The effects of contingent music and differential reinforcement on infantile colic

Infantile Colic is a behavioral syndrome characterized by paroxysms of excessive crying and increased motor activity, hypertonicity of the musculature, excessive flatus and erratic sleeping and feeding patterns. Ten to 40% of all infants are diagnosed as having Colic. The medical evidence to date does not justify any conclusions regarding the etiology or treatment of Colic. Typically, parents are advised to simply wait until Colic has run its course which is often 3-4 months. The behavioral program reported here was designed to increase behavior that competed with crying by reinforcing quiet alertness with music and parental attention. Concurrently, it attempted to inhibit excessive crying by a brief time-out procedure. A group of 8 infants diagnosed as Infant Colic were included in this study. The dependent variable, crying, was measured through direct observations based on hourly samples involving 30 observations of 2-min intervals. The independent variable consisted of a behavioral treatment package. A within-S reversal design was used to assess the functional properties of the treatment. The results show that across all 8 infants the introduction of the treatment package led to a substantial decrease in excessive crying of about 75% of the initial baseline. Further, a functional relationship was identified between the treatment and excessive crying behavior: crying decreased when the treatment was initially introduced, it resumed when the treatment was withdrawn and decreased again when the treatment was reinstated.     

The comparative effectiveness of group and individually contingent free time with inner-city junior high school students

A major purpose of the study was to assess the relative effects of group versus individually contingent free time in modifying student behaviors. Other purposes were to determine the effectiveness of well-planned lesson activities and tokens without back-up reinforcers. Eight students in an inner-city seventh-grade class of 32 blacks served as subjects. Well-organized lesson activities and success feedback via tokens did not produce high levels of desirable behavior. In contrast, group and individually contingent free time produced substantially higher levels of appropriate behavior than did the baseline conditions. The group reinforcement procedure appeared to be slightly more effective than individual reinforcement.     

Psychological and psychophysiological effects of music intensity and lyrics on simulated urban driving

The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of musical characteristics (i.e., presence of lyrics and loudness) in the context of simulated urban driving. Previous work has seldom isolated musical characteristics and examined these both singularly and interactively. We investigated the potentially distracting effects of processing lyrics through exposing young drivers to the same piece of music with/without lyrics and at different sound intensities (60 dBA [soft] and 75 dBA [loud]) using a counterbalanced, within-subjects design (N = 34; M_age = 22.2 years, SD = 2.0 years). Six simulator conditions were included that comprised low-intensity music with/without lyrics, high-intensity music with/without lyrics, plus two controls – ambient in-car noise and spoken lyrics. Between-subjects variables of driving style (defensive vs. assertive) and sex (women vs. men) were explored. A key finding was that the no lyrics/soft condition yielded lower affective arousal scores when compared to the other music conditions. There was no main effect of condition for HRV data (SDNN and RMSSD). Exploratory analyses showed that, for assertive drivers, NASA-TLX Performance scores were lower in the no lyrics/soft condition compared to the lyrics/loud condition. Moreover, women exhibited higher mean heart rate than men in the presence of lyrics. Although some differences emerged in subjective outcomes, these were not replicated in HRV, which was used as an objective index of emotionality. Drivers should consider the use of soft, non-lyrical music to optimise their affective state during urban driving.     

The effects of different intensity levels of background noise on dichotic listening to consonant-vowel syllables

It has previously been shown that the right ear advantage in dichotic listening to consonant-vowel syllables is affected if a background noise is presented at the same time as the dichotic stimuli. What is not known is, however, if there is also an effect of varying the intensity level of the background noise. We therefore presented conversation or traffic noise background noise simultaneously with the dichotic syllable stimuli to healthy adult subjects. The intensity of the background noises varied between 50-65 dB in steps of 5 dB. The results showed that the right ear correct reports decreased, while left ear correct reports increased as a consequence of increasing background noise intensity. The effects were also stronger for the right ear, and for the traffic background noise condition, particularly at the two highest intensity levels. The results are discussed in terms of alertness and attentional mechanisms.     

The impact of peer relations on academic progress in junior high

The purpose of this study is to examine whether peer relations within classrooms were related to students' academic progress, and if so, whether this can be explained by students' relatedness and engagement, in line with Connell and Wellborn's self-system model. We analyzed data of 18,735 students in 796 school classes in Dutch junior high schools, using multilevel analysis. Academic progress, conceptualized as regular promotion to the next year versus grade retention, moving upward, and moving downward in the track system, was measured at the time of transition between Grades 1 and 2 (equivalent to US Grades 7 and 8). The results indicated that students who were accepted by their peers had lower probabilities to retain a grade or to move downward in the track system. Although peer acceptance was associated with relatedness and engagement, these variables did not explain why peer acceptance was associated to academic progress. Furthermore, peer acceptance and relatedness were more strongly related in classes with more negative class climates.     

