Illusory continuity without sufficient sound energy to fill a temporal gap: Examples of crossing glide tones

The gap transfer illusion is an auditory illusion where a temporal gap inserted in a longer glide tone is perceived as if it were in a crossing shorter glide tone. Psychophysical and phenomenological experiments were conducted to examine the effects of sound-pressure-level (SPL) differences between crossing glides on the occurrence of the gap transfer illusion. We found that the subjective continuity-discontinuity of the crossing glides changed as a function of the relative level of the shorter glide to the level of the longer glide. When the relative level was approximately between -9 and +2 dB, listeners perceived the longer glide as continuous and the shorter glide as discontinuous, that is, the gap transfer illusion took place. The glides were perceived veridically below this range, that is, gap transfer did not take place, whereas above this range the longer glide and the shorter glide were both perceived as continuous. The fact that the longer glide could be perceived as continuous even when the crossing shorter glide was 9 dB weaker indicates that the longer glide's subjective continuity cannot be explained within the conventional framework of auditory organization, which assumes reallocation of sound energy from the shorter to the longer glide. The implicated mechanisms are discussed in terms of the temporal configuration of onsets and terminations and the time-frequency distribution of sound energy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Response acquisition by zebrafish (Danio rerio) with delayed reinforcement

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a common vertebrate animal model in biomedical research and is a promising species for studying how genes interact with environmental factors in determining behavior. The present study investigated how reinforcement parameters affect zebrafish behavior by assessing response acquisition with delayed reinforcement, which has been studied with other species (e.g., rats, pigeons, humans, etc.) but not with zebrafish. Twenty‐four experimentally naïve subjects were exposed to a tandem fixed‐ratio 1 differential‐reinforcement‐of‐other‐behavior x‐s schedule of reinforcement, where x varied across subjects. There were six different delay‐to‐reinforcement durations and sets of four fish were assigned to each delay duration. All of the fish assigned to a 0‐, 0.5‐, or 1‐s delay acquired responding. Two fish acquired responding with a 3‐s delay and one fish appeared to have acquired it with a 6‐s delay although the latter result was less clear. None acquired responding with a 12‐s delay. These results suggest that zebrafish behavior is sensitive to delays to reinforcement and the time frame over which reinforcement is effective may be limited approximately to 6 s. This time frame is shorter than that found with other species. Practical and theoretical implications of the present finding are discussed.     

No time-stretching illusion when a tone is followed by a noise

A sine tone is perceived as longer when it is preceded by a more intense noise than when presented in isolation. This is the time-stretching illusion. We conducted an experiment where the method of constant stimuli was used to examine whether a tone would also be stretched when it was followed by a noise. The duration of a tone was overestimated when it was preceded by a noise, but not when followed by a noise or when located between two consecutive noises. Moreover, the increasing of the noise intensity (from ?6 to +6 dB) relative to the tone intensity resulted in larger overestimations, but only in the condition where a tone was preceded by a noise. In brief, the duration of a tone is stretched when this tone is preceded by a noise and if this tone is not followed by a noise.     

Resurgence is greater following a return to the training context than remaining in the extinction context

The present study examined whether resurgence of a previously reinforced target response upon removing alternative reinforcement would be greater when (1) returning to the original training context (ABA context changes) versus (2) remaining in the analogue treatment context in which the alternative response was differentially reinforced (ABB context changes). Experiment 1 arranged reinforcement of button pressing with points exchangeable for money in university students. Experiment 2 arranged reinforcement of lever pressing with food for rats. Experiment 3 arranged reinforcement of responses to a touchscreen with small bites of food with children diagnosed with ASD. Overall, resurgence of target responding tended to be greater when returning to the original training context (A) than when remaining in the analogue treatment context (B). These findings suggest context changes with differential reinforcement treatments could exacerbate the recurrence of problem behavior resulting from reductions in treatment integrity through failure to reinforce appropriate behavior.     

Distance constancy: Functional relationships between apparent distance and physical distance

Summary Distance constancy was clearly defined with Thouless and Brunswik indexes by examining its previous definitions. The typical functions expressing the relationships between apparent distance and physical distance were derived from; 1. much available data obtained by many researchers, 2. Thouless and Brunswik indexes (formulas), 3. Luneburg's theory. These derived functions were classified into type I, II and III according to their psychological significance. The validity of the classification was verified by experiments showing that the functions of type III were available in poorly articulated spaces with a long viewing distance, that is, on a housetop and a road, with the method of equal appearing intervals. Moreover, the relationships between distance constancy and personal constants in Luneburg's theory were clarified.

