A comparison of frequency, interval, and time-sampling methods of data collection

Data representing high, medium, and low response rates in constant and nonconstant patterns were generated by electromechanical equipment to determine whether the same data collected by time-sampling, interval recording, and frequency recording would be represented similarly by each method. Results indicated: (1) that time-sampling provided an extremely inaccurate estimate of responding, and (2) that interval recording accurately represented responding of low and medium rates, but grossly underestimated high-rate responding.     

MODIFICATION OF THE EXCESSIVE INAPPROPRIATE CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR OF TWO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS USING HOME-BASED CONSEQUENCES AND DAILY REPORT-CARD PROCEDURES1

Two experiments investigated home-based reinforcement contingencies to control excessive behavior in normal classrooms. Subjects were, respectively, a 12-yr-old fifth-grade boy and a 9-yr-old fourth-grade boy, each in a separate classroom and with a different teacher. Following baseline observations in which observers recorded several categories of student behavior and teacher-student interaction, separate conferences were held including parents of the two children, the principal, teachers, and experimenters. A daily report-card procedure was agreed on, stipulating a one-day suspension from school following three successive “undesirable” daily report cards as well as the supervision of home-based privileges and other reinforcers usually contingent on satisfactory daily reports. Measurements of daily rates of teacher attention indicated no important change in this variable throughout the various experimental conditions. The daily report procedure significantly reduced disruptive classroom behavior. In a second experiment, a teacher-operated timer cued her own time-sample observations. Reliability measures revealed that the teacher could accurately measure the child's behavior while she was teaching the class. The procedure was ultimately successfully expanded to the teacher's total contact hours each day.     

Development of spatial concepts in visually deprived children.

110 blind children in Grades 2 through 12 were matched with sighted controls for age, sex, and verbal reasoning ability. Spatial reasoning was compared with nonspatial reasoning ability for the two groups. At each age level, blind children were inferior to sighted children on spatial reasoning, although the two groups did not differ on nonspatial reasoning. Data further support the likelihood that certain interactions with the perceptual environment may be crucial to specific aspects of cognitive functioning in humans.     

Alpha brain wave production as an interpolated task in a Brown-Peterson paradigm.

Rehearsal, backward counting, and production of alpha brain-waves were used as interpolated tasks in a Brown-Peterson paradigm to determine their effect upon verbal retention. A within-subjects design was used in which trained subjects were told on a given trial either to produce alpha rhythm, mentally rehearse, or count backward following presentation of a CCC trigram. Results for the backward-counting condition duplicate, for the retention intervals used, the shape of the classic Peterson and Peterson forgetting curve but indicate little loss of memory in either the rehearsal or alpha conditions. No siginificant difference was found between the alpha production and rehearsal conditions.     

Detection of a deficit in visual discrimination of pattern following lesions of anterior cortex: role of type of motivation.

6 albino rats were trained under appetitive motivation to perform diametrically opposed visual discriminations of pattern via opposite eyes. Small lesions were subsequently placed unilaterally in anterior neocortex. Following a period of post-surgical recovery, subjects were re-trained on the diammetrically opposed discriminations in alternating 10-trial blocks. Every subject made more post-surgical errors on the discrimination mediated by the eye contralateral to the lesion. Since albino rats have virtually complete decussation of the visual system, this indicates selective impairment in mediation of performance of pattern discrimination in the part of the lesioned hemispheres. Thus, findings previously obtained in studies involving aversive motivation are general to appetitively motivated tasks.     

Transformation of a three-mode multidimensional scaling solution to indscal form

Relations between Tucker's three-mode multidimensional scaling and Carroll and Chang's INDSCAL are discussed. The possibility is raised that it may be profitable to attempt to transform a three-mode solution to the general form of an INDSCAL solution. Operationally, this involves transforming the three-mode core matrix so that each section is, as nearly as possible, a diagonal matrix. A technique is developed for accomplishing such a transformation, and is applied to two sets of data from the literature. Results indicate that the process is both feasible and valuable, providing useful information on the relative appropriateness of the two models.     

Orthoimplication algebras

Orthologic is defined by weakening the axioms and rules of inference of the classical propositional calculus. The resulting Lindenbaum-Tarski quotient algebra is an orthoimplication algebra which generalizes the author's implication algebra. The associated order structure is a semi-orthomodular lattice. The theory of orthomodular lattices is obtained by adjoining a falsity symbol to the underlying orthologic or a least element to the orthoimplication algebra.Allatum est die 1 Julii 1975     

Positive contrast following gradual and abrupt increases in reward magnitude using delay of reinforcement

In Experiment 1, rats were given a 1-pellet reward for 48 preshift trials. During a subsequent 20-trial postshift phase, one group was shifted to a 12-pellet reward on Trial 1, a second was shifted on Trial 11, and a third was given 1 more pellet each trial and then 12 pellets for the last 10 trials. The speeds of all three groups increased to a level above that of a control group given a 12-pellet food reward throughout training (positive contrast). In experiment 2, rats were shifted from 1 to 12 pellets either gradually or abruptly following either abbreviated training (9 trials) or extended training (20 trials). One group of control subjects received 12 pellets throughout training. The results revealed a positive contrast effect for gradually shifted subjects following extended training but not following abbreviated training. The abrupt shift procedure produced positive contrast following abbreviated training but only a marginal effect following extended training. These results indicate that, contingent upon the amount of preshift training, either gradual or abrupt reward increases may produce positive contrast.