The effects of special reading time in Spanish on the reading abilities and attitudes of Hispanic junior high school students

The purpose of this study is to determine whether providing special reading time with a wide variety of reading materials in Spanish affects the reading abilities, reading attitudes and academic self-concepts of Hispanic junior high school students. Common reading measures in both English and Spanish, and related attitude tests, were given to 400 experimentally accessible Hispanic students. On most of the measures, the difference between the E and C groups was not statistically significant. On the 4 measures for which significance (=0.10) was attained (and on the other tests not achieving statistical significance) there was a trend for the E group to perform better on the Spanish reading tests and the C group to do better on the English reading tests. Differences on the reading attitude and academic self-concept tests did not approach statistical significance. The pattern of results was consistent for both sexes, and for students who were, and who were not, taking a Spanish language course, and for students whose teachers taught in both the E and C situations. E teachers who were conscientious in implementing the treatment tended to have significantly greater gains in both English and Spanish reading achievement. Within the E group gains in English and Spanish reading abilities were positively correlated.The authors wish to acknowledge and express gratitude to the administrators and teachers in the Tempe Elementary School District, Tempe, Arizona, who contributed much time and effort to this study; to the Division of Bilingual Education, Arizona Department of Education; and to the Department of Educational Technology and Library Science, Arizona State University, which made this study possible.     

Arousal and the Bakan vigilance task: The effects of noise intensity and the presence of others

The joint effects of social setting and loud noise on task performance are examined. In a modified version of the Bakan vigilance task subjects were required to detect a sequence of two identical even digits and to report the two digits preceding the signal. Two types of acoustic environment were compared: loud noise at 90 dBC and quiet noise at 60 dBC. Two types of social setting were employed: “pair” where two subjects worked in the same room on similar tasks, and “single” where a subject performed the task alone. The effects of noise and the presence of another did not interact. Loud noise increased the speed of responses to signals early in the task. This effect is attributed to noise-induced arousal. There was a higher incidence of recall errors in pre-signal digits when subjects were in pairs. This effect is attributed to distraction. This research was part of a series of studies sponsored by the Social Science Research Council (Grant HR 5563 awarded to Dr. A.J. Chapman and Dr. D.M. Jones).     

The effects of unvocalized music on short-term memory

The studies reported here investigated the role of background music in verbal processing. The experiment was a partial replication of Salame and Baddeley (1989), where the effect of music on the recall of digits, was examined, but included an additional key condition where participants heard instrumental music without the words usually associated with it. In this case we used nursery rhymes. In addition, articulatory suppression was manipulated as a tool to look at the role of working memory in the task. The relationship between long-term memory and working memory was further explored by using an implicit memory task to examine verbal memory effects for words associated with the music but not actually heard. The results indicated that background, instrumental music, long-associated with words, significantly impairs concurrent verbal processing. These long-term memory effects on working memory were, however, not associated with implicit memory effects, and no priming was observed.     

The effects of unvocalized music on short-term memory

The studies reported here investigated the role of background music in verbal processing. The experiment was a partial replication of Salame and Baddeley (1989), where the effect of music on the recall of digits, was examined, but included an additional key condition where participants heard instrumental music without the words usually associated with it. In this case we used nursery rhymes. In addition, articulatory suppression was manipulated as a tool to look at the role of working memory in the task. The relationship between long-term memory and working memory was further explored by using an implicit memory task to examine verbal memory effects for words associated with the music but not actually heard. The results indicated that background, instrumental music, long-associated with words, significantly impairs concurrent verbal processing. These long-term memory effects on working memory were, however, not associated with implicit memory effects, and no priming was observed.     

Verbal contingent stimulation of stuttering in laboratory and home settings

The effect of verbal contingent stimulation for stuttering behaviors was examined during changes of stimulus delivery mode and experimental setting. In Experiment I, contingent stimuli were delivered in the laboratory setting with the experimenter and subject in a face-to-face arrangement versus presentations by the experimenter from a control room via a headset arrangement. In Experiment II, contingent stimulation of stuttering was examined in the laboratory and home setting. Findings revealed that stuttering frequency was reduced in all conditions of both experiments. However, the only significant reductions occurred under the headset delivery conditions in the laboratory setting.     

The effects of low and high intensity exercise on emotions,stress and effort

Objectives: To monitor the effects of exercise intensity on regular exercisers' emotions, stress and effort.Design: A two-period crossover design was used in each of two within-subjects field experiments.Methods: Participants were two different groups of regularly exercising male students. Each group exercised using their usual exercise mode in their usual exercise environment. Group 1 (n=38) ran 5.0 km at low and high intensities, Group 2 (n=36) ran 1.7 km at low and high intensities. The analysis of results also examined differences between fast and slow runners.Results: Doubly multivariate (DM) analysis was used in the statistical analysis which indicated that significant changes occurred in pleasant and unpleasant emotions pre- to post-running 5.0 km and 1.7 km. No significant results between high and low running intensities were obtained for the 5.0 km distance. For exercisers running 1.7 km, significant differences between high and low intensity running were found for bodily stress and effort. Several significant findings for pleasant emotions were also obtained between fast and slow runners pre- to post-exercise.Conclusions: The atheoretical nature of some previous studies was avoided by utilising reversal theory's broad range of pleasant and unpleasant emotions as the basis for measurement and analysis. The results show that, for regular exercisers, exercise can lead to improved positive affect and support findings obtained in other studies.     

