Illusory displacement of a moving trace with respect to the grid during oscilloscope motion

Observers report that a trace streak, which follows a sinusoidal path, moves vertically with respect to the oscilloscope’s grid when an oscilloscope is oscillated in the vertical plane. The vertical component of the trace streak motion with respect to the grid is illusory. This illusion is stable across a limited range of illumination and physical motion conditions. We hypothesize that this illusion is based on the manner in which the visual system calculates the vertical location of the grid and the trace: the trace location is determined on a moment-to-moment basis, whereas the grid tends to be seen in its average vertical position. The results of two experiments indicate that this hypothesis can account, at least partially, for the illusion. The illusion may have practical implications for pilots or navigators who track target blips on radar screens in moving aircraft.     

TOKEN REINFORCEMENT DURING THE INSTATEMENT AND SHAPING OF FLUENCY IN THE TREATMENT OF STUTTERING

The value of token reinforcement in the instatement and shaping of fluency was examined in an intensive treatment program for adult stutterers. Experiment 1 examined the effect of removing the tangible back-up reinforcers for the token system and found that clients' performance in the program was equally good with or without these back-up reinforcers, suggesting that a strict token economy may not be crucial to rapid progress through treatment. Experiment 2 compared contingent and noncontingent token reinforcement, while controlling for some variables that may have confounded the results of earlier research, and found no difference in clients' performance. Experiment 3 examined the effect of the entire removal of token reinforcement. Performance was found to be no worse under a “no tokens” system than under a system of tokens with back-up reinforcers. It is argued that in a highly structured treatment program where many other reinforcers are operating, token reinforcement may be largely redundant. Clinical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Apocalyptic relevance

In their book, Relevance, Sperber and Wilson make an important contribution towards constructing a credible theory of this unforthcoming notion. All is not clear sailing, however. If it is accepted as a condition on the adequacy of any account of relevance that it not be derivable either that nothing is relevant to anything or that everything is relevant to everything, it can be shown that Sperber and Wilson come close to violating the condition.     

Irrational beliefs and conflict-handling orientations

Before a series of conflict-resolution and communication-skills workshops, measures were obtained on the dependent variables of conflict-handling orientations and on the independent variables of irrational beliefs. The population was rather general, i.e. nonstudent, nonclinical and non-volunteer, who were the managers and the engineers of three enterprises. Correlation analysis showed that irrational beliefs underlying anger, anxiety, frustration, guilt and other negative emotions were correlated with different conflict-handling orientations. On the basis of the obtained results a series of workshops was conducted in the format of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET).Mikhael I. Timofeev, Ph.D., is a senior lecturer at the Inter-Branch Institute of Advanced Training, St. Petersburg Technical University, Politechnicheskaya, 29, St. Petersburg, 195251, Russia.     

Analysis of fixed-ratio behavior maintained by drug reinforcers.

Behavior maintained by intravenously delivered alfentanil, cocaine, or ketamine was assessed using a fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement. As the dose of each drug was increased, rate of responding also increased up to a maximum. Further increases in dose resulted in decreased response rates (inverted U-shaped curve). An analysis of postreinforcement-pause-time and run-time measures for the ascending limb of the inverted U-shaped functions revealed that behavior was characterized by systematic decreases in both pause time and run time as dose and rate increased. An examination of the descending limb of the dose-response functions revealed that lowered response rates for cocaine and ketamine were correlated with increases in run time and small and inconsistent effects on postreinforcement pause time. Behavior maintained by rate-reducing doses of alfentanil was characterized by lengthened postreinforcement pauses with small increases in run time. These data suggest that at larger doses, drug reinforcers may have unconditioned or direct effects on the behavior that the drug is maintaining, and more important, that the nature of these unconditioned effects depends on the drug that is maintaining behavior.     

Students' Reactions to Groups in a University Counseling Center

This article describes an evaluative study of students' reactions to three types of groups—assertiveness training, personal growth, and ethnic rap—offered by a university counseling center. A 16-item questionnaire distributed to 130 group participants yielded 90 usable returns. Chi-square calculations comparing the responses of the three types of groups revealed statistically significant differences between them on eight of the 16 items. Samples of the responses to the open-ended items convey the flavor and feeling tone of the reactions to the group experience. One of the notable results of the study was the development of a new group intended to integrate the most useful elements identified by the students' reactions.     

And so indeed are perfect cheat

Ethical discourse and fallacy theory come together in a natural way over concepts such as bias, prejudice, preconceived opinion, prototypical and stereotypical thinking, dogmatism and loyalty. By and large, these are concepts that have not been sufficiently worked up to bear the theoretical weight either of ethics or of logic. The present paper seeks to ameliorate this situation. It proposes that situations describable by any such concepts partition into (a) the rationally and morally regrettable and (b) the rationally and morally impeccable, and in any event, unavoidable. Finding (b) will come as a surprise to some theorists.[A]ll the artificial and figurative application of Words Eloquence hath invented are for nothing else but to insinuate wrongIdeas, move the Passions, and thereby mislead the Judgment; and so indeed are perfect cheat; And therefore, however laudable or allowable Oratory may render them in Harangues and popular Addresses, they are certainly, in all Discourses that pretend to inform or instruct, wholly to be avoided. ...John Locke,Essay on Human Understanding, Book III.