The interaction of criterion and feedback information in learning a drawing task

Experiments were designed to examine the influence of criterion and feedback information in the learning of a two-dimensional drawing task. Experiment 1 showed that when the task criterion is well known to the subject, the combined presentation of criterion information and information feedback facilitates the rate of acquisition of the skill but not its overall performance level of achievement. Experiment 2 showed that when the task criterion information is not well known to the subject, presentation of criterion information facilitates both the rate of acquisition and the overall performance level and, furthermore, is essential if configuration information feedback is to be utilized effectively. Experiment 3 showed that it is the combined presentation of criterion and configuration information feedback rather than the isolate presentation of either type of information alone, that facilitates learning and performance. Collectively, the findings from the three experiments suggest an interactive effect of prior knowledge by the learner and type of augmented information in facilitating the acquisition of skill, according to the constraints imposed in the task. The data are consistent with the proposal that the degrees of freedom in the information available to support motor skill learning must match the degrees of freedom to be constraint in the perceptual-motor workspace.     

Language-specific listening

Languages differ in their phonological structure and physcholinguists have begun to explore the conseqence, of this fact for speech perception. We review research documenting that listeners attune their perceptual processes finaly to exploit the phonological regularities of their nativ language. As a consequence, these perceptual process are fill-adapted to listening to languages that do not display such, regularities. Thus, not only do late language-learners have trouble speaking a second language, also they do not hear it as native speakers do; worse, they apply their native language listening prosedures which may actually interfere with successful processing of the non-native input. We also present data from studies on infants showing that the initial attuning occurs early in life; very yong infants are sensitive to the relevant phonological regularities which distinguish different languages, and quickly distinguish the native language of their environment from languages with different regularities.     

中国和澳大利亚父母报告的儿童社会性发展

采用作者编制的《３－９岁儿童社会性发展量表》的英译本,在２８４名澳大利亚儿童中进行测试。结果表明,对于社会文化背景差异巨大的中国和澳大利亚,本量表具有较好的稳定性和跨文化适用性。儿童社会性发展的各个方面,在中澳父母心目中占有不同地位：中国父母重视自我意识、社会技能、意志品质,而澳大利亚父母更重视社会技能和社会情绪的发展。在中澳两个样本中,女孩的社会性发展量表得分均高于男孩。     

Age Changes in Interlimb Coupling and the Development of Bimanual Coordination

Changes in interlimb coupling, and their role in the development of bimanual coordination, were studied longitudinally in 6- to 12-month-old infants (N = 6). Infants were observed while they were reaching for simple objects of 2 different sizes. Their use of a uni-versus bimanual strategy for reaching as well as the coupling of their bimanual movements were compared; progress in bimanual coordination of complementary movements was evaluated on 8 different bimanual tasks. The bimanual tasks involved an asymmetrical cooperation between the 2 hands. Although spatiotemporal coupling of bimanual reaching movements did not decrease during the age period studied, infants around 7 months of age used their 2 hands infrequently for reaching. Occurrences of bimanual reaching were particularly low at the session preceding the first bimanual success at a bimanual task. This suggests that the temporal coincidence between greater independence of the 2 hands and progress in bimanual coordination of complementary movements acts in 2 directions: Infants may be more at ease when using their 2 hands in differentiated patterns as the hands move less in synchrony, but, in turn, they may be less likely to move their hands in synchrony as the anticipate mirror manipulations of the object less. The frequency of bimanual reaches increased toward the end of the 1st year. This might have been caused by an increase in the repertoire of bimanual asymmetrical object manipulations and by the fact that the development of bimanual coordination allows infants to manipulate objects with complementary movements even after a bimanual approach toward the object.     

Schedule interactions involving punishment with pigeons and humans

The principal aim of the present experiments was to assess whether punishment increased or decreased the rate of unpunished behavior (contrast and induction, respectively) for which reinforcement rate was held constant, with physical and nonphysical punishers (electric shock and response cost), pigeon and human subjects, signaled and unsignaled components (multiple and mixed schedules), and the presence or absence of a blackout period between components. Across the three experiments there were 20 punishment conditions. Induction was found in nine of those, less consistent response-rate reduction was found in three, contrast was found in four, and in four there was no change in responding from conditions without punishment. Contrast occurred consistently only with multiple schedules during the first exposure to electric-shock punishment. Induction and no change, however, were found with every combination of the independent variables studied. Four conclusions regarding the interactions between punished and unpunished responding emerged from the present results: (a) Both contrast and induction occurred with the reinforcement rate held constant and a blackout between components, (b) induction was more common than contrast, (c) contrast occurred only in the presence of a stimulus different from that correlated with the punisher, and (d) contrast diminished with prolonged exposure to punishment. None of the current theoretical accounts of punishment contrast can explain the present results.     

Commitment,intimacy, and women's perceptions of premarital sex and contraceptive readiness

A person-perception study was conducted to examine the influence of intimacy and commitment on the acceptability of premarital sex and contraceptive preparedness. Ninety-six women rated a female target's personality and behavior after reading a diary entry describing a couple's initial sexual encounter. The nature of the couple's relationship and who provided the condom were manipulated between participants. Women inferred a committed relationship when intimacy was present. Women rated the target, and her behavior, as more acceptable when she had sex in a relationship with commitment. When she provided a condom, the target was perceived as less nice in the noncommitted than in the committed relationship. When her partner provided the condom, however, commitment level did not influence personality ratings.     

Behavior analysis and farm animal welfare

This article demonstrates that there is a role for behavior-analytic techniques in the area of farm animal welfare and provides examples of the kinds of work that can be done. Behavior-analytic procedures, specifically those used in the study of psychophysics, preference, and demand, can provide answers to three questions people concerned with the welfare of farm animals are likely to ask: What can the animals detect? What do they like and dislike? What will they work to attain or preserve? Such information certainly is necessary for making reasonable decisions about animal welfare, although it is not sufficient in and of itself.     

Sexuality education and young people's sexual behavior: a review of studies

Sexuality education for children and young adults is one of the most heavily debated issues facing policy-makers, national AIDS program planners, and educators, provoking arguments over how explicit education materials should be, how much of it there should be, how often it should be given, and at what age instruction should commence. In this context, the World Health Organization's Global Program on AIDS' Office of Intervention Development and Support commissioned a comprehensive literature review to assess the effects of HIV/AIDS and sexuality education upon young people's sexual behavior. 52 reports culled from a search of 12 literature databases were reviewed. The main purpose of the review is to inform policy-makers, program planners, and educators about the impact of HIV and/or sexuality education upon the sexual behavior of youth as described in the published literature. Of 47 studies which evaluated interventions, 25 reported that HIV/AIDS and sexuality education neither increased nor decreased sexual activity and attendant rates of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). 17 reported that HIV and/or sexuality education delayed the onset of sexual activity, reduced the number of sex partners, or reduced unplanned pregnancy and STD rates Only 3 studies found increases in sexual behavior associated with sexuality education. Inadequacies in study design, analytic techniques, outcome indicators, and the reporting of statistics are discussed.     

Scholarship, consensus and advocacy: a comment on Cameron

While Cameron is right about the need for Christians to contribute more visibly to medical ethical debates, he is wrong in his analysis of bioethics. Marsha D.M. Fowler and Andrew Jameton find specific problems in several points of Cameron's argument, particularly where the Hippocratic Oath and patient autonomy are concerned.