Stimulus control of respondent and operant key pecking: A single key procedure

Pigeons' responses to a uniformly illuminated response key were either reinforced on a variable-interval one-minute schedule of reinforcement or extinguished for one-minute periods. When 1.5 second signals were presented at the beginning of each component, so as to differentially predict reinforcement, the pigeons pecked at the signals, at rates higher than rates during the remainder of the component. When the brief signals were not differentially predictive of reinforcement, pecking in their presence decreased to near zero levels. Similar results were obtained with signals based upon colors and upon line orientations. Changes in rates of (unreinforced) pecking occurred during the signal whether pigeons responded differentially during the remainder of the component or not. Experiment II demonstrated that the presence of the signal correlated with extinction was not necessary for pecking to develop at the signal which preceded the component in which responding was intermittently reinforced. The experiments demonstrated a clear dissociation of respondent control from operant control of a response. In addition, operant behavior was shown to be relatively insensitive to differing rates of reinforcement, as compared to the sensitivity of respondent behavior to differing rates of reinforcement produced by the very same operant behavior.     

Variations of the Bender-Gestalt Test: implications for training and practice

Although the Bender-Gestalt Visual Motor Test has been a popular and influential clinical assessment instrument for the last half century, authoritative opinion and a substantial research literature are often inconsistent or contradictory. This paper documents variations in designs, administration procedures, forms, and applications to particular populations. A careful review of scoring systems indicates the current status of objective approaches as contrasted with interpretation that is global, intuitive, and subjective. Some implications of these variations and interpretive procedures for training and assessment practice are discussed. The major conclusions of the review are summarized in seven points.     

The development of derived stimulus relations through training in arbitrary-matching sequences

Five-year-old children were taught three-stage sequences of arbitrary matching: A-C, B-C, A-D; A-C, B-D, B-C; or A-C, A-D, B-C. Each stage refers to a sample-comparison relation between stimuli. Unreinforced test probes revealed untrained arbitrary matches (B-D, A-D, and B-D, respectively), derivable by substitution of stimuli with a common sample or comparison function. Additional probes revealed further untrained sample-comparison relations derivable by substitution and identity, including the commuted relations D-B, D-A, and D-B, respectively. These processes may have relevance to conceptual and verbal behavior.     

The microanalysis of fixed-interval responding

The fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement is one of the more widely studied schedules in the experimental analysis of behavior and is also a common baseline for behavior pharmacology. Despite many intensive studies, the controlling variables and the pattern of behavior engendered are not well understood. The present study examined the microstructure and superstructure of the behavior engendered by a fixed-interval 5- and a fixed-interval 15-minute schedule of food reinforcement in the pigeon. Analysis of performance typical of fixed-interval responding indicated that the scalloped pattern does not result from smooth acceleration in responding, but, rather, from renewed pausing early in the interval. Individual interresponse-time (IRT) analyses provided no evidence of acceleration. There was a strong indication of alternation in shorter-longer IRTs, but these shorter-longer IRTs did not occur at random, reflecting instead a sequential dependency in successive IRTs. Furthermore, early in the interval there was a high relative frequency of short IRTs. Such a pattern of early pauses and short IRTs does not suggest behavior typical of reinforced responding as exemplified by the pattern found near the end of the interval. Thus, behavior from clearly scalloped performance can be classified into three states: postreinforcement pause, interim behavior, and terminal behavior.     

Concurrent schedules: Spatial separation of response alternatives

Four pigeons were exposed to independent concurrent variable-interval 20-second variable-interval 60-second schedules of reinforcement. A transparent partition was inserted midway between the two response keys. The length of the partition was systematically manipulated. Increasing partition length produced a decrease in changeover rate in Experiment 1. Over-matching was observed with a partition length of 20 centimeters. In Experiment 2 a four-second limited hold was added to the schedules. Increasing partition length produced a decrease in changeover rate that exceeded the decrease observed in Experiment 1. This manipulation produced nearly exclusive choice of the variable-interval 20-second component. The present results, together with results obtained in related research, suggest that deviation from matching is a function of procedural variables that determine the consequences of a changeover response.     

GPS,一个模拟人类思惟的程序

GPS 是 General Problem Solver(通用问题解决者)的缩写,是一个计算机程序的名称。GPS 是用来探讨人工智能的一个重要手段,同时,它的各种变式也对人在解决问题时的思惟进行了模拟。GPS(以及在它之前的 Logic Thcory Machine,简称 LT 程序)的建立,标志着对思惟心理学的研究从传统的实验心理学方法跨入了信息加工的领域,用信息加工的观点和方法来探讨人的思惟行为。它为思惟心理学的研究,开拓了更广阔的前景。本文主要讨论 GPS 对人解决问题时的思惟行为的模拟,讨论人的思惟的心理学问题。     

《列宁的辩证法和实证主义的形而上学》一书结束语

当列宁在《哲学笔记》中尖锐而又十分明确地表达他对唯物辩证法的明快简练的观点时,这些观点决不只是(甚至可以说不是)作为他重新批判性地研究黑格尔著作的结论加以表述的,而是(甚至首先是)他在哲学领域中多年斗争的结果。这种斗争是他为反对马赫主义者、“主观社会学”的拥护者、“合法马克思主义者”以及把马克思主义思想僵化的教条主义等倾向而不得不进行的。这些倾向在第二国际的理论家中间(特别是在普列汉诺夫及其学生那里)表现得十分明显。     

IQ的生物学基础

智力研究的名声,已经被骗子的欺骗行径所败坏,为种族主义所沾污,就象炼丹术士的罐子一样黑。最近的争论集中在:智力是不是天生的?种族之间有没有区别?智力测验能否真正测量智力,或者只是表征一个人接受特定的文化的程度?目前有两个英国