A factor analytic and reliability study of the Devereux Child Behavior Rating Scale

The factor structure of the Devereux Child Behavior (DCB) Rating Scale was found to be different in the present study from those reported by the authors of the scale. Five of the 17 DCB factors were too unreliable to include in the present factor analysis. The findings of the present study were strikingly similar with other factor analytic studies of behavior rating scales in that only three main factors were found: Conduct Disorder, Personality Disorder, and Inadequacy-Immaturity.     

A simple stimulus cue for controlling disruptive classroom behavior

In two separate classrooms, a red light which had no specific consequences attached was used to reduce the talking-out and out-of-seat behavior of elementary school subjects. Following baseline phases, the light was introduced for a one-week period. An observer activated the light whenever the targeted behaviors occurred. Following a return to baseline, the light was reintroduced for a second one-week period. Results indicated that for both subjects a 95% or greater reduction in targeted behaviors occurred during the red-light phases. The results demonstrated the short-term effectiveness of a simple procedure which does not require specific back-up consequences for the reduction of disruptive behavior. The author concluded that studies using stimulus cues as part of reward or punishment procedures should employ a baseline procedure which controls for the effect of the stimulus cue without specific back-up consequences.This work was supported by Grant No. MH-18966 from the National Institute of Mental Health to Roberta Ray, Oregon Research Institute. The author is indebted to Roberta Ray, Oregon Research Institute, for her advice and support and to Paul Randall, Eugene Public Schools, for his assistance in conducting this research. Data reported in this article were collected as part of a study examining the effect of observer- and self-operated discriminative stimuli in the control of disruptive behavior. A complete copy of the report is available from the author.     

Invariance of inference time when information was presented in different linguistic formats

Ss read paragraphs varying in syntactic complexity, contiguity of information that was conceptually related, and amount of information relating to quantitative variables. Paragraphs were presented too briefly to allow full reading in many cases. In questions requiring use of the quantitative information, proportion of correct responses was influenced by syntax, contiguity, and number of variables from the paragraph. However, neither syntax nor contiguity influenced latency of correct answers, while number of variables, a factor affecting complexity of the process of answering, did influence correct response latency. The findings confirm and extend earlier results by Kintsch and Monk (1972) and give further support to the proposition that assimilation of information in linguistic input involves storing the semantic content of the message.     

Polysemy and memory

The degree of ambiguity of words with multiple meanings was estimated by the semantic uncertainty (U) of a word as measured by word association and sentence generation tasks. Ambiguous words defined in this way were as well remembered in a recognition memory test as control words. When words were first presented in sentences that would determine their encoded sense, it was found that successive encodings of an ambiguous word converged more when the word appeared in its primary sense than when it appeared in its secondary sense. However, given convergent encodings, recognition was more likely if the word had first occurred in its secondary sense. An explanation in terms of semantic focus is offered and related to the general relationship between recognition and frequency.The research reported in this paper was supported by the Learning Research and Development Center, which is supported in part by the U.S. Office of Education.     

The importance of being first: A tachistoscopic study of the contribution of each letter to the recognition of four-letter words

Three studies investigated the effect on the response time for voicing a four-letter word of delaying one of the letters or the entire word for intervals of up to 500 msec. Experiment I found delay of the first letter most detrimental, while delay of the second, third, or fourth letter facilitated performance. Experiment II confirmed these findings and indicated that delay of the entire word produced response times similar to delay of the first letter. Experiment III investigated the possibility that knowledge of the pronunciation of the first letter was the essential factor in facilitating performance when later letters were delayed. It was concluded that when pronunciation of the first letter was known, Ss were able to begin processing the word immediately.     

Decision making and the P300 component of the cortical evoked response

The amplitude of P300, and of other components of the evoked potentials, was examined during a task which required Ss to make a response appropriate to the conjoint properties of two rapidly successive visual patterns. In one set of conditions, the task was structured such that both stimuli were needed for the choice judgment. In another set of conditions, the task was changed from choice to simple RT by presenting the patterns in a predictable order. It was observed that P300 was enhanced during the choice RT conditions and that this enhancement was present only for the P300 following the stimulus permitting the choice and not the other, relevant but not decisive, stimulus appearing in close temporal proximity. An appreciable degree of independence between P300 and other components was indicated by the appearance of P300 under conditions in which other evoked potential components were entirely refractory. The data support an account for P300 in terms of poststimulus processes, such as decision making, and not in terms of preparatory adjustments.     

Size judgment: The presence of a standard increases the exponent of the power law

Ss judged the size of circles by the methods of magnitude estimation and magnitude production, with or without a standard figure present. The presence of the standard raised the exponent of the power law. The effect was largely independent of the position of the standard in the range of stimuli. It is argued that the standard’s effect was not mediated by a difference in apparent size between perceived and remembered standards, a change in Ss’ response strategies, a decrease in sequential dependencies, or other previously identified bias effects.     

Unavoidable gridshock without scrambling circuitry from a faradic source of low-radio-frequency current

A high-voltage radio-frequency stimulator was used as a source of motivational footshock in studies of conditional suppression. The circuit of the stimulator is presented schematically, then discussed in terms of affect induced by, gross behavioral response to, and electrical characteristics of, the stimulus. Near daily use of the stimulator across 6 months of formal assessment revealed that nonscrambled presentations of footshock via a grid of aluminum bars invariably resulted in stimulation of rat Ss and generated highly efficient conditional suppression of operant responding. While the stimulator was primarily designed to permit unconfounded presentation of gridshock in a 2,450-MHz microwave field, its simplicity and reliability suggest application in other situations requiring motivational shock.     

Direct observation and automated scoring of the activity of active and inactive inbred mouse strains

Inbred mouse strains previously found to be low (A/J) and high (C57BL/6J) in open-field activity were tested in a plastic oval runway while their runway activity was directly observed and also monitored by a contact switch recording device. The activity of active C57BL/6J mice was accurately monitored by the recording device, but scores of inactive A/J mice were inflated by a factor between 2 and 3 X. Activity differences between strains were consistently maintained[during repeated tests under both high and very dim illumination if direct observational scores were used. Utilization of scores obtained by the automated recording device resulted in a failure to obtain group differences under the condition of dim illumination. These results were directly related to the mode of locomotion of the two mouse strains.     

Interocular non-independence

Binocular interaction was studied by presenting a different letter form to each eye via a dichopic tachistoscope. The two dissimilar letters were presented simultaneously or at short delay internals of 0–200 msec and were either presented on corresponding or non-corresponding retinal areas. At delay internals of less than 100 msec stimulation of corresponding areas resulted in identification performance below that to be expected on the basis of independent chances to perceive. Stimulation on non-corresponding areas resulted in both presented letters being identified at the accuracy level predicted by an independence assumption.