A comparison of token and tandem schedules of reinforcement on response patterns for adolescents with autism

Token schedules of reinforcement are ubiquitous in clinical settings, yet little research has thoroughly evaluated the effects of token schedules on responding in clinical settings. Basic research has shown token schedules of reinforcement produce lower response rates and larger pre‐ratio pauses compared to tandem schedules. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether the same effects are produced with adolescents with autism or related disorders. We examined response patterns under otherwise identical FR token and FR tandem schedules. Tokens suppressed responding for one participant only under high schedule values and for a second participant under common clinical schedule values; no difference in responding occurred between token and tandem schedules for two participants. These results support the systematic evaluation of token schedules of reinforcement in clinical settings. Additional applied research is needed on token schedules to further our understanding of the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the overall effectiveness of token economies.     

Experiences of Patients in Cognitive Behavioural Group Therapy: A Qualitative Study of Eating Disorders

The aim of this study was to investigate whether there was a difference in skin conductance response between 2 groups of military personnel when exposed to emotionally neutral and charged stimuli. The 2 groups were a combat experience group (n?=?10) with prior experience of emotionally charged war situations and a comparison group (n?=?10) with no such experience. Results showed that the comparison group reacted more strongly to exposure to both charged and neutral pictures than did the combat experience group, regardless of exposure time. The results are discussed in terms of emotional numbing and differences in anxiety state between the 2 groups.     

INCREASING OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS

We evaluated the effects of monitoring responses on the acquisition of sight words with 3 children with autism. In the training condition, we taught participants a vocal imitation and matching response related to a peer's reading response. In another condition, participants were exposed only to a peer's reading responses. Participants read the words more accurately during test sessions when the monitoring response was required. Results and discussion highlight the importance of identifying component responses of observational learning and the need for additional research in this area.     

Memorability functions as an indicator of qualitative age differences in text recall

An analysis in which the probability of text unit recall for older adults [p(Re/O)] is plotted as a function of this probability for the young [p(Re/Y)] is considered as one way to assess whether there are qualitative differences in text recall for young and old. The application of this relative memorability analysis to previously reported data dealing with the immediate recall of spoken sentences (Stine, Wingfield, & Poon, 1986) revealed that although older adults show qualitative recall similar to younger adults when informational density is low, they show less discrimination among text elements when informational density is increased.     

Comparing means from nonnormal distributions: The bisquare-weighted analysis of variance

A new procedure analogous to the analysis of variance (ANOVA), called the bisquare-weighted ANOVA (bANOVA), is described. When a traditional ANOVA is calculated, using samples from a distribution with heavy tails, the Type I error rates remain in check, but the Type II error rates increase, relative to those across samples from a normal distribution. The bANOVA is robust with respect to deviations from a normal distribution, maintaining high power with normal and heavy-tailed distributions alike. The more popular rank ANOVA (rANOVA) is also described briefly. However, the rANOVA is not as robust to large deviations from normality as is the bANOVA, and it generates high Type I error rates when applied to three-way designs.     

Preattentive processing of alcohol stimuli

An experiment was conducted to test the automatic analysis of briefly presented alcohol stimuli in alcohol-dependent individuals. Alcoholics and controls were exposed to four different conditions: two brief (30 ms) and two long (130 ms) exposure conditions, each containing alcoholic and non-alcoholic pictures. Heart rate (HR) interbeat intervals were recorded and phasic cardiac responses assessed. Alcoholics had a stronger initial HR deceleration after exposure to masked alcohol slides compared with masked control slides, indicating a preattentive analysis of alcohol stimuli. This initial HR deceleration in the masked condition suggests an automatic attentional focusing to degraded alcohol cues. No such attentional effect was found when the pictures were presented unmasked and were clearly perceived. The implication of these results for the understanding of relapse in addictive behavior is discussed.