Perceptual learning in pigeons: Decreased ability to Discriminate samples mapped onto the same comparison in many-to-one matching

Humans often treat two stimuli that are associated with a common response as similar in other contexts. They do so presumably because those stimuli become conceptually or perceptually more similar to each other (perceptual learning). An analogous phenomenon may occur in pigeons when they are trained with a matching-to-sample procedure in which more than one sample is mapped onto the same comparison. In the present research, pigeons were trained to select one comparison following either of two samples (S₁ or S₂) and to select the other comparison following either of two different samples (S₃ or S₄). When the samples were then presented as positive and negative stimuli in a simple successive discrimination, samples that had been associated with the same comparison during original training (e.g., S₁ vs. S₂) were more difficult to discriminate than were samples that had been associated with different comparisons (e.g., S₁ vs. S₃). Thus, it appears that perceptual learning occurs in pigeons as well.     

Gender differences in coping and daily stress in conduct-disordered and non-conduct-disordered adolescents

Research shows that conduct disorder (CD) manifests differently in boys and girls, yet little is known about specific characteristics of girls with CD. This study examined gender differences in stress and coping in both CD (n = 69) and non-conduct-disordered (NCD) adolescents (n = 64). Results indicated similar patterns of gender differences in stress and coping, although CD adolescents reported a higher frequency of stress and maladaptive coping strategies than NCDs. Girls reported more daily stress and greater use of coping associated with both social relationships and emotional venting. A significant interaction effect distinguished girls with CD from other groups by their higher level of daily stress, more frequent use of self-injurious behavior and emotion-focused coping, and deficits in active coping.     

Clothing: Communication, Compliance, and Choice

This study looks at some effects of five different styles of women's clothing: Formal Skirt, Formal Pants, Casual Skirt, Casual Pants, and Jeans. There were no significant differences in compliance to a request to fill out a questionnaire made by experimenters dressed in the five clothing styles, although experimenter age and sex effects were found. Ratings of photographs of the five dress styles indicate that a model was viewed by both male and female subjects as most happy, successful, feminine, interesting, attractive, intelligent, and wanted as a friend when wearing a Formal Skirt outfit and as least so when wearing Jeans. She was also seen as more active when wearing pants as compared with a skirt. Subjects' reasons for choosing what clothing to wear did not indicate that how one will appear to others is the major factor in clothing selection. It appears that clothing does communicate something about the wearer but may influence behavior toward her primarily in the absence of other information about her status.     

Sex stereotypes and implicit personality theory. I. A personality description approach to the assessment of sex stereotypes

It was proposed that sex stereotypes be phrased in terms of the person perception construct, “implicit personality theory,” as the structured sets of inferential relations that link personal attributes to the social categories female and male. The utility of this formulation was assessed by having 31 college students use a set of 66 personality traits to describe other people. A measure of trait co-occurrence was derived from these data and was used as input to Kruskal's multidimensional scaling program. A two-dimensional configuration was interpreted in terms of two orthogonal properties, Social Desirability and Potency. An Indirect Female-Male property (based on the proportion of times each trait was used to describe a male) was strongly related to the configuration and was closely aligned with the Potency vector. Thus, stereotypes of females and males were associated with the Potency dimension of person perception, with females seen as “soft” and males as “hard.” The directly rated sex property Male-Female was also located near the Potency vector, but was not strongly related to the configuration. This lack of fit may have been due to social desirability responding. The results support the utility of formulating sex stereotypes in terms of implicit personality theory and suggest the need to distinguish direct and indirect assessments of stereotypes.     

Individual differences in preschool object play: The influences of anxiety proneness and peer affiliation

Individual differences in anxiety and peer affiliation were investigated as factors influencing variability of object play among preschoolers. Eighteen three-year-olds were divided into high- and low-anxious groups on the bases of separation anxiety and general anxiety scales. Their mature and immature object play, their peer affiliation, and their peer-watching behaviors were observed in preschools. Low-anxious children played more, showed more mature play, and watched peers less when they were alone; high-anxious children showed no play increases but watched peers more when alone. Separation anxiety scores predicted preschool differences more sensitively than general anxiety scores. It was theorized that separation anxiety related mechanisms hinder children's ability to fully profit from preschool experiences.     

