Choice vs. Preference: The Effects of Choice and No Choice of Preferred and Non Preferred Spelling Tasks on the Academic Behavior of Students with Disabilities

The effects of choice and no choice of preferred and non preferred instructional activities on the academic behavior of 3 students with disabilities were investigated. Participant preferences for spelling tasks were assessed and an ABCDEF design was used to examine choice and preference within 6 experimental conditions: a) choice of preferred tasks, b) choice of non preferred tasks, c) no choice of preferred tasks, d) no choice of non preferred tasks, e) no choice of preferred tasks (yoked-control), and f) no choice of non preferred tasks (yoked-control). Results indicate that all 3 participants had higher levels of task engagement when working with preferred tasks, regardless of a choice or no choice format. The findings from this investigation contribute to the growing body of research that focuses on developing interventions that are responsive to individual student preferences.     

Open Field Motor Patterns and Object Marking, but Not Object Sniffing, Are Altered by Ibotenate Lesions of the Hippocampus

Objectmarking and object sniffing were assessed in an open field during six 5-min trials in unoperated Long-Evans rats and rats with ibotenate lesions of the hippocampus and/or neocortex. Object marking was higher in hippocampally lesioned rats than in unoperated rats. Object marking did not differ between neocortically lesioned rats and unoperated rats. Object sniffing durations and visits did not differ between unoperated and hippocampally lesioned rats nor between unoperated and neocortically lesioned rats. A new object elicited longer sniffing by both unoperated and hippocampally lesioned rats. Neocortically lesioned rats did not show this effect. There were no effects of the new object on marking. Computerized tracing of open field paths revealed a smaller perimeter track for hippocampally lesioned rats than for unoperated rats. This difference reflected distinct ambulatory patterns. Hippocampally lesioned rats made stereotyped hind-limb pivots at each corner, while normal rats used forelimb pivots or reared and reoriented adjacent to the wall. Rearing was lower in hippocampally lesioned rats, and higher in neocortically lesioned rats, than in unoperated rats. These data indicate that investigative object behavior (sniffing) is resistant to the effects of hippocampal damage, while object-elicited marking and motoric output may be profoundly altered. The data on sniffing suggest either that (1) the noticeability of the objects used elicited investigative behaviors in hippocampally damaged rats comparable to those of novelty-induced exploration in normal rats or (2) object exploration is not used to create a spatial map, and, hence, not disturbed by hippocampal loss. Object marking may require spatial locale information to be exercised normally, or may index the mediation of an olfactory-modulated behavioral pattern through the hippocampal system.     

The assessment of components involved in illusion formation using a long-term decrement procedure

Available evidence seems to indicate that illusion decrement represents reorganization of cognitive components involved in visual-geometric illusions. Observers viewed one of the two forms of the Mueller-Lyer illusion, containing differential opportunities for peripheral structural interactions, for a 10-min test session on each of 5 successive days. The magnitude of the distortion decreased to a different asymptotic level in each of the two configurations with the form, with more opportunity for structural interactions showing the higher asymptote. Thus, this asymptote probably represents the structural or physiological contribution to the illusory distortion.     

The fading of stabilized images: Eye movements and information processing

Two experiments are reported which indicate that neural and photochemical satiation processes are inadequate to explain the fading of the stabilized retinal image. When eye movements are attempted over the stimulus, fading occurs more rapidly, indicating an information processing component in the disappearance of the image.     

Altering Mueller-Lyer illusion magnitude using figural additions at the wing-shaft intersections

The Mueller-Lyer (ML) illusion has been used to study the way in which perceived length is affected by processes of information extraction when a visual target of interest (the ML shaft) is surrounded by other nontarget figural elements (inward-or outward-turning wings). It is argued that the perception of length is computed in terms of the center of gravity or centroid of figural elements at the wing-shaft intersection. The outward-turning wings shift the computational centroid away from the shaft end, giving rise to an erroneous overestimation of shaft length, while the inward-turning wings have the opposite effect. In three experiments, we observed that figural changes, which theoretically shifted the center of gravity of figural elements at the wing-shaft intersection, also increased or decreased the magnitude of the ML illusion.     

Relationship between homework completion and outcome in cognitive behaviour therapy

Homework or between-session learning has long been considered an essential aspect of effective cognitive behaviour therapy. However, it has received relatively less empirical attention than other components of cognitive behaviour therapy. In general, studies have found that homework completion is predictive of outcome in psychotherapy. However, the amount of homework completed by a patient represents only one aspect of this important therapeutic component. This study investigated both the quantity and the quality of homework completed during a 10-week group cognitive and behavioural treatment program for anxious and depressed patients. It explored the relationship between various aspects of homework completion and outcomes on several different variables. A total of 94 patients were included in the analysis. It was found that both quantity and quality of homework completed predicted outcome on measures of depression, anxiety and quality of life at post-treatment and at 1-month follow-up. The results were strongest for the amount of homework completed, suggesting that clinicians should encourage patients to complete homework even if the homework content is not entirely accurate. The results of this study highlight the importance of homework as a central part of effective cognitive and behavioural treatment.