Preference and resistance to change in concurrent variable-interval schedules

Pigeons were trained on a multiple schedule in which separate concurrent schedules were presented in the two components of the schedule. During one component, concurrent variable-interval 40-sec variable-interval 80-sec schedules operated. In the second component, concurrent variable-interval 40-sec variable-interval 20-sec schedules operated. After stable baseline performance was obtained in both components, extinction probe choice tests were presented to assess preference between the variable-interval 40-sec schedules from the two components. The variable-interval 40-sec schedule paired with the variable-interval 80-sec schedule was preferred over the variable-interval 40-sec schedule paired with the variable-interval 20-sec schedule. The subjects were also exposed to several resistance-to-change manipulations: (1) prefeeding prior to the experimental session, (2) a free-food schedule added to timeout periods separating components, and (3) extinction. The results indicated that preference and resistance to change do not necessarily covary.     

A conceptual model of cultural predictors of anxiety among Japanese American and part-Japanese American adolescents

A model integrating Japanese ethnicity, cultural identity, and anxiety was developed and assessed in Japanese American and part-Japanese American high school seniors (N = 141). Using measures from the Hawaiian High Schools Health Survey, the model incorporated the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Major Life Events Scale, and the Japanese Culture Scale (JCS). Japanese American adolescents scored higher on the JCS and reported fewer anxiety symptoms than part-Japanese American adolescents. Predictors for anxiety were being Japanese American versus part-Japanese American, income, and culturally intensified events. A significant interaction of behavior by self-identification was obtained. The model had good overall fit, suggesting that cultural identity formation may contribute to anxiety experienced particularly by adolescents of mixed heritage.     

Selectively friending: Racial stereotypicality and social rejection

Three studies show that people whose physical features are seen as more (versus less) racially stereotypical are more vulnerable to social rejection and exclusion from those outside their group. In Study 1, which used an online social networking site, Blacks perceived as more physically stereotypical were found to have fewer non-Black friends, compared to less-stereotypical Blacks. In Study 2, which used an experimental paradigm, requests for friendship made to non-Blacks by more-stereotypical Blacks were more likely to be rejected than those made by less-stereotypical Blacks. Finally, in a college dormitory, people judged to have more (vs. less) racially stereotypical physical features were found to interact less often with outgroup members. This work substantiates a growing body of research demonstrating that people who are perceived as more physically stereotypical of their racial group are particularly vulnerable to discriminatory treatment by outgroup members across a variety of life domains.     

Subtyping obsessive-compulsive disorder: A taxometric analysis

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a heterogeneous condition comprising multiple symptoms. Researchers have identified OCD subtypes using a range of symptom-based research methods, including factor and cluster analyses and examination of differential treatment response. These methods can be challenged on the grounds that they fail to demonstrate the existence of discrete taxonomic entities. Furthermore, no study has examined subtyping on the basis of cognitive characteristics. In the present study, the categorical vs. dimensional status of 6 possible subtypes of OCD was examined using taxometric methods. Three potential cognitive subtypes (based on high levels of responsibility/threat estimation, perfectionism/certainty, and importance/control of thoughts) and 3 potential symptomatic subtypes (based on elevated levels of contamination obsessions and cleaning compulsions, checking, and obsessionality) were examined using the MAXEIG and MAMBAC procedures in a sample of 404 diagnosed cases of OCD. Findings favored dimensional models of the potential responsibility, perfectionism, checking, and contamination subtypes, but offered qualified support for taxonic models of the importance/control of thoughts and obsessional subtypes. Implications for the subclassification of OCD are discussed.     

