Conditional discrimination in mentally retarded adults: the development of generalized skills.

The development of generalized conditional discrimination skills was examined in adults with retardation. Two subjects with histories of failure to acquire arbitrary matching under trial-and-error procedures were successful under procedures that trained one or more prerequisite skills. The successive discrimination between the sample stimuli was established by training the subjects to name the stimuli. The simultaneous discrimination between the comparison stimuli was established using either (a) standard simple discrimination training with reversals or (b) a procedure in which each of the two sample-comparison relations in the conditional discrimination was presented in blocks of trials, with the size of the blocks decreasing gradually until sample presentation was randomized. The amount of prerequisite training required varied across subjects and across successive conditional discriminations. After acquiring either two or three conditional discriminations with component training, both subjects learned new conditional discriminations under trial-and-error procedures. In general, each successive conditional discrimination was acquired more rapidly. Tests showed that conditional responding had become a generalized skill. Symmetry was shown for almost all trained relations. Symmetry trial samples were ultimately named the same as the stimuli to which they were related in training.     

Motivational effects of smoked marijuana: behavioral contingencies and low-probability activities.

Six adult male research volunteers, in two groups of 3 subjects each, lived in a residential laboratory for 15 days. All contact with the experimenters was through a networked computer system, and subjects' behavior was monitored continuously and recorded. During the first part of each day, they were allowed to socialize. Two cigarettes containing active marijuana (2.7% delta 9-THC) or placebo were smoked during the private work period and the period of access to social activities. Three-day contingency conditions requiring subjects to engage in a low-probability work activity (instrumental activity) in order to earn time that could be spent engaging in a high-probability work activity (contingent activity) were programmed during periods of placebo and active-marijuana smoking. During placebo administration, the contingency requirement reliably increased the amount of time that subjects spent engaged in the low-probability instrumental activity and decreased the time spent engaged in the high-probability activity. During active-marijuana administration, however, the increases in instrumental activity were consistently larger than observed under placebo conditions. The decreases in contingent activity were similar to those seen under placebo conditions. Smoking active marijuana was thus observed to produce increments in instrumental activity under motivational conditions involving contingencies for "work activities."     

Effects of ethanol on reinforced variations and repetitions by rats under a multiple schedule.

Response sequences emitted by five Long-Evans rats were reinforced under a two-component multiple schedule. In the REPEAT component, food pellets were contingent upon completion of a left-left-right-right (LLRR) sequence on two levers. In the VARY component, pellets were contingent upon variable sequences (i.e., a sequence was reinforced only if it differed from each of the previous five sequences). The rats learned to emit LLRR sequences in the REPEAT component and variable sequences in VARY. Intraperitoneal injections of ethanol (1.25, 1.75, and 2.25 g/kg) significantly increased sequence variability in REPEAT, thereby lowering reinforcement probability, but had little effect on sequence variability in the VARY component. These results extend previous findings that alcohol impairs the performance of reinforced repetitions but not of reinforced variations in response sequences.     

一种快速记忆法个案报告

作者以自己为被试,运用自己创造的一系列数序形象挂钩法识记105位化学元素名称和300位圆周率数字,结果表明:运用此法记忆顺序性极强、数量很大、难于记住的材料快速高效,能倒顺背诵和随点随背,能冲破前摄和倒摄干扰,使识记很快通过短时记忆而迅速地顺利进入长时记忆,在识记后的开初(26小时)遗忘不多也不快,在隔一天以后进行检查(复习)并强化未记牢的材料,可使保持率在数百日后不下降,因而作者认为,艾宾浩斯遗忘曲线应界定为机械识记的遗忘曲线较为妥当。作者在文中第一次较详细地公开了在一天内就能倒顺背诵105位化学元素名称和300位圆周率数字的数序形象挂钩法及其关键与技巧。     

Predicting behavior on a computer from intentions, attitudes, and experience

Research on computer attitudes has generally focused on describing the cognitive elements. The present study used the Ajzen and Fishbein model to predict intentions to work hard in a computer course and actual time on the computer. In addition, the influence of experience on predictions was examined. Results from 74 social science students showed that the Ajzen and Fishbein model is effective at predicting both intentions and behavior. Unlike previous findings, experience did not interact with attitudes. Finally, a short cognitive attitude scale was an additional significant predictor beyond intentions in explaining behavior variance.     

OPERANT TREATMENT OF OROFACIAL DYSFUNCTION IN NEUROMUSCULAR DISORDERS

The popularity and reported success of biofeedback treatment for neuromuscular disorders has occurred despite a lack of research identifying the critical variables responsible for therapeutic gain. In this study, we assessed the degree to which severe neurological dysfunction could be improved by using one of the components present in all biofeedback treatment, contingency management. Three cases of orofacial dysfunction were treated by reinforcing specific improvements reliably detectable without the use of biofeedback equipment. The results showed that contingency management procedures alone were sufficient to improve overt motor responses but, unlike biofeedback treatment, did not produce decreases in the hypertonic muscle groups associated with the trained motor behavior. The findings suggest that sophisticated, expensive biofeedback equipment may not be necessary in treating some neuromuscular disorders and that important clinical gains may be achieved by redesigning the patient's daily environment to be contingently therapeutic, rather than only accommodating the disabilities of the physically handicapped.     

Effects of meaning training on overcoming functional fixedness

Functional fixedness (FF) consists in focusing on some function of an object while overlooking another necessary for problem solving. Assuming that FF occurs when too few meanings are assigned to the major problem aspects, it was hypothesized that widening the scope of meaning would reduce FF, particularly in subjects providing more responses. The task was completing two electrical circuits. Meaning training consisted in requesting the subjects to provide responses to questions reflecting 11 meaning variables concerning three referents of the task. The subjects were 64 high school girls about 15 years old, only half of whom got meaning training. The results showed that meaning training reduced FF: the experimental subjects solved the target task faster, especially if they assigned more direct or indirect function responses to the target referents. Discussion centered on the effects of specific and nonspecific meaning training on different phases of problem solving. This study is based partly on the data presented by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master’s degree at the Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University.     

Schizotypy and hemisphere function—IV : Story comprehension under binaural and monaural listening conditions

An experiment is reported examining the story-comprehension performance of normal Ss under left ear, right ear and binaural listening conditions, the results being related to scores on the schizotypy (STA) scale of a previously described questionnaire (STQ). Hypotheses were derived from the observations of other investigators that schizophrenics and the children of schizophrenics show impaired binaural relative to monaural and poor left ear performance on the task; a pilot study had indicated that this might also be the case in normal high STA scorers. Results of the main experiment failed to confirm predictions, though in male Ss several significant effects were observed. High schizotypals showed weakened asymmetry, reflected in better left ear relative to right ear performance, compared with low schizotypals; they also showed a smaller binaural/left ear difference. Some reasons for the discrepancy between these and previous findings using a similar task are considered and the results are discussed in relation to other studies of schizotypy and hemisphere function carried out in our laboratory.