Rule-governed imitative verbal behavior as a function of modeling procedures

The present study was designed to investigate the effectiveness of modelling procedures alone and modeling procedures complemented by the appropriate rule statement on the production of plurals. Twenty normal and 20 retarded children were randomly assigned to one of two learning conditions and to either affective or informative social reinforcement.It was necessary for the child to generate and use a rule in the production of his respones since he was unable to directly copy the model's verbal behavior. Normal and retarded children emitted more plurals during the experimental phase when observing a model who complemented his responses by the underlying rule.     

Developmental changes in the effects of presentation media on noun-pair learning

Interpretations of previous research have indicated that there are age-related increases in the efficacy of pictorial media, relative to verbal, for presenting paired-associate items and elaborative prompts to young children. The purposes of the present study were to replicate these phenomenon and to evaluate two hypotheses advanced to account for them: a semantic encoding hypothesis and a verbal decoding hypothesis. To these ends, 14 treatments conditions were partioned into three independent-groups experimental designs. Each of 504 childrens, sampled from nursery, kindergarten, and second-grade populations, learned a list of 20 pairs of familiar objects. The expected developmental increase in the effectiveness of presenting items in a pictorial medium was not replicated. As predicted, however, the results revealed an increase with age in the effect of presenting elaborative prompts pictorially, but the phenomenon was confined to groups where the sex of subject and of experimenter was the same. It was concluded that the verbal decoding hypothesis accomodated the pattern of results better than did the semantic encoding hypothesis. Throughout the sudy, performance was substantially facilitated by elaborative prompts, that is, across age, presentation media, and testing conditions.     

Frequency recognition in temporal interference tasks: A comparison among four psychophysical procedures

The frequency discrimination of a 20-msec test tone was measured for the same subjects in four psychophysical paradigms: a single-interval procedure, a two-alternative forced-choice procedure, a same-different procedure, and a method-of-adjustment procedure. In each paradigm, the 20-msec test tone was preceded or followed by a 500-msec, 800-Hz interfering tone. The interfering tone occurred 50 or 5 msec before the onset of the test tone (forward interference) or 100 or 5 msec after the offset of the test tone (backward interference). In each of the four paradigms and for each of the interference conditions the value of Δf for the test tone was varied symetrically around 800 Hz to obtain an estimate of the frequency discrimination thresholds. In all psychophysical paradigms except for the single-interval procedure, there were small or no significant differences in observers’ frequency discrimination behavior among the interference conditions. The thresholds for Δf from these conditions were approximately the same as those obtained without an interfering tone. In the single-interval task, when the test tone preceded the interfering tone (backward interference) by 5 msec, an increase in the value of Δf required for discrimination over that required in the other conditions was measured. These results suggest that the effect of backward interference on a target tone does depend on psychophysical procedure.     

Private self-consciousness, canned laughter, and responses to humorous stimuli

Sefl-focused attention is hypothesized to (a) intensify emotional responses; (b) diminish susceptibility to suggestion; and (c) increase the consistency of self-report and behavior. These hypotheses were tested by having 82 undergraduates varying in private self-consciousness (PrSC) listen to humorous stimuli presented either with (laugh track group) or without (no laugh track group) canned laughter. Subjects' funniness ratings and overt laughter served as dependent measures. Regression analyses revealed that PrSC and funniness ratings were negatively correlated in the laugh track group, but uncorrelated in the no laugh track group. In contrast, PrSC and overt laughter were positively correlated in both groups. The association between funniness and laughter appeared stronger in high than in low PrSC subjects. Interpreted in light of research indicating that funniness ratings represent affect-free evaluations of humor stimuli, whereas laughter represents amusement, these results suggest that self-focus (a) intensified subjects' amusement; (b) decreased the extent to which their evaluations of the stimuli were biased by canned laughter; and (c) increased the consistency between their (self-reported) cognitive and (overt behavioral) affective responses (although this finding was equivocal).     

Chicks' maze learning reinforced by visual pitfall extending downward

The present study examined whether visually evoked fear of depth could reinforce a particular response of animals, i.e., to special maze learning. The maze was composed of four units of Y-shaped alley. In this maze, the visual pitfalls were set behind corners of the alley in place of a physical barrier. The experiments showed that eight of 13 male chicks could achieve the initial learning and that three successful ones could also achieve reversal learning. The results suggest that the visually evoked fear of depth provided by motion parallax can act as a reinforcer.     

