Marking, memory and superstition in the pigeon

Learning is generally poor if reinforcement is delayed, but it improves substantially if a brief stimulus is presented immediately after the response to be learned. The marking hypothesis suggests that the unexpected stimulus triggers a backward memory search, which effectively marks the preceding response in memory, making it more likely that it will be recalled when food is presented. In the present study, pigeons were occasionally reinforced after a 10-sec delay for pecking a split key. Reinforcement was presented regardless of which side was pecked, but for one group a marker followed a peck to the left half of the key during the delay preceding food, and for the other group a peck to the right. On non food trials these contingencies were reversed. Subjects developed a significant preference for the side marked on food trials, despite the absence of any contingency between responding to this side and food. In addition to providing further support for the marking hypothesis, these results favour theories of reinforcement emphasizing contiguity rather than contingency. Contiguity, however, needs to be interpreted within a memory framework. What is crucial is the contiguity of events within working memory, rather than in the real world.     

Old dog,new tricks: Age differences in dog personality traits,associations with human personality traits,and links to important outcomes

Work examining dog personality is relatively new, so the degree to which dog personality differs by age, predicts important dog outcomes, and is correlated with human personality is unclear. In a sample of 1681 dogs (M_age = 6.44 years, SD = 3.82; 46.2% Female; 50% purebred) and their owners, older dogs were less active/excitable compared to younger dogs. Aggression toward people, responsiveness to training, and aggression toward other animals were highest among 6–8 year old dogs. Dog personality was associated with important dog outcomes—chronic health conditions, biting history, and human-dog relationships. We build on previous research by examining demographic differences in dog personality and associations between dog personality and outcomes for both dogs and humans.     

Walking,eating, sleeping. Rhythm analysis of human/dog intimacy

This article argues that human/dog co-habitation and the interspecies routines of walking, eating, sleeping and the emotions they create, can be fruitfully analyzed through the conceptual frame built from ‘intimacy’ and ‘rhythm’. The rhythmic analytical approach to interspecies routines, including breaks in them and the emotions these breaks create, contributes with a spatio-temporal understanding of human/animal intimacy. As intimacy is inherently a spatial phenomenon, it creates places. Intimate social relations also transform and get transformed by places. ‘Home’ is the typical example, where the iconic emplaced attachment of intimacy with the family is manifested. But the place itself does not create intimacy; instead, it is situationally formed through relations between, in this case, interspecies practices and space. By theorizing auto-ethnographical observations of everyday human/dog routines, the article explores intimacy as a particular social form. Building on recent developments in cultural geography in the field of ‘rhythm analysis,’ it is argued that while intimacy is performed in everyday life, it is foremost produced though 'arrhythmia,' in the moments when the routines are broken.     

Cardiac and respiratory conditioning, differentiation, and extinction in the pigeon

Paired light and foot shock in 12 pigeons rapidly developed acceleratory heart and respiratory conditioned responses. Sensitization and stimulus control birds did not condition. When a different colored stimulus light that was not reinforced was mixed in a random series with the reinforced light, rapid differentiation of both heart and respiratory responses occurred. In most cases neither heart nor respiratory conditioned responses could be extinguished by 100 non-reinforced presentations of the conditioned stimulus.     

Sizing up physical activity: The relationships between dog characteristics,dog owners' motivations,and dog walking

ObjectiveRegular dog walking is likely a symbiotic relationship between the needs of the dog and its owner. This relationship has seen limited attention. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between dog characteristics, dog owners' perceptions of responsibility and attachment to their dogs, and the qualities of dog owner exercise motivations (self-determined regulations) with dog walking behavior.MethodParticipants were 228 adult dog owners who completed an online survey that included demographics, dog walking, dog responsibility/attachment and exercise regulations.ResultsUsing mediation procedures, the results showed that the owner's sense of dog walking responsibility and walking relationship was completely mediated by identified (indirect β = .06; bootstrapped lower CI = .02, bootstrapped higher CI = .17) and intrinsic (β = .05; bootstrapped lower CI = .01, bootstrapped higher CI = .15) regulations but these regulations could not account for substantial variance in the dog-related factors. Instead, intrinsic regulation (β = .27), identified regulation (β = .20), dog size (β = .22), and energy level of the dog (β = .13) all contributed to explain 30% of walking behavior.ConclusionA sense of responsibility to walk the dog, generally the most reliable correlate in past dog walking research, appears to align with more self-determined forms of motivation than controlled. The findings, however, support the premise that dog walking behavior may be a complex mix of human and dog-related factors. This dog and owner relationship may need consideration for successful future dog walking promotion initiatives.     

