Comparing the effects of positive and negative feedback in information-integration category learning

Categorical learning is dependent on feedback. Here, we compare how positive and negative feedback affect information-integration (II) category learning. Ashby and O’Brien (2007) demonstrated that both positive and negative feedback are required to solve II category problems when feedback was not guaranteed on each trial, and reported no differences between positive-only and negative-only feedback in terms of their effectiveness. We followed up on these findings and conducted 3 experiments in which participants completed 2,400 II categorization trials across three days under 1 of 3 conditions: positive feedback only (PFB), negative feedback only (NFB), or both types of feedback (CP; control partial). An adaptive algorithm controlled the amount of feedback given to each group so that feedback was nearly equated. Using different feedback control procedures, Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that participants in the NFB and CP group were able to engage II learning strategies, whereas the PFB group was not. Additionally, the NFB group was able to achieve significantly higher accuracy than the PFB group by Day 3. Experiment 3 revealed that these differences remained even when we equated the information received on feedback trials. Thus, negative feedback appears significantly more effective for learning II category structures. This suggests that the human implicit learning system may be capable of learning in the absence of positive feedback.     

When more is less: feedback effects in perceptual category learning

Rule-based and information-integration category learning were compared under minimal and full feedback conditions. Rule-based category structures are those for which the optimal rule is verbalizable. Information-integration category structures are those for which the optimal rule is not verbalizable. With minimal feedback subjects are told whether their response was correct or incorrect, but are not informed of the correct category assignment. With full feedback subjects are informed of the correctness of their response and are also informed of the correct category assignment. An examination of the distinct neural circuits that subserve rule-based and information-integration category learning leads to the counterintuitive prediction that full feedback should facilitate rule-based learning but should also hinder information-integration learning. This prediction was supported in the experiment reported below. The implications of these results for theories of learning are discussed.     

Social Interactions at Work and Psychological Health: The Role of Leader–Member Exchange and Work Group Integration1

The objectives of this study are to test the effects that the quality of leader–member exchange (LMX) and work group integration (WGI) may have on psychological health, as well as their interaction effect. Psychological health is defined both in terms of subjective well‐being and psychological distress. Data were gathered from a sample of 249 employees working in a prison setting. Results indicated that LMX and WGI are positively related to subjective well‐being and are negatively related to psychological distress. In addition, LMX and WGI exert a synergistic interaction effect on both dimensions of psychological health. Overall, the results show that the quality of the social environment may greatly enhance psychological health in a high‐risk workplace.     

Factors affecting agreement between severely mentally ill alcohol abusers' and collaterals' reports of alcohol and other substance abuse.

This study examined subject-collateral reports of alcohol use among a sample of 167 dually diagnosed individuals seeking outpatient treatment at a community mental health clinic. All subjects met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) criteria for a schizophrenia-spectrum or bipolar disorder and for alcohol abuse or dependence. Subjects were recruited within 2 weeks of treatment entry and completed measures of cognitive functioning, alcohol dependence severity, psychiatric symptoms, and quantity and frequency of substance use over the previous 60 days using the Timeline Follow-Back interview (L. C. Sobell & M. B. Sobell, 1996). They also provided a urine sample, which was screened for recent drug use. Collateral interviews were conducted by phone and included an assessment of the subject's alcohol and drug use over the same 60-day period. Collaterals also reported their confidence in the accuracy of their reports. Overall, the results indicated generally poor subject-collateral agreement. However, subject-collateral agreement appeared better for those individuals (n = 97) with negative urine drug screens. The most consistent predictor of subject-collateral discrepancy scores was subjects' recent drug use. Recommendations for enhancing the validity of self-reports of substance use in a severely mentally ill population are discussed.     

WISDOM, PESSIMISM, AND "MIRTH"Reflections on the Contribution of Biblical Wisdom Literature to Business Ethics

Ancient Israel's wisdom literature dealt explicitly with moral education. Applying this literature to modern challenges of business ethics requires reading the texts in the light of existential structures that bond the ancient with the modern world. Such structures could include the temporal categories of present and future along with the challenging angst of managing the future. By providing conflicting positions the ancient wisdom literature provides an attitude of heart for the modern person, especially the modern business person, whose all‐absorbing attention to the future may well be based on an underlying existential situation behind much unethical behavior in modern business.     

Conflict and Cognitive Control in the Brain

ABSTRACT— Recent research from cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience has suggested that the control mechanisms by which people are able to regulate task performance can be dissociated into evaluative and executive components. One process, implemented in the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain, monitors the amount of conflict that occurs during information processing; another process, implemented in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, is involved with maintaining the requirements of the task at hand and with biasing information processing in favor of appropriate responses. In the current article, we review this theory and some of the research that has supported it, including its implication for understanding cognitive disturbances in clinical disorders such as schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. We conclude by addressing several interesting possibilities for future research.