Comparison of simultaneous prompting with and without error correction in teaching science vocabulary words to high school students with mild disabilities

This study compared the effectiveness and efficiency of simultaneous prompting with and without error correction during daily probe sessions in teaching science vocabulary words. The teacher presented the vocabulary word definitions as instructive feedback during training sessions. Five 16–17 year old students with disabilities participated in an adapted alternating treatments design that evaluated the simultaneous prompting strategy, error correction and instructive feedback. Instruction occurred in a group format using choral responding. The results indicate that (a) all students learned to read the vocabulary words, (b) simultaneous prompting with error correction was slightly more efficient for three of the five subjects in learning the targeted words, and four of the five students made fewer errors in this condition, (c) all students preferred simultaneous prompting with error correction over simultaneous prompting without error correction, (d) words mastered in both conditions generalized equally, (e) there were minimal differences between the two conditions in the collected maintenance data, and (e) students experienced only minimal improvement in their ability to define vocabulary words (instructive feedback). Discussion focuses on issues for further research and implications for instructional practice with simultaneous prompting, error correction and instructive feedback.     

REM motivation induced by brief REM deprivation: the influence of cognition, gender, and personality.

Prominence of the brain's right-hemisphere information processing and intensity of dream experience are two theoretically related constructs that have been proposed as important psychological aspects of REM sleep. Either view is consistent with the prediction that the effect of REM deprivation will depend in part on the nature of cognitive activity that is initiated at the onset of each REM period and that "substitutes" for the interrupted REM process. In the present study, the effect of REM deprivation was more striking for female subjects given a digits task than for female subjects given a fantasy-reporting task during awakening used to induce REM deprivation for the first 6 hours of the night. High neuroticism appeared to exaggerate the effect. No corresponding pattern was observed for the male subjects. These preliminary finding may be exaggerated by cognitive activity that is functionally incongruent with those processes. The results also raise interesting questions about individual differences.     

Sequencing of behaviors in Aplysia fasciata: integration of feeding, reproduction, and locomotion.

To begin studying the neural basis of higher-order decision-making in Aplysia fasciata, we examined individual bouts of behavior in various conditions of access to food and/or mates. We then determined rules governing transitions between bouts. The data indicate that a single intermediate condition, moving in place, may be centrally related to transitions between behaviors. In all conditions, over 85% of all transitions between behaviors were via moving in place. Moving in place tended to precede and follow other categories of activity (crawling, swimming, immobile), and feeding. Also, moving in place apparently represents a fixed proportion of all bouts of behavior. In each condition, moving in place represented approximately 40% of all bouts, while the number of bouts of other behaviors varied markedly. After a bout of moving in place there was a strong tendency for the animal to return to the behavior performed before moving in place. Additional preferred sequences of behavior were also seen. Courtship tended to precede mating, and crawling preceded swimming.     

Effects of conspecifics on feeding in Aplysia fasciata

The presence of other Aplysia in the environment increases the time spent feeding. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that a common arousal mechanism modulates feeding and reproductive behaviors. The arousal level is presumably increased by pheromones released by additional animals.     

Immediate carbon monoxide estimates and self-reported smoking

Because carbon monoxide (CO) is an easily understood danger of cigarette smoking, new breath CO analyzers may be useful in cessation programs. Self-reported cigarette consumption and breath CO correlated .70 using a 90-sec. CO-determination method. Smokers averaging 17 daily cigarettes had average breath CO of 24 parts per million (ppm), falling to 7.71 ppm for smokers claiming at least 24-hr. abstinence. Corresponding carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) estimates were 4.34% (slightly above World Health Organization 4% safety limit) and 1.39%. Smoking clinics can use CO-monitoring devices for feedback or surveillance, although feedback would provide the most benefits for participants.     

Physical Distance and Helping: Some Unexpected Benefits of “Crowding In” on Others1

One hundred and sixty undergraduates (80 males, 80 females) participated in a field experiment designed to examine the influence of invasions of personal space and sex of requester upon subsequent helping. On the basis of previous research, it was predicted that helping would be markedly inhibited by invasions of personal space, and that the magnitude of these effects would be mediated by the sex of the individuals who perpetrated such intrusions. Surprisingly, however, results indicated that subsequent helping was actually facilitated by such invasions. A follow-up investigation replicated these results and suggested that they stemmed from a tendency on the part of subjects to perceive close physical approach by the requester as indicative of a high need for assistance.     

The effects of exposure to political and domestic violence on preschool children and their mothers

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of exposure to political violence on preschool children and their mothers. We explored whether these dyads are different from dyads with no known history of exposure to violence and from mother–child dyads with known exposure to domestic violence. Specifically, we explored differences in mothers' psychological status (depression and anxiety), dyadic emotional availability (EA), children's social information processing, and children's social behaviour, in a sample of 216 dyads divided into three groups (exposure to political violence, no exposure to violence, and exposure to domestic violence). We found evidence to support our hypotheses that children exposed to domestic violence exhibit the highest levels of social maladjustment with smaller but still significant differences between children exposed to political violence and children in the comparison group. As expected, the lowest EA scores were found in the exposure to domestic violence group, followed by dyads in the exposure to political violence group. Dyads belonging to the comparison group (no exposure) exhibited the highest levels of EA. These findings contribute to our understanding of the meaning of exposure to political violence, as well as sharpen the difference between exposure to political and domestic violence.