The fear potentiated startle effect

A differential conditioning study examined whether an acoustic startle probe, presented during extinction of an aversively conditioned visual stimulus, potentiated the reflex eyeblink response in humans and whether this potentiation varied with the change in affective valence of the conditioned stimulus. Sixty college students were randomly assigned to view a series of two slides, depicting either unpleasant/highly arousing, unpleasant/moderate arousing, neutral/calm, pleasant/moderate arousing or pleasant/highly arousing scenes and objects (duration: 8 sec). During preconditioning (8 trials) and extinction (24 trials) acoustic startle probes (white noise bursts [50 ms; 95 dBA] were administered during and between slide presentation). During acquisition (16 trials) CS+ was reinforced by an electric shock. Startle response magnitudes significantly increased from preconditioning to extinction and were substantially larger to CS+. Conditioned startle reflex augmentation linearly increased with the pleasantness of the slides. Furthermore, subjects showed a greater post-conditioning increase of judged aversiveness to slides that they had previously reported to be more pleasant, exactly paralleling the startle reflex results.

     

Behavior analysis of cigarette smoking

Patterns of cigarette smoking, treated as series of discrete events in time, were investigated with a variety of quantitative techniques designed to characterize individual subject smoking series and to illuminate the relationship between cigarette smoking and environmental events. Data were collected from a total of 35 subjects who were either participants in residential laboratory studies or in a smoking cessation program. Cigarette smoking events were found to be fairly irregularly distributed with respect to time within individual subject series. However, strong dependencies were found between the occurrence in time of individual acts of cigarette smoking and coffee drinking. In addition, the distribution and frequency of smoking events throughout one-hour activity sequences were found to be dependent upon the nature of the activity, and the temporal scheduling of activities was found to affect several quantitative indices of smoking patterns.     

A constructivist analysis of the Rotter I-E scale1

A conception of locus of control attribution was advanced as an alternative to the generalized expectancy view presented by Rotter. That alternative stems from regarding the individual as actively constructing a pattern of specific choice consequence relations out of his/her ongoing experience. An integration of structural and factor approaches was used to analyze the Rotter I-E scale. The structural analysis categorized items on four dimensions (focus, area, self-attribution and world attribution) and indicated that the I-E scale unevenly represents the domain it encompasses. Nevertheless, specification of that structural matrix helps to provide a more comprehensive framework for interpreting I-E response patterns of 216 high school juniors and seniors. For example, male responses cohered around asserting active control over tasks hut attributing control to external sources with regard both to personal issues and to more abstract systems-related issues. Females organized their senses of self-efficacy with a central theme being that of a passive agent stance, plus an expectation that circumstances would provide equality of opportunities to which they could respond. Thus the present approach has demonstrated its utility in interpreting I-E findings and its conceptual advantage for personality research on locus of control and on similiar attributional characteristics.     

BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS APPLIED TO ENVIRONMENTAL/ECOLOGICAL PROBLEMS; A REVIEW1

Recent applications of operant technology, including the manipulation of environmental conditions and response consequences, have been directed toward the improvement of man-environment relations. This document summarizes the research designs, procedures, results, and conclusions of these recent behavioral interventions for ecological rebalance. Each of the 32 studies reviewed was undertaken since 1970; all studies were relatively successful in changing the probability of an ecology-related response; all studies incorporated basic methodologies applicable for large-scale, community programs; most of the investigations were conducted in field settings (e.g., college campuses, grocery stores, mobile-trailer parks, homes, movie theaters, public campgrounds, and a football stadium). Several of the studies are as yet unpublished. Sources for receiving documentation of the unpublished research are provided in this document. About 50% of the investigations reviewed were designed to influence behaviors related to environmental litter; the others were of behavior-modification programs that substantially increased bus-ridership, decreased lawn-trampling, promoted the purchase of drinks in returnable rather than throwaway containers, initiated a recycling process, or reduced energy consumption. Essentially, the interventions were either preventive in nature (i.e., designed to discourage environment-destructive behaviors before they occur), or remedial (i.e., designed to encourage behaviors that correct an existing environmental problem). Usually, the preventive measures emphasized responses priming (or prompting), while the corrective measures applied some form of positive reinforcement. Response priming was accomplished with modelling techniques, or with written and/or verbal prompts presented either publicly or on a personal, one-to-one basis. Among the positive reinforcement procedures were field applications of token economies, lottery systems, feedback programming, and intergroup contests, as well as individual contingency contracting. Some experimental designs provided for comparisons between the behavioral effects of response priming and positive reinforcement.     

The development of sensitivity to cast and attached shadows in pictures as information for the direction of the source of illumination

The development of the perception of cast and attached shadows as information in pictures for the direction of the light source was studied with children in kindergarten, third and sixth grades, and adults in college. Subjects viewed photographs of objects under four different positions of illumination, with either cast or attached shadows alone, or with both present. Error in angular displacement from the correct position of the light source was 76.5° for kindergarten children, 40.5° for those in the third grade, 34.9° for those in the sixth, and 18.0° for college students. Neither position of light nor type of object affected performance. Results are discussed in the context of a developmental hypothesis of changing interpretation of the relations between pictorial and nonpictorial space from childhood to adolescence.     

Optimizing Engagement in Behavioral Parent Training: Progress Toward a Technology-Enhanced Treatment Model

Low-income families are more likely to have a child with an early-onset Behavior Disorder (BD); yet, socioeconomic strain challenges engagement in Behavioral Parent Training (BPT). This study follows a promising pilot to further examine the potential to cost-effectively improve low-income families’ engagement in and the efficiency of BPT. Low-income families were randomized to (a) Helping the Noncompliant Child (HNC; McMahon & Forehand, 2003), a weekly, mastery-based BPT program that includes both the parent and child or (b) Technology-Enhanced HNC (TE-HNC), which includes all of the standard HNC components plus a parent mobile application and therapist web portal that provide between-session monitoring, modeling, and coaching of parent skill use with the goal of improved engagement in the context of financial strain. Relative to HNC, TE-HNC families had greater homework compliance and mid-week call participation. TE-HNC completers also required fewer weeks to achieve skill mastery and, in turn, to complete treatment than those in HNC without compromising parent satisfaction with treatment; yet, session attendance and completion were not different between groups. Future directions and clinical implications are discussed.