Connectionist models of conditioning: A tutorial

Models containing networks of neuron-like units have become increasingly prominent in the study of both cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence. This article describes the basic features of connectionist models and provides an illustrative application to compound-stimulus effects in respondent conditioning. Connectionist models designed specifically for operant conditioning are not yet widely available, but some current learning algorithms for machine learning indicate that such models are feasible. Conversely, designers for machine learning appear to have recognized the value of behavioral principles in producing adaptive behavior in their creations.     

Form and exploration of mechanical stability limits in erect stance

The stability limits of erect stance are described as a geometrical structure in a movement space. Mechanical properties and response latency, a neural property, are determining factors for the stability limits. Standing stability limits of adults and young children are compared, and a simple scheme is suggested by means of which infants can discover the stability limits as they learn to stand. The mechanics of different standing movements are discussed because their spatial temporal properties relate directly to their different stability limits. The combination of the stability limits for different movements gives a total set of stability limits, a different structure for adults than for children.     

Visual fixation and postural sway in children

Adults are able to use a visual target to reduce quiet-standing postural sway (Lee & Lishman, 1975). The present study was designed to determine whether children, under varying postural conditions, are also able to use a visual target to reduce postural sway. A second purpose was to determine the ability of children to visually fixate under different postural conditions. An inability to visually fixate may limit the usefulness of a visual target. The results indicate that, like adults, children are able to reduce sway in the presence of a visual target. Young children are less able than older children and adults to visually fixate. In addition, children show more spontaneous visual saccades in the no-target condition than in the target condition and more saccades in the Romberg stance than in a feet-together stance. The fact that saccades decrease with increasing age, even in the seated, head-stabilized condition, precludes the possibility that increased instability of the young children is the only cause of increased number of saccades.     

Backward walking: a simple reversal of forward walking?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether backward walking represented a simple temporal reversal of forward walking and, hence, could be controlled by a reversed cycling of the same group of neurons. Electromyographic (EMG), joint angle, joint moment, and joint muscle power patterns were compared for forward and backward walking, in 6 subjects. The joint angle patterns with the time-base of the backward walking reversed were similar, with the exception of the ankle. The moment patterns were similar except for the knee, whereas the joint muscle powers were almost reversed-polarity images of each other. This suggests that somewhat similar muscle activation patterns could be used to produce both modes of locomotion, but the temporal cycling of muscle contraction would be reversed: Concentric muscle activity in forward walking would become eccentric activity in backward walking, and visa versa. The EMG results generally supported these findings.     

Gender and Sex-Role Influences on Children''s Self-Esteem

This study examined direct and moderating influences of gender and sex-role orientations on children's general self-esteem. Moderating influences of these variables on the prediction of self-esteem were examined with respect to two sets of competence beliefs regarding school achievement: perceived capacities and perceived strategies for doing well in school. One hundred nineteen fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade children were assessed using the Perceived Competence Scale for Children (Harter, 1982), the Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control (Connell, 1985), and the Children's Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Hall & Halberstadt, 1980). Correlational and hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that upper elementary schoolchildren's general self-esteem is (a) marginally related to biological gender, with boys showing a slight advantage; (b) significantly related to masculinity and androgyny; and (c) predicted more strongly by perceived capacities to do schoolwork in girls than in boys, and by perceived (lack of) strategies for academic success in nontraditionally sex-typed children than in traditionally sex-typed children. Of the two nontraditionally sex-typed groups, androgynous children were found to have more positive school competence beliefs than were undifferentiated children.     

The child's perceptions of familial relationships: convergence between two assessment techniques

Children's (N = 28) perceptions of familial relationships were investigated with the Family Environment Scale (FES) and the Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI). The FES assesses overall impressions of the family, and the NRI measures perceptions of individual relationships. Because current family systems theory indicates that positive individual relationships within a dyad (e.g., child-mother) should be related to an overall favorable impression of the family system, we hypothesized that these two instruments should demonstrate convergence on selected dimensions. Results indicated that positive or negative relationships with an individual family member were related to how the child perceived the overall family system, supporting our hypothesis.     

Skill, strength, handedness, and fatigue

Thirty male subjects, 20 of whom were self-classified left-handers and 10 right-handers, were tested on a grip-strength task and a handwriting task with each hand, both under normal conditions and in a situation of induced experimental fatigue. On the basis of questionnaire scores, the left-handers were sub-divided into two groups comprising the 10 most left-handed and the 10 least left-handed subjects. The test of grip strength showed a small but significant deterioration in performance of both hands from fatigue. With the handwriting task, a similar significantly adverse effect of fatigue was recorded for all groups as well as a large significant difference in performance between the preferred and nonpreferred hands under normal conditions, which decreased under fatigue. An explanation of these differential effects is discussed in terms of the greater efficiency of the preferred hand in the highly developed skill of handwriting.