Stimulus Preexposure, Comparison, and Changes in the Associability of Common Stimulus Features

In four experiments, rats received preexposure either to both of two compound flavours (AX and BX), or to just one (BX). Experiment 1 demonstrated a perceptual learning effect, showing that, for animals given preexposure to both flavours, an aversion conditioned to AX generalized only poorly to BX. Subsequent experiments assessed the properties of the common feature, X. Experiment 3 showed that the two preexposure treatments did not differ in the extent to which they produced habituation of the neophobia evoked by X. Experiment 2 showed that conditioning to X proceeded more rapidly in subjects given preexposure to both AX and BX than in subjects preexposed to BX alone. In Experiment 4, a similar effect was found when the elements of the compounds were presented serially. It is concluded that the perceptual learning effect of Experiment 1 occurs in spite of the fact that preexposure to two stimuli tends to maintain the associability of their common elements.     

The Reinforcing Effect of a Differentiating Stimulus

Twenty Sprague Dawley rats, aged 22 to 26 months were given subcutaneous injections of 4.5 mg/kg methylphenidate or distilled water. Twelve minutes after the single injection was given, rats began 90 trials of avoidance conditioning. Drug animals made significantly more correct responses than did the control animals. Results indicate that use of methylphenidate in aged rats improved avoidance learning.     

Stimulus Equivalence and The Blocking Effect

The Psychological Record - The purpose of this experiment was to examine the blocking effect within the context of a stimulus equivalence paradigm. Ten subjects were provided with a prior history...     

The Effect of Prior Fear Levels on UCS-expectancy Ratings to a Fear-relevant Stimulus

This study investigated the effect of levels of prior fear to a fear-relevant stimulus on UCS expectancy ratings in a threat conditioning procedure. The results suggested that UCS-expectancy ratings are independently influenced by both the nature of the stimulus (whether it is fear-relevant or fear-irrelevant) and the level of prior fear to the stimulus. Furthermore, significantly higher UCS-expectancy levels caused by prior fear and stimulus type were accompanied in some stages of the experiment by greater magnitudes of skin conductance responses during the stimulus.     

The Effect of Conditioned Stimulus Intensity upon a Simple Running Response

An experiment was designed to answer two questions regarding the correspondence between concrete and abstract actions. No significant differences were found, but because of deficiency of method, no conclusive answers could be given. The total scoring frequencies were in good accord with the results from the conditions 1 and 1* in the previous study [see earlier study for explanation of designations (2)], corroborating the evidence of that study regarding determinants of horizontal decalage.     

复合运动刺激视觉追踪的初步研究

本实验采用多目标追踪和复合刺激研究范式,将注意追踪和知觉的整体优先性两个研究领域中存在的知觉组织规律相结合,对单一和多个复合刺激进行注意追踪研究.结果表明:在单一或多个复合刺激追踪过程中,同样遵循静态知觉组织原则;不同知觉组织形式对知觉加工有不同的影响,突出的颜色变化可以促进知觉组织加工.     

不同类型的知觉刺激对语言理解的影响

采用知觉负载范式探讨知觉刺激对语言理解的影响。实验1考察被试在加工听觉概念和视觉概念时的表征形式。实验2进一步探讨在同一通道内部,形状概念和视觉概念的表征形式。实验1发现,在进行语言理解时,如果存在听知觉负荷,加工语言中的听觉信息时会变慢。如果存在视知觉负荷,加工语言中的视觉信息时错误率会增加。实验2发现,在涉及视觉信息的语言理解中,颜色知觉负荷产生了广泛的影响,而形状知觉负荷没有表现出这种效应。总的实验结果表明,不同类型的知觉刺激对语言理解产生了不同的影响。语言理解中存在着模态化和非模态化两种不同的加工模式。     

重复刺激的末位优势效应

探讨在RSVP任务中重复刺激的呈现位置和报告方式对重复知盲效应的影响, 检验该研究提出的注意资源最优化假设和末位优势效应。实验1操作了刺激性质和重复刺激位置, 得出了刺激性质和重复刺激位置的交互效应; 实验2操作了刺激性质和情景信息, 结果是交互效应不显著; 实验3操作了刺激性质和报告方式, 出现了刺激性质和报告方式的交互效应。该结果表明: (1)由于注意资源分配的优化, 重复刺激有末位优势效应。(2)重复知盲的产生不是发生在知觉阶段, 而是发生在报告阶段。(3)注意资源分配最优化理论比建构/归因理论能更合理地解释重复知盲的发生。     

