Effects of vicarious consequences on imitation and recall: Some developmental findings

Two experiments were conducted using a multiple-item list in which each item consisted of a pair of pictures. The model indicated which member of each pair she preferred and was either positively reinforced, negatively reinforced, or received neutral consequences. The S then indicated his preferences (imitation test). Following the imitation test, each S was asked to recall the model's choices. Age was an independent variable in both experiments. Imitation scores of the children, preschool to sixth-grade age range, were strongly influenced by differential vicarious reinforcement. Vicarious reward increased imitation and vicarious punishment decreased it. College students' imitation scores were only minimally influenced by differential vicarious reinforcement. Within- and between-subjects variations of vicarious reinforcement had similar effects. Recall scores were surprisingly high and were not significantly influenced by differential vicarious reinforcement. Interestingly, age and percentage of correct recall were negatively correlated.     

A note on feminine plural inflection in spoken Israeli Hebrew

This is a report of results obtained in testing native Israeli students in the production and comprehension of inflected forms of adjectives that were not couched in sentences. The subjects performed according to normative rules in their production of adjective forms. In comprehension, however, they performed according to an acceptability scale of deviations from the norms. It is suggested that a change in the linguistic system first affects the speakers' processing of received language. Only later will their own production be affected as well.     

The verbal helping skills of trained and untrained human service paraprofessionals

The verbal helping skills of human service paraprofessionals in a youth service agency were studied. Workers who had previously completed a 10-week systematic training program in basic helping skills were compared to untrained volunteer staff. Using simulated helping interviews, it was found that training made a significant impact on trainees' verbal helping responses. Skill level was maintained at a 2-month follow-up for certain responses whereas others returned to pretraining levels. Trainees were found to use significantly more "helpful" responses than volunteers. The need for training even carefully selected paraprofessionals is discussed.     

Modeling on microcomputers

The instructional power of experimental models was recognized by the significant effort directed toward the development of EXPER SIM at several institutions. Owing to a number of factors, interest in these tools appeared to wane. The price/performance characteristics of some new microcomputers suggested that a rekindling of interest in the use of modeling as an inquiry/problem solving tool could possibly be achieved if the large timesharing versions could be successfully migrated to one or more popular micros. We have partially achieved these objectives, having both transported EXPER SIM to the LSI-11 computer and developed, tested, documented, and evaluated many new models in sensory, personality, and social psychology and psychobiology. In addition, we have begun devising techniques to migrate a version to the Apple II and III microcomputers.     

Taste aversions conditioned by the aversiveness of insulin and formalin: role of CS specificity

Experimenters in the past have reported that when insulin is used as the unconditioned stimulus (US), rats will learn an aversion to a sodium chloride but not a sucrose solution, whereas with formalin as the US, they will learn an aversion to a sucrose but not a saline solution. The present experiments failed to confirm these findings. Aversions to sucrose were conditioned with insulin and aversions to sodium chloride were conditioned with formalin. The use of a more concentrated sucrose solution in the present study may have been responsible for the successful sucrose-aversion conditioning with insulin. Although the source of the discrepancy in findings concerning aversion conditioning with formalin remains unclear, experiments ruled out numerous possibilities. These experiments also showed that sodium chloride aversion conditioning with formalin is a highly robust phenomenon that occurs with a variety of conditioned stimulus durations and formalin doses, with distributed and massed training, in male and female rats, and even if saline is not the only novel solution presented during conditioning. Furthermore, the aversion can be detected with both single-stimulus and choice test procedures.