Autonomous processes in comprehension: A reply to Marslen-Wilson and Tyler

A criterion which has been proposed for distinguishing minds from computing systems is examined from the point of view of some current work on computer induction.     

Preference and response suppression under different correlations between shock and a positive reinforcer in rats

A lever-press response by rats was reinforced by food in two successively presented types of trial signalled by different discriminative stimuli. When responding was punished by a shock in one type of trial, a groups for which the shock always preceded the reinforcer by .5 sec (positive correlation) showed less suppression in those trials than a group which received the shock and food separated in time (negative correlation). When, in a second experiment, rats were given a choice between food alone in one end of a shuttle box and either positively or negatively correlated shock and food in the other on a concurrent schedule, the group receiving the negatively correlated shock showed a greater preference for the food alone end. On the basis of a third experiment in which a tone was substituted for the shock in the choice situation, it was argued that the effect of correlation was not simply due to the stimulus properties of the shock. A final experiment demonstrated that when shock punishment is administered during extinction of the lever-press response, the rate of extinction is slower if the shock has been previously paired with the food reinforcer. Pairing a shock with food seems to attenuate the intrinsic aversiveness of the shock through Pavlovian counterconditioning.     

A search for contrast effects in discrete-trial discrimination learning by pigeons

Behavioral contrast has often been observed in free-operant experiments with pigeons, rarely in discrete-trial experiments with rats. Although Jenkins (1961) and Terrace (1963) have reported a discrete-trial contrast effect in pigeons, a series of experiments reported here found no evidence that latency of responding to S+ in a discrete-trial situation was reliably decreased by alternating reinforced trials to S+ with nonreinforced trials to S?. Latency of responding to S+ was affected neither by the length of the preceding intertrial interval (within the range of 10–60 sec), nor by whether the preceding trial had been to S+ or to S?. The results of two of these experiments suggested that the appearance of positive contrast in Jenkins's experiment was a consequence of differences in the variability of the intertrial interval experienced by control and discrimination groups. In two final experiments, employing standard free-operant procedures, contrast was observed as an increase in rate of responding to S+, but not as a decrease in latency of the first response on each S+ trial. The implication is that contrast effects are more readily observed with the rate measures of free-operant experiments than with the latency measures of discrete-trial experiments.     

Mental representation of length and weight series and transitive inferences in young children

Forty-eight second graders (8 years of age) were trained on length or weight relationships between adjacent members of a five-term series of colored objects. Feedback was visual and of either minimal or strong salience. Differences in weight were assessed by either a balance scale or a spring scale. Results showed that more salient visual feedback reduced the learning effort for length but not for weight comparisons. After training children were tested on all possible object pairs. Children's comparisons of items by length were very accurate in contrast to their comparisons by weight. An explanation for these findings is suggested by the data from a group of 6-year-olds who were trained on two independent pairs of a four-term series. Test results showed that subjects spontaneously encoded absolute lengths but tended to ignore information about the absolute weight of objects. It is suggested that high test accuracy depends on stimulus material for which the absolute values of the relevant dimension are encoded. The implications for taking test performance as an indicator of “transitive reasoning” ability are discussed.     

Conditioned inhibition is not the symmetrical opposite of conditioned excitation: A test of the Rescorla-Wagner model

Rescorla and Wagner's (1972) linear associative model of learning predicts that a neutral stimulus will become weakly excitatory if it is paired with a conditioned inhibitor and the compound is not reinforced. If the inhibitor is not allowed to extinguish during these pairings, the model predicts that the neutral stimulus will become strongly excitatory. Rescorla (1971) has presented some evidence to support the former prediction of a weak effect. Experiment I tested the latter prediction of a strong effect using rats in a conditioned emotional response paradigm, and found no evidence that the pairings made the neutral stimulus excitatory. Experiment II replicated Rescorla's results, but showed that even on a relearning test the experimental group learned no faster than a novel stimulus control group.     

Behavioral inference in young children

Three experiments are reported on behavioral inference in children of 3 to 5 years of age. In each experiment the children learned two separate sequences of behavior which they were required to put together in the final test stage in order to obtain a reward. In the first experiment moderate levels of behavioral inference were obtained, although a relatively high proportion of children failed to respond in the test phase. In the second experiment different instructions were used in the test phase, the number of nonresponders was greatly reduced and a much higher proportion of children showed behavioral inference. The third experiment obtained similar results under conditions which excluded the possibility of mediation during a memory test, which was included in the previous experiments. It was concluded that behavioral inference is found, under suitable conditions, in children as young as 3-years-old, and that reports by other investigators of failure to find such inference up to the age of about 8 were due to problems with apparatus and instructions.     

