A blind woman who is mentally retarded promoting and sharing the occupational engagement of a dependent deaf-blind adolescent

A blind woman who is mentally retarded was employed (as peer care-giver) to promote and eventually share the occupational engagement of a deaf-blind adolescent (trainee) who was dependent on physical prompting. A computer-aided program was used to provide objects for the responses and facilitate orientation and mobility. The trainee was also exposed to the computer-aided program individually to assess the effects of the program per se. The results showed highly positive changes only in the condition involving the peer care-giver. In this condition, the trainee performed high frequencies of correct responses. Moreover, the care-giver managed to share responding with the trainee. Technical and practical aspects of the findings are discussed.     

Overt responding in computer-based training

This experiment compared the extent to which students learned facts included in computer-based-training frames that required an overt response to those that did not. Frames included two types of facts: Some facts had one word missing which had to be supplied by the student (active facts). Other facts had no missing words and required no overt response (passive facts). Each student completed four 14-fact modules in random order. Two of the modules contained frames with all active facts. Each frame in the other two modules contained one active and six passive facts. Paper pretests and posttests showed that students learned twice as many facts when all facts in the module were active than when only one in seven were active. The modules that included passive facts required one-fifth the time to complete than those with only active facts. Students learned more facts per minute of training in one of the two modules that included passive facts than in the two modules with only active facts.     

The orienting response,and future directions of its development

The orienting response (OR) is a specific behavioral act directed towards extraction of information from the environment. Head and eye movements represent only the tip of the iceberg of internal responses, which includes vascular modifications, EEG changes, and event-related potentials. Two mechanisms of the OR have to be differentiated: voluntary and involuntary. In the event-related potential, such a differentiation is expressed in mismatch negativity (involuntary effect) and processing negativity (voluntary effect). Single unit studies have shown that hippocampal neurones are simulating specific features of the OR as a response to novelty. Repeated presentation of stimuli results in a selective habituation of novelty detectors in hippocampus and of the OR. The trace of a standard stimulus formed at the level of hippocampal neurones matches the features of the standard stimulus and can be called a “neuronal model of the stimulus.” The OR is triggered by mismatch between the test stimulus and the elaborated neuronal model, and is activated by verbal instruction, by reinforcement during the initial stage of conditioned reflex elaboration, and by differentiation of signal and non-signal stimuli. A promising new area of practical application of the OR lies in the evaluation of a corridor of optimal functional state for efficient computer-based learning. Registration of the OR and defensive responses can be used for an objective evaluation of the functional state of the student, or, in a wider sense, of the industrial operator. New avenues of OR research are opened by recent techniques that isolate single-trial event related potentials, and their correlation with autonomic and behavioral manifestations of the OR. The combination of single unit recording with such isolated event related potentials can elucidate the neuronal basis of OR generation. Intracellular recording combined with dye injection can be used for analysis of the synaptic contacts involved in generation of the OR. Integration of macro and micro levels of OR organization can be achieved in a computerized model that can be used for simulation and planning of experiments. A step-by-step improvement of the model will accumulate knowledge about the OR as an important mechanism of information processing.     

EVENT-RELATED BRAIN POTENTIALS, EYE MOVEMENTS, AND READING

Abstract— This article compares studies that use event-related brain potential (ERP) and eye movement data to examine changes in reading behavior when a text is read twice. Although the types of information provided by these methodologies are different, both indicate that rereading a text facilitates many aspects of processing. ERPs provide a method for measuring comprehension and memory processes separately, while eye movements provide a continuous record of performance and allow changes in reading behavior to be localized to specific words. The results from these studies are compatible. However, converging evidence is not always found when different paradigms are contrasted, and diverging results can provide important information. To facilitate comparison across experiments, we suggest using a common set of materials for both paradigms. We conclude that comparing the results of research based on more than one paradigm provides a more complete understanding of the processes involved in reading.