Choice reaction and unequal stimulus frequencies in an absolute judgment situation

Previous investigators have reported discrepant results for Ss in a choice reaction time (CRT) situation when stimuli are not equi-probable. Sixty Ss participated in an absolute judgment CRT task under three conditions of equi-probable stimuli and three of unequally probable stimuli. The results indicate that previous findings may be determined by a threshold dependent upon the effect of unequal stimulus frequencies and the utilities of different response strategies.     

Reward history modulates visual attention in an avian model

Animal Cognition - Attention can be biased towards previously reward-associated stimuli even when they are task-irrelevant and physically non-salient, although studies of reward-modulated attention...     

Estimation of nonlinear mixed-effects continuous-time models using the continuous-discrete extended Kalman filter

Many intensive longitudinal measurements are collected at irregularly spaced time intervals, and involve complex, possibly nonlinear and heterogeneous patterns of change. Effective modelling of such change processes requires continuous-time differential equation models that may be nonlinear and include mixed effects in the parameters. One approach of fitting such models is to define random effect variables as additional latent variables in a stochastic differential equation (SDE) model of choice, and use estimation algorithms designed for fitting SDE models, such as the continuous-discrete extended Kalman filter (CDEKF) approach implemented in the dynr R package, to estimate the random effect variables as latent variables. However, this approach's efficacy and identification constraints in handling mixed-effects SDE models have not been investigated. In the current study, we analytically inspect the identification constraints of using the CDEKF approach to fit nonlinear mixed-effects SDE models; extend a published model of emotions to a nonlinear mixed-effects SDE model as an example, and fit it to a set of irregularly spaced ecological momentary assessment data; and evaluate the feasibility of the proposed approach to fit the model through a Monte Carlo simulation study. Results show that the proposed approach produces reasonable parameter and standard error estimates when some identification constraint is met. We address the effects of sample size, process noise variance, and data spacing conditions on estimation results.     

Operant control of preening in pigeons

Preening in four pigeons was observed and recorded during operant level determinations, continuous and variable interval reinforcement, and extinction. The rate at which preening responses occur seems to be controlled by reinforcement in the same way as other operant behavior. Preening during VI reinforcement and extinction appeared to be similar to preening in many natural situations. With respect to the part of the body preened, considerable stereotypy of responding was shown by all birds, particularly during VI training; there was, however, a conspicuous absence of consistency in the development of stereotypy both within and between individual birds, perhaps due to the nature of the response.     

A value-added analysis of the Heysel Stadium soccer riot

On May 29, 1985, a riot occurred at the European Cup Final soccer championship between Liverpool and Juventus at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium. The riot, which caused the death of thirty-nine soccer fans, had a profound effect on English society as well as on professional soccer. This essay uses Smelser’s (1962) general model of collective behavior to analyze data derived from a number of sources describing the Heysel Stadium riot. In particular, this analysis focuses on a period of four hours, from the beginning of the riot at about 7:30 p.m. until the conclusion of the match around 11:30 p.m.     

Evaluating microcomputer interactive survey software

Software packages for microcomputer interactive questionnaires are becoming readily available to a wide group of business researchers. Potential users have a series of interrelated decisions regarding the most appropriate software and hardware for their specific needs. This article outlines important features that researchers must consider in their decisions under five dimensions: Survey research, question presentation, documentation, hardware, and monetary.This project was supported by a faculty grant from the Educational Improvement Fund of the University of Hawaii awarded to the first author. Portions of this paper were presented to the American Marketing Association 3rd Annual Microcomputers in Marketing Education Workshop at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California, October 26–28, 1986.     

母语不同者在汉字及英文辨认中大脑两半球的功能特点

用半视野速示术对以拼音文字为母语的外国留学生(30人)和以表意文字为母语拼音文字为第二语言的中国英语专业大学生(30人),进行对汉字、英文辨认上大脑两半球的功能特点的对比研究,并以不懂汉字的外籍教师(10人)对英文的辨认作对照。大学生年龄为18～25岁,教师为20～40岁。结果表明:在汉字辨认上无论是单个汉字或双字词,中国英语专业大学生及外国留学生均为两半球功能均势;在英文单词辨认上,两者也均为两半球均势,但外籍教师则是左半球优势;对作为中性刺激材料的阿拉伯数字的辨认,各组结果与前人一致是两半球均势。文中对上述结果进行了讨论。     

Speed of information processing in academically gifted youths

A group of bright-average 7th grade junior-high-school students was contrasted with a group of manifestly academically gifted students of comparable age who were taking college-level courses in mathematics and science. The groups differed significantly and markedly (showing an overall mean difference of 1.34 SD) on every one of the nine different reaction-time (RT) tasks measuring the speed with which persons perform various elementary cognitive processes. The results indicate that: (1) various RT measurements discriminate about as much between intellectually average and superior groups as past studies have found RT measurements to discriminate between average and subnormal groups: and (2) the academically gifted differ from their nongifted age-peers in more than just scholastic knowledge and advanced problem-solving skills—they differ fundamentally in speed of information processing on extremely simple cognitive tasks with average response latencies of between 0.3 and 1.5 sec.