The accuracy of self-administration and scoring on Holland's Self-Directed Search

This study assesed the extent to which Ss commit various types of errors when completing Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) entirely on their own. Nearly all Ss made some type of error and approximately half of the Ss made errors which affected their final three-letter summary codes. Almost one-fifth of the Ss made errors resulting in an incorrect high-point code. Whether or not Ss made errors that affected their summary codes was unrelated to the extent to which they were interested in knowing more about occupations or academic majors they might like. Neither were such errors related to whether Ss felt the occupations suggested by their summary codes seemed reasonable. Only slightly over one-third the Ss actually did feel that the occupations seemed reasonable.     

Seeing with the skin

A system for converting an optical image into a tactile display has been evaluated to see what promise it has as a visual substitution system. After surprisingly little training, Ss are able to recognize common objects and to describe their arrangement in three-dimensional space. When given control of the sensing and imaging device, a television camera, Ss quickly achieve external subjective localization of the percepts. Limitations of the system thus far appear to be more a function of display resolution than limitations of the skin as a receptor surface. The acquisition of skill with the device has been remarkably similar for blind and sighted Ss.     

CER suppression, passive-avoidance learning, and stress-induced suppression of drinking in the Syracuse high- and low-avoidance strains of rats (Rattus norvegicus)

The Syracuse strains of Long-Evans rats were selectively bred for good (SHA) or poor (SLA) avoidance learning in a two-way shuttle box, which resulted in a phenotypic difference that is correlated with behavior patterns indicative of emotional reactivity, SLA animals showing evidence of greater emotional reactivity than SHA animals. The first three experiments examined conditioned suppression of bar pressing and compared paired and unpaired conditioned- and unconditioned-stimulus presentations to evaluate the influence of conditioning versus primary aversive stimulation on baseline responding. SLA animals acquired conditioned suppression faster than SHA animals and also showed greater suppression of baseline responding than SHA animals. In Experiment 4, SLA animals learned a passive-avoidance task faster than SHA animals. In Experiment 5, SLA animals showed greater stress-induced suppression of drinking a weak quinine solution than SHA animals. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that SLA animals are more emotionally reactive than SHA animals.     

Observational learning of a left-right behavioral asymmetry in mice (Mus musculus)

B6D2F1 hybrid mice that were allowed to observe a trained female mouse open a pendulum door to the right (or to the left) to enter a food compartment later solved this problem faster than pupils that had been placed behind a visual barrier. Male pupils that had observed a "left-handed" teacher performed sinistrally; males that had observed a "right-handed" model performed dextrally. Female pupils did not exhibit their demonstrator's laterality. Observational learning may provide a means to maintain certain lateralized behaviors. Such social learning may lead to the emergence of local traditions and to the cultural diffusion of behavioral asymmetries.     

Assessing compliance to home relaxation: A simple technology for a critical problem

A simple, low-cost, and reliable technology for assessing compliance with relaxation practice in the natural environment is presented. Brief, audible cue tones are overdubbed onto selected client relaxation tapes, which are ordered by the therapist and then played in sequence by the client. The presence/absence or number of cue tones on each tape in the sequence is self-monitored, thereby providing the therapist with a record for objectively assessing whether or not the tapes were used as instructed. A clinical case example is presented to illustrate use of the procedure. Finally, advantages and limitations of the procedure are discussed.A portion of this paper (clinical case study) was presented at the meeting of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy, November 1980, New York. This research was partly supported by the Medical Research Service of the Veterans Administration. The authors wish to express their appreciation to Leonard H. Epstein for his support and stimulation in the early development of this and related projects.     

The relation between gap discrimination and auditory stream segregation

Gap discrimination and stream segregation were examined using sequences of 2, 4, 8, or 16 tones. The frequency differences between tones ranged from 1/24 to 2 1/2 octaves. Judgments of stream segregation show large intersubject variability, whereas gap thresholds are comparatively stable. Gap thresholds and streaming judgments are both affected by the frequency separation between tones. However, only streaming judgments are affected by presentation rate. Gap-threshold functions show no discontinuities or plateaus with increasing frequency differences and faster presentation rates. These results suggest that stream segregation is not a primary factor limiting gap-discrimination performance in tonal sequences.