Mediators of the effects of magnitude of reinforcement

The characteristics of mediational mechanisms based upon magnitude of reinforcement were investigated using rats. In two experiments, two-choice discriminations were trained in which selections of one lever in one external stimulus and a second lever in another external stimulus were reinforced with food. In the first experiment, it was found that the discrimination was acquired more rapidly when one choice was reinforced with a large number of food pellets and the other with a smaller number of pellets than when other configurations of reinforcement magnitude were provided. In the second experiment, reversal of a two-choice discrimination was found to be facilitated by prior exposure of the animals to the reversed relationships between the external stimuli and magnitudes of reinforcement. These results were consistent with predictions from a stimulus or associative view of anticipatory processes based upon magnitude of reinforcement.     

Validation of three measures of fear of success

Three new instruments designed to measure fear of success are the Horner, Tresemer, Berens, and Watson empirically derived fantasy-based scoring system, the Pappo Fear of Success Questionnaire (FOS) and the Zuckerman and Allison Fear of Success Scale (FOSS). In the absence of evidence that scores on these instruments are positively correlated or that the instruments do not measure fear of failure, correlations were calculated between these three instruments and between these instruments and the Alpert-Haber Debilitating Anxiety Scale (DAS). It was found that only the FOS and FOSS fear of success instruments were correlated positively and significantly. However, all three fear of success instruments were correlated positively at a significant level with the DAS.     

Development of perception of the unity of musical events

Infants' and young children's perception of the unity of musical events was investigated in three studies. In the first two, children watched video displays of two musicians playing different musical instruments side by side in synchrony, and heard a soundtrack in synchrony with both instruments but specific to one. The children judged which instrument was producing the music they heard. Three- to 4-year-olds differentiated instruments from different families but not instruments from the same family. Five- to 7-year-olds additionally differentiated instrument pairs differing in size and pitch range (e.g., violin, cello). In the third study, infants were presented some of the same musical events in order to assess whether specific experience with the instruments is necessary for perceiving the unity of musical events. Looking times revealed that 7- to 9-month-olds detected the correspondence of the sight and sound of some musical instruments. Specific experience with a variety of instruments is evidently not necessary for detecting correspondences of audible and visible properties and for differentiating instruments from different families.     

Effects of sex of listener and of stutterer on ratings of stuttering speakers

Attitudinal surveys relating to stutterers show conflicting evidence as to how stutterers are perceived. Studies have not addressed the question of possible sex differences as a determining variable in the rating of stuttering speakers. This study found a significant effect of the sex of the rater, with male subjects rating stuttering speakers less favorably on a number of personality dimensions than female raters.     

Method of micro-analysis of sound films of behavior

Initial viewings of sound films of human behavior resulted in the problem of how to divide the seemingly continuous flow of that behavior. This led to the development of methods and instrumentation that would permit variable-contrast scanning of the processes in order to detect points and criteria of segmentation. Since both speech and body motion are to be studied, instruments that would permit the analysis of each at a commensurate level were required. The instruments are primarily combinations of commercially available equipment that is relatively inexpensive yet reliable. These instruments, their use, and some of the preliminary observations are presented.     

The requirements of truth and of justification of premisses

Summary The article attempts to give an answer to the question: why for the acceptance of a statementz ₂ implied by another,z ₁, it is required not only thatz ₁ be true but also justified? The application in a given case of the rule allowing to accept a statement implied by another true one is not possible without establishing in an appropriate manner that the statement is true. Practically, therefore, we have to rely in the conditions for the acceptance of a statementz ₂ implied by anotherz ₁ on the manner of acceptance ofz ₁. If we require that this manner of acceptance should guarantee the truth ofz ₁, no special requirement of the truth ofz ₁ is necessary. If the acceptance ofz ₂ implied byz ₁ depends onz ₁ being accepted in a manner which does not ensure the truth ofz ₁ (e. g. by induction), then we have to give up the requirement of the truth ofz ₁. At most, we may prohibit the acceptance ofz ₂ implied byz ₁, inductively justified, if the evidence for the negation ofz ₁ is better than the inductive one forz ₁.     

