Evaluation of quantitative theories of timing

Scalar timing theory is a clear, complete, modular, and precise theory of timing that explains much of the data from many timing procedures, but not all of the data from all of the procedures. The multiple-time-scale theory of timing provides an alternative representation of time that has not yet been tested with respect to its fit to timing data.     

AN EVALUATION OF LABELING-THEN-DOING WITH MODERATELY HANDICAPPED PERSONS: ACQUISITION AND GENERALIZATION WITH COMPLEX TASKS

We conducted two experiments in which moderately mentally retarded persons were trained first to label and then to enter characters into a computer, calculator, or checkbook (label-then-do) within a multiple baseline design. In Experiment 1, 5 young adults were trained to enter statistical programs into computers in an office setting. Following training, all subjects' use of verbal labels and key-entry skills generalized across tasks (programs) and settings (offices and computer terminals). In Experiment 2, 3 junior high school students were trained with self-labeling procedures to complete a key-entry task and to balance a checkbook. The performance of all students generalized across tasks and settings, and the use of labels generalized for 2 of the students. Results are discussed relative to mediated generalization and to establishing verbal control over behavior.     

Traumatic Stress Among Seriously Delinquent Youth: Considering the Consequences of Neighborhood Circumstance

Myriad factors have been found to have an impact on delinquent behavior and traumatic stress. This study proposes a model that tests the relationship between common predictors of delinquency (neighborhood condition, antisocial peer socialization, and exposure to violence) with traumatic stress. Serial mediation was used to test the relationships between these predictors and traumatic stress. Results indicate the mediation effect between neighborhood conditions and traumatic stress significantly reduces the total effect. Implications for traumatic stress in the context of delinquent behavior are discussed.     

Vocational Needs and Satisfaction of Supported Employees: The Applicability of the Theory of Work Adjustment

Modified instruments based on the theory of work adjustment were used (a) to identify the vocational needs and satisfaction of 45 supported employees with mental retardation and 45 nondisabled co-workers and (b) to test the theory's proposition that need–reinforcer correspondence predicts satisfaction. There were more similarities than differences between the two groups in the importance and satisfaction of the 17 needs that were examined; 13 of 17 needs and 9 of 17 facets of job satisfaction did not show significant differences. Limited support for the correspondence–satisfaction relation was found for supported employees, but not for their co-workers. We concluded that the constructs and measures of the theory of work adjustment can be relevant tools in vocational counseling with workers with mental retardation in supported employment programs.     

Do You See What I See? An Exploration of Congruence in Ratings From Multiple Perspectives1

This paper provides a comparative analysis of behavioral observations made on 152 service providers in a business advisory and professional services firm from 5 distinctly different ratings sources (self, direct reports, peers, supervisor, and clients). Results focused on differences in ratings level and degree of congruence with self-assessments by observer type. The data suggested that service providers and their clients may have a different perceptual frame of reference than do internal observers (e.g., direct reports, peers, and supervisors). Moreover, congruence in self-others' ratings was found to be a significant predictor of performance assessments from the same observer source. Implications of these results for the use of multirater appraisal systems are discussed.     

Effects of Contact on Children's Attitudes Toward Disability: A Longitudinal Study1

A quasi-experimental study was conducted on temporal effects of intergroup contact on nondisabled (ND) children's attitudes toward disability. Children from a mainstream primary school were involved in an integration program with children from a school for children with severe learning disabilities (SLD). ³ 3 Severe learning disabilities (SLD) is the term currently used in the U.K. to describe people who might formally have been described as having “severe mental handicap” or “severe retardation.” This term is interchangeable with “severe learning disabilities.”
Measures were administered 3 times over a period of 3 months to 26 integrating (experimental) and 24 nonintegrating (control) children. Social orientations in the experimental group became significantly more positive over time, while the control group showed little change. The experimental and control children initially categorized on the basis of gender and disability; subsequently the strategies of the experimental children were more idiosyncratic while the control children still used the same two dimensions.     

An ecological assessment of community-based interventions for prevention and health promotion: Approaches to measuring community coalitions

Presented an ecological assessment of a community coalition to prevent alcohol, tobacco, and other drug abuse, and related risks. Ecological assessment is defined as occurring at multiple social levels and along a continuum of stages of coalition readiness. The assessment is aided by the triangulation, or combining of assessment methods and strategies. Measures used to assess the coalition's formation, implementation of community initiatives, and production of community impacts are described, along with the triangulation strategies used to enhance the assessment findings. We thank our evaluation team members including Erica Adams, Simon Choi, Cindy Crusto, Katie Davino, David delaCruz, Pamela Goodman, Maury Nation, and Diana Seybolt. We also thank the members of the community coalitions for substance abuse prevention and especially the project directors: James Bown, Dian Crain, Johneta Davis, Kelli Kenninson, Paul Pittman, Greg Sparkman, Sheryl Taylor, and Kenneth Wright.     

Preferred rates of repetitive tapping and categorical time production

In a constrained finger-tapping task, in which a subject attempts to match the rate of tapping responses to the rate of a pacer stimulus, interresponse interval (IRI) was a nonlinear function of interstimulus interval (ISI), in agreement with the results of Collyer, Broadbent, and Church (1992). In an unconstrained task, the subjects were not given an ISI to match, but were instructed to tap at their preferred rate, one that seemed not too fast or too slow for comfortable production. The distribution of preferred IRIs was bimodal rather than unimodal, with modes at 272 and 450 msec. Preferred IRIs also tended to become shorter over successive sessions. Time intervals that were preferred in the unconstrained task tended to be intervals that were overproduced (IRI > ISI) when they were used as ISIs in the constrained task. A multiple-oscillator model of timing developed by Church and Broadbent (1990) was used to simulate the two tasks. The nonlinearity in constrained tapping, termed theoscillator signature, and the bimodal distribution in unconstrained tapping were both exhibited by the model. The nature of the experimental results and the success of the simulation in capturing them both provide further support for a multiple-oscillator view of timing.