Children's ability to integrate class information

Coordination and integration of class information was examined using a multidimensional similarity judgment task in which four- and nine-year old children rated the similarity of pairs of stimuli sharing either one or two atribute values. Half the children at each age were assigned to an attention condition requiring they label relevant stimulus atributes before making their similarity ratings. The other children were in the nonattention condition, and rated similarity without labelling the attributes. The results indicated that four-year-olds in the attention condition and nine-year-olds in both conditions integrated class information in making their similarity judgments. Performance of the four-year-olds in the non-attention condition tended to improve across trials; they appeared to integrate class information on later trials.     

Processing the information contained in another's behavior

This study investigates attributions based on behavior congruent with situational demands (in-role) and those based on behavior incongruent with situational demands (out-of-role). By analyzing these processes in terms of a Bayesian inference model, it was possible to determine (a) the diagnostic values observers intially assign to behaviors, (b) the actual informational impact of these behaviors, and (c) the degree of optimality in processing information contained therein. The main results can be summarized as follows: (1) The diagnostic value and actual informational impact of out-of-role behaviors were much higher than those of inrole behaviors. (2) Information about out-of-role behaviors was less optimally processed than information about in-role behaviors. (3) Observers assigned smaller diagnostic values to behaviors which were described in great detail than to behaviors which were described in summary statements. (4) Observers' attitudes influenced their initial beliefs about the actors but not the processing of new information about the actor. (5) The Bayesian inference model predicted observers' inferences reasonably well.     

The layman's use of trait and behavioral information to predict behavior

This study investigated conditions that determine subjects' preferences for information about another person's traits versus his specific past behavior in order to predict his future behavior. The similarity-dissimilarity between the situation for which past behavior was available and the one to which predictions had to be made strongly influenced the choice of specific behavioral information versus more general trait information. As expected, behavioral information was preferred most when the situation to which behavior had to be predicted was highly similar to the one for which the past behavioral data were available. On the other hand, more general trait information was preferred in predicting to situations that were not directly similar to those for which past behavioral information was available. The effect of the temporal span covered by available information was also explored.     

Conditioned enhancement of human's liking for flavor by pairing with sweetness

This paper reports a procedure, like classical conditioning, that produces enhancement of liking for flavors by humans. The procedure is “pairing” of a relatively neutral flavor with sugar (a hedonically positive taste). Specifically, subjects drank 24 small samples of flavor A sweetened and 24 small samples of flavor B unsweetened. They were then tested for their liking for flavors A and B, both sweetened and unsweetened. In three different studies, varying in a number of aspects of stimulus presentations and context, a relative enhancement in liking for flavor A appeared both on the day of exposure and 1 week later. An absolute enhancement in liking of flavor B (a “mere exposure” effect) also occurred in two of the three experiments.     

Children's judgments of numerical quantity: A new view of early quantification

Three experiments investigated the role of length, density, and number dimensions in children's numerosity judgments of linear arrays of beads. The number dimension is physically defined by a length × density rule. Judgments based, even in part, on the number dimension would show signs of a length × density rule. Experiment 1 examined numerosity judgments of large arrays. Results showed that judgments by 3- and 4-year-olds obeyed a length + density rule, providing cogent evidence for a general adding strategy in young children's judgments of quantity. The physical length × density rule emerged gradually with increasing age. Experiment 2 showed that numerosity judgments of small arrays by 3- and 4-year-olds obeyed a length × density rule, indicating response to the number dimension. This result was expected and thereby validated the linearity of the response scale at the youngest ages. Experiment 3 verified the integration rules for individual 3- and 4-year-olds. The integration rules were interpreted in terms of Piaget's stages of the development of quantification. No evidence for Piaget's initial stage was found. This leads to a new view of early quantification which grants young children the ability to integrate stimulus dimensions.     

Intervention and sleeper effects: A reply to Victoria Seitz

Victoria Seitz (Developmental Review, 1981, 1, 361–373) has misperceived and misunderstood our position (A. D. B. Clarke & A. M. Clarke, Developmental Review, 1981, 344–360). For example, our argument endorsed a transactional and not a main-effect model, nor was our aim to argue that early intervention has no important later consequences, nor did we dispute Consortium findings (I. Lazar & R. Darlington, Lasting effects after preschool, Washington, D.C.: DHEW Publication No. (OHDS) 79-30178, 1978). In fact, agreements with Seitz greatly exceed disagreements. Our skepticism about whether a behavioral treatment can have long-range effects without also having earlier ones remains. Long-term changes appear to result from ongoing long-term processes.     

