A microcomputer system for controlling classical conditioning experiments

A microcomputer-based laboratory system for controlling stimulus presentations and data acquisition in classical conditioning experiments is described. The system comprises an Intel 386/486-based microcomputer and a commercially obtained low-cost counter/timer board with input/output lines for stimulus timing and external device control. A simple, yet versatile custom-designed structured programming language is provided for performing an unlimited number of stimulus configurations and their sequences. In electrophysiological studies, the system can be flexibly connected to computer-controlled signal conditioning systems for the amplification and filtering of multiunit and evoked field potential responses and to high-speed data acquisition systems for sampling and analyzing the responses. The costs of reserving an entire microcomputer for experiment control are well compensated for by the simplicity and efficiency of programming and transportability of the control protocols between different setups and laboratories. Furthermore, a data acquisition and analysis system most suitable for the aims of a research project can be selected.     

Eliminating invalid self-report survey data.

A sample of 6,370 students in Grades 6 to 8 completed a questionnaire on their attitudes and use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. A subsample showed questionable data based on three criteria: missing responses, invalid responses, and inconsistent responses. Analysis indicated that this subsample was significantly different from the main group on demographic variables and self-reported life-time tobacco use. Results support efforts to identify and eliminate invalid data.     

The electronic spreadsheet as a professional productivity tool

One focus of this paper is on the use of a personal computer and its applications programs as a professional productivity tool. The intent is to illustrate ways faculty can use computer technology in managing complexity and change in their professional lives. After briefly reviewing some conventional uses of personal computer applications programs, the paper describes techniques by which an electronic spreadsheet can be used to contribute to professional productivity. Examples illustrate the use of an electronic spreadsheet as a memory aid and tool in monitoring work habits and setting task priorities. A second focus is on the study of human-computer interaction. After suggesting the generality of certain phenomena, the paper describes some implications for research and for the design of computer applications programs.     

ELIA: A software application for integrating spoken language and eye movements

We have developed a new software application, Eye-gaze Language Integration Analysis (ELIA), which allows for the rapid integration of gaze data with spoken language input (either live or prerecorded). Specifically, ELIA integrates E-Prime output and/or .csv files that include eye-gaze and real-time language information. The process of combining eye movements with real-time speech often involves multiple error-prone steps (e.g., cleaning, transposing, graphing) before a simple time course analysis plot can be viewed or before data can be imported into a statistical package. Some of the advantages of this freely available software include (1) reducing the amount of time spent preparing raw eye-tracking data for analysis; (2) allowing for the quick analysis of pilot data in order to identify issues with experimental design; (3) facilitating the separation of trial types, which allows for the examination of supplementary effects (e.g., order or gender effects); and (4) producing standard output files (i.e., .csv files) that can be read by numerous spreadsheet packages and transferred to any statistical software.     

Amplitude measures of operant response: Implementation with Apple Pascal

Because operant conditioning studies involving force of response as a dependent variable require high-speed A/D conversion, conventional operant software, which treats the input datum as a dimensionless event, is generally unsuited for this kind of work. The author describes a complete Apple-based hardware-software ensemble that measures and records on diskette the peak force, duration, time integral of force, and interresponse time for individual operant responses. Data acquisition and control programs were written in Apple Pascal linked to selected assembly language modules. The real-time base was derived from an inexpensive crystal clock interfaced     

Signal-processing software for teaching and research in psychoacoustics under UNIX and X-Windows

A package of software is described that generates, analyzes, stores, and displays sampled waveforms. The package is designed for use under UNIX and includes C source code, UNIX manual pages, and tutorial documents. The programs interact via UNIX pipes using an ASCII-text data format, which enables the user to view the data in numerical form as well as through the use of plotting programs. Among many other functions, the programs can do the following: efficiently generate linearphase FIR filters with arbitrary transfer functions; generate impulse responses for rectangular rooms of specified dimensions; convolve waveforms with each other; perform Fourier transformation and inverse Fourier transformation; filter waveforms in the Fourier domain; filter waveforms according to the peripheral frequency selectivity of the human auditory system; cross-correlate waveforms; autocorrelate waveforms; synthesize complex waveforms, including vowel sounds and white noise. The software can read and write a variety of commonly used waveform file formats. The data can be plotted on an X-Window display using thegnuplot software, which has been included in the package. The complete software package is available via anonymous ftp from ftp.ihr.mrc.ac.uk in ~ftp/pub/johncu/wave.tar.Z     

