Numerical reproduction in pigeons

Pigeons were trained to match the number of responses made during a production phase to the number of keylight flashes (2, 4, or 6) in a previous sample phase. In Experiment 1, there were 2 conditions in which the flashes were programmed to occur at a constant rate or within a constant overall duration. For both conditions, although accuracy was relatively low, responding increased linearly with flash number and coefficients of variation decreased. Positive transfer to novel numbers was obtained only when test and baseline trials had the same temporal organization, but multiple regressions revealed significant control by number independently of temporal cues. In Experiment 2, flashes were programmed to occur pseudorandomly to degrade the validity of temporal cues. Results were similar to in Experiment 1. A prototype response class model accounted for the major features of the data. According to the model, responses during the production phase are shaped into higher order units that are associated with different stimulus numbers and function as a rough category scale of numerosity.     

The role of life events,family support,and competence in adolescent substance use: A test of vulnerability and protective factors

Tested propositions from a model of vulnerability and protective factors with a multiethnic sample of 1,289 urban adolescents, aged 11-13 years. The criterion variable was a composite score for cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use. Multiple regression analyses indicated that vulnerability factors (negative life events, negative affect) were related to a higher level of substance use, and protective factors (parent emotional and instrumental support, academic and adult competence, positive affect) were related to a lower level of substance use; peer competence was positively related to substance use in a multivariate model. There was a significant overall interaction of Vulnerability x Protective Factors, consistent with a stress-buffering effect. Individual interactions for Life Events x Family Support, Life Events x Competence, and Negative x Positive Affect also were consistent with buffering effects. Implications for theories of substance use and primary prevention are discussed.     

Validation of physical ability tests for high pressure cleaning occupations

This paper describes the development and validation of a physical performance test battery to select high pressure cleaning workers at Tennessee Eastman Company. The research uses a concurrent, criterion-related validation strategy to demonstrate the relationship between test performance and job performance. The study proceeded through four stages, with data collected in one stage used in subsequent stages. The two types of predictor measures included ability tests and work sample simulations. For some analyses, the work sample simulations were also used as criteria. Four samples of incumbents (N=63) were tested on all experimental measures. Using criterion groups of successful incumbents and unsuccessful former incumbents (N=33), all of the work simulation tests and the ability-referenced tests were significant predictors of successful versus unsuccessful job status. In addition, the ability tests predicted performance on the work sample simulations, particularly for those requiring strength and endurance. A battery of three ability tests resulted in R=.68 for job status and in R=.43, .73, .80, and .84, respectively, for each of the work sample simulations. Two of the three ability tests in the final test battery are likely to result in adverse impact against females. However, data collected on female maintenance technicians indicated women, as a group, would not be screened out categorically as a result of implementing the physical ability test battery.     

Buffalo Creek Survivors in the Second Decade: Comparison with Unexposed and Nonlitigant Groups1

This study investigated the second-decade effects of the Buffalo Creek dam collapse and flood that occurred in West Virginia in 1972. One hundred twenty-one survivors who had participated in an earlier lawsuit against the coal company that built the collapsed dam were compared to 78 nonlitigant survivors on self-reported symptoms, clinical ratings, and diagnoses. A nonexposed sample from a geographically and culturally similar neighborhood was investigated as well. Findings showed no differences between the litigant and nonlitigant survivor groups. The survivor groups together showed higher rates of anxiety, depression, and hostility symptoms and diagnoses than the nonexposed sample. The findings were discussed in the context of the nature of the traumatic event, social and cultural influences on recovery, and the constellation of symptoms which differentiated the groups.     

Mental age and cognitive stage in young handicapped and at-risk children

This research addressed the question of whether stage-related patterns of early cognitive development, reported for normally developing children in the first two and a half years of life, may also characterize the development of at-risk and handicapped children when mental age rather than chronological age is used to organize the data. Performance on a psychometric infant test and two neo-Piagetian-based stage measures was assessed for 95 at-risk and handicapped children. Mental age predicted cognitive level of performance for levels 1 to 3, representing the first year and a half of development, but did not predict the highest level, symbolic functioning. In addition, transition points between levels were observed at mental ages similar to the chronological ages when these transitions have been reported for normally developing infants, for all but the last level. The significance of the correspondence between the psychometric measure and the stage measures is discussed and several alternatives for the breakdown at the highest level are considered.     

Test of the validity of the Wilson-Patterson Conservatism Scale.

The conservatism construct has previously proved predictive of social and psychological dimensions having both practical and theoretical relavance. Its potential, however, has typically been limited by measurement imprecision due principally to the use of lengthy and potentially ambiguous verbal statements subject to either intentional or unintentional response bias. Wilson and Patterson's recently developed Conservatism Scale (C-scale) is intended to obviate the more critical sources of bias inherent in the traditional conservatism measures. In an extended test of the C-scale's validity, the present study finds 12 categories of "known groups" scoring as theoretically expected, and further shows C-scale scores consistently and significantly correlated with eight theoretically related dimensions.     

Interitem encoding and directed search in free recall

The paper proposes a cognitive structure consistent with principles of encoding and a rule for its utilization in verbal recall. The encoding and utilization rules lead to phenomena similar to known serial position effects. A detailed analysis of overt rehearsal data and other experimental results are presented in support of the claim that encoding and search mechanisms characterized by these rules could be important factors in serial position effects of verbal recall. Similar rules might be helpful in dealing with other tasks which seem to mirror the utilization of a cognitive structure.     

Pavlovian theory of dreaming

Pavlovian theory provides a conceptual scheme for the examination of recent empirical data on dreaming. Consistencies are examined between these data and Pavlovian theory of the general properties of the nervous system. An equation is made between Pavlov’s excitation-inhibition continuum, the REM-NREM cycle, and the basic rest-activity cycle. Speculations, based on this equation, are made about the inter-relation between waking and sleeping behaviors. Testable hypotheses are suggested throughout the paper.