Vagueness, Conditionals and Probability

This paper explores the interaction of well-motivated (if controversial) principles governing the probability conditionals, with accounts of what it is for a sentence to be indefinite. The conclusion can be played in a variety of ways. It could be regarded as a new reason to be suspicious of the intuitive data about the probability of conditionals; or, holding fixed the data, it could be used to give traction on the philosophical analysis of a contentious notion—indefiniteness. The paper outlines the various options, and shows that ‘rejectionist’ theories of indefiniteness are incompatible with the results. Rejectionist theories include popular accounts such as supervaluationism, non-classical truth-value gap theories, and accounts of indeterminacy that centre on rejecting the law of excluded middle. An appendix compares the results obtained here with the ‘impossibility’ results descending from Lewis (1976).

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Constrained action selection in children with developmental coordination disorder

The effect of advance ('precue') information on short aiming movements was explored in adults, high school children, and primary school children with and without developmental coordination disorder (n=10, 14, 16, 10, respectively). Reaction times in the DCD group were longer than in the other groups and were more influenced by the extent to which the precue constrained the possible action space. In contrast, reaction time did not alter as a function of precue condition in adults. Children with DCD showed greater inaccuracy of response (despite the increased RT). We suggest that the different precue effects reflect differences in the relative benefits of priming an action prior to definitive information about the movement goal. The benefits are an interacting function of the task and the skill level of the individual. Our experiment shows that children with DCD gain a benefit from advance preparation in simple aiming movements, highlighting their low skill levels. This result suggests that goal-directed RTs may have diagnostic potential within the clinic.     

Aging Affects the Ability to Process the Optic Flow Stimulations: A Functional Near-Infrared Spectrometry Study

Abstract

Optic flow (OF) has been utilized to investigate the sensory integration of visual stimuli during postural control. It is little known how the OF speed affects the aging brain during the sensory integration process of postural control. This study was to examine the effect of OF speeds on the brain activation using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and postural sway between younger and older adults. Eleven healthy younger adults (5M/6F, age 22?±?1-year-old) and ten healthy older adults (4M/6F, age 71?±?5-year-old) participated in this study. A virtual reality headset was used to provide the OF stimulus at different speeds. A forceplate was used to record the center-of-pressure to compute the amplitude of postural sway (peak-to-peak). Compared with younger adults, older adults showed significantly increased activation in the OF speed of 10?m/s and decreased activation in the OF speed of 20?m/s in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Older adults also showed decreased activation in the left temporoparietal region (VEST) in the OF speed of 20?m/s. A significant difference in peak-to-peak was found between groups. Our results indicated that age might be associated with the ability to process fast OF stimulation.     

Functional Communication Training and Demand Fading Using Concurrent Schedules of Reinforcement

Demand fading, a schedule thinning procedure for escape-maintained behaviors, typically includes an escape extinction component. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of demand fading with alternative reinforcement utilizing concurrent reinforcement schedules without extinction. During demand fading, aggression and requests emitted prior to meeting the task completion criterion were reinforced with short, low-quality breaks, but requests emitted following the task completion criterion were reinforced with long, high-quality breaks. Results suggest that concurrent schedules of reinforcement may be an effective alternative to extinction as a component of demand fading.     

“Inside out”: Appraisals for achievement emotions from constructive,positive, and negative feedback on writing

Even with the recent surge of research on achievement emotions, few studies have investigated emotions in feedback situations and the appraisals associated with such emotions. The purpose of this study was to examine emotion appraisals of constructive criticism, negative, and positive feedback, to aid us in determining whether these appraisals differed by feedback type. In a task asking them to provide open-ended responses as they imagined receiving feedback on a writing task, undergraduates (N?=?270) gave reasons for why they might experience unpleasant emotions from positive feedback and pleasant emotions from negative feedback along with reasons for both pleasant and unpleasant emotions emanating from constructive feedback. Open coding of responses yielded categories for each emotion-feedback pairing that, across all emotions, were collapsed into five appraisal categories: feedback suggests ways to improve, a mismatch between feedback and task exists, feedback targets the self or one’s ability, feedback says something about the relationship between feedback giver and receiver, and the task is judged for its value. Distributions of appraisal categories distinguished constructive feedback from positive and negative feedback. Implications are drawn for control-value theory and for classroom feedback practices.