Controlling behavior experiments with BASIC on 6502-based microcomputers

A combination of high-level BASIC and transparent machine language routines forms an inexpensive (about $800), powerful, and easy-to-use microcomputer system for behavior research, based on the AIM-65. The interrupt-driven machine language routines keep track of real time, poll inputs, and are not typically modified for different experiments. Expandable machine language listings that support eight input lines and eight output lines on the AIM-65 are presented. The user-written BASIC program controls experiments and records data. BASIC programs for simple reinforcement schedules are used as examples. The software is readily transferred to other 6602-based microcomputers with BASIC.     

Limitations of high-level microcomputer languages in software designed for psychological experimentation

The execution times of microcomputer high-level-language commands can be long enough to be of concern in experiments in which precise timing is a consideration. The problems in developing standard BASIC timing routines are addressed. A technique for using the Model III TRS-80 real-time clock to calibrate BASIC timinig routines is described, and representative execution times of selected commands are reported. It is concluded that high-level languages are too slow and that execution times are too variable for critical timing in experiments. On the other hand, machine language programs can provide the needed precision and control.     

Experimental control and data acquisition with BASIC in the Apple computer

Laboratory experiments can be precisely controlled and data can be collected using the BASIC language on an Apple II+ computer with 48-KB RAM, disk drive, and two timer-I/O cards. The Apple BASIC makes machine language output control routines necessary, but quite convenient. By compiling BASIC, 50–100 inputs/sec are handled. Applications range from operant research and analog data collection to use of the Apple color display capability for stimulus presentations and response recording.     

Interfacing the PET/CBM with Coulbourn’s DynaPort for experimental control and data acquisition

Component changes to Coulbourn’s DynaPort that are necessary to ensure reliable data exchange with laboratory computers are discussed. Also provided and explained is a data communications package of BASIC and assembly language routines that will permit the PET/CBM to retrieve data from the DynaPort.     

Apple slide tachistoscope

We outline a BASIC program and subsidiary machine language timing routines that enable the Apple II series of computers to be employed as control devices for the tachistoscopic presentation of 35-mm slides and the collection of response latencies. The program is functional for experiments that require pictorial stimuli to be presented in up to three separate fields, with precise display times, precise interstimulus and intertriai intervals, and the collection of manual or vocal reaction times with millisecond accuracy. The major advantages of this system are that initial setup costs are substantially lower than those for other similar systems (e.g., Loftus, Gillispie. Tigre, & Nelson, 1984) and that user customization of the program may be accomplished by anyone possessing rudimentary knowledge of the BASIC programming language.     

Enhancing and degrading visual stimuli

Several assembly language routines are described for use in perceptual identification experiments on the Apple Macintosh computer with MS-BASIC. These routines are in a machine language library that may be accessed from BASIC. No knowledge of assembly language is required to use the statements. In one method of perceptual identification, stimulus clarification, a mask is gradually removed to reveal the stimulus behind it. The other method, stimulus materialization, displays the stimulus on the screen in a piecemeal fashion. Data are reported from a demonstration experiment in which prior exposure to words enabled subjects to identify those words more easily under impoverished conditions.     

Interval timing routines for the IBM PC/XT/AT microcomputer family

We describe a 1-msec software timer for measuring response latencies and controlling delays on the IBM PC/XT/AT without additional hardware requirements. To demonstrate the machine language routines, a short BASIC example program is included. In a simple experimental design, two different stimulus words are presented on screen and keypress response latencies are measured. Precise timing of stimulus presentation is accomplished by direct manipulation of the video controller. The principles of programming interrupt-controlled timing routines are addressed to be easily adapted to other problems or different programming languages.     

High-speed 2-D and 3-D animation on the IBM PC/XT/AT

This article describes programs for performing high-speed two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) animation on IBM PC/XT/AT and compatible machines that use the color/graphics adapter. Machine language routines interfaced through BASIC allow the user to store screen images in memory as they are created by user software and then to display the sequence of images at rates of up to 60 frames per second. A BASICA 3-D graphics editor that can be used with the routines permits the user to create wire-frame objects and to move them about rigidly in conceptual space while projecting them onto the display screen. These programs should find application in the study of visual perception and cognition.     

