The role of R-S1 expectancy in discrimination and discrimination reversal learning

Four experiments assessed the role of response-reinforcement (R-S¹) expectancy as rats either learned a discrimination or a discrimination reversal. Experiment 1 showed that the higher the percentage of reinforcement during nondiscriminative pretraining the more quickly a subsequent discrimination is learned. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the overlearning reversal effect (ORE) can be obtained even though the overtraining phase consists of responses to a single neutral card. In Experiment 3 subjects were again overtrained on a single neutral stimulus under conditions of varying reinforcement. ORE was apparent under reinforcement of a high percentage of responses but was not apparent under reinforcement of a low percentage. Experiment 4 revealed that the fewer errors a subject makes prior to reversal the better its reversal performance is. Results of these studies were discussed in terms of generalized attention theories and the expectancy notions of Bolles (Psychological Review, 1972, 79(5), 394–409.     

Incompleteness and Disgust Predict Treatment Outcome in Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Increasing evidence suggests that pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is motivated not only by fear but also by feelings of incompleteness and disgust. However, it is currently unclear whether emotion involvement in OCD symptoms is associated with treatment response in youth with OCD. The present study examined whether treatment outcome for youth with OCD was predicted by the degree to which fear, disgust, and incompleteness were involved in baseline OCD symptoms. Children and adolescents with OCD entering treatment for this condition (N = 111) were administered standardized OCD symptom measures and an interview designed to assess the degree of fear, incompleteness, and disgust experienced during current OCD symptoms. Follow-up assessments occurred on average 13 months after baseline with each participant coded for outcome according to internationally acknowledged change criteria for pediatric OCD. Higher levels of incompleteness and disgust as part of baseline OCD symptoms predicted poorer outcome. The degree of fear during baseline OCD symptoms did not predict outcome. If replicated under controlled conditions, these results suggest that incompleteness and disgust may act as barriers to improvement in pediatric OCD and that treatment modifications that target these emotion-related motivators may improve outcome for a subset of youth.     

How older adults use cognition in sentence-final word recognition

This study examined the effects of executive control and working memory on older adults’ sentence-final word recognition. The question we addressed was the importance of executive functions to this process and how it is modulated by the predictability of the speech material. To this end, we tested 173 neurologically intact adult native English speakers aged 55–84 years. Participants were given a sentence-final word recognition test in which sentential context was manipulated and sentences were presented in different levels of babble, and multiple tests of executive functioning assessing inhibition, shifting, and efficient access to long-term memory, as well as working memory. Using a generalized linear mixed model, we found that better inhibition was associated with higher accuracy in word recognition, while increased age and greater hearing loss were associated with poorer performance. Findings are discussed in the framework of semantic control and are interpreted as supporting a theoretical view of executive control which emphasizes functional diversity among executive components.     

Keep it local (and final): Remnant preferences in “let alone” ellipsis

The let alone construction (John can't run a mile, let alone a marathon) differs from standard coordination structures (with and or but) by requiring ellipsis of the second conjunct—for example, a marathon is the remnant of an elided clause [ John run a marathon]. In support of an ellipsis account, a corpus study of British and American English finds that let alone exhibits a Locality bias, as the second conjunct preferentially contrasts with the nearest lexical item of the same syntactic type. Two self-paced reading studies show that the Locality bias is active during online processing, but must be reconciled with indicators of semantic contrast and discourse information. Further, a sentence-rating study shows that the Locality bias interacts with a Finality bias that favours placing the let alone phrase at the end of a clause, which sometimes necessitates a nonlocal contrast. Together, the results show how a general bias in ellipsis for local contrasts is affected by discourse demands, such as the need for scalar contrast imposed by let alone, thereby offering a window into how possibly divergent syntactic and discourse constraints impact sentence processing.     

Remembering Donald G. Paterson: Before the separation between industrial-organizational and vocational psychology

This article discusses the disconnect between industrial-organizational (I-O) and vocational psychology in the context of Donald Paterson’s career, an applied psychologist who bridged both disciplines. Paterson’s interests in both vocational guidance and personnel selection suggest that these fields are interwoven, despite the prevailing gap separating them in science and practice. Current trends in I-O psychology are discussed that suggest the field is beginning to reconsider the importance of vocational psychology in the modern workplace. We argue that I-O psychology would benefit from such a reconnection by acknowledging its ethical responsibility to improve the workplace for both management and the worker.     

Blame it on me

Journal of Philosophical Logic - In this paper, we develop a formalisation of the main ideas of the work of Van de Poel on responsibility. Using the basic concepts through which the meanings of...     

The Effectiveness of Using a Video iPod as a Prompting Device in Employment Settings

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using a video iPod as a prompting device for teaching three job-related tasks to a young man with developmental disabilities in a community-based employment setting. The effectiveness of the prompting device was evaluated using a multiple probe across behaviors design. Results indicated that the introduction of the video iPod was associated with immediate and substantial gains in independent correct responding with an associated decrease in the number of prompts given from a job coach. In addition, the participant used the video iPod independently. Instructional implications and future research will be discussed.     

Excessive daydreaming: A case history and discussion of mind wandering and high fantasy proneness

This case study describes a patient presenting with a long history of excessive daydreaming which has caused her distress but is not incident to any other apparent clinical psychiatric disorders. We have treated this patient for over 10 years, and she has responded favorably to fluvoxamine therapy, stating that it helps to control her daydreaming. Our patient, and other psychotherpists, have brought to our attention other possible cases of excessive daydreaming. We examine the available literature regarding daydreaming, mind wandering, and fantasy proneness relative to current cognitive and neuroanatomical models of executive attention.     

How extending your middle finger affects your perception of others: Learned movements influence concept accessibility

Body movements both express and influence how people feel and think. Conceptualizations of this bidirectional influence assume that movement-concept associations can be innate or learned, although evidence for learned associations remained ambiguous. Providing a conservative test of learned movement-concept associations, two studies investigate the influence of culture-specific body movements, which involve an arbitrary relationship between movements and associated concepts. Paralleling the influence of hostility primes, extending the middle finger influenced the interpretation of ambiguously aggressive behaviors as hostile, but did not influence unrelated trait judgments (Study 1). Paralleling the effects of global evaluative primes, upward extension of the thumb resulted in more positive evaluations of the same target along all trait dimensions and higher liking of the target (Study 2).     

The Interpersonal Basis of Stereotype-Relevant Self-Views

ABSTRACT Recent research examining the interpersonal basis of self-stereotyping is considered from the perspective of Cognitive–Affective Personality System (CAPS) theory. The reviewed work shows that individuals tend to see themselves in a stereotypic manner when interacting with someone who engenders affiliative motivation and is thought to hold stereotypic views of their group. Evidence suggesting that this context-dependent self-stereotyping is extended temporally through future psychologically similar interactions and the invocation of significant others thought to endorse stereotypes is also discussed. These findings and the theoretical framework that stimulated them strongly resonate with the notion of if … then contingencies of the self articulated in CAPS theory. The implications of each viewpoint for the other are discussed.