Book reviews

Encyclopaedia of Linguistics, Information and Control. Edited by A. R. Meetham with the assistance of R. A. Hudson. Oxford: Pergamon Press. 1969. Pp. xiv + 718. 300s.

The Biological Basis of Personality. By H. J. Eysenck. Springfield: Thomas. 1968. Pp. xv + 399. $18.50.

Scientific Basis of Dvug Dependence. Biological Council Symposium. Edited by H. Steinberg. London: Churchill. 1969. Pp. 429. 100s.

Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, Vol. 2. Edited by John P. Hill. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 1969. Pp. viii + 172.

Memory and Attention: an introduction to human information processes. By Donald A. Norman. Chichester, Sussex: John Wiley. 1969. Pp. ix + 201. 84s. (cloth); 44s. (paper). Verbal Learning and Memory: selected readings. By Leo Postman and Geoffrey Keppel. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. 1969. Pp. 501. 12s.

Handbuch der Kinderheilkunde. Edited by H. Opitz and F. Schmidt. Rand VIII/I: Neurologie-Psychologic-Psychiatrie. Redigiert von F. Schmidt und H. Asperger. Berlin: Springer Verlag. Pp. 1060. Price DM385, S96.25.

Digital Computing. By R. S. Lehman and D. E. Bailey. London: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1969. Pp. xxiv + 303. 79s.

Real-Time Computers. By W. R. Uttal. New York: Harper & Row. 1968. Pp. xiv + 338. 93s.     

The speed of visual processing in children and adults: Effects of backward and forward masking

Children, 4-5 and 9-10 years old, and college-age adults were tested on two visual masking tasks. The first task required the Ss to identify whether a tachistoscopically presented bar was horizontal or vertical The second task, also using tachistoscopic presentation of stimuli, required Ss to locate a horizontal (or vertical) bar in a matrix of vertical (or horizontal) bars. In both tasks, backward masking produced greater disruption than did forward masking, and the amount of disruption induced by both backward and forward masking decreased as age increased. An Age by Masking Condition interaction was found only in the location task and reflected a much greater difference between backward- and forward-masking conditions for the youngest group than for the older groups. On the basis of these findings and other considerations, it was concluded that only in the location task, which presumably required visual search, was the speed of visual processing slower in the younger group.     

The effect of part sequence on succession threshold

When letters of the word POT and the nonsense syllable OTP are presented in a typical orientation (horizontal) and a typical order (left to right, up to down), succession threshold is lower relative to presentation in an atypical orientation (vertical) and an atypical order (right to left, down to up). These results are interpreted as showing that learning to read English establishes both orientation and order parameters of a hypothetical analysis operation     

Effects of a conditioned reinforcer upon accuracy of match-to-sample behavior in pigeons

Three pigeons were trained to perform a two-key sequential match-to-sample task. During baseline conditions, food reinforcement was contingent upon the first match response to occur following 8-min periods, and orange illumination of both keys preceded the delivery of food by 0.5 sec. The baseline schedule of food reinforcement was in effect throughout the study. In some conditions, a 0.5-sec flash of orange keylight alone was presented contingent upon mismatch responses that followed variable time periods averaging 1 min. Rate of mismatch responses increased and accuracy of matching performances decreased as compared with baseline conditions. The ability of the 0.5-sec orange flash to reinforce mismatch responses was markedly reduced when it no longer immediately preceded the delivery of food.     

The response-reinforcement dependency in fixed-interval schedules of reinforcement

Pigeons were exposed to four different schedules of food reinforcement that arranged a fixed minimum time interval between reinforcements (60 sec or 300 sec). The first was a standard fixed-interval schedule. The second was a schedule in which food was presented automatically at the end of the fixed time interval as long as a response had occurred earlier. The third and fourth schedules were identical to the first two except that the first response after reinforcement changed the color on the key. When the schedule required a peck after the interval elapsed, the response pattern consisted of a pause after reinforcement followed by responding at a high rate until reinforcement. When a response was not required after the termination of the interval, the pattern consisted of a pause after reinforcement, followed by responses and then by a subsequent pause until reinforcement. Having the first response after reinforcement change the color on the key had little effect on performance. Post-reinforcement pause duration varied with the minimum interreinforcement interval but was unaffected by whether or not a response was required after the interval elapsed.     

Effects of rate of reinforcement-time upon concurrent operant performance

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the theoretical reduction of rate and duration of reinforcement to their product, rate of reinforcement-time, under concurrent chain schedules. In Exp. I, rate of reinforcement-time was varied by varying rate of reinforcement delivery, holding duration of reinforcement availability constant; in Exp. II, rate of reinforcement-time was varied by holding rate of reinforcement delivery constant and varying duration of reinforcement availability; in Exp. III, rate of reinforcement-time was held constant by varying both rate and duration of reinforcement simultaneously and inversely. For all three experiments, both relative rate of responding and relative time spent in the initial link were found to match approximately the relative rate of reinforcement-time arranged in the terminal link. These data were interpreted as support for the notion that rate and duration of reinforcement may be functionally equivalent and reducible to a single variable, rate of reinforcement-time.     

Some punishing effects of response-force

The present experiment explored the punishing effect of different response-force requirements by means of a two-operant design analogous to a two-component chain schedule. The first component of the chain required a lever pull through 0.25 in. (0.64 cm) at 1 lb (4.45 N) of force. The second component required a lever pull through an additional 0.75 in. (1.90 cm) with the force varied between sessions from 1 lb to 50 lb (4.45 N to 223 N). Completion of the second component of the chain was reinforced after variable intervals averaging 1 min. The average rate of first-component response decreased as the force requirement for second-component responses was increased. This rate reduction did not appear to be due to increased response duration, “fatigue”, or differing rates of reinforcement. If the force requirement for the second-component response is viewed as a consequence for the first-component response, then the results of the experiment show that a high force requirement is a punisher.