Extinction after aversive conditioning: An associative or nonassociative process?

A series of three eyelid-conditioning experiments with rabbits examined the traditional extinction procedure in which the CS is presented in the absence of US presentations. The first study employed a savings test to demonstrate that the rate of reacquisition is faster after a conventional extinction procedure than after a procedure in which the CS and US have been unpaired. The second experiment indicated that this readiness to respond in reacquisition was related to a carry-over effect from the initial acquisition trials. The third study demonstrated that acquisition and reacquisition are similar when the US is maintained in extinction but not when it is omitted. These results imply that procedures which retain the US during extinction are more effective than the conventional CS-alone extinction procedure in eliminating or inhibiting the associative connection between the CS and the US.     

How effective are our marriage ministries? A critical survey

Since the introduction of marriage and family counseling into some seminary curricula thirty years ago, the majority of clergy have developed premarital counseling as a part of their marriage ministries, and educational committees have established marriage and family courses in church school programs. Two questionnaires, used in three clergy conferences, provide data for a critical survey of representative clergy involved in ministry to marriage. Analysis of the data and interviews with a continuing education director and a marriage counseling trainer provide reasons why clergy may not be fully qualified and, therefore, may be only partially effective as marriage counselors. The kinds of educational experience necessary for ministers to become more effective in marriage ministry are examined. Finally, the minister's role in marriage in a secular society is interpreted as undergoing a shift for which many clergy are unprepared.     

An experimental treatment using verbal punishment with two preschool stutterers

A multiple base-line experimental treatment was conducted with two preschool stuttering children. Each child conversed 20 min with the experimenter for 20 sessions. Treatment consisted of the presentation of the verbal stimulus “slow down” contingent upon a stuttering response. The percentage of words stuttered by both children decreased during the treatment sessions. Probe tape recordings conducted in each child's home revealed a decrease in stuttering frequency.     

An aversive conditioning unit for ants

An apparatus is described for studying aversive conditioning in ants. The aversive stimulus is mechanically produced vibration. Responses are recorded automatically by an infrared photocell system.     

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.     

A partial repetition effect in choice reaction time for multidimensional stimuli

Bertelson (1963), and others more recently, have observed that when the same stimulus is presented consecutively the reaction time (RT) to the second presentation is faster than the RT to the first presentation. In Experiments 1 and 2, two-dimensional stimuli are used in a discrete four-choice RT task where the stimuli can either be completely repeated, partially repeated, or completely different. In Experiment 3, three-dimensional stimuli were used in a discrete eight-choice RT task where the stimuli can either be completely repeated, partially respeated with respect to two dimensions, partially repeated with respect to one dimension, or completely different. The partial repetition of multidimensional stimuli showed a significant facilitation effect on RT with all sets of stimuli used in the present experiments. This result is discussed in respect to the various possible loci of the repetition effect.     

Position uncertainty and the perception of apparent movement

Two experiments compared the perception of apparent movement when the second of two successive stimuli always appeared in the same position and when it varied randomly between two spatial positions. The results of both experiments showed that foreknowledge of the position of the second stimulus does not facilitate the perception of apparent movement. Experiment 2 also clearly showed that the space-time relationships of Korte’s third law of apparent movement does not depend on foreknowledge of the position of the second stimulus. These findings imply that apparent movement in real time occurs after the second stimulus has been registered by the visual system. It suggests that apparent movement involves a delayed decision mechanism that stores the first stimulus, the interstimulus temporal interval, and the second stimulus, and then impletes a motion compatible with the stimulus information.     

Variations in gender-role equality among classes: A research note

A widely accepted view describes gender-role inequality as less prevalent among the middle class than the working class. Gender-role inequality within the intact nuclear family is asserted to be a syndrome characterized by unequal husband—wife authority, rigid division of household labor, and greater freedom in leisure pursuits for the husband. This view is generally unsupported by the findings of the present study, a secondary analysis of a sample survey conducted in Houston in 1969–1970. Two classes (working and middle) were compared, with ethnicity (Anglo, Black, Mexican-American) and sex controlled. Questionnaire items concerned leisure-time freedom for wives, gender differences in children's socialization, and sexual division of labor in the household. Differences between groups were generally small and inconsistent. In some cases, sexual and ethnic differences were greater than those of class. An intercorrelation matrix revealed few significant correlations between egalitarian responses to the various items, suggesting that egalitarianism or its opposite is not a syndrome.This paper utilized data collected on a project partially supported by NIMH Grant No. MH 15708. Computer services were provided by the Institute of Computer Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, supported by NIH Grant No. RR 00259, and the Institute for Computer Services and Applications, Rice University, Houston, Texas. Secondary analysis of data was carried out in the Winter of 1975–1976. We wish to thank Dr. George Antunes of the University of Houston, Dr. Richard Hamilton of McGill University, and Judith Scott of Texas Research Institute of Mental Sciences for their critical reading of an earlier draft of this paper.