Accuracy of knowledge of family history of cardiovascular disorders

There has been increased interest in the use of familial trends in physical and psychological disorders for identifying individuals at risk; research on individuals who have relatives with certain health problems may contribute to knowledge of etiology. In addition, accurate family health information may allow targeting of prevention and early detection programs to minimize cost and maximize utility. This study compared 292 undergraduates' reports of their parents' and grandparents' histories of six medical disorders with the parents' reports. Results showed moderate agreement concerning the parents' health, but substantial disagreement concerning the grandparents' health. Demographic and personality variables did not predict accuracy of students' reports of parental hypertension. Among the disorders, differences in agreement of reporting arose; the most salient condition, heart attack, had the highest agreement for both parents and grandparents. These results suggested that caution is necessary in evaluating family health information from subjects in research and from target individuals in prevention programs. This problem is especially serious for disorders such as hypertension, which is less salient and which also shows age-related penetrance, with the disorder often not evident until the 5th or 6th decade of life.     

亚健康研究进展述评

从亚健康的概念范畴、病因学、症状学、检测和评估、流行病学等角度系统分析了亚健康的研究现状,检讨了在其研究过程中的不足,探索了相应的对策,指出亚健康作为一门新兴学科和一个重要领域,在其学科化建设中的缺憾,以及今后的建构重点。     

Determinants of infants' understanding of supporting relations: amount of contact versus position of the center of gravity

This study investigated the developmental age at which infants recognize about supporting relations between objects and what information they use to judge whether a supported object will fall down or not. Four kinds of events were used. All events involved support in relation of two boxes, which differed in the amount of contact between objects and the amount of discrepancy between the supported object's position and its most balanced position. 115 infants (3 to 13 mo.) saw 4 events which differed on these two variables. Infants 10 months and older looked longer at the event in which the center of a supported box was just outside of the edge of a supporting box, that is, a support relation in which it was difficult to anticipate whether the box would fall down or not. Analysis suggested that infants' attention is not determined by only one simple stimulus variable but by more complicated variables (such as uncertainty of prediction).     

Multi-Agent neurocognitive models of semantics of spatial localization of events

The purpose of the study is to develop a learning system for internal representation of the events localization space to realize orientation and navigation of autonomous mobile systems. The task of the research is the development of simulation models of the semantics of the event localization space based on multi-agent neurocognitive architectures. The paper proves that the multi-agent neurocognitive architecture is an effective formalism for describing the semantics of the spatial localization of events. Main theoretical foundations have been developed for the simulation of spatial relations using the so-called multi-agent facts, consisting of software agents-concepts, reflecting semantic categories corresponding to parts of speech. It is shown that locative software agents that describe the spatial location of objects and events, forming homogeneous connections, compose the so-called field locations. The latter describes a holistic view of the intellectual agent about the environment. The paper defines conceptual foundations of multi-agent modeling of the semantics of subjective reflexive mapping of the interaction between real objects, space and time.     

Evolution of concepts of stress

This essay describes the evolution of stress as a medical scientific idea. Claude Bernard, Walter B. Cannon and Hans Selye provided key founding concepts for the current view. Bernard introduced the idea of the internal environment bathing cells - the milieu intérieur - maintained by continual compensatory changes of bodily functions. Cannon coined the word, "homeostasis," referring to a set of acceptable ranges of values for internal variables. Cannon taught that threats to homeostasis evoke activation of the sympathoadrenal system as a functional unit. Selye defined stress as a state characterized by a uniform response pattern, regardless of the particular stressor, that could lead to long-term pathologic changes. "Allostasis" was introduced as a concept in recognition that there is no single ideal set of steady-state conditions in life; instead, setpoints and other response criteria change continuously. Stress is now viewed neither as a perturbation nor a stereotyped response pattern but as a condition characterized by a perceived discrepancy between information about a monitored variable and criteria for eliciting patterned effector responses. Different stressors elicit different patterns of activation of the sympathetic nervous, adrenomedullary hormonal, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical and other effectors, closing negative feedback loops. This systems concept of stress yields predictions that observation or experimentation can test and that are applicable to normal physiology and to a variety of acute and chronic disorders.     