The Advanced Programmer's Reliance on Program Semantics: Evidence from some Cognitive Tasks

This study examined the effects of programming expertise on the semantic processing of computer programs. Experiment 1 showed that sensitivity to semantic changes (i.e. changes of actual program functions) in a BASIC program recognition task increased with programming experience. No such pattern was observed for surface changes (i.e. changes of program syntax without functional alterations). The magnitude of semantic priming for BASIC keywords in a lexical decision task also increased with expertise, but the pattern was not found with normal English priming. In Experiment 2, novice BASIC programmers detected more semantic changes than the controls (non-programmers) in BASIC programs; the reverse was found for surface changes. Both the controls and the novices detected more semantic than surface changes in English passages. The BASIC priming effect was found only with the novices whereas English priming was demonstrated with both the control and the novice participants. The present findings support the view that the programming expert relies particularly on semantic processing and such reliance is specific to programming activities. Practical implications of the present results are discussed.     

"Doctor, would you prescribe a pill to help me … ?" a national survey of physicians on using medicine for human enhancement

Using medical advances to enhance human athletic, aesthetic, and cognitive performance, rather than to treat disease, has been controversial. Little is known about physicians' experiences, views, and attitudes in this regard. We surveyed a national sample of physicians to determine how often they prescribe enhancements, their views on using medicine for enhancement, and whether they would be willing to prescribe a series of potential interventions that might be considered enhancements. We find that many physicians occasionally prescribe enhancements, but doctors hold nuanced and ambiguous views of these issues. Most express concerns about the potential effects of enhancements on social equity, yet many also believe specific enhancements that are safe and effective should be available but not covered by insurance. These apparently contradictory views might reflect inherent tensions between the values of equity and liberty, which could make crafting coherent social policies on medical enhancements challenging.     

Nanotechnology, Enhancement, and Human Nature

Is nanotechnology-based human enhancement morally permissible? One reason to question such enhancement stems from a concern for preserving our species. It is harder than one might think, however, to explain what could be wrong with altering our own species. One possibility is to turn to the environmental ethics literature. Perhaps some of the arguments for preserving other species can be applied against nanotechnology-based human enhancements that alter human nature. This paper critically examines the case for using two of the strongest arguments in the environmental ethics literature to show that nanotechnology-based human enhancements are impermissible: 1) Our species, like many other naturally occurring species, has aesthetic value. So, nanotechnology-based human enhancements that alter our species should be prohibited. 2) Our species plays valuable ecological roles. Nanotechnology-based human enhancements that alter our species are likely to interfere with our species playing our ecologically valuable roles. So, such enhancements should be prohibited. Neither argument, ultimately, proves conclusive. The paper concludes, however, that considerations underlying both arguments may show us that some nanotechnology-based human enhancements are impermissible.     

The influence of family routines on the resilience of low-income preschoolers

Using data from the Birth to Three Phase (1996–2001) of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, we investigated whether family routines at 14, 24, and 36 months play a role in the development of children's self-regulation and cognitive ability at 36 months. The moderating effects of child sex and race/ethnicity were also examined. Analyses revealed that routines do matter for child outcomes; concurrent routines appear to be critical for fostering self-regulation at 36 months, whereas early routines may be important for children's later cognitive ability. Second, the effects differed by child sex, with early routines having a stronger association for girls and concurrent routines having a stronger association for boys. Associations also varied by race/ethnicity such that routines appear to matter slightly more for African–American children than European–American and Hispanic children. Implications of these findings with respect to strength-based interventions for low-income preschoolers and their families are discussed.     

BAND AID: First steps toward an ICAI system

BANDAID is an intelligent computer-assisted instruction (ICAI) system designed for students learning to program in BASIC. The major thesis is that beginning students need a friendly environment, that is, one in which information about the language and the system are immediately available. The system accepts most commands without switching levels: BASIC lines are parsed on input with very specific error messages. An editor allows corrections of BASIC lines. The program can be traced while running, and an indefinite number of HELP comments can be written for the system. Without leaving the BASIC environment, the user can interact with the CMS monitor of the main machine running the program. Although no English language comments or questions are allowed, the system is modular so that additions of restrictive dialogue interaction and guided tutoring are possible. Illustrations are presented showing the capabilities of the system. The paper also presents some of the implementation details of BANDAID. A flexible system requires implementation in LISP, so examples of how the system programmer interacts with LISP during debugging are given. Although still incomplete, the system runs satisfactorily and can be used easily by beginning students and by psychologists interested in how people learn complex subjects.     

