Determinants of phrasing effects in rat serial pattern learning

Two experiments investigated how brief pauses introduced into serial patterns as phrasing cues would affect pattern learning in rats. In Experiment 1, a 24-element pattern consisted of eight 3-element chunks, whereas a 20-element pattern consisted of four 5-element chunks. In both patterns, 3.0-s temporal pauses placed at chunk boundaries (synchronous phrasing cues) facilitated learning compared to no phrasing. Cues "out of sync" with pattern structure (asynchronous phrasing cues) facilitated learning for the 24-element pattern and retarded learning for the 20-element pattern. Evidence suggested that in the latter case, 3.0-s pauses served as "blank" trials that induced rats to "skip" to the next serial position in sequence. In Experiment 2, shorter 0.5-s pauses served as phrasing cues in the 20-element pattern of Experiment 1. Synchronous short cues facilitated learning, whereas asynchronous phrasing cues had no effect. Furthermore, removal of synchronous cues produced deficits in performance on formerly cued trials, whereas removal of asynchronous cues had no effect. The results of Experiment 2 support the notion that in both experiments phrasing cues served as discriminative cues and indirectly suggest that rats are concurrently sensitive to pattern element cues, extra-sequence cues (such as phrasing cues), and to the relative timing of sequential events.     

Ethnic Differences in Children’s Entry into Public Mental Health Care via Emergency Mental Health Services

For children and youth making a mental health crisis visit, we investigated ethnic disparities in whether the children and youth were currently in treatment or whether this crisis visit was an entry or reentry point into mental health treatment. We gathered Medicaid claims for mental health services provided to 20,110 public-sector clients ages 17 and younger and divided them into foster care and non-foster care subsamples. We then employed logistic regression to analyze our data with sociodemographic and clinical controls. Among children and youth who were not placed in foster care, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans were significantly less likely than Caucasians to have received mental health care during the three months preceding a crisis visit. Disparities among children and youth in foster care were not statistically significant. Ethnic minority children and youth were more likely than Caucasians to use emergency care as an entry or reentry point into the mental health treatment, thereby exhibiting a crisis-oriented pattern of care.     

Transfer of Responsibility in Parent–Child Play During the Second Year

The purpose of the present study was to examine changes in parental support for play during the toddler's second year. Thirty toddlers and their parents were observed when the toddlers were 13,14,20 and 21 months of age. Parents' production of facilitating behaviours and exploratory play increased over time, whereas their production of combinatorial, symbolic and sequential play decreased. Correlational and sequential analyses indicated that, at the early visits, parents responded to their toddlers' combinatorial and symbolic play with similar types of play, whereas at the later visits, only symbolic play was followed by comparable actions. Sensitive parents ‘transfer responsibility’ for play actions as they believe their toddlers become more competent. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High dose alcohol consumption predicts less reduction in post-traumatic stress symptoms after a campus mass shooting

Background: Recognizing that alcohol might affect subsequent processing of trauma-related information, this study examined whether high dose alcohol consumption (HDAC) following a campus mass shooting affected the relation between shooting exposure and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS).

Methods: Female participants (N?=?691) recorded levels of physical exposure to the shooting event, alcohol use, and PTSS 1 month following the shooting event and 8 months later.

Results: No evidence was found to suggest that pre-shooting HDAC moderated the relationship between trauma exposure and PTSS 1 month following the shooting. HDAC in the month following the shooting predicted less resolution of PTSS 8 months later. Specifically, at higher (but not lower) levels of HDAC, shooting exposure was associated with less reduction in PTSS from 1 to 8 months post-trauma. Several alternate explanations were ruled out.

Conclusions: Less reduction in PTSS seems to occur at high levels of both shooting exposure and HDAC. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Measures of expressions of love

This study developed scales for Chapman's five expressions of love: quality time, receiving gifts, words of affirmation, physical touch, and acts of service (two dimensions). A total of 338 student respondents were surveyed resulting in 321 usable surveys (95%). Of this total, 177 were women and 144 men, with a median age of 24 yr.     

The effects of blocking mouthing of leisure items on their effectiveness as reinforcers

Leisure items are commonly used as reinforcers in behavior-analytic applications. However, a defining feature of autism is the occurrence of stereotypy, and individuals with autism often engage leisure items in a stereotyped manner. The opportunity for stereotyped interaction may be the only aspect of a contingent stimulus that makes it a reinforcer for appropriate behavior. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of blocking stereotyped reinforcer interaction on reinforcer efficacy for 2 children with autism. Results showed that blocking stereotypic reinforcer interaction did not influence reinforcer efficacy.