COLLEGE STUDENTS AS CONTINGENCY MANAGERS FOR ADOLESCENTS IN A PROGRAM TO DEVELOP READING SKILLS1

Behavior-modification procedures and an individualized tutorial program were used to remediate reading skill deficits in seventh-grade adolescent subjects. Forty-two college students were trained as reading tutors and contingency managers to use reading diagnostic and remedial materials, and to develop contracts and reinforce positive verbal responses toward reading. Significantly greater increases in reading scores of experimental groups, compared to control groups, substantial improvement in target behaviors, and significant changes in verbalizations toward reading were observed after 10 weeks of treatment. Six-month followup studies showed that all groups had consolidated their gains and that grade scores continued to improve. The improvement of the experimental subjects remained significantly ahead of the control subjects.     

Semantic mechanisms in paralexia

This study explores the effects of semantic constraints on the occurrence of paralexic responses in two patients who tend to produce semantic errors in reading aloud. In the first experiment, semantic constraints were provided by using words as proper names (e.g., “brown” vs. “Sam Brown”), and in the second by using short, highly familiar phrases to restrict the meaning of the target word (e.g., the polar bear; green with envy). These constraints were found to be effective in reducing the frequency of paralexic errors.     

The effect of problem size on representation in deductive problem solving

Adult Ss attempted to solve logical deductive reasoning problems that varied systematically in amount of information presented. Methods Ss employed in representing the problem were classified into five main types or modes. The proportion of Ss using a matrix mode of problem representation increased moderately with problems containing large amounts of information. The performance of Ss using a matrix mode of representation suggested that this advantage is related to ease of applying and/or storing the results of logical operations in such a problem space rather than to any facilitative effects of encoding processes. Specific limits to normal processing are hypothesized.     

Effects of naloxone and neuroleptic drugs on muscle rigidity and heart rate of the nervous Pointer dog

Muscle rigidity, a persistent physiological characteristic of the nervous Pointer dog, is not only attenuated by the major neuroleptic drugs, haloperidol and pimozide but also by naloxone. In addition, naloxone administration results in a modest but significant increase in heart rate of these subjects. The data obtained in this study add support for the concept that an abnormality in central nervous system dopaminergic function is involved in the genesis of abnormal behavior of this animal model.     

Personality dimensions in patients with sleep-apnea syndrome: comparison with narcolepsy

Personality measures of Anxiety-Neuroticism, Extraversion and Socialization obtained from self-report questionnaires were studied in a group of sleep-apnea patients (15 males, 5 females), and compared with results from a normal control group (63 males, 21 females) and a group of narcoleptic patients (17 males, 32 females). Sleep-apnea patients were significantly higher in Anxiety-Neuroticism and slightly higher in Extraversion than controls. Although the main symptom, i.e. excessive daytime sleepiness, of sleep-apnea and narcoleptic patients is similar, there were distinct differences in pattern of personality measures. Sleep-apnea patients were lower in Anxiety-Neuroticism and higher in Extraversion. Thus, increased sleepiness alone did not induce uniform changes in personality traits in the two patient groups. It is suggested that the particular personality profile of the sleep-apnea patients is secondary to increased psychosocial strain and coping strategies to keep awake. In contrast, the high Somatic Anxiety scores and low Socialization scores in the narcoleptic group are assumed to reflect a constitutional lability which also involves autonomic and sleep functions.     

Power and speed components of individual differences in letter matching

Several previous studies have reported a correlation (typically around −.30) between standardized verbal ability test scores and name identity minus physical identity reaction times (NI-PI) in a letter-matching task. This correlation has usually been thought to reflect the mutual dependence of both measures on long-term memory access time. The present research was designed to assess Carroll's (1981) suggestions that: (a) NI — PI may not be the optimal formula for predicting standardized test scores from letter matching data, and (b) NI — PI may actually be related to the speed rather than the power component of standardized tests. Fifty-one subjects previously tested with a standardized reading test participated in letter-matching and word-reading tasks. The latter tasks required subjects to read words and specially constructed pseudowords. Power and speed measures were derived from the word-reading tasks and the standardized test on theoretical grounds (and supported by a principal components analysis). The results supported both of Carroll's contentions. NI — PI reaction time was related more to speed than power and the NI — PI statistic (as usually used) was not the optimum formula for predicting standardized test scores.     

Failure to produce response variability with reinforcement

Two experiments attempted to train pigeons to produce variable response sequences. In the first, naive pigeons were exposed to a procedure requiring four pecks on each of two keys in any order, with a reinforcer delivered only if a given sequence was different from the preceding one. In the second experiment, the same pigeons were exposed to this procedure after having been trained successfully to alternate between two specific response sequences. In neither case did any pigeon produce more than a few different sequences or obtain more than 50% of the possible reinforcers. Stereotyped sequences developed even though stereotypy was not reinforced. It is suggested that reinforcers have both hedonic and informative properties and that the hedonic properties are responsible for sterotyped repetition of reinforced responses, even when stereotypy is negatively related to reinforcer delivery.     

The word order problem in agrammatism : II. Production

This study demonstrates that agrammatic aphasics have difficulty describing relations that are signified by the order of noun phrases around verbs or prepositions. The word order deficit is found in a Sentence Order Task, in which written words must be arranged linearly to form a sentence, as well as in oral production. Ordering tendencies reflect factors like animacy or potency, rather than the systematic use of syntactic rules. These results point to a fundamental syntactic disorder in agrammatism.