Cooperative responding in rats: II. Performance on fixed-ratio schedules of mutual reinforcement

Coordinated responses of 5 dyads of rats were investigated under fixed-ratio (FR) schedules of mutual water reinforcement. Coordinated responding was defined as 2 consecutive lever-presses, 1 from each of 2 rats, occurring <.5 s apart. In the FR schedules, each coordinated episode was defined as 1 response in the FR sequence. The size of FR schedules was parametrically manipulated assuming the values of FR 1, 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 50, and 9, in this order. Each FR remained in effect until responding reached stability. Under all conditions, pairs of rats received access to water simultaneously (mutual reinforcement). Rates and proportions of coordinated responding showed a bitonic inverted U-shaped function of ratio size. Postreinforcement pauses increased systematically as the interreinforcement interval increased. Local rates and proportions increased as a function of response location within ratios. Results of a control condition with relaxed temporal constraints for mutual reinforcement showed decreases in rates and proportion of coordinated responses, suggesting that the coordinated responses were controlled by the mutual reinforcement contingencies. The present experiment showed that coordinated responding is quantitatively affected by 3 properties of FR schedules: response requirement, reinforcement rates, and proximity to reinforcement.     

Step changes in the intertrial interval in the midsession reversal task: Predicting pigeons' performance with the learning-to-time model

Our goal was to assess the role of timing in pigeons' performance in the midsession reversal task. In discrete-trial sessions, pigeons learned to discriminate between 2 stimuli, S1 and S2. Choices of S1 were reinforced only in the first half of the session and choices of S2 were reinforced only in the second half. Typically, pigeons choose S2 before the contingency reverses (anticipatory errors) and S1 after (perseverative errors), suggesting that they time the interval from the beginning of the session to the contingency reversal. To test this hypothesis, we exposed pigeons to a midsession reversal task and, depending on the group, either increased or decreased the ITI duration. We then contrasted the pigeons' performance with the predictions of the Learning-to-Time (LeT) model: In both conditions, preference was expected to reverse at the same time as in the previous sessions. When the ITI was doubled, pigeons' preference reversal occurred at half the trial number but at the same time as in the previous sessions. When the ITI was halved, pigeons' preference reversal occurred at a later trial but at an earlier time than in the previous sessions. Hence, pigeons' performance was only partially consistent with the predictions of LeT, suggesting that besides timing, other sources of control, such as the outcome of previous trials, seem to influence choice.     

Virtual reality and acrophobia: one-year follow-up and case study.

We present a study with 10 subjects being exposed to three sessions of simulated heights in a virtual reality (VR) system. Among the participants we highlight a 66-year-old man blind in his left eye. The participants show significant progress in anxiety, avoidance, and behavior measurements when confronted with real height circumstances. The results obtained 1 year later at follow-up are statistically significant in the Behavioral Avoidance Test (BAT) and the Attitudes Toward Heights Questionnaire (ATHQ), but not the Acrophobia Questionnaire (AQ).     

Children's and adults' judgments of equitable resource distributions

This study explored the criteria that children and adults use when evaluating the niceness of a character who is distributing resources. Four- and five-year-olds played the 'Giving Game', in which two puppets with different amounts of chips each gave some portion of these chips to the children. Adults played an analogous task that mimicked the situations presented to children in the Giving Game. For all groups of participants, we manipulated the absolute amount and proportion of chips given away. We found that children and adults used different cues to establish which puppet was nicer: 4-year-olds focused exclusively on absolute amount, 5-year-olds showed some sensitivity to proportion, and adults focused exclusively on proportion. These results are discussed in light of their implications for equity theory and for theories of the development of social evaluation.     

Dimensionality and Measurement Invariance of a Brief Form of the Young Schema Questionnaire for Adolescents

The current work aims to develop and examine the psychometric properties of the Brief form of the Young Schema Questionnaire for Adolescents (B-YSQ-A), so that Early Maladaptive Schemas can be accurately measured in younger populations. Early Maladaptive Schemas are self-defeating core themes underlying maladaptive cognition, affect, and behavior. A community sample of 877 adolescents, aged 12–18 years old, filled out self-report instruments on maladaptive schemas, anger management, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The items composing the B-YSQ-A were selected based on statistical and content analyses criteria. Its internal structure, reliability, age- and gender-based invariance, and between-gender mean differences were examined, as well as its relationship with external variables. Results indicated a satisfying fit for the 18 original schema factors through confirmatory factor analysis. These schemas also showed adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability, with the exception of the entitlement/grandiosity and self-sacrifice schemas. The B-YSQ-A was found to be age and gender invariant. Concerning gender differences, boys scored higher on the entitlement/grandiosity, insufficient self-control/discipline, approval/recognition seeking, unrelenting standards/hyper-criticalness and punitiveness schemas, whereas girls scored higher on the abandonment/instability, mistrust/abuse, and self-sacrifice schemas. Furthermore, evidence was found for construct validity in relation to measures of internalizing and externalizing symptomatology and of anger expression. Findings offer support for the use of the B-YSQ-A with adolescents, both for research and intervention purposes.     

Intuitions,theory choice and the ameliorative character of logical theories

Synthese - Anti-exceptionalists about logic claim that logical methodology is not different from scientific methodology when it comes to theory choice. Two anti-exceptionalist accounts of theory...     

Applying a Process-Oriented Model of Cultural Competence to Behavioral Activation for Depression

Efforts to integrate cultural competence and evidence-based treatments (EBTs) typically take the form of cultural adaptations of EBTs, characterized by modifications to the existing treatment based on presumed cultural notions of a given race or ethnic group. Much less attention has been given to ways EBTs can integrate a process model of cultural competence, which focuses on what clinicians do in-session to identify and integrate key cultural factors for a given individual in the treatment. Our objective is to consider how a process model of cultural competence (Shifting Cultural Lenses) can be integrated with an EBT (Behavioral Activation). We present a theoretical rationale for integrating the SCL model with BA and illustrate this integration, which provides an additional approach to bringing culture to treatments and shows promise for identifying clinicians’ in-session behaviors that reflect cultural competence.