Criteria for psychiatric hospitalization: A checklist approach

The decision to hospitalize a psychiatric patient is often a source of controversy. This fact is reflected in the Connecticut Mental Health Center’s program of quality assessment. The center conducts individual, retrospective chart review using a 32-page checklist of normative criteria. The primary purpose of this portion of the chart review system is to highlight those cases in which a patient may have been hospitalized unnecessarily. We present and analyze the cumulative data from 300 cases for which the criteria-for-hospitalization scale was completed. We conclude that the scale is an efficient instrument and is convenient for justifying hospitalization. We suggest minor revisions in the scale and speculate upon its as-yet-untapped research potential.     

PROGRAMMING “LOOSE TRAINING” AS A STRATEGY TO FACILITATE LANGUAGE GENERALIZATION

This study investigated the generalization of spontaneous complex language behavior across a nontraining setting and the durability of generalization as a result of programming and “loose training” strategy. A within-subject, across-behaviors multiple-baseline design was used to examine the performance of two moderately retarded students in the use of is/are across three syntactic structures (i.e., “wh” questions, “yes/no” reversal questions, and statements). The language training procedure used in this study represented a functional example of programming “loose training.” The procedure involved conducting concurrent language training within the context of an academic training task, and establishing a functional reduction in stimulus control by permitting the student to initiate a language response based on a wide array of naturally occurring stimulus events. Concurrent probes were conducted in the free play setting to assess the immediate generalization and the durability of the language behaviors. The results demonstrated that “loose training” was effective in establishing a specific set of language responses with the participants of this investigation. Further, both students demonstrated spontaneous use of the language behavior in the free play generalization setting and a trend was clearly evident for generalization to continue across time. Thus, the methods used appear to be successful for training the use of is/are in three syntactic structures.     

INTERTRIAL INTERVAL DURATION AND LEARNING IN AUTISTIC CHILDREN

This study investigated the influence of intertrial interval duration on the performance of autistic children during teaching situations. The children were taught under the same conditions existing in their regular programs, except that the length of time between trials was systematically manipulated. With both multiple baseline and repeated reversal designs, two lengths of intertrial interval were employed: short intervals with the S^D for any given trial presented approximately one second following the reinforcer for the previous trial versus long intervals with the S^D presented four or more seconds following the reinforcer for the previous trial. The results showed that: (1) the short intertrial intervals always produced higher levels of correct responding than the long intervals; and (2) there were improving trends in performance and rapid acquisition with the short intertrial intervals, in contrast to minimal or no change with the long intervals. The results are discussed in terms of utilizing information about child and task characteristics in terms of selecting optimal intervals. The data suggest that manipulations made between trials have a large influence on autistic children's learning.     

Individuation and attachment in personality development: Extending Erikson's theory

The question of whether Erikson's theory of psychosocial development is a complete and coherent view of development in males and females is considered After a thorough review of Erikson's views on the role of sex in psychosocial development, the authors suggest that an important element is neglected in Erikson's account of personality development in both sexes That is, due to his focus on issues of identity, Erikson does not account fully for the development of intimacy or other expressions of interpersonal attachment The authors conclude that the major shortcoming of Erikson's theory is not, as some feminists have argued, that it is a male theory but that it fails to account adequately for the processes of interpersonal attachment that are essential to the development of both males and females Preliminary elements of a two-path model of development are proposed     

The development of children's problem solving in a gears task: A problem space perspective

I examined two contexts of development in children's problem solving: (1) the macro-context of different age cohorts (8–9 vs 11–12 years of age); and (2) the micro-context of an approximately one-hour experimental session. Twenty subjects (even divided across sexes and these two age groups) were individually presented a collection of variously sized gears, a board onto which these gears could be easily attached and rotated, and a knob. Each subject was asked to find all solutions, in which two marked gears were turning the same way, and to represent these solutions graphically. Subjects applied four different problem spaces to the task: the Euclidean, the Kinematic, the Dynamic, and the Topological. The Arithmetic Modifier could be applied to any of these problem spaces, resulting in a numerical characterization of the gear constructions and/or production strategies. The 11–12's tended to shift problem spaces adaptively; the 8–9's seldom did so. Analysis of the pathways of transition between the problem spaces revealed a complex picture of partial or complete incorporation, and substitution.