Reinforcing self-help group activities of welfare recipients

The attendance rates of welfare recipients at self-help group meetings was compared when supplementary reinforcement was given for attending and when it was not. Reinforcers included donated items, such as clothing and household goods, and information about welfare services. It was found that the attendance at meetings averaged three recipients per meeting without reinforcement and 15 recipients per meeting with reinforcement. There was evidence that attendance was associated with participation in other self-help activities. It was concluded that practical forms of reinforcement can be found to maintain the participation of severely disadvantaged populations in self-help groups.     

Manipulation of self-destruction in three retarded children

The study attempted to isolate some of the environmental conditions that controlled the self-destructive behavior of three severely retarded and psychotic children. In the extinction study subjects were placed in a room where they were allowed to hurt themselves, isolated from interpersonal contact. They eventually ceased to hurt themselves in that situation, the rate of self-destruction falling gradually over successive days. In the punishment study, subjects were administered painful electric shock contingent on the self-destructive behavior. (1) The self-destructive behavior was immediately suppressed. (2) The behavior recurred when shock was removed. (3) The suppression was selective, both across physical locales and interpersonal situations, as a function of the presence of shock. (4) Generalized effects on other, non-shock behaviors, appeared in a clinically desirable direction. Finally, a study was reported where self-destructive behavior increased when certain social attentions were given contingent upon that behavior.     

Grouping and short-term memory: Different means and patterns of grouping

Two experiments, concerned with the improving effects of grouping on auditory short-term memory, are described. In the first, temporal grouping was found to improve recall considerably, but non-temporal grouping had a much smaller effect. Temporal grouping reduced the order errors more than other errors; it also changed the pattern of the order errors. Further, it altered the shape of the serial position curve of all errors. In the second experiment, irregular patterns of temporal grouping were found to be inferior to a regular pattern. The results are discussed in terms of the time available for processing previous items during the presentation of a sequence, and the form that this processing may take.     

Order of report and processing in tachistoscopic recognition

Two groups of 12 Ss were shown tachistoscopically 4 letters and 4 numbers. Within these alpha-numeric sequences, three variables were systematically manipulated: grouping of items, initial item, and familiarity of the letter sequences. One group of Ss reported first letters then numbers from each sequence; the other group reported numbers then letters. The results indicated that grouping, redundancy, and order of report had significant effects on letter accuracy but not on number accuracy. These effects were interpreted in terms of processing, particularly the use of spatial and identity information during recognition.     

Some observations and measurements of the Pulfrich phenomenon

The Pulfrich pendulum was evaluated as a potential screening device for the detection of anomalies of binocular vision. For this purpose, a booth was set up at the Kentucky State Fair (1964) and the general public invited to observe the pendulum and record their responses with the equipment provided. The obtained results indicate that a dichotomy can be achieved between those who have binocular vision and those who do not. However, gradations of binocular vision from poor to good cannot be achieved with the pendulum as presently understood. Contrary to explanatory theory the characteristic shape of the seen pendulum path was asymmetrical following the rule that the path was displaced away from the observer on the side of the filtered eye.