A systems analysis of a campus community mental health facility: A preliminary investigation

Faced with increasing demand and relatively static resources, community mental health facilities need to evaluate their functions in terms of time, cost, and performance effectiveness. For this study, the technology of systems analysis was applied to the functions of a progressive university counseling center. The systems analysis provided a management and information flow analysis and a time and cost analysis, as well as a performance analysis. This study focused on the preliminary results of the time, cost, and performance analysis.Gratitude is extended to the remainder of the systems analysis team for their assistance in the project, as well as the staff of The University of Texas Counseling-Psychological Services Center for their cooperation. This project was partially funded by National Science Foundation grant GJ 509X3, by the Counseling-Psychological Services Center, and by the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. Special acknowledgement is made of the support of Ronald M. Brown, Vice President for Student Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin. The systems analysis team included T. Bishop, C. Black, J. Byars, R. Byars, P. Caroom, J. Littlefield, A. Nutt, M. Rood, E. Salsbury, and C. Weinstein.     

The Miyagi Method: a new vision for religious educators

This article proposes and develops an analysis of Mr Miyagi's educational philosophy in The Karate Kid. It suggests that this fictional tale, this story of an especially intense learning experience, captures and expresses an important synthesis of both traditional and more recent developments in educational theory, and that it also points the religious educator into a new realm of considerations. After a brief introduction, the author considers two influential scenes from the film and discusses four prominent Miyagi standards. Through these general principles, and through a look at the resource selection methods used, the author links the method under investigation to the ‘sage‐disciple’ pattern of study and reflects on the usefulness of this approach for contemporary religious educators.     

Precategorical acoustic storage and postcategorical lexical storage

A variety of experimental findings have indicated that a system of precategorical acoustic storage is responsible for the recency effect obtained in the immediate serial recall of sequences of digits, consonants, or syllables. This study investigated whether such findings could be generalized to the recall of sequences of words. Experiment 1 showed that phonemic similarity among a sequence of words failed to reduce the modality effect or the recency effect. Experiment 2 demonstrated that this finding was not attributable to a failure to control the phonemic properties of the stimulus material. Experiment 3 showed that the stimulus suffix effect obtained with sequences of words was not affected by the acoustic similarity between the list items and the stimulus suffix. Finally, Experiment 4 demonstrated that phonemic similarity among a sequence of words failed to reduce the stimulus suffix effect. These results were explained by extending the original model of short-term memory to incorporate a system of postcategorical lexical storage.     

Behavior under large values of the differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedule

Pigeons pecked a key and rats pressed a lever for food reinforcement under large values of the differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedule. Each subject was tested under 10 different schedule values ranging from 1 to 45 min and was exposed to each schedule value at least twice. The mean interresponse time and mean interreinforcement time increased with the schedule value according to power functions. Response-probability functions were computed for schedule values below 20 min and showed an increase in response probability as a function of time since the last response in most cases. Mean responses per reinforcer increased as a function of schedule value for the rats, but decreased as a function of schedule value for the pigeons. The proportion of responses with interresponse times shorter than 1 sec were an increasing function of schedule value for the pigeons, but did not vary as a function of schedule value for the rats.     

The effect of physical restraint on behavior under the differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedule

Previous studies have identified and manipulated collateral behavior to assess the effect of collateral behavior on performance under the differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) schedule. However, conclusions could not be applied to subjects not observed to engage in collateral behavior. The present study used a technique that prevented the occurrence of the types of collateral behavior typically observed in the pigeon. This technique did not require the identification of collateral behavior in the subjects. The exclusion of the types of collateral behavior typically observed in pigeons resulted in higher response rates and lower reinforcement rates under large DRL values but had no effect at lower DRL values. It was concluded that collateral behavior is necessary for low response rates and high reinforcement rates under large DRL values.     

A jigsaw-puzzle imagery task for assessing active visuospatial processes in old and young people

Recent studies have suggested a theoretical distinction between active elaboration and passive storage in visuospatial working memory, but research with older adults has failed to demonstrate a differential preservation of these two abilities. The results are controversial, and the investigation of the active component has been inhibited by the absence of any appropriate experimental procedures. A new task was developed involving the mental reconstruction of pictures of objects from fragmented pieces, and this provides a useful procedure for exploring active visuospatial processing. Significant differences in terms of both correctness and response latency were obtained between young and older adults and between younger old and older old adults. Performance also varied with visual complexity, mental rotation, and processing load. It is concluded that this ecologically relevant procedure constitutes a very powerful, sensitive, and reliable tool for identifying individual differences in visuospatial working memory.