On the measurement of time allocation on multiple variable-interval schedules

Six pigeons were trained on a modified multiple-schedule procedure. In a three-key chamber, the center key was lighted red or green, depending upon which component schedule was in effect. A response on this key transferred this color to each of two side keys, and responses on one of those keys produced reinforcers according to the component schedule. After 2 s, the side-key lights were extinguished, the center key was reilluminated, and a further center-key response was required to give access, as before, to the component schedules. Components alternated every 3 min. This limited-access procedure allowed both times spent switched into the side keys and time spent not switched in to be measured in the two components. Component reinforcer rates were varied over eight experimental conditions. Both component response rate and component time allocation were increasing functions of relative component reinforcer rate, and these functions were not significantly different. This finding implies that local response rates (responses divided by time switched in) were unaffected by changing component reinforcer rates on multiple schedules. Because a similar result was recently obtained for concurrent schedules, models of multiple and concurrent-schedule performance may need to consider only the time allocation of behavior emitted at equal tempo in the component schedules.     

Treating a self disorder developmentally and phenomenologically

Our purpose is to show how we draw from psychoanalytic knowledge to enhance a phenomenological treatment approach. The approach is illustrated through a case study of a client with borderline features. We attempt to demonstrate ways of focusing therapy on the self interactions that are implicit in object relations. We also demonstrate a phenomenological use of transference which involves redirecting it to the client's self-interactive dynamics.     

Stimulus Effects On Behavior Allocation In Three-alternative Choice

Six pigeons were trained on three-alternative concurrent variable-interval schedules that were available through a switching response and were signaled by colored stimuli. The discriminative stimuli for two of the schedules were always 560 nm and 630 nm, but the stimulus signaling the third alternative was varied across conditions over seven levels between these colors. For each third-alternative stimulus condition, the relative frequency of reinforcers was varied over three conditions with 4:1 and 16:1 reinforcer ratios between each pair of alternatives. The distribution of responses between the alternatives was dependent jointly on the third-alternative reinforcer rate and on the disparity between the stimulus signaling the third alternative and those signaling the other alternatives. A generalized matching approach was unable to provide invariant measures of the discriminability between constant stimuli, but a contingency-discriminability approach provided excellent fits and sensible and invariant stimulus discriminability measures.     

Commentary on high-performance computing and statistical analysis: From large-scale data analysis to smoothing functions

High-performance computing becomes essential to statistical analysis when the database is massive or the number of computations per data element is large. Albert F. Anderson (1997) discusses the application of high-performance computing to massive databases; J. O. Ramsay’s (Ramsay, Heckman, & Silverman, 1997) estimation problems potentially require large numbers of computations per data element.     

The abstract variable-binding calculus

Theabstract variable binding calculus (VB-calculus) provides a formal frame-work encompassing such diverse variable-binding phenomena as lambda abstraction, Riemann integration, existential and universal quantification (in both classical and nonclassical logic), and various notions of generalized quantification that have been studied in abstract model theory. All axioms of the VB-calculus are in the form of equations, but like the lambda calculus it is not a true equational theory since substitution of terms for variables is restricted. A similar problem with the standard formalism of the first-order predicate logic led to the development of the theory of cylindric and polyadic Boolean algebras. We take the same course here and introduce the variety of polyadic VB-algebras as a pure equational form of the VB-calculus. In one of the main results of the paper we show that every locally finite polyadic VB-algebra of infinite dimension is isomorphic to a functional polyadic VB-algebra that is obtained from a model of the VB-calculus by a natural coordinatization process. This theorem is a generalization of the functional representation theorem for polyadic Boolean algebras given by P. Halmos. As an application of this theorem we present a strong completeness theorem for the VB-calculus. More precisely, we prove that, for every VB-theory T that is obtained by adjoining new equations to the axioms of the VB-calculus, there exists a model D such that _T s=t iff _D s=t. This result specializes to a completeness theorem for a number of familiar systems that can be formalized as VB-calculi. For example, the lambda calculus, the classical first-order predicate calculus, the theory of the generalized quantifierexists uncountably many and a fragment of Riemann integration.The work of the first author was supported in part by National Science Foundation Grant #DMS 8805870.     

Counsellor and client perceptions of the effectiveness of time-limited counselling in an occupational counselling scheme

Counsellors providing brief counselling (6 sessions) in a British Social Services Department completed post intervention questionnaires for 429 clients. These provided information on several measures about the degree to which they felt that their clients had benefitted from the counselling, how far they felt that the number of sessions was adequate, and the nature of the clients' problems. Two hundred and twenty-three of the clients also completed post-intervention questionnaires indicating their degree of satisfaction on a number of measures. There was fair agreement between counsellors and clients that outcomes were satisfactory, and that the number of sessions was adequate, although clients were more satisfied than counsellors. Counsellors identified a range of personal and occupational presenting problems, and around two thirds of problems belonged in the personal domain. Long-tern personal problems received lower satisfaction ratings and were more frequently referred on to other agencies.     

Ethical issues in research on preventing HIV infection among injecting drug users

The ethical issues in conducting research on preventing HIV infection are among the most complex of any area of human subjects research. This article is an update of a 1987 article that addressed potential conflicts between research design and ethics with respect to AIDS prevention among injecting drug users. The present article reviews current ethical issues that arise in the design and conduct of HIV/AIDS prevention research focused on injecting drug users. Disclaimer: The content of this publication is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the Beth Israel Medical Center or Johns Hopkins University.     

Attributions of Responsibility for Memory Problems in Older and Younger Adults

This study investigated older and younger persons' responsibility attributions for the cause of and solution to a memory problem and, for comparison, a weight problem. Traditional college-age students (n = 116) and persons over 65 years of age (n = 98) read a vignette describing either a 25-year-old or 65-year-old who had a memory or weight problem. Results indicated that both the age of the help-seeker and problem type affected attributions. Specifically, the 65-year-old was perceived to be less responsible than the 25-year-old for the cause of and solution to a memory problem. In addition, help-seekers with a memory problem were held less responsible for causing and solving their problem than were help-seekers with a weight problem.     

THE MUTUAL ENRICHMENT OF BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE AND PRACTICE

Abstract— Dealing with the problems of substance abuse requires both an appreciation of clinical reality and an understanding of basic psychosocial principles. Each of the conference presentations of theory and research most of them nonapplied in nature, created a welcome and rare occasion for experimental and clinical psychologists (and hybrids) to reflect together on the applied implications of some basic research and on the research implications of some applied professional activities. Among the issues found especially noteworthy by this discussant. Here the following the return of cognition and rational decision making as legitimate and critical foci in behavior therapy, the role of exposure to aversive events in reducing their fearsomeness, the advantages of not working doggedly to achieve goals that are better approached with a nonachievement attitude the possibility that the difficulty in altering pathological behavior derives from the properties of human language, appreciation of individual differences in psychotherapy outcome research, the importance of considering the meaning that therapeutic ministrations can have for certain patients, and the need to reexamine the utility of patients expressing their concerns.