Characteristics of the standard and supplemental batteries of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability-Revised with a college sample

The present investigation examined the characteristics of the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Ability-Revised (WJTCA-R) with an independent college sample (N = 121). Gender and order effects were examined for the 14 WJTCA-R subtests that contribute to the Extended Battery. In addition, the relationship between the standard scores obtained on the Standard and Supplemental Batteries was examined to determine whether they represent alternate forms of the WJTCA-R. Significant differences existed in subtest performance based on the order in which the Standard and Supplemental Batteries were administered. Gender differences also existed on the Visual Matching, Picture Vocabulary, and Cross Out subtests. Finally, the coefficient of equivalence for the Standard and Supplemental Batteries approached significance when the administration of the Standard Battery followed the Supplemental Battery, but fell far short of the criterion suggested by Crocker and Algina (1986) when administration of the Standard Battery proceeded the Supplemental Battery, the standardized administration.     

SUBLIMINAL EXPOSURE TO DEATH-RELATED STIMULI INCREASES DEFENSE OF THE CULTURAL WORLDVIEW

Abstract— Three experiments reported here provide empirical support for the hypothesis derived from terror management theory that unconscious concerns about death motivate allegiance to cultural beliefs, Study 1, contrasted exposure to a subliminal death-related stimulus, a standard mortality-salience treatment, and a neutral subliminal stimulus, and found that both the subliminal and the standard reminder of mortality led to more favorable evaluations of people who praised subjects' cultural worldview and more unfavorable evaluations of those who challenged it Study 2, replicated this finding by comparing the effects of exposure to subliminal death stimuli and subliminal pain stimuli. Study 3, contrasted subliminal death stimuli, supraliminal death stimuli, and subliminal pain stimuli and found that only subliminal death stimuli produced these effects.     

DIRECT AND COLLATERAL EFFECTS OF RESTRAINTS AND RESTRAINT FADING

Mechanical restraints are commonly used to reduce the risks associated with severe self-injurious behavior (SIB), but may result in movement restriction and adverse side effects (e.g., bone demineralization). Restraint fading may provide a method for decreasing SIB while increasing movement and reducing these side effects. In the current investigation, rigid arm sleeves and restraint fading (gradually reducing the rigidity of the sleeves) were used with 3 clients who engaged in hand-to-head SIB. Restraints and fading reduced the hand-to-head SIB of all clients. However, for 1 client, the addition of a water mist procedure further reduced SIB to near-zero levels. For a 2nd client, another form of SIB developed that was not prevented by the rigid sleeves. For a 3rd client, a topography of SIB that was not physically prevented by the rigid sleeves was also reduced when restraints and fading were introduced.     

BALANCING SOCIAL ACCEPTABILITY WITH TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS OF AN INTRUSIVE PROCEDURE: A CASE REPORT

The debate over social acceptability of intrusive procedures has led some school districts to adopt policies allowing punishment for only the most extreme forms of destructive behavior. We investigated the effectiveness of selectively implementing punishment for only the most severe topographies of aggression and property destruction, while less extreme behaviors were ignored. Results indicated that severe behaviors were reduced to near-zero levels only when both severe and less severe behaviors were similarly punished.     

ACHIEVING AND MAINTAINING COMPLIANCE WITH THE KETOGENIC DIET

The ketogenic diet, a treatment for intractable epilepsy, is rarely initiated because it requires strict compliance with a diet that is perceived to be unpalatable. In a case study of a 15-year-old girl with uncontrolled epilepsy, we used a stimulus-choice procedure to assess relative preferences of 33 foods from the diet and to develop two treatments based on Premack's principle. The results of a multielement analysis showed that both treatments increased dietary compliance. Compliance was maintained with generalization of treatment across settings, and was associated with a 40% reduction in seizures.     

Sniffy,the virtual rat: Simulated operant conditioning

We report on the use of our Sniffy program to teach operant conditioning to 900 introductory psychology students. The simulation is designed primarily to teach the principles of shaping and partial reinforcement in an operant chamber. Advanced features are provided for exploring modeling issues and the learning parameters of the model. Students observe the rat’s pretraining behaviors, shape barpressing, and explore the effects of partial reinforcement schedules on a cumulative record. Any of 30 actions can be trained to occur in specific locations in the Skinner box. This paper summarizes details about the software, interface, and instructional objectives.     

Attentional effects on concurrent psychophysical discriminations: Investigations of a sample-size model

In two experiments, a concurrent discrimination paradigm was used to study the effects of visual attention on psychophysical judgments and the consistency of these effects with a sample-size model in which attention influences the variance of the internal representation used to make psychophysical judgments. Two pairs of lines were presented simultaneously—one on each side of fixation—and subjects had to indicate for each pair separately whether or not the lines had the same length. Attention was manipulated by instructing subjects to pay 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, or 0% of their attention to the discrimination on one side, with the complementary amount of attention to the other side. In the first experiment, the relationship between attention and discrimination accuracy was consistent with the sample-size model both when attentional allocation varied from trial to trial and when it varied between blocks, and the relationship held over more widely varying attentional allocations than had previously been studied. In addition, discriminations were more accurate overall with varied than with blocked attentional allocation, suggesting that the two types of allocation do not merely differ in the degree to which attention is focused. The second experiment examined the effects of attentional allocation and stimulus variance, the latter being manipulated by randomly incrementing or decrementing line lengths. These manipulations had additive effects on total Thurstonian variance, and a version of the samplesize model gave an excellent quantitative fit to the obtained results. Besides supporting the samplesize model, the results of Experiment 2 suggest that criterion variance is at least as large as sensory variance and that criterion but not sensory variance increases with stimulus variance.     

THE TREATMENT OF COVERT SELF-INJURY THROUGH CONTINGENCIES ON RESPONSE PRODUCTS

Assessment and treatment of covert self-injurious behavior are complicated because it is difficult to quantify and apply differential consequences to covert responses. In this study, both tangible and social reinforcers were identified using reinforcer assessment methods. These reinforcers were then provided contingent upon the absence of tissue damage identified during physical examinations, resulting in near 100% success in physical assessment checks that was maintained over 10 months.