The effect of reinforcement differences on choice and response distribution during stimulus compounding

In Experiments I and II, rats were trained to respond on one lever during light and another during tone. The absence of tone and light controlled response cessation. In the multiple schedule of Experiment I, all reinforcements were received for responding in tone or light; in the chain schedule of Experiment II, all reinforcements were received in no tone + no light for not responding. Experiment I subjects, for which tone and light were associated with response and reinforcement increase, responded significantly more to tone-plus-light than to tone or light alone (additive summation). Experiment II subjects, for which tone and light were associated with response increase and reinforcement decrease, responded comparably to tone, light, and tone + light. Thus, additive summation was observed when stimulus-response and stimulus-reinforcer associations in tone and light were both positive, but not when they were conflicting. All subjects in both experiments responded predominantly on the light-correlated lever during tone + light, even when light intensity was reduced in testing. Furthermore, when a light was presented to a subject engaged in tone-associated responding, all subjects immediately switched the locus of responding to the light-correlated lever. No change in locus occurred when a tone was presented to a subject engaged in light-associated responding, irrespective of the stimulus-reinforcer association conditioned to tone. The light-lever preference in tone + light indicates that the heightened responding observed in Experiment I was not the summation of tone-associated behavior with light-associated behavior. Rather, it appears to be the result of a facilitation of one operant (light-associated responding) by the reinforcement-associated cue for the other.     

The intercalated reinforcement technique: Learning without differential total reinforcement between groups

An intercalated reinforcement technique is described. The method equates number of trials, response topography, sensory exposure, and frequency of reinforcement between reversal Ss overtrained on a discrimination and then trained on reversals and nonreversal Ss similarly overtrained but continued on the same discrimination. In extending previous successful work in the rat, monkeys were trained on spatial discrimination and reversal tasks in the WGTA at 50%, 75%, and 100% reinforcement in order to test the efficacy of learning by this procedure, and to compare the method with learning obtained by a more classical procedure. Learning rates were the same by both procedures. This technique, therefore, appears useful for investigating neurochemical (or other) correlates of learning unconfounded by performance or sensory effects.     

The feeling of the story: Narrating to regulate anger and sadness

Admonitions to tell one's story in order to feel better reflect the belief that narrative is an effective emotion regulation tool. The present studies evaluate the effectiveness of narrative for regulating sadness and anger, and provide quantitative comparisons of narrative with distraction, reappraisal, and reexposure. The results for sadness (n?=?93) and anger (n?=?89) reveal that narrative is effective at down-regulating negative emotions, particularly when narratives place events in the past tense and include positive emotions. The results suggest that if people tell the “right” kind of story about their experiences, narrative reduces emotional distress linked to those experiences.     

Talking the Talk: The Interactional Construction of Community and Identity at Conversation Analytic Data Sessions in Japan

A communities of practice framework views learning in terms of identity (trans)formation within and through participation, utilizing a set of shared resources, in a community organized around a joint endeavor, or practice. From an ethnomethodological perspective, however, the theoretical notions of community, shared resources, and identity constitute not explanatory resources, but rather topics requiring data-grounded exploration. In other words, the following empirical questions arise: If and how the participants (a) organize their group as community, (b) co-constitute a shared repertoire of participatory resources, and (c) work up and manage identities as practitioners within that community. In the present study, I examine interactions at conversation analytic data sessions in Japan. The analyses focus on how the participants use terminology during their participation in doing data analysis, and how such terminology use is implicated in constituting their group as a community, and in working up and managing identities within that community.     

Family Relationships and Counselling

During the last ten years, family therapy has developed a number of distinctive schools of work. Four such schools—structural, strategic, the Milan school, and psychoanalysis - are described, and their importance to British workers is examined. Comments are offered on a variety of issues likely to face those engaged in family therapy in the coming decade.     

Modification of the externality effect in young infants.

When presented with two-element geometric stimuli, with one element enclosed within the other, infants under 2 months of age do not appear to detect the internal element and fail to respond to a change in that element. Infants over 2 months of age experience no difficulty in this respect. However, it is established that this “externality effect” does break down under certain circumstances, for example, where there is independent modulation of the internal element. Evidence is presented which appears to run counter to explanations of this effect in terms of information processing limitations, capture of attention by dominant salience, or level of arousal. An alternative explanation based on figure-ground organization is given partial support.