PROMOTING STIMULUS CONTROL WITH TEXTUAL PROMPTS AND PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK FOR PERSONS WITH MILD DISABILITIES

We assessed whether written task analyses would serve as textual prompts for performing functional tasks by persons with mild disabilities. Several variables that could influence the effectiveness of textual prompts to promote stimulus control were examined across four groups. A consistent finding was that written specific task analyses combined with end-of-trial performance feedback were effective for promoting the acquisition and generalization of several tasks. Performance transferred immediately to natural discriminative stimuli when the written task analyses and feedback were withdrawn for most tasks and participants. For 2 participants, transfer of stimulus control was accomplished by prompt fading, using individualized written task analyses either with or without performance feedback (Group 1). When feedback was not provided, the effectiveness of written specific task analyses was inconsistent across groups. In contrast to the controlling effects of written specific task analyses, written generic task analyses, which specified only major task outcomes, when combined with performance feedback (Group 1) did not control responding. Overall, this research demonstrated the effectiveness of written specific task analyses and performance feedback to promote stimulus control for persons with mild disabilities.     

Dominance,sex, and leader emergence

A 3×2×2 incomplete factorial design was employed to test the effects of sex, dominance, and their interaction on leader emergence. The factors included dominance distribution (high/high, high/low, middle/middle), sex (male-female), and dyad composition (mixed sex-same sex). The subjects were all Caucasians and were pretested on the California Psychological Inventory Dominance Scale. The data revealed that dominance was a predictor of leader emergence in same-sex conditions where high-dominant individuals assumed the role of leader in much greater proportions than their low-dominant partners. In mixed-sex dyads, sex appeared to be a more potent predictor with males becoming leaders at levels greater than would be suspected given dominance levels.     

A biopsychosocial model for treating infertility

With approximately one out of six married couples experiencing infertility, having a basic knowledge of infertility is important to marriage and family therapists. This paper presents important themes that infertile couples often struggle with and stresses the importance of having a biological, psychological, and social understanding of infertility. In addition, the paper suggests possible interventions that family therapists can use in helping infertile couples.     

Parallel distributed processing and neuropsychology: A neural network model of Wisconsin card sorting and verbal fluency

Neural networks can be used as a tool in the explanation of neuropsychological data. Using the Hebbian Learning Rule and other such principles as competition and modifiable interlevel feedback, researchers have successfully modeled a widely used neuropsychological test, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. One of these models is reviewed here and extended to a qualitative analysis of how verbal fluency might be modeled, which demonstrates the importance of accounting for the attentional components of both tests. Difficulties remain in programming sequential cognitive processes within a parallel distributed processing (PDP) framework and integrating exceedingly complex neuropsychological tests such as Proverbs. PDP neural network methodology offers neuropsychologists co-validation procedures within narrowly defined areas of reliability and validity.     

Blocking Effects in Two-Choice Discrimination Tasks in Rhesus Monkeys Macaca Mulatta

The Psychological Record - The present experiments investigated blocking effects in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) in a discrimination learning paradigm using a single stimulus modality. Two...     

Relationship between two nontraditional procedures for assessing speech-sound discrimination

Test of speech-sound discrimination are used by special educators, reading specialists and speech-language pathologists in assessing children's ability to differentiate between speech sounds occurring in standard English. Such tests are important in determining if speech-sound articulation errors are caused by difficulty in making such differentiations. However, during the past 10 years, these tests have been criticized on the basis of their reliability and validity. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of two alternative methods of assessing speech-sound discrimination with a school-aged population to determine if they elicited responses in a similar manner.     

Throwing action from full-cue and motion-only video-models of an arm movement sequence

The purpose of this study was to determine whether videotaped demonstrations of an action which displayed only the motion pattern of a model's limb as compared with one which showed both form and motion provide sufficient information for modelling a given pattern of movement. Video-demonstrations of an arm-movement sequence which ended with a throwing action were shown to adult subjects whose task was to model precisely what they saw. Each demonstration lasted 6 sec. and was shown 6 times. It portrayed the arm of a model, who held a small ball, performing a sequence of movements (flexion and extension of the elbow) which ended in the ball being thrown about 2.5 m with a 'darts-style' action. Three types of demonstration were presented: one showed the whole arm in dark clothing against a light-coloured background, another showed the arm as the relative motion of patches of light situated at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints, and the third showed the arm as the relative motion of the upper and lower segments of the arm represented by strips of light-reflectant material. These were the stimuli for the between-groups experimental conditions. Goniometry techniques were used to compare the performance of subjects relative to the model. Analysis showed that the order of the preparatory sequence was correctly produced after 4 trials under all conditions. Range of arm movement in projecting the ball closely approximated that of the model after 4 trials in all conditions. The time taken for the arm to project the ball remained constant across trials under all conditions and was always slower than the demonstrated cadence.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Common problems and coping strategies I: Findings with normal adolescents

This study investigated problems commonly experienced by adolescents and the strategies they use to cope with these events. Coping strategies were examined across the subjects' omotional state and their evaluation of the problem. In general, adolescents reported four common Stressors that were similar across age groups and gender. However, males differed from females in the frequency of these problems. Further, while the Stressors were similar, the frequency with which the coping strategies were employed and the efficacy ascribed to them differed across sex and across problem type. These findings are discussed in terms of the stress and coping literature with adults and the implications for clinical assessment and treatment of adolescents.     

Challenging occupational stereotypes: Women's training roadshows and guidance at school level

The views that women and girls hold about themselves contribute to the segregation of women in the labour market. Women's Training Roadshows are an example of initiatives aimed at 'cultural interruption', in that they attempt to challenge occupational stereotypes. This paper evaluates the Cardiff Women's Roadshow from the schoolgirls' perspective and discusses the implications of the findings for careers guidance at school level.