Matching achievement contexts with implicit theories to maximize motivation after failure: a congruence model

Previous research has shown that matching person variables with achievement contexts can produce the best motivational outcomes. The current study examines whether this is also true when matching entity and incremental beliefs with the appropriate motivational climate. Participants were led to believe that a personal attribute was fixed (entity belief) or malleable (incremental belief). After thinking that they failed a test that assessed the attribute, participants performed a second (related) task in a context that facilitated the pursuit of either performance or learning goals. Participants were expected to exhibit greater effort on the second task in the congruent conditions (entity belief plus performance goal climate and incremental belief plus learning goal climate) than in the incongruent conditions. These results were obtained, but only for participants who either valued competence on the attribute or had high achievement motivation. Results are discussed in terms of developing strategies for optimizing motivation in achievement settings.     

Case Matching and Relative Clause Attachment

Two accounts of relative clause attachment will be discussed, the case-matching hypothesis proposed by Sauerland and Gibson (1998) and the attachment-binding dualism (Hemforth et al., in press a, b). While the case-matching hypothesis predicts that relative clauses are preferentially attached to NPs whose case matches that of the relative pronoun, attachment binding predicts that NPs are preferentially attached to the most salient host, that is NP1 in constructions with two NPs. We conducted two off-line studies, one sentence completion task and one magnitude estimation experiment using subject (nominative pronoun) and object (accusative pronoun) relative clauses that can be attached to either of the two nouns in a complex subject (NP1 = nominative, NP2 = genitive) or object NP (NP1 = accusative, NP2 = genitive). While attachment binding predicts an across-the-board NP1 preference, the case-matching hypothesis predicts an NP1 prefence only in the case of subject (object) NPs followed by subject (object) relative clauses. The results of both experiments provide evidence for attachment binding and against case matching.     

The Kent Face Matching Test

This study presents the Kent Face Matching Test (KFMT), which comprises 200 same-identity and 20 different-identity pairs of unfamiliar faces. Each face pair consists of a photograph from a student ID card and a high-quality portrait that was taken at least three months later. The test is designed to complement existing resources for face-matching research, by providing a more ecologically valid stimulus set that captures the natural variability that can arise in a person's appearance over time. Two experiments are presented to demonstrate that the KFMT provides a challenging measure of face matching but correlates with established tests. Experiment 1 compares a short version of this test with the optimized Glasgow Face Matching Test (GFMT). In Experiment 2, a longer version of the KFMT, with infrequent identity mismatches, is correlated with performance on the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) and the Cambridge Face Perception Test (CFPT). The KFMT is freely available for use in face-matching research.     

Matching theory and induction explain operant performance

Matching theory is a general framework for understanding allocation of behavior among activities. It applies to choice in concurrent schedules and was extended to single schedules by assuming that other unrecorded behavior competes with operant behavior. Baum and Davison (2014) found that the competing activities apparently are induced by the “reinforcers” (phylogenetically important events, e.g., food) according to power functions. Combined with power-function induction, matching theory provides new equations with greater explanatory power. Four pigeons were exposed to conditions in which 7 different schedules of food delivery were presented within each experimental session. We replicated earlier results with variable-interval schedules: (a) a negatively accelerated increase of peck rate as food rate increased in the low range of food rates; (b) an upturn in pecking at higher rates; and (c) a downturn in pecking at extremely high food rates. When the contingency between pecking and food was removed, the food continued to induce pecking, even after 20 sessions with no contingency. A ratio schedule inserted in place of 1 variable-interval schedule maintained peck rates comparable to peck rates maintained by short interval schedules. We explained the results by fitting equations that combined matching theory, competition, and induction.     