刺激的编码效力对重复知盲的影响

通过改变目标刺激和非目标刺激的编码效力, 探讨重复知盲发生的机制。采用RSVP任务, 操作目标的重复性与目标的性质(实验1a和实验2)、位置(实验1b)和非目标的字频(实验2), 对比不同条件下第二个重复刺激的正确报告率。结果是：(1)非目标为字母、目标是字母时的重复知盲大于目标为电脑符号时的重复知盲。(2)非目标为字母、目标为电脑符号时, 目标在1和3位置时出现了重复知盲, 而在2和4位置时没有出现重复知盲。(3)当非目标为高频汉字、目标也是高频汉字时的重复知盲大于目标为符号时的重复知盲。(4)当目标为高频汉字、非目标是高频汉字时出现了重复知盲, 而非目标是低频汉字时重复知盲消失。实验结果表明, 字母和汉字条件下, 目标刺激和非目标刺激的编码效力都会对重复知盲产生影响, 支持竞争假设。     

Stimulus control of responding during a fixed-interval reinforcement schedule

During training sessions, pecks by pigeons on a response key illuminated by a vertical line of white light resulted in reinforcement and an ensuing blackout according to a fixed-interval schedule. Training sessions were followed by dimensional stimulus control test sessions during which the orientation of the line present throughout the fixed interval was varied. Inverted U-shaped (excitatory) gradients of responding, with maximum responding occurring in the presence of the vertical line, were observed during the terminal part of the fixed interval. U-shaped (inhibitory) gradients of responding, with minimum responding occurring in the presence of the vertical line, were observed during the early part of the fixed interval when the preceding interval had terminated with reinforcement and blackout but not when the preceding interval had terminated with blackout only. These results suggest that the dimensional control by the stimulus present throughout the fixed interval is of a conditional variety. Whether the fixed-interval stimulus exerts inhibitory or excitatory dimensional control depends upon the presence and absence, respectively, of stimuli associated with reinforcement.     

The Effect of Delayed Responding on Stroop-Like Task Performance Among Preschoolers

Forty-four preschoolers completed 2 conditions of a Stroop-like procedure (e.g., saying “boat” for car and “car” for boat) that differed in whether a 3-s delay was imposed before responding. The test card was visible during the delay period for half of the children and occluded for the other children. Preschoolers’ interference control was significantly improved in the delay condition. There was no difference between the two delay variants (test card visible or occluded). Children were more prone to interference as testing progressed regardless of whether the delay was present. These results suggest that delays effectively reduce interference by reducing the potency of the competing response during test trials, although memory demands may moderate the effectiveness of delays.     

Responding during reinforcement delay in a self-control paradigm.

Eight pigeons chose between a small, immediate reinforcer and a large, increasingly delayed reinforcer. Responding during the large-reinforcer delays was examined. During large-reinforcer delays, pecks on one key produced the small, immediate reinforcer; pecks on the other key had no effect. Thus, a pigeon could reverse its initial choice of the large, delayed reinforcer, or it could maintain its original choice. Pigeons that made a relatively high number of initial large-reinforcer choices tended to maintain these choices, and those pigeons that actually received a relatively high number of large reinforcers, tended to respond more frequently on the ineffective key during the delay periods. The findings suggest that some previous studies of self-control training in pigeons may have resulted in increased self-control partially due to a lack of opportunity for the pigeons to change their choices.     

The Influence of Retention Interval on the US Preexposure Effect: Changes in Contextual Blocking over Time

A number of studies manipulating the length of the interval between conditioning and testing indicate spontaneous recovery from overshadowing, suggesting that certain instances of overshadowing represent a deficit in memory retrieval rather than a failure of animals to form an association between the overshadowed stimulus and the US. The present series of experiments examined the influence of lengthening the retention interval on blocking, another stimulus selection phenomenon that is typically interpreted as an acquisition deficit. The results indicated that when subjects were tested shortly (3 days) after training conditioning to a taste blocked subsequent conditioning to an odor conditioned in compound with that taste (Experiment 1), whereas prior conditioning to an odor did not block subsequent conditioning to a taste conditioned in compound with that odor (Experiment 2). This pattern of results was essentially unchanged when testing occurred at a longer (21-day) retention interval. However, there was evidence of a US preexposure effect in Experiment 2 when subjects in the US ONLY control condition were tested at the 3-day retention interval, but not when testing occurred 21 days after conditioning. Experiments 3 and 4 examined whether this loss of the US preexposure effect over time might actually represent a change in the degree of contextual blocking as the retention interval is lengthened. Exposure to the conditioning context either during the interval between Phase 1 and Phase 2 of conditioning (Experiment 3) or prior to Phase 1 of conditioning (Experiment 4) alleviated this US preexposure effect suggesting that the loss of the US preexposure effect as the retention interval is lengthened observed in Experiment 2 is due to changes in the degree of blocking by contextual stimuli over time. The results are discussed in terms of differential susceptibility of forgetting of two functional roles played by a contextual stimuli in the current situation-context as a CS and context as a retrieval cue for other CS-US associations.     