The effects of nodality on the formation of equivalence classes

A four-member equivalence class (A → B → C → D) can be formed by training AB, BC, and CD. The nodal stimuli, B and C, mediate all of the derivative (transitive and equivalence) relations in the class. The derivative relations AC, CA, BD, and DB are separated by one node, whereas AD and DA are separated by two nodes. How do the number of nodes that separate the stimuli in a derivative relation influence the induction of stimulus control exerted by that relation? Seven college students learned two four-member classes made up of nonsense syllables. After training, all derivative relations were presented repeatedly without informative feedback. Stimulus control exerted by each derivative relation was assessed concurrently. For the 7 subjects, control exerted by the derivative relations increased gradually with repeated presentations. With 6 of the 7 subjects, the one-node relations exerted more control than the two-node relations during the process. However, the disparity between the one- and two-node relations decreased with repeated presentations. Eventually, all derivative relations exerted complete control. The control exerted by derivative relations during induction was inversely related to the number of nodes separating the terms in the derivative relations. These results demonstrate that nodal distance is a determinant of the relatedness of stimuli in equivalence classes. The findings are discussed in terms of remote association, semantic memory networks, and the study of transitive inference.     

The effects of response contingent reinforcement and response contingent punishment upon the frequency of stuttered verbal behavior

Twelve adult subjects, 4 in each experimental condition, were exposed to 2 punishment contingencies and 1 punishment and reinforcement combined contingency, under a procedure of stimulus control. Results indicated all 3 conditions to be equally effective in the reduction of stuttering frequency. Spontaneous recovery during stimulus control segments was not observed following any of the three experimental contingencies. Implications for research and therapy are discussed.     

Disruptive effects of contingent food on high-probability behavior

The delivery of food contingent on 10 s of consecutive toy engagement resulted in a decrease in engagement and a corresponding increase in other responses that had been previously reinforced with food. Similar effects were not observed when tokens exchangeable for the same food were delivered, suggesting that engagement was disrupted by the contingent provision of the food, which may have functioned as a discriminative stimulus that occasioned competing responses.     

The effect of background music and noise on the cognitive test performance of introverts and extraverts

Previous research has found that the performance of introverts on complex cognitive tasks is more negatively affected by distracters, e.g. music and background noise, than the performance of extraverts. The present study extends previous research by examining whether or not background noise would prove to be as distracting as music. In the presence of silence, background UK garage music and background noise, 118 female secondary school students carried out three cognitive tests. It was predicted that introverts would do less well on all of the tasks than extraverts in the presence of music and noise but in silence performance would be the same. A significant interaction was found on all three of the tasks. It was also predicted that there would be a main effect of background sound: Performance would be worse in the presence of music and noise than silence. Results confirmed this prediction with one exception. This study also found a positive correlation between extraversion and intelligence, the implications of which are also discussed. The findings support the Eysenckian hypothesis of the difference in optimum cortical arousal in introverts and extraverts. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Anchoring effects in music: The resolution of dissonance

Most pieces of music induce in the listener a sense that some pitches sound consonant, stable, or final, while others sound more dissonant, unstable, or transient. A psychological account of the intuition that the dissonance of an unstable tone is sometimes “resolved” by following it by a stable tone that is close in pitch is provided. The perceived hierarchy differentiating tones on the basis of stability may be construed as a cognitive schema, which facilitates the encoding of some tones relative to others. A cognitive principle, melodic anchoring, which specifies the ordered relationships (between tones) that govern (i) the activation of one tonal schema over another and (ii) the assimilation or anchoring of unstable tones to the tonal schema once it has been activated is presented. In a forcedchoice paradigm, the principle is invoked to predict which chord is perceived to “underlie” a sequence that is tonally ambiguous in all respects except the ordered relationships between its tones. In a same-different task, subjects were presented with a pair of tonal sequences. When a stable tone was replaced by an unstable tone, more confusions occurred when the latter was anchored than when it was not. The accuracy advantage when the unstable tone was in the comparison as opposed to the standard sequence was lower when the unstable tone was anchored than when it was not. Finally, subjects rated how well a sequence and a chord sounded together. Melodies that contained an unstable tone were given higher ratings when the unstable tone was anchored than when it was not. Each paradigm was used to demonstrate first immediate and then delayed anchoring.