Effects of repetition of display components on the latency of multiple reports of congruence

Subjects gave grouped multiple reports of the congruence of each member of arrays of one, two or three word-shape or shape-shape pairs, and a measure was taken of the time elapsing between onset of the array and initiation of a multiple yes/no report. Double and triple reports were initiated less rapidly than single reports. Replicated arrays, involving repetition of a display pair, gave similar response times for double and triple reports, and were classified faster than non-replicated arrays requiring the same over report. In the case of non-replicated arrays triple reports were initiated less rapidly than double reports. Both classes of array showed substantial effects for congruence, giving slow response times where all pairs in the array were incongruent or where the lefthand or first reported display was incongruent.     

《周易正义》:"无本论"向"气本论"转化的桥梁

《周易正义》是唐朝孔颖达为魏、晋时王弼、韩康伯《周易注》所作的疏,其总结并发展了汉易,促 进了汉易向宋易的转化。《周易正义》并成为王弼“无本论”向张载“气本论”转化的桥梁与中间环节。孔 颖达从“无本论”向张载“气本论”转化的主要标志,是他对“太虚”概念的阐发和对阴阳二气的阐释。     

Tests of the generality of the principle of encoding specificity

Two empirical tests of the principle of encoding specificity are reported. In Experiment I, the normative strength of the cues presented on the input and on the recall trial was varied factorially. To lessen the emphasis on strictly associative learning, only half the items were cued in each phase of the study-recall cycle. Recall was higher when the cues remained the same than when they changed. However, regardless of the condition of input cuing, strong output cues were substantially more effective than weak ones. In Experiment II, the to-be-remembered words were shown in the presence of weak cues on the input trial. Recognition in the context of strong extralist cues was compared with recall to the original input cues. On the test of cued recognition, the target words were either generated by the subjects as free associates or presented to them as items on a test constructed by the experimenter. Contrary to previous findings, recall was not found to be superior to recognition. The phenomena of cue-dependent forgetting that have been interpreted as evidence for the principle of encoding specificity appear to have limited generality.     

A reanalysis of two scales of tolerance of ambiguity

Important reviews of the tolerance of ambiguity literature have shown that the concept has become overextended and its elements remain unsupported by the confused data collected, and scales with inadequate psychometric performance have been used. In the present study 631 subjects responded to Budner's (1962) test of Intolerance of Ambiguity and MacDonald's (1970) revision of Rydell and Rosen's (1966) Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale. These scales were chosen because they seemed somewhat less suspect than others. Tests of other personality dimensions which the literature reviews suggested were likely correlates of intolerance of ambiguity were also included. Initial results were uneven and inconclusive. After using item analysis to reduce the tests, more logical and consistent results were obtained. These help to clarify the concept, differentiating sharply between its supposed primary and secondary elements. Three studies in which the reduced tests were used with desirable results are reported.     

The futility of explicit knowledge of a sequence of tasks

In an experiment that combined the task-shifting methodology with a serial reaction-time task, three groups of participants had to shift among a set of four tasks that were arranged in regular sequences of length eight. Two groups of participants were given explicit knowledge about the sequence of tasks. To ensure that the knowledge of the sequence was referred to in each trial, one group was asked to verbalise the forthcoming task (verbalisation group), whereas the other group had to detect trials that deviated from the learned sequence (detection group). Participants of a control group were given no information about the sequence of tasks. In addition, for all experimental groups in half of the blocks of trials external precues were presented which indicated the forthcoming task. The control group exhibited substantial task-shifting costs that were greatly reduced by the presentation of precues. Participants of the explicit-knowledge groups showed no indication that explicit knowledge resulted in advance preparation of the forthcoming task. In addition, the effect of the precues depended on the secondary task that had to be performed on the basis of explicit knowledge. Whereas for the detection group precues reduced shift costs to the same degree as for the control group, the verbalisation group showed no precueing benefits at all.     

施动感双层结构的发展

施动感是个体在自主运动过程中对自身行为产生的主体性体验,揭示其发展过程对了解自我意识的形成具有重要意义。三阶段模式全面概括了施动感的发展过程。婴儿形成动作预测、建立动作-效果联结以及与养育者良好的人际互动对施动感的发展起着重要作用。未来施动感发展研究应从多种施动感生成理论出发,改进婴幼儿施动感的测量范式,探索施动感发展与社会认知发展、自闭症症状的关联。