exceeded), collateral behavior developed that apparently served a mediating function. In two cases this behavior did not arise until the experimental environment included pieces of wood that the rats started to nibble. When collateral behavior first appeared, it was always accompanied by an increase in responses spaced far enough apart to earn reinforcement. If collateral behavior was prevented, the number of reinforced responses always decreased. Extinction of lever pressing extinguished the collateral behavior. Adding a limited-hold contingency to the schedule did not extinguish collateral behavior. It appears that the rat can better space its responses appropriately when concurrently performing some overt collateral activity. The amount of this activity apparently comes to serve as a discriminative stimulus. To assume the existence of internal events that serve as discriminative stimuli in temporal discriminations is, at least under some circumstances, unnecessary.     

手势认知功能研究的新视角：“空间化”手势假设

人类在说话或思考的时候常常伴随着手势。手势是在认知加工或交流过程中自动产生的, 具有表征性, 同时, 手势能够影响人类的认知加工。尽管研究者对手势的概念界定各有侧重, 但普遍认为手势不同于直接行动, 具有认知功能。手势认知功能的代表性理论模型有词汇索引模型、信息打包假设、表象保持理论、语义特殊性假设和嵌入/延展观。根据手势认知功能研究中主要自变量的不同, 可以把手势认知功能分成三种不同的研究范式, 即允许-限制手势的研究范式、侧重手势模式改变的研究范式、侧重情境改变的研究范式。今后值得关注的研究方向除了深入探讨手势认知功能的神经机制、加强对手势认知功能的干预研究外, 提出了建立更具解释力的手势认知功能的理论模型——“空间化”手势假设。     

低社会经济地位与跨期决策：威胁视角下的心理转变机制

大量证据显示低社会经济地位者常做出“短视行为”, 如在教育上投资较少、有较多的债务和较少的储蓄等, 而这些行为又进一步恶化其不利处境。威胁感知引发心理转变, 使得低社会经济地位者将注意力聚焦在与稀缺相关的事情上, 并具体地、情境化地对事件进行表征, 同时倾向于采取快生命史策略, 进而导致短视决策行为发生。未来研究除了更深入地探讨低社会经济地位者行为决策陷阱的多层次多水平路径机制外, 应更加广泛而深入地开发出符合我国国情的有效干预方案, 使其为实现共同富裕提供科学的心理学路径。     

A Zero-Relationship Justification of Rights: A Contractual Approach Based on Rawls’ Device of the “Original Position”

In contemporary moral and political philosophy, there are two leading approaches to the justification of rights. These could be broadly identified as deontological theories and consequential theories. These two schools of theories each have their own strengths and weakness, while there is also a third contractual approach that is under represented. Because Rawls’ and Scanlon’s well-known contractual theories are designed for purposes other than the justification of rights, the purpose of this paper is to establish a principle of rights on the basis of Rawls’ justification device of the “original position.” First, it supplies a criterion based on human conduct or action. Second, based on this account of human conduct, different types of relationships are constructed and presented to the parties in the “original position.” Third, it will show that the parties in the “original position” would choose one of these relationships as the principle of rights. Finally, Rawls’ first principle of justice will be reformulated. The procedure of choosing a principle of rights in this paper could also be viewed as a demonstration that, when properly situated and motivated, human beings exhibit their potential as rational beings.