Identification of tone duration, line length, and letter position: an experimental approach to timing and working memory deficits in schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia display numerous cognitive deficits, including problems in working memory, time estimation, and absolute identification of stimuli. Research in these fields has traditionally been conducted independently. We examined these cognitive processes using tasks that are structurally similar and that yield rich error data. Relative to healthy control participants (n = 20), patients with schizophrenia (n = 20) were impaired on a duration identification task and a probed-recall memory task but not on a line-length identification task. These findings do not support the notion of a global impairment in absolute identification in schizophrenia. However, the authors suggest that some aspect of temporal information processing is indeed disturbed in schizophrenia.     

An evaluation of response cost in the treatment of inappropriate vocalizations maintained by automatic reinforcement

In the current study, we examined the utility of a procedure consisting of noncontingent reinforcement with and without response cost in the treatment of inappropriate vocalizations maintained by automatic reinforcement. Results are discussed in terms of examining the variables that contribute to the effectiveness of response cost as treatment for problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement.     

Analysis of precurrent skills in solving mathematics story problems

We conducted an analysis of precurrent skills (responses that increase the effectiveness of a subsequent or "current" behavior in obtaining a reinforcer) to facilitate the solution of arithmetic word (story) problems. Two students with developmental disabilities were taught four precurrent responses (identifying the initial value, change value, operation, and resulting value) in a sequential manner. Results of a multiple baseline design across behaviors showed that the teaching procedures were effective in increasing correct performance of each of the precurrent behaviors with untaught problems during probes and that once the precurrent behaviors were established, the number of correct problem solutions increased.     

Responding for sucrose and wheel-running reinforcement: effects of sucrose concentration and wheel-running reinforcer duration

Six male albino rats were placed in running wheels and exposed to a fixed-interval 30-s schedule of lever pressing that produced either a drop of sucrose solution or the opportunity to run for a fixed duration as reinforcers. Each reinforcer type was signaled by a different stimulus. In Experiment 1, the duration of running was held constant at 15 s while the concentration of sucrose solution was varied across values of 0, 2.5. 5, 10, and 15%. As concentration decreased, postreinforcement pause duration increased and local rates decreased in the presence of the stimulus signaling sucrose. Consequently, the difference between responding in the presence of stimuli signaling wheel-running and sucrose reinforcers diminished, and at 2.5%, response functions for the two reinforcers were similar. In Experiment 2, the concentration of sucrose solution was held constant at 15% while the duration of the opportunity to run was first varied across values of 15, 45, and 90 s then subsequently across values of 5, 10, and 15 s. As run duration increased, postreinforcement pause duration in the presence of the wheel-running stimulus increased and local rates increased then decreased. In summary, inhibitory aftereffects of previous reinforcers occurred when both sucrose concentration and run duration varied; changes in responding were attributable to changes in the excitatory value of the stimuli signaling the two reinforcers.     

The Use of Humor in Counseling: The Laughing Cure

The benefits of humor are briefly reviewed, and the ways in which humor can be effectively used in the client—counselor relationship are explored (i.e., using humor as a diagnostic tool and as a therapeutic tool). Finally counseling vignettes are provided and admonitions regarding the improper application of humor in counseling are reviewed.     

Brain Development During the Preschool Years

The preschool years represent a time of expansive mental growth, with the initial expression of many psychological abilities that will continue to be refined into young adulthood. Likewise, brain development during this age is characterized by its ??blossoming?? nature, showing some of its most dynamic and elaborative anatomical and physiological changes. In this article, we review human brain development during the preschool years, sampling scientific evidence from a variety of sources. First, we cover neurobiological foundations of early postnatal development, explaining some of the primary mechanisms seen at a larger scale within neuroimaging studies. Next, we review evidence from both structural and functional imaging studies, which now accounts for a large portion of our current understanding of typical brain development. Within anatomical imaging, we focus on studies of developing brain morphology and tissue properties, including diffusivity of white matter fiber tracts. We also present new data on changes during the preschool years in cortical area, thickness, and volume. Physiological brain development is then reviewed, touching on influential results from several different functional imaging and recording modalities in the preschool and early school-age years, including positron emission tomography (PET), electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERP), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Here, more space is devoted to explaining some of the key methodological factors that are required for interpretation. We end with a section on multimodal and multidimensional imaging approaches, which we believe will be critical for increasing our understanding of brain development and its relationship to cognitive and behavioral growth in the preschool years and beyond.     

Driver performance, rewards and motivation: A simulator study

It has been suggested that effort invested in a task may be moderated by the perception of the nature of reward offered, e.g., whether social or financial in nature. If levels of payment for empirical work meaningfully influence the effort invested in tasks by participants, the implications may be serious and wide-ranging for the reliability and validity of published data. The study reported in this paper, examines this thesis in a driving context. Thirty-six participants were allocated to either a No payment, Low payment or Medium payment condition in a driving simulator. They undertook both easy and difficult driving scenarios in which performance was measured. Subjective workload and performance results indicated that task difficulty was successfully manipulated with the study. However, in contrast to the previous research in non-driving contexts, participants not receiving rewards were found to perform more poorly and experience increased time pressure.     

Individual differences and propensity to engage with in-vehicle distractions - A self-report survey

Ratings of severity and frequency of engagement with distracting driver behaviours are reported in this paper. Survey data were collected using an anonymous online questionnaire. Four hundred eighty-two respondents contributed to the survey during a 2 month data collection period. Results indicate that the three behaviours rated as most distracting when driving were (i) writing text messages (41%), (ii) reading text messages (62%), and (iii) using a cellular telephone hand-held (52%). The three most frequently reported distracting behaviours that resulted in accidents were (i) ‘interaction with child passengers’ 2.1% (near misses = 7.5%), (ii) both, route guidance destination entry with 2% (near misses = 2.8%) and use of an ‘… add-on media device, e.g., an iPod’ with 2% (near misses = 3.9%), and (iii) the three items ‘reading a text message’, ‘following advice from a route guidance system’, and ‘interaction with pets’, all with 1.7% of respondents reporting an accident when undertaking the activity (with 6.5%, 3%, and 2.2% respectively for near misses). Two hierarchical regression models were explored. The first introducing personal factors, i.e., age, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and intellect (R² = 0.131, p < 0.001). The second controlled for variables in the first model and introduced driver-related variables, mileage, penalty points, and frequency of accidents with assumed responsibility (R² = 0.253, p < 0.001). This model identified age, extraversion, mileage, penalty points and accidents all to be significant predictors of engagement with unnecessary distractions. The data presents a picture of widespread awareness of, and engagement with, distracting behaviours by drivers in the United Kingdom. Findings from the hierarchical regressions suggest scope may exist to mediate the levels of distracting behaviours by exploring individual differences and driving styles.     

Latent class analysis of eating disorders: relationship to mortality

The current diagnostic nomenclature for eating disorders has shortcomings. Empirical attempts to identify a new nomenclature have found numerous latent structures, but validation of this work has been largely cross-sectional, and nothing is known yet about the relationship of derived latent classes to mortality. This study examined latent diagnostic structure in 1,885 participants seeking outpatient eating disorder treatment over an 18-year period. Eating disorder symptoms were used as indicators, and the main validator was mortality as assessed using computerized linkage to the National Death Index. Six latent classes were derived; three of the six had significantly elevated standardized mortality ratios. It appeared that the latent class structure yielded better delineation of mortality risk than the existing classifications in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. These results provide support for an alternative, empirically derived diagnostic structure.