Effectiveness of the counterconditioning procedure in eliminating avoidance behavior

Data were obtained on the effectiveness of three forms of counterconditioning—each differing in the degree to which competing responses were introduced. Counterconditioning was also compared with an extinction procedure in eliminating an instrumental avoidance response. Only the counterconditioning procedure which evoked and reinforced another conditioned response during extinction of the avoidance response, was significantly more effective than a traditional extinction procedure in achieving a decrement in avoidance responding and this was only on the first session on which such procedures were in effect. When the opportunity to perform the competing response was removed, only Ss in this group evidenced a significant increase in avoidance responding.

All procedures were equally effective over sessions in eliminating avoidance behavior. A delay in effectiveness occurred to the degree to which a procedure introduced a competing response. It was in terms of the immediacy of response reduction and achievement of a very low rate of responding with very few responses being performed, that the counterconditioning procedure was superior to the extinction procedure.

The implication of these results for behavior theory and therapy were elaborated.     

DISPLACEMENT OF LEISURE REINFORCERS BY FOOD DURING PREFERENCE ASSESSMENTS

Identification of reinforcers for individuals with developmental disabilities is often based on the outcome of preference assessments in which participants make selections from among a variety of items. We determined the extent to which individuals might show a general preference for food items over leisure items during such assessments and whether leisure items that are “displaced” by food items might nevertheless function as reinforcers. Arrays consisting of food items only and then nonfood items only were presented separately to 14 participants and then were ranked to determine preference. The top selections from these initial assessments were subsequently combined in a third assessment, and preferences were again established. All but 2 participants showed a general preference for food items, such that selection of nonfood items in the combined arrays was displaced downward relative to selection of nonfoods in the nonfood-only arrays. Two of the participants were exposed to a condition in which a nonfood item was delivered contingent on the occurrence of an adaptive response, and increased rates of responding by both individuals were observed. Results are discussed in terms of limitations posed by using only food items as reinforcers and the resulting need to take precautionary measures when attempting to identify nonfood reinforcers.     

Within-modal and cross-modal reliabilities of two laterality tests

Sixteen right handers were given four tests of a dichotic listening recall task (concrete words) and a visual half-field recall task (letters). There was a significant right ear and right visual half-field superiority for the four test sessions, with improvement in recall scores over sessions. Pearson correlations for each ear on the four dichotic tests ranged from .74 to .90. Correlations on the visual half-field scores, however, were significant only after the first session. Analysis of stability in lateral preferences across modalities revealed stable and reliable performance, particularly in the last two testings, where 81.3% of the subjects had a right-sided asymmetry. Cross-modal correlations, however, were not significant. Implications regarding predictions of speech laterality are discussed in the light of these findings.     

Interview training with adolescents—A controlled group study incorporating generalization and social validation

Ten school-leavers were allocated either to an interview-training group (E) or a discussion control group (C) for three sessions. For E group a combination of modelling, coaching, roleplay, feedback and discussion was used to train both verbal and non-verbal interview skills. An attempt was made to programme generalization of treatment effect into training and subjective evaluations of interview skill were made by an experienced Personnel Officer to assess the social importance of the skills trained. After C group had completed three sessions to control for the non-specific effects of being in therapy, they received the same training as E group. Subjects were assessed using videotaped roleplayed interviews at the beginning and end of each training phase. After training E group showed significant improvements on both global and specific ratings of interview skill compared to C group; there was evidence of generalization and maintenance of treatment effect and the social importance of the skills trained was substantiated by the subjective evaluation data. C group then went on to replicate the changes in E group.     

The role of second formant transitions in the stop-semivowel distinction

An experiment was conducted which assessed the relative contributions of three acoustic cues to the distinction between stop consonant and semivowel in syllable initial position. Subjects identified three series of syllables which varied perceptually from [ba] to [wa]. The stimuli differed only in the extent, duration, and rate of the second formant transition. In each series, one of the variables remained constant while the other two changed. Obtained identification ratings were plotted as a function of each variable. The results indicated that second formant transition duration and extent contribute significantly to perception. Short second formant transition extents and durations signal stops, while long second formant transition extents and durations signal semivowels. It was found that second formant transition rate did not contribute significantly to this distinction. Any particular rate could signal either a stop or semivowel. These results are interpreted as arguing against models that incorporate transition rate as a cue to phonetic distinctions. In addition, these results are related to a previous selective adaptation experiment. It is shown that the “phonetic” interpretation of the obtained adaptation results was not justified.     

Transient stimulation does not aid visual search: Implications for the role of saccades

Previous demonstrations that performance on visual search tasks with briefly flashed presentations declines over time after the initial onset imply that saccades might be necessary for efficient acquisition of visual information. We imposed an additional abrupt onset and a displacement on character arrays containing letters and one numeral while subjects searched for the numeral. Presentations were always followed by a visual noise field. Presentation time varied (50–800 msec). We found that performance with presentations containing one onset and remaining continuously visible was better than performance with presentations containing two onsets and containing displacements. Furthermore, information acquired near the onset of a continuous presentation was as effective as information acquired later. Our results demonstrate that abrupt onsets and displacements do not improve information acquisition with displays of alphanumeric characters. This finding is consistent with earlier reports that saccade-like retinal image motion does not contribute either to the maintenance of target visibility or to visual acuity.     

Locus of selectivity in a visual memory task using a color value indicator

Selection of high vs low valued letters from a briefly presented visual array was investigated. An indicator specifying the value of letters occurred before or after the array. Selection could occur during input to memory or during output from memory in the before condition, but only at output in the after condition. Previous research using an alphabetic instruction, which required letter identification prior to selection, attributed selection to output. A color instruction in the -present experiment, not requiring letter identification, showed the locus of selection to be at input. Experiment 2 replicated these findings and used an interference technique to add further support. In addition, contrary to previous findings, these results indicated that the selection process caused no deficit in overall recall.     

Do Parents and Overweight,Treatment-Seeking Youth Provide Similar Ratings of Youths’ Psychosocial Functioning and Fatigue?

Patterns of agreement between parent and child ratings of psychosocial functioning and fatigue in children with obesity were examined. Analyses demonstrated moderate agreement for social anxiety in elementary children and small agreement for social anxiety in adolescents. Results of analyses of overall quality of life revealed small agreement in children under the age of 8, large agreement in children ages 8–12, and moderate agreement in adolescents ages 13–18. Overall ratings of fatigue demonstrated moderate agreement both in elementary children and in adolescents. A meaningful relationship was found between each factor measured by a parent and a child. Patterns which were unexpected given the existing literature were found; possible hypotheses explaining these patterns are presented; and the need for further research is highlighted.