Matching illumination of solid objects

The appearance of objects is determined by their surface reflectance and roughness and by the light field. Conversely, human observers might derive properties of the light field from the appearance of objects. The inverse problem has no unique solution, so perceptual interactions between reflectance, roughness, and lightfield are to be expected. In two separate experiments, we tested whether observers are able to match the illumination of spheres under collimated illumination only (matching of illumination direction) and under more or less diffuse illumination (matching of illumination direction and directedness of the beam). We found that observers are quite able to match collimated illumination directions of two rendered Lambertian spheres. Matching of the collimated beam directions of a Lambertian sphere and that of a real object with arbitrary reflectance and roughness properties resulted in similar results for the azimuthal angle, but in higher variance for the polar angle. Translucent objects and a tennis ball were found to be systematic outliers. If the directedness of the beam was also varied, the direction settings showed larger variance for more diffuse illumination. The directedness settings showed an overall quite large variance and, interestingly, interacted with the polar angle settings. We discuss possible photometrical mechanisms behind these effects.     

Matching since Baum (1979).

Data from recent studies employing concurrent variable-interval schedules are reviewed. Subject species employed in different experiments have included rats, pigeons, and humans, and reinforcers have varied from food and shock avoidance to points exchangeable for money. Undermatching (a greater preference for the schedule of the concurrent pair that delivers the lower rate of reinforcement than the Matching Law predicts) has been preponderant in recent studies, irrespective of whether behavior has been measured in terms of response ratios or time allocation, with the possible exception of data produced by human subjects. Little difference in the degree of undermatching exhibited by response and time measures has been found, except in the results from a single laboratory, in which time-allocation measures have tended to undermatch less than response measures. Procedural features, such as type of manipulandum used and changeover delay, seem to have little effect on the degree of undermatching exhibited, but asymmetrical response manipulanda (such as lever and key) for the different concurrent schedules, or other asymmetries in the experimental situation, show up clearly in bias measures, in a manner consistent with previous analyses.     

四卡问题解决中的匹配偏向再探

选取经典的四卡问题作为实验材料,深入探讨了“综合考虑证真证伪作用”的提示以及逻辑分析过程对被试解决四卡问题不能产生促进效应的原因。结果发现:(1)多数被试能对卡片P和-Q进行正确的逻辑推断,但是最后却仍然倾向于选择卡片Q而非-Q,这种错误并非是由于附加的认知任务使得被试的短时记忆容量超载所致。(2)元音偶数组与元音非偶数组的被试对四张卡片作出正确逻辑推断的人数百分比基本一致,但是后者选择P-Q的人数百分比却显著高于前者,这表明多数被试似乎并不依据逻辑分析的结果及其命题检验的规则来作出选择,而是采用匹配策略,错误地选择了Q卡片。     

Matching person identity from facial line drawings

The processing of facial line drawings was investigated in either simultaneous or sequential matching trials with either the same or different viewpoint, showing pictures of faces either in the same modes (both photographs or line drawings) or different modes (one in each mode). Line drawings were particularly difficult to match in memory rather than under perceptual conditions, and line drawings did not allow the creation of efficient structural codes. These deficits of line representations underline the assumption that the face-processing system is inflexible when it is confronted with edge-based material.     

A Test of Gibbon's Feedforward Model of Matching

Gibbon (1995) elaborated an ingenious model of matching, a feedforward model that is consistent with Heyman's (1982) suggestion that matching behavior does not depend on selection by consequences. Most models (for example, Herrnstein & Vaughan, 1980) have been feedback models, built on the law of effect. Measurements of how rapidly rats adjust to changes in the relative rates of brain stimulation reward on concurrent random interval schedules imply a feedforward process. The adjustments are, however, too fast to be consistent with Gibbon's model.     

Matching models in the analysis of cross-classifications

Inference models motivated by the combinatorial chance literature and the concept of object matching may be used in the analysis of a contingency table if the conditional assumption of fixed row and column totals is imposed. More specifically, by developing a matching reinterpretation for several problems of interest in the prediction analysis of cross-classifications—as defined by Hildebrand, Laing and Rosenthal, appropriate significance tests can be given that may differ from those justified by the more common multinomial models. In the course of the paper the distinction between a degree-1 statistic (based on the relationship between single objects) and a degree-2 statistic (based on the relationship between object pairs) is reviewed in some detail. Also, several specializations are presented to topics of current methodological importance in psychology; for instance, a number of references are made to the measurement of nominal scale response agreement between two raters.Partial support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation through GSOC-77-28227.     

