Age trends in stimulus overselectivity

Stimulus overselectivity refers to the phenomenon whereby stimulus control over behavior is exerted only by a limited subset of the total number of stimuli present during discrimination learning. It often is displayed by individuals with autistic spectrum disorders or learning disabilities, but is not exclusive to those groups. The present studies investigated the impact of aging on stimulus control and overselectivity. Three age groups--18-22, 47-55, and 70-80 year olds-were studied in two experiments. All participants were trained on a simple discrimination task, randomly assigned to one of two conditions (either with or without a distractor task), and then tested for the emergence of overselectivity (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2 responding controlled by the overselected stimulus elements was reduced by introducing a verbal punisher. In subsequent tests, control of behavior by the previously underselected elements from Experiment 1 was enhanced across the two younger age groups but not the oldest group of participants. The results are discussed in relation to the attention-deficit and overshadowing accounts of overselectivity.     

动作记忆：记忆研究的新范畴

动作记忆是伴随动作操作和意识卷入过程的一种记忆活动, 其强调意识卷入状态和操作情景对记忆活动的影响。以往的研究均采用SPT范式探讨动作记忆及其影响因素, 并提出非策略加工、多通道加工、动作编码和情景整合理论以解释SPT效应, 但由于关注角度不同, 所提的理论模型不能全面揭示动作记忆的加工机制。部分研究试图从来源监控方面探究动作记忆的内在机制, 但研究仍然存在分歧。     

Instructive feedback embedded within group instruction for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder

The present study evaluated the effects of instructive feedback embedded within a group discrete trial teaching to teach tact relations to nine children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder using a nonconcurrent multiple‐baseline design. Dependent variables included correct responses for: primary targets (directly taught), secondary targets (taught via instructive feedback), primary observational targets (directly taught to other members of the group), and secondary observational targets (taught via instructive feedback provided to other members of the group). Results showed that all nine participants reached the mastery criterion for the primary targets, as well as acquired the secondary and observational targets without direct teaching. Clinical implications and areas for future research are provided.     

Improving the interview skills of college students using behavioral skills training

Obtaining a job as a college graduate is partly dependent on interview performance. We used a multiple baseline design across skills to evaluate the effects of behavioral skills training with self‐evaluation for five college students. Training effects were evaluated using simulated interviews as baseline and posttraining assessments. All participants acquired targeted skills, but we observed some individual differences. Participants were satisfied with training outcomes and rated the procedures as acceptable. Furthermore, ratings from university staff who provide interview training indicated that training improved performance across several skills for the majority of participants.     

Allocation of speech in conversation

In a replication and extension of Conger and Killeen's (1974) widely cited demonstration of matching in conversations, we evaluated nine participants’ allocation of speech and gaze to two conversational partners. German speakers participated in two 90‐min sessions in which confederates uttered approval on independent variable‐interval schedules. In one of the sessions, confederates uttered approval contingent upon and contiguous with eye contact whereas in the other session approval was uttered independent of the participant's gaze. Several measures of participants’ verbal behavior were taken, including relative duration and rate of speech and gaze. These were compared to confederates’ relative rate of approval and relative duration and rate of talk. The generalized matching equation was fitted to the various relations between participants’ behavior and confederates’ behavior. Conger and Killeen's results were not replicated; participants’ response allocation did not show a systematic relation to the confederates’ relative rate of approval. The strongest relations were to overall talk, rather than approval. In both conditions, the participant talked more to the confederate who talked less—inverse or antimatching. Participants’ gaze showed the same inverse relation to the confederates’ talk. Requiring gaze to be directed toward a confederate for delivery of approval made no difference in the results. The absence of a difference combined with prior research suggests that matching or antimatching in conversations is more likely due to induction than to reinforcement.     