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Zusammenfassung In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Entfernungskonstanz nach Überprüfung ihrer früheren Definitionen mit Thouless' und Brunswiks Indexen genau definiert. Die typischen Funktionen, die die Beziehungen zwischen scheinbarer Entfernung und physikalischer Entfernung zeigen, werden abgeleitet aus 1. den verfügbaren Forschungsergebnissen zahlreicher Gelehrter, 2. Thouless' und Brunswiks Indexen (Formeln), 3. Luneburgs Theorie. Diese abgeleiteten Funktionen werden ihrer psychologischen Bedeutung entsprechend in Typus I, II und III eingeteilt. Die Gültigkeit dieser Klassifikation wurde durch Experimente verifiziert, die mit der Anwendung der Methode von gleich erscheinenden Abständen zeigen, daß die Funktionen vom Typus III in ungenügend artikulierten Räumen mit einer langen Beobachtungsentfernung, d.h. auf einem Dach und einem Weg, gültig sind. Außerdem werden die Beziehungen zwischen Entfernungskonstanz und Personalkonstante in Luneburgs Theorie festgestellt.

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I wish to express my thanks to Professor Yoshiharu Akishige for his guidance in this field of work, and Dr. Katsumi Ishii, the retired professor of Kyushu University, for his invaluable suggestions, especially for constant guidance in the problems of Luneburg's theory. Thanks are also due to Assistant Professor Masao Hashiguchi of Kagoshima University for his valuable advice and generous help concerning the mathematical problems. I am also indebted to the students of our department for their help in carrying out the experiments.     

Early extinction effects following intermittent reinforcement: Little evidence of extinction bursts

The occurrence of extinction bursts—transient increases in response rate in excess of those observed in baseline during the period immediately following discontinuation of reinforcement of a response—was examined. In Experiment 1, key pecking of pigeons was reinforced according to a multiple schedule in which a variable-ratio schedule alternated with an interval schedule in which the reinforcers were yoked to the preceding variable-ratio component. In Experiments 2 and 3, rats were screened such that the lever-press response rates of different rats maintained by variable-interval schedules were either relatively high or relatively low. Following these baseline conditions, in Experiments 1 and 2 responding was extinguished by eliminating the food reinforcer and in Experiment 3 by removing the response–reinforcer dependency. Responses immediately following extinction implementation were examined. Response increases relative to baseline during the first 20 min of a 324.75-min extinction session (Experiment 1) or during the first 30-min extinction session (Experiments 2 and 3) were rare and unsystematic. The results (a) reinforce earlier meta-analyses concluding that extinction bursts may be a less ubiquitous early effect of extinction than has been suggested and (b) invite further experimentation to establish their generality as a function of preceding reinforcement conditions.     

Examining effects of training duration on humans' resurgence and variability using a novel touchscreen procedure

Resurgence occurs when a previously reinforced and then extinguished target response increases due to reducing/eliminating an alternative source of reinforcement or punishing an alternative response. We evaluated whether duration of reinforcement history for a target response (1) affects the degree to which resurgence is observed in humans and (2) produces different gradients of response generalization around target responding during extinction testing. We arranged a novel touchscreen interface in which university students could swipe a 3D soccer ball to spin any direction. In Phase 1, the first direction swiped became the target and produced points exchangeable for money for 3 or 1 min across 2 groups. The first swipe was recorded but had no programmed consequence in a third group. In Phase 2, swipes 180-degrees from the target resulted in points for 3 min in all groups. Point deliveries ceased for 2 min to test for resurgence in Phase 3. Target responses resurged during testing to a relatively greater extent with longer Phase-1 training but gradients of response generalization did not differ among groups. These findings extend prior research on the role of training duration on resurgence. We discuss methodological and conceptual issues surrounding the assessment of response generalization in resurgence.     

A combination of Raspberry Pi and SoftEther VPN for controlling research devices via the Internet

Remote control over devices for experiments may increase the efficiency of operant research and expand the area where behavior can be studied. This article introduces a combination of Raspberry Pi^® (Pi) and SoftEther VPN^® that allows for such remote control via the Internet. The Pi is a small Linux computer with a great degree of flexibility for customization. Test results indicate that a Pi‐based interface meets the requirement for conducting operant research. SoftEther VPN^® allows for establishing an extensive private network on the Internet using a single private Wi‐Fi router. Step‐by‐step instructions are provided in the present article for setting up the Pi along with SoftEther VPN^®. Their potential for improving the way of conducting research is discussed.