Matching as an index of face familiarity

An experiment is reported which explores a method of assessing familiarity that does not rely on the overt recognition or identification of faces. Earlier findings (Clutterbuck & Johnston, 2002; Young, Hay, McWeeny, Flude, & Ellis, 1985) have shown that familiar faces can be matched faster on their internal features than unfamiliar faces. This study examines whether familiarization in the form of repeated exposure to novel faces over a 2 day period can facilitate internal feature match performance. Participants viewed each of a set of unfamiliar faces for 1 min in total. At test on the second day previously familiar (famous) faces were matched faster than unfamiliar and familiarized faces. However the familiarized faces were matched faster than the unfamiliar faces. We discuss the use of this task as a means of accessing a measure of familiarity formation and as a means of tracking how faces become familiar.     

Human–Computer Interaction in Face Matching

Automatic facial recognition is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in security contexts such as passport control. Currently, Automated Border Crossing (ABC) systems in the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) require supervision from a human operator who validates correct identity judgments and overrules incorrect decisions. As the accuracy of this human–computer interaction remains unknown, this research investigated how human validation is impacted by a priori face‐matching decisions such as those made by automated face recognition software. Observers matched pairs of faces that were already labeled onscreen as depicting the same identity or two different identities. The majority of these labels provided information that was consistent with the stimuli presented, but some were also inconsistent or provided “unresolved” information. Across three experiments, accuracy consistently deteriorated on trials that were inconsistently labeled, indicating that observers’ face‐matching decisions are biased by external information such as that provided by ABCs.     

Matching and conditioned reinforcement rate

Attempts to examine the effects of variations in relative conditioned reinforcement rate on choice have been confounded by changes in rates of primary reinforcement or changes in the value of the conditioned reinforcer. To avoid these problems, this experiment used concurrent observing responses to examine sensitivity of choice to relative conditioned reinforcement rate. In the absence of observing responses, unsignaled periods of food delivery on a variable-interval 90-s schedule alternated with extinction on a center key (i.e., a mixed schedule was in effect). Two concurrently available observing responses produced 15-s access to a stimulus differentially associated with the schedule of food delivery (S+). The relative rate of S+ deliveries arranged by independent variable-interval schedules for the two observing responses varied across conditions. The relation between the ratio of observing responses and the ratio of S+ deliveries was well described by the generalized matching law, despite the absence of changes in the rate of food delivery. In addition, the value of the S+ deliveries likely remained constant across conditions because the ratio of S+ to mixed schedule food deliveries remained constant. Assuming that S+ deliveries serve as conditioned reinforcers, these findings are consistent with the functional similarity between primary and conditioned reinforcers suggested by general choice theories based on the concatenated matching law (e.g., contextual choice and hyperbolic value-added models). These findings are inconsistent with delay reduction theory, which has no terms for the effects of rate of conditioned reinforcement in the absence of changes in rate of primary reinforcement.     

Many-to-One Matching with Temporal and Hedonic Samples in Pigeons

Pigeons were initially trained with either temporal samples (2- and 8-s keylights) or hedonic samples (food and no food) mapped to line-orientation (horizontal and vertical) comparisons. Delay testing revealed marked retention asymmetries in both groups (i.e., a choose-short effect with temporal samples and a choose-no-food effect with hedonic samples). Next, while both groups continued training on the original task, a second set of samples was added, hedonic for birds originally trained with temporal samples and temporal for birds originally training with hedonic samples. For all birds, food and short samples were associated with one comparison, and no-food and long samples were associated with the alternative comparison (many-to-one, MTO, mapping). This time, delay testing revealed symmetrical retention functions in both groups with both sets of samples, and mediated-transfer testing revealed positive transfer. It was concluded that (1) a common code was used to represent samples associated with the same comparison in the MTO mapping and (2) the content of the codes was unrelated to the identity of the samples.     

