A group treatment program for bulimia nervosa

Seventeen female patients diagnosed as exhibiting bulimia nervosa participated in a shortterm group treatment program. A combination of exposure with response prevention, life skills training, and psychodynamic group interaction was provided. Results in pretest vs. posttest scores on a battery of tests demonstrated improved control over eating behavior and lowered anxiety and depression.     

M.T.S.: An adaptable microcomputer-based testing system

An Apple II + computer-based human testing system is described. The system, which was developed using the Pascal language, provides library units of low-level procedures to rapidly access a clock, collect responses, control video output, control a touch-sensitive monitor, and display high-resolution graphics. Built-in hardware and software checks provide a high degree of system reliability. Use of easily altered text files for control of trials within a task and inclusion of and ordering of tasks within a session allows the system to be readily adapted.     

Association learning and visual discrimination

The effect of learned stimulus associations on visual discrimination was measured in four experiments. The stimuli were visual shapes which had been scaled for similarity. Two shapes were selected as discriminanda, and each S was pretested and posttested for discrimination of these briefly presented simultaneous pairs of “same” and “different” shapes. During the training, each discriminandum was paired with another simultaneously presented associated shape on a paired-associate response-learning task. The two associated shapes were very similar, intermediate in similarity, or very dissimilar. There was more improvement in posttest discrimination following training with dissimilar associates. We conclude that learned stimulus associations affect visual discrimination.     

Analysis of certified public accounting subgroup and accounting student personality traits using the California Psychological Inventory

Samples of 56 male certified public accounting firm employees and 24 male accounting undergraduate students were given the CPI to test for subgroup differences in personality traits. The samples were also compared with eight occupational groups reported in the CPI manual. A statistical analysis of CPI scale mean score differences indicates a dichotomy of the accounting sample with the older accountants more conservative, conforming and restrictive than the younger accountants.     

The photo-lickerandum: A device for detecting the licking response,with capability for near-instantaneous programming of variable quantum reinforcement

A combined operandum-feeder is described that eliminates the necessity of passing an electrical sensing current through S while detecting and reinforcing tongue-licking responses. A glass nozzle for dispensing liquid reinforcers is situated just above a small separation in a loop of photo-conducting Sterite tubing; licks at a tiny area below the nozzle break a light beam and are detected via a photo-resistor and associated circuitry. Data are presented from a study in which rats worked at the operandum on a mult FR 40 ext schedule; performance and records are comparable to those obtained via conventional electronic sensing. Applications of the photo-lickerandum and an associated variable-quantum reinforcing system are suggested.     

Parallel visual processing: Constant same-different decision latency with two to fourteen shapes

Fourteen Os were shown 2, 5, 8, 11, or 14 geometric shapes at a 200-msec exposure. The maximum visual extent was the same for all numbers of shapes. The stimulus conditions were: all shapes identical, 1 shape different from the rest, and, for 5 to 14 shapes, 3 shapes different (4 shapes in all). The number of shapes, the condition, and the shapes used varied randomly through the sequence of 160 exposures. Decision latency to correct same or different response was independent of the number of shapes presented. Correct same and three-different decisions were faster than one-different decisions, but with two shapes different decisions were faster than same. The results suggest that same-different decisions are made with information processed in parallel from many stimuli     

The value of action and inference in dynamic decision making

The use of action- versus judgment-oriented decision strategies in a dynamic decision task is investigated. Subjects engaged in a simulated medical decision-making task, where the goal is to select treatments in order to cure patients suffering from an unknown disease. The experiment manipulated two task factors that were predicted to influence the effectiveness and efficiency of action- and judgment-oriented strategies: (1) the availability of a decision aid that promotes the interpretability of outcome feedback in the task and (2) the level of risk associated with treatment choices, which influences the opportunity for corrective actions to compensate for earlier decision errors. Results indicated that these manipulations did in fact influence performance. However, most subjects did not use action-oriented strategies even when they would have led to superior performance. Possible explanations for this finding are discussed and the implications for theoretical accounts of strategy acquisition and selection are considered.