An analysis of aversive stimuli in classroom demand contexts

Although recent research has identified numerous variables that can affect behavior maintained by negative reinforcement, questions remain concerning the potential aspects of the demand context that evoke problem behavior. To date, few studies have examined these questions within general education classrooms. The current study assessed the influence of social and task-difficulty variables on problem behavior maintained by negative reinforcement. Teachers in general education classrooms implemented three analyses to determine the influence of these variables on the problem behavior of 4 boys. Results are discussed in terms of response covariation within the demand context.     

Distractor interference in selective reaching: dissociating distance and grouping effects

In the present experiment, the authors sought to differentiate between a distance and a grouping explanation for the symmetric versus asymmetric patterns of distractor interference in selective reaching. Participants (N = 16) pointed to a green target that appeared either with or without a red distractor. Target-distractor separation was manipulated within an array of 5 closely grouped stimulus boxes, and distractor interference (difference in performance between trials with and trials without a distractor) was measured in reaction time, movement time, percentage errors, and movement endpoints. Small distances (5 mm) between target and distractor yielded a symmetric pattern of interference, whereas large distances (20 mm) yielded an asymmetric pattern, with more interference from near than from far distractors. Those findings support the distance account of distractor interference and refute the grouping account.     

Hierarchical model of generalized and specific vulnerabilities in anxiety

This study evaluated a theoretical hierarchical relationship among the general anxiety vulnerability variable of neuroticism, the specific vulnerability variables of anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty, and variables reflecting specific anxiety foci including panic symptoms, health anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms and generalized anxiety/worry. Questionnaires assessing these variables were administered to a non-clinical sample of 91 first-year psychology students (64.8% women). Path analysis results were highly consistent with the hypothesized hierarchical model. Neuroticism was found to have a significant direct effect on both anxiety sensitivity and intolerance of uncertainty. Both neuroticism and anxiety sensitivity had direct significant effects on panic symptoms, neuroticism and intolerance of uncertainty both made significant direct contributions to the prediction of worry, and neuroticism made a significant direct contribution to the prediction of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Contrary to the hypothesized model, anxiety sensitivity but not neuroticism uniquely predicted health anxiety. The results of this study provide initial empirical evidence for a hierarchical relationship among general and specific vulnerabilities, and specific anxiety manifestations.     

Psychophysiological Identification of Depression Subtypes in Older Adults: Problematic Diagnostic Heterogeneity in the DSM-III-R and DSM-IV

The DSM-IV does not subclassify patients with depression on the basis of anxiety level. Hence a significant confound may exist in all outcome studies that employ DSM definitions of depression. To establish that objectively identifiable anxious and nonanxious subtypes of depression do indeed exist, a psychophysiological assessment battery was used with 114 treatment-seeking older adults. Dichotomous criterion categorization as either Nonanxious Depressed or Anxious Depressed was based on (a) DSM-III-R/DSM-IV diagnosis, and (b) standardized questionnaires of psychopathology. Multivariate analyses revealed no differences between groups when DSM criteria were used to classify participants. However, identical analyses using phenomenological diagnostic criteria indicated that anxious and nonanxious depressed participants differed in their psychophysiological response to negative imagery. Although anxious and nonanxious depressed participants evince different psychophysiological response patterns, these differences unfortunately are obscured by the DSM. Consequently, a phenomenological classification system may be more appropriate with affective disorders.     

The modification of intelligence through early experience

Infants judged to be at risk for subnormal intellectual growth were randomly assigned to an Experimental (N = 27) or a Control (N = 25) group. Infants in both groups received medical care and dietary supplements; their families received social work services on a request basis. Experimental children participated in an educational daycare program beginning before the third month of life. The daycare program was composed, in part, of curriculum activities designed to stimulate intellectual growth. Between 6 and 36 months of age, Experimental children maintained normal intellectual growth; Control children declined in IQ beginning between 12 and 18 months of age and remained significantly lower than Experimental children at 24 and 36 months. The mother-child IQ correlation for Control dyads was 43; for Experimental dyads the correlation was ?.05. These two types of evidence are interpreted as support for the importance of early environments in the development of intelligence.     

SIDE EFFECTS OF THERAPEUTIC PUNISHMENT ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND EYE CONTACT

The effects of therapeutic punishment delivered following inappropriate behavior on the academic responding and eye-to-face contact of 2 persons with developmental handicaps was examined using a counterbalanced alternating treatment design. Each subject was sequentially taught by two therapists each day. While one of the therapists taught the subject, the second therapist stood in close proximity directly behind the subject. During baseline, neither therapist delivered punishment following inappropriate behavior. During the treatment condition, one of the therapists delivered all punishment regardless of whether she was teaching or standing behind the subject. The therapist who delivered all punishment for 1 subject did not deliver any punishment for the other subject. During the last condition, the therapist delivering all punishment was reversed for 1 of the subjects. The results indicated that the task being taught was mastered by each subject only when the therapist delivering punishment was teaching. Data collected also indicated that each subject made more eye-to-face contact when the therapist delivering all punishment was teaching. Although neither therapist had to deliver punishers often, punishment had to be administered less often when the therapist teaching the subject was also the therapist delivering punishment.     

Moral dilemmas and moral rules

Recent work shows an important asymmetry in lay intuitions about moral dilemmas. Most people think it is permissible to divert a train so that it will kill one innocent person instead of five, but most people think that it is not permissible to push a stranger in front of a train to save five innocents. We argue that recent emotion-based explanations of this asymmetry have neglected the contribution that rules make to reasoning about moral dilemmas. In two experiments, we find that participants show a parallel asymmetry about versions of the dilemmas that have minimized emotional force. In a third experiment, we find that people distinguish between whether an action violates a moral rule and whether it is, all things considered, wrong. We propose that judgments of whether an action is wrong, all things considered, implicate a complex set of psychological processes, including representations of rules, emotional responses, and assessments of costs and benefits.     

Comprehension of passives in Broca's aphasia

Drai and Grodzinsky have statistically analyzed a large corpus of data on the comprehension of passives by patients with Broca's aphasia. The data come, according to Drai and Grodzinsky, from binary choice tasks. Among the languages that are analyzed are Dutch and German. Drai and Grodzinsky argue that Dutch and German speaking Broca patients should be relatively good (that is, perform above chance) on comprehension of passive sentences, since in Dutch and German passives the relative order of the object and lexical verb is the underlying order and hence no movement takes place. We will demonstrate that both their linguistic arguments and their selection of Dutch data are invalid.