A computer-oriented task analysis method for mathematics instruction

Components of a computer solution for fraction problems in arithmetic have an analog in a new approach to educational task analysis. The components may be called goal-setting or planning elements, in contrast to the goal-satisfying or behavioral steps emphasized in much contemporary task analysis. A hypothetical tutorial dialogue in which a student is asked to tell a tutor what step to perform next is presented as an example of the emphasis of the planning side of computation. Explicit identification of goal-setting elements of a task is illustrated by analysis of the task of converting a pair of fractions to a new pair with a common denominator. The decomposition thus produces is simulated with two computer programs: (1) a LISP program using a set of production rules consisting of conditions to be met and subsequent actions to be taken and (2) a PROLOG program stating goals and solving goals explicitly.     

Changes in orienting and habituation in the rat following administration of chlorpromazine

Chlorpromazine (0.5-3.0 mg/kg) significantly reduced orienting to a novel auditory stimulus, but subsequent habituation after repeated presentations of the stimulus was not prevented nor significantly impaired. These results support the suggestion that the mechanisms underlying orienting and habituation are independent.     

Perceived Success and Competence of the Opponent,or the Laboratory Dien Bien Phu1

The effect of information relevance and information availability on perceptual differences between Chinese and American nationals was investigated. Subjects participated in pairs as decision makers in a complex experimental environment. Participants' perceptions of success, failure, and competence levels for their own team (under conditions where judgments could be based on varying levels of relevant information) and for a supposed opposing team (under conditions where perceptions had to be inferred in the absence of information) were obtained. It was found that Americans and Chinese did not differ in ratings of their own team. Chinese, as opposed to Americans, perceived the opposing team as having more success, less failure, and more competence. The perceptual errors of the French and Viet Minh which led t o the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu were replicated in the laboratory for Americans and Chinese. Areas in which such potential cultural (oriental versus occidental) differences might be important are mentioned.     

Optional shift behavior as a function of age and dimensional dominance

An optional reversal-nonreversal shift task for which the relevant color or form cues were either dominant or nondominant was presented to 320 Ss, 6 through 20 years of age. Dominance, as defined in terms of relative cue similarity, was related to initial learning and shift behavior for kindergarten and third-grade Ss; but not for sixth-grade and college Ss. The speed of initial learning and percentage of reversal shifts was related to age when the nondominant dimension was relevant. There were no developmental differences when the dominant dimension was relevant.     

Second-order isomorphism of internal representations of familiar faces

Following a suggestion by Shepard and Chipman (1970), photographs and names of 15 well-known faces were used as stimuli in judgments of similarity. Ss ranked all pairs of stimuli in terms of facial similarity either from memory when presented with pairs of names, or from photographs. There was a highly significant positive correlation between these two types of judgment. A simple classificatory analysis of the 15 faces in terms of the physical features provided evidence that judgments based on the internal representation of the faces utilized pictorial information. These results extend the generality of Shepard and Chipman’s findings and confirm the usefulness of an approach to the problem of mental images based on the concept of second-order isomorphism.     

Some stages of information processing in a choice reaction-time task

Eight pigeons were tested for head nystagmus in a rotating drum with vertical black and white bars on the reside. When the birds viewed monocularly, they gave about four times as many responses to nasalward as to temporalward movement. However, no such asymmetry was observed in a discrimination paradigm. Six pigeons were taught binocularly to discriminate moving lines, which moved equally often to left and fight, from stationary fines. They were then tested monoculaxly, and the discrimination was controlled about equally by nasalward and temporalward movement.     

Alcoholism treatment and marriage and family therapists: An empirical study

This article reports on results of a mail questionnaire study conducted among 257 members of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (132 respondents, response rate of 51%) on their attitudes toward alcoholism issues (acceptance of alcoholism as a disease, treatment philosophies used with clients and/or families, and acceptance and use of Alcoholics Anonymous as a resource). Results indicated that 69% of respondents (as compared with 42% formerly) considered alcoholism a disease after MFT education. A combination of individual, family therapy, and AA (81.1%); family therapy (66.7%); and AA only (60.6%) were most often used. Controlled use of alcohol by clients in treatment was believed to be unethical by 43.2%, legal by 39.4% and ineffective by 54.5%.