THE ACQUISITION OF PREPOSITIONAL MOTOR RESPONSES IN HANDICAPPED CHILDREN1

The acquisition of prepositional motor responses in three handicapped preschool children was analyzed for three pairs of prepositions. Generalization of prepositional knowledge at each stage of acquisition was assessed by a series of probe trials. In addition, an analysis of the control of prepositional responses when objects of the preposition (OP) and direct objects (DO) were relevant cues was conducted. The effect of this object-cue procedure, as well as a specially devised prompting technique on acquisition, was also determined. Results indicated substantial control by OPs whenever this cue was relevant, but this did not affect acquisition of prepositional concepts when these cues were eliminated. Analysis of the probe data and the prompting technique suggested various ways in which instructional programs for teaching prepositional knowledge to handicapped children could be constructed in a simple and efficient manner.     

The language of feelings

The acquisition of a language of feelings is similar to the acquisition of other language and can be conceptualized within a Piagetian framework. The acquisition of this language of feelings is subject to certain pitfalls that are reflective of various emotional problems. The linguistic poverty for affect that is concomitant with being unable to label feelings points to the need for parents and therapists to be involved in helping the child or patient develop an affective schema. The development of a differentiated, accurate, and flexible language of emotion to both express personal feelings and evoke responses in others is a schematic gift which parents provide. We find that when parents have not provided this, a reparative language developmental task is part of a psychotherapy. A grasp of the interplay of the concepts ofassimilation andaccommodation in Piaget (1952) appears essential to encouraging a healthy language of feelings. Related concepts drawn from Schacter (1965), Laing (1967), Krystal (1979), Kelly (1955) and Malerstein and Ahern (1979) are interwoven in a Piagetian structure for a language of feelings.     

The Effects of Magnitude-Based Differential Reinforcement on the Skill Acquisition of Children with Autism

A common recommendation for teaching skills to children with autism is to apply differential reinforcement by reserving high-quality reinforcement for unprompted responses (Sundberg and Partington in Teaching language to children with autism or other developmental disabilities, Behavior Analysts Inc., Pleasant Hill, 1998). Earlier research focuses primarily on schedules or quality of reinforcement, rather than magnitude of reinforcement, when evaluating the use of differential reinforcement in practice. The utility of magnitude-based differential reinforcement may be dependent upon evidence that a learner responds differentially to large and small amounts of reinforcement such that he or she selects the large amount of reinforcement over the small amount of reinforcement and engages in more responses that produce the relatively larger magnitude reinforcement. Three individuals with autism participated in a treatment comparison of differential reinforcement. The manipulation of magnitude of differential reinforcement in a skill acquisition program did not have an appreciable effect on the rate of acquisition for any of the three participants.     

Laboratory functions for the Tecmar Lab Tender and IBM PC

A set of assembly language functions has been written to interface laboratory software for the IBM PC to the Tecmar, Inc., Lab Tender circuit board. These functions provide convenient access to the Lab Tender’s parallel ports, timers, A/D converters, and D/A converters from laboratory control programs written in the C language.     

Effects of Second Language Usage on Genetic Counseling Training and Supervision

We conducted an exploratory study of the experiences of genetic counselors who have either trained or supervised in a second language to assess the relevance of this issue to genetic counseling training and supervision. Two hundred-thirty NSGC members, CAGC members and genetic counseling students completed the online questionnaire. Many of the respondents reported that training and supervision differed when another language was involved. Supervisors reported difficulty in assessing students’ counseling skills and discomfort with an incomplete understanding of session content. Students described a greater focus on vocabulary at the expense of psychosocial dimensions. Despite this, most felt that using another language enhanced their training experience. As such, training programs might consider increasing support to these learners and supervisors by explicitly acknowledging the challenges they face, providing students with language tools to aid in their acquisition of basic skills and providing supervisors with new methods for assessing student counseling skills when using other languages.     

