Delayed timeout as a procedure for reducing disruptive classroom behavior: a case study

The disruptive behavior of a 9-yr-old boy was eliminated by the illumination of a light on the subject's desk, which represented the loss of free time later in the day. Instructions alone failed to reduce the frequency of disruptive behavior. When the light was removed and disruptive behavior no longer resulted in a loss of free time, disruptive behavior returned to its previous level.     

Interhemisphärischer Transfer visueller Zweifachwahlen bei kommissurotomierten Tauben

Zusammenfassung Die funktionelle Bedeutung kommissuraler Systeme für den visuellen interhemisphärischen Informationsaustausch wurde bei 71 Tauben an monokular gelernten Zweifachwahlen geprüft (instrumentale Konditionierung nach Skinner). 1 Farb- und 4 Form-Diskriminationen (2 oben-unten- und 2 links-rechts-symmetrische Spiegelbildpaare) wurden verwendet. Bei 21 Tauben war die Decussatio supraoptica (DSO) stereotaktisch durchtrennt worden, bei 20 waren die Commissura tectalis (CT) und die Commissura posterior (CP) durchschnitten. Bei 11 Tauben waren alle 3 Verbindungen unterbrochen. Das Ausmaß der Läsionen wurde durch histologische Kontrolle verifiziert. Der interhemisphärische Transfer war nach DSO-Durchtrennung bei der Farb- und den oben-unten-symmetrischen Formzweifachwahlen stark vermindert. Der Transfer sämtlicher Zweifachwahlen war nach CT+CP-Durchtrennung nicht signifikant verschieden von dem der Kontrolltiere. Es wurde erstmals gezeigt, daß mindestens ein Teil der DSO-Fasern bei Vögeln visuelle Information von einer Hirnhälfte zur andern übermittelt.

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Interhemispheric transfer of two-choice discrimination in commissurotomized pigeons

Summary The role of avian commissural systems in interhemispheric transfer of monocularly learned visual discriminations was investigated in an instrumental conditioning situation (Skinner). Color and pattern (up-down and left-right mirror-images) were used as stimuli. Stereotaxic lesions were placed in the supraoptic decussation of 21 pigeons, in the tectal and posterior commissures of 20 pigeons. In 11 animals all three connections were interrupted. All lesions were histologically verified. After section of the supraoptic decussation interhemispheric transfer was severely impaired for one color and two up-down mirror-image discriminations. No significant impairment in transfer for color, up-down and left-right mirror-image discriminations followed section of the tectal and posterior commissures. These data demonstrate that at least part of the supraoptic decussation is involved in interhemispheric transfer of visual information.

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Mit Unterstützung des Schweizerischen Nationalfonds für wissenschaftliche Forschung, Kredit Nr. 4806 und 3.133.69. Ein Teil dieser Arbeit wurde im Oktober 1969 der European Brain and Behaviour Society in Marseille vorgetragen.

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Hern Prof. Dr. K. Akert danke ich für die Überlassung des Themas und für die wertvolle Unterstützung während meiner Untersuchungen recht herzlich.Herrn Prof. Dr. E. Hadorn danke ich als meinem verehrten Lehrer.Großer Dank gebührt aber vor allem Herrn Dr. M. Cuénod, der mir stets mit Rat und Tat zur Seite stand.Für ihre technische Mithilfe sei Frau M. Müller, Frl. L. Decoppet, Frl. R. Emch, Frl. I. Kost, Herrn A. Fäh, Herrn A. Fidéler und Herrn M. Plattner, sowie Frl. M. Zwicky, die die Reinschrift besorgte, bestens gedankt.     

Stimulus control of avoidance behavior

The introduction of a warning signal preceding shocks greatly increased the effectiveness of avoidance responding. Periods of “warm-up” at the beginning of the session were eliminated, and the number of shocks received by the subjects was greatly reduced. With response-shock interval constant, response rate increased as the interval between the response and the onset of the warning signal was shortened. The response tended to occur shortly after the onset of the warning signal regardless of the duration of these “safe” periods. A greatly elevated response rate was maintained even when the duration of the safe period was reduced to 0.3 sec. Thus, the pre-shock signal obtained nearly exclusive control of the responding and overrode the usual “temporal discrimination” of the response-shock interval.     

Situation models,mental simulations,and abstract concepts in discourse comprehension

This article sets out to examine the role of symbolic and sensorimotor representations in discourse comprehension. It starts out with a review of the literature on situation models, showing how mental representations are constrained by linguistic and situational factors. These ideas are then extended to more explicitly include sensorimotor representations. Following Zwaan and Madden (2005), the author argues that sensorimotor and symbolic representations mutually constrain each other in discourse comprehension. These ideas are then developed further to propose two roles for abstract concepts in discourse comprehension. It is argued that they serve as pointers in memory, used (1) cataphorically to integrate upcoming information into a sensorimotor simulation, or (2) anaphorically integrate previously presented information into a sensorimotor simulation. In either case, the sensorimotor representation is a specific instantiation of the abstract concept.     

Emotion recognition in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

There is a limited amount of research that examines social-emotional functioning in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), and the majority of it relies on parent and teacher reports of social impairments. Because these provide broad measures of social function, they fail to elucidate the underlying specific skills with which this group of children has difficulty. The current study examines emotion-recognition abilities in children with FASD, as it plays a central role in social interaction. Participants were 22 children with diagnosed FASD (ages 8–14), and age- and gender-matched typically developing controls. Tasks included measures of emotion recognition from three nonlinguistic modalities: facial expressions, emotional tone of voice, and body positioning and movement. Participant’s parents completed measures of adaptive and behavioral function that were related to children’s performance on aspects of emotion recognition. Overall, the results show that children with FASD have more difficulties with emotion recognition than typically developing age-matched peers, but these difficulties may not be clinically significant (e.g., smaller effect size) or may be specific to the age of the individual exhibiting the emotion (i.e., child vs. adult). These results are discussed in the context of previous studies.     

A Broader Understanding of Moral Distress

On the traditional view, moral distress arises only in cases where an individual believes she knows the morally right thing to do but fails to perform that action due to various constraints. We seek to motivate a broader understanding of moral distress. We begin by presenting six types of distress that fall outside the bounds of the traditional definition and explaining why they should be recognized as forms of moral distress. We then propose and defend a new and more expansive definition of moral distress and examine how it can enable the development of a taxonomy of moral distress.