Improving oral reading fluency: a brief experimental analysis of combining an antecedent intervention with consequences

A brief experimental analysis was used to evaluate the relative effectiveness of combining two consequences (contingent reinforcement or performance feedback) with an antecedent intervention (listening passage preview and repeated readings) on the oral reading fluency of 6 elementary students. The antecedent intervention increased the number of correctly read words per minute for all 6 students. For 4 of the students, pairing the antecedent intervention with either of the consequences resulted in higher reading rates over the antecedent intervention alone. Undifferentiated results were obtained for the remaining 2 participants. These results suggest that combining an antecedent intervention with consequences may enhance the oral reading fluency of students with reading problems. However, individual responsiveness to the different intervention components indicates that brief experimental analyses are warranted to identify the most effective intervention.     

Motivated decision making: effects of activation and self-centrality of values on choices and behavior

Six studies examined the value-behavior relation and focused on motivational properties of values, the self, and value activation. Priming environmental values enhanced attention to and the weight of information related to those values, which resulted in environmentally friendly consumer choices. This only occurred if these values were central to the self-concept. Value-congruent choices were also found in response to countervalue behavior in an unrelated context. Donating behavior congruent with central altruistic values was found as a result of enhanced self-focus, thus demonstrating the importance of the self in the value-behavior relation. The external validity of the value-centrality measure and its distinction from attitudes were demonstrated in the prediction of voting. Values were thus found to give meaning to, energize, and regulate value-congruent behavior, but only if values were cognitively activated and central to the self.     

Blinks of the mind: memory effects of attentional processes

If 2 words are presented successively within 500 ms, subjects often miss the 2nd word. This attentional blink reflects a limited capacity to attend to incoming information. Memory effects were studied for words that fell within an attentional blink. Unrelated words were presented in a modified rapid serial visual presentation task at varying stimulus-onset asynchronies, and attention was systematically manipulated. Subsequently, recognition, repetition priming, and semantic priming were measured separately in 3 experiments. Unidentified words showed no recognition and no repetition priming. However, blinked (i.e., unidentified) words did produce semantic priming in related words. When, for instance, ring was blinked, it was easier to subsequently identify wedding than apple. In contrast, when the blinked word itself was presented again, it was not easier to identify than an unrelated word. Possible interpretations of this paradoxical finding are discussed.     

Differential effects of object orientation on imaginary object /viewer transformations

Given a specific view of a simple symmetrical object, participants were asked whether a certain imaginary transformation could result in a second viewed image. An experiment was conducted in which the participants had either to mentally rotate an object or to imagine themselves looking at the object from another position (i.e., the object-based condition and the viewer-based condition, respectively). In the experiment, combinations of these imagery tasks (i.e., the combined conditions) were also included. The symmetrical objects could be oriented horizontally or vertically. The performance in the object-based conditions was generally equal to or better than the performance in the viewer-based conditions. In addition, there were more confusions for shapes with a horizontal orientation, especially when viewer-based upside-down rotations were involved, with an apparent mediating role of object rotation in the combined conditions.     

Ingroup and outgroup differences in face detection

Humans show improved recognition for faces from their own social group relative to faces from another social group. Yet before faces can be recognized, they must first be detected in the visual field. Here, we tested whether humans also show an ingroup bias at the earliest stage of face processing – the point at which the presence of a face is first detected. To this end, we measured viewers' ability to detect ingroup (Black and White) and outgroup faces (Asian, Black, and White) in everyday scenes. Ingroup faces were detected with greater speed and accuracy relative to outgroup faces (Experiment 1). Removing face hue impaired detection generally, but the ingroup detection advantage was undiminished (Experiment 2). This same pattern was replicated by a detection algorithm using face templates derived from human data (Experiment 3). These findings demonstrate that the established ingroup bias in face processing can extend to the early process of detection. This effect is ‘colour blind’, in the sense that group membership effects are independent of general effects of image hue. Moreover, it can be captured by tuning visual templates to reflect the statistics of observers' social experience. We conclude that group bias in face detection is both a visual and a social phenomenon.     

Cognitive and Attitudinal Factors in the Analysis of Alternatives to Binge Drinking1

The present study examined cognitive and attitudinal factors relevant to binge-drinking tendencies in a college sample. Results indicate that positive expectations about binge-drinking activities were related to binge-drinking tendencies. Binge-drinking tendencies were also negatively related to expectations regarding nonbinge-drinking alternatives. General attitudes toward drinking and normative influences were found to have complex influences on binge-drinking tendencies involving indirect, direct, and moderated effects. The findings are discussed with respect to developing prevention programs.     

USING HIGH-PROBABILITY INSTRUCTION SEQUENCES WITH FADING TO INCREASE STUDENT COMPLIANCE DURING TRANSITIONS

Making efficient transitions from one instructional activity to another has been shown to increase academic learning time and therefore student achievement. Because compliance with teacher instructions is a prerequisite for efficient transitions, we sought to determine if high-probability (high-p) instruction sequences issued by a classroom teacher would increase student compliance and decrease latency to comply during transitions. Three children in a regular second-grade classroom participated. Each day at the beginning of morning calendar time, the teacher issued five instructions to the class as a group while compliance data were recorded for the 3 target students. Following baseline, a multielement design was used to examine the effects of the high-p instruction sequence. We then systematically faded the number of instructions included in the high-p sequence as a means of transferring stimulus control to low-probability instructions. The procedure was effective for 2 of the 3 participants, and the results were maintained at 2-and 3-week follow-up. The implications of these findings for group applications of the high-p instruction sequence in regular education classrooms are discussed.