Random figures and mirror images with variable complexity,size, and orientation in Applesoft BASIC

An algorithm is described for generating random figures of variable complexity, and programs are described for generating libraries of the figures and their mirror images encoded as Applesoft BASIC shape tables. The figures may be displayed by a user program with variable size and orientation under program control. A validating experiment of the mental rotation type is also reported. The figures in that experiment produced results typical of other types of stimuli. In addition, overall reaction time, mental rotation speed, and practice effects were sensitive to the complexity variable.     

Accurate display timing using an enhanced BASIC for the Tandy Color Computer

The general suitability of the Tandy Color Computer as an inexpensive laboratory microcomputer is discussed. A program is described that adds several useful timing-related functions to the native BASIC in the Tandy Color Computer, thus allowing BASIC to be used for programming experiments involving tachistoscopic displays and reaction times.     

Stable Strategies for Personal Development

In her short story “Stable Strategies for Middle Management,” Eileen Gunn imagines a future in which Margaret, an office worker, seeks radical genetic enhancements intended to help her secure the middle-management job she wants. One source of the story’s tension and dark humor is dramatic irony: readers can see that the enhancements Margaret buys stand little chance of making her life go better for her; enhancing is, for Margaret, probably a prudential mistake. This paper argues that our positions in the real world are sufficiently similar to Margaret’s position in Gunn’s fictional world that we should take this story seriously as grounding an argument from analogy for the conclusion that radical genetic enhancements are, for us, probably a prudential mistake. The paper then defends this method. When the question at hand is one of speculative ethics, there is no method better fit to the purpose than argument from analogy to speculative fiction.     

Enhancement and the ethics of development

Much of the debate about the ethics of enhancement has proceeded according to two framing assumptions. The first is that although enhancement carries large social risks, the chief benefits of enhancement are to those who are enhanced (or their parents, in the case of enhancing the traits of children). The second is that, because we now understand the wrongs of state-driven eugenics, enhancements, at least in liberal societies, will be personal goods, chosen or not chosen in a market for enhancement services. This article argues that both framing assumptions must be rejected, once it is understood that some enhancements--especially those that are most likely to garner resources and become widespread--will increase human productivity. Once one appreciates the productivity-increasing potential of enhancements, one can begin to see that enhancement need not be primarily a zero sum affair, that the social costs of forgoing enhancements may be great, and that the state may well take an interest in facilitating biomedical enhancements, just as it does in facilitating education and other productivity-increasing traditional enhancements. Appreciating the productivity-increasing potential of enhancements also makes it possible to view the enhancement debate in a new light, through the lens of the ethics of development.     

PSYCHOBASIC: A BASIC dialect for the control of psychological experiments with the Commodore-64 and DELA interfacing

A modified version of BASIC for the control of psychological experiments is presented. PSYCHOBASIC runs on Commodore-64 computers with DELA interfacing, and it is based on Commodore BASIC. New commands control digital and analog input and output, centisecond timers, and counters. A control panel, which is displayed on the screen at all times, gives the status of many PSYCHOBASIC components. The interpreted nature of PSYCHOBASIC, as well as the control panel, makes the system easy to learn and use. The PSYCHOBASIC system is less expensive than equivalent systems for IBM-PC computers. A sample PSYCHOBASIC program is given.     

Parent routines for managing cystic fibrosis in children

Management of cystic fibrosis (CF) is burdensome and adherence is often suboptimal. Family routines are associated with adherence and health outcomes in other disease populations. Few studies have examined routines in CF. The study’s aim was to describe parent experiences developing and utilizing CF care routines. Semi-structured interviews with a convenience sample of 25 parents of children under 13 years of age with CF were analyzed using phenomenological analysis. Three domains emerged: parent experiences developing a routine, support systems facilitating maintenance of routines, and challenges with maintaining care routines. Parents found routines difficult to establish, used trial and error, encountered barriers, and found support helpful to manage care demands. Some parents chose to deviate from their routine. Providing anticipatory guidance to promote the use of care routines and strategies to manage potential challenges may facilitate use of routines and improve CF management.