Knowledge of one's own responding and the relation of such knowledge to learning: A developmental study

First-, third-, fifth-grade children, and college students (ages 6, 8, 10, and 19 years) acquired a paired-associate list under the study-test procedure to a one error-less trial criterion. In addition, as each pair was presented the individual indicated whether he/she had that pair correct on the immediately preceding trial (postdiction responses). The data were interpreted in terms of a discrimination-utilization hypothesis which postulates that individuals discriminate their own correct and incorrect responses on a given trial and use this information for distributing processing effort on the subsequent trial. Analyses involving the accuracy of postdiction responses, the relation of postdiction accuracy to acquisition, and the consideration of the acquisition data in terms of a two-stage model led to the conclusion that older children and adults may use the discrimination-utilization strategy but younger children tend not to use it, probably because of both mediation and production deficiencies.     

Critical evaluation of Guilford's structure-of-intellect theory

The structure-of-intellect (SI) theory is evaluated within a framework of considerations of capitalization on chance. This empirical problem is placed in a larger perspective of concern for the general conceptual value of the theory in the study of human intelligence. The factor analytic support for the theory is found to be lacking in several notable respects. At best the research intended to support the model must be considered exploratory. But the model has provided a useful scheme for test construction and for indicating interesting hypotheses about qualities of intellect. Even in this context, however, there are several problems with the theory. The theory provides only a static taxonomy and thus affords very limited possibilities for understanding developmental issues.     

Measuring women's interests using Holland's vocational classification

A Hebrew interest inventory for females in Israel, based on Holland's 1966 1973 vocational classification, was examined on 322 female pupils and 167 working females. Results showed that: (a) with the exception of the Conventional and Enterprising fields, subjects occupied in a field had their highest interest score in that field; (b) for all six interest fields, the highest interest score was the score of those who were engaged in that field; (c) in a smallest space analysis, the activities, competencies, and occupation sections of the interest inventory formed the Investigative, Realistic, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional circular arrangement; (d) a correlation of .38 between interest score and job satisfaction was found.     

Training cooperation in the Prisoner's Dilemma

Female Ss' choices in two types of mixed-motive game situations were used to select Ss who had predominantly Own Gain and Ss who had predominantly Relative Gain goals. On the basis of simple reward notions, it was predicted that the former but not the latter would change from competitive to cooperative responding in decomposed Prisoner's Dilemma game situations when interacting with a conditionally cooperative other. Corresponding yoked controls were not expected to become cooperative. The availability of social comparison with an outcome which was smaller than the mutually cooperative outcome but larger than the mutually competitive out-come was expected to lead Own Gain Ss to more rapid learning of cooperation but not to affect the responses of corresponding yoked controls or of Relative Gain Ss. A 2 × 2 × 2 × 5 factorial design was used in which the factors were goal orientation (Own Gain vs Relative Gain), strategy of the other (conditionally cooperative vs yoked control), the availability vs unavailability of the social comparison, and trials. The results strongly supported each of the expectations. The results were discussed in terms of how the operation of the reward mechanism would be affected by the operation of some other social psychological processes.     

On throwing out the baby with the bathwater: A reply to Black and Wilensky's evaluation of story grammars

A number of criticisms of a recent paper byare made. (1) In attempting to assess the observational adequacy of story grammars, they state that a context-free grammar cannot handle discontinuous elements; however, they do not show that such elements occur in the domain to which the grammars apply. Further, they do not present adequate evidence for their claim that there are acceptable stories not accounted for by existing grammars and that the grammars will accept nonstories such as procedures. (2) They state that it has been proven that under natural conditions children cannot learn transformational grammars, which is a misrepresentation of the learnability proofs which have been offered. (3) Most important, they take an unduly narrow approach to story understanding by claiming that people only understand story content and do not have knowledge of story structure which is useful in comprehension or memory. Counterevidence from the literature is cited which indicates that such knowledge is both useful and used, and a number of methods for assessing the psychological adequacy of structural models are discussed.     

On the relationship of data to theory: A reply to Ronis and Greenwald

Ronis and Greenwald (Dissonance theory revised again: Comment on the paper by Fazio, Zanna, and Cooper. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 15, 1979, 62–69) question our integrative formulation of dissonance and self-perception processes. We argue that our formulation provides an explanation of both the full range of results in the literature and our own experimental data, while neither dissonance nor self-perception theory can singly explain the existing data.