Name that percussive tune: Associative memory and amplitude envelope†

A series of experiments demonstrated novel effects of amplitude envelope on associative memory, with tones exhibiting naturally decaying amplitude envelopes (e.g., those made by two wine glasses clinking) better associated with target objects than amplitude-invariant tones. In Experiment 1 participants learned associations between household objects and 4-note tone sequences constructed of spectrally matched pure tones with either “flat” or “percussive” amplitude envelopes. Those hearing percussive tones correctly recalled significantly more sequence–object associations. Experiment 2 demonstrated that participants hearing percussive tones learned the associations more quickly. Experiment 3 used “reverse percussive” tones (percussive tones played backwards) to test whether differences in overall energy might account for this effect, finding they did not lead to the same level of performance as percussive tones. Experiment 4 varied the envelope at encoding and retrieval to determine which stage of the task was most affected by the envelope manipulation. Participants hearing percussive tones at both encoding and retrieval performed significantly better than the other three groups (i.e., flat at encoding/percussive at retrieval, etc.). We conclude that amplitude envelope plays an important role in learning and memory, a finding with relevance to psychological research on audition and associative memory, as well as practical relevance for improving human–computer interface design.     

Voice,speech, and language: selected papers from APCAM

ABSTRACT

This special issue features selected papers from the 13th annual Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Meeting (APCAM). APCAM is a unique meeting in its focus on the perceptual, cognitive, and behavioural aspects of audition. The meeting is held each year just before the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society.     

Clustering and switching in unconstrained,phonemic and semantic verbal fluency: the role of age and school type

We investigated the role of age and school type on clustering and switching in verbal fluency tasks (VFTs) with Brazilian children. The children were administered unconstrained, phonemic and semantic VFTs with a duration of 150 or 120 s, respectively. Both age and school type influenced all variables and in terms of performance over time. Older children and private school students outperformed the remainder of the sample, with the first 30 s of each VFT usually being the most productive. Although the size of the clusters produced did not differ between groups, the types of clusters did show some variations, with semantic clusters being the most frequent. Our results revealed strong correlations between switching ability and word production in all three VFTs. In conclusion, the executive functions known as planning and cognitive flexibility play a crucial role in word production by organising and facilitating the recall of lexical information from memory.     

Risk it? Direct and collateral impacts of peers' verbal expressions about hazard likelihoods*

When people encounter potential hazards, their expectations and behaviours can be shaped by a variety of factors including other people's expressions of verbal likelihood (e.g., unlikely to harm). What is the impact of such expressions when a person also has numeric likelihood estimates from the same source(s)? Two studies used a new task involving an abstract virtual environment in which people learned about and reacted to novel hazards. Verbal expressions attributed to peers influenced participants’ behaviour toward hazards even when numeric estimates were also available. Namely, verbal expressions suggesting that the likelihood of harm from a hazard is low (vs. higher) yielded more risk taking with respect to said hazard. There were also inverse collateral effects, whereby participants’ behaviour and estimates regarding another hazard in the same context were affected in the opposite direction. These effects may be based on directionality and relativity cues inferred from verbal likelihood expressions.     

学前儿童抑制控制的发展趋势及其对言语理解和数学认知的预测作用

以长春市某幼儿园的122名3~6岁幼儿为被试,采用2(测试任务:无嵌套规则白天黑夜任务,有嵌套规则的白天黑夜任务)×2(测试时间:间隔9个月的第一次测试和第二次测试)×4(年龄分组:3.00~3.75岁组,3.76~4.50岁组,4.51~5.25岁组,5.26~6.00岁组)的三因素混合设计,来分析不同复杂程度的抑制控制在学前阶段的发展趋势,并在控制幼儿年龄和工作记忆水平后,分析不同复杂程度抑制控制对言语理解和数学认知的独立预测作用。结果发现:(1)对3~6岁儿童来说,有嵌套规则的白天黑夜任务的难度水平要显著高于无嵌套规则的白天黑夜任务;(2)较简单的抑制控制(无嵌套规则的白天黑夜任务)在学前阶段的发展速度先快后慢,但较复杂的抑制控制(有嵌套规则的白天黑夜任务)在3~6岁期间持续快速发展;(3)独立于年龄和工作记忆,较复杂的抑制控制能够显著预测幼儿的数学认知和言语理解,但较简单的抑制控制对言语理解和数学认知的预测作用不显著。根据上述结果,在描述学前儿童抑制控制发展趋势时要注意任务难度的设定,而且难度适当的抑制控制任务成绩更能预测幼儿的言语理解和数学认知。