Fixed ratio and extinction performance of infants in the second year of life

Five 14(1/2)- to 19(1/2)-month-old infants were trained to lever press for snacks on small fixed ratio schedules of reinforcement. Within four to nine sessions, responding under FR 10 was established for four subjects and FR 15 for the other. Each subject's last session revealed behavioral patterns similar to animal and human FR trained subjects-a high and constant ratio rate, mixed with a zero rate following reinforcements. Deviations were mostly in the form of prolonged and variable post-reinforcement pauses. These and other irregularities were probably due to the limited deprivation conditions and improper training procedures in which the ratio (for two subjects) was ascended too early and too quickly. Extinction was instituted during the last session. The degree to which extinction performance matched that of other organisms depended upon how stable and "ratio-like" performance was during conditioning.     

Punishment as a discriminative stimulus and conditioned reinforcer with humans

Mental hospital patients were reinforced for responding in a two-response operant situation. When a noise was used to punish one of the responses, all subjects shifted to the unpunished one. When the noise was then paired with positive reinforcement, the subjects responded to produce the noise. Also, a novel response was reinforced by noise in the absence of other reinforcers. This study with humans extends the findings of previous studies with animals in revealing how a punishing stimulus can acquire discriminative or conditioned reinforcing properties.     

Investigations of a mirror-image transfer effect in pigeons

In two separate experiments, pigeons trained binocularly to peck a key on which an oblique line (e.g., 60 degrees counter-clockwise rotation from horizontal) was projected yielded bi-modal angularity generalization gradients in extinction, with peaks of responding at both the training stimulus and its mirror image (in this case 120 degrees ). This mirror-image transfer effect may be analogous to an "octave effect" in auditory generalization, but Mello's finding of a mirror-image reversal transfer effect following monocular training in pigeons suggests an alternative interpretation.     

The effect of abnormal displacement of the retinal image during eye movements

The displacement of the images on the retina that results from a turning of the eye does not lead to an apparent motion of what is seen, It has been generally assumed that this is due to a compensating process which takes eye movement into account and serves to discount those image displacements that result from eye movements, It follows from this view that an abnormal image displacement, that is, an image displacement that is larger or smaller than the causing eye movement would warrant, should lead to an experienced displacement of the target. Abnormal image displacement was produced by placing the eye in the converging or diverging bundle of rays from a point source that form behind a strong positive lens; this arrangement yielded a disc-shaped image, the projection of the pupil onto the retina, which displaced abnormally during eye movements. By changing the position of the eye along the axis of the lens in relation to the crossing point of the bundle, the degree to which the displacement was abnormal could be varied, For various displacement rates ranging from 25% to 120 and 400% of normal, abnormal displacements produced by incidental eye movements remained unnoticed, Only where eye movements were intentional did some of our Ss report shifts of the perceived image. It is suggested that the organism copes with the image displacement resulting from the ever-present incidental eye movements not by compensation but by ignoring them.     

Binocular summation in the perception of form at brief durations

Visual form identification at brief durations was studied under: (a) monocular presentation; (b) dichopic presentation where the same form was presented successively on noncorresponding areas; and (c) dichopic presentation where the same form was presented on corresponding areas simultaneously and successively. Form identification for noncorresponding area dichopic presentation was at the level to be expected from 2independent chances to perceive. Both simultaneous and successive dichopic presentation on corresponding areas gave identification accuracy significantly above the level predicted by the assumption of independence. However, the binocular summation was not complete. When the same amount of energy entering the visual system in a binocular presentation was given in a monocular stimulation, the latter condition gave significantly better identification.     

Cognitive behavior modification: ‘Motivated learning’ reading treatment with subprofessional therapy-technicians

A method of treating reading deficits based upon an extrinsic motivational system previously employed successfully with a single subject was extended to eighteen additional subjects. The junior-high age subjects included retarded children in special classes, several emotionally disturbed children, and culturally deprived children. The method of training used in the original study was designed to be simple to administer and simple to record the performance of the child. Thus, it was hypothesized that subprofessional personnel could be employed to administer the treatment. Adult volunteers and high school seniors were used as the therapy-technicians.

The eighteen Ss were given 38.2 hr of training in daily half-hour sessions, during which period the average reinforcement earned was $22.29. The mean number of single word reading responses was 94,425. The rate of reading accelerated over the period of training even though the reading material became more difficult. This occurred during a period when progressively less (about one-fourth as much) reinforcement was given per reading response. A mean of 593.5 new words were learned and 70.9 per cent of these were retained in a long-term test. The attention, attendance, cooperation, and diligent work behavior of the various children were maintained in good strength throughout the duration of the study. The results suggest that research be conducted to develop methods for treatment of behavioral deficits that can be widely applied by subprofessional therapy-technicians supervised by clinical psychologists.     

The development of socialization skills in an electively mute child

In a booth designed especially for work with both autistic and electively mute children, a 4-yr-old girl named Dolly, who had no communicative speech or imitative skills, was given a preliminary session in which her verbal output was assessed. To elicit sounds from Dolly, an instrument called a “color organ” was used as a positive reinforcer. After this baseline assessment, in 40 half-hour sessions, Dolly was taught to make eye contact with E, and to obey instructions—although it was first necessary to extinguish her disruptive behavior, particularly her opérant crying. In addition, she learned non-verbal imitative behavior, such as hand clapping; and verbal imitative behavior, such as saying “Hi!” Social (play) sessions were begun after session 21, and continued for the remaining time. These were helpful in generalizing Dolly's learned skills to an environment other than the booth; and to other tasks, such as singing “Ee-eye-ee-eye-oh” in the refrain of the song, “Old McDonald”; and pointing to E's eyes, saying “ice”.     

A survey of referral problems in 59 Ohio school districts

Feedback for the school psychologist is vital to construct and maintain remedial or preventative programs in the public schools. This study was undertaken to see if referral data would be useful as a source of such information.

Referral forms were solicited from school psychologists in 59 Ohio school districts and an analysis was made of their contents. The data obtained indicates that referral information can be used to provide school psychologists clues pertaining to referral procedures and the types of children and problems referred.

Specifically, this study indicates a greater need in the area of communication among pupil personnel workers. Further, it indicates that the psychologist in the school deals largely with problems of an academic nature thus offering a direction for in-service programming. Finally, the data reveals an interesting trend in the area of mental health which could possibly be an area of fruitful research.