TRAINING FUNCTIONAL EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE: THE ACQUISITION AND GENERALIZATION OF FIVE-ELEMENT SYNTACTIC RESPONSES1

A single-subject multiple-baseline design using within- and across-subject replication was employed to study the acquisition of expanded “agent-action-object” sentences and the spontaneous generation of this form in the natural environment. Three young language-delayed subjects were trained to describe various agent-action-object relationships with a five-element syntactical form. The language training strategy was a synthesis of the developmental-psycholinguistic and behavioral models. Dynamic interactions between familiar persons and objects were the stimulus events that the children mapped. A five-element syntactical form, previously absent from the children's language repertoires, was trained during individual sessions. Concurrent with baseline, training, and followup, each subject's language was monitored in another setting, the classroom during free play. After onset of training, the core elements of the complex syntactic form were spontaneously emitted by the child in its natural environment. The free-play data reflect individual differences in the emergence and frequency of each child's spontaneous use of the agent-action-object form. The acquisition and maintenance of the specific lexicon and syntax trained were tested by posttraining probes and responses to videotape presentations. These probes revealed generalization and maintenance of both the lexical and syntactical forms acquired in treatment. The main purpose of any language-training procedure should be to provide language that is functional for the child in the natural environment. This study, which documented the spontaneous usage of the core agent-action-object syntactical form in the natural environment, effectively trained a functional syntactical rule.     

University faculty preparation of students in using natural environment practices with young children

155 university faculty teaching students in physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and language pathology, early childhood special education, or multidisciplinary studies programs were surveyed to assess how the students were taught how to use everyday family and community activities as natural learning opportunities for young children. Analysis showed that the faculty provided very little training in using community activity settings as contexts for children's learning and that physical therapy faculty provided less training in using natural environments as sources of children's learning opportunities than faculty in the other disciplines.     

Comparison of deck- and trial-based approaches to advantageous decision making on the Iowa Gambling Task

We compared the original deck-based model of advantageous decision making assessed with the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) with a trial-based approach across behavioral and physiological outcomes in 33 younger adults (15 men, 18 women; 22.2 ± 3.7 years of age). One administration of the IGT with simultaneous measurement of skin conductance responses (SCRs) was performed and the two methods applied: (a) the original approach of subtracting disadvantageous picks of Decks A and B from advantageous picks of Decks C and D and (b) a trial-based approach focused on the financial outcome for each deck leading up to the trial in question. When directly compared, the deck-based approach resulted in a more advantageous behavioral profile than did the trial-based approach. Analysis of SCR data revealed no significant differences between methods for physiological measurements of SCR fluctuations or anticipatory responses to disadvantageous picks. Post hoc investigation of the trial-based method revealed Deck B contributed to both advantageous and disadvantageous decision making for the majority of participants. When divided by blocks of 20, the number of advantageous to disadvantageous choices reversed as the task progressed despite the total number of picks from Deck B remaining high. SCR fluctuations for Deck B, although not significantly different from the other decks, did show a sharp decline after the first block of 20 and remained below levels for Decks C and D toward the end of the task, suggesting that participants may have gained knowledge of the frequency of loss for this deck.     

Programs for visual psychophysics on the Amiga: A tutorial

A typical psychophysical experiment presents a sequence of visual stimuli to an observer and collects and stores the responses for later analysis. Although computers can speed up this process, paint programs that allow one to prepare visual stimuli without programming cannot read responses from the mouse or keyboard, whereas BASIC and other programming languages that allow one to collect and store observer’s responses unfortunately cannot handle prepainted pictures. A new programming language called The Director provides the best of both worlds. Its BASIC-like commands can manipulate prepainted pictures, read responses made with the mouse and keyboard, and save these on disk for later analysis. A dozen sample programs are provided.     

Automated psychophysiology laboratory

A laboratory has recently been established in University Hospital based on a PDP-11 /40 processor running a real-time Executive (RSX-ll/D) which has storage and data acquisition peripherals to handle on-line processing of psychophysiological data from patients receiving biofeedback. A data acquisition program has been written which permits the sampling of eight simultaneous channels of data coming from a Hewlett-Packard 7700 electrophysiological recorder system. Input from the patient includes switch closures and variable resistors, thermistors, GSR, electrocardiogram, respiration rate, and a variety of others. Feedback to the patient includes a variety of types of lights, a cathode ray tube storage screen, a character-oriented CRT monitor, and a variety of audio signals. Developers are presently involved in writing the biofeedback section of the programs and an on-line decision-making dependent upon patient response. Simultaneously with laboratory operation, a number of other users are served. These include the Admitting Department and Respiratory Function Laboratory. A rat laboratory will be served also by this facility in the near future via a front-end microprocessor.