Symmetry training in pigeons can produce functional equivalences

Functional stimulus equivalence has been demonstrated using a transfer of training design with matching-to-sample training in which two sample stimuli are associated with the same comparison stimulus (A-B, C-B; many-to-one matching). Equivalence is shown by training a new association (A-D) and demonstrating the presence of an emergent relation (C-D). In the present experiment, we show that symmetry training, in which a bidirectional association is trained between two stimuli (A-B, B-A, using successive stimulus presentations followed by reinforcement), can also produce functional equivalence using a transfer of training design (i.e., train B-C, test A-C). The results suggest that training pigeons in the substitutability of two stimuli may be sufficient to produce functional stimulus equivalence between them. The results also have implications for the development of an emergent transitive relation, because training on A-B and B-C relations results in the emergence of an untrained A-C relation, if B-A training also is provided.     

Choice based on exclusion in pigeons

When humans acquire a conditional discrimination and are given a novel-sample-comparison choice, they often reject a comparison known to be associated with a different sample and choose the alternative comparison by default (or by exclusion). In Experiment 1, we found that if, following matching training, we replaced both of the samples, acquisition took five times longer than if we replaced only one of the samples. Apparently, the opportunity to reject one of the comparisons facilitated the association of the other sample with the remaining comparison. In Experiment 2, we first trained pigeons to treat two samples differently (to associate Sample A with Comparison 1 and Sample B with Comparison 2) and then trained them to associate one of those samples with a new comparison (e.g., Sample A with Comparison 3) and to associate a novel sample (Sample C) with a different, new comparison (Comparison 4). When Sample B then replaced Sample C, the pigeons showed a significant tendency to choose Comparison 4 over Comparison 3. Thus, when given the opportunity, pigeons will choose by exclusion.     

Authorship Matrix: A Rational Approach to Quantify Individual Contributions and Responsibilities in Multi-Author Scientific Articles

We propose a rational method for addressing an important question—who deserves to be an author of a scientific article? We review various contentious issues associated with this question and recommend that the scientific community should view authorship in terms of contributions and responsibilities, rather than credits. We propose a new paradigm that conceptually divides a scientific article into four basic elements: ideas, work, writing, and stewardship. We employ these four fundamental elements to modify the well-known International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) authorship guidelines. The modified ICMJE guidelines are then used as the basis to develop an approach to quantify individual contributions and responsibilities in multi-author articles. The outcome of the approach is an authorship matrix, which can be used to answer several nagging questions related to authorship.     

The role of feedback and dot presentation format in younger and older adults’ number estimation

Numerosity estimation, the rapid assessment of the number of items in a visual scene, is historically inaccurate. We assessed whether providing feedback regarding the correct numerosity on either 0%, 50%, or 100% of the trials would affect younger and older adults’ estimation accuracy for randomized, clustered (i.e., groups of 3 or 7 dots), and stacked (i.e., column) dot formats. Participants provided estimates and confidence ratings in six blocks, each containing 48 trials (16 numerosities shown in each format). Feedback frequency was manipulated between participants during blocks 1–4; no feedback was provided during blocks 5 and 6, which contained old and new numerosities and previously estimated presentations rotated 90°. Estimation accuracy was age equivalent across blocks despite younger adults initially being more accurate than older adults. Feedback improved both age groups’ accuracy. Stacked presentations were most accurately estimated but were more likely to be over-estimated than clustered and randomized presentations. Older adults gave lower confidence ratings than younger adults despite both age groups showing increased confidence across blocks, for more structured presentation formats, and as feedback frequency increased. These results expand our understanding of the role of presentation format and feedback in producing age equivalence or age-related differences in numerosity estimation.     

Mentoring: Processes and Perceptions of Sport and Exercise Psychology Graduate Students

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) conference programs address cultural diversity. A content analysis was conducted by analyzing 5214 AASP conference program abstracts from 1986 to 2007. Only 10.5% of all abstracts included discussion of a cultural diversity issue and 31.9% included a diverse sample. Of those abstracts that addressed cultural diversity issues, the majority addressed gender, with almost no attention to race and ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, social class, disability, or older adults. These results highlight the continuing neglect, but compelling need to address cultural diversity in sport and exercise psychology, and specifically within AASP programming.     

Relationships of race and socioeconomic status to classroom behavior,academic achievement,and referral for special education

A study was conducted to identify the relationships of race and socioeconomic status (SES) to observed classroom behavior, academic achievement, and special education referral. A sample of 109 fourth-grade boys from varying racial (Anglo, black, and Hispanic) and SES backgrounds was selected and observed systematically on four occasions for 12 behaviors. Data also were collected on academic achievement and special education referral. Multivariate analyses indicated no race-related differences in observed behavior and only one SES-related difference. Black and Hispanic children did not differ reliably, but both were lower than Anglo children in achievement. A non-stepwise discriminant function analysis utilizing race, SES, and observational data as predictors of referral for special education failed to make statistically reliable predictions. The relative unimportance of race and SES as predictors challenges the validity of alleged “institutional racism” in referrals for special education.     

Systematicity as a selection constraint in analogical mapping

Analogy is often viewed as a partial similarity match between domains. But not all partial similarities qualify as analogy: There must be some selection of which commonalities count. Three experiments tested a particular selection constraint in analogical mapping, namely, systematicity. That is, we tested whether a given predicate is more likely to figure in the interpretation of and prediction from an analogy if the predicate participates in a common system of relations. In Experiment 1, subjects judged two matches to be included in an analogy: on isolated match, and a match embedded in a larger matching system. Subjects preferred the embedded match. In Experiments 2 and 3, subjects made analogical predictions about a target domain. Subjects predicted information that followed from a causal system that matched the base domain, rather than information that was equally plausible, but that created an isolated match with the base. Results support Gentner's (1983, 1989) structure-mapping theory in that analogical mapping concerns systems and not individual predicates, and that attention to shared systematic structure constrains the selection of information to include in an analogy.     

Pattern uncertainty and the discrimination of visual patterns

Sixty Ss individually sorted eight decks of 50 cards each. A deck contained 25 cards each of two stimulus patterns. The patterns were drawn from different sets of five-dot patterns judged to be equivalent. The eight decks represented pairs of patterns drawn (a) from the same equivalence set, (b) from different equivalence sets of the same size, and (c) from different equivalence sets of different sizes. Sorting times were shown to increase with increasing size of equivalence set, and were shown to be greater for patterns drawn from within the same equivalence set than for patterns drawn from different equivalence sets. Ratings of pattern goodness were found to be useful predictors of sorting time only in their capacity to discriminate between equivalence sets of different sizes. The results were interpreted as supporting the importance of equivalence set membership in a discrimination task where the S logically does not have to consider stimuli other than the given criterion stimuli.