Attack-target attributes and pigeon aggression: Accessibility,vocalization, and body movements

Characteristics of the attack-target in laboratory tests appear to greatly influence the tendency for aggression to be initiated, maintained, and stopped. To address this question, accessibility, target movement, and vocalization among pigeon conspecifics were investigated in two different aggression tests: 1) paired aggression (PA); and 2) schedule-induced aggression (SI). In the PA test, dominant and subordinate roles formed quickly, and soon aggression episodes started to decline. In part, the subordinate's yielding behavior appeared to discourage attack. The significance of the target bird's behavior on attack frequency was borne out by the finding in the SI test that pigeons attacked a shielded, live, active target more often than a passive one. Furthermore, using a specially constructed stuffed pigeon in the SI test, results indicated that programmed, combined aggressive vocalization and body movement evoked most attacks with the VT schedule, vocalization alone evoked the next highest number of attacks, body movement alone the third most, and combined silence and immobility the least attacks. These findings provide a basis for explaining some past reported results associated with target features and a means for selecting other target features for future study.     

Merton as Harvard sociologist: Engagement,thematic continuities,and institutional linkages

In this paper I explore the significance of the initial decade of Robert K. Merton's graduate and professional career, from 1931, when he entered the new doctoral program in sociology at Harvard, until 1939, when he joined the Department of Sociology at Tulane University as an associate professor and acting chairperson. Drawing on archival sources, as well as the professional literature, I examine how Merton engaged the exceptionally rich, interdisciplinary context of Harvard in the 1930s, including both interpersonal networks and diverse intellectual perspectives. In particular, I identify connections between Merton's early writing, “oral publications” and teaching, and three locally developed and dominant paradigms of sociology. Following an assessment of the influence of Merton's works published from 1934 to 1939, I trace continuities between Merton's achievements at Harvard and his subsequent teaching and research at Tulane and Columbia. I conclude that a fuller appreciation of Merton's “less noticed” decade in Cambridge is indispensable for understanding his overall career, and that it clarifies linkages across sociological work at three universities in the mid‐twentieth century. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Foraging in a simulated natural environment: There's a rat loose in the lab

Rats were required to earn their food in a large room having nine boxes placed in it, each of which contained food buried in sand. In different phases of the experiment the amount of time allowed for foraging, the amount of food available in each food patch, and the location of the different available amounts were varied. The rats exhaustively sampled all patches each session but seemed to have fairly strong preferences for certain locations over others. If position preferences were for patches containing small amounts of food, the sensitivity to amount available was increased so that when location was compensated for, a pattern of optimal foraging was evident. The importance of environmental constraints in producing optimal behavior and the relation of the observed behavior to laboratory findings are discussed.     

Carnap,Tarski, and Quine at Harvard: Conversations on Logic,Mathematics, and Science

This paper is both a survey and a review of the current state of the debate concerning verisimilitude. As a survey it is intended for the interested outsider who wants both easy access to and some comparison between the respective approaches. As a review it covers the first three books on the topic: those of Oddie. Niiniluoto and Kuipers.     

