Computer automation of biofeedback training

A computer-automated system has been developed for implementing response-contingent training strategies in EMG biofeedback-assisted relaxation training. An on-line minicomputer is programmed to (1) monitor progress within a training session as reflected in EMG signals; (2) compare the progress data with criteria set by the operator at the beginning of the session; and (3) on the basis of these comparisons, periodically adjust feedback gain (sensitivity) and make changes in the within-session training sequence. The system is designed to allow various adaptive training strategies to be software programmable. One of these strategies, a “shaping” procedure commonly employed in EMG biofeedback training, gradually increases the degree of relaxation necessary to produce the desired feedback signal by increasing feedback gain as the subject gets better at relaxing. Implementation of the shaping procedure is described as an illustration of system function. Current system development is guided by principles from adaptive testing and teaching systems to make more of the feedback training process adaptive in function.     

Employment and health among married women with children

A sample of nearly 500 urban married women with children was used to evaluate the possible effect of outside-the-home employment on the mental and physical health of married mothers. Six measures of health were used, some drawn from interviews with the women, others from a medical examination. After controlling for ethnicity, education, and age of the women, the husband's occupation, number of children in the family, and length of time the woman has been married, it was found that wives who had been employed for more than a year were healthier than wives not employed outside the home and wives who had worked less than one year. Housewives who had never worked outside the home were healthier, on the whole, than wives who had been employed at some time in the past. Poor marital relationships and having no preschool age children seemed to increase the health advantage of long-term employed wives over those in the housewife categories. The occupational status of wife and husband did not seem to change these health differences very much.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Southwest Social Science Association, San Antonio, March 1975. The authors would like to thank Donna Duvall, Ministry of State for Urban Affairs, Ottawa; Elaine Hess, University of Nebraska at Omaha; and David R. Johnson, University of Nebraska — Lincoln for their comments. Gilles Robert and Marie Josepha Hebert ably assisted with various aspects of this project. Support for the project was provided by the Ministry of State for Urban Affairs, but the views expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Ministry.     

Hemispheric asymmetries in human infants: Spectral analysis of flash and click evoked potentials

Evoked potentials of 16 human infants (mean age = 5.0 weeks, SD = 1.8 weeks) were recorded from the left and right, occipital and temporal areas. Spectral analysis showed a high amplitude, localized, coherent center of activity within the left temporal area for click stimuli, and a high amplitude, localized center of activity in the right occipital area for flash stimuli. It was proposed that the structured auditory information of the click and the unstructured visual information of the flash represented different degrees of familiarity to the subjects. With this hypothesis, left hemisphere involvement in stimulus processing would increase as the stimulus became more referrable to previous long- or short-term experience. Conversely, right hemisphere involvement would increase with unfamiliar stimuli which could not be readily associated with earlier data.     

Decomposing adult age differences in symbol arithmetic

A componential analysis was conducted to determine the locus of adult age differences in symbol arithmetic. Measures of the duration of two proposed components, substitution of digits for symbols and the addition or subtraction of the digits resulting from these substitutions, were obtained from 52 young adults and 52 older adults. Tests of working memory, perceptual speed, motor speed, and associative learning were also administered to all subjects. The results were most consistent with an interpretation postulating that the speed of many different cognitive processes decreases with increased age. Considerable age-related variance remained in the measures of symbol arithmetic performance after statistical control of working memory and associative learning performance, casting doubt on alternative hypotheses of the source of age-related differences in this task.     

A philosophical examination of coercion for mental health issues

This article considers two philosophical questions about coercion and mental disorders: (1) an analytical question, i.e., what is meant by the concept of coercion? (2) a normative question, i.e., what justifies the use of coercion? The article distinguishes between coercion from other forms of power such as inducement, persuasion, and authority. It then considers a range of arguments for the paternalistic use of coercion for the benefit of mentally disordered persons and the use of coercion to restrain mentally disordered dangerous persons. This article rests on the assumption that there is something to be said for an academic division of labour, that empirical research in mental health and the law can benefit from conceptual clarification and the analysis of normative arguments. In this article I distinguish between two importantly different sorts of questions that we can ask about coercion and then offer some answers to those questions in broad strokes.     

