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.     

On Seeing to the Horses: Issues in Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religious Studies After Bonino and Lindbeck

This article re-examines so-called “experiential approaches” to theology and religious studies. In affirming the need of the educator to attend to both cognitive and affective aspects within teaching and learning, and in using many concrete examples from classroom practice, the article critically engages with Latin American liberation theology and post-liberalism in an attempt to clarify what “experience” is being referenced when “experiential methods” are used. The importance of the concrete worlds of individual students, the responsibility of educators to be conscious of their own power in shaping the educational experience, and the desirability of attending to issues surrounding economic disadvantage within theology and religious studies feature prominently in the study. We conclude that, though no experience is neutral, educational contexts in theology and religious studies can offer exemplary settings for profound self-discovery, exploration, and personal development through the “hermeneutical friction” created by critical examination of the narrative worlds within which we live.     

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.     

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.     

The development of occupational sex-role stereotypes: The effects of gender stability and age

This study investigated occupational sex-role stereotypes of nursery school, kindergarten, third-grade, and sixth-grade children, and the effects of their acquiring gender constancy, specifically the concept of gender stability. Two types of occupational attitudes were assessed: (1) personal aspirations (PA) and (2) ideas about jobs men and women do. The latter were determined using the Occupations Survey (OS). Children chose stereotyped occupations for themselves even before they had a concept of gender stability. Boys' personal aspiration responses were more stereotyped than girls'. On the Occupations Survey, gender-stable nursery schoolers' responses were more stereotyped than those of the nonstable children; and a significant effect for age was found, with stereotyping decreasing among third graders and sixth graders. No sex differences were found on the OS. Differences in the two areas of occupational attitudes suggested two processes of learning sex roles. Social learning more readily accounts for the early stereotyped answers on the PA. Cognitive developmental theory is congruent with the OS scores of the nursery school children.     

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.