Becoming the Harvard man: person-environment fit, personality development, and academic success

The continuity and change of the needs and evaluations of the college environment and person-environment fit (PE fit) with the college environment were studied in a 4-year longitudinal study of students (N = 191). Perceptions of the environment changed more dramatically than corresponding self-perceived needs. PE fit demonstrated moderate levels of consistency over the 4-year span, but no significant increases in mean levels were found over time. Antecedents to PE fit in the college environment included both intelligence and openness to experience. Outcomes associated with PE fit included changes in personality traits linked to openness to experience and higher academic achievement. The implications of the findings for personality development and the relationship of PE fit to successful outcomes are discussed.     

Rat lab for fun and profit

Many applied behavior analysts have little or no personal exposure to the basic animal experimentation that provided the foundation for applied behavior analysis. However, personal experience in the animal laboratory provides many benefits to students of applied behavior analysis. Animal laboratory experience provides convincing, vivid illustrations of basic principles of learning and facilitates generalization and application of the basic principles. The laboratory experience also teaches interpersonal skills that may be important in future employment in applied fields. The animal laboratory can also provide public relations opportunities, especially with university-sponsored events such as the Rat Olympics. These points, as well as concerns about the resources needed for an animal laboratory and compliance with federal animal-use guidelines, are addressed. It is concluded that the animal laboratory offers many educational profits to students while making learning fun for a reasonable outlay of effort and resources.     

The discrimination of human odour by the dog

In reply to a suggestion made by Galton in 1875, the ability of dogs to discriminate between the odour of human twins was investigated. In a matching-to-sample simultaneous discrimination task, dogs were tested on their ability to discriminate odours from twins differing only in genetic relatedness or only in environmental factors, particularly diet, or from twins identical in both genetic relatedness and environmental factors. Dogs could discriminate between the odours from twins who differed only in environmental factors and between the odours of twins who differed only in genetic relatedness. However, they were unable to discriminate between odours produced by infant twins identical in both genetic relatedness and environmental factors. Thus twins may be discriminated by dogs as long as they differ in genetic relatedness or environmental factors. The possible source of discriminable odours is discussed and how the effects of genes and environment are mediated considered.     

Delayed signal detection, differential reinforcement, and short-term memory in the pigeon.

In two discrete-trial delayed-detection experiments, six pigeons were trained on dependent concurrent variable-interval schedules. Pecking a red side key was reinforced when the brighter of two white lights (S1) had been presented on the center key, and pecking a green side key was reinforced when the duller of two white lights (S2) had been presented on the center key. Incorrect responses were red side-key pecks following S2 presentations and green side-key pecks following S1 presentations; these resulted in three-second blackouts. In Experiment 1, the time between presentation of S1 or S2 on the center key and the onset of the red and green side keys was varied nonsystematically from 0.06 seconds to 19.69 seconds across experimental conditions. Stimulus discriminability decreased as the stimulus-choice delay increased. A rectangular-hyperbolic function better described this decrease in discriminability over time than did a negative-exponential function. In Experiment 2, at each of three stimulus-choice delays (0.06, 3.85, and 10.36 seconds), relative reinforcer frequency for correct responses to the red and green side keys was varied by changing the values of the dependent concurrent variable-interval schedules. The sensitivity of choice to relative reinforcer frequency was independent of the decrease in stimulus discriminability with increasing stimulus-choice delay.     

Round numbers as goals: evidence from baseball, SAT takers, and the lab

Where do people's reference points come from? We conjectured that round numbers in performance scales act as reference points and that individuals exert effort to perform just above rather than just below such numbers. In Study 1, we found that professional baseball players modify their behavior as the season is about to end, seeking to finish with a batting average just above rather than below .300. In Study 2, we found that high school students are more likely to retake the SAT after obtaining a score just below rather than above a round number. In Study 3, we conducted an experiment employing hypothetical scenarios and found that participants reported a greater desire to exert more effort when their performance was just short of rather than just above a round number.     

Differential effects of person in the dog and in the human

People have marked effects on dog’s heart rate, with great individual variations for different persons. Apparently people to which the dog is attached have the greatest effect upon heart rate. Replications of the animal experiments using the psychotherapist and two other people revealed no effects upon the heart rate of a schizophrenic human. In the human the effects of people are probably best demonstrated in connection with verbal communication.