An analysis of self-management

We discuss topics related to a theoretical analysis of self-management, including theories of self-management, self-reinforcement and self-management, antecedent stimuli for self-management, teaching of self-management behaviors, and applications of self-management. Our analysis indicates that self-management's roots in behavioral explanations of phenomena are solid, but that there are important issues yet to be examined in developing a thorough understanding of self-management. We argue that self-management behaviors almost certainly must be examined in relation to the contexts in which they occur and the consequences that they produce.     

Fixation-point offsets reduce the latency of saccades to acoustic targets.

If an observer's fixation point is extinguished just prior to the onset of a peripheral target, the latency to saccade to that target is reduced. We show that this "gap effect" is not specific to visual targets. Observers made saccades to a light flash or to a white-noise burst. A warning tone was presented on every trial to control for the possible warning effect of the fixation-point offset. For both target modalities, saccade latencies were significantly reduced when the fixation point was extinguished 200 msec prior to the target onset. Implications of this outcome for interpretations of the gap effect are considered. It is argued that the presence of a gap effect for tones, in conjunction with previous findings, is consistent with the hypothesis that the gap effect is produced by a facilitation of premotor processes in the superior colliculus.     

The reduction of saccadic latency by prior offset of the fixation point: an analysis of the gap effect

The latency to initiate a saccade (saccadic reaction time) to an eccentric target is reduced by extinguishing the fixation stimulus prior to the target onset. Various accounts have attributed this latency reduction (referred to as the gap effect) to facilitated sensory processing, oculomotor readiness, or attentional processes. Two experiments were performed to explore the relative contributions of these factors to the gap effect. Experiment 1 demonstrates that the reduction in saccadic reaction time (RT) produced by fixation point offset is additive with the effect of target luminance. Experiment 2 indicates that the gap effect is specific for saccades directed toward a peripheral target and does not influence saccades directed away from the target (i.e., antisaccades) or choice-manual RT. The results are consistent with an interpretation of the gap effect in terms of facilitated premotor processing in the superior colliculus.     

Preference for leisure items over edible items in individuals with dementia: A replication

We replicated previous research in which adults with dementia tended to show a preference for leisure items over edible items when presented in the same array. Additionally, we conducted engagement analyses with the highest, middle, and lowest preference leisure items to determine whether relative preference corresponded to engagement in the natural environment. The most highly preferred stimulus for 6 out of 7 participants was a leisure item, and for each of those six the top 3 preferred stimuli were leisure stimuli. For 4 participants, the most preferred stimulus also produced the longest duration of engagement. We discuss the issues we encountered when conducting preference assessments with adults with intact vocal verbal repertoires, and suggest potential explanations for the displacement of edibles by leisure stimuli in older adults with dementia.     

Naming and categorization in young children: IV: listener behavior training and transfer of function

Following pretraining with everyday objects, 14 children aged from 1 to 4 years were trained, for each of three pairs of different arbitrary wooden shapes (Set 1), to select one stimulus in response to the spoken word /zog/, and the other to /vek/. When given a test for the corresponding tacts ("zog" and "vek"), 10 children passed, showing that they had learned common names for the stimuli, and 4 failed. All children were trained to clap to one stimulus of Pair 1 and wave to the other. All those who named showed either transfer of the novel functions to the remaining two pairs of stimuli in Test 1, or novel function comprehension for all three pairs in Test 2, or both. Three of these children next participated in, and passed, category match-to-sample tests. In contrast, all 4 children who had learned only listener behavior failed both the category transfer and category match-to-sample tests. When 3 of them were next trained to name the stimuli, they passed the category transfer and (for the 2 subjects tested) category match-to-sample tests. Three children were next trained on the common listener relations with another set of arbitrary stimuli (Set 2); all succeeded on the tact and category tests with the Set 2 stimuli. Taken together with the findings from the other studies in the series, the present experiment shows that (a) common listener training also establishes the corresponding names in some but not all children, and (b) only children who learn common names categorize; all those who learn only listener behavior fail. This is good evidence in support of the naming account of categorization.     

A matching advantage for dynamic human faces

In a series of three experiments, we used a sequential matching task to explore the impact of non-rigid facial motion on the perception of human faces. Dynamic prime images, in the form of short video sequences, facilitated matching responses relative to a single static prime image. This advantage was observed whenever the prime and target showed the same face but an identity match was required across expression (experiment 1) or view (experiment 2). No facilitation was observed for identical dynamic prime sequences when the matching dimension was shifted from identity to expression (experiment 3). We suggest that the observed dynamic advantage, the first reported for non-degraded facial images, arises because the matching task places more emphasis on visual working memory than typical face recognition tasks. More specifically, we believe that representational mechanisms optimised for the processing of motion and/or change-over-time are established and maintained in working memory and that such 'dynamic representations' (Freyd, 1987 Psychological Review 94 427-438) capitalise on the increased information content of the dynamic primes to enhance performance.     

Assessing pain behaviour of low-back pain patients in real time: concurrent validity and examiner sensitivity

Several systems for measuring pain behaviour have been developed for clinical settings. The present study reports on a real-time system for coding five categories of pain behaviour for low-back pain patients: guarding, touching, sounds, words, and facial expression. Unique features of the system are the use of refined measures of facial expression and integration of the measurements with a standardized physical examination. 176 sub-acute and chronic low-back pain patients underwent a physical examination while their pain behaviour was coded. Concurrent measures of subjective pain, medically-incongruent signs, and independent global ratings of pain behaviour were taken. Analyses indicated that the pain behaviours, particularly guarding and facial expression, varied systematically with the alternative measures, supporting the concurrent validity of the behaviour observation system. While pain behaviours, especially use of words and facial expressions, were significantly associated with the examiners' independent ratings, the strength of the associations suggested that, in the absence of direct training, examiners' performance was relatively poor. Implications for training of clinicians in detecting pain behaviour are discussed.     

A Semantics for Means-end Relations

There has been considerable work on practical reasoning in artificial intelligence and also in philosophy. Typically, such reasoning includes premises regarding means–end relations. A clear semantics for such relations is needed in order to evaluate proposed syllogisms. In this paper, we provide a formal semantics for means–end relations, in particular for necessary and sufficient means–end relations. Our semantics includes a non-monotonic conditional operator, so that related practical reasoning is naturally defeasible. This work is primarily an exercise in conceptual analysis, aimed at clarifying and eventually evaluating existing theories of practical reasoning (pending a similar analysis regarding desires, intentions and other relevant concepts). “They were in conversation without speaking. They didn’t need to speak. They just changed reality so that they had spoken.” Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man