Effects of Refutational Messages,Thought Provocation,and Decision Deadlines on Signing to Donate Organs1

Across three experiments college students were given refutational messages or other treatments encouraging signing drivers' licenses to donate bodily organs in case of accidental death. An attitudinal measure (willingness to sign) predicted observed signing behavior, but relatively weakly. A measure of behavioral expectation to sign or not to sign predicted more strongly. A discussion with family was encouraged, the impact of that discussion also predicted signing but less strongly so. In Study 1 groups given a refutational message signed at no greater rates than a group given a control message. In Study 2 a refutational message group and a group asked to think about donating for 2 min signed at higher rates than a true control group. In Study 3 groups asked to decide whether or not to sign by a certain date and time signed at a higher rate than a refutational message group as in earlier studies. These procedures are recommended for organ donation signing campaigns.     

THE USE OF GOAL SETTING AND CONTINGENCY CONTRACTING FOR IMPROVING CHILDREN'S HOMEWORK PERFORMANCE

We examined the effects of goal setting and contingency contracting on children's homework performance. Subjects were 4 parent—child dyads in which the child exhibited substantial homework problems. Using a combination of multiple baseline and reversal (ABAB) designs, goal setting and contingency contracting produced significant improvements in children's homework accuracy. Two of the 4 subjects showed substantial improvements in on-task behavior. Consumer satisfaction with the procedures was supported by parent ratings conducted posttreatment.     

The relationship of environmental concern with public and private pro-environmental behaviours: A pre-registered meta-analysis

Previous meta-analyses identified a gap between environmental concern and pro-environmental behaviours. However, the failure to differentiate these behaviours and the influence of contextual factors may limit understanding of the gap. This pre-registered meta-analysis evaluated the magnitudes of the correlations of environmental concern, as measured by the New Environmental Paradigm of thinking, with public and private pro-environmental behaviours and investigated the moderating roles of sociocultural contexts. Environmental concern was found positively correlated with public pro-environmental behaviour (k = 10, N = 4636; r = 0.27) and private pro-environmental behaviour (k = 31, N = 20,907; r = 0.35). These two pooled correlations did not differ significantly. Institutionalization of environmental protection did not moderate these correlations, while cultural factors, including individualism, long-term orientation, and external control, did. These findings maintain the utility of environmental concern in facilitating different pro-environmental behaviours and highlight the lack of research attention on public pro-environmental behaviour.     

Using support vector machines to identify literacy skills: Evidence from eye movements

Is inferring readers’ literacy skills possible by analyzing their eye movements during text reading? This study used Support Vector Machines (SVM) to analyze eye movement data from 61 undergraduate students who read a multiple-paragraph, multiple-topic expository text. Forward fixation time, first-pass rereading time, second-pass fixation time, and regression path reading time on different regions of the text were provided as features. The SVM classification algorithm assisted in distinguishing high-literacy-skilled readers from low-literacy-skilled readers with 80.3 % accuracy. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of combining eye tracking and machine learning techniques to detect readers with low literacy skills, and suggest that such approaches can be potentially used in predicting other cognitive abilities.     

Executive function in paediatric medulloblastoma: The role of cerebrocerebellar connections

Executive functions (EFs) are involved in the attainment, maintenance, and integration of information; these functions may play a key role in cognitive and behavioural outcomes in children treated for medulloblastoma (MB). At present, it remains unclear which EFs are most sensitive to the treatment effects for MB and whether damage to cerebrocerebellar circuitry is associated with EF. We completed a comprehensive evaluation of EF in 24 children treated for MB and 20 age‐matched healthy children (HC) and distilled these measures into components. Six components (C1–C6) were extracted from our model, reflecting dissociable constructs of EF: C1 = cognitive efficiency; C2 = planning/problem‐solving; C3 = positive cognitive emotion regulation; C4 = working memory; C5 = negative cognitive emotion regulation; and C6 = mixed cognitive emotion regulation. Group differences were found for C1, C2, C3, and C4; the MB group showed poorer performance on EF tasks and made less use of positive cognitive emotion regulation strategies relative to HC. Compromise to cerebrocerebellar microstructure – cerebro‐ponto‐cerebellar and cerebello‐thalamo‐cerebral pathways – was evident in children treated for MB compared to HC. We found that cerebrocerebellar circuitry has a mediating effect on one component of EF following treatment for MB – working memory.