Establishing Transfer of Compound Control in Children: A Stimulus Control Analysis

The Psychological Record - Five-year-old children received training on four symbolic match-to-sample tasks with single-element stimuli (A1-B1, A2-B2; P1-Q1, P2-Q2). Then they received training on...     

Latent Inhibition of Contextual Stimuli Reduces the US Preexposure Effect in Rats

Two experiments are reported which utilized latent inhibition of contextual stimuli prior to administering unsignaled presentations of the Us in an attempt to further assess the role of contextual stimuli in the US preexposure effect. Specifically in Experiment 1, rats received either 0-, 5-, 10-, or 15-minute exposure to the context in which the unsignaled Uss were to occur (latent inhibition). Following preexposure to the US, animals were trained in a CER paradigm with a tone CS. Measures of suppression to the tone indicated that the greatest US preexposure effect occurred in the 0 group and that no US preexposure effect was evident in the 15 group. Experiment 2 includec two important control groups which were omitted in Experiment 1 (no US preexposures) and an additional dependent variable (time to initiate licking) to measure fear to contextual stimuli. These results are discussed in terms of the role context conditioning may play in US preexposure.

     

负性情绪刺激对大学生多目标追踪能力的影响

探讨了负性情绪对大学生多目标追踪能力的影响以及其影响机制。实验要求被试在观看国际情绪图库中的负性或中性图片后,完成多目标追踪和点探测任务,同时设置基线条件作为对照。采用状态-特质焦虑量表和贝克抑郁自评量表考察不同情绪图片条件下被试的诱发情绪状态。研究结果发现：（1）被试观看负性情绪图片后状态焦虑程度和抑郁量表评分显著提高,观看情绪图片有效诱发了被试的负性情绪;（2）基线条件下的被试追踪正确率显著低于中性条件,基线条件和负性图片条件下的追踪正确率无差异,说明训练可以提高被试的多目标追踪能力,但负性情绪抑制了被试在基线追踪任务中的训练效果;（3）负性图片条件下的点探测觉察率显著低于中性图片条件,说明负性情绪影响了被试的注意资源分配。研究结果表明：负性情绪可能干扰了被试目标导向的注意系统,使得个体更易受刺激驱动的注意系统影响,并且在追踪过程中影响被试中央执行系统的抑制和转移功能。     

刺激材料的整体性知觉对类别建构的影响

采用标准－匹配的实验程序,操纵刺激材料的空间整合性和知觉的整体性水平,探讨逐个呈现刺激材料时影响被试类别建构策略的根本原因。报告了3个实验,结果证明：逐个呈现并不一定会导致被试倾向于家族相似性归类;刺激材料的空间整合性不一定会影响被试的类别建构策略,空间整合和空间分离都可能出现家族相似性和单维归类倾向;刺激材料的整体性知觉水平对类别建构影响明显：知觉为分离则倾向于家族相似性分类;知觉为整体则倾向于单维分类。被试在实验可能采用分析性策略,然而材料的整体性知觉影响了分析的侧重点,从而对类别建构产生了非常重要的影响     

Effects of Responding or Not Responding to Hecklers on Audience Agreement with a Speaker

The hypothesis that responding to hecklers would produce more agreement with a speaker than not responding, stemmed from commodity theory (Brock, 1968). One hundred twenty-one introductory speech students participated in what they were told was a "speech workshop" (not a psychology experiment). Two types of responding to live hecklers were used: In one, the speaker responded in a calm, relevant manner; in the other, she responded in an upset, irrelevant manner. In a third condition, the speaker did not respond to the heckles. There were two additional conditions: One in which the speaker responded to interruptions, and a further control in which there were neither heckles nor interruptions. In these five conditions, the speaker either argued for or against the audience's position. Regardless of whether or not the speaker's position agreed with the audience's, upset-irrelevant responding decreased the speaker's persuasiveness over making no response, while calm-relevant responding tended to enhance persuasiveness. Finally, in agreement with all other empirical studies, it was clearly shown that heckling, whether responded to or not, did not improve the speaker's effectiveness.