What are human express saccades?

When a fixation point is removed 200 msec prior to target onset (the gap condition), human subjects are said to produce eye movements that have a short latency (80–120 msec), that form the early peak of a bimodal latency distribution, and that have been labeled “human express saccades” (see, e.g., Fischer, 1987; Fischer & Breitmeyer, 1987; Fischer & Ramsperger, 1984, 1986). In three experiments, we sought to obtain this express saccade diagnostic pattern in the gap condition, We orthogonally combined target location predictability with the presence versus absence of catch trials (Experiment 1). When target location was fixed and catch trials were not used, we found mostly anticipations. In the remaining conditions, where responses were under stimulus control, bimodality was not frequently observed, and, whether it was or not, latencies were not in the express saccade range. Using random target locations, we then varied stimulus luminance and the mode of stimulus presentation (LEDs vs. oscilloscope) in the gap and overlap (fixation is not removed) conditions (Experiment2). Bimodality was rarely observed, the gap effect (overlap minus gap reaction time) was additive with luminance, and only the brightest targets elicited saccades in the express range. When fixed locations and no catch trials were combined with latency feedback (Experiment 3), we observed many responses in the express saccade range and some evidence for bimodality, but the sudden introduction of catch trials revealed that many early responses were not under stimulus control. Humanscan make stimulus-controlled saccades that are initiated very rapidly (80–120 msec), but unless catch trials or choice reaction time is used, it is not possible to distinguish such saccades from anticipatory responses that are prepared in advance and timed to occur shortly after target onset. Because the express saccade diagnostic pattern is not a characteristic feature of human saccadic performance, we urge investigators to focus their attention on the robustgap effect     

A comparison of self-instructional checking procedures for remediating mathematical deficits

We examined the relative effectiveness of three procedures for teaching long multiplication/division to seven adolescents with learning disabilities: no-checking, end-checking, and multi-checking. During training, each subject was taught by modelling and imitation to verbalize self-instructions in the form of a strategy while solving the problems. The relative effects of the checking and no-checking procedures on accuracy and rate of problems completed were examined in an alternating treatments design. The best treatment was then given alone and a reversal was implemented six weeks later, followed by a return to the best treatment during a final phase. Irrespective of the procedure used, the subjects' accuracy improved while the rate of problems completed decreased. These effects were greatest with the multi-checking procedure for six of the seven subjects. Generalization to untaught problems of various levels of complexity occurred under all procedures. Though maintenance effects were seen during the follow-up, accuracy was generally higher and more reliable when the subject's best checking procedure was reinstated. It is suggested that error detection and correction were important for maintaining high levels of accuracy and that these operated differentially in the three procedures to produce the differing levels of accuracy. The role of other factors such as pre-skill knowledge, complexity of the problem and prior reinforcement history are also considered.     

Sequences of Fixed-Ratio Schedules: The Relative Effects of Reinforcer Magnitude and Ratio Size in the Second Fixed Ratio

The Psychological Record - Four pigeons were given a choice between two sequences of fixed-ratio schedules. The second fixed ratio was a fixed-ratio 5 followed by 2-s access to grain in one...     

Sport participation among adolescent girls: Role conflict or multiple roles?

This study explored selected roles as criteria for social status among high school females with particular reference to participation in interscholastic athletics. Six hundred and twenty-seven female high school students completed the School Climate Questionnaire and, using a 5-point Likert scale, rated different role/activity choices. There were significant differences between participants and nonparticipants with respect to roles selected for future status; however, no significant relationship was found between groups and their identification of the criteria for peer approval. Overall, high school females exhibited multidimensional self-identities that differed in relation to their involvement in sports and the social groups used as their point of reference.