Matching choices to avoid offending stigmatized group members

People (selectors) sometimes make choices both for themselves and for others (recipients). We propose that selectors worry about offending recipients with their choices when recipients are stigmatized group members and options in a choice set differ along a stigma-relevant dimension. Accordingly, selectors are more likely to make the same choices for themselves and stigmatized group member recipients than non-stigmatized group member recipients. We conducted eight studies to study this hypothesis in different choice contexts (food, music, games, books) and with recipients from different stigmatized groups (the obese, Black-Americans, the elderly, students at lower-status schools). We use three different approaches to show that this effect is driven by people’s desire to avoid offending stigmatized group members with their choices. Thus, although prior research shows that people often want to avoid being associated with dissociative groups, such as stigmatized groups, we demonstrate that people make the same choices for self and stigmatized other to minimize offense.     

Matching in an undisturbed natural human environment

Data from the Oregon Youth Study, consisting of the verbal behavior of 210 adolescent boys determined to be at risk for delinquency (targets) and 210 of their friends (peers), were analyzed for their conformance to the complete family of matching theory equations in light of recent findings from the basic science, and using recently developed analytic techniques. Equations of the classic and modern theories of matching were fitted as ensembles to rates and time allocations of the boys' rule-break and normative talk obtained from conversations between pairs of boys. The verbal behavior of each boy in a conversation was presumed to be reinforced by positive social responses from the other boy. Consistent with recent findings from the basic science, the boys' verbal behavior was accurately described by the modern but not the classic theory of matching. These findings also add support to the assertion that basic principles and processes that are known to govern behavior in laboratory experiments also govern human social behavior in undisturbed natural environments.     

Matching, undermatching, and overmatching in studies of choice

Almost all of 103 sets of data from 23 different studies of choice conformed closely to the equation: log (B(1)/B(2)) = a log (r(1)/r(2)) + log b, where B(1) and B(2) are either numbers of responses or times spent at Alternatives 1 and 2, r(1) and r(2) are the rates of reinforcement obtained from Alternatives 1 and 2, and a and b are empirical constants. Although the matching relation requires the slope a to equal 1.0, the best-fitting values of a frequently deviated from this. For B(1) and B(2) measured as numbers of responses, a tended to fall short of 1.0 (undermatching). For B(1) and B(2) measured as times, a fell to both sides of 1.0, with the largest mode at about 1.0. Those experiments that produced values of a for both responses and time revealed only a rough correspondence between the two values; a was often noticeably larger for time. Statistical techniques for assessing significance of a deviation of a from 1.0 suggested that values of a between .90 and 1.11 can be considered good approximations to matching. Of the two experimenters who contributed the most data, one generally found undermatching, while the other generally found matching. The difference in results probably arises from differences in procedure. The procedural variations that lead to undermatching appear to be those that produce (a) asymmetrical pausing that favors the poorer alternative; (b) systematic temporal variation in preference that favors the poorer alternative; and (c) patterns of responding that involve changing over between alternatives or brief bouts at the alternatives.     

The Glasgow Face Matching Test

We describe a new test for unfamiliar face matching, the Glasgow Face Matching Test (GFMT). Viewers are shown pairs of faces, photographed in full-face view but with different cameras, and are asked to make same/different judgments. The full version of the test comprises 168 face pairs, and we also describe a shortened version with 40 pairs. We provide normative data for these tests derived from large subject samples. We also describe associations between the GFMT and other tests of matching and memory. The new test correlates moderately with face memory but more strongly with object matching, a result that is consistent with previous research highlighting a link between object and face matching, specific to unfamiliar faces. The test is available free for scientific use.